35 Weeks

How Far: 35 Weeks 1 day

Total Weight Gain:  Looks like I might still be hovering around 19 lbs.  I feel like I should be packing on more lbs at this point but things are getting so tight that I can't eat much!

Symptoms:  Insomnia, it comes and goes.  Getting up from sitting for a long period of time is tough - I can feel things shift around, haha.  I had my OB appointment last week and things are looking good.  I am measuring small 31 cm versus the 34.5 weeks I was at, but that is not unexpected for me. I got my TDap shot which wasn't bad, but made my arm sore for a few days.  My OB said we would have the "labor talk" at my next appointment when I will be 36 weeks.  I am wondering if they will start doing any internal exams at that point...it has been nice keeping my clothes on for the appointments :)

I had my ultrasound with the MFM on Friday.  Baby is measuring 21% percentile which is good because only less than 10% is considered IUGR and a concern.  They estimate she is about 4lbs 9 oz which sounded big to me considering Ellie was born at 5 lbs 5 oz.  It was funny because after the ultrasound tech did her measurements the doctor came in and said "I guess you don't like to have big babies!" ha I think that is just the way it goes with me.  Makes for easier pregnancies :) 

 I was feeling pretty good about the appointment until I went home and re-read through some of my Ellie blog posts around this time with her pregnancy.  At this same point she was measuring 30% (non MFM ultrasound) and then closer to 37 weeks they had me go to the MFM and those ultrasounds showed she was less than 10%.  I am really hoping that this isn't a trend that my babies start to slow down growth as they reach the end. As I got towards the end last time my belly seemed to stop growing when they take the fundal height (tape measurement from outside). I have another MFM ultrasound around 38 weeks so I am hoping that this baby remains above 10%.  

Maternity Clothes?  We went to a wedding this past weekend and I wore a floor length maternity dress.  It was super comfy and allowed me to rock the dance floor.  Some folks said they were impressed I was up dancing so much being so close to my due date and all I could think was "well once the baby is here I won't be able to get out and do this for a while so I better live it up now!"  It was great seeing friends and we had a really great time.  

New Baby Prep: My family threw me a sprinkle this past Sunday!  It was super sweet of them to put this together because I really wasn't expecting any sort of party for baby #2.  It was a nice chance to get the ladies of the family together and my sister in law always does such a nice job with party planning/decorations:

Ellie enjoying some party food

We received some really nice gifts like diapers, outfits and some decorations that fit our pink and navy nautical nursery theme!

 The best thing was that everyone made a monthly onesie using fabric pieces that they then ironed onto a shirt.  They all came out really cute!  Look for these in the future as baby #2 gets her monthly picture taken!

One family tradition we do is to make a finger print picture for the baby's nursery.  The picture is kind of blury but it is of a whale and everyone's fingerprints form the pink and red splashes coming out of the whale.  People then sign their name and the baby has all family members fingerprints up on their wall in a nice decoration.

Ellie's nursery is giraffe and elephant themed so her picture has the finger prints representing spots on the giraffes!  Side note - I had to go back into my blog post about Ellie's nursery to find the picture below and I got a little panicky that at 35 weeks with Ellie her nursery was done and looked so nice and this baby's nursery doesn't even have walls yet :(  I know we will get their eventually but it makes me a little sad she won't have her own set up room from birth.  (file this under #firstworldproblems I guess)

My cousin brought the rock n play, swing and newborn clothes that I borrowed from her for Ellie so now I feel better that if for some reason the baby came early that I have some place for her to sleep :)

House Update: They keep making progress but I just wish it would go faster!  I am sure that is always the case.  They delivered our tub this past week and it is now sitting in the middle of the upstairs hallway.  We have a meeting with a person who is going to help us figure out the external paint colors for the house on Friday so that should be interesting.  Since our house is a victorian house we may go with a few colors instead of just 1 straight up color.  Since this will be a big decision Brian and I decided our Information Technology and Accounting backgrounds did not qualify us to pick the color on our own.  

Next Appointment:  September 1st

34 Weeks

How Far: 34 Weeks 1 day

Total Weight Gain:  Holding steady at 19 lbs overall this week.  I will see what the scale says at my doctors appointment tomorrow. 

Symptoms:  Still having some trouble breathing at times - it doesn't help that the temperature has been hovering around 90s this past week. I used to be able to put my shoes on without sitting down, but I can't do that anymore!  Insomnia!  Most nights now I wake up at like 4 am and can't go back to sleep. It is nice that I may it to 4 am those nights though!  Sometimes I am up sooner to pee. 

Maternity Clothes? You bet!  Although I still wear a lot of non maternity dresses that are cut well to allow for my belly!  Most days when I am at home I wear non maternity gym shorts that have elastic waists.  I am attending a wedding this weekend and it is black tie so I am wearing a long dress that is a maternity dress - i am very excited that it looks pretty decent on me!  I was nervous about looking like a whale at the wedding...I will post pics after the event. 

New Baby Prep: Ellie has started to refer to the baby as "Jo" i have no idea why since we have never provided her with any names.  Previously she said the baby's name was going to be "blue" so at least "Jo" is more on track!  But still no definite name to speak of!

I finished a craft for the baby's room - it is similar to the below but the background is pink instead of yellow.  It came out pretty decent so I may dabble in more baby room crafts if I have the time.  

House Update: Still moving along although we have been asking the builders to give us an updated timeline and I think they haven't yet because they know they are behind the original timeline and don't want to tell us that!  We ordered a lot of things this week (fixtures, appliances, etc) and some have started to arrive so that is exciting!  We are working on finalizing some paint colors and tile for the kitchen and bathroom so we don't have to worry about those after the baby comes. 

Next Appointment:  2 this week!  Tomorrow (Thursday August 20th) I have my OB appointment with my normal doctor and then Friday I have an ultrasound with the MFM doctor to check on the baby's size.  Hopefully she is growing well.  She was on track at 19 weeks, so we shall see!

32/33 Weeks

Doing a combined 32/33 week post this week because I was on vacation last week and I am very very lazy :)

How Far: 32 Weeks, 6 Days

Total Weight Gain:  19 lbs overall, I think vacation and lots of eating helped me make the jump up a few pounds this last week!  I gained 18 lbs with Ellie overall so now I am officially over the weight I gained last pregnancy, which is a good thing because I am hoping it translates to a bigger baby :)

Symptoms:  Trouble breathing - at some points during the day depending on where baby girl is situated I have to take a lot of deep breathes.  No swelling to speak of yet, which is surprising given the heat! Now the fun really starts...I started to leak a bit, which is annoying, but I am hoping it means that I won't have trouble breastfeeding again this time around and my milk comes in relatively quickly. 

You can file this under the TMI section...so Brian and I went away without Ellie up to Quebec City for 3 nights this past week.  We did what married adults do when they are alone and after the second day in a row I started feeling some of the worst lightening crotch/pressure down there that I have ever felt and it lasted for quite a few hours.  I think it was a combo of doing the deed in the morning on back to back days then trying to walk around the city the rest of the day.  I felt pretty rough that second day and had to take a few breaks back at the hotel laying horizontal for a while. It must have been something to do with all the blood flow to the area, but it was not fun!  The next day I felt fine again. 

Quebec City! By the way, one of the things I was most looking forward to when coming back from vacation (aside from seeing Ellie of course) was the unlimited access to the bathroom. It was stressful being 32 weeks pregnant and walking around thinking "I wonder where the closest bathroom is" half the time! 

Maternity Clothes? I picked up some new maternity tank tops for $5 each!  Such a deal and necessary to get me through the rest of the summer...somehow I managed to get stains on one already :(

New Baby Prep: Still hasn't hit me that this pregnancy thing will lead to another baby...ha.  We did start to think about prepping things at my mom's house for what we will need for the baby - we will put up the pack n play with the newborn attachments on top in my mom's family room that will act as a changing area for the baby and also put the swing in this room.  I guess the nice thing about not having any extra bedrooms for the new baby is that all of her things will be on one level (with Ellie there was a constant up and down stairs thing going on).  I am nervous about having to cram all the baby stuff and clothes into the dining room with us because it is already crazy crowded.  I will have to post a picture of our "nursery" aka my mom's dining room when the baby stuff is out to give you all a good laugh!  Still no progress on the naming front.  We really like the name Claire, but that is already Ellie's middle name so we can't "steal" it from her!  If you have any ideas for names that are similar we would love to hear them!  Should go well with Elizabeth and we seem to like Irish/English sounding names.  

House Update: Decent progress was made this week, and framing should be almost done by the end of this week.  I can't tell you how good it feels to have actual wood framed walls up!  To be able to stand in the spaces and feel the dimensions is awesome.  We still have a lot of decisions/work to do, but we are trying to prioritize and knock things out asap before the baby comes.