Ok maybe just maybe this will be my last weekly pregnancy post?!?! I’m ready to start the newborn weekly ones instead and have pictures of a sweet, precious baby instead of my big ‘ole tummy!!!
Baby Size: Blitzen is now considered to be fully developed and 100% ready to be BORN. So c’mon already kid 😉 He or she is weighing about 6.8 lb and is measuring over 19 1/2 inches long (length of a leek).
Belly Pictures: Even I look at myself and say “dang, I do NOT look 38 weeks pregnant!” I honestly don’t feel 38 weeks pregnant either. Maybe my due date is totally screwed up and I won’t have this baby till late Dec…let’s hope not 🙂 I’m wearing my belly stickers along with my bardot spiral bangle and my fringe hoop earrings.
My Symptoms: Well, I’m still pregnant! So I guess that’s my biggest symptom huh? Honestly the ONLY thing bothering me right now is this cold. I just can’t get rid of it and it’s annoying to have the sniffles all the time. Thankfully Zach was able to find me some Sudafed (everyone was right – he had to ask for it behind the counter at Walmart!) and it does help, but it doesn’t make all the cold symptoms go away 🙁
Pretty much every symptom I have is delivery related so I’ll talk about that in that section…I DO want to mention Kye’s “symptoms.” I mentioned before that he’s become a lot more clingy to mommy lately. He’s also become more whiney. And will wake up early every morning. It’s only by about 20 min or so but it’s annoying. He’ll also wake up sometimes in the night asking for his blanket to be fixed. I’ve heard from a LOT of people that the first borne will sometimes have random issues as the time gets closer to add the sibling to the family and I know it’s all natural. We’re doing our best to deal with it and he’s still precious, sweet as can be, and SO excited to meet “Isis.” It’s just a little more difficult around here lately.
Weight: Oops…forgot to weigh-in this morning so I’ll do it in the morning. I just ate lunch and am not about to get on a scale right now 😉
Gender: Kye always says “Baby Isis is a boy and a girl” so today I explained to him that it’s not possible to be both. I asked him if he’s a boy and a girl and he said no, I asked him if I am a boy and a girl and he said no so I asked him is Baby Isis a boy OR a girl??? And he said “Baby Isis in your belly is a boy.” Can’t WAIT to see if he’s right. I’m still very sure it’s a girl though!
Maternity Clothes: All pants are…I feel like most of my maternity tops are too pushed out at the bottom where they don’t lay flat against me. My maternity tank tops don’t even fit at this point – they are too short! I totally didn’t have that problem last time…I think it’s b/c my stomach is more “out” than “around” ya know? I’m wearing a non-maternity shirt in these pics and I’ve worn non-maternity ones all week b/c I feel like the fit me better over the belly. So strange!
Movement: This baby was offended when I said I wasn’t feeling as much last week! He or she made up for it this week with LOTS of movement!!!
Sleep: Now that, mostly, everything is done I am able to sleep more. I feel like I NEED it more than I have in the past. Probably from the cold…either that or the Lord preparing me for many, many nights without sleep. Zach has started to have a more difficult time sleeping. He said he’ll wake up a lot in the night, I really do think it’s our bodies getting ready! I’ve been waking up more often too, I have to PEE a TON!!! Like, no joke, 5-6 times per night. Luckily I’m able to go right back to sleep. I’ve been going to bed much earlier and even took a nap yesterday!
Cravings: I’m missing my ice cream cake already! I’ve been drinking a TON of milk and egg nog so that’s my biggest one.
Delivery Update: I really really want to have this baby this weekend. Stacy is officially on call and I would probably cry from happiness if my water broke right this second. Since she started being on call yesterday, I started trying tricks on Wednesday. Here’s what I’ve been doing:
- Got an hour prenatal massage (thanks to both Amanda’s…one so sweetly offered to help pay for it and the other gave me the massage!) where she put a lot of focus on spots that are supposed to help induce labor. It’s a spot at the top of your Achilles tendon and one kinda on your inner knee.
- After the massage Zach and I got pedicures (thanks to Robyn for the great birthday gift!) and they massaged my feet for another hour (and focused on those same key spots).
That night Zach and I got EVERYTHING finished up. I haven’t physically put my junk in the bags for the hospital but I’ve gotten Kye pretty much packed and have my stuff in piles ready to be put into suitcases. We also got the house spotless. We planned on doing other tricks that night but at 10ish I started to get some pretty major contractions and felt super nauseous. Enough to where I had to lay down. I thought “oh great. I’m in labor…I’ll have a 2 am baby and will just miss Stacy getting on call!” Zach was laughing at me b/c I wasn’t sure if I was in labor or had bad, bad gas pains (I never did go to the bathroom so I’m thinking they were some heavy Braxton Hicks?). I REALLY don’t know about that kind of thing. Everyone keeps saying that I’ll “just know” when I’m in labor but, unless my water breaks again, I totally can see myself not knowing!!! I ended up just going straight to bed without trying any tricks and fell asleep. The only thing I did do was bust open an Evening Primrose Oil capsule and squirt it “up there.”
Yesterday we tried more tricks:
- I sat on a birthing ball a lot of the day at Mom’s and rocked
- Mom, Auntie Amy, Auntie Becky and I went on a 30 min or so walk around the block
- Last night when we got home I soaked my feet in hot water then Zach gave me foot massages and focuses on those “sweet spots” for a long time.
- Zach and I tried the method of “how you make the baby will help you deliver it” trick.
- I’ve been taking Evening Primrose Oil orally and decided to try inserting it. I tried the squirt method the night before but when I read up on it on the internet I realized you would have to put your hand up in there to get it high enough. Um YUCK. So I used a tampon applicator to put the capsule “up there” then went straight to bed. Supposedly it’s one of the most effective ways to naturally induce labor. It’s also SUPER good for you and helps soften everything up where you have a lesser chance of having to have an episiotomy. The capsule dissolved pretty quickly and I could feel the oil, which was nasty. But maybe it’ll help!
So far today:
- I took my daily Evening Primrose Oil orrally
- We went to the golf course and I drove my own cart and hit every single bump I could at full speed.
- After Kye gets up from his nap we plan to walk to the park and I’ll walk laps while the guys play.
- Tonight we’ll do the foot stuff, “deposit” and Primrose Oil again.
I know I’m doing all of these tricks and all of you probably are thinking I’m nuts and that I must be mega impatient or really over being pregnant. Really, that’s not the case at all. I don’t mind being pregnant still…and I think that’s the reason I probably won’t be going into labor. When I had Kye I was BEYOND done. I was so, so over it. And I’m just not to that place yet. If there is no baby by the time Stacy is no longer on call then I won’t be trying these tricks again for awhile. Zach and I plan to have our Christmas next weekend and I know we’ll enjoy that more without a newborn so I won’t mind going till 39 weeks…now after that…I MAY get sick of it!!!
While I mentally don’t feel like it’s coming soon, physically I’m having LOTS of contractions pretty regularly. Just nothing really worth worrying or getting excited over. 🙁 I know everything I have read says the stuff I did on Wednesday can take up to 48 hours to work…so today could still be the day! We’ll see!
I did visit this site with my last pregnancy when I was this far along and here is what symptoms I’m having that they consider to be signs of delivery coming soon:
- nesting: helllllo I ironed 46 of Kye’s shirts! I have the nursery all ready (I mean it’s not decorated but everything it put up). We have our tree up, decorated, house decorated, all gifts purchased and wrapped…I mean could I be anymore nesty?!?! Heck I didn’t blog for 2 days b/c I was too hardcore about doing stuff and couldn’t sit down!
- diarrhea/bowl disturbance: I haven’t had any diarrhea but I poop like 10 times a day. No joke. Pretty much every time I pee, I also poop. And it is “softer” than normal (I don’t care if this grosses you out…some pregnant girl somewhere may read this and it’ll help her!)
- engagement: Meaning the “baby drops.” I feel like the baby is lower but, like this site says, often second pregnancies the baby won’t drop until you’re in actual labor
- pelvic floor pressure: don’t have that…it’s like an intense pain
- vaginal discharge: I mean I’ve had it for awhile but it’s def more than the norm at this point
- softening of cervix: It’s already soft, as she told me at last appointment…and I’m dialated
- contractions: Early contractions would go unnoticed and the ones I have are for sure noticeable. But they are still not consistent enough to be real labor ones. They are so frequent though that I have a feeling I’m 3 cm…but we won’t know till next Thur!
- water breaking: obviously this hasn’t happened…I SO hope it does though!!!
What I Miss: same as last week, not being sick. I’d be feeling AWESOME if it wasn’t for this cold!
Best Pregnancy Moment of the Week: FINALLY reaching the point where I can RELAX. Yes, there are still a few things here and there to do (I haven’t made the hospital gifts yet…or put the pictures in the baby book…or caught up on blogging) but everything that HAS to be done before Blitzen arrives is DONE. It’s a WONDERFUL feeling!!!!!! I love love love that we got our Christmas tree last Saturday. We’ve been having a blast singing Christmas songs all week and it’s fun to be in the spirit so early. We may do it this early every year 😉
Questions/Concerns: My next appointment isn’t until next Thursday so it’s kinda a stretch between appointments…I’ll go from barely being 37 weeks to being 1 day shy of 39. I’m hoping then that she WILL strip my membranes!
Notes from Pregnancy #1: This week last pregnancy I found out my dad was for sure coming after Clover was born and I was thrilled! He’s planning to come this time too and I can’t wait!!! That’s another reason it’d be so neat to have the baby NOW. Some of my family is in town for Thanksgiving and I’d LOVE for them to be part of everything 🙂 We started trying many of the similar tricks that we’ve done this time around and I had my 37ish week check up (I was one day shy of 38 weeks). You can see how I looked at 38 weeks here! At that appointment I was 1 cm dilated, -1 station and 90% effaced. Of course I didn’t know it at the time but I only had one more week to go!
I LOVE the surprise element of giving birth and that I literally have NO IDEA when it’ll happen. It makes it all so exciting 🙂 My water broke with Kye when I was bawling my head off blogging…who knows when it’ll happen with Blitzen! I am ready whenever that time may be!!!
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I didn't know that tidbit about second pregnancies not engaging until actual labor. I saw your picture and thought, "that baby is way up under her boobs, still!" Good to know that isn't an indication. I hope you have a safe and speedy delivery!
Yes. you do look great! I'm hoping to look that great and FEEL that great when I get to that point in my pregnancy!
How does your Dr judge the weight of your baby? My Dr hasn't mentioned Colten's weight & I'm 34 wks.
you are looking great in photos. congratulations.