35 weeks, 4 days

Getting sooooooooooo stinking close! I'm very excited and torn up about it. I will miss being pregnant, but at the same time I am dying to have my body back and to meet this new little person that's been poking and beating me from the inside =)

I am tired of always being tired, of not being able to breathe normally, of all the discomfort during the night, of my absurd mood swings (which they haven't been THAT bad, but there have been a few times that I even surprised myself...)........... I'm just tired. My body feels like it's going to just fall apart at times, this morning especially.

I am home with just Landon and I today and I am actually nervous about it to be honest. I'm not sure how I'm going to stay awake the WHOLE day with him, let alone wear him out enough for bed tonight. I have a doctor appointment in about 1.5 hours and then we are taking Alex a lunch since he forgot his this morning. Other than that, I am not sure what to do today. I've had quite the urge to clean again, but pretty much EVERYTHING IS clean already. There's a couple things that I'm going back over that I've already done though.

I don't know though... I'm so scatter-brained and have absolutely no energy to face the day. I am so thankful for my days off of work every week, but I know my responsibilities revolve around getting things cleaned and keeping up with the house and aside from small bursts of energy and nesting sessions, I could care less if my "chores" get done, lol. Alex has been great about helping out and doing what he can with whatever energy he has to spare at the end of the his work days and his days off, but between the two of us we are quite a pathetic pair at the moment. Still, I am SO thankful for his help and understanding.... I love him so much! <3

Here is a side-by-side I made with the first picture I took this pregnancy and my most recent one from last week. It's crazy to see the 30 week difference like this. Obviously you know when you are pregnant you will grow, but I think actually SEEING the difference is pretty interesting! (Except for the fact that my butt has just quadrupled in size... it gained sympathy weight to counter-balance my big-ole belly I suppose, LOL!) I will attempt to remember to make another one of these with my final pregnancy picture that I take before Caius comes. I will probably put the 4 week, then my 20 week, and then my 40 week (if I make it that far) side-by-side. =)

5 weeks out, and one major pregnancy difference

Other than the few I have already listed in previous posts (not getting stretch marks until 36+ weeks, being sick all the time with Landon and not so much with Caius, heartburn with Caius, hip pain with Caius, etc etc) there is one major difference that I just thought of this morning...

 My belly hasn't gone numb! At least not yet. I distinctly remember with Landon my belly had gotten so big and stretched out that from my belly button to just below my boobs went numb to the touch and was constantly itchy (which I couldn't help by scratching since I had no feeling in that area, lol!) This time around it's still itchy, but I have yet to have my belly go numb. Maybe it will happen later, but I only have five weeks left and I am 99% sure my belly was numb already with Landon.

 Maybe its because I have extra "fluff" this time, or maybe it could be that Caius and Landon sit differently in the womb.... I'm not sure. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't. I really don't mind either way.

 Just thought I would share this small observation :)

Hanging out in baby limbo

Well, I shouldn't really call it "limbo". It's not... we will be having this little boy arrive between next month or early October. It will happen, it's just a matter of when.

The weeks just keep ticking by. Here I am at 34 weeks and 1 day, and while it doesn't sound that close in my head, when I say outloud that we have about 6 weeks left it feels like it's sooooooo close. One of the girls from our due date club had a false-alarm labor a few days ago. She was having steady, painful contractions and losing her mucus plug/having a bloody show for a good 36 hours and we all thought for sure she was going to have her baby. Unfortunately, all of the labor signs stopped and she's had aboslutely no "action" since then.

Recently, Caius has had some interesting movements. He will move all his appendages at once (or so it seems!) and it just makes breathing/moving incredibly painful and difficult. He has days where he is higher up in my abdomen and then days where he feels like he's "engaged" and getting ready to throw me into labor. He's always head down now, but on days where he is lower I can be walking around and feel like I have a 20lb bowling ball waiting to fall out my hoo-haa... or my FAVORITE: I will be walking around and get shooting pains up my lady parts and it makes it SOOOO difficult to walk. I usually end up having to sit down and relax for a good hour or so before they go away completely.

Heartburn has been more readily present in my system... but it's never anything more than what a simple regular strength Zantac will take care of. I have also been craving onion rings the last few days like a MAD MAN. I've only given in a few times and don't plan on doing so anymore since I promised myself I would watch what I ate, especially towards the end of this pregnancy when it's SOOOOOO easy to gain a whole mess of weight.

I still feel like this little guy will be coming early, but I've also started to let myself consider what we would do if he ends up coming a little later than anticipated... aka, in October. I've started making myself get more active on a daily basis and am increasing what I do every day so hopefully the extra stress of excercise and keeping busy will help labor commense in a decent amount of time.

I cannot wait to have ladies in my due date club start popping out babies. I am pretty sure I will be one of the final few to have their baby, so living vicariously/obsessively through them will definitely be a plus for me while I await to arrival of Caius. We have several ladies who are 37/38 weeks along now and are all having small signs of impending labor. One of them is bound to go soon!!! I cannot wait for us all to meet our little ones and be out of this miserable FINAL stage of pregnancy!

Yesterday was the first time I said it out loud. I've already known this in my head, but for some reason things just got REAL when the words escaped my lips....

I'm having another baby next month.

HOLY CRAP!!!

*almost* 32 week update

I just had my recent OB appointment yesterday morning, and we are scheduled to see the doctor every 2 weeks now! I think I see him every 2 weeks until I'm 36 or 38 weeks along and then I go every week until Caius comes, if he doesn't come before then.

Some good news to come out of my appointment: I passed my glucose test!! No gestational diabetes which is absolutely great! I thought for sure I would be failing it and then have to take the 3-hour glucose test (which I could have still failed)... My blood pressure is still completely under control, and Caius' head is down where it should be =) I thought he was head down because I have been getting a LOT of kicks and jabs in my ribs which felt like feet, lol! The best news of all (for me, at least) is that his absurd growing has slowed down significantly (still in the normal/healthy range of course) and the doctor predicted we will be having a nice 8lb baby again as opposed to a 10lb chunker. I was SO relieved to hear this... at least I know I can deliver an 8lb baby... LOL!

Little monster has been rolling and moving constantly... some of it pretty cool to feel, and some of it relatively painful. He has some sharp elbows and feet when he gets into his jabbing fits, that's for sure! I'm glad he's so strong and healthy =) He hiccups a lot now too, meaning he is practicing his breathing and getting ready for his grand entrance into the world. I have also been having some seriously annoying braxton-hicks contractions recently. On average, they are pretty mild and only happen a few times a day, if that. But then there are some days where they almost feel like normal, regular contractions. Quite uncomfortable and obnoxious.

I still believe this little charmer will be coming at least a week early, if not earlier. Just a feeling I have...

I packed my hospital bag tonight for both myself and Caius. I'm still missing a few things, but they will end up being last-minute things that will need to be grabbed when the time comes. One less thing to worry about in the meantime...

We finally rearranged our bedroom like I had been wanting to do... and our bed is now positioned so it is by the A/C vent in the floor and I have a fan blowing directly behind it onto our bed... it is HEAVENLY to say the least! I haven't been hot ONCE at nighttime (which was a common problem) since we moved the bed.. I don't know why we kept putting off getting things accomplished for so long, lol!

I still have incredibly pained hip problems, occasional heartburn now too.... Alex and I started doing yoga after Landon goes to bed and it is INCREDIBLY difficult to do with a giant belly... and to think it's only going to get bigger!!

I can't wait to meet our little miracle =) It won't be too much longer now!