36 Weeks Down!
Mystery # of weeks left to go!
As I write this I'm starting week 37, so I'm full term now!
What!? That's crazy!
This pregnancy has been incredibly fast for me.
I remember last time I was pregnant, feeling by 30 weeks like I was pretty much done --- and thinking the thought: "10 more weeks," was starting to give me claustrophobia. (Little did I know I had 12 weeks left!)
This time as of 36 weeks I was nearly oblivious. Well okay not oblivious at all, but I just don't have that same "Oh my gosh I just cannot go on!" feeling in the slightest.
This week I had no appointments at all. Kinda weird feeling. But since a prenatal appointment at 36 weeks would have been pretty uneventful (not far enough along to do anything exciting to promote labor, and I didn't think I'd have much to say when I went in) we just waited to do one at 37 weeks.
And since my pelvis has been doing good my chiro spaced out my appointment a bit. So I did have an appointment on Monday (last day of this week of pregnancy) but it left the last calendar week open.
I thought I would feel bored and like I was twiddling my thumbs, but I actually felt really busy and like the week flew by.
I was gathering up last minute stuff I want to be stocked up on for the baby. Diapers, toilet paper --- the basics. And then I was getting supplies for random projects. (Baby's name art, jewelry holder, some fabric for a random project.) And then I was getting stuff for J's bday. It's at the end of the month! (I've had it in my mind that it would be awesome for the girls to share a bday! I'm not sure how they would feel about that, but I love the idea.) (Who knows when #2 wants to come, though.) SO since events could be kinda crazy timing-wise, I thought, "I better get her present and some cake supplies now while I still have the chance."
So apparently that is enough to fill my days, especially when you need to include nap time (for both me and J! Naps are a must for me to last through this stage of my pregnancy), and bedtime and all things toddler.
With J's dairy allergy, I was actually really excited to find that Duncan Hines makes dairy-free frosting (Thanks, Lucy, for the tip!) as well as cake mixes! I know I could have easily made a non-dairy cake from scratch, but a box at this point in life was like "oh my gosh! How awesome is that!?" And I could have figured out how to make frosting, but not as easily as the cake, so I was even happier about the frosting!
I think I got overexcited and ended up buying three options! My logic went something like this, "J never eats sweets, so I don't know if she likes chocolate or yellow cake. Hmm... Well, maybe I will get both. Yeah, because, well, I don't know when the baby will be born, so I don't know when we will have a party, and I don't know if we will have two parties. So two cakes is good. Yeah. And wait brownies too? MmHmm. Yeah. In fact, yeah, even if we only have one party with one cake, I'm gonna be able to eat sugar soon... Yeah let's do this!"
lol. So I came home with chocolate cake, yellow cake, brownies, 2 cans of chocolate frosting and one can of vanilla. Mmmmm! Honestly, I don't know if J is even going to eat any of it. She actually is a total carnivore. I keep telling Blake we need to make her a "Ron Swanson (from Parks and Rec) Cake" made of steak. It can have ketchup frosting. That's more her speed. :)
Then I did a little panicking in the toy aisles because I always want to get everyone I ever get presents for the "perfect present" and I stress over it. Then it's for my very own daughter, so I put more pressure on myself. Then it's my daughter who's about to have major life transition of becoming a sibling, so I feel even more like this should be a good present. After calling Blake like 3 times and my mom once, I finally found the "right present." Phew!
While I've been out and about on these errands, it seems people are now starting to do the "When are you due?!?" (Using the tone that implies "Why aren't you in labor right this second?") Or "Wow you look like you could go anytime."
This is the first time where people are actually kinda getting this right in my case. (With J last time, I got tons of comments like that about 3 months before I was due, and got progressively less as I got closer... So weird.) And this time, I had gotten a couple wrong guesses a few months ago.
So I don't really mind people saying it now, since it is fairly accurate.
But I just don't like to say my due date, because first off, I hate due dates. Second of all for this pregnancy I have been given three due dates and don't know which one to say. And third of all, I actually want to be the creepy weirdo and tell them how dilated I am and about all sorts of things they don't wanna hear about because I feel like that is more exciting than an inaccurate due date. (But I resist for social protocol's sake.)
So I've just started answering "Any time now."
I like saying that.
It feels optimistic.
But I do question (because I think too much about everything) why is everyone saying this to me this week? Because, honestly, my belly hasn't grown (circumference around the belly button) on the tape measure for a couple weeks. (Don't worry, I'm measuring on track the way providers measure fundal height.) Looking at photos, even in weeks further back, I don't feel like I have looked incredibly different since about 33 weeks. AND I don't feel like I look as "ready" as I did last time. (Meaning I think my belly took up more of my whole abdomen last time.) In addition, I don't feel like I had been waddling, or looking weary or giving away my due date with my actions. So it was just surprising to me to have them say anything.
But like I said, I'm not mad or annoyed. I just like to think on things.
Maybe it's just a good sign that I really am about to have this baby.
Speaking of good signs...
I've been having some that make me feel not only pretty confident that I'll go into labor this time, but that this baby really might want to come early, like I've been talking her into!
Good signs:
- I have yet to confirm this with anyone of professional knowledge, but I think the baby engaged on Thursday. I had tons of Braxton-Hicks all day long, and then she felt different in there. Since then I feel like it is really uncomfortable in my pelvis when crawling around with J. (One of my healthy pregnancy things to do.) (She starts to yank on me, saying "Help you. Help you." trying to get me to go faster, because I seriously take forever now.) And getting up and down feels really uncomfortable in one place, it feels weird to bend certain ways. And walking can be uncomfortable in the pelvis too. Plus, when I "palpate" (feel the baby through my belly) (Ha, like I really know what I'm doing!) I can only figure one of two options. The first is: yes, she is in there deep, and I am not feeling her head at all above my pelvic bone anymore, but her shoulder. Or second: I don't know what I'm doing and that is not her shoulder, but her head, and she is actually not in the pelvis at all. But I'm not sure how I would be feeling all these sensations if she was still floating up higher. (But I just don't want to get over excited and announce things I'm unqualified to say.) So this upcoming Thursday I will confirm or deny at my appointment.
- (TMI warning!) The cervix is shedding a bit of blood this week.
- More and more Braxton-Hicks
- After my chiro adjustment this week (which, by the way, was with a different chiro. Mine had a family emergency, so I saw her partner and it wasn't as informative as far as baby position and things, but still helpful for what its for.) Anyway, after I left there I had the strongest Braxton-Hicks I've yet to have. Breathing through some of them and kinda getting me worried about the long 50 minute drive home on my own with J. (Most of my pregnancy-related stuff to do is in Des Moines, which is 45--60 mins away, depending on the part of town... Ames is really too small for my little VBAC needs --- they don't do them, and don't focus on them. And the next best thing is in Des Monies so we do a long drive about once a week, sometimes twice.) Anyway, the Braxton-Hicks went away in about 30 mins. But I took having them happen like that as a "Wow, these adjustments really do do something!" Which is cool.
Other than that, what have I done this week?
Well, me and J have been watching You Tube videos of babies being born. I wasn't sure what I thought about her seeing them at first, but I figured it was good overall. I'm not sure how much of me she will see in labor before my mom gets here, so I don't want her to be shocked. (And we do have a back-up someone to watch her, depending on how everything plays out, so she might not see much.) But I thought it would be good for her to get used to the idea, just in case. So I let her watch them with me. She actually got really excited about it. Now she will randomly ask to see "more baby." I told her the mommy is working to help the baby be born, and when the moms were doing some more of the "ahh"s and moaning, I told her the mommy was singing --- so she started to "sing" with them. (I thought that was cute and hilarious.)
At some points this week I've felt pretty nauseous. I'm not sure if it was leftover from my sickness last week, or if maybe that's just how my body is handling the end of this pregnancy. (It didn't happen at all last time.) So that's been frustrating, because it makes it really hard to want to eat at all when that's going on. But this week is ending feeling pretty good as far as the tummy.
But it's also ending with me feeling more and more pregnant and tired. At the beginning of the week I felt pretty good but after (I think) she engaged, I've felt pretty "whoa." Like I could sleep all day. I could live in the bathtub. (Not sure what that's about, just feels soo cozy, like an endless hug.) And doing basic stuff around the house is starting to feel like climbing a mountain, since it's hard to get into a lot of positions with her down so deep. Week 37 may be a challenge.
But I'm trying to stay optimistic, since this is exactly what needs to happen. But it just gets a bit overwhelming to my emotions at times when I think about willingly signing up for labor. I think it's just stage fright. I think once the curtain goes up, I'll be in the zone. But waiting is starting to give me butterflies in my stomach. I'm listening to more of my Hypnobabies to try and ward them off. I think it's helping.
Be praying for me! :)
-Lydia
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