My theory on "nesting"

Nesting -- It occurs to many pregnant women and is said to start around 5 months. When the urge increases around 40 weeks, it is seen as an impending sign of labor. I have another theory...

Nesting is a survival instinct when it occurs after 36 weeks. Sitting around waiting for your baby to make his/her appearance will in fact drive you crazy. So what else is there to do but clean the house? Then as you continue to clean, you'll find all those things that you can ignore on a daily basis but all of a sudden organizing them will become more appealing than sitting around over-analyzing every small pain.

Last night after 12 hours at work, I got home & started cleaning the house. Since this isn't my usual behavior, Jason automatically said, "you must be getting ready to go into labor!" Honestly, it's uncomfortable to sit on the couch, laying in bed is worse & doing nothing causes me to think too much about how much I want to go into labor! So the alternative: clean the house. Maybe tonight I'll organize the tupperware...

37 Week Doctor Appointment

Weight: +3 lbs (ick!)
Blood Pressure: 116/68
Heartbeat: 135
Fundal Height: 38.5 (up 2.5 in a week -- he had a growth spurt!)
Labor Progress: No change from last week, 50% effaced & 0 cm dialated. Doctor said he's definitely expecting him to hold out until January.

Can't say I'm not a little dissapointed...

Time Flies! Then it stops!

I couldn't believe how quickly the first 36 weeks of pregnancy seemed to fly by. Then even week 36 went by pretty fast with the holidays. Now that I'm 37 weeks...time has stopped.

We've accomplished everything I needed to do before the baby is born. Our nursery is stocked, the hospital bag is ready, the carseat is installed...we're ready. Apparently Brody is not.

Babies full-term babies are born anywhere from 37-42 weeks. That is a long window of opportunity. And if Brody decides to hold out for 42 weeks, I'm going to be one impatient mommy!

Now I just sit back and remind myself that his health is the most important thing to me and if he needs more time in there, he should have it.

37 Week Bump

37 Weeks

Pregnancy Week 37 to the big day: Your baby is the size of the electric motorin the $110,000 2008 Tesla which can go from 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds. Sweet.

Baby's now the size of a watermelon! Your full-term (yay!) baby is gaining about 1/2 ounce a day and getting his first sticky poop (called meconium) ready. He's also brushing up on skills for the outside world: blinking, sucking, inhaling, exhaling, and gripping (it's getting strong!).

Weekly Checklist

How far along? 37 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 31 lbs & hoping it stays that way

Maternity Clothes: Yep, but sweatpants & hoodies are my favorite thing to wear these days.

Sleep: Isn't easy. Luckily I've been off of work for the holidays & able to take naps in the afternoon.

Food Cravings: Nothing exciting

What I miss: Just about everything. I just can't wait to feel like myself again.

What I am looking forward to: Aside from meeting my little boy, I can't wait to take the focus off myself and onto him. For the last several months, I worry about what I eat, what I can lift, whether or not I'm getting enough sleep. Normally I like to be able to do things for myself and not worry about how much I can take on. Once Brody is here (and my body is recovered), I can focus that energy on him and start doing things for myself again!

Weekly wisdom: Being patient at this stage in the pregnancy is easier said than done. We're prepared to meet our son & now that he's full-term and it's safe for him to join us, I'm definitely anxious. I know he'll arrive when he's ready, but it's hard to wait!!

Milestones: Baby is now full term!

36 Week Doctor Appointment

We've offically started our weekly doctor appointments, which means we're nearing the end!

Weight: +0!! (Despite the Cinnabon I had right before hand)
Blood Pressure: 120/70
Heartbeat: 145
Fundal Height: 36
Baby's size: I had to ask him this week if he will estimate how big Brody will be when he's born. I have been told by several people that their doctor's estimates were completely off & some that were right on. But I'm a curious person, so I at least wanted to know what he thought.

So here's the consensus: He's probably already around 7lbs, and he estimated around 8 at birth. The only part that worries me is if he's late & grows a 1/2 lb a week like the doctor said he could. That would be a 9+ lb baby! Oh well, women do it all the time.

Labor Progress: This is the first week that he started doing internal exams to determine the progress towards labor. It is just an estimate and it's also not a strong indicator of how far away/close labor is. This is because I could dialate quickly or slowly. Some women remain 3-4cm dialated for weeks or go from 0-4cm in a few hours.

At this point, I am not dialated at all, but my cervix is 50% effaced (thinned out). The baby is definitely moving down & is head down. So he's getting ready to go.

Kick Counts: I have a sheet to start tracking the amount of times Brody moves. He's a pretty active little guy, so it's just important to make sure I take the time 2-3 times a day to notice if he's moving that day.

Next appointment: 1 week! Plus I'll be officially full-term!

36 Weeks

Weekly Checklist

How far along? 36 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 31 lbs? (my scale actually says less, but the evil Dr office scale always says more)

Maternity Clothes: I'm officially moving onto buying nursing clothes & am done buying maternity clothes. (That should make Jason happy)
Sleep: Is not going so well these days. My hips are expanding again (I thought they did that already?!?) and if I don't turn over frequently enough, then they get sore. Of course, turning over is like a 5 minute process by itself!!

Food Cravings: Bad food. I wished I craved green vegetables. But food combinations like peanut butter & chocolate seem more desirable to me. Maybe that's not just a pregnancy thing though...

What I miss: Sitting close to my desk. Sometimes I scoot my chair too close & end up with a desk digging into my stomach.

What I am looking forward to: Delivering this boy. I know it's premature to complain, I could easily have 4-5 weeks left. Plus in theory, I'd really like to wait until after the holidays for him to make his appearance. But honestly, I'm done feeling huge and uncomfortable. I really want to meet my son & can't wait to hold him. So if he wants to make an early appearance, I won't complain.

Weekly wisdom: Being a control freak & being pregnant doesn't go well together. There is very little you can control about labor & delivery and nothing you can control over the day your baby decides to make his appearance (with the exception of a scheduled c-section). I was nervous at first because we didn't have all the essentials for him. But now that we have the important stuff, I'm just nervous because he could decide to show up at anytime and I have no choice in the matter. I've also started having dreams about going into labor. All of this just makes it more stressful, so now I need to sit back and learn the art of patience and spontaneity. I'll let you know how that goes. :)
Milestones: Stretch marks. I'm not happy about it & don't want to talk about it.

35 Weeks down 35 Days to go!

No new fruit for a couple weeks...still a honeydew.

Weekly Checklist
How far along? 35 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 31 lbs
Maternity Clothes: Are boring. I have clothes envy everytime I walk through the normal size department.
Sleep: Depends on the night. Some nights I can't get enough sleep, other nights I'm too uncomfortable for a full night.
Food Cravings: nothing new this week
What I miss: I'll just keep adding to my list from last week: Heels, belts, buttoning my winter jacket, squeezing into small spaces, having normal emotional reactions to things, fully caffenated starbucks lattes...
What I am looking forward to: Seeing Brody in all his adorable new clothes.
Weekly wisdom: Unless you are close to a pregnant woman and/or you really care about the answer, skip the "how are you feeling question?" When random co-workers ask you this on a daily basis, it gets a bit exhausting. I know they mean well, but it just gets to be a little much. To future pregnant women, I recommend making a T-Shirt that says: "I'm feeling fine, due January 15th and it's a boy." :)

Milestones: 35 & 35. After 35 weeks of pregnancy, I only have 35 days to go (give or take).

34 Week Doctor Appointment

Another run-down of my latest appointment. Again, things are going very well, so it was a quick one!

Weight: up 1 lb for total gain of 31 lbs.
Blood Pressure: nurse didn't say, but they said it was great
Heartbeat: 140
Fundal Height: 34.5 cm -- still right on track, yay!
Questions:
He asked how I was doing & I gave him the same, doing great! I did mention that Brody's movements seemed to have changed slightly (I had a couple days where he was on the quiet side) but that it seems just like he's running out of room. Dr asked if I was having at least 10 movements per day? Per day? Definitely. He moves more than that when I'm ready to go to bed. I'm lucky that he's such a mover.

Since I know i'm getting closer to that delivery day, I wanted to ask him a few questions about when to come into the hospital etc.
When to call the dr: Call with any problems or trauma etc. But if I'm having contractions, call the doctors office during the day. He also said at my 36 week appointment I'll get his home number so I can call him if it's after hours. I thought that was pretty generous.

When to come into the hospital once in labor: He said whenever I am comfortable, but once contractions are about 5 minutes apart for a full hour we should definitely come in.

Induction: If I have a favorable cervix (he gave a certain centimeters dialted & % effaced) then he will induce at any point after my due date, if I want him to. If my cervix is still pretty closed, he will let me go 10 days after my due date. This reduces the rate of "failed inductions." Obviously his goal is to not try to make my body do something it's not ready for. All totally reasonable to me. I especially like the idea that if I am favorable, I can schedule an induction within a few days of being overdue.

Winter weather: Then on his way out, he gave me a quick lecture. It was kinda funny, but just something I'm sure he does with everyone (he doesn't even know what a clutz I am!) But he just said, make sure I walk slow in the winter weather & take small steps. If I fall & land anywhere on my stomach I should give them a call.

Next appointment: Starts my weekly appointments. He will do an internal exam to see if I've started dialating. They also do a group B strep test to see if I am carrying the bacteria. If I do, they will have to administer antibiotics during delivery. Other than that, it didn't sound like a big deal, but I can learn more if for some reason I fall in that category.

Plus, our next appointment is the week of Christmas...yay!!

Pregnancy Police - Bowling

Tomorrow we are having a Finance outing in which we will be bowling. (This is very typical of Finance people --I don't know why). So of course for the last 3 weeks or so, all I have heard is, "can you bowl?" My simple answer has been, yes, I can lift up to 25lbs, why not a bowling ball?

I know my body and I have continued to make safe decisions for the last 7 1/2 months for me and the baby. If women can train for marathons when they're pregnant, I can throw a 10 lb bowling ball down a lane for an hour or so!!

Then today, another co-worker is talking about the outing and says "well of course you're not bowling!" So I told her, yes I am planning to bowl. She mentions that another co-worker in her department was told by her doctor that she wasn't allowed to and she's not even as far along as I am. At this point the rest of my co-workers in the discussion begin to voice similar concerns.

Okay, fine, fine, I'll call my doctor. So I did, and guess what he said? "Yep, you can bowl!"

I just wish being pregnant didn't mean justifying the decisions I make on a daily basis.

33 Weeks/34 Weeks

Month 8: Weeks 33-36
"Baby’s senses are continuing to improve -- when light peeks in through your (extremely) stretched belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. And, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs… time to start practicing your lullabies! Growth (at least inside your womb) is starting to slow, and you may notice baby descend into your pelvis at the end of this month. " -Thebump.com

"Pregnancy Week 33-36: The next time you look into your17-inch computer screen, know that your baby is now that long." -hisboyscanswim.com

Weekly Checklist

How far along? 34 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 30 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I think it would be hilarious to try on something non-maternity right now...

Sleep: Still sleeping pretty good, but turning over in the middle of the night takes considerable more effort than before.

Food Cravings: I'm still waiting for that random pickle craving in the middle of the night or something!

What I miss: Where to start? Heels, belts, buttoning my winter jacket, squeezing into small spaces...

What I am looking forward to: Finishing all those last minute details so I can stop stressing. (Like what if I go into labor tomorrow & we still don't have a car seat?!?)

Weekly wisdom: I thought being 8 months pregnant in December would be a good thing because it's not in the dead heat of summer. What I forgot about is all the choas of the holidays. Buying baby gear during peak shopping season plus worrying about buying christmas gifts (we're almost done with that at least!), plus holiday parties and family celebrations makes for a very busy time. All of this going on when my body decides it needs more rest and I can't stay up past 9:30 anymore!! Lesson learned, February or March babies seem like the right answer. :)

Milestones: I've gone from "oh this is what heartburn feels like" to "hmm, I can't remember what it feels like to not have heartburn all day long"