thirty-seven weeks

My doctor's appointment this week went MUCH better than my check-up last week.  I was incredibly anxious going in to the appointment, worried that my blood pressure would be high again and that they would want to induce me.  But magically it was 124/86, no protein, everything is measuring just fine, my blood work has remained stable.  So I left with instructions to continue to take it easy, and to try not to have the baby until my doctor was back in town.  Haha.
   
how far along:  37 weeks (compare to 37 weeks with Ryann, 37 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  Baby girl is about the size of a winter melon (another one that I have never tried!).  19-22 inches and 6.5ish pounds.  Something like that.

weight gain:  28.5 pounds.  Not 29.  Lets make that clear.  Don't judge.  :o)

maternity clothes:  Yup.  My maternity swimsuits are barely covering the belly, so I guess it is about time to be done with this whole pregnancy thing, right?

symptoms:  The swelling is unreal.  Some nights I can barely wiggle my toes.  Headaches.  Nausea.  Restless legs.

exercise:  50,599 steps.  Still trying to do my best to take it easy.

cravings/aversions:  Nothing sounds good and yet I want to eat everything.  Definitely lean towards cold things like fruit and salad.

movement:  Today during lunch she was moving around like crazy.  My mom and the girls watched from across the table, she was absolutely insane.  I seriously can't believe how much she still moves around.

sleep:  The last several days have been pretty good in the sleep department.  I'm only waking once to pee and actually falling back asleep.  And yet I still wake up with a pounding headache.  It sucks.

gender:  I'm still in a bit of disbelief that our third girl will be here so soon!

looking forward to:  Not being pregnant and it not being a million degrees outside.  I hate that I'm not really enjoying this pregnancy, as it very well may be my last.  But I'm sorry, it just isn't fun.  I'm grateful for the ability to carry a baby, it truly is a miracle.  But it isn't super enjoyable right now.

worries:  I worry that I won't be able to make it back to KC to deliver this baby.  I know that as long as she comes out safely and healthy that we will all be fine, but I'd like to deliver at the hospital I know, with the doctor's I know.

what's different this time:  I feel like I'm much more uncomfortable than I was with the last two, and a lot of that, A LOT, has to do with the heat which is causing the extreme swelling.  Also the amount of contractions.  With Ryann I didn't have a single contraction until they administered the pitocin.  With Elsie, maybe I had a few?  Maybe?  This time?  Some sort of contractions every day for weeks.  Nothing that has really made me worry, nothing extremely painful, but they are there!

best moment this week:  I'm blanking on something to put here.  It isn't that life hasn't been good, but it has just been, well, life.  More little baby packages arriving, that's fun.  My mom finished the crib skirt.  I got my hair colored and my toes painted.  Technically I'm ready for baby girl, just a few odds and ends I want to finish up!

And another picture from this week because who knows how many belly pictures I've got left!

thirty-six weeks

A guy who was checking out some water issues were having in our basement (yay, of course), asked me how far along I was.  When I told him he said I must be carrying a small baby.  Thanks dude, but that belly feels GIGANTIC.

Unrelated, things just keep getting better and better.  Ha.  Haha.

On Tuesday I had my nurse's appointment to recheck my blood pressure after last weeks high reading.  I knew it wasn't going to be good when the nurse had to squeeze the thing tighter because she didn't catch the first number.  My first reading was 172/94.  Well that's no good.  She left me for a little bit, came back and rechecked it.  The recheck was 128/70, which is perfectly fine, obviously.  But that first number sucked.  Which is exactly what my doc said when she poked her head into the room.  There was no protein in my urine, and my labs were stable from the week before, so the diagnosis is still just gestational hypertension.  No pre-e.  Her recommendation?  Bed rest.

Naturally, my first stop after the appointment was Target.  I follow directions really well like that.

I'm doing my best to take it easy.  But I just feel like there is so much to do and I don't want to put everything on Chris and my parents.  My daily step count has dropped to between 5,000 and 6,000.  Christopher is taking my blood pressure daily or if I'm feeling really crummy, and other than Tuesday, we haven't seen a reading over 135/85.  I'm taking naps and spending time on the couch.  I'm just not fully adhering to the doctor's advice.  We'll see how everything goes at my next appointment.       

how far along:  36 weeks (compare to 36 weeks with Ryann, 36 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  I'm starting to not believe the What to Expect.  Baby girl should be around the size of a large cantaloupe, and it says 19-22 inches and around 6 pounds.  Seeing as both girls were born at 38 weeks weighing just over 6 pounds and only 19 inches long, I'm guessing the approximation doesn't apply to my kids.  But maybe number three will prove me wrong.

weight gain:  I forgot to weigh myself, but I'm guessing around 27 pounds.  I've developed a love for the Tostitos cantina style chips so that isn't really helping anyone.

maternity clothes:  Regular clothes just plain don't fit for the most part.  So yes.

symptoms:  Headaches and nausea.  Swelling.  Restless legs.  General uncomfortableness.  Basically, I feel really pregnant.  Not all that surprising four weeks from my due date.

exercise: 57,226 steps.  I know I've got less than three weeks until this little girl will be here.  Who knows, it might be only a week.  But I'm frustrated with the need to 'lay around'.  I mean maybe with my first pregnancy I would have been all over the excuse to do nothing.  But I got things to do.  Places to go.  And watching other girls on instagram with similar due dates hit the gym, or walk four miles, I'm jealous.  I'm sure I'll be over it soon though.

cravings/aversions:  Watermelon.  Food in general.  Cookies are cool too.  And I really want a milkshake.

movement:  She still is pretty crazy.  And the girls just love trying to catch her move.  Elsie thinks it's a fun game, and Ryann likes to snuggle with my belly.

sleep:  Some days are fine, some days really suck.  The night before my appointment I maybe slept for four hours, for no reason at all.  I'm wondering if a super crappy night of sleep had anything to do with  my blood pressure being so elevated.

gender:  As far as I know, still a girl!

looking forward to:  Seriously it is stupid how much I'm looking forward to sleeping on my stomach.  And I'm hoping baby girl can hold out throughout the next week because I've got a pool date with friends on Monday, a hair appointment on Tuesday, a pedicure on Friday and we're supposed to be celebrating Christopher's birthday next weekend.  Again, all of those obviously adhere to the bed rest recommendation...

worries:  As much as I'm excited to meet our little girl, I'm worried that she'll have to make her appearance this coming week.  Just hang on one more week girlie!  I guess really I should be telling that to my body...

what's different this time:  This is the worst my blood pressure has been this early on, and the bed rest recommendation is new.  With Elsie I was going to the gym up until 37 weeks.

best moment this week:  Several evenings this week we've gone to my parent's house for dinner, and then gone swimming in their pool.  I'm loving it.  Elsie figured out how to swim with the puddle jumper and slowly but surely the girls are getting braver in the water.  We'll turn them in to little pool loving fish sooner or later!

Also getting some fun baby things in the mail was pretty awesome as well.  And unpacking all the little newborn clothes.  I love little baby things.  :)

thirty-five weeks

Please excuse the terrible picture.  I kept forgetting to take one, and there isn't really any where 'good' to take a picture in our house right now.  So I guess here is a peek at Ryann's bathroom?  And my super sleepy eyes.  Yay.

Well, this pregnancy had to get exciting at some point, right?  Haha, just kidding.  But I did have a doctor's appointment this week.  It was the first one we had to drive back to KC for.  I got the girls all settled at a friend's house, then headed on my merry little way.  Everything was going swimmingly, until the nurse took my blood pressure of course.  She asked, "do you usually have high blood pressure?" Oh you know, only during the end of my pregnancies.  Apparently it was 150/104 when she first took it.  That's no good.  I laid down on my side for a few minutes and she took it again.  130/84.  Not perfect but WAY better.

My doctor isn't super concerned yet since it came back down and their was no protein in my urine, but she won't let me go two weeks without coming back in.  They also drew some labs, and my LDH was slightly elevated.  It can be a marker for pre-e, but apparently is the least concerning thing they check, and it was only slightly elevated.  Nonetheless I get to go back on Tuesday for a BP check and another lab draw.  I'm not really at all surprised.  I was expecting the blood pressure to become an issue at some point, as it has with the last two pregnancies.  I just don't really want to end up on bed rest, so I'd appreciate the BP to hold out for at least another two weeks.  

how far along:  35 weeks (compare to 35 weeks with Ryann, 35 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  What to Expect is telling me that she is roughly the size of a canary melon.  I'm sorry, what the heck is a canary melon?

weight gain:  26 pounds.

maternity clothes:  Definitely.  I'd prefer to just live in my pajamas but I also refuse to do that.

symptoms:  Swelling.  Lots and lots of swelling.  Braxton hicks.  Restless legs.  General uncomfortableness.  All the good stuff.  Oh, and I seem to need a 20 minute nap each day now.  It's like all the sudden I get SOOOO tired and I just have to lay down and sleep for a bit.

exercise:  77,592.  After my doctor's appointment I've been really trying to take it easier.  It's irritating to not hit my step goal daily, but I'm not going to be pregnant much longer, so I guess I can deal.

cravings/aversions:  Mostly watermelon, strawberries are good too, and popcorn.

movement:  This girl has to be running out of room.  Some of her movements are downright painful.  And she has regular dance parties in the middle of the night.  I hope that trend doesn't continue after birth!

sleep:  I wake up once a night to go to the bathroom, and sometimes I just can't get back to sleep.  Plus Ryann has been waking up before 6am, and keeps coming in our room, despite us insisting she has to stay in bed.

gender:  Girl.

looking forward to:  A weekend with no plans!  Christopher finished his sports medicine boards and we have zero activities of any sort scheduled, so I'm hoping we can have a little fun, and get some more unpacking done.  I've got a few visits from friends on the calendar for next week and while the house will be nowhere near perfect (as if it ever would be), I'd like to make it look as good as possible.

worries:  That I'll get put on bed rest.  Bed rest with two kids and a house full of stuff to unpack and organize just seems mean.  Also, Ryann and Elsie haven't really been listening to me this week.  I feel like I'm constantly talking to myself and having to yell and be mean to get their attention and I hate it.  I absolutely hate it.  But I'm not sure what to do.  Life will definitely be interesting when #3 arrives.

what's different this time:  Swelling, for sure.  This is the first time I really haven't been able to wear my rings.  Also I don't recall being so exhausted towards the end.  I'm sure I was tired, but this is crazy tired at random times.

best moment this week:  Elsie has decided that she has to kiss baby sister goodnight every night.  Well, she has been doing that for a while, but now she has to 'kiss baby sister's cheeks', meaning she kisses both sides of my belly every night.  It is ridiculously cute.

this and that

I figured another random post thrown in between all the pregnancy posts was better than nothing.  Currently my external hard drive that has my photo library on it isn't hooked up to the network so I can't get to any of my pictures from my big camera.  So random seemed like the way to go!

::  First things first, we moved!  It has been a week since the movers showed up to our house and started putting everything in boxes.  The company had estimated two days to pack our house, one day to pack the truck, and a day to deliver and unload.  I felt like that seemed a bit extreme seeing as we don't have THAT much stuff, but I went with it.  Yeah no.  They ended up packing everything on the first day and loading the majority of it on to the truck.  Wednesday morning they came back and finished loading, drove our stuff to the new place, and had everything unloaded by 6:30pm.

At any given time there were 4-6 guys working.  They were incredibly impressive hauling all of our crap around.  But apparently they SUCKED at labeling.  And when you have movers pack you, they do it in the most efficient way possible.  Not the most logical.  We've opened quite a lot of boxes, and still are missing random things.  The first day we spent forever trying to locate all the cushions to one of our couches.  They were in a variety of random boxes.  We're getting settled, but we've still got a LONG way to go.

::  I guess one major important thing before the move... Chris graduated from fellowship.  HELL YES.  He is done.  Done done done.  I mean there is the whole starting a real job thing, but it is going to be a real job with real hours and I don't know.  It just isn't education anymore and that is the best feeling ever.  Congrats Christopher, I am so very very proud of you!

The graduating fellows are so cool they got their names on the menu! Haha.

::  Another thing we tackled this past weekend?  Getting Elsie in a big girl bed!  I wasn't sure when to do it, but it seemed easiest (I guess) to just bite the bullet when we moved.  We talked it up a lot, that when we moved to the new house she would have a big girl bed and it was going to be so awesome and comfortable and on and on.  She was pysched.  Sunday was the first night, and she was a little apprehensive at first.  I think more because of the new house, not the new bed.  But it didn't help.  I had to go back to her room to comfort her, but then she seemed ok when I left the second time.

Until our new neighbors opted to blow up the LOUDEST FIREWORKS EVER what seemed like right out her window.  Naturally she was freaked out.  I ended up laying with her until she fell asleep that first night, but she has been doing great ever since.  She has yet to consider getting out of her bed after we leave the room, and has slept the same amount (including naps!) as she did in the crib.  She waits for us to come get her not matter what.  So far we're two for two on my thinking the worst about the big kid bed transition, and the child proving me absolutely wrong.

::  And a few house pictures before we destroyed its beauty by moving all of our crap in.  ;o)

On a side note, WTH flickr?  I don't want to embed the photos with a border.  How do I get rid of that??  Edited to add a thank you to Erin for passing along this info.  Come on flickr, you seriously thought it looked better with those dumb borders?  Now I get to edit photo code for every picture I post, or I need to find somewhere else to host.  Dumb.

thirty-four weeks

yay!  finally got internet access and set up the new wi-fi on my computer...

Sadly in the new house there isn't a way for me to take a picture in front of my cute little shower curtain.  Actually we barely have any mirrors in the house right now because I can't find ones for the bathrooms I like.  So this late night after the 4th of July in front of a closet picture will have to do. 
 
how far along:  34 weeks (compare to 34 weeks with Ryann, 34 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  We've reached pineapple status!  Seriously one of the more painful sounding fruits to compare baby to, but whatever.  She should be somewhere between 19-22 inches long, and around 5 pounds.

weight gain:  I have yet to locate my scale, but eating habits this week haven't been the best, so I doubt it is pretty.

maternity clothes:  Of course.

symptoms:  Swelling, restless legs, random bouts of nausea, general uncomfortableness.  I know I didn't pick a summer baby, but if I could, I would NOT pick a summer baby.  Third pregnancy and 90+ degree days do not make for a comfortable pregnancy.

exercise:  84,824 steps.  I haven't had a chance to walk on the treadmill this week really, however just living in a bigger house and unpacking stuff and carrying it all over, I'm clocking between 11,000-13,000 steps a day.  And man, I can feel the introduction of stairs in my legs!

cravings/aversions:  Watermelon.  Just freaking give me all the watermelon.

movement:  She is so crazy sometimes.

sleep:  Six hours is apparently my max.  After that I just can't force myself to sleep.  And naturally our air conditioner went out twice this week.  Let me tell you how easy it is to sleep in 80 degrees when you're already pregnant and miserable.  On the subject of the air conditioner, man was I mad.  As part of our home warranty/insurance thing, we get free maintenance visits twice a year.  I decided to go ahead and schedule one for our A/C, thinking I was being all nice for our buyers making sure everything was in good working order.  The guy told us everything checked out great despite our older unit, but come to find out the next day he broke something.  I could go on, but eventually it got fixed and the unit is working just fine.

gender:  Girl.

looking forward to:  Getting all our boxes unpacked (as if that will ever happen), a dresser I ordered arriving so I can switch Elsie's clothes over and unpack baby sisters clothes, other random things.

worries:  Mostly just stressed about getting settled and figuring out what to do with the girls during the day.  I know of some activities for kids where we're at now, but not a ton, and some of them I'm just not feeling up to.

what's different this time:  Well, I don't have itchy palms.  What a weird symptom, I don't remember having that with Elsie, but apparently I did.  And just the whole pregnant in summer thing.  That is kicking my butt!

best moment this week:  I can't decide between having one last play date at our house in KC, or walking in to the kitchen of my new house and being absolutely in love.  Both were pretty awesome.  But it was so good to have our friends over one more time before everything got crazy and we moved out.  I love all the 'mom friends' I've had so much and I am going to miss seeing them on a regular basis like crazy.  All of their kiddos have a special place in my heart.

Also, Elsie and Ryann love on my belly sometimes and it makes my heart melt.  Chris snapped this picture the other day.  I had just come up from my walk on the treadmill and was looking super awesome (HA), but Elsie was trying to feel baby sister move.  It is the sweetest.