35w, 6d

Today was rough. The last few days I've been feeling worse and worse, and today it just seemed like if I added them all together, it looked A LOT like the list of pre-e symptoms. That combined with gushing that felt like my water had broke, I ended up keeping Bill home and going to get checked out.

What I ended up learning is because I don't have high blood pressure, they're not concerned with pre-e. They do want to make sure I get rid of my migraines in the next day or so, and to let them know if I have more gushing. So far they don't think my water broke, but there's always a chance that it could be a high leak instead of a low leak. Since I've had no problems since, I'm assuming it wasn't my water.

Apparently I'm losing a lot of my plug though, which they said is probably where the gushing and constant wet feelings are coming from. They also said it seems like my cervix is softening and changing, which would account for the mucus plug, the contractions, etc. She didn't actually check for dilation though, so I don't know if that's happening yet or not.

I got my GBS test done today, so I'll have the results at my next appointment, which I think is Monday.

Hopefully, I don't have another one of these scares again because Bill can't take off at the last minute like this again, and I definitely don't like the idea of having these kinds of scares and going without him. Actually, I don't like going without him to any baby appointment!

As of tonight, I have only a minor headache, lots of nausea, and lots of cramping/contractions with stabbing cervical pain - the last which is pretty much an every day thing at this point. Hoping tomorrow I'm able to eat a bit better and feel less yucky. Maybe if I can get rid of these symptoms, I can feel more tolerable of the rest of pregnancy. Only 29 days until my due date - yep, I'm in THE TWENTIES! WOW! How in the world did that happen? I thought 31 was big, because that's one month. But having only 20 some days left? It's a whole different level of "holy cow!"

35w,5d

There's something a bit magical about when Bill gets excited about the baby. While I've been on a verge of constant excitement/extreme nervousness, he got me to take a break from the nerves and just be excited. Last night he wanted to talk about the baby and how exciting it was that he'd be here soon and how eager he is to have another baby again. While I'm nervous about the birth and the first few weeks, it is nice to zoom back and think of the bigger picture. It's going to be so fun having another little kid in the house! I love watching Bill and Katie playing together, and Katie is such a daddy's girl. How much fun is it going to be to add another one into the play?

While I know it'll be an adjustment to get used to two kids, I'm not too worried at the moment. Katie is so easy going most of the time and always has been. She was a great baby and is a great toddler. Even if this one is a little spitfire, I'm counting on Katie to continue being my easy child until I get the hang of things. Now that we're all in the same rooms on the same floor, I think it'll be easier to do things. I've prepared as much as I think I can, so I'm definitely feeling ready to tackle this. I'm eager to have a new, snuggly baby to hold. I'm excited to have a long awaited addition to the family. I can't wait to see this dream actualized. And it's almost here! 30 days!!

Last night I felt horrible pressure above my pelvic bone. It hurt like crazy, enough where I couldn't walk. I leaned over the counter and swayed, then suddenly I felt a bunch of squiggling super low in my pelvis as the pressure stopped. I'm assuming this was baby dropping because now when he sticks his butt out, it's a bit lower. His feet never stop kicking, but they haven't gone inside my ribs since. I didn't wake up gasping at all or feeling unable to breathe last night. All signs point to him having lowered. I hope he stays there as he gets ready to go. I'm nearly ready, hopefully he is too! While I still have no hope of him coming even a day early, I wouldn't mind it. Any time after 38 or 39 weeks would totally be fine with me. It'll be an earlier birthday away from Christmas and it would get my baby here sooner, not to mention it would help with Bill's work as if his paternity leave goes into the New Year, he'll lose all of his personal days. But, I'm still guessing that his birthday will be between the 18th - 20th.

I quick grabbed a picture to make a comparison, it looks and feels lower so I'm guessing baby dropped. Dropped and head's down is a good sign at 36 weeks - now just stay there!

35w,4d

There's 31 days left to my ticker and next week, I'll be 37 weeks - FULL TERM! I feel like I've slipped back into dream land, where I can't understand that I'm actually this far, and soon this slithery little monkey that makes my belly do some crazy things will come out and be a new baby. How crazy!

I can see that it's starting to hit Bill. I mentioned that there were a few things we still needed for baby, and he said we should get them right away instead of waiting. While I was fetching things like baby washcloths (I never have enough, and since it seems like the popular method of changing a boy's diaper is to use a washcloth, I definitely need more) and nipple shields (Oh yeah, I'm gonna try a shield this time as apparently it helps with those first few weeks where you're raw and bleeding and damaged), he picked out this very soft little blue puppy that he and Katie were chatting about and said he wanted to get it for the baby. Usually he hates the baby aisles or even shopping in general, so it was sweet that he's actually looking around now and wanting things for this baby that's apparently coming REALLY soon.

Next week I'm going to put the mattress protection cover on the bed. The week after that I'm going to have Bill set up the whole car seat so it's ready to throw into the car (which I don't plan on doing until I'm in labor, so we can just put it in the trunk, just in case I need the backseat to be more "comfortable" and stretch out.) At the same time, I should probably get our big swing put together, and rewash the outfit i plan on taking him home in (as the top accidentally fell out of the basket and then I stepped on it and made it dirty, so back in the laundry it goes!)

I also finished three hat orders this week, so now I'm down to 7 more. Hopefully I can get through them all pretty quickly, I'm hoping to get at least 2-3 hats done each week. Everything needs to be shipped out by the first week of December at the very, very latest! While it's a bit stressful to be closing in on my due date while I still have orders out, it's nice to see my backup fund go up. Since Bill had no overtime this entire year (and most of last year!), we didn't get to make a baby fund like we did with Katie. We have an emergency fund that we'll dip into to cover the bills, and then we'll have my fund that I've been saving up so we can do things like eat out and by frozen dinners so Bill isn't cooking three meals a day while chasing a toddler and taking care of broken tailbone me and our circumcised baby. I don't have as much as I wanted to have, but I should get pretty close with the rest of these orders and one more month of mod money. I've gotten so used to bringing in some money each week that it's going to be a bit sad to see it all go!

Katie's overnight bag is nearly completed. I have a few outfits in there, I have the diapers I need to add to it, I have a brand new juice cup with Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck, two more juice cups with the characters on the lids like she loves, and a list of her words that she says all the time. (She often abbreviates titles of things, like Bear in the Big Blue House is just "house?" with a jiggle). I just bought her a little stuffed pluto to add to the bag, as today I was thinking of what she needs to be happy. Basically, if she has 1) a juice cup, 2) a snack that's either bananas, cookies, or chips, 3) Blues Clues and Pluto cartoons, 4) her blankie and 5) something fun to play with, she's happy all day. So I figured she'd love to carry around a little pluto, since he's her favorite thing ever right now, and he'll fit nicely into the bag. I'll just need to remember to grab her blankie that day and she'll have all she needs to have a happy little vacation while mommy is having baby.

Now I just need to get ME ready for this thing!

Milestone!

Today feels like a big milestone. I was so excited I cried. When I would remember it, it would make me happy. I don't remember this happening when it occurred with Katie, so I'm not sure what makes it SO exciting this time, but something is. Maybe it's the fact that it's a sign that baby is coming soon and it's a bit of a wake up call, like this is REALLY happening, which sometimes is still hard to believe.

I'm LACTATING!

I've been checking every time I take a shower for a few weeks now, just to see when it would happen. I sort of gave up seeing anything before the baby was born by this time, but figured eh, might as well check. And today, I was easily able to get multiple drops of colostrum out of one side! Every time I squeezed, more came out, so it wasn't just a tiny amount. I must have been leaking from last night or through the day too.

It's funny, because this happened about an hour or less from when we were at the store looking at nursing pads. I didn't get any, thinking I wouldn't need to for a bit, but of course I've been proven wrong! I'm hoping I don't leak enough to have to use them already, but right now I'm excited enough to not care.

I love that even with only one ovary, I'm still able to not only breastfeed, but to have a very large supply when breastfeeding and I'm able to get milk in so early. It seems like my body is made to feed babies, no matter what!

Almost 32 days left!!

35 Weeks

Baby appointment was finally today! We didn't get too many answers, next week will be more telling, but at least for right now we know that I'm still growing. I went from 29/30 measurements to now measuring 33/34 at 35 weeks. Much better, but as someone who's always been consistent through two pregnancies so far, they're still keeping an eye on it. An ultrasound is still on the table, next week when doing the GBS test and cervical test, they're going to see how low baby is. If he's low, they're going to say that it justifies the measurements and let it go. If the baby is high up, it means the baby might be small and they're going to look into why through ultrasound.

I can feel this baby, he's NOT small. In fact, he feels longer and bigger than Katie was, who was almost 8 lbs at birth. I have a pretty good feeling that his position is really throwing off the measurements, as instead of normal up and down babies, he's head's down but then slouches off to the side. His butt is against the bottom of my ribcage, and then his legs curl around and his feet are just under my breasts. So he's all crooked and curled up, which the midwife admitted that yes, his position is exactly that and yes, that could mess up the measurements by a few weeks. So that's what I'm going with until the next appointment. His heartrate is still fine, my blood pressure is fine, he moves constantly, everything looks great except this wonky measurement, so I'm thinking everything is fine. She was also able to tell that there is quite a bit of fluid in there, and while doing the heartrate, she poked around him and said his rising heartrate as a result meant that the placenta was still working well.

We also got very surprising, good news today. Even though pretty much everyone on my baby boards says that unless they're on government assistance insurance, circumcision isn't covered. I had Bill check with his insurance, moreso as a just in case or crossing my fingers that maybe, possibly, they'd cover it partially. Today they called back saying they do cover the whole thing! Yay! That's over $700 that we don't have to sweat over anymore, so it's a big relief. We weren't sure where that money was going to be taken from. I was so happy to hear that it's not a thing anymore. Now if I could just remember to discuss with a midwife about the details of the circumcision process (they do it differently as it'll be out of hospital, at the birth center, with a pediatrician) but last time I asked I was told I have to wait until his birth. I hate that idea, I like to prepare. I do not want to be on the phone with a list of doctors to research them and figure out which ones are available at the time, especially since it'll be right up against Christmas!

Other than that, I'm 35 weeks today! That means that a standard baby is 18+ inches, so I'm thinking he's taller than that, and weighs a little over 5 lbs. His kidneys and liver are fully developed now and are capable of working normally. All he has to do now is keep getting chunkier until the big day!

And take a look at what he's supposed to look like now. That's a big, fully formed baby in there!

Bump Pic for 35 weeks:

34w, 4d

There's been a transition this week - I've gone from panicking over how soon the end is to wanting it to be here now. It's that time in pregnancy where I feel horrible all day and night. This time around is much worse than Katie, I was grumpy last time but able to do things, not cursed with contractions and inability to breathe. This time, unless I spend the whole day laying down, I'm feeling horrible. My tailbone feels like it's ready to crack, there's SO much pressure on my pelvis, my belly is always sore because I have so many hard contractions, my cervix is killing me from random stabs that feel like a knitting needle is stabbing through it, my knees hurt from all the extra weight, and now my back aches from cramping, contractions, and the muscles being pulled so hard forward from this big belly.

Yeah, I'm feeling done. Done means I get a baby, I stop fretting, and it's closer to Christmas. Done means I can see my feet again, I can get through the pain and then have a normal body again.

Of course, this doesn't mean I actually want the baby coming anytime soon. I still need him to bake for at least four more weeks and even beyond that a bit just for comfort. But mentally, I'm cheering on the passing of each day. I want to stop dreading the end and just get done and reap my rewards. Logically, I know that this baby is probably staying put for a while after my due date and so I should stop cheering for the end because I'm going to exhaust myself, but yeah...hurry up.

I started to finally pack Katie's bag today. It makes me panicky to do it, so I've held off. It seems like she needs so much to go in it. How can I pack every piece of knowledge needed to keeping this kid happy enough to not notice mommy isn't there? I've been coming up mentally with lists of episodes of certain shows that always makes her happy. I've tried coming up with a list of "if she's crying, try these things in this order." I bought her favorite types of juice and a new pair of Minnie Mouse pajamas. I'm packing her big sister book that she loves to read. I'm going to see if I can actually put together a Shutterfly book about becoming a big sister since she gets really happy to see pictures of Mommy and Daddy when one of them isn't around, so I think it'll help.
Edit: I actually stopped writing here and holy cow did a few hours fly by quickly, but her big sister shutterfly book is now complete. I did a virtual preview read through of it with her and she really liked it and pointed out everything I knew she'd want to point out, so I'm going to order it this weekend and add it to the bag when it gets here.

Also, seeing 38 days left on my tickers just put me into shock. Knowing it's only just over a month until the baby is due is one thing, seeing the days just melt away off those tickers is another! Wow!

34w, 2d

Is there any more exciting of a sight than that of a newly wrapped pile of Christmas gifts? I spent a few hours today in my attic going through box after box of toys I've been storing the last two months or so. I'd forgotten what all I bought, but it's quite a bit more than I realized, and every single one are toys I know Katie is going to go crazy for. This is going to be a great Christmas for her, because she loves things so much. I know that she's even going to love all of Will's gifts too, because they're all in themes that she still loves (like Scout, Mickey Mouse, and Doggies). A few nights ago I bought a set of four Mickey/Minnie/Pluto wrapping paper rolls with some really cute gift bows and Mickey tags. I had to get it because I know just Katie coming down Christmas morning to see Mickey, Minnie and Pluto wrapped boxes all over is going to make her get so excited.

All the kids' gifts are now neatly wrapped up and ready. I'm waiting for Bill's gifts to arrive (should come on Monday) so I can officially be done wrapping and get that crossed off of my long, detailed Christmas list. I only have four weeks to get it all finished! I also need to order their ornaments and Katie some pjs for Christmas yet.

Baby was quiet for a while today, so to make sure he was fine I woke him up. He's giving it back to me now - he won't STOP moving, for hours he's been sticking his butt, knee and foot out of me at different times, getting the hiccups ontop of my bladder, and rolling around in there. He doesn't want to stop moving now!

I noticed today that it looks like bits of my mucus plug seems to be coming out. Maybe all of these contractions every day are actually beginning to do something. I wouldn't mind being a bit ahead of the game for when labor starts, and gives me more hope that I'll be able to do labor on my own before the time is up and without trying to self induce.