Officially 7 days out from my due date and ONE day more pregnant than I’ve ever been 🙂
Baby Size: Blitzen is now just waiting around to come into the world! He or she is already measuring over 20 inches and over 7lb (most likely even more if it’s a boy). It’s funny to me that they relate the baby size to a small watermelon this week since the saying about childbirth goes “it’s pushing something the size of watermelon through a whole the size of a lemon” haha!
Belly Pictures: I never got pictures at 39 weeks with Kye because I didn’t make it this far so there isn’t anything to compare these too…but I honestly think I look better than I did when Kye was born 🙂 Heck, even AFTER Kye was born!!! Kye was ALL about some photos with Mommy this morning!
I’m wearing my belly stickers and my Copa Necklace!
I thought I’d show that bare belly for (hopefully? maybe?) the last time!
My Symptoms: My cold is mostly gone. I still have a lot of snot but it’s finally clear instead of yucky green! Other than that I feel WONDERFUL. Not really any pregnancy pains or complaints. At this point I feel like being pregnant is just who I am and I could go on like this forever and not mind…well, I’d need more clothes…but other than that I’d be good to go!
Weight: I forgot to weigh-in last week so I weighed myself Saturday morning (and forgot to update that blog entry) and I had gained 5 lb in ONE WEEK! I flipped and felt even more depressed. I think it was some kind of fluke or something? Or from all the primrose oil I was sticking up there? Or from the Thanksgiving feasts? B/c this morning I weighed myself and I have lost 3 lb since Sat! Which means I gained 2 lb total in 2 weeks and am now weighing in at a total of 22 lb weight gain. I am BEYOND proud of myself for that!!!!
Gender: It’s so close to finding out! I’ve been practicing with both names and am excited to get to use one of them SOON!!! I’m pretty sick of “Blitzen” haha Although I have a feeling “Isis” is gonna be a tough one to quit using b/c Kye INSISTS that it’s the baby’s name!
Maternity Clothes: The ONLY pants I wear are the maternity jeggings I got from Old Navy. Every single day. I haven’t even ever washed them. I don’t really care! I’m not going many places (no more errands for me!) and it’s not worth putting on other pants. I’m kinda sick of all my tops too. I just really hate the way most maternity shirts fit so loosely over the stomach area. And a TON of my shirts are too short…I guess I really am carrying differently from last time!
Movement: Lots of movement in the beginning of the week…it’s starting to slow down some though which is probably a sign in the right direction!
Sleep: Now that I’m feeling better, I’m also SLEEPING better! After my appointment yesterday I feel like the tough work of labor and delivery is near and I need to rest up so I took a nice long nap and have been going to bed earlier. I may not fall asleep early but I lay in the bed and watch tv and rest. I’m only getting up once or twice a night now instead of every couple of hours which is WONDERFUL. Zach is trying to get less sleep to prepare his body for the big change in night rest…but he doesn’t have to worry about being strong for delivery like I do so I think rest for me is a good thing! If I have the time, and I do, then I need to be doing as much of it as possible 😉
Cravings: MILK. All I want is MILK. Strawberry milk, chocolate milk, milk with eggnog. YUM.
Delivery Update: Well I’m officially further along with this pregnancy than I made it with Kye! I probably should be upset by that/feeling miserable about it but I’m really not. What I thought would happen did. I was HARDCORE about getting the baby here while Stacy was on call. Then I was depressed when it didn’t happen and now I’m just enjoying having NOTHING on my plate while we wait!
I literally am not doing a single trick to get the baby here. I even stopped taking the Evening Primrose Oil each morning. I think taking it for 3 weeks caused some issues b/c I was LIVING on the toilet, pooping non-stop and I read it can be a side effect of taking that.
Zach and I are both looking very forward to tonight! Mom is keeping Kye and we are doing our Christmas together. Every year we go away (usually skiing or Disney) just the two of us for a weekend in December and exchange our gifts for each other. Since we can’t travel this year we are doing it at home! We’re going on a DATE tonight and sleeping in tomorrow morning then opening our gifts while sitting by our fireplace cuddled up together. It’ll be WONDERFUL so I don’t want to try any labor inducing tricks before we get to enjoy that last little bit of “us time” together.
With being as far along as I am though I do think it could be at any time. Last night I felt like it was going to happen in the middle of the night and I’m really okay with that. We’d get to labor at home without worrying about Kye and it’d be kinda fun to have a “secret baby” that the world wouldn’t even know had arrived yet 😉 Today I’m feeling lots of cramps, less baby movement, feel VERY thirsty (I’m downing water like crazy) and officially lost my mucus plug! I got home from dropping Kye at school, went pee and saw it when I wiped. I had read about it and such and thought I’d lost it last pregnancy but now that I REALLY did lose it I know what it looks like. It’s a LOT of snot looking junk (which neither Zach or Jordan appreciated me telling them haha). I always thought it’d be a tiny clump but it was a GOOD bit.
I know losing the mucus plug means nothing. Labor could be days. It could be weeks. I’d love a weekend baby as it’d make life easier for SO many people who want to be present without having to worry about work. Overall though I’m okay if Blitzen takes longer than the weekend. There are only THREE reasons I’m really wanting him or her to get here quick: 1) I need to have the baby so the baby can be old enough fast enough for newborn pictures so I can order announcements and Christmas cards and get them sent before Christmas. However, I feel better about this b/c I just looked on Walmart.com and they DO offer 1 hour printing of Christmas cards so I feel a LOT better about that! 2) I am VERY anti-being induced and I know if I hit my due date that pressure will start coming and I really don’t want to face that situation and 3) At four months old (I know looking ahead…as always!) Babywise babies typically transition to a 4 hour schedule. I cannot WAIT for the 4 hour schedule (already counting down to it) and if I have the baby soon enough then the baby could be on that schedule for Casey’s wedding (the weekend of March 31st). I know that sounds dumb but it’d be nice and make the weekend run smoother.
After we get done with our Christmas tomorrow I’ll probably start up with the tricks again – we’ll see! Crissy just texted me and said she saw Teresa at her appointment this morning and that she thinks she’ll be seeing me this weekend 😉 Good sign when the midwife says that right?!?!
What I Miss: Nothing! Feeling good! I am REALLY ready to nurse though. More than even the desire to see the baby, I have the desire to nurse. I guess it’s my body’s way of preparing for it? But those hormones are in full gear and ready!
Best Pregnancy Moment of the Week: Yesterday after nap I asked Kye what should be the song we sing to the baby and he said, without hesitating, “I love you forever.” What’s so sweet about it is we NEVER sing that song and we just read the book for the first time in ages like a week ago! Isn’t that so sweet? Kye has been SO excited to meet the baby. He talks about it ALL the time and this morning at breakfast, out of the blue, he said “can we go get the baby today?” He asks all the time “let’s get ready so we can go get the baby.” I’m so glad he’s excited and I think Zach and I have done a good job building it up to be a fun, happy, exciting thing!
Questions/Concerns: I’m nervous about delivery pain. Nervous about what time it’ll all go down. Nervous about how it’ll all go with the staff. BUT I’m feeling MUCH less nervous than yesterday and much more READY for things to happen! IF I make it to my appointment Tues morning…I’m ASSUMING she’ll strip my membranes then?!?!
Notes from Pregnancy #1: If I make it to write another of these blog entries next week I won’t have ANYTHING for this section b/c Kye was born! At officially 38 weeks I was over being pregnant and spent every second thinking up ways to put myself into labor. While I felt that way over Thanksgiving, I’m thankful to not feel that way now. Life is much less stressful just letting things happen and not worrying about it 😉 I literally tried EVERY trick I could find to naturally induce labor and after trying it all, I felt very down and discouraged. I reached a point with everything where I was just numb and I was SO over being “that pregnant girl” to everyone. I def think I got my baby blues over with before Kye even arrived! I was always in the most HAPPY moods once Kye arrived…I hope that since I’m not sad this time around that it doesn’t mean I’ll be different for postpartum b/c my postpartum self is pretty awesome haha! One day shy of 39 weeks I had my weekly check-up, just like I did this pregnancy. Of course we all know the story…I was mega upset that nothing had changed and actually had my water break while blogging. Within the next 8 hours Kye was born!
My “plan” is that when I know I’m for sure in labor I will let everyone know. Then I told the people who come up to the hospital to please update everyone via facebook with how things are going UNTIL the baby is actually born and the name/gender announced. I’m HOPING no one spills the news and that I will get to be the one to make the big announcement 😉 I’m bringing a laptop and all my stuff that I’d need to blog while in the hospital. I plan to stay 48 hours this time instead of just 24 (I think it’ll help better establish breastfeeding, better adjust to the craziness of having two, and let me and Zach both get better rest). However, I HATE hospitals so I’m ~thinking~ I may get some blogging done or at least some of the pictures from delivery and stuff edited then. I’m ~almost~ completely caught up now and I PROMISE I won’t be pulling a Rachael when the baby arrives and not blogging anymore 😉 I’ll do my best to update as soon as possible!!!
Please continue to pray for a quick, easy, healthy delivery and baby!
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You look fantastic… not at all like you're about to "pop" like so many women (myself included) at this stage. I can't wait to read all about your labor, delivery, and of course the gender and name of the baby!
you are looking so great in photos.