doc appt

I had my appointment yesterday. I've gained 2 more pounds which puts me at the 13 lb mark for this pregnancy.  Looks like I will be over my 15lb goal.  Ahh well. I have had the appetite of a lumber jack lately, so I am telling myself perhaps she is going through a growth spurt.  (Hey, it makes me feel better...ok?!)  My cervix is still closed and firm and she said "quite firm still for this being your 3rd baby!"  Hey, at least I'm not mushy, right?

She measured my belly and then started feeling around.  I mentioned that I thought baby had moved because I was feeling everything on my right side and nothing on my left or down low.  Plus, there was something round jammed up into my right rib cage for the last 3 days.  She found her heartbeat on the left side and agreed with me that her back was to my left.  She felt for her head when she checked my cervix and said that she definitely feels a head there.  Yay!! So I have a nice little baby butt jammed up in my ribs.  It's so bad that when I drive now, I have to recline my seat a little just to breathe.  She pushes up everytime I sit down. 

I picked up my last 5 progesterone shots today. (Can I get a woot, woot?) Only 4 1/2 weeks left until my 36 week goal.  It's all going so fast and I am not quite mentally prepared for all of this.  In retrospect, Peytonn came 3 days from now and Bennett came 2 1/2 weeks after that.  Ahh! 

I got the infant seat installed in the car.  Although I put it in the center seat with the boys on each side of her.  However, neither one can seem to keep their hands off the carseat.  Which makes me fear for her life.  Perhaps I should move Peytonn to the center and put her seat behind mine.  But then the boys can't keep their hands off each other. I think I may be rethinking this "three across" idea.  Do I put up one of the 3rd row seats and put one of the boys back there and sacrifice half of our cargo space? Oh what to do.

Baby's bag

I've started to pack the baby's bag for the hospital.  Now most people just pack a coming outfit and call it a day. Which is perfectly fine. However, for my last two births, I have had people tell me when and how I can treat my baby. So maybe this time I want to be able to do things MY way.  So, yes, I am packing an entirely separate bag for the baby.

First, I couldn't decide which outfit for her to wear home, so I am bringing 3 different options.  I am also packing some sleepers for her to wear in the hospital. 

I also thought about bringing a hat and some cute bows for her to wear. And also a head band with some bow options:

Then I am packing some of our newborn cloth diapers to take with us.  She will be cloth diapered from the start and her first diaper will be cloth. I am also bringing a wetbag for the dirties to go into.

I also plan to pack some of muslin receiving blankets that we got to use when we leave the hospital.  I am finished working at the end of this month, so I plan to install the carseat at that time since I won't be transporting any other children. 

I haven't packed my bag yet, but I have gotten some items that I will need:
--travel body wash and loofa
--deoderant
--travel shampoo/conditioner
--pads (I hate the huge hospital pads after the first day)
--make-up removing cloths
--mouthwash (in case labor is long and I need a refresher)
--toothpaste
--Burt's Bee's Milk and Honey lotion (love this stuff!)

I will probably pack my bag when I figure it's time to go to the hospital.  I wear most of the stuff that I plan to take and with limited items that still fit at this point, I can't afford to pack away half of my wardrobe.  I also plan to take my own pillow because there is nothing worse than a hospital pillow! I still need to load my iPod with my playlist for labor, but I will get to that hopefully this weekend.

I've been having a lot more contractions this week and I probably should have called the doc, but I have an appointment tomorrow, so I am trying to hold out until then.  Plus, they always fizzle out at night when I go to bed.  We'll see tomorrow if anything is going on. 

30 weeks

Well, I made it! I made it to 30 weeks without being hospitalized for preterm labor!! Woot! (I bet I just jinxed myself!) I'm excited though, this has not happened before. I feel good and I feel confident. My ankles are starting to swell a bit more often, but I try to rest at least a few times a day with my feet up and I have increased my water/liquid intake to hopefully offset some of the swelling.  I am still sleeping fairly decent, although some night I dream a lot more often which wakes me up more. I'm not working quite as much this month, so it has helped me slow down a bit. 

My weight gain is still good, under 10 lbs.  I'm sure it will increase more in these last couple of weeks.  I am hoping to make it 7 more weeks and then she is more than welcome to come anytime after that. I think we have finally narrowed her name down and picked one.  Am I going to tell you....NOPE! You'll just have to wait for that news.  :)

She is very active in the evenings and she is not a fan of me sitting down and leaning forward.  She tends to kick or squirm about in my ribs when I do that.  I am still having some pain in my pelvic/crotch area when I stand up.  I asked my doc about it and she thinks I may have a pelvic split or something along those lines since this is my third baby.  Essentially it just means that my ligaments and such down there are stretched.  She suggested I get a support belt. I said "ehhh" and I think I'll just tough it out. It's not terribly painful, just more of an annoyance and makes me uncomfortable. 

I have been craving a lot more calcium lately....milk, yogurt, kefir, cheese, etc.  I also read that baby is storing a lot of calcium from this point on so perhaps that is why.  I haven't really craved much of anything this pregnancy, which has probably only helped the lack of weight gain this go 'round.  I can't believe that she is probably in the 3lb range right now.  I don't feel that huge yet. 

I think we are mostly ready for her.  I still need to take the tags off her clothes and get them washed up and hung in the closet.  I have washed all her diapers and those are ready to be packed in the hospital bag.  I still haven't decided/found her coming home outfit yet, so I may just pack a couple of different options.  I don't know if I should go with something long sleeved/pants (or sleeper) or something summery.  It will be hot, but I know we probably will only be outside long enough to get in/out of the car.  I also need to get batteries for the swing and bouncy seat. I bought some nursing tanks at Target the other day and got some breast pads.  I think I just need some milk bags and I should be ready in that aspect.  Overall I feel good about things and feel prepared. Now hopefully she will stay put for 7 more weeks. :)

Blah!

That's exactly how I have been feeling lately. Every time I eat something, it makes me feel blah! Even in the morning, today I had a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and now I feel so heavy and my tummy feels yucky.  I feel like my food should be giving me energy and not weighing me down so much. I hope it is just temporary and passes soon.

I had a doc appt on Tuesday and it went well. Blood pressure is still really good, weight is good, and I got a negative on my fFN test and my cervix is still high and closed. Afterwards, my doula met me at the hospital to participate in the Monogram Maternity program they are starting. The program focuses on encouraging natural labor and explains all of the ways the hospital can help support you in your natural labor.  Some things include aromatherapy, labor tub, birthing ball, squatting bar, rabozo, and massage.  You can also pre-register.  They also give you some material on preparing a birth plan and submitting it straight to the hospital so that it can go in your chart.  Then you get a tour or labor & delivery, post-partum, and the nursery.  This gave me the opportunity to ask a lot of questions that I had. For example, I want baby girl to wear a cloth diaper from birth, is that possible? How long do I have to bond with baby in my L&D room before being transferred upstairs if baby is term? Can I try and breastfeed baby before being transferred? Can we have skin to skin contact for an extended period of time before baby is weighed and measured?

I felt very reassured and confident that the hospital staff is really in tune with mother/baby bonding.  They actually encourage the parents or a family member to give the baby their first bath, instead of just the nurse doing it. You would think after 2 babies that I would not have many questions about the birth, etc.  But I've never had that "normal" birth experience before. I have always had the baby, the NICU wisks them away, and I just want to hurry up and be transferred so I can get down to the NICU and see the baby. I have no idea how a "normal" birth works in terms of what happens after baby is born.


My doula was really impressed with all the things this hospital does to encourage and support natural birth.  She took lots of notes and some brochures to hopefully help encourage the hospital in our town to move in that same direction.  I think its very encouraging to see hospitals trying to take as much of the medical aspect out of "birth" as they can, while still having the safety of the hospital for those who need it.  I also find it encouraging to have a doc and a hospital who support me in trusting my body to do what it is made to do, with as little intervention as possible. And also who treat me as a single person instead of my labor/delivery being the same as the woman's in the room next to me.

Is is strange that I always look forward to the labor/delivery part of pregnancy? I know some women fear it, but I actually look forward to it. Its' like training for a marathon and then finally the race is here. Maybe I'm strange?! :)

Deal of the day!

I love (and by love I mean serious addiction!) Santa Cruz Strawberry Lemonade! I can find it at our Kroger, but usually its a better deal to get it through our UNFI co-op club. I had planned on getting 6 containers this month for just under $12.

I saw on Thrifty Mama that Whole Foods carried it and it was on sale for 5/$5! Score!! I printed out some more coupons for organic items that we normally purchase. I headed down to Indy today to my mom's house and planned to make a stop at Whole Foods before heading home. I loaded up my cooler and my bags and headed out.  It was such a good deal that I came home with 4 cases (yes, cases! Each case has 12 bottles) of lemonade. We got a case of strawberry, mango, peach, and plain lemonade. Don't worry, they are not all for us. I am splitting the strawberry case with another family and the peach and mango cases go to them as well. I ended up spending just over $10 for an entire case. Essentially, I got 12 bottles for the price I was going to pay for 6 bottles through co-op. Score!!!

Other items I bought were:
--Lifeway Kefir (2 bottles), Raspberry and Vanilla for me
--Lifeway probugs kefir for the boys in berry flavor
--Kalona Super Natural reduced fat milk
--Dr. Bronner's coconut oil (I use this for cooking and also in my granola)
--Crofter's Premium Spread in Blackberry (10 oz)
--Crofter's Premium Spread in Raspberry (17oz) We are addicted to this stuff!
--Organic Valley Feta cheese (8oz)
--Organic Valley Half and Half

Total Spent: $85.25
Saved with coupons: $6.50
Plus I got 10% off for buying the full cases instead of a few bottles.

*Obviously the lemonade is not all for us. But we got some good deals on stuff that we use regularly and its good to help out friends when there is a good deal. Who doesn't love a good sale?!

Boo Boo's and such

Well, Bennett is the first to get stitches. I really can't say that I am surprised that someone got stitches before the age of 5. These two are all boy and rowdy as all get out! We were at a graduation open house Sunday evening and apparently (this is the story I got, I didn't actually see it happen) Bennett was running and hit his head on some metal. Now no one seems to know if it was a table or the tracking of the garage door. Either way, he hit his head and cut it open.

Hubby and I left and took Bennett to Urgent Care where he proceeded to get 3 stitches. The boy was a champ and the only time he cried was when we had to hold his arms and legs so they could stitch it up. It slowed him down for all of 5 minutes maybe before he was back to his old shananigans.

He has to keep them in for 6 days and then gets them taken out. After we left the Urgent Care, we went back to the party to get Peytonn. ( He stayed with my inlaws) Both boys fell asleep on the way home and Bennett slept all the way until this morning. Then he was right back to tackling his brother and attempting to jump on his brother from the couch. It's never a dull moment around here!

In other news, I'm 28 weeks this week. My ankles have started to swell when I am on them for a long time. I've been icing them at night and propping them up and by morning they are back to normal. I was on my feet for most of this weekend and ate some stuff that was high in sodium, so I'm sure that didn't help.

I took my glucose test last Wednesday and I passed!!! This is the first time that I have ever passed the 1 hour test. I was so excited! I really feel like things are falling into place this time around and I really am confident that I can make it to at least 36 weeks. That's only 8 weeks from now and only 8 more shots to go! Woot!

It's been pretty hot here the past week or so and it makes me really not look forward to standing the heat the rest of the summer. However, Hubby got my a big pool so that I can sit in it outside. As Peytonn told me, "mom, we got the pool for your belly!"  Thanks kid! :)

It looks like this:

It's nice and big and deep enough that I can sit and submerge most of my belly. It should help keep me a little cool this summer. And the boys can play in it too.

27 weeks

I can't believe I am 27 weeks already. I thought twice about writing this post because I am so close to surpassing that *mark* that always seems to plague my pregnancies.  I'm not going to specifically mention it, but I have in previous posts, so I'm sure you can gauge what I am talking about here. 

I have my next doc appt on Wed, June 1st. I also have my GD test that morning.  I have never passed the 1 hour test and I always had to take the 3 hour test.  Luckily, I have always passed that.  I am really hoping to pass the 1 hour test this go round. I have only gained 5 lbs so far this pregnancy, so I am hoping that has helped me. 

My sciatic nerves (on both sides) have really been bothering me. I am hoping that I can get a massage while I am down at my appt on Wednesday.  It seems like everytime I stand still for a moment and then try to move either leg forward, I get that sharp pain down my back.  And sitting on the floor is pretty much torture at this point.  I have also been feeling a lot of pain/pressure in my pelvic region.  If I squat down, it feels like my crotch is splitting in half.  When I lay down, it feels like my pelvis is stretching or moving. 

Sleeping has been decent. Although she is very active at night and she has woken me up a few times during the past week.  I hope she has decided to move head down now.  Although I feel her everywhere. There are times I will feel her on my very left side and not even 30 seconds later I feel her kick on my very right side.  So I really am not sure how she is laying in there, or she has 8 legs.

Overall, I am feeling pretty good. I have been trying to stretch and do some breathing exercises each night.  Which has really helped with the leg cramps.  I still have high hopes at this point that I will be able to make it to 36/37 weeks.  Maybe even beyond.


*Note: strawberry picking while pregnant is NOT a good idea. Trust me! It seems like a grand idea prior.  But you will regret it for the next 24 hours when you can hardly walk or do anything besides lay there and bark orders at your husband who rolls his eyes at you each time you open your mouth. Just get the pre-picked ones or send someone in your place!