39 weeks

One more week to go! I am ready to have this baby. My mother-in-law is arriving this afternoon so I'm ready when this baby is ready. If not, either way, hopefully by next Wednesday, our third child will be here.

I am miserably uncomfortable these days. I toss and turn all night long. Everything hurts! I went from feeling pretty good to miserable overnight. I'm sure it's because the baby has dropped and putting pressure on everything. But I don't want to complain too much since this may be the last week I ever carry a baby in my womb. It's bittersweet at this point.

We are praying for a safe and healthy delivery. I'm not too anxious about it. I'm going into it knowing I'm going to get an epidural so the anxiety of trying to have a natural childbirth is not there this time. I know what I can and can't handle and labor without drugs is not for me :) More power to my friends who did do it. I am jealous but I don't have anything to prove anymore!

I have an OB appointment tomorrow so I'll post if anything has changed. I'm not expecting any changes but we'll see!

38 weeks and an unexpected hospital visit

I'm 38.5 weeks! I think I only have 10 or 11 days to go...something like that. I don't have a picture for this week yet. I've been too tired to worry about it. But hopefully this weekend, I can get Theo to take one for me.

Yesterday, I met a friend from church for breakfast at Chick-fil-A. We had a wonderful time. I have been feeling very isolated so it was great to have some adult conversation, even though Carter and Olivia were tagging along. When I came home though, I was hanging our coats up and I slipped on a plastic hanger that had fallen on the floor. I tried to catch myself but landed pretty hard on the hardwood floor on my left side. I called my OBs office and she said I need to go to the Labor Unit to be put on a fetal monitor. I wasn't having any bleeding, cramping, contractions, leaking, and I had been feeling the baby move but they wanted to play it safe. I knew the baby was okay. What I was worried about was who was going to watch the kids. I had called up to the Labor Unit and the nurse said I would be there anywhere from 4 to 24 hours!

I of course called Theo at work. He met me at the hospital, stayed for a while and then took the kids home. I stayed on the monitor for about 3 hours and everything was fine. They also drew some lab to determine if I was having any placental bleeding and that all came back fine. So I was able to go home. Praise the Lord. I'm pretty sore and I feel like I can hardly walk but I think that's being 9 months pregnant and not necessarily from my clumsy fall.

I had my regular appointment today and everything was fine. I've really dropped. The baby's heartbeat was great. My cervix on the other hand.....completely closed! Oh well. I am 100% not anxious about it all this time. I would still like to go into labor on my own but have absolutely no problems with getting induced this go round. The plan is to induce on Feb 2nd at this point. I don't want to get induced early because I still want to give my body a chance. But it won't hurt my feelings if I have to have some help starting the process! I was a nervous wreck about it with Olivia and remember crying one time after an appointment because I wasn't dilating. Uh, no, not this time! My mother in law comes next Wednesday so as long as the baby will hold off until then, I really don't care when or how it happens and long as I have a safe delivery.

I had the strangest dream the other night....I dreamed I had given birth but I wasn't at the hospital. I don't know quite where I was. But I was just carrying the baby below my ya know, girly parts, and the baby was just hanging on by the umbilical cord. I was calm, not too worried about it.  But I called up to LSU and talked to one of the neonatal nurse practitioner's I used to work with and asked her if I should clamp the cord and she said not to worry about it (which is NOT right!) I don't remember how the dream ended but it was wild! I didn't get to see what the baby's gender was either. Oh well!

Anyway, so that was my week. I am utterly exhausted. I think I'm going on strike. No more cooking, cleaning, or laundry for a while. I will feed my kids, change and bathe them but that is probably about it at this point. Mother-in-law better get here soon!

36 and 37 weeks

The baby is now considered full-term! Hard to believe. Not that I want to the baby to come early, because I honestly don't (I'm not quite prepared!) but it's nice to know that if he or she does come now, it's okay.

 Belly Shot:

I have finally picked out some fabric for the baby's room if baby is a girl. I'm still looking for boy fabric. I think it's perfect! Mom is going to make the bedding. I'm so excited. I haven't been able to find that perfect bedding for either gender so I'm thrilled she's agreed to take on this task. Baby will be sleeping in our room for a while in the pack-n-play until we decide whose room he or she will share. We have a 4 bedroom house but one room is an office/guest room. So baby will have to shack up with either big brother or big sister. But with Olivia's awful sleeping habits, if baby is a girl, who knows when that will happen?

My mother-in-law will be here on the 26th. I'm thinking I won't ask to be induced before my due date but by the 1st or 2nd, hopefully the baby will be here. That way we have a few days with my MIL still here to get adjusted. I think it's going to be a lot harder with this baby then it was with Olivia since Olivia is at an age where it's all about her and she is quite the demading drama queen :) I'm praying everyday that we will all just survive the next several weeks and bond as a family!

35 weeks

The time is really starting to speed up! I am ready to meet our baby but am a little overwhelmed right now at the thought of getting even less sleep than I do now! And the demands of those first few weeks of breastfeeding are plaguing my mind. But I'm up for the challenge and nursing is definitely worth it.

I'm feeling pretty good considering but am getting pretty uncomfortable. I can say, I'm not near as uncomfortable with this baby as I was with Olivia. I'm not in the mindset of "I can't wait to not be pregnant anymore" like I was with Olivia. Probably because there is a good chance this will be the last time I carry a baby within me. So I don't want to whine or complain about it. I cherish every little movement even the ones that hurt!

I can't believe we're about to have another baby! Watch out world: here comes another member of the P family :)

34 weeks and surprise pictures!

Yesterday I had my routine 34 week appointment. I've gained 14 pounds ( I knew the scale was wrong last time!) I assumed I was cruising along as expected. But yesterday Dr. R said I had been measuring small (that was news to me) so she sent me for an ultrasound today just to check everything. I wasn't too terribly worried about it. Carter always measured 1-2 weeks smaller than what I was supposed to be. But with everything else that has gone on this pregnancy, I couldn't help be a little paranoid. I was so glad Theo was able to go. I think he went mostly because he was afraid I'd find out the baby's gender and not tell him! Ha!

25 weeks and 34 weeks

It was such a wonderful thing to see our sweet baby's face again. How different he or she looks from the last ultrasound at 25 weeks. The baby is about 4 pounds right now and is in the 37% for growth. So everything looks great! My placenta and amniotic fluid are normal and the tech says the baby has a headful of hair! Maybe the whole lots of hair and heartburn thing is actually true this time. I've never really had heartburn before but this pregnancy has been totally unlike either of my other pregnancies!

Sorry about the quality of the pictures but I took a picture of the pictures so it's not great. In this one, the baby is puckering up and I think looks a lot like Olivia in my opinion.

In this one, you can see baby sucking his or her thumb:

What a great Christmas picture to be able to see our baby!

And flashback to the 25 week picture:

31-33 weeks

I've been so behind with this blog. I figure it's probably more interesting to see pictures of Carter and Livie than my rapidly expanding belly!

Things have been going smoothly. I'm now going to the OB every two weeks. My last visit was two weeks ago. I go back tomorrow. But at my last visit, I had gained 15 pounds, the baby's heartrate was 136 and we briefly talked about induction. I was so set against being induced with Carter and Olivia. And I ended up giving in (sort of) with Olivia being 5 days late (although technically, I only had my water broken and things progressed from there). But this go around, I feel like I want to be more in control. I know it's because of everything with my heart and I'm being overly paranoid and I KNOW everything will be fine. But I always have morbid dreams right before I am about to give birth. I did with Carter and Olivia so I'm sure this time is no different. Anyway, Theo's mom is planning on coming although no plane tickets have been purchased so we'll see. I am most concerned with having someone to watch Carter and Olivia while I'm in labor. So if that means I have to get induced to make that happen, I am totally fine with that!

Here is my growing belly:

I forgot to take a 32 week picture so this is at 31 weeks and 33 weeks.

30 weeks

10 more weeks to go! I had a routine OB appointment on Wednesday. I've gained 12 pounds total. The baby's heartbeat was 156. My diabetes screening came back normal. Everything is going as planned so far! From now on, I go every two weeks! Whoa. That really makes me feel like everything is happening so quickly!

I'm so excited to find out whether we're adding another son or daughter to our family. Theo and I both think it's a girl. Carter thinks it's a boy and so does Omaw! We'll see in a couple of more months. What fun!