Wednesday, August 31, 2016

33 weeks - babymoon!

Doug and I went on a weekend getaway to South Haven and Saint Joseph for our babymoon. Our trips are usually jam packed with hikes, camping, sightseeing, etc, and this time we just wanted a chance to getaway and relax. It was really nice. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast and slept in, went to the beach, walked along the coast, shopped in cute stores, read in hammocks, watched tv and movies, and of course ate too much.
Doug dug me a 'belly hole' so I could lay on my stomach.
A couple times I could hear moms answering their kids "because she has a baby in her belly" so that's kinda awkward
a few pics of our B & B
private screened porch off our room
Weight gained: 13 lbs
How I'm feeling: Short of breath. Out of shape. I've now been having the insomnia they talk about. So frustrating. And nightmares. I have this reoccurring daydream/ actual nightmare that I'm at work and something happens like I fall down a flight of stairs or last night dreamed some family member shot me and then I have this logistical problem where I don't know if I have to try to run to the ER or if I should run to the birth center. Both in opposite directions and probably too far for me to run if I was hurt. Anyway, it really bothers me, I think I will ask at my next appointment for some 'emergency' suggestions.
Not much else going on. We may try to squeeze in one more mini trip up North, long car rides don't seem to bother me yet, so I'd like to try to go. I'd be 35 weeks when we are looking at going, so hopefully still feeling mostly good. Otherwise doing good and looking forward to a bit of cooler weather and being closer to meeting him!

Monday, August 22, 2016

32 weeks

Weight gained: same, 12 lbs
How I'm feeling: A little worse. Bigger, slower, more tired. Still no heartburn but the occasional leg cramp. Short of breath. Also this upper right rib pain. I don't think its from being kicked, but I really don't know. You'd think if it was from a tight bra it would be bilateral? Who knows. I painted my toenails this morning and every time I think it's the last time, but then there's one more time, but seriously I feel like today was the last time, I could hardly bend over enough without losing my breath! My belly is super scaly dry again. Not sure if it was from getting some sun from our Saturday on the lake with friends, or if it's just growing again. Baby was really cramping my lake style, no waterskiing for me, just laying on a floatie, but I did go for a tube ride. It was fun although much slower than I would have preferred!
Cravings: Still with the fruits. Also this week cheez-its and icecream.
Nesting: The windows are mostly in, they had ordered one the wrong size. Afterwards I re-painted all the sills. We still have to re-hang the blinds, but they are so dirty and I really don't feel like cleaning them. So that will wait a bit I guess. Personally I feel like new windows deserve new blinds, but Doug doesn't want to spend more $ and really our blinds are fine, just dirty.
Decisions: We met with the doula yesterday and liked her. I think I'm still on the fence on if I want it to be just Doug and I, but these statistics are swaying me towards hiring one.
And they say an increase in a mother's satisfaction with her labor experience. Pretty convincing. We still need to find a pediatrician. I got some baby name books from the library and I think we are pretty settled on the name. So that's fun.
Reading: Doug finished reading our hypnobirth book! And now he's reading a Dad's parenting guide. I am re-reading Ina May's Guide to Natural Childbirth and then will read the Hypnobirth book again.
Days till babymoon: 4
Days left till due date: 54. My personal guess is baby will come October 16th. There is a 'supermoon' coming that night and for whatever reason those tend to bring women into labor. In the interest of my own comfort I'd prefer if he even came a bit earlier than that, but I guess we'll see, he's the boss!

Friday, August 19, 2016

Sweet Doug

Yesterday was a pretty busy/bad day at work. I hate when I have 6 patients, everyone gets gypped on their care I feel like with meds being late since all the meds are due at the same time and it is physically impossible for me to be in 6 rooms at the same time; and me having no real firm grip on the doctor's plan for the patient since I have no time to read doctor's notes. I hate those days. There is a small satisfaction in knowing you did your best to time manage and still make it through the day, but it just seems more manageable with 5 and then I have some hope of having a conversation with a patient and/or being able to look into stuff for them. Anyway, when I went for my breakfast break (at noon) I texted Doug that if he really loved me there would be a box of cheez-its at home waiting for me after work. And then, hours later when I walked out to my car I see this:
He had found my car in the parking lot (which is no easy feat in itself) and brought me cheez-its, a coupon for a free sub for dinner, and even printed me directions to the place. So thoughtful. Later he told me he had to go to 5 stores because he couldn't find any cheez-its. The dedication!!
Today is his Friday off and we did an exercise video together. (He won't do the girly ones, which is fine, but I have a good weights one led by a man and he'll do that with me sometimes) love that we can do it together! Had breakfast together, and then he mowed the lawn while I vacuumed, and we did some organizing in our 'junk room'. Which always makes me happy to have things neater.
Then I made a quick lunch
Morningstar spicy black bean burger, mmmm, and fresh beans, tomato, and zucchini from mom's garden. So tasty. My garden seems to be a sad failure. I just don't understand. My tomatoes got a bunch of splits on the sides and then I'm afraid a fly was laying eggs in there or something. Out of 4 zucchini plants I got only 1 zucchini weeks ago, the others blossomed but never made any more fruits, and now one plant shriveled away. So sad.
Anyway. Tonight Doug and I and some of his friends are off to the dream cruise. Should be fun!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

31 weeks

I think this is finally 7 months.
Not much new from last week.
Weight gained: same, 12 lbs
How I'm feeling: Good. Scrubs starting to feel very tight, but don't want to use the maternity ones yet, they are ugly. Earlier in the week I felt like I could hardly breathe, but feeling back to normal again.
Cravings: Same, fruits. Yesterday had a banana, apple, 2 kiwi, and grapes
Purchases: We used up all our shower gift cards. Man those go fast! I was tallying up the stuff we still wanted and it is like $800. Ouch. Trying to look at how much is 'needs' and how much are just 'wants' right now. I always wanted to be the cheap mom who had the baby in a drawer and just made do, but they really do need some of that stuff and it's so dang expensive.
Nesting: Our new windows were supposed to be installed today but the guy "messed up his calendar", so annoying. Trying to be ready people!!
Doug made this the other day when I came home from work:
(and no, Sam's club pizza is not as good as Di'journos, fyi)
And we took this belly picture:
I practiced rocking with my first baby:
And just because I thought this little guy was so cute laying on our deck:
Days left till due date: 59
My due date is a Saturday and I'm supposed to work that Saturday/Sunday. I am really praying he doesn't come on a day when I'm at work! I really want to labor peacefully at home for as long as I can and it will not be relaxing if I'm taking care of patients and trying to either "kill time" there working or have to wait for a replacement before I can leave. My job is like at the extreme opposite of the relaxing spectrum and that's the whole point/goal of hypnobirthing. Makes me worried...

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

30 weeks

8-12 weeks to go??
Weight gained: 12 lbs
How I'm feeling: A little more tired these days. The baby kicks occasionally catch me by surprise with how strong they are and/or uncomfortable when he's doing a full twist or whatever is happening in there. You can see the belly moving from the outside, freaky! I'm also feeling on the frumpy side. I had ordered all these maternity tops from Old Navy back in May when they had a great deal, I ordered my normal size medium, but they are too big in the top/shoulders. So that's a bummer, I was just trying to take advantage of a good deal and be prepared, but now it's too late to exchange. Oh well, there is still a lot of room in the belly so that's good. I can still get away with a few of my regular clothes too so that's nice.
Cravings: Same, fruits. I've been wanting to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies lately, but Doug has forbidden me from eating any more of the raw dough and so that really stomps out most of the craving. Everyone knows the dough is the best part!
Purchases: We bought the cloth diaper covers from the natural baby store. I've read I can get by with 8 covers for baby from 8-35lbs. That was about $112. We still need to buy the cloth inserts which you need more of and will probably cost another $90. We plan to do cloth diapers during the day and at home, and then disposables at night and when baby is being watched by someone else. So hopefully that will save us some money and be better for the environment. We shall see.
Workouts: Still mainly alternating my 2 strength workout videos with walking on the incline treadmill. Sometimes I do the prenatal barre video or look up a prenatal youtube yoga. My parents got me one of those big exercise balls for my birthday so that's been good to have and will also be handy for laboring.
Praise reports: My test results came back, no gestational diabetes! Yay! I guess 1 in 10 women get it so you never know. But I am thankful for that. My hemoglobin was a little low so I've been trying to eat more iron rich foods, but otherwise feeling pretty good still.
Nesting: We've been putting away stuff from the shower and the nursery walls are done! The room is smaller than I was imagining when planning my layout so I'm having Doug move things around constantly to see what I like. Hopefully it will come together soon. Can't believe a little baby will soon be in there!

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

29 weeks - & Our Baby Shower

Weight gained: 11.5 lbs
Symptoms: Same. So my mom's official opinion is that my belly button pain is from where I had my belly button pierced and now the old hole is like slitting open from the pressure against the inside of the belly button. Ouch! Can that really happen?! Who knew 18-yr-old Anne's belly button decision would cause her such pain now! :(
Birth prep: Last hypnobirthing class tonight. It's been kinda nice to practice relaxing together. Still no decision on the doula. Doug has been concerned about being made to feel unnecessary as my coach/birth supporter if we had one. I think a doula's main job is to support mom but sometimes that means behind the scenes so dad can do his job as coach. And other times to give dad a break to go to the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. Still not sure. And since I'm the midwife route now anyway (as long as don't turn high-risk) a friend said they too provide a lot of support and she didn't feel a doula was necessary. We did decide to do placenta encapsulation. Also on the fence is maternity photos. I've seen so many beautiful shots on other people's blogs, but I'm not sure, I'm leaning towards saving the money for newborn pictures or family pictures.
Doctor's appointments: My appointment today my midwife said my weight is fine, I'm measuring at 30 wks, and I got my glucose test done. Anxiously awaiting the results! Hope that will be ok. No diabeetus for us thanks.
Baby shower
Last weekend we had a lovely shower thrown by my mom, best friend's mom, sister and a couple friends. I was starting to get bummed because so many people couldn't make it, as seems to happen with summer events, but we ended up with a nice amount of people and in some ways it was even better because then I could talk to everyone.
Some party shots:
We ate yummy brunch foods of mom's tasty Betty's eggs, french toast casserole, pumpkin and banana sweet breads, a yogurt parfait bar, fresh fruit, and homemade cupcakes. And played a couple games of Bible baby name trivia, the string around the belly game, and baby bingo. Doug and I received so many generous gifts.
Including two handmade quilts.
This one is from a lady at my parent's church. So cute! I love the colors, it looks just like something from etsy, and in the quilting are small details like baby bottles, rattles, and rubber ducks.
Wow.
And a beautiful quilt made by my Aunt Judy. I love this outdoorsy theme, and the rabbit and squirrel at the bottom have fluffy tails!
so cute.
And as someone who has made quilts I can appreciate the time, money, and effort. What beautiful treasures for my baby, I feel so special.
And finally, a picture of Doug being "attacked" by the raccoon puppet:
:)