36 weeks

The last week has been eventful! But first, let's talk about baby's development. Sean is about 20 inches long, and weighing in now about 6 pounds- babycenter.com compares him to a crenshaw melon. At the end of this week, he will be considered "full term" and docs will give the go-ahead to let labor go at anytime after that. Most of his systems are fully developed at this point, aside from him lungs, and his digestive system will kick into gear once he takes his first suckle at breast or bottle.

Momma is definitely waddling at this point, mostly due to the fact that hormones have cause all of the joints and ligaments to loosen, preparing for labor. And he has definitely gone through the "lightening" stage- dropped lower in my abdomen. Breathing is somewhat easier (sometimes) but I think my belly is noticeably lower that it has been, and my pelvic bone sure can feel the difference!

Now as for the chain of events that happened this week, I'll start by explaining Braxton Hicks, in case you aren't real familiar with what they are. They are basically false, or practice, contractions that most women experience, usually later, but at any point in pregnancy. Typically they are painless, but somewhat noticeable, because your belly gets hard as a rock and it can make you stop in your tracks and say "what was that?" At least, that's how they are for me. They are not signs of true labor, because they are usually intermittent, irregular, and tend to go away when you relax, drink water, take a warm bath, etc.

So on Wednesday, I was having these type of contractions all day. They seemed regular in the morning, and then sort of spaced out throughout the rest of the day. But, as I said, they don't hurt, so it was hard to tell if they were still there when I wasn't focusing on them. Also, my pelvis was hurting tremendously that day, and I literally felt like he was falling out of me. It seemed to worsen when I would have a noticeable contraction. So I called my doc to make sure I wasn't experiencing real labor. They told me with any regular pregnancy, they would have me go home from work, relax, drink water, and pay attention so I could time the contractions to see if they were still regular. But, because I still showed placenta previa on my last ultra sound appointment, they were concerned if it was true labor, and didn't want me to wait. So they advised me to go to the hospital and let them monitor me for a few hours, so they could see if it was real labor or not.

So we did that Wednesday night- they didn't want to check for dilation because of the placenta's location as well, so they just hooked me up to the belly monitor to measure contractions. I only had about 2-3 in the 3 hours we were there, so they checked to make sure I wasn't bleeding or leaking amniotic fluid, ran a few tests and sent me home. The next day was my regular OB check up, so my doctor said that it's still a bit early, and that baby boys lungs tend to develop slower than girls in pregnancy, so he really doesn't want to jump the gun and have a c-section too early. But he also doesn't want me to progress into real labor, because then we risk placental rupture, hemorrhaging, etc. So, he scheduled me for amniocentesis screening on Monday. With that they will also do another ultrasound. So they can check the placenta's location again, while testing to see if our baby's lungs are developed enough- if they are, they will probably scheduled the c-section sooner than later, because I will be considered full term in a week. If his lungs aren't developed yet, I am sure they will just be monitoring me to ensure I don't go into real labor, and wait it out a bit longer (probably 38 weeks). If the placenta has moved, then I think they will just allow everything to go naturally.

That last option sounded ideal to me weeks ago. But I have been mentally preparing myself for surgery since my 20 week appointment. If they tell me at the last minute that I am clear for normal delivery, I will be a little confused and a little bummed. It would be better to not have surgery, I think. But I have not mentally prepared myself as much as I should have for labor. So that will be difficult, and slightly scary for me.

The amnio test itself does have a possible side effect of inducing real labor- the nurse I spoke with said to go ahead and bring my hospital bag just in case. They will monitor me for a bit after the test is done, and if there are no signs of labor they will send me home and call later with the results. If his lungs are developed enough, and the placenta still has not moved, we could possibly be welcoming our little baby into this world sooner than we expected!! Part of me wants this to happen the most- I am so tired of being pregnant, and I feel like we are as ready as we will ever be, so why not? But I also don't want him to come out before he is ready, just to have to spend time in the NICU. So I have been thinking and praying about it all, and talking to little Sean about it. Hopefully he will help make the best decision for us both, and I will be sure to keep everyone posted!

On a lighter note, yesterday was my last day at AT&T!! For now, anyways. Until my leave of absence runs out. That makes me feel better- I can now get a few more things done before Sean arrives, and have time to sleep during the day. Booyah! We had a lady from the state come and help us install the carseat on Tuesday, that was pretty cool. Yesterday, Mike finished the letters for Sean's name and hung them over the crib. Our friends got us a cool under the sea crib toy, we were both pretty excited about that. Also, we got the frame for the glider chair from Mike's mom. Now we are waiting on cushions- they ship separately, and I think Mike said they are supposed to be here later this week. All we really need to get for his room now is blinds, and we are about done!

35 weeks

We're almost there!! At 35 weeks, baby Sean is still about 20 inches, and weighing in well over 5 pounds, about the size of a honeydew. While he isn't gaining much length at this point, he is gaining weight, a.k.a body fat. Right now, average babies are about 15 percent body fat, by his due date he should be about 30 percent. His kidneys and hearing should be fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. At this point, he is really just staying in there to get more body fat so he can keep warm outside the womb, and continue to allow his lungs to develop before he takes that first breath of real air.

As for me, I am so done with being pregnant LOL! And Mike apparently is too. I don't think I complain too much, but physically I am soooo ready to have my body back. I thought I was pretty much done with the whole swelling of the feet thing.... not so much. Now they actually seem to swell more when I am asleep, as opposed to before, when being in bed all night was my only relief to swelling. Also, my uterus is apparently up under my ribs at this point, which I can definitely feel! Baby is usually pretty good about not kicking me too hard or too often in the ribcage, but when he does it always startles me!

I have my 36 week appointment scheduled for Thursday (35w5d), and then I think we will schedule an ultrasound for my 38 week appointment. My placenta is still not in a safe place for normal labor and delivery, so he wants to check it once more closer to my due date. If it's still not out of the way enough to allow me to dilate safely, I believe they will schedule a c-section at that point, which I understand will be that week. So we may be welcoming Sean into this world in the first week of February if that is the case!

This next week, I have my last day of work to look forward to!! I am working Monday through Wednesday, scheduled off Thursday, then Friday will be my last day! I also scheduled half of a paid vacation day on Friday, so I only have to be there for 4 hours, yey!! I am so looking forward to being able to take naps during the day, and have that extra time to get everything ready for our new arrival. I am just crossing my fingers and praying hard that Mike can work a little more before the baby is here... My little bit of income was not much, but it was something, and it will be non-existent from Friday until the baby comes, and even then, I think for short term disability I only get 60% of my pay. So if you think about it, our financial situation could use your prayers!!!

Overall, I think we are both so ready to welcome our son into this world. I know we are in for a big surprise, and a lot of sleepless nights, but we are also in for the next lifetime of experience being parents, and I am so thankful for that!

30 weeks

Just as a disclaimer, at this point in the pregnancy, the updates I have been doing may vary a lot more for each baby, as development can vary so much. But just for fun sake, I will keep doing them anyway: D

At 30 weeks, our baby is about the size of a cabbage (our very own cabbage patch kid!) weighing in at about 3 lbs and getting close to 16 inches long. His skin is becoming more smooth, but his brain is getting more wrinkly, increasing the surface area making more room for that essential brain tissue. Now that he can regulate his own body temperature, he is shedding the downy body hair called lanugo which was previously keeping him warm.

We went to the doc on Thursday, and had another ultrasound. No good pics, unfortunately- he is a bit too big to capture very much in one screen, which is a good thing! I was 29w5d at my appt., but he was measuring at 30w3d- about 3 lbs. 8-9 oz. So our little man is growing healthy and strong! His head is about as far down into my pelvic bone as he can get- I am starting to feel the results of that. They were trying to get a good look that the placenta and my cervix, and his big head was in the way most of the time! They did see that the placenta moved a bit since my 20w U/S, but not quite enough. Doc says he still considers it placenta previa, just meaning that the placenta partially covers my cervix. He recommended one more U/S at 36 weeks, since it is almost out of the way, and it if continues to be stubborn, it just means I have a scheduled c-section instead of a normal delivery. In the meantime, I am on light duty activities for the most part, but I can continue to work until 36 weeks since it's just a desk job.

My sleep schedule is constant now for the most part- I wake up about every 3 hours. I am guessing that will be Sean's schedule when he gets here, I can't see any other reason why I can't sleep more than 3 hour at a time without waking up! He kicks a lot now, to the point where my stomach looks like there is an alien trying to break out inside! I was even telling Mike that I think he has somehow bruised parts of me on the inside. He will kick, and at first it doesn't bother me, and then he will kick another spot and it feels so tender it hurts. But I am so happy and excited to think about meeting this little guy, in as little as 6 weeks, or hopefully no longer than 10 weeks!

In other news, Mike was sweet enough to cater to my needs of having Christmas decorations up soon after Thanksgiving. He hung the Christmas lights on the house on Monday night with Josh, and then we picked out a tree and put that up in the living room. I was too exhausted to do much on Monday (I actually stayed home from work that day because the exhaustion was too much to handle) but then when I went back to work on Tuesday he got the tree all decorated for me! Our living room is a little short on space now, but it's beautiful. I have been listening to a lot of Christmas music, especially instrumental (my favorite). I broke out the Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker, and have been listening to that full blast in my car. They say having your baby listen to classical music helps with brain development- I don't know if it's true or not, but it calms me down and I like it, so that alone must be good for him.

Today Mike and I are off to Lamaze- I am so glad my friend Katie (who is 35 weeks tomorrow!) and her hubby will be there with us. Mike and I went to the hospital tour and birthing basics class on Tuesday, and it was waaaay too crowded for my liking, and I could feel the tension from Mike as he tried to not look like he wanted to run away screaming. So hopefully having some friends there will help make it more comfortable. Tomorrow is the baby shower and I am so excited! But the only problem is that it is at my house, and due to my extreme exhaustion, I have not been cleaning house much- and I am embarrassed to think about having so many people here unless I clean up a bit. I am going to see how much I can get done when I get home today, like a quick vacuum and tidying of the living room, and the rest will just have to wait.

29 weeks

11 weeks until the due date, 7 weeks until we're full term.... I am ready to be done with this pregnancy!! At 29 weeks, our baby is about 2.5 lbs or so, and longer than 15 inches (about the size of a butternut squash). He is almost at what his birth length will be, but he will at least double, if not triple his weight by the time he is due! His muscles and lungs are developing more and more, and his head is getting larger to make room for his growing brain.

This week mommy has been busy! For Thanksgiving, and we had about 20 people at our house for dinner! It was nice though- all we made was a baked 20 lb maple glazed turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin dessert bars, green bean casserole, apple cider, and stovetop stuffing. Everyone else made everything else! Mashed potatoes, fried turkey, more stuffing and yams, pecan pie, corn casserole, cranberry sauce.... all of it was so yummy! It was nice, because a lot of our friends are recent Louisiana transplants, so for most of them it was their first Thanksgiving away from their families... Mike and I, on the other hand, have celebrated 4 Thanksgivings here now, and are kind of used to the idea of doing it on our own. I am hoping next year we will be able to fly Sean to see some family for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we will see!

Mike also made some shelves to put in Sean's room- for books, toys, etc. They look very nice, I am very happy with them. It was hard to decide where to put them, since we have no furniture yet, but I think they will be fine where they are at, and we have our shower in a week, so hopefully we will have some things to put in his room at that point! I know it is a bit early for me to be "nesting" but I am so anxious to get everything done!! I am pretty sure that is why I am not sleeping well. I always feel like there is something more to do, not just in the nursery, but all over the house. It never feels clean enough, and there is always a project that needs to be finished. I am really trying not to overdo it, because my energy levels literally cannot handle it, but my brain can only take so much lying down!

Here's my 29 week belly shot. It's cold outside, so I feel like the layers make me look fatter than I really am, but oh well.

Baby is getting big now! I can feel his kicks (or punches, I guess) in my hip bones now, but he seems to stay away from my ribs so far. You can tell he is running out of room- when he is moving around a lot, my whole stomach moves like a wave, it's pretty neat looking. I am anxious for this upcoming week. We are doing a birthing basics class at the hospital, along with a tour, on Tuesday. Then on Thursday we have our appointment, where we will have another ultrasound to see if I still have placenta previa. Saturday is Lamaze for most of the day, and then Sunday is our baby shower!

I am hoping the Christmas lights get up on the house by the end of this weekend, and I can't wait to get a tree. Mike still hasn't been to work yet in about 6 weeks, so I am worried we may not be able to afford one, but we will see. Money is super tight now, with my decreased work schedule and waiting for offshore work, and of course baby on the way. I am trying with all of my heart to trust that things will all work out, just like they always do, but sometimes that seems highly unlikely, or even impossible.

That's all for now- next post will include ultrasound pictures, so look out for that!

21 weeks

It's a BOY!!!!

We went to our Ultrasound on Thursday, and got to see out little man in action. It was one of the coolest things ever! This was the first ultrasound we have had so far, and I think it made it so much more real and personal to us- that is our SON in there! So it's officially Sean William Reed now. He's just doing his thing, growing in my belly : D

So here are some pics... I still need to get to a scanner so I can get the pics to show their full quality. We don't have a scanner, so I just took photos of the U/S pics with our camera and uploaded them to the computer for now. There are some profile shots too, but I was having a hard time with those- the camera reflection kept showing in the pic, or they came out blurry.

Here is his beautiful face

And another of his face : ) I love that you can see where his eyes and nose and chin and everything is at!

It's a boy!!! This was the first boy shot where we found out! : )

This boy shot she took during the video.... He was turning over while we were recording video of the U/S (I guess he was done with all of the attention), so she tried to get a boy shot in before he completely hid himself.

This is my favorite pic... in all of the profile pics, the tech was commenting on how his knees were right next to his eyes- he was curled up so tight! At the end of the video, you see him try to turn around and show us his back. The next thing you know, we are looking at this pic. His head and knees are in perfect alignment, and his butt is straight up in the air, and his feet are pushing out against the sides.... I told Mike no wonder why his "kicks" sometimes just feel like pushes- this is how he gets comfortable!!

I tried to upload the video right to this page, but it was taking WAY too long.... I already got it uploaded to youtube, so here's the link.... Sean William Reed's first movie

So, I don't remember what they said his length was at the U/S, but she did say he was measuring at 20w6d, and that day I was at 20w5d, so right on track! They said anything within 4 days keeps the same due date, so we are on! I did hear her say they think he was about 14-15 oz at the U/S.... in reading my updates in babycenter.com, thebump.com, and whattoexpect.com 21 weeks the baby is normally about 10-12 oz.... so I guess he is a bit heavier than most at his age! Lengthwise, average for 21 weeks is about 10.5 inches head to foot, about the length of a banana. And milestones are that his eyes are moving and eyelids and eyebrows are formed. His eyes aren't opening yet, but studies show they are moving under the eyelids anyways. His biggest goals for the next few weeks (months, really) is weight gain. And since he tastes what I taste now, what I eat is very important to his future taste preferences.

At 21 weeks I think I am feeling my best so far. My feet have still been swelling, but yesterday was the first day where my right foot and ankle were actually a normal size all day!! I told the doctor that my feet were swollen pretty much all the time, and he asked (while manipulating my feet and ankles) "does this hurt?" I said no. He asked if I had ever had any major injuries to that foot, I said no. He said, "Well, it just looks like aggravation from the pregnancy. It will get worse." I almost laughed. I know everyone has been telling me that other than propping my feet up and taking it easy, my feet will swell no matter what I do. I guess my doctor was just keeping it real for me as well.

My only concerns at this point are that my doctor mentioned that the U/S showed the placenta covering my cervix, or "posterior" as he worded it.... He said they will probably do another U/S in 1-2 months to see if it moves. He told me not to worry about it now.... so I asked what happens if it doesn't move, and he said it means I would have to have a c-section instead of normal delivery. No big deal, but they need to act quick for this type of c-section due to heavy bleeding possibilities on my end.... so me being the dummy I am, I looked up the condition online. Of course I read about all the worst case scenarios. What's the point? There's nothing I can do to make the placenta move. All it's going to do now is make me worry. Which he told me not to do. So I am trying not to.

On a lighter note, we went to Baby's R' Us on Friday and registered.... We were there for 3 hours! But I think we registered for everything we could think of!! I am also planning on registering at Target, because I know it is a bit easier for some people. But honestly I liked the stuff that Baby's R' Us has better than what Target has. And I don't trust Walmart enough to buy anything for Baby from there.

20 weeks- the halfway mark

This week is a big milestone- we are officially halfway to the due date, which is 40 weeks. And that's if I make it that long- technically anything after 36 weeks is considered full term. Woohoo! I still feel huge for how far I am, but apparently us moms come in all shapes and sizes. Also this week is big, because we will be having the first (and only planned) ultrasound. We get to see baby's size, movements, profile- all of the wonderful things we have only been guessing about this whole time! And of course, everyone is dying to know if our little bean is a boy or a girl! : ) Mike just left to go offshore today, so we are crossing our fingers he makes it back in time for the ultrasound on Thursday. If not, I hate to bum you all out, but I promised I would put the "goods" picture in an envelope and not let the tech spill the beans, and Mike and I will find out together. Which means I won't know until he does, which also means no one else will know. Sorry. But he is super bummed to think that he may miss out on the ultrasound, so this is the best we can do to make things right for him.

So this week, according to babycenter.com our baby is the size of a banana! And thebump.com says the size of a cantaloupe! Both of which should be about 6.5 inches (measuring baby from crown to rump) and about 10.6 ounces. From here going forward, they will start measuring baby from crown to heel, so that puts baby at a whopping 10.5 inches! That's almost a foot!! Baby is drinking lots of amniotic fluid at this point, both for nutrition, and also to practice swallowing and digesting. They say taste buds are starting to work now, and the taste of some foods are passed into the amniotic fluid. Studies show that babies respond to tastes that have already had via amniotic fluid, so the foods I eat now may influence what baby will eat later!

My tummy as you can see is still growing along with this baby. My previously hidden tattoo does show a bit over the top of some of the pants that I wear now (if you look close you can see it in this weeks pic) and my belly has more hair than before and itches. No stretch marks yet (knock on wood) but I have been using the lotion that you get from the drug store that is supposed to prevent them. We will see in the upcoming months! I think my biggest complaints at this point are heartburn- it usually starts around 7 pm every night and makes me feel like my throat is on fire. Tums and Calmicid (an all-natural form of Tums from Melaleuca) are my best friends : ) And my other complaint is the swollen feet deal. They swelled up so much at work on Friday just from sitting at my desk that after taking my Birkenstocks off, I could hardly get them back on! It's more on my right foot than my left, but they both tend to swell a lot. My blood pressure has been completely normal at all of my appointments, so I am not too worried about preeclampsia, although a lot of things I have read say that this much swelling early on, and the fact that it is more in one foot in the other could be an early symptom of that... I am not a worry wort, so I have been trying to not think about it. It's more painful and disgusting more than anything else. It's like, you already feel fat with this big belly in the way all the time, and then I look down and see fat feet and ankles, it doesn't make me feel attractive anymore. Oh well, it's worth it : )

Today I will probably either be hanging out with my girlfriends at the house, or I may try to convince them to drive to Baton Rouge with me... I am craving some fresh fruit from Whole Foods, and I would like to go to the mall to get my favorite mascara. Everyone keep their fingers crossed that by the time I post again next week Mike will be home from work and we can share with everyone the pics (and possibly video?) of our ultrasound!