36 Weeks

Well, the big appointment was this morning. Had another ultrasound to check the fluid level again and yay! my hard work paid off and it's the same. I've been drinking a massive amount of water (and peeing a billion times a day) and I was able to keep it up. This is good because I didn't have to go on bed rest and didn't have to have a baby early (as of now). So we are still doing good as of now. Sounds like we will make it to at least 38 weeks which is great!

So we'll see how things are going next week and have another check of the fluids the week after that. We'll see from there how things are looking. Just continuing the baking of this bun!

35 Weeks

36 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 36 Weeks - 252 days (only about 28 days left!)

Size of baby: ultrasound said the baby is 5 pounds 15 ounces.

Maternity Clothes: oh man, I feel gross. Look at me, I'm HUGE! There isn't much left in even maternity attire that fits. I wear the same few pairs of pants and shirts that are most comfortable. I long for the time I get home to put on my pj's which is one of Fogg's shirts and my yoga pants.

Gender: still don't know.

Movement: this little one moves quite a bit and I can tell it's getting uncomfortable and tight in there. It's getting more and more uncomfortable for me as well...

Sleep: not sleeping great but doing alright. I'm adjusting to sleeping without the sleep aid but still get up and pee a million times a night. The time between 3-4 am is always the hardest to go back to sleep.

What I miss: being comfortable. Sitting, standing, laying down, kneeling, squatting, standing up, it's all difficult.

Cravings: nothing really lately actually. Sometimes I'm ravenous and sometimes I don't eat much at all.

Symptoms: wicked heartburn lately. I'm starting to swell up. My ring is leaving a mark on my finger and my feet are getting a tad chubby.

Best Moment this month: Reed was telling me all about being a big brother on the way to the doctor this morning - it was adorable. We also bought a teddy bear for Reed to give the baby. I let Reed choose what he wanted to give and what color he wanted. I kept reinforcing that it was for the baby and not for him. I'll pick up something for the baby to give Reed in return. I was also able to check an enormous amount off my to-do list in the past two weeks. I really don't have much left to do which is a great feeling for me. My bags are packed (in multiple ways) so now I just need to get my mind in the game.

Choo-Choo Trains

This past weekend, it was a little rainy and chilly so we tried to find an activity that Reed would enjoy that was inside or partially inside. As many little boys do, Reed has a fascination with cars, trucks and trains. Fogg had the idea to go down to the Union Station in Ogden where they have a train museum. On Saturday, they were doing free admission for some kids thing so we got to do the whole thing for only the cost of lunch. They have trains outside under some canopies that kids can run around and climb on.





Inside the museum, it's a small little exhibit about the railroad coming out west. Obviously, most of the displays were a tad bit boring for Reed, he would just run to the train displays that he could climb on. There was a caboose that he could play in. If you weren't aware, Utah (near Ogden) is where the Golden Spike was driven. The Golden Spike is the final spike driven to merge the railroad built from the east and the west. The spike was on display in the museum in a really cool old safe.




Then we headed in for some lunch at the Union Grill (I used to be a server there). Reed ate a ton of food and then promptly passed out in the car for his afternoon nap. Reed loved seeing all the choo-choo trains as he calls them. The museum was great, small enough to get through with a 2 1/2 year old. There is also a small Browning gun museum and a small car museum that were interesting as well.

Cheers~

The Grass is Greener

I complain a lot. I know I do. Especially when I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant, I find many reasons to complain. The grass is greener on the other side of this fence. But you know what I realized this weekend - it's not really. I have a pretty green lawn. I'm lucky and I should just shut myself up and realize that life is great for me. So what if I'm tired, sore, in pain, uncomfortable? I get a baby at the end (God willing, a very healthy and cute one). My pain and annoyance will be over soon. I KNOW there will be an end in sight.

Some of my friends are not so lucky. We have lots of people in our lives that are going through many hardships. We think "we are lucky, it could always be worse". We thank God that we are experiencing the pain of pregnancy because others aren't so lucky.

Jesse (as mentioned in previous posts) is having a hard time. Just when things seem to be stabilizing out, it gets worse than they thought it could. He's had several more procedures on his brain (again, nothing "minor" about that). He's battling infections. He's been transferred back and forth to different hospitals. He thought he'd be out by now, well on the way to a full recovery, instead he is still in the hospital, worse off than he was the week/month before. To my knowledge, he is limited in his responses to things, not speaking, certainly not walking or functioning on his own very well. He has a very long road ahead of him. We are doing what we can do help financially as there isn't much we can do otherwise (he is in ICU and we aren't allowed to visit yet). I'll keep you updated as we are trying to figure out a way to set up a donation portal to help with his mounting medical bills. We pray for him daily and anticipate the updates we receive from his girlfriend (she is AMAZING!).

We have a friend that lost a baby early in pregnancy recently. Her heart is broken, her husband's heart is broken, our heart is broken for them. I hope I can be the friend to her that I know she would be to me if it were reversed. She is an amazing woman and she deserves nothing short of the best in her life yet gets slammed with hardship after heartbreak.

We have several friends that are battling the sadness and hardship of divorce and separation from spouses. At no time is divorce a great outcome to a marriage, even if it is severely damaged, it's still hard for all parties involved. We pray for our friends and do what we can to support them the best we can. Our hope is that they find some resolve in the tough time. Fogg and I are always on the side of marriage and it always makes us sad to know that friends are struggling.

I feel fortunate that neither of us are in a hospital battling crippling brain injuries. I feel lucky that we've had a relatively healthy pregnancy that is super close to term. I feel relieved that my marriage is doing great and I couldn't be more lucky to have such a perfect person in my life to support me and be my best friend. Our hearts are filled with sadness for the people in our lives that are having a hard time.

And I finally caught on video Reed interacting with the baby. Enjoy!

34 Weeks

Yesterday, I had my 34 week appointment as well as an ultrasound. I'm not sure if I've mentioned yet that I have something called a two-vessel cord. This means that I have only one artery and one vein in the cord when typically there should be two arteries. 99% of the time there aren't problems that result from this issue (1 in 100 pregnancies have this) but we are keeping a close eye anyway. Because of this issue, I had another ultrasound to make sure that the baby is growing appropriately, two vessel cord can sometimes mean low birth weight.

So at my ultrasound, they found that the fluid is a tad low. Not threatening yet but close to the level that we keep an eye out. This is a particular concern as a low fluid level can damage the cord (fluid acts as a cushion for the cord). Next week I will do a non-stress test (fetal monitoring to make sure the baby is moving appropriately and I'm not having too many contractions). For how much it's been moving, I don't think this will be too big of a surprise that it's just fine. The following week (36 weeks) I'll have another ultrasound to check the fluid levels again. I've been sent with strict orders to drink lots and lots of fluids to help rebuild the fluid around the baby.

But because of all of this the doctor was saying that more than likely the baby will come earlier than my due date. I shifted my maternity plan at work a week earlier and am taking the remainder of my days off in the next weeks to prepare a bit for the arrival. I got a little panicked about getting things done so a few days off will allow me to rest and check things off the list.

So here are pictures of the belly the past two weeks and a couple of ultrasound pictures of our little rascal.

This is the foot. The bottom of the foot is facing up, the black triangle part there is the ankle.

Profile, you can see the nose and fat lips.

Looking straight forward at the camera, two eye sockets and more fat lips.

Belly at 33 weeks

Belly at 34 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 34 Weeks - 238 days (only about 42 days left!)

Size of baby: ultrasound said the baby was exactly 5 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: starting to tick my way through my maternity clothes (meaning more and more are getting too small!). It's becoming fall around here so luckily I can start wearing some long sleeve shirts I have that still fit. I guess I'm starting to not care as much how I look and more about HOW I feel, so I'm in a lot of yoga pants!

Gender: do I need to answer this again? Anyway, still a big secret but Fogg made the declaration yesterday that he is sure it's a girl. I seriously still have no idea one way or the other!

Movement: the baby is moving a lot and it's getting pretty specific. For the past three days in a row, the baby has been pushing what I'm guessing is a foot/shin really far out at about my belly button. It comes out so far and Fogg and I saw it shocked. In fact another person glancing at my belly saw it yesterday!

Sleep: not going well at all. With a full Unisom pill, I was still getting up 2-5 times a night to go to the bathroom or adjust my position but at least I'd go back to sleep. Now that I'm 34 weeks, I can no longer take the sleep aid (as there can be issues at birth for the baby). I got up several times then was fully awake at 3:45am this morning. And when "sleeping" it's not very restful, I rolled over a million times!

What I miss: sleeping.

Cravings: lately, I've been eating toast with jam on it. Anything that doesn't give me heartburn is a plus.

Symptoms: heartburn, poor sleeping. A HUGE belly.

Best Moment this month: Planning a few final preparations. I love checking things off the list so knowing I get to do all that makes me feel better. Knowing I'm pretty close is both the best and the worst. The time is ticking by quickly and not only do I have a lot to do, I have to prepare for a natural birth mentally and am still trying to appreciate my time alone with Reed. I hope to have a nice date night with my hubby in the next couple of weeks along with other preparations. I'm also looking forward to getting some cool maternity pictures taken in the next couple of weeks.

Well, that's the update for now. Now to lay down for a little bit.

To Do List

Things I'd like to do before the new baby comes:

• Get my hair colored and cut.
• Get maternity pictures taken.
• Wash and organize the baby clothes.
• Get the carpets cleaned.
• Make pumpkin bars.
• Get a massage.
• Pack the hospital bag.
• Go to Wheeler Farm and do the whole Halloween thing.
• Decorate the house for fall.
• Pull out the baby stuff (bathtub, pack'n'play, carseat, swing) that I'll need.
• Stock up on newborn things that I don't have (diapers, baby wash).
• Spend quality time with my little Reed and my hubby.
• Figure out what the baby is going to wear home from the hospital.
• Mentally prep myself for the birth.
• Finish up work projects and pass along to my temp replacement.
• Re-cover Reed's lounge chair in the TV room.
• Take as many naps as possible.

Snoopy

Fogg has affectionately nicknamed my belly "Snoopy". He thinks that my profile looks like Snoopy's nose. You be the judge:

I'm actually not offended by this comparison, it's actually quite endearing (for now). He is not allowed to nickname my belly once it's been vacated of his new child though.

Reed has adopted my belly as a "big hill" for his dirt bike to go up. He makes a point of emphasizing the "big" part. I'm glad that his new sibling is already entertaining him in a round about sort of way. Reed continues to be super cute with my belly, wanting to hug and kiss the baby, asking if it's kicking, being very nice when I tell him it hurts. I am trying to get a video of it but he gets shy when the camera starts going.

Snoopy has been causing me a bit of trouble, I've had a hard week of feeling very exhausted and even a little nauseous at times. Thursday was a day that couldn't have ended fast enough, it was very challenging for me. I'm definitely getting very uncomfortable and getting more and more ready to be done.

Enough of complaining for now, off to enjoy a long weekend!

Jesse

As mentioned in a previous post, we have a dear friend going through quite the trial right now. Jesse has been a friend of ours for many years. He had some issues with his brain being a bit too big for his head (literally). Jesse is a great skier and has been a ski patroller at Snowbasin for several years. Recently he has had 3 brain surgeries as the pressure was getting a bit too much for his skull to handle and he was having some physical side-effects. He was only supposed to have one but that turned into two which turned into three. If you've heard of "minor" brain surgery than you'd be the first. Obviously, when having brain surgery, it can have quite an effect on all aspects of how you function.

We got to see Jesse about two weeks ago (after the second) and he seemed to be doing pretty well. Only a week later, he had to have the third. His recovery has been challenging and his insurance isn't doing much to help. Jesse's girlfriend put together a "bring your own dinner" party last night that we were fortunate enough to attend. Reed was super cute with Jesse, giving him high fives and laughing a lot. Jesse seemed excited that we were all able to attend, though his motor skills are a little limited at the time, making it hard to read his true expression (which for Jesse are typically very animated and hysterical).

Jesse is in the blue shirt.

The most recent wound.

Reed and Jane had a great time walking up and down the grate next to the hospital.

Keep Jesse in your thoughts and prayers. He will be released (in my opinion WAY too soon) this weekend. He is a strong guy and I know he'll recover just great. He is hoping to be patrolling again this winter so we want him not only up walking, but skiing and strong as well. Keep it up Jesse!