Baby Journal: Week 33

(Just look at our gal! She's popped sooo much in the last month!)

(Later in the blog you will read about my comfy pants worn in the photo above...the K-STATE sweatshirt is my sister's. She loaned it to me and Baby Girl and I wanted her to see it still fits!)

(You'll also read about this photo above...miss Molly being bad!)

(Clothes, blankets, bibs.....all washed and ready for our Baby Girl!)

August 17, 2010

How far along am I today?

33 weeks

What is the favorite thing you ate today?

My stomach feels a little icky today…and food isn’t really appearing all that appetizing today. However, the cornbread I had earlier was pretty tasty.

How’s the food stuff coming along? Cravings? Aversions?

I would like a drink from Starbucks…blended passion tea lemonade with raspberry flavor. That sounds so very good to me right now.

Any new symptoms this past week?

Ben said that for the first time during this pregnancy, I am acting pregnant. We were on a walk on Sunday and I walked extremely slow. Ben kept looking around anxiously and saying, “are you sure you don’t want to turn back? There are people around….” Haha, I guess he was embarrassed for me since I was “acting” so pregnant. It wasn’t an act though, I just feel slow these days! Our daughter is pressing against my rib cage and weighing down upon my hips, legs, knees, feet. I feel tired more frequently and I just feel ready for our daughter to arrive…

What about the exercise routine?

As I mentioned above, I feel like I am slowing down. I still work out daily, my limbs just feel heavier and harder to move.

Sleep…is it good/bad/mediocre?

I can’t wait to sleep on my stomach and my back. I am so tired of trying to sleep on my sides…it hurts my hips, shoulders and neck. It’s simply uncomfortable…even with tons of pillows. Sigh. But I am surviving. Some nights I have trouble falling asleep. Nighttime is when I feel least confident about the delivery part of pregnancy. It never fails, my mind has always had a tendency to wander at night and so I often lay there in bed, thinking….about when it might happen, how it might happen, etc. Will I be a good Mom? Will I know what to do? Eventually morning does arrive and I always feel so much better…and more confident. I know I can do it and I know God’s in control…I know He will deliver our daughter just as she is to be delivered, and I’m sure I will be a good Mom.

How big is the baby…and/or what does he/she resemble?

Our daughter is officially in the honeydew stage these days…although like I said, she’s closer to the size of a watermelon. We will get her most recent measurements tomorrow during out appointment. Oh wow! I just read some encouragement! The first words on this particular website state, “growth may be slowing!”

And special milestones for baby?

Baby Girl’s getting more practice with her 5 senses as she responds to light and sound especially. So fun!

How about the baby’s activity?

I can pretty much figure out what body parts are where most times of the day in regards to our daughter in my belly. Oftentimes, she sits with her bum pressed hard against my belly button region. She also enjoys tickling her feet on my rib cage…which HURTS! I feel like my rib cage is bruised from her powerful little feet.

Did anything special (besides the baby growing!) happen to me this week?

Ben and I took a CPR/First Aid course this past Saturday through our hospital. (They are trained through the American Heart Association.) The first hour of the class went over home and car safety. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I had to bite my tongue SOOOOO much. If you recall, I worked with foster families in the States…I walked through their home and went over 40 PAGES home and car safety (amongst other safety regulations). They had maybe 6 tips for home safety. And TWO for car safety. They didn’t even discuss locking up medications, nor did they discuss the importance of wearing seat belts (I shouldn’t have been surprised here!). I finally did speak up. I stated, “I just wanted to say really fast how important it is to also lock up ALL medications including vitamins because children can get into that and get sick.” The instructor looked offended for a moment, then said, “well we lock up our bathrooms.” I decided this was a battle I could not fight and kept my mouth shut the rest of the time. Just so you know, you are NOT supposed to keep any medications in the bathroom because of the humidity and how it can negatively affect your medications. You should lock up your medications elsewhere. Anyway, the rest of the class was good. It was beneficial for Ben and me to learn various First Aid tips as well as how to perform CPR on an infant, child and adult. It’s amazing how hard you have to press on a tiny baby! The AHA uses 2 breaths, then 30 compressions upon the chest for all ages. Ben was cute when he performed his practice CPR on the infant model. He did the CPR and then said, “Baby’s been resuscitated!” Haha! He got a good laugh from the group for that one! As for me? I had trouble getting up and down from the floor…

I also washed up all of our daughter’s clothes, blankets, towels, burp cloths, etc. that we have with us here in SA. I originally intended to allow her clothes to dry in the kitchen (the warmest room in the house), near where I would be sitting so I could look at them whenever I wanted. However, Molly thought that the drying rack and hanging clothes were for her to play with and she actually JUMPED on top of the rack and started walking on Baby Girl’s clothes. I snapped a quick photo, rewashed the items Molly walked on and then moved the drying rack to a more secluded Molly free room. It took nearly THREE days for all of Baby Girl’s items to hang dry in that room. But I must say…I absolutely LOVED going into the room and breathing in the baby soft scent. I can’t wait to dress our daughter…to swaddle her, to hold her…we are so blessed.

What was the most random thing that happened this week?

Pick on Daddy time again. I earlier mentioned how Ben kind of teased me for my slloooowwness on our walk Sunday. Also, on Sunday, I changed into some super comfy sweatpants after church. However, prior to donning my sweats, I cut them to Capri length because they were formerly too short. These particular sweatpants are also a little baggy on me…okay, more than a little baggy…(I’ll include a photo for you). Anyway, Ben laughed at me! He actually made fun of my comfy pants! When we got ready to leave to go grab some pizza, he even had me change out of my comfy pants for fear that we might run into someone from work. HA! What a stinker! On our way to the pizza place, I redid my ponytail. As I shook out my hair between ponytails, Ben looked at me and LAUGHED at my hair! He thought I was going to leave my hair done with the horrible crease, but he was wrong. I don’t know what was going on with Benjamin this weekend, but for some reason he thought it was “pick on your pregnant wife day.” Hehehe, it’s okay, I love ya babe! And I agree my comfy pants are a little funny looking….but they are COMFY!!! And comfy overrides cuteness at this stage of pregnancy…

DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT:

Rather than posting two separate posts, I am just going to post everything together. We saw the Doctor today for our regular check-up (now every 2 weeks!). It's funny, our Doctor can really be hit or miss. She often will forget things that we discussed in our previous appointment and ask us questions that we have already discussed. But I suppose I'd rather her ask than not! Also, some days she is all happy go lucky and others...not so much. As you might recall, I was a little upset after our previous appointment because the Doctor was pushing me hard towards a c-section. It was as if she wouldn't even support natural birth even though she had previously said she would. Anyway, today went differently- better.

She didn't even bring up having a c-section today. She asked how we were feeling about natural birth, if we were ready, etc. She asked if we were painting the nursery (even though we have told her we are moving about 2-3 months after Baby's birth). She also asked if anyone was coming out for the birth (even though last time we discussed how we would need special clearance for my mom and sister to visit during non-visiting hours if they are here for the birth...). Then we went on in and checked out our girl. Baby Girl was moving like crazy, jabbing out my tummy in every direction you can imagine! The Doctor found this quite humorous. Even more humorous was the fact that Baby Girl had the hiccups- AND- whenever the Doctor would press on my stomach with the ultrasound thing, Baby Girl would kick at it. Hilarious! Baby Girl wants allllll space to herself right now! Well, Doctor couldn't get a good pic of our Girl's face, that's because her head is already nice and situated in my pelvis, just as it should be. That's when the Doctor says, "Well, everything looks great and I even anticipate that, given the way your baby is sitting, you might deliver 1-2 weeks early..." Wow! Kind of the news we were HOPING to hear!

I felt soooo relieved as we walked out of that Doctor's office. Thank You Jesus!

So, thanks to everyone for your prayers. Oh- and Baby Girl now weighs around 5.35 lbs, so her weight gain has certainly slowed a bit (which is normal!). She is also still pretty long...but in all my excitement, I already forgot her estimated length....