37 weeks!

 (I changed out of my work clothes about .2 seconds after I got home and didn't feel like changing again for the picture.)

 

 

37 Weeks! Whoa! That means I am full term :-) Which also means she could technically come any day now, yikes.  Not that I wouldn't be over the moon if she did come soon, but things are definitely not ready for her arrival at work.  I still have lessons to plan and there needs to be a sub for me found before she makes her appearance (this is my hope at least).  I'm convinced, for some reason, that she won't come before her due date.  I'm thinking sometime between the 25th and the 29th.  I guess we will see soon enough.

So you know how last week I was grumpy and upset about my appointment and kind of freaking out about the whole low iron thing?  Yeah, well I got a call from the midwife on Wednesday and turns out when the did a blood draw (instead of the finger prick) that my iron is high enough for me to birth at the birthing center will no problem!  There was a .6 difference in the blood draw and finger prick!  I'm not sure how much of a jump .6 is but I know it's enough to put me just over the minimum of what the birthing center requires :-)  I was sooooooooo relieved to hear that news! 

The appointment this week went much better as well.  I saw the regular midwife that I have been seeing and everything was pretty good.  It's so nice to have someone who really seems to understand you and your crazy husband and genuinely care about you both and the baby.  I love Erick to death but sometimes he comes off like a little too much of a goof and I worry that people don't see how great he is under the goofiness.  Well she made my night when she said to him "You know even though you are a total goofball and make your wife blush, you are one awesome guy and it's great to see how involved you are".  It's not that I needed her to know how awesome he is but it was nice to hear her say that.  I am still measuring small (measured this week and last week at 33cm and she said I should be 38-40cm) so she ordered an ultrasound for me just to check and make sure everything is good.  Baby girl's heart rate was perfect and she's a-movin' and a-shakin' so I'm not too worried.  The midwife said she isn't worried either but it's better to check and make sure.  I am excited to see her on the ultrasound on Tuesday now :-)

Another exciting thing that happened is we found our pediatrician!  We interviewed him and he was awesome!  Loved the office, the office staff and him.  I'm really happy we picked him.  It really started to freak me out though realizing that we have a pediatrician, because that means we have a baby that needs a pediatrician lol.  Duh, I know I'm having a baby and I know I've basically had the last almost 9 months to think about it but when you are actually doing stuff to prepare it makes it so much more real!

 

How far along? 37 weeks

Total weight gain: +24 (same as last week)
 

Maternity clothes? Lately I've gone back to the Bella band/ hair tie trick and have worn some non maternity jeans and pants. Wearing about 1/2 maternity 1/2 regular clothes.

Stretch marks? none yet and I hope to never get them!

Sleep: Sleep stinks... waking up way more times now to pee than before!  Then when I'm awake all I can think about are baby things that aren't ready yet and can't fall back asleep.   

Best moment this week: Probably Thursday, our baby appointment day.  We both left work at noon for the interview with the pediatrician, then had a little day date consisting of Tampa Cuban for lunch (best cubans and black beans and rice!), mani (me)/ pedi (Erick), then appointment with the midwife followed by our last birthing class.
 

Miss Anything? Just the whole sleeping thing.

Movement: oh man oh man, lately she has been pushing on my sciatic nerve and sending shock waves down my right leg! Her movements are getting so much stronger it's crazy to watch my stomach when she's moving all around.  She sticks her foot out right under my ribs and it's so crazy to see my skin just poking out. 

Food cravings: Ice and tomato and mozzarella with balsamic! I seriously can't get enough of it!

Anything making you queasy or sick: smelly stuff

Gender: BABY GIRL!!!!

Labor Signs: No labor signs but braxton hicks contractions for sure.

Symptoms: back pain and tired. I'm pretty sure the heartburn and acid reflux were from taking the extra iron before bed, thankfully I don't have to take it 4 times a day anymore so I'm not taking it right before bed.

Belly Button in or out? starting to poke out

Wedding rings on or off? on but getting tight.  I got really concerned while we were at the birthing center.  My hands and feet were a little swollen and I couldn't move my wedding rings at first.  I eventually got them off and then forgot to put them on before work and felt naked the whole day without them. I still have yet to put them back on.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Anxious. Like heart starts racing out of nowhere, stomach hurts and it's a little hard to breathe anxious. Not all the time though, it comes in spurts.

Looking forward to: The ultrasound and for them to say that she is healthy and all is good :-)

 

36 weeks

36 Weeks!!!

Yes, I know that my head is cut off in this picture but believe me it looks better that way.  I couldn't get a good picture to save my life this morning.  It was probably due to the fact that I slept like complete crap and felt like I was burping up lava all night.  I'm sure that's just what you wanted to know lol.

 

 

So for the first time I had an awful and disheartening appointment this week     :-(.  I wrote back at 28 weeks about having low iron and having to take a supplement to get my iron up, well it's still low.  It has to be at a 10 to be able to stay at the birth center and mine was at a 9.7.  I got really discouraged because 1- I try and get as much iron as I can, I have a spinach and fruit smoothie each morning and I take the supplement twice a day (i do admit I have forgotten a few times to take it) and 2- I really want to have Kate at the birthing center!  Here it is 36 weeks in and I might have to change my whole birth plan.  Another thing that made the appointment not so good is the fact that it was with the new midwife, there's nothing wrong with her and she seems really great, but I'm comfortable with the other two that I have been seeing for the last 7 months.  She was very informative and nice but I was expecting one of the other ones.  She also was telling me that I'm measuring small, I was measuring at 33cm and she said I should be at 38-40cm.  She said it wasn't something to be alarmed about but that she will need to monitor my growth.  She also said something about maybe Kate has dropped which would make sense for me measuring smaller than I should. I guess I'm just getting really emotional and that's why this appointment bummed me out.  There was nothing seriously wrong with my appointment but I left feeling super discouraged.  I just don't like hearing that things aren't going how they should be.  The midwife said to take the iron 3-4 times a day and eat more leafy greens.  So below are the pictures to show what I'm doing to get more iron.  I'm trying to drink 2 smoothies a day instead of one and Erick has stocked up on steaks.  Hopefully this will help and when they check my iron in 2 weeks all will be good and I won't have to go to the hospital.  The way I see it is, if there is something wrong with my body absorbing iron and it is still low after all this then, it's probably better that I'm at a hospital.  We shall see.

 

 

Green Smoothie- 1 frozen banana, 1 cup or so of frozen mixed fruit, a cup or so of Green Goodness juice, a big handful of fresh spinach leaves, a big splash of OJ and some water.  The good thing is that it's very tasty. 

 

I asked Erick to get some steaks at Sam's and he comes home to tell me that according to the butcher these have the most iron lol.  So far we have had steak 3 nights in a row.  I need to get creative on how to cook it.  

 

 

How far along? 36 weeks

Total weight gain: +24

Maternity clothes? Lately I've gone back to the Bella band and have worn some non maternity jeans and pants.  Wearing about 1/2 maternity 1/2 regular clothes. 

Stretch marks? none yet and I hope to never get them!
 

Sleep: Sleep is great if I don't wake up in the middle of the night with a mouth full of lava!  Seriously it's one of the strangest and grossest feelings.  Of course once I'm awake I can't fall back asleep for a while.   

Best moment this week: Hmmm... probably the fact that Erick got a ton of projects done around the house including redoing the closets in out room :-)   

Miss Anything? Not really this week. 

Movement: oh man oh man, lately she has been pushing on my sciatic nerve and sending shock waves down my right leg!  Her movements are getting so much stronger it's crazy to watch my stomach when she's moving all around. 

Food cravings: Ice, tomato and mozzarella with balsamic!  I seriously can't get enough of it!

Anything making you queasy or sick: smelly stuff

Gender: BABY GIRL!!!!

Labor Signs: No labor signs but braxton hicks contractions for sure.

Symptoms: Heartburn, acid reflux, back pain and tired.

Belly Button in or out? starting to poke out

Wedding rings on or off? on but getting tight

Happy or Moody most of the time: Anxious. 
 

Looking forward to: Meeting this little peanut, less than a month to go! 

The nursery!

 

So, I know I have been talking about how excited I am to finally get the nursery done and I can finally say it's pretty much done!!!  Erick has done such an awesome job with everything.  I just love the way it has turned out.  There are a few little things that we have left to do.  I have to go to Ikea to get a few more book shelves, put up some frames above the changing table and there's some furniture that my dad is painting for me that I need to add also.  But for the most part it's done and I'm super excited to share it with you!

 

The curtains and glider are two of my favorite finds!  The glider is super comfy and I can't to be rocking my sweet baby girl to sleep in it.

The crib was an awesome craigs list find.

You can see one of the book shelves, thankfully due to all the books recieved at my shower I need a few more shelves :-)

Closet and bow holder.  We took off the big clunky closet doors and hung curtains inside the closet instead of on the outside.  I love the look of it and the fact that we can have the curtains open or shut them if we want to and they aren't ever in the way.

Below is the changing table that I absolutely love! We found it on craigs list for an awesome deal.  I changed out the regular round white knobs for the old glass door knobs looking ones.  I think it adds a little something to the changing table/ dresser.

 

There you have it!  Our baby girl's room.  I love spending time in it just thinking about all the time I will spend with her in.  I'll post the totally finished product when we are done with the little things.

34 weeks- a week late

34 Weeks! 

Sorry, it's a week late but better late than never right?  This week was awesome.  Erick and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary with a weekend at the Resort and Spa where we had our wedding reception.  It was sweet and very nostalgic to go back there.  We enjoyed a couples massage and pedicures, both of which felt soooo good considering my back is killing me and I can't paint my own toes :-)

How far along? 34 weeks

Total weight gain: +21!!! Ah!!! I gained 6 lbs between my last 2 appointments (that's only a 2 week time frame).  I started a mini freak out when I stepped on the scale and saw the numbers.  During my appointment the midwife said I gained a little more than they want to see for the timeframe but that I've caught up now with my measurments (I guess I was measuring small before).  After I got over the shock of the numbers on the scale I realized that I'm healthy and baby is healthy so no need to worry over it and I need to walk more and eat less ice cream lol.

Maternity clothes? Since I've been back to work (school instead of summer camp) I've been able to wear the cute work maternity clothes I've gotten.

Stretch marks? none yet and I hope to never get them!

Sleep: Sleep is a strange thing... I've figured out if I stay up later than normal I can usually sleep through the night.  Some nights I sleep great, other nights I'm lucky if I get 4hrs of sleep.

Best moment this week: Our anniversary celebration weekend getaway.   

Miss Anything? being able to lay on my back or stomach, shave my legs comfortably, sit down/ stand up without grunting lol. 

Movement: oh yes everyday.  It seems like the only time she isn't moving is when someone has their hand on my belly waiting for her to move.

Food cravings: Ice ice baby... ice water, ice cubes and cereal

Anything making you queasy or sick: smelly stuff

Gender: BABY GIRL!!!!

Labor Signs: No labor signs but braxton hicks contractions for sure.  

Symptoms: I feel like all the energy has been sucked out of me!  This stinks.  I feel useless when I get home from work because I have no energy at all.  I'm sure it will only get worse when the students start back on Monday.

Belly Button in or out? starting to poke out

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and getting super super super excited to meet my baby! 

Looking forward to: Next appointment so I can hear her heartbeat :-)  Also seeing the rest of our maternity pictures!  Our awesome photographer posted a sneak peak of one on facebook, it's so awesome I can't wait to see the rest. 

Here are a few pictures from our anniversary and the maternity picture.

Anniversary dinner (No, I didn't drink the bubbly)



The beautiful view from our room

Look at that beautiful sunset!  Angela and Brian are awesome!  Check out their website http://www.lovinglegacyphotography.com/ 

Baby shower!

My Baby Shower!

I had a great time at my baby shower.  My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and friend Nicole threw me such an awesome shower.  I saw a baby shower on Pinterest (of course) that was children's book themed and knew that's what I wanted.  It turned out so perfectly.  We had meatballs (thanks dad, they were delicious) for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; muffins and cookies for If you Give a Mouse a Cookie and If you Give a Moose a Muffin; Deviled eggs and sandwiches for Green Eggs and Ham and an assortment of fruit for The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The food was yummy and the desserts were super cute and delicious.  The cake had "books" on it which were all different flavors.

My friend Noelle (who is super crafty and awesome) made cake pops and a cake pop stand especially for the shower.  OMG these were the cutest cake pops I have ever seen!  The stand had pages from children's books on it and Kate's name around the bottom.  So adorable!  Here's a link to her blog so check it out- http://homemakerchic.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/diy-cake-pop-or-cupcake-stand-tutorial/ 

Kate was for sure showered with lots and lots of wonderful gifts.  A lot of pink and ruffles, which I LOVE.  Here is my husband's favorite gift for sure :-)  (if you don't know Erick, he's a huge Seminole fan so this is very fitting)

Patti (my dad's girlfriend) made this adorable diaper cake.

Ms. B (a very special woman to me) monogrammed some super cute outfits with Kate's name on them (this is my favorite) and made a very special blanket for Kate.

Thank you to everyone who came!  It was a great party!