40 weeks!

This officially will be my last pregnancy update! It is so crazy how the time has flown, that today is my due date, and that this journey is quickly coming to an end. It has truly been a wonderful day. I thought that it would be difficult to see my due date come and go without having our baby girl making any signs of that she is ready to be born, but I have actually enjoyed a day with just David and I at home doing absolutely nothing. We have nested a bit (done laundry, dishes, given the dog a bath, etc.) but other than that we have sat on the couch together reading, watched Love Actually, cooked eggs and toast, and we are about to bake brownies for dinner! David and I rarely have restful days together and I am so thankful that we get to have at least one before our bundle of joy arrives. So here it goes... the last weekly update :)

How far along? 40 weeks

Updates on baby: So today I got a little bit upset when I went to check out Baby Center and The Bump. Rather than having a 40 week update on baby they had things like "Newborn" and "Your baby's birthday is today!". I guess I understand, but don't they know that plenty of women do not have their baby on or before their due date? It made me a bit impatient. But at the same time, I guess I get it because at this point just picture a newborn... that is what is in my belly :)

Labor signs: I have felt some definite contractions but they are never that painful and they never last for long or become regular. She continues to drop lower and lower (when she kicks now her feet are right around my belly button!), but other than that no other signs that labor is imminent.

Symptoms/Body Changes: So at 38 weeks I did not have one stretch mark on my belly, and now every morning there are new ones sprouting out from my belly button. This has been pretty frustrating because I was so close! But I know that I have young skin, that they won't be as obvious as they are now and that in a way they are a "badge of honor". I was just really hoping I would go my whole pregnancy without them. The stretch marks are a visible sign of what I have been feeling; that my belly is just being stretched so thin! It is really tender at this point, and it hurts to the touch right out in front. There is one consistent sore spot to the right of my belly button that is really sore and in general my belly is just giving me a lot more pain. Another symptom which really just popped up last night and today is that I guess as Lydia drops she is starting to hit some specific nerve and sometimes when she movies it sends really intense shooting pains down my legs. It is really painful and last night after a full day of walking and shopping it brought me to tears at one point. Today I have tried to lay down more and the pains go away, but there have been multiple times when I am standing up doing laundry or putting on makeup and then all of the sudden there is a big jolt. Ouch! Maybe this is some kind of sign... like that she wants out??


Movement: She continues to move a lot. I feel like she must be running out of room but then every evening and morning, and sometimes in the middle of the night, she just starts her kicks and rolls. I love feeling her so close and real, but it also makes me a bit impatient, and as I just talked about it is starting to get legitimately painful.


Exercise: Ever since my topology exam has been over I have been walking a bunch! I took two 30-40 minute walks on Monday and Tuesday, and walked yesterday with a friend for an hour and ten minutes (about 3.5 miles)! Because of the shooting pains I decided to give it a little break today. I have also been good about stretching each night before I go to bed.


Cravings/Aversions: I was craving some good mexican food last night so David and I celebrated the end of the semester with a nice dinner at Abuelos. It was SO yummy! No real cravings or aversions have set in though... I can't wait to have room in my stomach to be able to put food because my appetite has somewhat returned and I finally look forward to eating most days.

Getting ready for baby: We are pretty much all ready at this point. Dishes are clean, laundry is done, the floors are mopped and vacuumed, the dog is clean, the bathroom is clorox-ed, the living room and bedrooms are all dusted and windex-ed. Seriously, it is clean in this apartment. It is very strange not knowing when baby will come because it makes it a little hard to prepare, especially with going grocery shopping and cooking. But I feel really comfortable that we have everything in our house that we could possibly need if she came now, and I know that once she is here if we run out of milk or face wash there are plenty of people who would go and get some for us if we needed it.

Also, David and I are finished with our semesters!!!! So we are really, really ready for baby now.


What I miss: A normally proportioned and functioning body...I am looking forward to not carrying around a full newborn in my belly.


What I am looking forward to: Meeting Lydia Grace!! Also, tomorrow we have a doctor appointment and I am looking forward to knowing if I have made any more progress since last Friday.

In a way I am also kind of dreading this appointment since I know my doctor will bring up inducing labor. David and I have decided that we want to stand firm until 41 weeks; that not a day before December 22nd do we want to induce labor. However, at that point we feel comfortable following the doctor's advice to go ahead and try to get things going if they haven't started up already. Waiting until 41 weeks poses no risks to baby whatsoever and we really want to be patient since we know that this random "due date" is just an estimate. But after 41 weeks the chance of a still birth rises slightly and there are other risks, like her skull could start to harden and she could get kind of big. I really hope that my body just kicks it in gear in the next few days and we don't have to make any of these decisions in the end, but if it does come down to it we just want our daughter to be healthy.

Anyway, just pray with us that she will come soon! We are waiting patiently and we know that she will have the birthday she was always meant to have.

And now for comparisons: week 20, 30 and 40.

Thank you so much for following me along this journey!! I will try to keep the blog updated as much as possible when things start to happen. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and soon you will see some way cuter pictures of a way cuter girl up here.

Cleansing Breath

In our natural birthing class they taught David and I this thing called a cleansing breath. The idea is that after each contraction you take a really deep breath and then exhale that contraction away. You never have to do it again. It may have been hard, there may be more coming but that one is over.

Today David and I both take a cleansing breath for the end of both of our semesters. I finished my last exam on Monday and he finished his yesterday afternoon. I am not really sure that it has hit him yet (he was up before 6 this morning, probably with a little leftover text anxiety), but I bet that as the day moves forward and we do nothing but watch Christmas movies, clean up our house a bit and get tiny last minute baby preparations together he will start to feel the relief too.

I don't only feel relief about the semester being over, although that emotion is currently at the forefront. When I think about it I feel extreme thankfulness that our semester is over. As you can read about here, I kind of freaked out a little bit when I found out that I was pregnant. We were in no way planning on having a baby while both of us were in graduate school, especially considering the intensity of our programs. Having a family has always been a dream of ours but we thought it would be most wise to wait until (at least) one of us had a job and other little things like a health insurance plan. Also, we always planned to wait until I could stay home for at least the first 3 months of the baby's life. This is always what I have pictured, desired, and thought was right. Even now I have the feeling that I will want to work part time when my kids get a little bit older, but leaving a newborn baby for any amount of time still makes me feel a little sick.

But from the time that I found out I was pregnant we knew that the right decision was for both of us to go ahead and finish school. This baby will change our life, but she doesn't have to stop our life. With our calendars in front of us and our practicality glasses on it was decided; we would finish up the Spring 2011 semester as best as we could given this world-rocking news, we would both work full time throughout the summer to try to save as much money as possible, we would both start and finish the Fall 2011 semester even though my due date was the Thursday of finals week, and then we would start and finish our Spring 2012 semesters with a 3-week-or-less old baby. Looking back I have no idea how we made this decision. We prayed about it a little bit, but I really believe that in the moment God was with us making the right decision clear.

However, as we ventured through our now "perfect" improvised plan there were so many moments when I had doubt. Getting sick every single day for 4 weeks during the end of the spring semester was one of the lowest points that I have ever been though. Working full time this summer at a research job where I thought about symmetrically constrained compositions all day tended to feel a bit meaningless when I began to feel a new life move about inside of me. And the fall semester.. oh the fall semester... was so, so hard. It was hard to walk back into the math department in August clearly pregnant and so out of place. It was hard to make my new hormone-affected brain focus during lectures and toward the end it was physically challenging to sit through 2 lectures in a row. It was hard to keep my frustrations and emotions in check while teaching freshmen calculus students. It was hard to all of the sudden not be able to be the student that I always had been - the one who does well on homework assignments and exams, who even in graduate school can keep up with the best of them. It was difficult to feel pride in what I was doing when I handed in half-completed homework assignments simply because I could not keep myself awake the night before or get myself up that morning to finish them. I questioned so many times what I was doing, what we were doing, what God was thinking giving us this baby now.

And now it is December 15th, my due date, and we are here on the other side. Finals finished, homeworks handed in, awaiting a beautiful baby girl that neither of us can now imagine our lives without. We never, ever could have planned it better ourselves (seriously, I don't think you can plan to have a baby within a 3 week window in general). God has been so faithful, in the big picture and in the tiny details and now I am full of so much joy and appreciation that we didn't go with our own plan because in so many ways there is no perfect time to have a baby; no comfortable phase in life to bring on the responsibility of a brand new life.

What seemed to impossible and what was so difficult is now such a huge blessing and just knowing that we would never have met this baby, our little Lydia Grace, if we had ultimately had control over our plans makes me so grateful that we are not in control. It was about two weeks ago when I was having one of my doubt moments and was crying to David about how poorly I felt I was doing at school. My pride and self-esteem have been hit so hard throughout my entire pregnancy... it has made me vulnerable and weak in ways that I have never experienced before and one of these ways was definitely in my school work. School was always a place where I received positive feedback and reassuring encouragement on my progress and on my purpose. It was something I loved, and I was good at it. This combination is always nice to have in your life, but this past semester took the affirmation away. Instead of making me feel smart or adequate it pushed me to my limits and I really had to fight through each day knowing that I was doing something that I wasn't sure was right for me. During my slight meltdown David looked at me and gave me the perspective that I hung on for the last two weeks and spoke words that still bring me to tears today. He said that when our little girl is born and I am holding her brand new body in my arms I won't question once what I have been doing these last 9 months. If nothing else, I have been supporting her, allowing God to craft her inside of me and preparing to deliver her into this world. I will be so proud of what I have done, of what we have done and what we have made together.

I am so thankful, joyful, peaceful and blessed. Now that we are on this side of the semester I am truly amazed at God's perfect timing and at his faithfulness even when things seem impossible. I am thankful that I am not ultimately in control and that my limited perspective is not the one that I have to rely on to make decisions and plans. I know that going forward things won't be easy for a while, but I know that they will work out and with the Lord's strength and the help of our wonderful family and friends we will once again make it through.

So come on, Lydia Grace! Your daddy and I are so ready for you; in our schedules, our minds and our hearts.

Excited and Distracted

I have an exam in 13 hours and I am so nervous about it... it is in the infamous Topology class that I gripe about all the time and in so many ways I am not prepared. I am trying to trust at this point that the 20+ hours a week that I put in throughout the semester on the homework assignments will have prepared me for the cumulative final because when I look back over all that we have done it is so overwhelming!

It doesn't help that I am also terribly distracted. This weekend has been so weird and even though my semester has been challenging and pushed me to my limits I am thankful that I have stayed so busy because now that an end to this pregnancy is in sight and I have a few moments to think about it I am so anxious and impatient! Mostly, I am just excited. I find myself daydreaming about seeing Lydia for the first time. What will she look like? Will she have hair? How will it feel to hold her?

On Friday I had my 39 week check-up and I was surprised to find out that I had actually made some labor progress... I am 1 cm dilated! Not that that really means much, or anything, because lots of women can be 1 cm for weeks.. months even. But I hadn't really been feeling contractions or anything so it was just nice to find out that my body has been preparing for this whole labor thing even if it is just a bit. However, since finding this out I am all of the sudden ready to have this baby girl! Also, since then I have definitely felt a few contractions, a few have even awoken me during the night, but nothing has been too strong or stayed regular. There have been a few other signs of early labor too, but all of them are not suitable to write about for the world to hear :) I love that is is coming so soon, but all of the sudden this weekend it all became so real and now it is difficult to focus on much else.

So that is where I am... sitting, waiting, trying to convince myself that compactness in Hausdorff spaces is really important to think about right now (and clearly failing since I am typing this out). Maybe clearing my mind a bit though will help me focus.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! I officially feel like a ticking time bomb, but in a really, really good way.

39!

It is so strange starting this weekly update knowing that it very well could be my last one. Maybe that is just hopeful thinking, but for some reason I feel like little Lydia might make her arrival before December 15th. Maybe it is because I don't understand how I could possibly get any bigger or because I don't want to think about having to walk up stairs, put on my boots or try to shave my legs for more than one more week. I am getting... uncomfortable. I was feeling great until yesterday and now all of the sudden I just hurt. I feel like I need to lay down most of the time and my belly just feels so heavy! The pain isn't constant, but what I can physically do in a day is becoming very limited very quickly. Maybe this means the end is near.

 

How far along? 39 weeks.

Updates on Baby: (Thanks to WhatToExpect) Coming down to the wire, your baby weighs around seven to eight pounds and measures 19 to 21 inches. Those measurements won't change much from now on, but her brain is still growing at an astonishing rate, a pace that will continue for the first three years of life. Her pink skin has now turned whitish (even babies who'll eventually have darker skin appear whitish now — they haven't yet developed pigment). Her head may have dropped into your pelvis by now, which makes your breathing easier but walking harder.

Labor signs: She continues to drop slowly I think, and today I am pretty sure I had some contractions. Nothing regular or sharp at all yet, but there are definite cramps which I am assuming has to do with labor at this point.

Symptoms/Body Changes: Because she is sitting lower I have to go to the bathroom all the time... it is so ridiculous. My swelling is still mild, as well as my heartburn. Mainly my body is just sore; my lower back hurts and my legs are starting to get achy by the end of the day. A few times she has rolled onto a specific nerve which sends shooting pains down my legs... ouch! Other than that nothing is really new... my belly is just huge.

Exercise: I wake up in the morning, get showered, dressed, put on my own shoes. Then David drives us to school and I walk 10 minutes to my office, I walk up and down about 20 flights of stairs each day, I walk to another building to teach, then I walk back to the car. I also sit up during class which requires some serious back and ab strength at this point. We come home and I lay on my side on the couch. After that if I am lucky I walk Rooney for 20ish minutes and if I am really feeling good I stand up to do the dishes. At 39 weeks pregnant, that is a workout!

I should try to stretch more this next week... and once my topology exam is over on Monday it is on! I will be walking as much as I can to try and induce labor :)

Movement: Bittersweet everytime. I love feeling her move, but I just want her here. And it is very painful when she moves at this point. Sometimes she will move kind of slowly so it doesn't hurt too bad and I will just feel her tiny knees and legs and it hits me for a brief second that she is a real baby... that she is a tiny one of me, of us. It is amazing. But again, these moments are almost just teasers at this point because I just want to hold her and see her beautiful face. I am starting to feel impatient for the first time in my pregnancy which is good because in general I am not very patient and at this point she will be arriving soon.

Cravings/Aversions: Food just tastes really, really good lately. But I don't feel as though I am craving anything in particular. I drink mass amounts of water in a day... and I definitely consume a lot more milk and other dairy products than I ever did before being pregnant. I had a peppermint mocha today and it was AWESOME, so now I might start craving those.

What I miss: I want to paint my toenails... but I can't. So strange.
 

What I am looking forward to: Meeting this little girl!!!! And being finished with the semester.

And below, a comparison of weeks 19, 29 and 39. I remember feeling so big the day that this 19 week pictures was taken. Now I look at it and think, "How was I ever so skinny???". I think that once I get back down to my normal size I will appreciate it so much more now.

I hope that you have a fantastic evening. As my due date gets closer keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I am getting a little nervous about this whole labor and delivery part, but to be honest I don't feel like I can think about all of that right now. Perhaps I will reflect and prepare a bit more once school is finally finished, and perhaps I won't and it will be better that way. Just pray for our little girl to stay perfectly healthy! We would greatly appreciate it.

I couldn't resist.

So far David and I haven't bought Lydia anything... well I guess I bought her one cream-colored onsie one time for like 3 bucks. We knew we wanted to get her Christmas PJ's as her one Christmas present this year, and when we were in Walmart this morning picking up some things we just couldn't help but buy this newborn Christmas dress too! They are both so cute and I can't wait for her to wear them on Christmas and for her newborn pictures. Little baby girl clothes are just too cute... even the ones at Walmart.

38 weeks

Whew... what a week! As we were driving back to Lexington on Sunday I could feel a sore throat coming on and I knew that it would probably make it a long one. A sore throat is always the first sign of a cold or allergies to me, and sure enough I woke up Monday of this week with a mean cold. Since I am so pregnant my doctor said no to any kind of decongestant (because they thin out your blood) so I thought that I could just tough it out with rest and orange juice. Well, even with lots of orange juice and as much rest as I could get considering my schedule I woke up yesterday all dizzy because the fluid that was sitting in my head moved to my ears! So, I call the doc again and he said in order to avoid getting an ear infection I should use a nasal spray. I used it last night and feel so much better today in the head congestion department but I am still so, so tired. Basically I am 38 weeks pregnant, preparing for finals next week as well as finishing up classes and I am sick. Blah. This has been my week in general, but here are the details of the pregnancy part... hopefully they are more exciting to read!

How far along? 38 weeks

Updates on baby: (Thanks to BabyCenter)
Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.
Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Labor signs: I think I have felt a few contractions but nothing regular and other than that no labor signs for me. I really just have this feeling that she is going to hold on to right around her due date!

 
Symptoms/Body changes: My belly just keeps getting bigger at this point and actually this week I think she has started to drop a little bit. This has given me a little bit more back pain but has increased my ability to breathe (yay!) and has increased my appetite. I swell pretty easily at this point and I am so very tired, so I try to rest multiple times throughout the day rather than try to run all day and then rely on my 6-8ish hours of sleep at night. I feel that my body is really reaching its limits and I want to respect it during these last few weeks especially.

Exercise: As I probably should have expected this just gets harder and harder everyday and this week with the combination of my cold and the freezing, rainy weather it didn't happen very much. About three days this week (including today) I got out for 2-ish mile walk with my puppy and two nights this week I remembered to stretch before bed. I am still walking to and from my car each day at school, as well as taking the stairs from my office on the 7th floor in one building to my classes on the 3rd floor of another building. I hope that in any subsequent pregnancies I can keep up weight lifting and more intense walking later than I did in this pregnancy, but considering how much strength I lost at the beginning of this journey I am pretty proud of what my body is able to do at this point.

Movement: She is so crazy still! Hasn't really slowed down and I love feeling her big movements now. She is a full, probably 6 pound baby moving around in there so I just think that I feel everything. Just like she always has been, little Lydia is right on schedule as far as dropping lower. This usually happens 2 weeks before delivery in first pregnancies and I started to notice it Wednesday of this week. I think it is going to happen gradually because she is still pretty high in my belly, but there is a definite noticeable different from where she was sitting a week ago (at least to David and I).

Cravings/Aversions: I have just been hungry this week which is something that feels so different! Everything has sounded good... sweet things, salty things, fruit, yogurt, cereal, cookies. I have also continued to notice that I don't need to eat as often as I used to but can instead eat like a more normal person... 3 meals a day with only 2 snacks.

Getting ready for baby: We installed the car seat... yay!! That was a big step for me I think. It is so crazy to see it sitting back there everyday. We also got our diaper bag and I LOVE it. I am glad that we waited until I found the right one because I really love the one that we got. It is a JJ Cole bag and was 30% off after Thanksgiving (which made it only like 30 bucks)! Not only was it a good deal, but it is plain with still being pretty attractive, it has lots of pockets, is made of a material that is really easy to wipe down and has a messenger bag carrying option. And it is big enough without making me look like I am hauling a huge load around. This weekend we have a few more errands to run to get some last minute items for the hospital bag and stuff, but really we are pretty much ready!

What I miss: Having energy! But I guess I should get used to being tired... at least this is what people are telling me.

What I am looking forward to: My professors are pretty much awesome and it is looking like they are both going to let me take finals early. That means that a week from today, on December 9th, I will be finished with my responsibilities for school. I am also excused from my grading and proctoring responsibilities for the calculus final, so the only thing I need to worry about after December 9th is signing a grade sheet... and having a baby! I am really glad that people are being so understanding and I am just praying that Lydia holds off until her due date.

Now for the picture comparison from weeks 18, 28, 38. These old pictures give me hope that someday I will be a normal size again :)

Well I am off to take the pup for a walk before it gets dark... since that happens now at like 5. On a different note, we put up our Christmas tree last night! More pictures to come hopefully so, but here are a few.

Baby's 1st Christmas ornament!

 Our finished tiny tree :)

Have a great weekend!
 

Lydia Grace

 

The time has finally come when I have 20-ish minutes to tell you the name of our baby girl. We have been decided on it for quite some time, but the decision definitely wasn't an easy one and looking back we started to make it very early on in my pregnancy. 

Before I got pregnant I was absolutely set on the fact that my first daughter would be named Anna Elizabeth. David had agreed that he liked the name and he didn't have a problem with naming our first daughter that when the time came. However, when we discussed names for our actual first child Anna just didn't seem right to me if it were a girl. All of the sudden I wanted the name we picked to be specifically for this baby , not one that I had just always liked. Thus the search began.

I really love my name, but sometimes I must admit that I don't love that there are so many Ashley's. We decided that we wanted our child to have a more unique name, but at the same time David and I wanted that the boy and girl names we picked be somewhat "classic" names. We looked first toward the Bible because we also wanted any name we gave to this big blessing to have meaning. From the beginning Lydia stuck out to me as one of the few female Biblical names that isn't too common and David and I both thought it was beautiful from the beginning (it actually means beauty in Greek!). Then there was the role that Lydia played in the Bible, which is pretty awesome. Although she only appears once in the Bible, Lydia was very important to the ministry of Paul and the establishment of the early Christian church. Here are the verses in Acts 16 where her story is told:

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

When the historical context is unpacked it is seen that Lydia was a resident in Philippi, in Greece, when the apostle Paul traveled there in the very beginning of his ministry. She was a successful business woman and sold purple cloth (yay purple!) which was very hard and involved to make back then. Lydia is the first recorded Christian in Europe to be converted by Paul, and her home became the place where the subsequent first church in Europe gathered to worship. Pretty cool. We hope and pray that our little girl will play an important role in God's kingdom and His church here on Earth just like the Lydia in the bible.

Now, for her middle name. Remember when David and I weren't going to find out the gender of our baby? Well our decision on our girl's middle name came along with the decision to find out the gender, in July as we were driving to South Carolina for vacation. David and I were listening to my iPod taking the opportunity of the long car ride to really talk about the fact that we were having a baby. In the process we stumbled upon this sweet song (the link takes you to a youtube video... just ignore the video and listen to the song :) ). Well we both teared up and from then on we knew our little one, if it were a girl, would have Grace as a part of her name. We also realized in that moment how much both of us had the feeling that this baby was a girl, even though we "expected" it to be a boy since it was a Harrison. So with that we decided that we should go ahead and find out the gender.

For a few months after we found out it was a girl we bounced back and forth a bit between options: Lydia Grace? Grade Elizabeth? Something entirely different? But it didn't take much thought for us to decide for sure on Lydia Grace, and we are so, so happy with our decision!

37 weeks

Remember that one time I promised to write a bunch over Thanksgiving and not just bore you with weekly updates? Well, clearly I failed. It has been a truly wonderful Thanksgiving break thus far, but as usual it has been more busy than I would have expected. Today is the first time when I have really sat alone in a peaceful, quiet room with Christmas music playing. Our family is wonderful but we also both have pretty large families which just makes for bustling holidays. I have greatly enjoyed every moment thus far though because I know that this year for Christmas it will just be David, baby and I which will also be amazing in its own way, but also very different for both of us.

On Thanksgiving Day I officially made it to my 37th week of pregnancy. This is a pretty big milestone because our baby girl is now full term. Everything is developed and ready to go, and really all she needs is a little bit more meat on her bones before she makes her arrival. Most women deliver between 39 and 41 weeks, but if I were to go into labor at this point no one would try to stop it because she would be perfectly healthy!

It has also been quite the emotional milestone for me. Getting finished with my most stressful week of school is obviously relieving, and just making it to Thanksgiving break was something that I wasn't actually convinced I could do. Now that our break is nearing the end I can't help but to be amazed at how the time has just flown by this semester. Thanksgiving was always a big time marker in my head: I would be full term, school would start to wind down, we would have everything ready for the baby, I would be HUGE (which I am :) ), and we would only have to wait a few more weeks. And here we are. All of those things have in fact happened and being on the other side is just so surreal. It has been quite the journey, and although I know that there is so much ahead I can't help but marvel at the fact that somehow David and I have made it to this point... and pretty well unscathed at that!

Enough of my babbling, and time for the details!

How far along? 37 weeks.

Updates on Baby:  (Thanks to BabyCenter)
Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb.
Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Labor signs: I don't really think so. I am still not sure if I have felt an actual Braxton Hicks contraction yet or if my stomach just gets pains in it sometimes. I am hoping that over the next week or so she starts to drop a bit because she is so high up and straight out... it is definitely starting to take a little toll on my lower back.

Symptoms/Body Changes: I am actually feeling really good lately! I mean, I feel abnormally large and not super mobile but as long as I change positions frequently, lay down a few times throughout the day and sleep well I have found that a lot of the persistent pains I was dealing with a few weeks ago aren't a problem at all. Also, my appetite has become a bit more regular again! I still can't eat very much in one sitting, but I have started to eat 3-4 times a day like a normal person rather than 6-7 times a day. This is just more convenient for me because I don't have to worry about always having a stockpile of snacks around.

My belly is huge, as you can see, and she is just really focused all in one spot. I don't think I have a full on pregnant lady waddle yet, but if she is sitting in a certain way I definitely can't walk normally. My swelling hasn't increased since last week and most other things have stayed the same too.

Exercise: It is becoming much, much harder but I am still making myself do it as much as I can! I try to walk a few times a day for about 20 minutes and I have been pretty successful at that, even on Thanksgiving. On Wednesday I did 30 minutes of prenatal pilates, which was great, and on Friday I worked really hard to walk 3 fast miles with my mom and sister. I did it, but it was hard and today I am sore all over. Intense, sweaty exercise has been out of the question for a while and my focus in these last few weeks is to be sure to walk twice a day and try to stretch almost everyday just to stay mobile.

Movement: Her movements are so awesome! We feel feet, hands, legs and elbows. A few times this past week she has moved her head around a few times which is painful , and if she kicks or moves when I stand up it tends to hurt pretty bad too. But when I can lay down and feel and see her tiny body parts moving around I love it. The best part of every day by far.

Cravings/Aversions: Thanksgiving dinner tasted great, which I was so happy about. Food is tasting pretty good in general, although I will usually choose things without meat. I have been eating more eggs and peanut butter to make sure to get plenty of protein and now that it is getting cold I enjoy a big bowl of oatmeal many mornings. I am still craving milk and cookies too :)

Getting ready for baby: On Monday evening I washed all of our little one's clothes, blankets, towels, burp cloths and everything else. David helped me to fold everything and we rearranged a few of our drawers to make room for her newborn and 0-3 month clothes in the top two drawers of the dresser in our bedroom. The dresser that our small group gave us has her blankets, some of my things, and a few bigger clothes in it and the rest went into storage. We also packed my labor and delivery bag and I made a big, detailed packing list for our electronics and overnight hospital bags on our whiteboard that we have at home. I wish I had taken a picture... although then you would have documented evidence about how OCD I can be sometimes.

What I miss: Having normal proportions... I keep hitting my belly on things and it hurts!

What I am looking forward to: So many things. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, tonight we are going out to Babies R Us to get our diaper bag and in a few weeks we are going to have a baby which I am very much looking forward to!

Below is the picture comparison: 17, 27 and 37 weeks. I like this part because it is so crazy to see how that belly grows!

Well the family is back, so I am going to be social again :) Maybe some more writing soon.

36 weeks

This thing is going to happen people... hopefully in less than 4 weeks. How crazy! I (barely) survived my week, and now that my topology take home midterm is written up, my worksheets for recitation are typed and some of our laundry is done I am ready for bed! I still have one homework assignment to finish up, but I really think that my brain needs 8-ish hours of rest before I can do any more math. Plus, I feel like if I wait until Monday to do my weekly update it really is too late to be an update :)

 

How far along? 36 weeks

Updates on baby: Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

*On a more personal note: Our little girl is head down! Yay!! I went to the doctor on Friday and the doctor checked to see that she is in the delivery-ready position and she is. It was very relieving, although I had suspected for a few weeks that she was head down. I had been feeling her little feet and knees up high, plus with her being such a mover I figured she had maneuvered herself into the correct position. It really is amazing how all of pregnancy works and how naturally these things happen. The doctor said that since she is head down at this point it is very unlikely that she will move and become breech before delivery. Such exciting news!

Labor signs: Nope.. none. I am still not sure if I have had a contraction. I am attuned to any kind of cramp or pain in my stomach and I definitely feel some, but it is hard to know if it is a Braxton hicks contraction, a real one or just my food digesting. The doctor also checked to see if I have made any physical progress toward labor on Friday, and thankfully I haven't. Even for how uncomfortable I am, I very much want our little one to arrive right around or after her due date, i.e. after finals.

Symptoms/Body changes: My belly continues to grow, and actually on the day that this picture was taken I had 4 different people comment on how big it was. They were all very polite actually, and I don't really mind the comments since, yes, my belly is huge. I hope it looks huge in comparison to the rest of me! The best comment came from one of my freshman boy students. He said, "Wow, your baby is getting really big!". It was cute and honestly I am starting to enjoy the fact that people are noticing that I am pregnant and treating me as such. I have been surprised at how few students, professors and colleagues have asked me/talked to me about my pregnancy and I try to not talk about it very much to others. But I think it is exciting that now all of the sudden people aren't ignoring that fact that I am preggo :)

Other than the bigger and bigger belly not much else is changes. The pains in my back have moved a little bit lower which I actually find to be more bearable than the round ligament pain I was having in the middle of my back so much for a while. I am kind of swollen in general, but especially in my hands, ankles and feet and especially after standing for a while or eating something that is really salty. I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring all week which is a bummer, but I knew this day would come. Despite the swelling my blood pressure is perfectly normal, which was good to hear on Friday also.

 

Exercise: This past week it was nice outside for about 3 days and so on those days I got out and walked twice for 30 minutes each with my pup. Other than that, I don't do very much, other than carry an extra 25 pounds up flights of stairs and all around campus of course. Now that my crazy week is over I want to fit a prenatal pilates session in 3 times a week and I really think I can keep reach this goal for the next 4-ish weeks, as well as trying to walk frequently.

Movement: She has finally started to change in her movements a bit. The punches and kicks don't have as much velocity behind them anymore since she is running out of room, so they aren't as painful as they were a few weeks ago. However, she continues to move a lot, with a lot of rolling around going on. I feel her little feet and hands all the time, and often I feel her rear end poking out one side of my stomach, which makes me all lopsided. I love feeling her move and I just can't wait until I can see her move!

Cravings/Aversions: I ate most of a bag of tortilla chips this week with salsa... yum! On the aversion side, there were 3 different days this week when we planned to eat chicken and I just couldn't stomach it, which was weird. Hopefully the Thanksgiving turkey will agree with me.

Getting ready for baby: Finally some updates here! David's mom came down on Sunday and helped us to rearrange our bedroom furniture to make room for baby. We live in a small two bedroom apartment with the second bedroom functioning mainly as an office. I know that at first I will want our little girl right next to me, plus with her napping so often and David needing a quiet space to work more than ever we decided to start her out in our room. She won't have any kind of nursery here; we plan on waiting to have a real nursery until we move (most likely in May) to a bigger place. So we just put her pack and play with the bassinet as well as a little shelf in our room. Oh yea, and the rocker is in there too. It is definitely... cozy. But I am sure I will get used to it.

In the second bedroom we have a dresser to store her things (or more likely some of our things since we will probably clear out a few dresser drawers in our bedroom for her little clothes). Our life group got this dresser for free and put some new handles on it for us. I really like it, and fits perfectly.

I should have taken a before picture, because before Saturday our second bedroom was just overtaken with all the baby things we had gotten. But now most things are in their place. On my to do list before Thanksgiving is to wash the newborn and 0-3 month clothes as well as blankets, wash cloths, towels, burp clothes, etc. and get them put away. Also, we need to pack a hospital bag! 

Another thing that we did this past week was went to visit the hospital where I will be delivering. It was fantastic. It isn't a super nice or new hospital, but it is truly a great one. It is all high tech and has the best NICU in the region and all that since it is the University hospital, but I was very impressed with how natural they liked to keep normal deliveries. As long as my delivery goes as expected and our baby is perfectly healthy they are all about immediate skin-to-skin contact which David and I prefer. We thought we would have to request to have the baby on my chest right away, but it is actually hospital policy that the baby gets her vital signs checked while on my skin, that she nurses within the first hour and that within the first 6 hours she isn't taken away from David or I. The pediatrician will even come to our room rather than taking her away. Of course if she needs anything special  or if there are any complications these plans change. But I was just very impressed with their desire to keep things very... human I guess, and less sterilized. The rooms were nice, we are all pre-registered and we know exactly where to go. It feels much better to be prepared in this way.

What I miss: Being able to confidently put my boots on by myself. Yep, we have reached the point where sometimes I need the hubby's help :)

What I am looking forward to: Do I even have to tell you? Thanksgiving of course!! We leave Wednesday to go up to NKY to be with the family all the way through Sunday. Since Christmas this year will be quiet and spent entirely in Lexington, we decided that our Thanksgiving break should be spent around family and friends. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, the awesome food of course, and the time to just relax. 

Oh yes, and last but not least the picture comparison. Below: weeks 16, 26, and 36. You can tell me that it is "all in my belly", but really, my face has gotten a little chubby :) But I don't mind.

Since I do hope to have some more free time starting Wednesday I hope to blog quite a bit. There are a few things I have been wanting to write about, one of which is the name we have decided on! So be sure to check back soon... If weekly updates aren't your thing you have most likely been bored, but it should be better this week.

Buenas noches.

 

35 weeks... this is getting seriously close.

This past week was crazy... I had my master's exam Tuesday which went well but it definitely added some stress and work to my already crazy schedule. And this coming week, well, I don't even want to think about it. These will definitely be the hardest 14 days of the semester, but I guess next Monday it will all be over so I just have to stick it out until then! With all of the math, teaching, research and writing the weeks continue to fly by but each day is starting to feel very long and overwhelming. I just feel so... pregnant. Which I am, so it makes sense. Enough blabbering and onto the facts of week 35!

How far along? 35 weeks

Updates on baby: (Thanks to BabyCenter) Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Labor Signs: Not unless you count my huge belly that keeps on getting bigger!!! I had some Braxton Hicks contractions a few weeks ago and they feel so weird, but I haven't had any this past week. Here is to hoping the real contractions hold off :)

Symptoms/Body changes: I am just very big and tired. I have been sleeping a lot better which is so nice and I think that it is just because I am so exhausted by the end of the day. I wake up really sore and stiff each morning but after using a heating pad for a bit I feel better. Swelling has become an issue this past week. I can't wear my wedding ring any more and I have noticed that my feet and ankles tend to swell more easily also. As long as I change positions often I don't get too uncomfortable, but any long period of sitting, standing, walking or laying down leads to some not pleasant consequences.

Exercise: Nope.. hasn't happened. Yesterday I walked 3 miles and this evening I walked between 2 and 2.5. I guess I did pilates once this week too, so it hasn't been a complete fail. After a long day at school and standing to teach for an hour and a half I just have to lay down when I get home. It used to be that after resting for a bit and then getting a good dinner I would take a walk with Rooney, but with the time change happening it is dark so early! Motivation to go the gym at this point is pretty much zero, so either I walk during the day or do pilates at night. I feel good about what I have been able to do up until this point and I think over these last few weeks I will just continue to listen to my body and do my best.


Movement: She is supposed to start slowing down but it is definitely not happening yet! Her movements are so big now and they can be painful at times. I still love it, but I do have to say that the kicks were a little bit more enjoyable when they did hurt my ribs and bladder so much.


Cravings/Aversions: I continue to love sweet things and anything dairy!

Getting ready for baby: Since we had our last baby shower last weekend we did quite a few things to prepare for our little girl this weekend. It is so fun, but also so crazy to know that she will be here so soon. This week a good friend of mine came over one evening and helped me to sort out our clothes into sizes. I put the "bigger" (3+ months) clothes in a box to store away for now and then sorted the newborn and 0-3 month stuff into the hand-me-downs (so thankful for these!) which have already been washed and the new stuff which I will wash over Thanksgiving break. On Saturday night David and I took a trip to Walmart and BabiesRUs to get some essentials for me for the hospital bag, as well as to fill in any gaps in baby gear which we would need immediately (like burp cloths, a baby bath and a humidifier). We still have some things that would be nice to have eventually but with Christmas happening so soon after our little one is born we decided that we would wait to get anything that we could until later.


What I miss: Being able to sit and stand for as long as I want. I feel very high maintenance lately!


What I am looking forward to: Just for this week to be over. We might be touring the hospital this Tuesday, which is something to look forward to... but I am really stressed and I know that once I get the proctoring, grading and midterm out of the way I will feel better.

Let's compare pictures again! That was fun last week :) Here are weeks 15, 25 and 35.



Well, off to do Topology and some laundry.

34 weeks

Look at me, actually doing my weekly update on Thursday! As I mentioned yesterday in my post, I didn't go to class or teach yesterday because I was so nauseous. Even though I had to do some catch up on class notes, I actually was able to get a lot of things done at home yesterday evening and my homework went by really quickly today. Yay for an hour-ish of free time. Today is a rainy, cold Thursday therefore as soon as I got home I changed out of my skinny jeans and boots and into my comfy pink sweatpants. Please excuse the obnoxious color combo :)

 

How far along? 34 weeks. I bought half and half yesterday that expires on my due date. Crazy!

Total weight gain: 22 pounds

Updates on baby: (Thanks to BabyCenter) Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Note: When I was born I weight 4 pounds, 10 oz and was 18 inches long... meaning she is about as big as I was when I was born! I know that all these weights and lengths are averages and since I was such a small baby it is likely that she is also smaller than normal. However, just thinking that there is anything close to a full size baby in there is nuts.

Maternity Clothes: I think this is the last week I will update you on this one because not much really changes. Clearly, they are pretty much all I wear lately unless I am at home sporting sweatpants and a T-shirt of David's. I miss having a lot of variety in my wardrobe and I am starting to get a little nervous about what I will wear after I have the baby. But, those are silly things to worry about now.

Symptoms/Body Changes: Well, as you can probably tell by the pictures my belly is ginormous! I know... people tell me I am not that big. But I feel huge. Actually, just my belly feels huge. By the end of the day it just feels very heavy and tight and it looks so different lately too since my belly button has popped out and I have started to see a faint dark line running down the center of it. This past week was the first week that people really started commenting on the size of my belly. Today I got a, "Your body is really starting to change its shape".  When I walk around now everyone smiles at me and I know it is because it looks like I literally stuffed a basketball up my shirt. I really am not self conscious about it though.. I mean, I know that your belly has to get really big toward the end because there is a full baby in it! But I think that the fact that it continues to grow and grow really surprises most other people.

Other than the huge belly things are pretty normal I guess.  Aches, pains, no sleep... you get it. My nausea was intense yesterday so I may have to talk to my doctor about what I can do to control it a little better for these last few weeks. Sometimes I feel guilty that I have had to stay on Zofran during my whole pregnancy because I know that it isn't normal. But anytime that I don't take it the nausea and vomiting just come back full force. It could be that things would be different now; that I could actually keep enough food down to function. And if I had the luxury of just kind of hanging out at home these last few weeks of pregnancy I think I would consider toughing it out and taking the risk of feeling queasy 24/7. But the fact of the matter is that I can't do that. I have classes to take, a job to do, a Master's exam to pass and a paper to write all (hopefully) before our little one arrives. So I am just trusting that what feels best for my body is also best for baby.

Exercise: I am kind of drawing a blank... but I think that it was good! On Sunday I walked about 2 miles with my parents while they were in town. On Monday I did nothing but Topology homework, but on Tuesday and Wednesday I took advantage of the beautiful weather and took 2.5-3 mile walks each day. This evening I am doing prenatal pilates and on Saturday I plan to lift weights. In general I am still not meeting my goals but I feel like I am staying relatively active given my schedule and fatigue.

Movement: She is tumbling as I type, as usual. I am starting to notice her being still for longer periods of time now, but when she gets going it is no joke. I love it but it is starting to get to the point where I want to actually see her and hold her... I want to watch her move in front of my eyes not just beneath my skin. David and I talk about how we pre-miss her sometimes. We have this feeling of missing her even though we haven't officially met her yet. It is kind of crazy. And all of her movement just makes me want here here more!

Cravings/Aversions: Oh goodness... my sweet cravings are for real. Having chocolate milk and granola bars around helps since I know these are healthier alternatives to brownies and doughnuts. However, when I do allow myself a real sweet treat it tastes sooo good. I also have been drinking milk like crazy which I never, ever used to do. This week I have packed cheese and crackers a few days for lunch and been grossed out by the cheese, but other times it is fine. I am definitely getting more picky, but there are still days when things taste really good, so I try to enjoy eating on those days.

Getting ready for baby: We are definitely in an awkward time... I am starting to get anxious about getting ready for her because I know we are only about 6 weeks away. But honestly I think that over the next 2 weeks I need to focus more on school for one last stretch. In the next two weeks I have my Master's Oral Exam to pass, another round of proctoring and grading for my Calculus class, and a Topology midterm of my own. However, once all that is over it will pretty much be Thanksgiving and then I can really turn my attention to  washing newborn onesies and installing car seats. Here is to praying she doesn't come early!

What I miss: Taking baths... it used to be such a relaxing and comfortable thing for me. However now it is just uncomfortable. Even though the warmth feels nice on my sore ribs it is hard to sit in such a way that my back doesn't hurt. I think our bathtub is both more shallow and shorter than normal (i.e. it is tiny like everything else in our apartment). As soon as it gets cold outside I start to want a bath each night, but lately it has just been more of a hassle than a nice treat.

What I am looking forward to: David and I have our last baby shower this weekend!! I am really looking forward to spending time with his side of our family and I always look forward to trips to NKY too. Tomorrow night I am actually getting a much needed pedicure with my sister in law and I am really excited about it. I have a gift card, which is awesome, but I think that even if I didn't I would consider trying to squeeze it out of our budget because at this point there is no way I could paint my toenails. I can barely put my shoes on...

That is all for the update! After this baby shower I hope to post some pictures from all of my wonderful showers that I have had, so be on the lookout for those. Sometimes I feel lame that all of my posts these days are about pregnancy and baby things, but I realized that it is probably because throughout most of the day I am focused on school and work so when I sit down to write and reflect I think it is natural to focus more of that time on the baby and this amazing journey. I just hope you don't get sick of all the baby talk. 

Something that I wanted to do this week was compare pictures because the first weekly picture that I took was at week 14. So... here is week 14, 24, and 34 side by side. Amazing the difference 10 weeks can make!