Ok so for the past month I have just been too busy. I have also felt like crap, still.... So once Baby Boy gets here I will try and do monthly updates. No promises! This was a little more involved than I planned, I guess!
ANYWAY!
From week 34-now, week 37!
Week 34:
So at the end on our 34th week, we had a super busy weekend!
Saturday morning, the 24th we had our maternity pictures done with Stacie Hart Photography. She did an amazing job and it was so relaxed! We met up at 8 am at Nash Farm Park & Battlefield. It was early... and I am NOT a morning person, but we managed through the sticky humidity frizzing up my hair and the wet dewy grass :) I am so in love will all the pics I don't know how we are going to choose which to have printed! BUT we are waiting do decide, because also included is the newborn photo shoot! So when Little Man gets here we will get his pro pics done too! I highly recommend her! Very affordable and super nice!!!!
Afterward we had our 3D ultrasound scheduled in Lawrenceville at 12. So after taking pics for an hour we headed up to L'ville. Waited for our appointment, and grr... He wouldn't cooperate. Period... We got 1 good shot of his nose, 1 of his ear, and that's about it! So we rescheduled for the next Sat praying he would be a good boy!! It was so disappointing! But- a word of advice: Don't listen to what your hubby says and NOT eat breakfast OR lunch!!! I didn't have time to eat before we left that morning and ASSUMED we would stop somewhere.... nope. Chad wanted to go eat somewhere good afterward, so we shared a bag of chewy Spree before we got to the ultrasound place, but that was not nearly enough to wake him up! :(
So after that emotional disappointing ordeal, we ate, ran to Babies R Us to pick up a few things, then BACK home for my sis- and bro - in -law's GENDER REVEAL!!!! YAY!!! We get to find out if we are getting a new niece or nephew!!!!
And its a girl :) Congrats to Robyn & Justin and CANNOT wait to meet Little Miss Lilly in February!!!
Oh yeah, another thing that happened week 34... I turned 30. I almost forgot! Honestly, I am thankful for this pregnancy to have totally kept my mind off of it, otherwise I would have been a basket case!
Week 35:
Ultrasound re-do!! YAY! I totally prepared for this one. Drank a cup of coffee on the way, ate breakfast, and drank OJ just before we got there. My mom came with m y niece and he did PERFECT! We got some really good pictures of his chubby little face, found out he has HAIR!!!! And confirmed 100% he is a HE! Oh, and he's a thumb/ fist sucker already! Just like my Niece, Katie, would not get that hand out of his mouth!! LOL I know we did the 3D late and could have waited to see the real thing, but it was so worth it to get a sneek peek of what we are expecting! To get a little taste of his personality already, beyond words. Definitely worth the money :)
After we finished up there we went to visit a friend who was in town from London. :) Jackson got his very first international gift! A shirt to make him look like a British Soldier :) Super cute! Thanks Uncle Anthony!
Week 36:
SOOOO begins weekly check ups at the doc! YAY!....... Well, it was more exciting than I thought. I have my appointment on wed the 4th and found out he is moving things right along! My cervix was beginning to thin! YAY!! That means we are going to have a baby soon!!! YIKES!!! Everything else, normal as expected. I was given the OK to stop the daily antibiotics I had been taking to keep my urinary infections at bay, too....
The weekend we spent in Gwinnett visiting friends and family, getting some baby shopping done...
Then Sunday I woke with a HORRIBLE stabbing pain in the right side of my back. I assumed it was the way I slept, but after awhile it didn't go away, just kept getting worse and worse. Then I started having the constant urge to pee, and that was painful.... UGH!!!! I thought I was dying... or of this was labor give me drugs QUICK! We w and went out and tried to do some shopping but I was so nauseous and weak and in pain it was just not successful.... so we decided to head home around 6. Had to stop at Buy Buy Baby to return some things and pick up a few things, and OMG The pain was getting so much worse. The girl at the register was telling me how she felt when we was in labor, and of course my symptoms were pretty much exactly the same, except I was nauseous... So we hurried up and left there. I decided to call the doctor and see if there was anything I needed to be concerned about. When she called back she suspected a UTI wanted to see me. At that point I had not really considered that being an option. It crossed my mind, but I had JUST gone off antibiotics! So just in case we headed to the hospital....
I was hooked up to monitors, gave a urine sample and we waited.
They wanted to monitor Jackson's movement and heart rate, and monitor any contractions I was having, if I was having any...
And I WAS! WHAT!? Not real contractions, but contractions none-the-less! I had been feeling my upper belly tightening for a few days, but really thought it was him moving and stretching! NOPE! That's a contraction! And they were very regular too, not strong, but regular! CRAZY!!
Jackson's heart rate was higher than normal, too. Its usually around 138-140 but the monitor showed it was 150+. That worried me, but the nurse said he responded to my pain and it would spike when we moved, which was good. They wanted to see the peaks, which he was doing, so all was ok! My urine came back positive for UTI and dehydration, and all they did was send me home on oral antibiotics and Rx strength Azo. I would have thought I would get IV something, but no.
I was still miserable....! I was literally- LITERALLY up EVERY 30 MINUTES that night peeing! It was absolutely ridiculous!!!! I had not had any fluids, and had not drank that much water (because it hurt to pee....) I don't know where it came from! Til I woke up in the morning to see my FEET! They were almost NORMAL SIZE! I had not seen that in months!!! Yay!!! But I felt like crap, stayed out of work and relaxed all day. I was so weak and nauseated all day. Stupid urinary system of mine....
Week 37:
Wed I had my weekly check up. My mom came down to help me get some things done and met me at my Dr's office.
Ran another urine test... and it was WORSE than Sunday! UGH!!!! Will this ever end!?!?!? My midwife decided to send me over to the hospital for IV antibiotics and fluids to flush me out... awesome...
But she checked me first and WHAT! I'm 80% effaced and -2 cm dilated! (She said that meant I was dilated on the inside of my cervix but not yet on the outside (?) And his head was super low! WOAH! What a difference a week made!!
So off to the hospital we go... 3 boring hours hooked up to monitors and IV fluids. awesome...
I felt better though, at least!
When we were finally able to leave the hospital my mom took me to get my nails done :) Much need after everything going on!
Until my body started ABSORBING all the fluid I was given IV! I could almost FEEL my feet swelling! Awesome.... just awesome....
And so, Tuesday was the last day I was able to wear my tennis shoes...
I am living with the fattest feet I have ever seen and wearing awesomely fashionable (though super comfy) ADIDAS sandals from here on out! NO, compression hose and elevating my feet DO NOT HELP. period. I keep my feet elevated at all possible times, even during the night, and no relief. I think my body is just reserving all this excess for a reason. I don't know.. As long as my blood pressure is OK, I'm dealing!
So that brings me to today. I have had a pretty productive weekend so far. Yesterday I completed my list of things to get in preparation of post partum and baby Jackson's arrival....
Since he could decide to come at any minute......
I got a few last minute things to get the nursery organized, an few books I wanted but didn't get at the shower (Brown Bear, Brown Bear; Runaway Bunny; On the Night You Were Born) some more Tommy Tippee milk feeding bibs (which I heard were the BEST!) A few more bottle, since all we had was 1 Tommy Tippee, a few Medela ones and some 9 oz ones we got at the shower (I thought we had gotten more...) SO I picked up a Dr Brown's and a 3 pack of Avent Natural (which are the ones I want to use....) The lactation consultants said to get 1 or 2 of each of different kinds, since if you breastfeed the baby may not take to 1 particular type of bottle, so you have to find which one works for your baby by trial and error! Also got our monitors, a cradle mattress, and an exercise ball I HOPE to use during labor, but we will see.
I also picked up some witch hazel and other things I have heard I will need immediately after giving birth (I wont go into detail.... LOL) and another pair if comfy soft lounge pants.
Today I am taking it easy. I keep getting sciatic- type pains in my hips and across my lower abdomen, and my back had been hurting a lot today....
I think that may mean something... possibly he's moving further down? I still feel him move but he's so sporadic its hard to do kick counts with him! I haven't felt anything that feels like real contractions or anything significant enough to start counting, but I think I just over did it a little yesterday...
Anyway, I am going to switch out laundry, maybe take a nap or find the energy to go to the grocery store... eh, nap sounds better!
Will update soon! I don't think he will be baking much longer though!!!!
