37.5 Week Belly Update

Had my check up and weekly NST yesterday. Ducky is still looking good. Her head is waaaay down which adds an awesome amount of pelvic pressure, but it's all good.

They took some blood and they're sending it off to test for Cholestasis because I've been itching like crazy. If the tests come back elevated, it looks like I'll have to be induced next week. I'm not sure which I'm hoping for at this point.

I'm seriously struggling to find things to occupy my time. I can only sit at my desk for so long before my butt/hips start to kill me. So I go lounge on the couch or lie down in bed. Last night I was so uncomfortable trying to get to sleep. I found one position that didn't involve constant pain, so that was nice. I tried to stay like that forever. lol.

I know Ducky can stand to cook for a good while longer, but I am still hoping she comes a teeny bit early. I'm honestly shocked and amazed we made it to February. Well, unless something very exciting happens in the next 10 hours, I'm pretty sure we're making it to February. I know it's totally selfish, but I really hope she's not born on Tuesday. The 4th is my mother's birthday and I would honestly HATE it if they shared a birthday. Mostly because of my past with my mother, but still. I think it would be fun if she's born on the 7th, because that will be 6 months from Hubbs' and my anniversary. Plus I think it'll be easy to remember.

I know, babies will come when they want though, so I'll just be here, trying to distract myself from the seemingly endless wait.

In the mean time, here's my ever-growing belly...

Lack of Blogging

I'm just so tired. Honestly, nothing exciting happens. lol. Every day is the same. I wake up, goof around online for an hour or so, stream stuff, eat, nap, stream more stuff, occasionally play WoW, and go to bed. Rinse, repeat. It's getting pretty monotonous.

We'll hit the 37 week mark tomorrow, so I'll be sure to post a belly pic of that. I really hope I don't have to put up with 3 more weeks of "any day now". Next Dr's appointment is Thursday and I'm seriously tempted to just ask to be induced at 39 weeks so we at least have a definitive deadline. The idea of going OVER my due date is horrifying at this point.

Hubbs is still sweet and awesome and continues to be lovely. So I've got that going for me. Gibbs is a little love sponge and is super attentive and cuddly. I'm feeling pretty ready to have this kid. I'm sure it's going to be ridiculously hard, but rewarding, and it has to be way better than just waiting around for it to happen. At least once she pops out we have someone to fawn over and remember that the past 9 months were worth it.

Sleep Time

Seriously, I am so tired all of the time. I go to bed around 10 or 11-ish and wake up around 3:30 -4. Eventually, I fall back to sleep after an hour or so and wake up around 10 or 11. I still feel the need for a nap in the middle of the day.

I've still been having contractions on and off and while they feel like they've definitely gotten stronger, they're far more sporadic and irregular. I seriously have no idea what to expect when real labor finally happens. These past two weeks of false labor have been kicking my ass. If the 5-1-1 rule doesn't work, then what will?!

In other news, Hubbs is leaving shortly to pick us up some donuts, because even though it's late, I am craving them something fierce. Donuts and like, and entire gallon of milk. Sounds totally amazing right now. I just have to stay awake long enough to eat them. lol.

My parents are prepping for their trip up here. Apparently they're going to rent a car and drive up and just hang out in a hotel. I want to wait a while before we allow visitors, but they're planning on driving up once I'm in labor. If they want to sit around bored in a hotel room, that's totally fine I suppose. I think having visitors in the hospital is weird, so we're just going to wait until we're home to allow it. I kind of wish we could get away with a week of bonding and just figuring out a schedule and stuff, but that's a little too much to ask for. Oh well.

Filling out this background check packet is seriously hard. List every single job you've ever had over the last 10 years... for some people, maybe that list isn't so long, but for me, it's a lot. I was excited when I calculated I was only waiting for 4 W2's this year. That's far better than last year's 6 in my opinion. Hopefully I can say I only have 1 for 2014. That would be nice. Everyone is very convinced I'll pass all of the tests, but I'm not so sure. A lie detector and a psych profile are scary things to think about. I know the trick is "don't lie" and "go with your gut answer" for each, but it's still scary.

February is almost here. I've become increasingly aware that this kid could seriously pop out any day now and I'm really not freaking out. I kind of just want her to get here already and I still have 4 weeks to go until the due date. At least my OB still thinks I'm not making it that far, so it's kind of nice to know she'll likely be born before that.

The biggest news in our house from this week though, is that the Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl. Hubbs could not be more excited. Watching the game on Sunday was incredibly intense and it was definitely not good for my BP. Maybe the baby will be good and decide to stay in until after the game, but who knows. Hubbs still wants her to be born the day the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, maybe he'll get lucky.

35 Week Belly Update

It's a few days late, but meh.

35 Week NST

Ducky rocked her NST today, which was nice. I felt like she'd been kind of lazy in the morning, of course she picked right up once the monitors were on. She really hates those things.

I had a few hours of contractions today, but nothing too major. The worst part is the excruciating hip/tailbone pain that pops up when I try to walk around. It's getting pretty old. If I try to sit up in a chair for too long it gets way worse. Once I spend a few hours lying down it goes away, so at least I know how to fix it.

Remember that interview I mentioned the other day? Awesomely, I've got a conditional offer of employment! Hurray! They gave me my background check packet and after I pass that, then there's a polygraph, a psych test, and a hearing test. If I pass all of that then I've got a shiny new career. A job with a real salary! I've been waiting forever for that! They're willing to be flexible on my start date as well, so that is a huge perk. I am completely over the moon about it. Filling out the background check packet did a number on me today, I'm almost done, but have to somehow magically recall every single job I've had in the last 10 years... it's going to be rather challenging considering there were a few jobs I held for about a week, one only a day and I never got paid for them either.

I knew 2014 was going to be a good year, and it's looking like I'm going to be right about that. YAY!

Bowling Ball

I'm not sure who mysteriously replaced my pelvis with a bowling ball in the middle of the night... but seriously... make it stop. Even walking sucks now. I haven't been able to roll over in bed without pain for a while, but I could at least mostly walk.

In other news, I think my job interview went pretty well. Out of the 5 original candidates, they've narrowed it down to 3. So I have a one in three chance of getting the job. I was also the first interview of the day, which makes me think I was the top pick. That's probably all in my head though. I'll hear next week if they want to shell out the cash to background check me. Apparently it costs them between $1000-$1500 to complete the process, so they really want to be sure. Here's to hoping!

Now that the interview is out of the way, I can just sit here and worry about when this baby is going to choose to pop out. I'm glad they stopped my labor on Sunday, and apparently going into preterm labor doesn't guarantee that I'll go into labor early. If my BP keeps acting up though, it's likely I'll be induced sometime between 37-39 weeks anyway. I guess now I just need to relax and hope that she cooks for as long as she needs to to avoid a NICU stay.

PTL Scare

I was 34 weeks, 5 days yesterday. I woke up at 4:30am with cramping. I took some tylenol, grabbed some water, and chilled in bed on my left side. They kept up for 2 hours. Eventually, I fell asleep and when I woke up at 10:30am, I was still cramping and had some pressure. They weren't really timable, but after my last visit, the Dr said to go in if I had cramping for more than 3 hours.
The cramping wouldn't go away and the pressure got worse, eventually it felt like stabbing in my cervix with every cramp. I gave in and went to L&D. I let DH stay home because I thought I'd be home in an hour or so, just like the Christmas Eve L&D visit.

They hooked me up and it turns out I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. They monitored me for a while, swabbed for Group B strep, took a urine sample via catheter (which was absolutely terrible), and checked my cervix. I was fingertip dilated but not effaced, so that's nice.

The contractions kept going and several hours later, the Dr decided since I wasn't quite 35 weeks yet, they'd try to stop my labor. I called DH at this point and told him to snag a ride down to the hospital. I would be there for at least a few more hours and in the event labor didn't stop or they needed to go to the next step to stop labor, I wouldn't be able to drive myself home. Plus it was nice having him around for support. They gave me 3 doses of something in pill form, I forget what it was called, one every half hour. It's scary to think that had I been 2 days further along, they would have just let me labor, eeeek.

It helped space my contractions to about 4-5 minutes apart. Luckily, the contractions didn't change my cervix any further. Since it didn't stop them all together, they decided to give me some morphine and something that also makes you sleepy and stops nausea, which apparently can also tell your uterus to chill the f*ck out. I didn't have any more contractions after the morphine shot and they sent me home just 7 short hours after checking in.

Definitely a little nerve-wracking to think that my body is already trying to get this baby out. The Dr said the next time it happens, they're not going to bother trying to stop labor, so really, it could be any day now. Send the sticky vibes this way if you can. Right from the beginning, my Dr knew I wasn't going to make it to 40 weeks, but I'm definitely hoping LO stays in there a bit longer, preferably after my job interview Tuesday. With the full moon Thursday though, I don't know how much longer she'll stay in there. Wish us luck!

The morphine did not make me sleepy, it just gave me a devil of a headache, extreme thirst, and a super dry mouth. In a way it was nice, because I didn't wake up to a huge drool puddle, but I did wake up every 15 minutes needing a drink. Mental note, if they offer morphine during labor, say no! I spent most of today feeling groggy and luckily tylenol took care of the headache. There was definitely a lot of napping involved.

I have my 2nd job interview tomorrow for this job I really want. Here's to hoping it goes well. Mostly I'm just hoping that my water doesn't break in the middle of it. lol. 

Family Date Night

Tonight we're heading out to our favorite Chinese buffet with Hubbs' sister and her family. After that, we're going to Hubbs' eldest sister's house for game night. We pretty much figured we should get all of our socializing out of the way now, since who knows when this baby is going to decide to pop out.

My Dr is going to start doing cervical checks at 36 weeks. Apparently because my uterus is a bit irritable and also because this baby is HUUUUGE. No one at this point believes we'll make it all the way to 40 weeks.

Tomorrow involves a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings (aka BW3's) to watch the Seahawks game. Hubbs is a die hard Seahawks fan and every game we've watched from BW3's they've won. So clearly, there is no question that's where we need to watch this game.

Normal BP What?

My BP was normal at my appointment today! It was magical! I still have to go in for NST's once a week, but I don't have another Dr's appointment until 36 weeks. I didn't even have to take home a pee jug! Seriously, best Dr's visit ever.

Ducky is still measuring big and my amniotic fluid is normal, but on the higher edge of normal. She passed her NST and was super active the whole time. It was a major pain trying to get her to stay on the monitor.

I've still been having some contractions. The Dr said to call if they are 10 minutes apart for 3 hours. That's much better than the 4 an hour. Now that I'm close enough to the due date, they're not as worried about PTL I guess.

A lot of the baby stuff is set up and ready to go, all Hubbs needs to do is a few loads of laundry now. It's all coming together and it feels pretty great. Sure I hurt and I can't do stuff, but knowing that the end is near makes it all just feel... awesome. 

34 Week Belly Update

Here's my 34 week belly. Somehow I convince myself that my belly isn't that big, and then I take a picture and I'm like, oh... yes it is. lol.

Tomorrow we have an appointment to get our car seat installed and learn how to do it ourselves. Our car has LATCH and I think it's flat enough in the middle to put it in the middle with the special seat belt in there. She'll hopefully tell us where the safest spot is.

In the evening I've got my breastfeeding class. I'm a little nervous about that because I think I have flat nipples. They also get annoyingly hard at times, not sure how well breastfeeding works with hard nips. I'll be the one asking all of the weird questions, go me.

Dexter Marathon

Hubbs and I have been marathoning Dexter over the last few days. We're already up to season 3. lol.

I got a callback for that job I interviewed for a few weeks ago. I'm really excited. At the initial interview, they mentioned the 2nd interview would involve meeting the head honcho and filling out the background check paperwork. I'm really hoping that's the case, because that means as long as everything comes back clear, I've basically got the job. So I'll be doing my 2nd interview 35 weeks pregnant. Ducky better stay in there until after the interview.
 
Stay tuned tomorrow for the 34 week belly pic.

Sushi Date and Sleep

Hubbs and I had a sushi date night tonight, which was awesome. I use the term "night" loosely because we got to the restaurant at around 4:30. I was hungry. lol. I think the main problem with this is now it's 8pm and I'm totally ready for bed. I woke up a bit earlier than usual and didn't take my daily nap. Oh well, I am a grown woman, I can go to bed at 8:30pm if I want, no one can stop me. Muahahaha.

I had to drop off my labs today. Yet another 24 hour pee jug that I barely filled up enough. When I turned it in, the lab lady was like "this is the full 24 hours?!". Good stuff. They took some blood and I should get the results back Monday. It's annoying doing this every two weeks, but I know it's for the best.

Next week starts the weekly visits and the NST's. I also have a breastfeeding class and my appointment to have the car seat installed. Hurray for that. Especially since it seems like we'll be needing that car seat sooner rather than later.

I also finally got Hubbs to move the last of his boxes into the closet, so the "baby area" of our bedroom is mostly ready. Now we have a place to put all of the clothes he has to wash. lol. It's weird getting everything set up and ready, it makes it all seem so much more real. 

Due Date Change and Weekly Visits.

My due date got bumped up to Feb 18th because my Dr's office finally got a hold of my 1st trimester ultrasound. This puts me about 2 weeks further along than they had in their records. Eek.

I got to take home yet another jug of doom, but magically, I didn't have trace protein in my urine sample at the office AND my BP was semi-decent for once. 134/89 which I'm pretty sure is the lowest it's been this entire pregnancy. I am now however, going in every week and doing a weekly NST since my BP is a bit wonky still. Hopefully I'll still only have to do the jug and blood work every two weeks, but I'm not so sure.

They are still very convinced that there is no way I'm making it to my new due date. We'll see. I think it would be cool to have the baby on Groundhog's Day, but I guess that's up to Ducky. At this point, they're keeping an eye on things just in case and overall making me feel very comfortable. I've got to keep up with the modified bed rest and continue doing what I'm doing.

Last night I had some pretty annoying contractions. They lasted for about two hours and never really got frequent, but certainly hurt a bit more than last time with some radiating pain into my back and down my thighs. If it happens again and I clock more than 6-8 an hour I get to take another trip to Labor and Delivery. Wheee.

I'm also rocking a vicious cold that I think I caught from Hubbs' eldest sister's family. The runny nose part has gotten better but the cough is kicking my ass. Tylenol cold is my new best friend. At least I'm only waking up about once a night though, so that is a win in my book.

There's still so much we have to do before Ducky gets here. The part that sucks is that Hubbs pretty much has to do all of it since I can't lift anything or help too much. Mostly just straightening up, cleaning, and putting away the boxes that we still haven't bothered with since we moved in here in August.  We set up the crib and I sorted Ducky's clothes into bags my size. All of the 0-3 and 3-6 month stuff is ready to be washed, Hubbs just has to get to it. I think realizing that we realistically have less than a month until this kid comes is finally dawning on him. Wish us luck! lol.

New Year and New Fear

I'm still trying to grasp the fact that Hubbs and I will be parents sometime in the next 2 months. It's frightening and exciting and still a completely alien concept. Our lives are about to change in such a dramatic way, that I can't really comprehend the enormity of the situation.

Of course I still have the common pregnancy and parenting fears, perhaps more so because this pregnancy was so unexpected. Now with the increasing pregnancy complications, it does seem like some of them are very real fears indeed. Mostly having this kid in January instead of February.

A part of me still worries that we won't get a baby out of this at all. I'm 32.5-ish weeks now and I know in theory she could be born now and have a bit of NICU time and be ok. I'm also aware of the albeit highly unlikely possibility of a cord accident, or something going wrong with delivery and either one or both of us not making it.

Those fears I try not to dwell on, the ones I have no control over. Putting those in the back of my mind brings forth the other fears. The "how in the heck am I supposed to know how to be a mother" fears. I occasionally worry about not knowing what to do, not loving her enough, loving her too much. What if she turns out to be a little jerk and is stubborn and completely rambunctious and uncontrollable? This is mostly a fear because one of our nephews is totally a reckless little terror.

The first little bit is easy. Feed her, let her sleep, bathe her, watch her grow. It's the part after those precious first months that scare me. Hubbs has taken care of a very young child before, so he'll show me the ropes, both of us though are at a complete loss as to "how to parent". I'm hoping it is something that comes kind of naturally. We've seen the way Hubbs' siblings parent, one of them has a style we like a lot and her kids are extremely well behaved and polite. We've definitely decided to avoid the parenting tactics that lead to our two youngest nephews completely controlling their parents' lives. We've observed and will adapt some of their strategies as our own, and hopefully we come up with a strategy that works for our family.

A part of me is also worried that instead of popping out a girl, this will, in fact, be a boy. I know the chances are slim, especially given how many ultrasounds I've had, but the techs have never been completely sure. Little Ducky tends to not want to cooperate when it comes to those things. Luckily, we finally decided on a boy name just in case.

I'm excited for 2014. I know it brings about the end of our lives as we knew them, but it brings with it a completely new world of possibilities and wonder that can only make our lives better. Bring it on, new year, bring it on.