Um did I just read that right…35 WEEKS?!?! Does anyone else feel like this pregnancy has flown by???
Baby Size: Blitzen is now over 18 inches long and weighs around 5 1/4 lbs (weight of a honeydue melon). Most of his or her physical development is complete and from here on out Blitzen will just keep getting more plump 😉
Belly Pictures: I waited to take these until tonight so Zach could be here to take them…I’m not crazy about the whole backwards number in the mirror thing! It is neat to see that I am running low on my belly stickers and I can’t wait to be replacing them with monthly milestone stickers for the baby to wear each month! I recently ruined my favorite pair of maternity jeans (they were DARK colored capris) and have been waiting and waiting for Old Navy (online) to get my size back in stock of their maternity skinny jeans (Old Navy has THE BEST maternity pants! hands down!) but found out that they have discontinued them. Um why?!?! Today my new maternity jeggings arrived…I’d rather have skinny jeans but there really isn’t much of a difference between the two ya know? I am SO happy to have them and will be LIVING in them until Blitzen arrives. Something about a dark, tight fitting jean, just makes me feel cuter!
My Symptoms: The biggie this week has been my leg pains. To continue on with the story from Wednesday (you can read all about it here). I put a call back into the dr office on Thursday morning and, of course, they took several hours to call me back again. Once the nurse did call she said she spoke with Dr. Temples and that she said for me to follow the instructions she’d given me the day before. Don’t get me wrong, Dr. Temples is SUPER nice and I know they are SWAMPED…but she hadn’t given me any advice the day before!!! I (as sweetly as possible) told this to the nurse and she laughed and said she wouldn’t tell the dr that but that she’d just say I forgot what the advice was 🙂 I was hoping for some great insight and wisdom…but what advice did she have to offer when she called me back again? Warm soaks, Tylenol, milk, bananas, and stretches. So everything I’m already doing! She did also confirm that the leg ultrasound was clear and that they were still waiting on my blood work to come back.
Since Wednesday I’ve made a banana smoothie each night (I loathe bananas so it’s the only way to get ’em down). I’ve also used heating pads on my legs in bed before falling asleep. And I’ve taken 20 min breaks during Kye’s nap to rest and use the heating pads. I took one really hot bath and it felt good while in it, but didn’t help relive the pain. I’m also drinking a TON of water which I needed to do anyway! I’m not really taking it easy but I have tried to nap some too. I still haven’t had more than 6 hours of solid night sleep and I’m PRAYING that improves here soon. I can’t imagine getting through child birth being this tired!
I did notice yesterday that the pain is much more dull so I think the tricks are helping and I honestly think a lot of it was over-doing things. I mean walking around trick-or-treating then staying up late and getting up early to hardcore clean house will wear you out when you’re this far along right?!?!
I am feeling more confident this week. Maybe I was just in a funk last week? But I’m back to feeling like I’m a cute pregnant girl. I think getting hit on yesterday totally helped boost my confidence 🙂 This nice looking older guy (prob late 30s early 40s) took a liking to me when I was out running errands and was all about my nose ring. He said he doesn’t think I’m too old to rock it…I wonder at what point I will be? 30?
I REALLY have pregnancy brain going on! Zach has told me that I have straight up forgotten things he’s told me (or he could just be saying that to cover his butt for forgetting to tell me stuff haha). Also at the bank yesterday the lady asked the baby names we have picked out. Since she’s a total stranger I told her…and I couldn’t FOR THE LIFE OF ME remember the girl’s middle name we had picked haha!!! Isn’t that funny? Thankfully I had it in my phone so I could look it up!
My joints have really been sore…especially in my hands. And I’ll get random shooting pains in my back, hips, and arms. I guess Blitzen is laying on some nerves or something???
Last week I felt very accepting of the baby coming, this week I am scared about delivery. I know that’s random seeing as I did it all natural with Kye and had a wonderful experience…but I’m kinda freaking out. I don’t feel NEARLY as prepared as I did with Kye. Zach and I are both SO much busier and don’t have nearly the time for the Bradley stuff that we once did. What if I can’t do it? What if I get in the moment and am SO mad at myself for not being better prepared? Will I really be able to labor at home longer this time? How will it all work with Kye? How will my hair look? How much pain will I be in? Will I be as strong as before to handle it all? Will the staff be nicer? Who will deliver the baby? Will my arms be as weak as last time? I know it’s normal to be scared and nervous…I think I’ll feel more confident once I’m full term and am able to start walking etc to get the baby to come. I also think it’ll help to have all the to-dos done so I can mentally prepare 🙂
I haven’t noticed as many Braxton Hicks or as much pressure this week – probably b/c the leg pain has been the dominating feeling? Blitzen still moves a LOT which is a blessing for sure and you can feel my tummy at any moment and know where he or she is laying. I’m pretty sure we’re still in the head down position 🙂
Weight: Only 1 lb! 19 total! I’m pretty excited to hit full term and have only gained 20 lb! I think drinking smoothies for my nightly snack instead of eating cosmic brownies or ice cream will probably help me achieve that goal 😉 I REALLY love how every single stranger is SHOCKED when I tell them how far I am…it’s a GREAT motivator for next pregnancy. I MUST re-read all of these next time so I won’t be tempted to pig out 😉
Gender: Kye’s been on a “brother” kick. A random lady also said “you’re having a boy right?” And Rachael (who rarely dreams) dreamed it’s a boy. I’m surprised by the amount of boy guesses on Blitzen’s Baby Pool too! I still very much think girl, as does Zach, but we’ll see here SOON! I’m getting eager to KNOW b/c that bare nursery is pretty depressing!
Maternity Clothes: I’m SO thankful the jeggings arrived…I feel so much cuter in them! And I’m thankful for the cute new accessories Zach got me for my birthday…having new stuff to wear with the yucky maternity clothes makes me feel cuter (new purses and shoes!). I MUST go get new nursing bras ASAP!!! I keep forgetting about that! I did invest in several nursing tops to wear around the hospital and the house that match pj pants I already owned. I looked ROUGH last time around when people would come visit and my hopes are too look, and feel, cuter. I’m getting my hair done next week and then again 4 weeks later. I’m thinking that this weeks will be my last time pre-baby and the next appointment will be after-baby. My hair was SO awful with Kye b/c I was supposed to get it done the day after he was born! I’m the type person (call me vain, whatever) who FEELS better when I look better 🙂
Movement: It said I should still feel Blitzen move, but not the crazy movements like before and that’s pretty accurate. Occasionally I’ll get a good stab but overall just small movements – he or she is running out of space in there quickly 😉
Sleep: The Lord is preparing me for the sleepless newborn nights. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway! I’m BEYOND tired ALL the time. I seriously don’t know how I’m even functioning. I HAVE to catch up on sleep as it’s important for me to be well rested on delivery day!
Cravings: nothing really. I’m liking cherry poptarts for breakfast over my normal cereal simply b/c they are WARM and I’m cold in the mornings 🙂
Delivery Update: Thought I’d add this section since next week I’ll be FULL TERM!!! Zach is home every night this coming week and TODAY he’s ~hopefully~ going to be DONE with the storage shed! I feel confident that we can knock a LOT out this coming week. I plan to finish Christmas shopping too. I’ve already got all my wrapping paper and cards. Then the following week (my 36th week) I plan to wrap and start decorating the house so I can see what decorations we need to buy. When my legs were REALLY hurting I was planning to do all the tricks as soon as possible once I hit full term. Now that I’m adjusting to the pain and feeling a little better…my goal is to start primrose oil (which arrived yesterday!) next Friday but not do anything else until my 37th week. Then I hope to start doing some walking and such just to get things going. I’ll probably pack my bags that week as well. Then I’m hoping to HARDCORE do some trickage the weekend of Thanksgiving for Stacy!!! If it doesn’t happen then though I’ll probably wait it out…just depending on how I feel. Most likely I’ll be BEYOND ready though and will keep trying the tricks like I did last pregnancy, Kye was born exactly 1 week early. I know that doesn’t mean that Blitzen will be early too…but I’m hopeful 🙂
What I Miss: Feeling well-rested! Sleeping solid. Being pain free. Having a semi-flat stomach! Being caught up on the blog 😉
Best Pregnancy Moment of the Week: My birthday on Tuesday was a rough day for lots of reasons, but it was also wonderful to get to spend time with Mom, Dad, then Kye and Zach too that night. I really appreciated the thoughtful gifts Zach got for me and had a great time with them celebrating! Halloween was fun too and I enjoyed rocking my costume 🙂 Kye has been talking more and more about being a big brother and it makes me so happy and excited. I told him I had to go to the dr (on Wednesday with the leg pain stuff) and he said “you’re going to pick out a baby?!?” Also on my birthday when we were getting ready to leave he said “we need to go to the hospital and bring the baby with us for mommy’s birthday.” He’s enjoyed having all the baby stuff out in the nursery and putting his stuffed animals on it all. It’s precious to see him play on the playmat b/c he LOVED it when he was a baby and it’s still the baby item that draws him in the most. We also had the infant CPR class this week…it was difficult for me because I kept seeing Titus when he had his seizure in my care and my mind kept thinking back to Tripp. I’m glad we took the course and will be posting on it soon!
Questions/Concerns: Concerned about my abilities to do this natural a second time! Want to ask about my joint pains and random bursts of pain throughout my body. Going to ask Marie about my leg pain too…maybe she’ll have more advice than Dr. Temples had!
Goals for the Week: Kinda mentioned them earlier but get a LOT of the stuff around the house done, finish Christmas shopping, get all the baby stuff we need ordered (you just simply don’t get as many presents with a second baby!), get stocked up on groceries and other items, get caught up on blogging, get caught up on facebook albums, etc etc etc. Also since Zach WILL be home we HAVE TO get hardcore with Bradley. It’s never too late 🙂 Buy nursing bras!!!! Pre-register at hospital!I wonder if I need to call the pediatrician to let them know too about the baby coming???
Notes from Pregnancy #1: Around this time last pregnancy Autumn too my maternity pictures…so glad I did them earlier this time (you can see them here and here!). Zach and I also celebrated our 5 years of dating…you can read about that AND about how we met here! Danielle and Chelsi came for a visit and we had SUCH a great weekend together. It’s funny Danielle…Kye still plays with that semi-creepy baby doll from the diaper cake! It’s in the car and it’s a practice baby for him 😉 I also had my last baby shower for “Clover” this week last pregnancy. Courtney and Casey hosted and I have to say – the shower they did for me this time around was SO much better. I can’t wait to blog about all the fun we had!!!! Looking back at all these baby showers is fun, but it also makes me sad. Ashley and I were so, so close and she was involved in every stage of my pregnancy with Kye and was crying when she came into the delivery room after he was born. Not only has she not been involved this pregnancy, or been to any showers, she also won’t be at the hospital when Blitzen comes. I know the kids will never know the difference (heck I doubt Kye even remembers her) but it’s hard for me. Like Zach says all the time…friends are like seasons. I’m sad that our season is passed though 🙁 Although I AM thankful I have SO SO many new friends who WILL be there to share in my joy!!!! Hopefully the seasons on these friendships won’t change anytime soon 🙂
My work has been featured on Love What Matters, Today Parenting and Babywise.Life. I'm also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.
You can read more about our family on my About Me page. Also be sure to follow along with me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!
- What I’m Gifting My Family: 2024 - November 21, 2024
- Effective Parenting Tips to Discipline a 5 Year Old Child - September 24, 2024
- Happy 9th Birthday to My Daughter – Letter to Tess from Mom - August 26, 2024
Lord have mercy, girl… did you really type "how will my hair look" in the middle of the concerns about your natural childbirth. You crack me up 🙂 Girl, i'd be scared about the pain! Who cares about the hair! HA! Although i'll admit that i made sure to remove all my makeup and brush my teeth before my epidural w/ Mack b/c i knew i couldnt get up again and i looked hideous after Rhyan! HA! And i made sure i fixed my hair so that it would look fine in a ponytail later. So i did the same thing! But i wasnt having to think about pain, either. So it just makes me laugh that with a natural delivery you'd even think about hair! :-)I'm proud of you for doing it once and i'm sure you'll do great again! Especially with how careful you've been about weight gain, i cant imagine Blitzen being very large.Btw, does your dr not do fundal height measurements each appt? (from the pelvic bone to the top of the uterus?). Thats a GREAT indicator of size 🙂
Well I WILL be there…and my name IS Ashley!:)
You will never be too old for a nose ring. It is so small and lovely!