34 Weeks

How I'm feeling?  Well this week has not been the best, but hanging in there.  The nausea is getting better-- I've cut down the anti-anxiety meds to only taking every other day and have noticed a big difference and have my appetite back.  Prior to doing that, I was eating a lot of Jell-o and Sprite cause nothing sounded appealing.  You'll read more below, but I've had a lot of discomfort all across my ribs-- right under my chest.  I also am starting to get some back pain and in general it's just hard to find comfortable positions for me to sit in.  Dustin owes me big time cause we drove down to Nashville to meet up with his college friends over the weekend.  I was somewhat dreading the trip cause just wasn't sure how I would feel.  Overall I did okay though and it was better than I had imagined.  On the ride down I was very uncomfortable in the car and somewhat going crazy.  However, on the ride home we made it the whole way without stopping and I was pretty much fine.

Dr. Appt. Date: 10/25/2011
Weight: 151 (up 20 lbs from start)
Blood Pressure: 98/64
Baby's Heartbeat: Forgot to write it down, but at the u/s it was 123 (this was quite a bit lower than previously, but she said was still fine)
Fundal Height: 30 cm (no change)
Belly Circumference: 37  in (no change)
Dr. Appt Description:  My usual doctor was not in the office, so I saw another doctor in the practice.  I realized how much I enjoy seeing the same doctor every week-- and at the start of the pregnancy my doctor also said she thinks it is important to have the same person continually see you because they become familiar with you and have better ability to recognize what is normal or not.  So anyways, this doctor calculated my fundal height at 30cm, which was the same as 2 weeks ago-- however, I've read in my books that this measurement varies a lot from doctor to doctor with how they measure, so it's hard to tell if that truly stayed the same or not.  She was concerned because it was smaller than the acceptable range, so I explained that basically I've measured behind the whole time, but we did an ultrasound last month and everything was fine.  However, she had a good point that it wouldn't hurt to do another u/s in case something has changed in the last month...so we were to come back in 2 days for the u/s.  We also had some discussion on just how uncomfortable I've been lately, which I just figured most of what I was feeling is normal.  My most painful area is basically in my ribs and it's not the baby kicking me, but almost a constant pain that feels like it has been badly bruised.  I'd imagine if you were in a car accident and the seat belt restrained you, you would feel sore and some bruising-- which is what I can best describe this as.  She also wanted to check my cervix and discovered that it was 1 cm. dilated.  So she ended up prescribing some pills that I take 3 times a day now that seem like the goal is to help with the rib pain and hopefully less contractions too.  I go back next Monday for her to see me at 35 weeks....then it will be back to my normal doctor for weekly appointments starting at 36 weeks.

Ultrasound Appointment:  Since I'm late writing this, I can also document how the u/s went.....which was.....REALLY WELL!  The baby should have been at 34 weeks and 1-2 days, but she said he is measuring at 35 weeks and 3 days!  The estimated weight is 5 lbs 12 oz.  So the technician thought everything looked great and he is definitely bigger than expected based on looking at me.  Also, he was no longer breeched, he was head down.  In fact, his head was so far down in my pelvis that she couldn't get real good measurements on that.  So will be interesting to see when I actually deliver, but both we left the appointment realizing we really do need to be prepared ahead of time because it seems like there is decent chance he could come before 12/6....and previously I just always had feelings that I would go late, so never felt a lot of urgency to get things done too much earlier!  We also could get a decent look at his face, but it still was a little creepy looking to me....haha!  I hope it was just the view, but he looked to have a pig nose.....so hopefully his nose comes out looking a little more normal....and if not, then let's just hope he never sees this blog cause hey, we all love pig noses....right?!

Picture:
The laptop is not recognizing my camera card, so pic will have to be uploaded later :(

33 Weeks & Shower!

These next few weeks are going to be hectic since we are moving, but my goal is to do a weekly update on pregnancy items until the baby arrives....so we'll see if that happens!   I'll post updated stats and profile pic next week after my 34-week appointment.

How I'm feeling?  Still just generally not feeling and well and uncomfortable a lot.  My biggest issue is just nausea and only limited foods sound good to attempt eating.  I really thought this was due to new medication I started, but now am thinking it is just how my body is responding this trimester.  I researched on the internet today and found that nausea is so commonly associated with the 1st trimester, but very often occurs in the 3rd also.  I also continue to be super tired, but is just because I'm not sleeping well at night....and then last weekend woke up both mornings at like 6:30 instead of being able to sleep in!
Cravings?  For the most part, I wouldn't say I ever had any strong cravings for this whole pregnancy.  Lately though I have just been really wanting fruits and juices-- something about those just taste cold and refreshing and light! 

Baby's name?  Well, we did finally decide to just stick with the one we had liked and have started telling people.  I'll give you a hint this week-- here are the letters (scrambled....hee, hee):
N A H A C L L

And the biggest event this last week was my first shower!!!!!  My sister threw it for me and did an awesome job!!  This one was just for some friends and was held at Lucas Park Grille, which is a restaurant across the street from where I live.  We did it on Sunday and was a brunch.  The atmosphere was perfect- we did not have a private room, but the place was not crowded and our area was very segregated.  We had a little area with comfy chairs by a fireplace where we could gather after eating to open gifts and worked out well.  Here are the group of girls that were there (and sadly a few close friends had to miss it cause live too far away now or weren't feeling well that live in town, so I missed their company!):

We started off the fun by playing a few games while we waited for the food.  The first game was a sheet of 20 excerpts of song lyrics that had "baby" in the title...then we had to name the song.  Most of us were pretty bad, so luckily she then passed around a cheatsheet to help which told us all of the artists.  My friend Katie won that game- she is a dance teacher, so she is probably listens to music a little more than the rest of us or pays better attention to lyrics!

The next game was a sheet that had baby pictures of us on there and you had to guess who was who.  Along with that, also had to match the person's name to the correct meaning of their name.  I killed this game, but of course couldn't take the prize (complete unfair advantage that I knew my info plus my sister and sister-in-law)...so I believe Lydia and Jill won that one.

We ate and then opened gifts and got the best stuff ever!  Nearly everything was from my registry or stuff that we needed and I really liked, so can't imagine that any of this will get returned or not used!  Here's just a few pics:

Lastly, here were the cutest little favors ever-- candy bars in this adorable wrapper with a baby sock for the hat...awwwwwwwwwwww:

32 Weeks

How I'm feeling? Overall, I am feeling better than at my 30-week post. I was just so stressed out at that point and since we have now purchased the house, I feel so much better and like things are just rapidly all falling into place. I've been taking very small doses of the medicine to help with my freakouts, but unfortunately I've had a terrible time dealing with the side effects. It makes me extremely nauseas, tired, and just dizzy/shaky at times. So with all those symptoms it has really sucked. And there is so much I want to do in the coming weeks to prepare for the move! My goal is to really feel like we have everything under control and then I can stop taking the meds and hopefully feel much better!
Clothing: My main goal was to find a couple cute outfits to wear to my showers and events...but that is easier said than done! First of all, I don't feel up to going to umpteen stores to browse around and find something...and the few stores I did check just didn't have anything great. Second of all, anything that is remotely good, is also usually the most expensive...which I don't want to spend a lot of money on clothes I'll hardly wear. So that's all kind of a bummer.

Other:

• We finished the birthing class, so guess I am as prepared as I'll be at this point! Was feeling pretty sick at the last class, but was able to stay for the whole thing. I really just get light-headed and sick thinking about the whole birthing process. I left class for some of the time and just sat in the bathroom cause it was making me so queasy!!!
• Baby is still very active- usually I notice it most at night, but am noticing him moving more and more throughout the day too. Generally I just feel uncomfortable and still like there is just not enough room inside me for everything. I can't believe I still possibly have 2 more months left and it this feeling gets any worse....I'm already for the baby to be here and just get back to my usual self! There are some nights where it's just very hard to get comfortable no matter how I try to sit or lay.
• We ordered a glider chair for the nursery! Yea- our first big baby purchase and furniture purchase for the new home!

Dr. Appt. Date: 10/11/2011
Weight: 149 (up 18 lbs from start)
Blood Pressure: 102/70
Baby's Heartbeat: 160 (higher than recent weeks)
Fundal Height: 30 cm (still in the normal range!)
Belly Circumference: 37 in
Dr. Appt Description: This appt was very fast and routine. She said everything is looking great. It was the first appointment that the husband had to miss cause he is just swamped at work.

Picture (Rapidly growing!!):

We bought our first house together!!!

It's been a looooooooooooooong road, but we are both excited for our purchase.  We spent really 9 full months looking which is just a long time and eventually wears you down.  And where did we end up buying a house??  In one of the neighborhoods we looked at back in Feb. and decided against it...so it really does pay to never completely rule places out and circle back and check again.  It's a neighborhood of new homes, but this is a spec/inventory home that is nearly completed-- will be done in 2 weeks!  So we really don't get to pick out any finishes, but we were able to get a great price and the finishes are very neutral and similar to what we would have done anyways.  The neighborhood has a pool that looks great and we've seen tons of kids around, so hopefully we really enjoy the atmosphere.

I don't have any real pictures at this point, but to give you an idea here is the info from our builder for our house.  They loaded it with basically all the optional features, so that was nice!  Promise I'll post real pics as soon as I get out there with the camera!

This is most similar of the pictures I could find to ours.  Ours will have a 3-car garage will be the main difference.