weeks 32-34

week 32

32 weeks and -32 degrees wind chill...we are in the middle of a crazy winter storm.  We got 11 inches of snow on Sunday and the temps started dropping that night and will continue through Monday and Tuesday.  We had -30 to -40 degrees wind chill! Of course, our furnace isn't in top working order-we are waiting on parts so Matt can fix a couple things so we turned it way down and are using space heaters to stay warm.  There are a ton of people without power and we were lucky enough to make it through with only a minor power surge...be careful with blow drying your hair while running a space heater :).  Matt shoveled 3 times those couple days.  I can't say I mind not being out in that weather and shoveling, but I do wish I could help him so he wasn't out there so long doing all the work.  We are trickling water so our pipes don't freeze.  I don't remember the last time we had to do all of this!  We just stayed inside Sunday and Monday (luckily we were both off work!) and hibernated :).  It was awesome to be snowed in with my favorite person.

With all of that crazy weather, it was a solid 2 weeks by the time I could get back to teaching/taking BodyPump.  I was super nervous to get back at it at months pregnant.  That first class back on Thursday was brutal.  I think every muscle in my body was sore those next couple days.  But it was so good to be back at it!  I am still using close to my normal weight-definitely lighter in squats and not using the bar on my back for lunges but I haven't had to go down too too much which is great! I just listen to how my body is feeling and don't over-do it.  Hopefully I'll have an easier time getting back at it after I have him since I've tried to keep up with it.  I think staying active and continuing to teach my class/work out has really contributed to how great I've felt throughout this pregnancy.  I have aches and pains here and there (mostly hips and back), but I really can't complain because I know people can have it so much worse.  I've started sleeping with a humidifier in the room and it's really helped with the nasal stuffiness and waking up with a sore throat.  Still having Braxton Hicks contractions.  I had one in the middle of the night that hurt a little bit, but once it went away it didn't hurt again.  My belly continues to pop out there and my poor belly button is so over the stretching.  The little space between my old belly button piercing and my naval is stretching and looks pink and annoyed.  Don't get too upset-we still have 8 weeks to go! Baby is still super active and he feels so big in there when he moves now! Big waves and rolls now instead of little kicks.

I had my work baby shower!   It was so fun.  I am so blessed to work with such amazing people.  The theme was "Candyland" so it was super colorful and cute.  About 18-20 girls were signed up to come, but because of the snowstorm the roads were still bad for some of them so a couple couldn't come.  A lot of girls chipped in and got us a group gift! It was so thoughtful.  Knowing that I work with people who are so generous and care so much about me means so much!  This baby is so loved already!

Baby is the size of a squash this week weighing in at 3 3/4 lbs and 16-17 inches long!

week 33

I'm not sure what happened, but 33 weeks feels so much different from 32!  Cue the next panic attack.  32 weeks was "woah 32 weeks! getting closer but still have some time" while 33 weeks is "holy crap, this baby could come in 4 weeks and be full-term!".  I am starting to wrap my brain around this baby actually being here, it's a crazy feeling! Of course I am SO excited for him to be here but I hope in the coming weeks I feel like everything is just starting to come together. I wonder when he will decide to come...early? late? on time?  

Everything is still going well! Getting bigger by the minute it feels like.  Sitting on the couch in the evenings is getting more uncomfortable.  I feel like everything is pushing up into my ribcage and making it harder to breathe-especially his head/butt!  We are definitely to the "rolling out of bed" stage. If Matt isn't awake to help push me out of bed (no kidding...he totally helps push me out of bed or off the couch-it's hilarious) I log-roll out.  Abs are completely gone.  It's getting painful to lay completely on my side at night-my belly just feels too heavy and unsupported even though I have tons of pillows-so I mostly sleep on my back with a hip propped up.

We had our appointment this week just for a normal check-up, but also for an ultrasound to find out his positioning and growth in there.  Sure enough-little man is breech! I had a pretty strong feeling that was the case.  When I had mentioned the possibility of it at a previous appointment and then when my doctor felt around and thought his head was up top I started preparing myself for him being breech.  So I can't say I was too shocked at the news from the ultrasound tech.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't the slightest bit sad to hear he's breech.  Just a little disappointing I guess because if he decides to stay that way we'd have to have a c-section.  That whole rest of the day I was a little upset just thinking about him staying that way, but by the next day I was mostly over it.  I can't really do much about the way he's positioned in there (and heck NO we are not doing the external version to try and turn him) so if he is meant to be sitting in there that way then so be it! We talked about all the stuff out there people tell you to do to flip your baby and we decided we aren't doing anything invasive or risky.  We are just going to let nature take its course and he's still got time to flip!  We're ok with doing the silly things like laying in different positions, putting something cold on top and warm on bottom, and possibly even the chiropractor.  We will have another ultrasound at 36 weeks to double check again.

Everything else checked out ok!  Baby measured 33+4 wks on ultrasound at 33+1 wks and they estimated him at 5 lbs 2 oz already! That puts him in the 75th percentile for weight and the doctor said that puts him on track to be in the 8 lb range at birth.  I have been completely preparing for an 8-9 lb baby this whole entire time so I wouldn't be surprised if he gets up there by the time he arrives.  Maybe I should go return even more newborn sized clothing :).  Baby HR was 156 and he was moving all around in there. BP was good and weight up another 3 lbs which puts us at a total of 21.5 lbs for the pregnancy so far.  

Baby is the size of a durian fruit (what the heck is that?!) weighing in at a little over 4 lbs (well, he's technically bigger than this :) ) and 17 inches long!

week 34

And it has officially set in-he is going to be here so soon!  I feel like the countdown is on-every week just gets closer and closer.  I can't believe only 3 weeks until he is considered full term and only 6 weeks until our due date! I'm so curious to see when he will decide to come.  This past weekend we had our baby showers! (I'll do a totally separate post with all the pictures too on those soon!)  We are just so overwhelmed by the love and generosity of our family and friends.  I knew we had amazing people in our lives, but they all proved it once again.  Just having the people we love there to celebrate this baby meant the world!  Both showers were so much fun.  I didn't want them to end! Baby Boy got tons of stuff!  My mom gave us all of the special things she's been making for the baby and it meant so much.  She is so incredibly talented and I love that she is making a lot of his stuff for him room, it means so much. I can't wait to go through everything from the showers and put it in its place in his room and start to wash his clothes!  We are just so thankful!

We ended up getting 5 inches of snow Saturday night which made for a great background for our maternity pictures on Sunday morning! My friend, Jamie, and we ventured out to some trails by the Wildcat Creek to take some maternity pictures.  It was beautiful out there.  It was super cold though and a little windy.  We kept randomly getting pelted with clumps of snowing getting blown off the trees.  I'm so excited to see how they turned out!

34 weeks brought a really sore hip flexor :(.  I was thinking it was hip pain again at first, but I think I must've pulled my hip flexor or maybe it's just stretching.  I'm sure trudging through the snow on Sunday didn't help.  By Sunday night, I was in a ton of pain and could not get comfortable in bed.  I couldn't move or lift my left leg on my own, I had to grab it and move it when I wanted to switch positions.  I was hoping sleep would make it feel better, but when I woke up and was still in a lot of pain I texted another instructor and had her sub my class for me.  I absolutely hated not being there to teach, but I knew working out would just aggravate it and make it worse.  I'm hoping rest makes it feel better, if not I may have to pay a visit to the chiropractor again.  Other than that, feeling pretty good. No swelling yet so that's good.  Little man is still enjoying shoving his head up into my ribcage and punching me on my right side all day long.  He is wild!  Sometimes I think he's trying to escape or that he's standing completely straight up in there.  He will shove his head up and out and then go crazy with his arms and legs.  Sometimes enough to make me say "ugh!" or "Ouch kid!". His movements are so big now and I can tell he's a big kid in there!  Still hiccups at least once every single day, still cute and hilarious :).  I'm over going to the grocery store.  This big old basketball belly just makes carrying all those bags in and putting it all away extra difficult and unenjoyable.  Too bad I don't have a personal shopper to do it for me :).  Definitely still think he's breech-no flipping yet.  We are still on the same page as far as doing nothing invasive or risky to turn him.  We just want him safe!

I guess 34 weeks was the turning point of teaching me to take it easy and slow down with this pregnancy.  First the hip and then on Wednesday I had to leave work early for high blood pressure.  I had a busy day on Tuesday at work and didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night.  On Wednesday I woke up feeling "off".  As I got ready for work, I realized I had a dull headache, was dizzy, and had weird (which I know realize was blurry) vision.  I chalked it up to not getting enough sleep.  As I was driving to work I noticed that I just couldn't see very well, but once again just thought it was because I was tired.  I got to work and saw they had me admitting a 34 weeker at 10 am.  I was hoping once I got working I'd feel better. But I didn't.  Around 8:30 I made my way down to triage to just have them check my blood pressure to see if that was the culprit, basically process of elimination.  Sure enough, it was high. 158/91.  Pretty super high for me.  The triage nurse said that my doctor was actually the one getting ready to do the 10 o clock c section I was supposed to go on and she would give her a heads up that I had come to triage.  She told me if it didn't come down I should probably be admitted.  I went back upstairs still feeling like crap and told the TL.  I laid on my left side in the break room and drank water and had her go find a blood pressure machine from another unit so I didn't have to go back down and be admitted if I didn't have to.  I called Matt and told him what was going on.  I was hoping if I rested for a minute, it would come down and I'd be fine to keep working-pretty sure I was the only one with that thought process. One of my co-workers came in (who also works labor and delivery/high-risk) and talked with me about my symptoms.  Her response was "This is no 'I'm going to sit on the couch and see if I feel better thing'.  This could be way more serious and you are going to call your doctor right now."  So I called the office and they had me come in (luckily it's right across the street from the hospital).  I went over and got checked out right away. BP was down to 132/80-still not great but down from before and I didn't have any protein in my urine.  Baby looked ok and everything checked out ok so he had me get labwork and told me to go home and rest and call back if I had more symptoms.  I got home before Matt left for work.  He gave me strict orders to stay in bed, rest, and not think about anything but resting and tucked me in.  Luckily, I had a good cuddle buddy in the form of a snuggly Boston Terrier who didn't mind staying in bed all afternoon :).  I laid there for a couple hours and took a solid 3 hour nap.  I rechecked my BP when I woke up and it was still a little high at 134/90.  This baby is going to give us a heart attack and we still have 6 weeks left!  Hoping it was all just a fluke and it doesn't happen again!  

Baby is the size of a butternut squash weighing in at 4 3/4 lbs and 18 inches long!

34 big ones!