37 Weeks

Whew...what a week!  So much has happened in the last week; and in the last 24 hours I feel like my head has been stuck in the spin cycle.  My mind is racing like crazy, but I am going to attempt to make a little sense with what I have to say.  Now I just need to figure out where to start.

In the last week I've experienced lots and lots of changes, some of which I could have lived without.  This swelling crap is for the birds.  I feel water logged--everything is so so so heavy.  I've adjusted my chacos to fit my growing ogre feet, but my feet continue to grow.  My ankles and knees feel like they could burst at any minute.  At certain times in the day it's a task just to use my hands.  One body part I didn't mind swelling was my lips.  A friend of mine asked if I had been using lip plumper, and I was super happy to tell him that they were completely natural.  I've even thought about sporting some lip stick, which I never do.  However it's harder to notice my poufy lips now because my nose has swelled too.  I've heard stories of pregnancy nose, and I've hoped that I wouldn't fall victim to it.  If you haven't ever payed much attention to my normal nose, I'll describe it for you.  It's wide and round.  Now, it's even wider and rounder.  Hopefully this won't stick around for every long.

This past Friday I was experiencing some mystery symptoms that landed me at the doctor.  I was having some cramps and contractions and intense back pain that I hadn't yet experienced.  Instead of seeing Dr. B, I saw someone else in the office.  She told me that I had dialated 1 1/2 cm.  Woohoo!  These feelings were actually something going on inside me.  She also explained that this didn't necessarily tell me when Griffin was coming, but did say that I was favorable to induce.  This got me a little giddy, to say the least.  BUT at yesterday's appointment Dr. B said that as of right then, he would not say that I was inducible.  Wah wah waaaahh....  But this didn't mean that I wouldn't be there at my following appointment.  Then he talked to me about C-sections.  Originally I had said that I did NOT want a C-section, but I realized that I had very little knowledge of the pros and cons.  After talking with a couple of people who experienced them, I realized that it wasn't what I was thinking.  I also realized that there was a chance of me needing a C-section existed regardless of if I was scheduled or not.  I thought and thought and thought and then called the doctor.  G-Day is now October the 28th!  I do have an appointment with Dr. B the Tuesday before where we will decided our final game plan.  Just at this point, all I can think about is meeting my Griffin.

False Alarm

Sometimes the unexpected is hard to decipher.  Yesterday was a very long day at work.  My feet and legs had swollen to where I couldn't move them, my back felt like it could break in a million pieces, and I was just plain drained.  After work we went over to Dave's parents for dinner, and just about the entire time that we were there I felt like I was having contractions.  They didn't seem like they were going away any time soon, so Dave starting writing them down.  This is where my confusion set in.  I've been told that "I'll just know" when real contractions are happening; however, I've known before that something was not happening, but here I couldn't say for sure either way.  This felt like something I had never experienced, and I just assumed that it was my bean sprout trying to come out.   After three hours of having them, most of which 5 to 7 to 10 minutes in between, we thought we'd better call Dr. B.  He told us to go ahead and make a trip to labor and delivery. 

I suppose I'll call this our trial round.  I was hooked up to all the monitors and everything was checked out by a very nice nurse.  Said nurse told me that I wasn't anymore dialated, but I was 56% effaced.  This was good news to me since I wasn't really effaced when Dr. B checked last.  This didn't mean that Griffin was on his way out last night, however.  But it did mean that we were given the opportunity to hang out in there for an hour, watching Griffin's movements via lines on a computer screen while eating ice chips.  I guess we've had worse Friday nights.   We did use this opportunity to ask the very nice nurse lots and lots of questions, questions that we really hadn't had til now.  The nurse assured me that I wasn't crazy for thinking that I was going into labor, and explained that I could have contractions all day long and still have no cervical change, which is really what labor is.  There is only one way to detect cervical change, and it takes a professional.  So I slipped my fuzzy blue slippers back on, took the Ambien they gave me to finally get some sleep after a week of none, and slept like a rock till 10:30 this morning.  Now all I need to do is get to Wednesday; that shouldn't be too hard, right?

36 Weeks

I. am. so. sleepy.

My head wants to get up and clean the house for this weekend, yet my body won't allow me to move for more than a few seconds at a time. 

Yesterday Dave took a day off to help me around the house.  We finished up the nursery (YAY!) and painted our bedroom.  We had been wanting to give our bedroom a little attention for a while, but somehow, it would always get pushed to the back burner.  Now, it's finally more like we have wanted it.  I really do not want to paint anything else for a very very very long time. 

Oh, but the nursery.  I really feel like a momma bird when I go in there.  It's the only room in our house that can literally change my mood.  I am planning on doing a separate post about the nursery, so I'll hold off saying too much about it.  

I had wanted to have the nursery finished by August, and I have been driven a little crazy that October had come around before we realized it and the nursery still needed this or that.  But now I smile when I walk in there and I am reminded how awesome Dave really is.

36 weeks brought me a present.  One day I had swollen feet, ankles, and hands; and since that day the swelling lets up a little but hasn't gone away.  Ugh.  Dr. B says that the swelling will linger until about ten days after G-day.  Oh boy!  Thankfully the swelling is not related to my blood pressure, instead just plain ol' fluid retention.  My hands feel tight and my feet feel sore and hot.  Just one more reason that I hope that G-day comes sooner than later.  However, I should point out that I am incredibly grateful that I am just getting this now and not any sooner. 

At my appointment yesterday I asked Dr. B if I'd need to take my rings off.  I was crossing my fat little fingers that he'd say "no."  But he didn't.  He told me that we'd need to get them off so we wouldn't have to cut them off later.  Let's just say that I had been planning on taking them off for a little while now, wanting to leave them on as long as possible, but then I woke up with swollen hands that, as I explained above, has not gone away.  Yesterday I tried all day long to get them off, without any luck and just more swelling as a result.  Then later in the evening, with the help of Dave and a glob of conditioner, it came off.  Even though it never seemed like it was coming, and I thought for a moment that my finger from the knuckle up was going to fly off, they came off.  Whew!

I could write on, but my eyes keep trying to close and we have a breastfeeding class later on tonight.  Hopefully I can stay awake for it. 

Packing It Up

The other day Dave asked me what we would need if Griffin were to come sooner than later.  This is something that has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks.  I had been trying to come up with a list in my head, yet I was unsure of exactly what we needed to bring with us to the hospital.  I did a bit of research and came up with a list for things to go in the "baby bag."  Dave was gung ho to go out and get the things that we lacked, so we did--immediately.

It seemed as though a switch flipped inside of him.  Just a few weeks ago he didn't want to buy much till after the showers, and now he just wants this bag packed.  I asked him what it was that flipped his switch, he said, "your belly."  I needed him to elaborate more, and he came back with, "It looks more and more like a time bomb everyday.   I think I can hear it...tick tick tick tick.  But the timer's missing and I don't know if it's going off in four seconds or four weeks."  He's such the poet, isn't he?  He did have a valid point though.  There really is no telling now when Griffin will decide to come.  Dr. B said that most of the time there are absolutely no signs of early labor, he will just come when he's ready.  Dave also pointed out to me that we were both early babies, so he wasn't comfortable with waiting around till 39 weeks and 6 days to start getting ready.

So now I am going to go get all the stuff out of the dryer, pack it in the bag, and put it in my car, where it will live until G-Day.

35 Weeks

There is something that I am able to do this week that I was unable to do last week. I can now use one hand to count the number of weeks left till the big G-Day (that's what I'm calling it now). One hand, five weeks. Five is such a little bitty number, tiny, compared to forty.

I've had several people ask if I'm getting nervous or scared yet. And honestly, I'm not. What's the point? I am insanely anxious and curious, but in the best way possible. If you were to ask me nine months ago if I would be scared or nervous if I knew that I'd be having a baby in forty weeks, I would have shook my head and thought, "scared wouldn't even begin to describe how I'd feel." But now with the help of the natural hormones that are released to morph you into a mother, I am comfortable that Dave and I are going to be parents in just a few short weeks. I am excited at the potential of all the more fun that we'll be able to have with our Bean Sprout. It will be a different kind of fun than we're used to, but a fun that I am anxious to begin having. However I do not believe that labor will be fun, but I hear that the feeling that comes after all the pain makes everything more than worth it; so bring it on!

 I am excited about this weekend, which is going to be jam packed with tons of excitement. Saturday we have our eight hour birthing class that we are BOTH unbelievably excited about. I hear that we'll be watching some pretty entertaining videos and we have to both bring our pillows, so maybe we'll practice napping. (Please don't bust my bubble.) After the much anticipated class we are going to celebrate our cutest little neighbor's first birthday. And then Sunday we have more celebrating to do a bit north of home at Dave's Aunt Debbie's. Good thing that Monday happens to be Columbus Day, so I'll have the day to recoup instead of having to work. I know I'll need it. And then, before we know it, we'll be nine months along.

Our Lucy is a very cuddly dog.  Sometimes it a little annoying, but most of the time it's really cute.  The majority of the time she prefers Dave to cuddle with, but lately she's choosing me instead.  I really think she knows that something is going on with me.  She gets comfortable anywhere she can on you, and last night she was laying in between my legs with her head resting on my belly.  She made it seem awful comfortable, and Dave happened to take some pictures of this.  I like to think that she is bonding with Griffin.

Getting so close, I can feel it…Really.

I realize that my blogging momentum last slowed down in the past few weeks. Right along with that, so has any of my creative energy, or more like my motivational energy of all sorts. As exhausting as it was to want to "create" every hour of every day (minus a few for sleeping), it sure was a lot of fun. Hopefully it will come back soon along with the desire to clean. Oh please let it be!

Speaking of cleaning, Dave and I worked on cleaning the house a bit Sunday afternoon. We decided to go ahead and move the bassinet into our bedroom to make sure that it fit in its prospective home. And it fits rather nicely. Our plan is to have Griffin in our room, not our bed, when he is little bitty and then move him to his crib soon after. I'm not sure if I have mentioned that we have a full size bed that accommodates two adults (one of which, pregnant) and two rather spoiled dogs. Please don't tell me to make the dogs sleep on the floor to make room for the baby; it just won't work and I know it. Not because our dogs are too spoiled, but because there is NO room at the top of the bed…it surely is not a safe place for a small child. I am pretty sure that putting a baby at our feet, where the dogs currently sleep, isn't acceptable either. Hopefully baby Griffin will appreciate sleeping by his lonesome in the beautiful bassinet that his great granddad made years and years ago. Although if he needs company, we do have two willing dogs that can cuddle with the best….just saying….

Sunday was quite eventful for us. In addition to cleaning, we joined a church, and celebrated my baby brother's 16^th birthday. I am so proud of Jacob for making it to 16^th without doing anything too seriously stupid (just kidding…). Since Jacob is 8 years younger than I, I have been able to watch him grow up. I have been able to prove the age old theory that boys mature slowly ;) But it's happening; my little brother is finally growing up. He's not just a whiney little kid anymore; he's turning into a really good guy. I no longer feel like flicking him in the ears anymore and I can talk to him like an adult. Aww…. Once again, Happy Birthday Jacob!

And speaking of Sunday, there was a little bitty thought in the back of my mind that I may have been possibly going into labor. While eating Jacob's birthday dinner my body temperature rose to what felt like 1004, although I just felt really hot and not dizzy (like usual). I figured that it was just too hot in the house for my blood, and tried to not think anything of it. Then those lovely Braxton Hicks contractions started. I don't know if I had ever described for those of you who haven't got to experience them. Basically, for me, my belly feels like it turns into a rock for several minutes. Typically this isn't painful, but it can make movement difficult and such. Sometimes instead of taking over my whole belly, it will hit in certain spots. At this particular time, the BH didn't stop (for the entire night) and began to increase in intensity. These were causing me to feel pretty darn uncomfortable, but I didn't want to make a mountain out of a mole hill, and told myself that this was normal. We were playing Volopoly and I was really trying to not let my discomfort get to me, but it was getting obvious that something was wrong. After Dad checked my blood pressure, which was normal, Dave and I went home to watch a movie on the couch. I am pretty sure that Dave wanted to call the doctor, but I wasn't having it. I was so afraid of going into the hospital on a Sunday night for nothing. I think I had said that the next time that I am laying in a hospital bed, I better be about to meet my Bean Sprout. (Note: I am not too stubborn to call my doctor when something is wrong, I just didn't have that feeling.)

At home the intensity of the BH let up a little, but they became more spread out, something Dr. B described as more like real contractions. Dave decided to time the length of occurrences and the time in between. For a split second I thought that there may have been a possibly Griffin was trying to get out, but I wasn't ever convinced. (Hence why no one was called about this.) The irony of moving the bassinet into our bedroom just a few hours earlier made me a little nauseous. However, I prayed that Griffin could just hang on a little longer so I could make it to the baby shower that my coworkers were having for me Monday evening.

Even though the BH continued through the night and I didn't sleep but a few hours, I never really felt like we were in a state of emergency. And by no surprise we were still baby-less Monday morning. Thankfully I was able to make it to my first baby shower and it was a blast. The ladies that I work with are so gracious and generous. We ended up with lots of super cute things and useful things, some of which I never knew you could buy. They had me play a cute little game of matching their baby pictures up with them…great shower game! It turned out that everyone there was a mom, so they all shared birthing stories with me to get me ready scare me to death. I didn't realize that labor could last 48 hours!!! What have I got myself into!?

34 Weeks

Something rather exciting happened this week that both Dave and myself were able to experience.  We felt Griffin hiccuping!  I had heard stories of people feeling this and had wondered how one could tell that's what the baby was, in fact, doing.  Now I get it.

Tuesday I hadn't been feeling well and I was laying on the couch praying that the fierce pain in my back would go away.  And all of a sudden I felt a little kick against my hand that was on my tummy.  I continued to feel it every couple of seconds, almost like there was a pattern to it.  I told Dave that Griffin had the hiccups and if he didn't believe me that he could come check it out for himself.  I lit up as I pictured little Griffin in there bobbing around with each little hiccup.  Oh, I can't wait for little newborn hiccups. Dave decided that Griffin needed a cure for his ailment, so he proceeded to scare him by yelling at my tummy.  Needless to say, it did not work.

At the baby visit with Dr. B this week I was told to focus on my due date.  Since the appointment was on my birthday I meant to ask him if I could have Griffin then for the special occassion, but like a pregnant woman, I forgot.  Everything is still going great: blood pressure is low and sugar is right where it needs to be.  I am beginning to think that I really don't have gestational diabetes as a result of how simple this stuff is to control.  I really didn't have to make any drastic changes to my diet.  I think I just rearranged what I was eating and, more importantly, when I was eating certain things.  However I must say that I have the highest gratitude that the diabetes hasn't even been the slightest problem whatsoever.

Dr. B explained the signs of labor to Dave and me, and let us know when to call.  These Braxton Hicks contractions have been making me wonder how I will know the difference of the real ones.  I get BH all the time and they're pretty intense at times.  Dr. B told me that I would just know and then told me how real contractions typically move around and down the tummy, and tend to be painful.  I'm glad he described them a bit, since I thought I knew I was having a contraction the other day.  I have new and different feelings every single day, no--make that every single hour...a little guidance won't hurt at all.  We still have those child birthing classes coming up, where we plan on gaining an over-abundance of knowledge.  Pretty soon we may have an idea of what we've got ourselves into....hahaha, who am I kidding?