I hope to have a food post soon. I’ve actually cooked a lot but just haven’t taken any pics! I still haven’t set up a place to take food photos in the new house…

How far along:  36 weeks (technically I’m 37 now but that will be in the next update). Only a month to go!

Gender:  Baby boy!

What Fruit are you? He’s the size of a honeydew. We had our 36 week ultrasound and was told he’s already measuring about 6.5 lbs.  He also apparently has not yet dropped. I’m told first time moms usually start to drop around this time. 

Due date: September 8th

Total weight gain/loss:  25-26ish lbs so far. I’m sure I’ll gain a few more.

Exercise: This last month of my pregnancy, my office has agreed to let me work from home. My commute into Manhattan was really starting to get difficult- the heat, the heavy backpack. However, eliminating my commute meant eliminating my daily 40 min walk. So now I try to at least meet Nate at the train when he gets home which is a 20 min total walk. We also sometimes take a walk around our neighborhood after dinner. 

Stretch marks: Still none

Swelling: None

Belly button: It’s still an innie, although it’s actually kind of not an innie or an outtie right now because it’s at the point where everything that was in is just stretched but it doesn’t stick out. I kind of have no belly button…it’s weird

Sleep: I cannot get comfortable! My belly feels so big and turning over is such a chore. Baby kicks me all night long, especially in the ribs. Also I used to wear earplugs to bed but figured I should wean myself off of them in order to hear the baby, so now every sound wakes me up. I have to pee constantly and I’m getting so many contractions. I’ve been waking up at like 5:30 every day :(

Food cravings: None really…I barely have any room in my stomach to eat anymore. I have been eating a lot of sweets though. Although then this last week I was really hungry so maybe baby is having a growth spurt?

Symptoms:  Having lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions. Sometimes they’re so uncomfortable that they wake me up at night. I also seem to get tired every afternoon around 2pm. And by dinnertime I literally need to go to bed halfway thru my meal and have to leave the table and go lay down. 

What I miss:  Being able to walk without waddling or getting out of breath. Being able to sleep more comfortably. Oh, and a good roast beef sandwich!

What I’m loving: Still loving when I feel the baby move, although now he’s kicking hard enough that it’s uncomfortable.I’m also really enjoying working from home :) It makes it so much easier to eat healthier during the day too!

What I’m looking forward to:  Meeting our baby boy! I can’t believe there’s less than a month to go. It’s really crazy. My office threw me a little going-away party of sorts on my last day in the office and they pooled together and got me a lot of stuff off my registry, so I’m feeling slightly more prepared. I still need to order a crib mattress and get the car seat installation inspected.  

Latest Concern: I’m a little worried that labor is going to be harder than I’m expected. I also worry that I won’t be able to handle being a mom. I just get overwhelmed so easily and I’m already nervous about going back to work after my maternity leave :( Also, I already forgot everything we learned in our childcare and breastfeeding classes!

Also the last week my main concern was Nate. He had lithotripsy (surgery to blast his kidney stone into easier-to-pass pieces) last Monday. Thankfully his mom came to help out and left on Tuesday. He felt fine on Tuesday but then the entire rest of the week he was home laying in bed in pain, passing the pieces of stone. He was miserable and I was going up and down the stairs constantly to check on him and make sure he was ok and force him to drink and eat a little. Probably not the rest I should have been getting. It also caused me not to sleep well because I was worried all night long and praying that Nate would feel better in the morning. After a full week and weekend of misery, Nate finally felt well enough on Monday to go to work…phew!

Oh the one day Nate felt ok last week (Tuesday), I somehow ended up back in the hospital. It was majorly good timing since there’s no way I could have driven myself. I thought I had thrown my back out again but was getting these spasms of pain that spread to the front. It didn’t feel like contractions but I was so worried since I’m getting close to my due date. By the time we actually got to the hospital, I was actually feeling better. They did some quick fetal monitoring and said baby is very high up and has plenty of fluid. They said they think he’s sitting on a nerve. Since then, my back hurts most at night when I’m sleeping but hasn’t been too bad.  

My belly is poking out from under my shirt now!

I’m feeling bigger every day. 

We just finished taking our childbirth classes. The last class was a “Baby Care” class that taught about changing diapers, swaddling and other such things. I thought it was useful but Nate said he won’t remember anything we learned by the time the baby comes. I do agree that you probably don’t really start learning til you’re actually doing it. 

I also went to a Breastfeeding class that Nate chose not to join in on (i was only one of 3 women whose significant others didn’t come). I told him it was fine but after going I think he actually would have gotten a lot out of it. Oh, but he also had an excuse since he was hospitalized last week…long story involving a seizure on our morning commute and a kidney stone. Thankfully he’s doing much better now! Probably the scariest moment of my life tho, and I’m so glad I was on the train with him. 

A couple weeks ago, I had my checkup and when I stood up at the end the doctor said “wow, your belly is very prominent!” You know if an ObyGyn says you’re big, you must be :( No wonder it’s getting so hard to move!

While I was there, my doc asked if I had any contractions. I told her that I get what I think are Braxton-Hicks contractions and she confirmed that that’s what it sounded like. She said they’re perfectly harmless unless you get more than 4 in an hour, in which case it could be a sign of pre-term labor.

Of course I noticed the contractions even more after she told me that and by the end of the day I was feeling them continuously, especially when I walked to meet Nate at the train. My doctor had told me that when I feel them I should chug water since it could be a sign of dehydration.

My belly is getting so big it’s going out of the photo box…

All through dinner I chugged water and a couple hours later I was still getting them every 5 min. I debated what to do since it was like 9:30pm by this point, but finally decided to call the doc. She told me to lay down and rest and keep drinking water, and if they didn’t ease up, to go to the hospital.

I rested and by 10:30 i felt like they were still coming although at this point I was confused what was a contraction and what wasn’t. I didn’t wanna deal with going to the hospital and being there til the early hours of the morning. but at the same time I was nervous to go to bed in case something was wrong. Finally I decided I’d just drive myself to the hospital since I wasn’t in pain, just uncomfortable.

I checked in and they monitored me for about an hour before the doc came in. I dozed on and off since it was way past my bedtime at this time. The doc there confirmed that I was having contractions so she did some tests to make sure it wasn’t pre-term labor…thankfully it wasn’t. After another couple hours of monitoring and making me drink about a quart of water, I was released. I got home at about 2am! In the end I was glad I went though. Better safe than sorry!

In the meantime, I’ve been drinking water religiously since then and I’m still getting contractions semi-regularly. I told my doc at my 33 wk appt and she said to just keep drinking water and resting. Luckily I’m going to start working from home this Friday, which she confirmed was a good idea since the contraction happen more often when I’m walking- my commute is really getting to me.

In nursery related news, I drew a few woodland animals and framed them to hang in the nursery. I decided to go with orange as an accent color so i made a mat with some scrapbook paper.

I’m feeling majorly behind on getting baby stuff and I’m starting to stress. I still have barely any clothes, no crib mattress or baby tub. Basically all I have is a crib and car seat (which I need to install soon!) :( I’ve been hitting up my mommy friends to figure out what I need but am feeling majorly overwhelmed. I can’t belive the baby could be here possibly in like a month….