34-35 Weeks... Big belly, ultrasound, baby shower, and more!

35 week belly! I don't think the picture really does my enormousness justice ;)

 Today I am 35 weeks pregnant, and it also happens to be my birthday!
26 years ago I was born four days after my mommy's February birthday, even though I was supposed to have been a March baby too ;) I have been celebrating all day with tons of contractions and cramping... Annnd I'm starting to get pretty nervous about the state of my preparedness for this child!

About a week ago we had our VERY LAST ultrasound (#5!) which went really well, as far as baby is concerned... Karl had to work and so my mom and Amaia (who just turned 6!) came with us. Evie was pretty good for most of it, but as we were trying to leave she threw an epic tantrum all the way out of the hospital and into the car and part of the way home... She's been doing that fairly regularly these days--I think it's because she's been skipping her naps :/

As for baby, he was measuring only about 2 days ahead this time around, but all his little body parts are looking perfect and he's not behind on his growth. The estimate is that he was weighing in at about 5 lbs 3 oz as of a week ago! He's currently head down (like he has been this whole pregnancy, good boy!), which is fantastic news.

We couldn't get a very good picture of his face this visit, however; silly monkey had one foot and a hand in front of his face! This is the best pic we could get :)

 

Saturday I had my first baby shower, thrown for me by my loverly visiting teachers, Carmen Cole & Amy Bingham :) Only about half the people I invited ended up being able to come (it was a little bit short notice, and for some reason lots of people were gone doing fun things that day!), but I actually thought it was the perfect amount of guests for my comfort level. It was a lot less awkward when I could kind of talk to everyone instead of worrying about all the people I couldn't get to or was leaving out.

Carmen did, however, have everyone play a baby shower "game" where everyone went around the circle and gave me a compliment and some parenting advice. I will admit, I was not super comfortable with sitting there making person after person say something nice about me while everyone listened... Just not sure what to do with myself! But, I did really appreciate all the kind things that people said. I'd been having a rough week, and an especially rough morning, so once I moved beyond the slightly awkward feeling, it really was a blessing to hear those things :)

And here are some beautiful pictures of that event, which I stole from Carmen:

And now for some symptom complaints ;) In the last couple weeks I've started to itch terribly... And I'm so scared it's going to turn into the nightmarish PUPPP I had with Evie! With her it started earlier, but it felt so similar to this! I'm just hoping I can have this baby before it gets to the same point it did with Evie (I was basically clawing the skin off of my entire body).

Also, ever since I started itching, I've gotten some new stretch marks! I was doing perfectly well just reusing the old ones, but they just started popping up where ever I scratched :( It's not too bad, I just have them on the top half of my belly now (the old ones were mostly below my belly button), rather than new ones all over my body, so I guess I should be thankful. I'm just irritated that, if not for the itching, I might not have had to get ANY new ones. Buuuuut, that's just the joy of having a momma's body :)

I have had quite a bit of cramping and contractions starting the past few days. I always have lots of contractions, but it's definitely gotten a lot more intense the past little while! With Evie I did this for about two weeks before she finally decided to be born... So we'll see what happens. I'm worried it's just going to get worse and worse over the next 5 weeks, but I'll still go all the way to my due date and just be miserable, lol! I DO want to keep this baby in as long as he needs to be in, but I would really appreciate it if my body would cut me a break, at least for a couple more weeks!!

Like I said, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens... Luckily we're getting close ;)

Starting after my appointment next Tuesday I get to be seen weekly from now on!! Only 5 weeks to go; we're getting there slowly but surely!

33 Weeks

Wow... It's been a little while since I've posted. I feel bad. But, I feel like I have some pretty good excuses.

Well, complaints, lol. (This is most definitely a complaint post!!)

First, Evie and I have now been sick for 16 days. It's "just" a cough... a terrible, terrible, violent cough, that sounds like it should be coming from someone who's smoked 5 packs a day for the last 20 years or so. Evie's cough hasn't seemed to bother her too much, except at night; it's worse than in the day and wakes her up a couple times a night :/ but really other than that, she doesn't seem to mind the coughing. Me, on the other hand, I've been miserable. I'm exhausted, and the coughing is so horrible on my extremely stretched out belly muscles. I have tried every suggestion that everyone has had to cure it/get rid of symptoms, and nothing has seemed to do much of anything. So frustrating!

Trying to take care of Evie while being pregnant, sick, and utterly exhausted, has been tough :/ Karl has tried to be helpful, but he's, of course, been extra busy lately... So, yes, it's been tough.

Aside from the coughing, baby has also recently moved into a position where he's been putting a ton of pressure on my bladder. I feel like I have to pee constantly! Also, I'm so big I seriously cannot find a single comfortable position to be in :/

I'm totally exhausted... My sleep, the last week or so, has started to look something like this:

I lie down, toss and turn trying to find any "allowed" position that doesn't cause cramps in various parts of my body, my hips or back to scream in pain, various body parts to fall asleep, and doesn't make me feel like I can't breathe. I have a few coughing fits that make me even more uncomfortable. Then, when I finally find a semi acceptable position, I realize I have to pee. I go to the bathroom, come back, and start the process all over again. I repeat this little cycle several times, and then just as I am finally able to start drifting off, Evie wakes up and needs me to come lie down next to her bed on the floor.

If I thought my mattress was bad, it's luxurious compared to sleeping on the floor!

I finally get her back to sleep, go back to bed, and fall asleep for about 2 or 3 hours before she wakes up again. I usually end up sleeping on the floor in her room for the rest of the night, as it's really the only way to keep her sleeping. I wake up so sore!

I'm so tired!

And, as of my last appointment, I found out I'm more anemic than I was last month :/ I started out mildly anemic, but my levels have dropped even more despite my efforts in taking iron supplements.

So, in summary, I've been sick for more than two weeks, I can't sleep, and I'm anemic. I don't know if I'll ever be un-tired again!

On the bright side,we're finally down to appointments every two weeks! Only 7 weeks to go!

Also, this coming month is packed! I hope it will go by super fast :) We've got one one ultrasound, two midwife appointments, our prenatal meeting with the doula, two baby showers, my birthday, and Valentine's day!

On the other hand, I'm really not prepared for him to come yet! Half of me is just so ready to be done, I'm having such a hard time, but we don't have anything ready, we don't have a name we can agree on (starting to worry we never will!), and I don't know how I'm going to have a newborn AND take care of Evie.

I know it will work out, but wow, lots of emotions going on right now!

The Things People Say...

Tonight we took Evie to the playground at the mall. It's too cold and gross for her to get out much, so the mall is a pretty regular trip for us these days.

Anyway, I was sitting near another mom of a toddler who looked to be about Evie's age. I was just sitting there watching Karl chase the little monkey around when the other mom came walking back to her place on the bench after chasing down her own monkey.

Now, I kinda tend to try to seem as antisocial as possible in hopes of avoiding uncomfortable small talk with strangers, but it didn't work this time... she walked right up to me and asked if I was okay, which caught me off guard, and then she followed up with "you look SO exhausted".

I kind of laughed (now trying to pull off the social persona, since forced into interaction) and said I was pretty tired, but I assured her I was fine. She then continued on to ask how much longer I had (in regards to my giant belly) and how old my child was, and told me that her son was about the same age and how she could NEVER be pregnant and deal with a toddler.

I did my best to complete the conversation in an appropriately lighthearted and congenial manner, since I'm assuming she was just trying to make small talk and get some non-toddler socialization in her day, but I have to admit, I'm really not sure how I feel about the whole encounter.

First off, how horrible does a person have to look to have a complete stranger ask if she's okay? I actually thought I had been doing pretty well tonight (at looking like normal human being), so that was a little disappointing. My problem with that comment was mostly a matter of pride I suppose, Lol

Then there's the second part of our conversation. I'm sure she meant it completely innocently and I shouldn't dwell on it or anything, but I kind of feel like the implication was that I'm crazy for doing the pregnant thing while I have a 2 year old. Then again,  I would acctually have to agree with that most days...

I don't know why the whole episode has me out of sorts, I think the biggest thing is that it really surprises me the things that total strangers will just say, out of the blue, when you're pregnant.

So BIG

I swear this little guy must have had another growth spurt because I am feeling so incredibly big and full of baby! I seriously feel like there's no way he could get any bigger without causing me to explode... and yet I know he's got a few inches and pounds to go-yikes!

I've noticed the past few days my posture has been horrible; I've had a constant "sway back" because it's so incredibly uncomfortable and nearly impossible to engage my abs and "suck in". My bladder seems like it's always full and always being leaned on or stretched against or punched. I also feel like my muscles are being torn apart at the top of my abs (not a comfy feeling).

Also,  it's now official, I can barely get out of the couch or bed on my own anymore, and putting on my own boots is an incredible feat.

All that, on top of having so very many braxton hicks, has me truly wondering how I'm going to make it through two and a half more months!

Hello 3rd trimester! Hello Baby!

Getting bigger! Can't believe we still have a ways to grow!!

I'm 28 weeks today; we've made it to our last trimester! YAY! So excited that we're getting closer!
In the last week or so baby has been moving a TON, suddenly lots of elbows and knees I think ;) I think he must've had a growth spurt, because it's been really hard to feel him from the outside up until this point, and it's been mostly random little kicks. These days he feels like he's wiggling all over the place! Karl's kind of felt him a couple of times in the past little while, but he REALLY felt him last night for the first time.

It's also been really weird because movements I feel super well from the inside can't be felt from the outside, but some that I can't feel at all are very obvious from the outside. I blame my anterior placenta... It really is annoying some times.

I did my glucose test at my prenatal appointment this week and PASSED! THANK HEAVENS!! I am still anemic, though unfortunately, so I've got to get on top of that better :/ I also finally got my results back about the whole infection thing, and they were negative! Yay!

The other awesome thing about today was that we got to go to our fourth ultrasound and see the babe!

Perfect little profile :) Little arm under his chin. Love that little nosey and those lips!

Evie and Karl came, and while I was getting checked in they were running around the lobby. The old lady at the information desk came up to them and Karl was sure they were in trouble, but instead she gave Evie a cute little baby doll... I'm glad people think she's so cute, I don't think she'd get away with most of her antics otherwise! When I asked her where she got the dolly she told me that Grandma Janice (Karl's grandma) had given it to her, which I thought was funny and cute.

Evie was also SUPER talkative today (maybe because she slept in??), she kept running around saying "I wanna see the doctor!" She got tired of waiting in the lobby and tried to go back all by herself, and was terribly mad when I wouldn't let her. When we got back to the room and during the ultrasound she talked the whole entire time. She kept saying things like, "Mommy sick, got hurt, doctor help her feel better!" and she was really enjoying seeing baby brother up on the screen.

Speaking of baby brother, he is doing really well! Fluid was good and there were no signs of any problems caused by the fall yesterday, thank goodness! He's also growing really well (which is one of the things they were worried about last time), he's measuring a week and four days ahead and supposedly weighs about three pounds, three ounces at this point. I knew he'd been doing some growing recently!

All his little body parts are measuring well and looking good still, and his echogenic bowel is almost completely gone, which is great!

After the tech checked everything, she said, "let me just change over to the other machine really quick". I figured that must mean just a machine with a different frequency or something (ok, I had no idea what she meant, but I just trusted she knew what she needed to do), but suddenly, THIS picture came up on the screen:

All cuddled up :) 3D pic... A little weird, but cool all at the same time, lol ;)

I didn't know they DID 3D ultrasounds at maternal fetal medicine, and since I wasn't planning to spend 80 bucks to get an elective one, I didn't think I'd be getting one. We were surprised, but it was pretty cool! Karl thinks baby looks pretty alien-ish but I think he looks WAY more like a baby than in his alien-demon-skeletor pic... That was pretty creepy looking.

Another side note, we saw a different maternal fetal specialist today, and when came in to check us out, she informed us that she had been the one who had done our ultrasound with Evie. She thought it was kind of cool to see her now on the outside, running around and chattering up a storm!

While I thought this was going to be our final ultrasound this pregnancy, apparently we still get to go in one more time to follow up, just in case, at 34 weeks. I guess I'm happy we get another chance to see him, especially since there aren't any major concerns at this point, but I do feel like I've spent an awful lot of time at maternal fetal medicine! Oh well, I'm just going to be glad I get to see him so often :)

Labor & Delivery, Revisited

We got to go to the hospital a couple of times with Evie, and she was fine, but I really was hoping not to have any reason to do that this time around. My plan was to only have to go to labor and delivery once for the "big day" and to come home with a nice healthy, full term baby. No emergencies, no false alarms, just be there for the birth of my baby and not a minute extra.

Yeah, I'm apparently terribly at following through with my plans. Fate and the lovely winter weather seem to have had something different in store for me...

It all started this morning.

Karl was doing the grave shift and wouldn't be home 'til 12 and I was trying to get Evie ready for church by myself. We were late, of course, so we left the house intending to get there in time for nursery. It had been snowing a little bit, so we were trying to be careful, but it didn't seem that bad--it was warm enough that a lot of the snow was pretty melty. Evie and I got almost to the corner of our street, but that section of sidewalk hadn't been shoveled and it looked like there was enough snow that I didn't want Evie trudging through it in her little church shoes and getting her feet wet and frozen off. So I picked her up, put her on my hip, and we kept going.

Bad idea.

It looked like it was just a bunch of left over snow from the last couple days, so I expected it to be maybe a little slick where the snow had gotten packed down or something, but I took about two steps and suddenly found myself flat on the ground. This was a full out splat kind of a deal too, not one of those falls where you have a chance to kind of catch yourself or fall on your backside, I was just instantly on the ground. Since I was holding Evie, I'd tried to save her and ended up falling sideways onto my hip and arm with her landing on top of me.

Not fully comprehending what had just happened, I tried to right myself while still holding Evie, took kind of a half step, and ended up falling again.

Next to the sidewalk there is kind of a stone retaining wall, and when I fell this time I started to fall towards it, which also happened to be the side I was holding Evie on. All I could see as I started to go over was Evie's head going right towards the rock wall and I was also scared I would fall on top of her, so I desperately tried to get us going in the other direction and ended up right back where I started. This time I managed to land on my knee, hip, and almost kind of caught myself with my hand...

After going down a second time, I started to get smart and set Evie down before trying to get us both upright. I was in a lot of pain, but I got us both up and steady and had a chance to look and see what had happened. Apparently, what I thought was just some crunchy old snow was actually just a thin layer covering a big sheet of ice. Evie and I individually managed to finish crossing it (carefully) all right, but I guess having Evie and baby throwing my weight off was enough to send us sprawling.

I considered taking Evie right back home after that, but we were about half-way to the church and I knew if we didn't go to nursery, I'd have to carry her home, LITERALLY kicking and screaming (which I definitely wasn't up to), so we just went to church and I sat with her in nursery for the last two hours. Since Karl got off of work at the same time church got out, I had him come pick us up and drive us home (seeing as I could barely walk and I couldn't pick Evie up). Maybe this wasn't the most brilliant course of action, in retrospect, but it seemed like the best plan at the time.

We got home, I was in a lot of pain and had a few contractions, but I was fully prepared just to suck it up and ignore my injuries. I didn't though... I'd already used up my brilliant choice for the day. I called the midwife, kinda hoping she'd just tell me to rest and I'd be fine, but she wanted me to go straight to the hospital.

Karl, having been awake for more than 24 hours at this point, was having a hard time staying awake, so I called my parents (who were in the middle of church) and they came down. Evie went home with my dad to hang out with her aunties, and my mom and I headed to the hospital.

What they worry about with falls or similar trauma, is either the placenta detaching and causing fetal distress or that it will cause productive contractions and labor. We got all hooked up to monitors to check on baby's heart rate and contractions, and they did some blood work to see if baby's blood had gotten into mine (indicating a placental abruption).

Baby's heart was great the whole time we were there, the only problem we had was that the nurse would come in, get us all set up with the monitor, and not long after she'd leave the room he'd roll away so that the monitor couldn't pick him up anymore. Then the nurse would have to come back in, search forever to find him, and get us all hooked up again. He did this a few times... Naughty baby!!

My blood work came back fine, and since his heart rate was good and there were no other signs of a problem, it looks like my placenta is fine, which is very relieving!

I was having contractions, some of which were very, VERY uncomfortable, but luckily we got them to subside enough that they were okay sending me home after a few hours. I was given strict instructions that if I noticed a decrease in fetal movement, bleeding, any signs that my water has broken, or if my contractions increased or got worse, that I was to come right back in.

Luckily, since I was released, I haven't had any further issues. I'm just super sore and bruised up, can hardly walk, still can't carry Evie, and I feel like I've pulled about every necessary body part involved in the walking process... But I'm great :)

I guess I should look on the bright side: baby is ok, I got to spend some quality time with my mother, got some super cool accessories (gotta love hospital bracelets), and Evie did really well at my parents' house all day. My one complaint is that they managed to collapse one of my veins while trying to "fix" me, so I ended up coming out of the hospital with more injuries than I went in with. *sigh* The phlebotomist who was stabbing me said, "oops, I guess we should be more careful with your little veins next time." I would have appreciated her being careful the first time, buuuut what can you do...

My beautiful, sore bruise. Not from the fall... but from the hospital.

I am super grateful for all the prayers and good thoughts, and I'm sorry if I worried anyone! I will definitely be a whole lot more careful from now on. I guess I really didn't realize how much of a difference being big and pregnant makes when attempting everyday tasks!

Wake up, baby!

22 week baby, just for fun :)

We woke the baby this morning!

Evie had just gotten up for the day (much earlier than I would have liked) and I was lying on the floor next to her while she read books. She was reading her "big sister" book... which made her want to talk to baby brother and give him hugs. Baby had been perfectly still up until that point, but about 10 seconds after Evie started hugging and talking to my tummy, he started bumping all around in there :) He wasn't really kicking or punching, just "bumping."

I'm pretty sure he already knows her voice (he sure hears it often enough!!), I think it's cute :) I can't wait 'til she can start feeling the baby kicking her, 'cause he sure likes to do it. He loves to bump her whenever she leans on my tummy.

Baby. Brother. Smith. ;)

21 Weeks!!

We've made it beyond the half-way mark!

I meant to do a 20 week post, buuuut it was right before Halloween and I was completely overwhelmed by costume requests... So let's just pretend this makes up for that :)

The last week or two I've been feeling a whole lot better appetite/nausea-wise; I actually want to eat again, YAY!! I've now gained 5 lbs total this pregnancy, thanks to Halloween candy and my renewed interest in food ;)

The awesome rib pain that I love so much has made an entrance, however, but the sciatica/pelvic pain has backed off somewhat, so I guess I'm doing ok in that department. I'm not totally incapacitated as I had feared I would be, anyway, haha.

I'm also finally feeling baby on a regular basis and I'm no longer just feeling flutters, but full on kicks and rolls! It's pretty amazing :) It's so weird that in just a couple of weeks I went from feeling nothing, to feeling random little "bubbles", to feeling such definite, regular movements!!

And now for a cute big sister story:

The other day Evie was in her room saying her name over and over again, "Evie. May. Smiff." and giggling about it. THEN she suddenly stopped, looked right at me, and declared "Baby. Brother. SMIFF!!!" It was absolutely adorable.

I know I say it over and over, but she loves this baby so very much! I love it!! Just hope she keeps loving him this much once he actually gets here ;)

Ultrasound #3

Beautiful Baby Boy!

Ultrasound #3: complete! At 20 weeks our baby boy is STILL a boy (in case you were worried) ;) He's looking good for the most part; currently growing well and still measuring about 5 days ahead. According to the tech he's weighing in at about 14oz!

I'm still a boy!!

We got to see baby bumping around in there and even practicing his sucking skills (it reminded me so much of newborn Evie!). It was really amazing to see him doing something so incredibly baby-like. I feel like up until now he hasn't seemed "real" any of the times I've seen him in there: yeah, he had the whole basic human shape to him, but still didn't seem like an actual baby. Seeing his little mouth moving in there, doing something I've seen babies on the outside do so many times, was really something.

I'm gonna say that the baby boy I'll be holding in my arms in about  20 weeks definitely became a lot more real to me at that moment. Pretty amazing stuff ;)

Little hand up by his face :)

We ALMOST escaped with this being our final ultrasound this pregnancy, but at the very last minute the doctor saw something she didn't like... So we get to go back at least one more time.

She came in telling me how awesome everything looked and was congratulating me on not needing to come back in, but just as she was wrapping up, she noticed that baby has an echogenic bowel. Basically, his cute little intestines were showing up white in the ultrasound (like bone does) when they should show up dark. 

This could be an indicator of a bunch of things, including infection, trisomy or cystic fibrosis, or something that might restrict his growth later on in the pregnancy... Or it could be absolutely nothing. 

Since we've done a bunch of tests looking for things like trisomy and they've come back with really good results, the doctor wasn't so worried about that, her main concern I think was that it's either an infection (toxoplasmosis or cytomegalovirus) or something that would cause intrauterine growth restriction as the pregnancy continues.

We did a blood test to check out the infection theory (waiting on results) and we'll be going in at 28 weeks to see if it has gone away on its own and to check up on his growth. If it's still there and he seems to be falling behind in his growth at all, we'll have to come in weekly to check his growth and fluids.

The doctor wasn't severely concerned, she mostly wanted to check up on things to be on the safe side, so I'm not super worried, but it's still a little stressful to know that there is the potential for something to be wrong with our little one!

Our next ultrasound will be right around Christmas (I'll be 28 weeks on the 23rd!), so we're hoping and praying for good news!

Final picture: five little toes :D

Movement

19 weeks today, and where to start...

I guess the most exciting thing is that in the last week I've finally started feeling some movement!

A few days ago I collapsed in bed (laying on my tummy) after Karl finally woke up and took over for me for a few minutes, and I felt some little flutters! They were low down on my right side, and when they would stop I kept wondering if I had imagined it, or if it was just some bubbles or something, but then they would start again and it felt a whole lot like baby! Later that night I was just sitting in the bedroom talking to Karl and I got a pretty noticeable little thump, again, pretty low. Then yesterday, we were sitting in the car, about to get out and go into the house, when I got I good little kick (or punch) right where my seat belt was pushing on my tummy! I've been feeling more and more little movements ever since, but it's all still very random and not very noticeable for the most part.

I've decided having an anterior placenta stinks... I was so sure that this time around I'd catch a break and I was all prepared to feel my baby earlier, but no. It's also supposedly more common to have a posterior placenta, but I'm just super lucky I guess. The front of my uterus is just the cool place to implant, apparently ;)

In other news, we got our test results back from our integrated screening, and this baby has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of having down syndrome, trisomy 18, or spina bifida. Yay! And since baby was measuring well with no soft markers for down syndrome, and no signs of cleft lip or any other defects, it looks like baby is healthy! This isn't a guarantee that there isn't anything wrong, but it is nice to have some reassurance. We still have one ultrasound to go to check things out next week, so hopefully everything is still fine and dandy in there (and hopefully our little guy is still a boy, lol)!

Also, I've gained a couple pounds! I'm now up to 3 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight, and I think I'm happy about that... But now I get to freak out over the whole gaining thing, lol. I'm just never happy.

Anyway, things are starting to pick up a little, and I have started to bond a little bit more, so I'm hoping that the next few weeks will be even better :)