38 weeks, and baby has an eviction date!

We had our 2nd to last appointment on Tuesday. My mom went with me again because Theo couldn't get out of work. The doctor confirmed again that baby boy is breech, and she did the first internal exam per my request. Theo was due to leave Wednesday and I wanted confirmation that there wasn't any early signs of labor already happening. Turns out I'm still closed and baby is high, which means little boy has no immediate plans on jumping ship. Sure, I could still go into labor or my water could break at any point, but it still made me feel better with Theo leaving. My doctor said we could schedule the C-Section next week, but I asked if we could just take care of it today. I want to know when we will be seeing our beautiful boy! We knew April 9th was the earliest we could schedule, so I told her that would be a good day for us.

I hadn't heard from the office about what time the c-section was scheduled for, or if it was scheduled at all. When I called today, I found out we have a set time for 12:00PM on April 9th! It was so exciting to hear that we know when we will meet our son, if he doesn't decide to come sooner of course!

It's been a hard couple weeks between the back and rib pain. Trying to get comfortable is close to impossible throughout the day. I'm now sort of taking it as my labor of love. I don't get to go through labor like I had always pictured. I'm one of those people that thought it was a gift to be able to experience labor. Granted I've never felt the pain of labor, so my feelings on that may have changed had I had the opportunity to experience it. But I would have fought with everything I had to not have an epidural. The pain in my ribs and back gets worse by the day, and I get pretty moody at times having to deal with it, but it's also getting slightly easier the closer we get to baby day. We have just over a week!

Tonight is the last night that Theo is gone, and after he comes back tomorrow, I give baby full permission to make his entrance at any time! I was so stressed about Theo going on this Utah trip, and it so far has turned out fine just like Theo said. He's always so positive. So, I'll just cross my fingers that I sleep the night tonight (with the exception of probably 2 potty breaks) and wake up tomorrow ready for my love to come home!

Mamma got her swim on

After a few days of feeling like my ribs were going to explode, I finally took my Ob's advice to go swimming. Theo and I got a 7 day guest pass to the YMCA, and went last night for the first time. I'm sure I looked ridiculous in my tank top and Theo's gym shorts, but holy crap, it was amazing. The second I got in the water, my body felt weightless. My belly became almost soft instead of the hard basketball it is outside of the water. Theo helped me stretch out, and we just relaxed in the warm water. I felt so flexible for the first time in months! The coolest thing was feeling baby boy kick under water... such a weird feeling. We plan to go back again tonight.

On another note, I have another Ob appointment today. We will be scheduling the C-section which is exciting, and I'm going to have her check my cervix. I'm still totally terrified about Theo leaving for Utah tomorrow, and I'm hoping this visit will put my mind at ease one way or another. Theo and I have looked at how long it would take him to get home if I were to go into labor. We figured out if it's between 5:30am and 9:45pm, it will take him about 4 hours to get from his hotel to the hospital. Which is pretty good because our Ob said she won't cut until he gets there. The issue is if it happens in the middle of the night. Pretty much, we're screwed. So please baby boy... please, please, please wait for daddy to get back on Saturday. And if you can't wait, please come in the middle of the day. Thank you baby.

37 weeks~ full term!

How far along? 37 weeks
How big is baby? Size of a watermelon! That amazes me.
Total weight gain/loss? About 38 lb... that's way over what I was supposed to, but my doctor isn't concerned.
Maternity clothes? There's only a few pieces of maternity clothes that I haven't grown out of. I bought a few more things in a larger size that fit better.

Sleep? Not great. I toss and turn several times because my shoulder or hip get sore, and I get up twice to pee.
Best moment this week? Not baby related, but we got word that our loan was approved for our townhouse... which means that we are pretty much in the clear, and escrow should close earlier than we had thought. Also, my mom came to my doctor's appointment this week since Theo couldn't get out of work. She had been dying to come to one, and got to see a basic ultrasound and meet my doctor.
Symptoms? The swelling in my legs, ankles, feet, hands has gotten worse. I seem to have gotten poofy all over in the past couple weeks. I'm so glad we did our maternity photos back around 30 weeks. My back pain has shifted from the left to the right which I think is so strange. I'm pretty much sore all over now and have trouble getting comfortable wherever I am. The fatigue has increased also... I poop out so fast. I had minor OCD tendencies before pregnancy, but they seem to have gotten worse in 3rd trimester. I've figured out how to control them though. Mamma's ready for you baby boy!

Food cravings? Still love anything sugary, but I'm obsessed with iced tea lately. I had a craving last week for thrifty ice cream (circus animal cookie flavor to be specific) and I also had a craving for orange dream machine jamba. Overall, my appetite is much lower than it has been.

Food aversions? None really.
Gender? Still a boy! Our doctor pointed out that he shows off his boy parts whenever we do the ultrasound.
Labor signs? It feels like he's dropped, I'm officially waddling now. The past couple days, my mood has been funky, coupled with spurts of insane nesting. I had to go to target at 10pm to get curtains I found online. This morning, I started getting what felt like very mild menstrual cramps and lower back pain. I had heard that early labor could feel like that. So when we got home from estate sale-ing, my mom went with me for a long walk. I got much BH almost the whole way, but these were actually uncomfortable which my BH have never been before. They totally stopped once I got home and took a nap though.

Belly button in or out? Out... and shows through every shirt I wear!

What I miss? Coffee, fitting in most of my clothes, not needing a pillow behind my back wherever I sit, being able to lay flat on my back, not needing 3 pillows to fall asleep, my normal figure, feeling sexy, not tiring after a walk through target... but seriously, I would endure so much more to bring our little boy into this world. I would do anything for him.

What I'm looking forward to? Our next appointment on Tuesday. I've asked our doctor to do an internal exam to find out if I'm progressing even though we will be having a C-section. Theo leaves for Utah on Wednesday, and we want to know if labor might start early. We will also set the C-section date at the appointment!

Milestones? Baby boy is now full term! So even though he can stay in there as long as he likes (well technically only until our c-section date at 39+ weeks), he would most likely do great if he came at any time. If I do go into labor before our set date, my doctor will just do the c-section then.

Nuff said...

36 weeks

35/35!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted. It's terrible because I've been on maternity leave for almost 3 weeks now. I've been pretty busy though... doing a lot of laundry, cleaning, packing the hospital bag, taking childbirth classes, buying a townhouse....

Yes we bought a townhouse this week!! We couldn't believe the first place we put in an offer on actually got accepted. It's the cutest little place. We have a 30 day escrow which means we will probably close right around the time little man will make his appearance. We plan on moving about a month after he comes. We are both just beyond ecstatic to have our own place. And I can set up a real nursery! That reminds me, I need to post pictures of the little nook we have for baby in our room at my parents house. It will be his space until we move.

I have to mention that we absolutely loved our childbirth class. It was taught by a really cool doula. We finished every class feeling so much more prepared, despite all the reading and research we had previously done. I think the best part was how it united us. The class taught us how to communicate during what can be a stressful time, and it also gave us time to really focus on each other. When we would practice relaxation and breathing exercises, Theo and I were totally connected without saying a word. Not to mention I got several amazing massages from Theo throughout the course of the class. We found out this week that we may not be putting a lot of our labor education to use...

Our 35 week check up went a little differently than we anticipated. Since our last ultrasound, Theo and I have been researching macrasomia (big baby) and how we can have our best shot of a natural birth. We were really afraid that the doctor would push us towards induction or C-section. We knew that this 35 week ultrasound would tell us what our odds were of a natural delivery based on baby's size. Well, the ultrasound showed that our little boy is breech, after being head down at the last ultrasound at 30 weeks. We were pretty surprised to hear that the lump that always pokes out at the top of my belly is actually his head and not his butt. The doctor told me that could be why my back pain hasn't been quite as bad and why his movements feel different. She said we will do weekly ultrasounds to see if he's turned head down, but there's only about a 10% chance of that happening at this point. The good news is his size isn't quite as scary as they had thought. He's only measuring about 2 weeks ahead. Doctor said if he turns, she would think we could have a natural delivery. It was amazing how we had gone from wanting to fight for a natural delivery despite his size, to most likely facing a C-section because there isn't a choice when the baby is breech. But we're told that he's breech for a reason. It could be that his umbilical cord is to short, or he's too big to fit in my pelvic opening head down. Either way, he's where he is most comfortable. So we just wait until the next appointment, and take things one day at a time.

With only about a month left, we are so beyond excited and antsy to meet the little guy. It's incredible that after all this waiting, he will be in our arms so soon. Although I will miss him squirming around in my belly, I'm ready to be able to look into his beautiful face and see the little person we created. April can't come fast enough!

34 weeks

Sorry just some pictures for this week. I look so tired!