39 Weeks

How far along: 39 weeks tomorrow. 

 

Symptoms: A big uncomfortable baby in my belly.  Not exactly a symptom, but dang it can be uncomfortable when she punches, kicks, and moves these days.  Her breech position is especially crazy... she has one leg up and one leg down, so I get kicks and stretches all over the place. 

 

Weight gain: 2.5 pounds during the last three weeks and 23.5 pounds overall.

 

Fetal Movement: Always.  There was one day that Jason and I thought she was trying to flip into a heads down position.  (That or trying to claw her way out of the top of my belly.)  She was going crazy in there.  Arms and legs everywhere.  She still gets hiccups every few hours as well. 

 

Prenatal care: Even though I'm scheduled for a C-section with a doctor in the practice, I've continued my weekly appointments with the midwives.  They midwives have been great so far.  My last three visits have mostly consisted of checking my weight, urine, fundal growth, and position of the baby, as well as answering any questions and discussing any concerns we've had about her breech position and the C-section.  Today I had my pre-op consultation with the anesthesiologists.  Looks like we're all set for the operation.

 

Nesting: Just continued putting up our shower gifts and making sure the house is nice and tidy for when we bring her home.

 

Worries: While we've warmed up to the idea of a C-section, I'm still nervous for the actual procedure and the recovery afterwards.  Sounds like the immediate recovery from the operation could involve nausea, migraines, and shaking.  I'm not looking forward to feeling hung over in my first moments with our daughter.  But, I'm mostly just hoping that Matilda is healthy and doesn't have any complications at birth.

 

What I'll Miss:  I've really enjoyed being pregnant.  Of course, being nearly symptom free (no nausea, not-so-terrible aches & pains, no significant swelling, etc.) the entire time has helped.  It's been fun having her grow and move in there.  I've also enjoyed not feeling guilty about a little extra ice-cream and sweets here and there. 

Just incase you forgot what I looked like just a few short months ago and how far I've come, here's a reminder:
 

Looking forward to: As much as I've enjoyed the adventure of pregnancy, I'm looking forward to the adventure of parenthood.  I cannot wait to see my daughter for the first time, hug and kiss her, and make sure she is okay. 

On a lesser note, I'm looking forward to all the luxuries of not being pregnant: sleeping on my stomach (eventually), not peeing what feels like every two minutes, sushi, deli meat, beer & wine, greater quantities of caffeine, etc.  After a few weeks of rest, I look forward to working out again and eventually running again. 

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week! 

DIY Maternity Photos

Since we're getting so close to our "new" due date and I really hadn't taken many belly pictures other than the quick weekly snapshots, I decided to try my hand at taking a few DIY maternity pictures.  For an hour out of my day, I don't think they turned out half bad.  I had fun playing with the silhouette pictures.  I've never tried anything like that before, so it was fun.  Glad I got these in before our little girl's arrival!

 

Breech Update

Today we had our ECV to try to flip Matilda into a heads down position.  Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful.  We could get her almost half way there, but there just wasn't enough room in my tummy to get her all the way over.  As a result, we've scheduled a C-section for April 9th... 13 days away! 

I'm a bit bummed.  I've spent the past 8 months preparing for a natural birth.  My prenatal care has been with a group of midwives that promote natural births.  I read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, researched the Bradley method, and took natural childbirth classes with a doula.  I've continued exercising and eating healthy.  I've been sitting in the tailor position and doing pelvic tilts.  Ha.  I don't know what else we could be doing to prepare for a natural birth. 

But, the universe (and this silly baby) had other plans for us.  Now we'll just make the best out of the situation and try to go into the C-section with good attitudes.  I guess either way we get to meet our daughter, so in the end that's what counts. 

Jason's been a super duper wonderful husband and was a huge help through today's procedure.  It was a bit rougher than I had imagined, so it was great having him by my side (or rather behind my head) reminding me to breathe.  He's already done a ton of research about C-section recoveries, and he's taking extra time off when the baby comes to help with things around the house.  He's the best.

Now we'll just be counting down the days until we get to meet sweet Matilda.

36 Weeks

 

How far along: 36 weeks today.  One more month to go.  28 more days until Matilda's estimated due date.

 

Symptoms: Ummm... I don't think there's anything new to report.  Still having achy hips, especially while sleeping.  I'm looking forward to not flipping from side to side every couple hours when I wake up from achy hips. 

 

Weight gain: 3.5 pounds during the last four weeks and 21 pounds overall. 

 

Fetal Movement: So, after my 34 week appointment, Matilda learned to flip.  And flip and flip and flip.  Too bad she won't stay in a head down position.  As of our appointment this morning, she was still breech.  :(

 

Prenatal care: I'm kinda tired of going to doctor's visits.  My prenatal appointments are every week from here on out.  Plus, I've been seeing a chiropractor once or twice a week to help flip the baby.  On top of that, my allergies and asthma have flared up in the past couple of weeks (dang tree pollen), so I had to go see an allergist last week.  Also, I've had to go get my blood work done a few times to make sure my thyroid levels are in check.  Ugh.  So needless to say, I'm exhausted from all of these appointments.  I can't imagine how women with high risk pregnancies feel with more frequent visits and monitoring. 

 

Nesting: After our shower a few weeks ago, we washed all of Matilda's goodies and Jason put together the stroller.  Her room is pretty much set up and ready to go. 

 

Worries: This whole breech thing is stressing me out.  I feel like we've been doing as much as we can to turn her ourselves, and nothing is working.  I'm seeing a chiropractor that specializes in the Webster Technique.  I'm doing the inversion, breech tilt, and rebozo techniques from Spinning Babies.  The only thing we haven't tried is moxibustion, because honestly, burning an herb that smells like pot at your toes sounds a bit wacky to me. 

 

We have an appointment for a doctor to perform an External Cephalic Version ("ECV" or "version" for short) next week.  The procedure freaks me out a bit.  They prepare you for a C-section just incase anything goes wrong.  Also, I'm not looking forward to the drugs they give you to relax your uterus during the procedure.  They can make your heart race, and usually I'm pretty sensitive to medications, so it just scares me a bit.  But, our other options at this point are to hope Matilda turns on her own or schedule a C-section for 39-40 weeks, so I guess attempting an ECV will be worth it.  Let's just pray she turns on her own before the procedure so we can cancel it.

 

Looking forward to: I'm looking forward to Matilda turning on her own so we can have a natural, worry-free delivery.  Ha.  Well, either way, no matter what the labor/ C-section outcome is, I'm looking forward to meeting Matilda.  We're getting so close!  Down to the final stretch!  Let's hope for the best outcome!

Baby Shower

I'm a few weeks late posting this, but better late than never, right?  A few weeks ago we had our baby shower with friends and family.  Ferryn and Steve hosted it at their house and it turned out really nice.  We had delicious food and drinks.

 

Nicole and Sal brought the cakes and they were so beautiful!

We played a couple of games.  This one involved the boys racing to drink 2 ounces of beer out of baby bottles.  Who knew that it could be such a feat?

 

And we opened presents.  Jason was especially excited to see onesies representing his favorite soccer team.

 

 

We feel so blessed to have had the chance to celebrate our upcoming arrival with friends and family.  Matilda is already so loved.

Camping at 8 Months Pregnant

Jason's on spring break this week, so we spent the first few days camping at Village Creek State Park.  Last year we went to Village Creek State Park for New Years, and it was freezing!  This time, it rained the first 24 hours and then there were high winds for the rest of our time there.  So, needless to say, not the best weather either trip.  We tried to make the best of it anyways.  We had a few good meals over the campfire and went on a couple of hikes.   

 

Oh, we did figure that I'd be the only pregnant woman camping, but we did happen to run into another couple where the wife was 8 months pregnant as well.  So we're not the only crazy ones for attempting a weekend in the wild this late!

 

Anyways, here's a couple of pictures.  My baby belly is barely noticeable, huh?  Ha.  

 

32 Weeks

How far along: 32 weeks this past Tuesday.  I can practically start counting down the days instead of months or weeks.

Symptoms: Same ole, same ole.  Nothing new to report here. 

 

Weight gain: 4 pounds during the last four weeks and 17.5 pounds overall. 

 

Fetal Movement: Still rocking and rolling. 

 

Prenatal care: Everything is going well.  Passed my glucose test with flying colors, but I'm a bit anemic so I've starting taking iron supplements.  Seems to be a pretty common issue in the third trimester, so I'm not that concerned. 

 

We finished our childbirth classes last week, so we are officially experts on labor and childcare.  Ha.  Yea right.  Let's just hope we don't forget what we've learned by the time Matilda makes her appearance.

 

Nesting: We've installed the car seat and set up the Pack 'N Play in the bedroom.  I've started some deep cleaning of the house.  Blinds and baseboards are dusted.  Curtains and the inside of the windows are washed.  I still want to wash the outside of the windows and entrances to the house.  They all got plenty dusty the past season or so. 

 

Worries: Baby girl is still breech, so I'm hoping she'll flip soon so I can stop worrying about that.  Our childbirth class teacher said not to worry until about week 36 and even then there are plenty of things you can do to get the baby to turn, but it would make me feel a lot better if she's flipped by then.  I'm going to see a chiropractor next week, so hopefully that will help with both my hip/ sciatic nerve pain and flipping the baby.

 

Looking forward to: Baby showers and celebrating our little one with friends and family.  :)