35 Weeks!

•Total weight gain/loss•
10 pounds above pre pregnancy. At this point I'm beginning to wonder just how much of my future weigh gain will be strictly water weight and how much will be actually weight gain. Let the swollen feet begin.

•Maternity clothes?•
Can't wear anything else!

•Sleep•
While last week I slept very lightly, this week I have been exhausted at bed time and have slept like a rock. I doubt whether or not I even roll over in the middle of the night. Plus I want to start napping, but the boss frowns on that sorta thing.

•Best moment this week•
The baby shower was so cute! My coworkers really went over the top with the decorations and games. It was a really nice afternoon. Then we picked the boys up from Beerfest and dealt with their drunken-ness all evening.

•Movement•
My pelvis still kills, however the chiropractor adjustment on Monday relieved the pain long enough for me to get some shopping done. I'm looking forward to my next appointment on Friday.

•Food cravings•
I don't really care what it is as long as there is plenty of it. Nectarines and grapes are currently fabulous. I still can't get enough Fruit Floes Popsicles - I should have just bought a case instead of relying on Chris to remember to stock the freezer before his weekend (I think he forgot to buy some today, but it's understandable given the morning he had - more on that later.)

•Gender•
Seriously...?

•Labor Signs•
None. The midwife said that we can start internals at the next appointment and to consider starting acupuncture back up when I turn 37 weeks as it's been shown to help... well.. everything labor related. I just don't want to go too late. If I go late, that means she has more time to grow, and the bigger she gets, the more likely I'll have to resort to using pain medicine and the lower my chances of a waterbirth become.

•Belly Button in or out?•
Still an innie.

•What I miss•
Sleeping on my tummy.
That sounds like heaven right about now.
So does Ice Cream.
and judging by the monsterous kick I just got, she agrees.

•What I am looking forward to•
The weekend. I've got lots of stuff I want to get done in her room before I post the pictures everyone has been requesting, and I'm too tired after work to get going on them.

•Weekly Wisdom•
It's not just me and Chris anymore. There is a lot more at stake now.
That fact became very clear to me this morning when Chris called to tell me that he'd been in an accident and his car was totalled. I tell ya, I have never cared less about a material possession than I did at that moment. All I cared about was whether or not he was safe. Which thankfully he is.

... But it does suck that both of our cars have been totalled in less than 8 months, and that car payments which were just about to end will undoubtedly get a couple years added on to them. But Chris is fine and no one else was in the car. He wasn't at fault and we have awesome insurance. These are all things to be thankful for. Besides, his car didn't have power doors - which was SO annoying. A little upgrade upgrade will be nice I suppose.

•Milestones•
35 weeks = 35 days till her due date and just 2 weeks until she's full term. Woot!
I'm also shocked that it's seriously almost August and she could be an August baby.

It's getting down to the wire!

34 Weeks!

She's 5 pounds and probably upwards of 19-20 inches long at this point. From here on out, she'll be gaining about a 1/2 pound a week. 99% of babies born at this point do well with few long lasting effects - but she'd probably be in the NICU for a bit, so she can wait a few more weeks! No hurry!

If I say her name and start talking to her, she'll start kicking in response. Now we just need to get her to learn Christopher's voice.


•How far along?•
34 weeks

•Total weight gain/loss•
7-8 pounds above pre pregnancy!

•Maternity clothes?•
I'm seriously going to miss these jeans when this is all over.
I love them.
I never have to worry if my zipper is down.

•Sleep•
My sleep is getting lighter - the dogs or Chris rolling over wake me fairly easily. I've also established a consistent 3am pee break. Eh, It was bound to happen sooner or later. :)

•Best moment this week•
Nesting kicked in this past weekend. Cleaned the master bedroom (including steam cleaning carpet) and the den (including organizing all of our filing and paperwork). Now I just need to clean the living room.
...
Or I can let Chris do that.

•Movement•
Hers or Mine?

She has been rolling and squirming A LOT. For the past 4 days she's had her feet (?) wedged up under my ribs on the right hand side. I don't think she's engaged yet though because when I push on her tush, high on the right side, what I assume to be her head pokes out on the lower left side. And then she punches me. Diva.

She's quite literally breaking my pelvis. Some days it doesn't hurt much. Other days, like yesterday, it gets so bad the pain brings tears to my eyes just walking across the office. I'm wearing the support belt a couple hours each day but it isn't doing much. Resting seems to be the only thing that helps. I have a chiropractic appointment on Monday and I'm hoping and praying she's able to alleviate some of this pain.

•Food cravings•
Yesterday was Mexican food (because a coworker mentioned using cilantro in her homemade salsa). But Trader Joe's Carribbean Fruit Floes are still my favorite. Chris brought home 4 boxes on Monday night and I'm VERY proud of myself that I only ate 2 last night after breastfeeding class and one for breakfast. ... Reminder, they're only 80 calories and are just frozen fruit. A lecture is not called for. In fact, if you want to reprimand ANYONE for their bad eating habits, talk to Chris who ate a hot pocket and a 600 calorie peanut satay box before bed. My 160 calories worth of fruit bars is nothing compared to that.

•Gender•
Seriously...?

•Labor Signs•
None.

•Belly Button in or out?•
Still an innie.

•What I miss•
Having all the time in the world to get ready for her! *wink*

•What I am looking forward to•
My baby shower with the ladies from work is on Saturday! Should be fun!

•Weekly Wisdom•
Oregon leads the nation with the highest rate of breastfeeding moms. Impressive.

•Milestones•
It's time to install the car seat and pack my hospital bag so that they're ready when I turn 35 weeks. WOW! We purchased the car seat and travel system back in early February (I think...) and it's been in the garage ever since. I can't wait to bust open the boxes! Also, I think we're going to open the pack in play this week and let it air out (probably in the den) and make sure all the pieces are included. That way it's ready to go when she's here and we need to move it up into the room.

What a Difference 5 Weeks Makes: 28 & 33 Weeks

33 Weeks!

She could grow a whole inch this week! It feels like she's all knees and elbows sticking out everywhere, so I'm not surprised that she's getting taller and starting to run out of room.


•How far along?•
33 weeks

•Total weight gain/loss•
I haven't looked lately.

•Maternity clothes?•
We had our childbirth classes all weekend, so while I do have a nice maternity wardrobe, I didn't do any laundry like I usually do on Sunday. Slim pickin's

•Sleep•
I've been surviving on about 6.5 hours of sleep a night with 1 or 2 bathroom breaks. Without some hardcore maternity leave training on the fine art of sleep deprivation, I think that's just about my limit while maintaining a 14+ hour day.

•Best moment this week•
I had a really good midwife appointment on Monday. We learned that we could wait until the umbilicle cord stopped pulsating to cut it and still be able to donate the remaining cord blood to the public bank. I had NO protein in my urine which is amazing, and my BP didn't ring any alarm bells. My fundal height was 32.5cm at 32.5 weeks which is spot on and we got it confirmed that she's finally head down. Let just hope she stays that way. (I've been getting some serious right rib kicks today, so that's a good sign.)

•Movement•
She is getting really strong. Her movements and stretches are easy to feel and see nowadays, which makes sense since there is now more baby than amniotic fluid!! She's learning to tap dance on my ribs, which is cute for the most part. The midwife said she was head down, with her spine along my right side, feet at the top and punching my left side. That fits with the movements I feel.

•Food cravings•
Ice cream and popsicles. still. and PEACHES! I've quickly made my way through a dozen count flat we bought at TJ's the other day. They're delish. If I could just alternate a fresh peach and a TJ Carribean Fruit Flo Popsicle all day long, I'd be a happy girl.

•Gender•
Seriously...?

•Labor Signs•
None this week. But I'm starting the countdown. She's seriously killing my pelvis. And while some days I'm fine, then there are days like today where I could just cry at the thought of having to get up and walk to the bathroom... for the fifth time this afternoon.


We bought a pregnancy hip support belt thing. It's hardcore medical grade. It's super comfortable to walk around in, but is unbearable to sit in. So therefore, everytime I stand up I have to put it on before leaving my cubicle and then take it off before sitting back down. You also have to take it off when using the restroom. It's only day one and I think my coworkers are going to get REALLY tired of hearing the *RRRIIIIIIPPPPPP* of that much velcro day in and day out.

•Belly Button in or out?•
Not much change since last week.

•What I miss•
Walking without a waddle.

•What I am looking forward to•
The weekend!! I've got quite a few nursery projects to work on, but it'll be so nice to relax on the couch during breaks. Working is really starting to wear on me.

•Weekly Wisdom•
OHSU has a 60% epidural rate and a 33% c-section rate. Considering that they are one of the best high-risk pregnancy hospitals around, those stats are amazing. I'm just impressed by the 40% non-epidural rate. That tells me that the Labor and Delivery nurses are really great at helping to go as natural as possible. Also, they don't have a nursery, so the babies room in full time. Woot!

•Milestones•
Less than 50 days till my due date and 5 weeks till full term. She's almost here!

Not Baby Related... for once.

Chris and I went to a concert last night at Mississippi Studios in North Portland. I bought a tickets shortly after the One Tree Hill finale where I absolutely fell in love with Wakey!Wakey!'s music. The lead singer of the band plays a bartender on the show and they feature a lot of his music. If you like indie pop/singer songwriters, you just might like their music.

It's different than my usual 'Boys with Guitars' genre in that the band is mainly piano and violin. So Good.

Here's some of my favorite singles:

Almost Everything


Light Outside



The surprise of the evening was the opening band - Andrew Belle.


His music sounded eerily familiar, but I couldn't place it. It turns out that his music is heavily featured on Grey's Anatomy and it played during one of the best scenes of the finale. (scene starts at 1:05)



For just the song: In My Veins

It was a fabulous concert! Chris enjoyed 4 too many hefeweizens and, I'm proud to say, went to the restroom WAY more than the pregnant chick. Good thing he's got a built in designated driver for a few more weeks at least.

Someone get me a Walker

It's like overnight this pregnancy went from easy peasy to annoyingly painful.

.seriously.

It hurts when I walk, bend, squat, sit, climb stairs, put on pants, get into or out of a car, cross my legs (even if only at the ankle) or roll over while sleeping.

So as long as I'm not doing any of those things... which leaves very little... the pain decreases to a dull roar.

Holy pelvis.
Someone get me a chiropractor on retainer and a heating pad, STAT!

And by someone, I mean Chris.

daddy's perspective

Yay!  Carla finally let me be an author on this blog!  Now, I can let you know things from the guy's side of pregnancy and parenthood.

Basically, I'm fine and Carla is miserable.

But with the 100 degree weather this week - we'll both be miserable now.

look forward to more insight from the Y chromosome side of things!

32 Weeks!

At about 4 pounds, she's getting bigger and stronger each day! Between now and week 34 her brain will be working on developing the ability to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time. If she can't do all those simultaneously when she's born, then she wouldn't be able to nurse and would have to rely on a feeding tube.


•How far along?•
32 weeks

•Total weight gain/loss•
I'm 5-6 pounds above my prepregnancy weight.

•Maternity clothes?•
It's amazing how much bigger my stomach looks when I wear a maternity dress.

•Sleep•
I did a pretty good job of waking up on my own after 8 hours of sleep this weekend. I know I'll never see 8 hours of sleep again once she gets here, but considering the long 10-11 hours of sleep I was pulling on previous weekends, I'm pretty impressed with myself.

•Best moment this week•
Getting out of the house and splashing in the ocean for a bit.

•Movement•
She's been quite the wiggle worm today. All the kicks and stretches are in the top of my tummy still, so I think she's still head down. I never REALLY know where she it until she gets the hiccups though.

•Food cravings•
Ice cream and popsicles. Could be the warm weather that finally decided to show up though.

•Gender•
A girl I met online just found out at 35 weeks that its a boy and not a girl.
So much for HER pink nursery....
I'm holding on tight to team Pink though.

•Labor Signs•
I had a good round of braxton hicks contractions the other night. They were about 3 minutes apart for about 45 minutes. At first I just thought I had an upset stomach, but then I thought "These might just be BH..." So I noted the times that the next two started and found that they were 3 minutes apart, so I told myself 'if they're really 3 minutes apart, then the next one will start at 8:19p.' At 8:19p another one happened. 8:22, 8:26, 8:29, 8:32, 8:35... So then I got up and took the dogs outside and paced back and forth a bit and they immediately stopped. False Alarm! :)

Good thing. I know BH are fine and they're just the body's way of practicing, but it kindof freaked me out when I noticed that they were in such a consistent interval.

I've also had some pain when standing and walking. Its been minor and comes and goes, but Wednesday it was pretty hardcore. I walked a bit at lunch time and that wasn't awesome, but doable. I'll definitely have to mention it to the midwife on Monday. She'll probably tell me that there's nothing she can do about it. blah blah blah. I'm just concerned about being able to work and go on inspections if it gets any worse.

I'm amazed that my back has felt so good throughout this pregnancy though.
*knock on wood*
seriously.
*knock*

•Belly Button in or out?•
I can see the bottom!

•What I miss•
Being able to bend over. Its not so bad when Chris is right there and can help me out, but when I'm alone and I drop something important, I definitely drop an internal f bomb at the thought of bending over to pick it up.


•What I am looking forward to•
We've got a busy few days coming up. Saturday and Sunday are the childbirth classes, and Monday is the midwife appointment and concert tickets to Wakey!Wakey!
It'll be interesting to see how I feel when I have to go back to work on Tuesday morning.

•Weekly Wisdom•
Belly shots look a million times more impressive with the ocean as your backdrop.


•Milestones•
I'm 8 months pregnant with only 8 weeks till the due date!

Oregon Coast

Chris and I rarely have a day off together, so we made the most of this holiday weekend and the random Tuesday that neither of us had to work (Chris actually went in for a few hours in the morning, but I was asleep so it didn't count), and went to the coast.

We headed West on OR-6 towards Tillamook and visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

We waited in a ridiculous line for an ice cream cone - Chris got Grandma's Cake Batter in a waffle cone and I got Peaches n' Cream in a sugar cone - and headed out on the self guided tour. We saw the packaging of the cheese and ... well that was about it. We tasted some cheese samples, bought some small blocks of their speciality blends along with some Squeeky Cheese curds (which were fab), and headed out. Overall I give it 3 stars. The whole thing could easily be done in a half hour if you didn't wait in line for ice cream, but really, what's the point in going if you don't get ice cream?

About 6 miles up the road was Oceanside, Oregon and the Three Arch Rocks. We parked the car and walked down to the beach. The temperature was perfect but the winds were a little too strong (should have brought a kite). Chris got some cute maternity pictures of me, and I quickly found out that water logged maternity pants are no fun. I spent the whole time hiking up my jeans as we walked along the water - the elastic waistband was no match for the ocean water. :)

I uploaded a couple photos to the shutterfly account, and will post more tonight, but here's a few to tide you over:







We left home at 1pm and returned about 7pm (and three hours of that was spent enjoying the gorgeous drive). It was a quick trip, but it was a great way to end a 4 day weekend. We can't wait to head back over with a baby and two puppy dogs in tow. Caesar has never been to the Coast before, but I'm sure Apollo will show him how it's done.

31 Weeks!

At 3.5-4 pounds, she's chunking up. She also responds to light and will blink and punch at any flashlight that graces my belly. She's feisty.


•How far along?•
31 weeks

•Total weight gain/loss•
I'm 4-5 pounds above my prepregnancy weight.

•Maternity clothes?•
I ordered some more shirts yesterday to spice up the wardrobe. And, of course, got a coupon in my email today that could have saved me $20. I hate when that happens.

•Sleep•
Exhausted. I barely made it past 7pm last night. And so far today I took a 15 minute nap during my morning break and slept during my lunch break. ... I feel like I'm back in the 1st trimester and I HATED the first trimester.

•Best moment this week•
Crib and Glider are all set up in the nursery. It's coming together!

•Movement•
She's running out of room and loves telling me about it. *stretch* I think she's head down lately because all the bulging is up at the top of my stomach. She hasn't taken to playing in my ribs yet and I'm not having much shortness of breath, so that's great.

•Food cravings•
gummy grapefruit slices. I want them, but they immediately annoy my stomach. But they're so good. Guess I'll have to stick to popsicles. ... And possibly those little orange and vanilla ice cream cups parents used to bring into elementary school classrooms for birthdays. Those sound awesome right now.

•Gender•
The paint color is pink. Here's hoping she's still a girl.
It has been confirmed by three ultrasounds, 4 doctors and numerous "Can you check just 1 more time?"

•Labor Signs•
No. But I was not feeling too peachy after going out on non-stop complaints yesterday...

•Belly Button in or out?•
I can see the bottom!

•What I miss•
Sleeping. NAY - Feeling rested. Those are two VERY separate things.


•What I am looking forward to•
Chris and I both have Tuesday off and the weather is supposed to be amazing. Maybe I'll drag him to the Coast... or maybe just to the ice cream counter at the Tillamook factory near the coast.

•Weekly Wisdom•
The 3rd trimester message board on any pregnancy forum will scare the crap out of you. Don't read them. Or at least read them with a GIANT grain of salt.

•Milestones•
I survived my first summer & alcohol centered event with marginal success. My forehead is peeling and my new cleavage tan line leaves ALOT to be desired, but I learned that enough mint lemonade can make any hot sunny Saturday outside enjoyable.