Random Thoughts and Updates

That was taken a week ago @ 33 weeks... Oh My, how time has flown by...

I just wanted to put my thoughts down before I forgot them- most of you know how "pregnancy brain" is and how it just turns into "tired mommy brain" after the baby comes! I better take advantage of what little brainpower I have left.

Weight gained to date: about 23 pounds. My doctor says that's great, but my feet and back beg to differ. I'm experiencing major sciatica off and on- the pain caused by pressure and irritation near my sciatic nerve has been the worst part. It doesn't help that I hurt my back in college and have experienced this same kind of pain (although much more rarely and much more mild) ever since 2002. Sometimes I'll be walking along fine, and BAM, lightning strikes down the right leg and I nearly fall to the floor. :/ Not fun. Not where there is not a wall/counter/desk/husband to latch onto.

Hollis is kicking just a little bit less, but still pretty frequently overall. The movements are a little slower as he has to try harder to find space to move around in. Most of the time there is no space, so he just creates some- which is still so exciting to watch from the outside! It seems that while about a month ago he was head down, with his backbone resting on my left side, he has now moved into possibly a more transverse (horizontal) position... which is quite scary to me as we approach the last 6 weeks. Sure, he has plenty of time to go back into a head-down position, but if he is transverse and stays that way we have trouble. I'm only going off my gut instinct and where I've seen my belly moving from his stretching and kicking... we haven't seen any of this on an ultrasound, nor did my doctor say anything the last time I was there. I could be scared for nothing (and hopefully that is the case). Throughout the entire pregnancy, his heart rate has been between 142-156 bpm. I love hearing it beat so strong. I hope he's healthy and that I've been doing what I need to do to help him grow.

Most of his furniture has arrived at the warehouse, we are just waiting on two more things- the rocker/glider and matching ottoman. Hopefully those items will be here by Spring Break so we can put his room together then! There are still some pieces of art I want to get for his walls, but that can wait till after we decide how the furniture will be arranged.

That's all I can think of right now. :) More to come soon enough...

50 Days... Yikes!

According to the countdown clocks and baby tickers and things, I have 50 days left till my due date. FIFTY. CINQUENTA. 5-0. That's all??? Why does that seem so soon? I swear just yesterday it said 150, now just 50... Or what if it is only 40? He might decide he's coming out sooner rather than later since he's running out of space in there. Or maybe he will stay in longer than 50 days, God only knows.

I started thinking of all of the stuff I still need to do before he gets here, and the list seems to keep growing even though the time we have is shrinking:
-make a playlist on my itunes of all the songs I want to listen to during labor
-figure out what to pack in my hospital bag, and actually pack it
-get furniture delivered once all the pieces are at the warehouse
-set up and decorate his nursery (we're not painting the walls, so that should help a lot)
-wash/dry/organize all of his new clothes
-rearrange kitchen cabinet so we have a place for all of the bottles & baby things
-remind myself not to snap at Craig for little stuff- he's just as new to this as I am
-???
-???
-???

Well, enough worrying for one day. I think it's time to get my Saturday started. :) It's one of my last 7 (or so) without a baby to take care of. :)

Birthing Class - First Night of Four

It was our first night at the Prepared Childbirth class at the hospital where I'll deliver. The teacher is awesome. She was a Labor & Delivery nurse for 5 years, but decided to leave the nursing world to teach special education for Kinder-2nd graders. She still teaches the birthing classes for fun, and I'm glad she does! She's hilarious. There are several of us in the class that are all teachers. Surprisingly, I'm one of the younger 1st-time moms in the class, and at almost 29 years old I was kind of shocked by that. Tonight we learned mostly about pregnancy discomforts that are common in the third trimester, as well as warning signs of things that could lead to problems. She taught us about Braxton-Hicks and gave us the overview of what "real" contractions will be like and the purpose they serve. Turns out I have had a couple of Braxton-Hicks contractions recently. One was at school the other day, and one was at home the following day.

I'm really looking forward to the next three Wednesday nights. She said she's going to teach us so much about everything that we will feel over-prepared... I'm not sure if that is really possible, but let's hope there is at least some truth to that statement.

Hollis has a huge case of hiccups right now- and I can totally feel it (and see it) all on the left side of my belly. Poor guy- he gets hiccups about 2-3 times every day, but not usually this severe or fast. They're barely 2 seconds apart.

I'm going to have to call it a night soon- I'm super tired. Sweet dreams.