Week 40 -- My Due Date

It's my due date! I've made it all the way to 40 weeks! Wow! I had hoped she'd arrive early but it looks like my body and our daughter have other plans. I am so ready to be done being pregnant and to hold our little girl! Time feels like it has come to a stand still. The waiting is so difficult.

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday with Dr. Anya. She stated I've made no progress since last week and that I'm still finger tip dilated -- given that I was told no progress at all last week, Dr. Anderson either wrote down I was finger tip dilated previously and didn't tell me, or finger tip dilated still equals no progress. Either way I'm less than 0 cm dilated and 0% effaced. Plus, she still has not dropped. Dr. Anya was really great though -- very patient woman. She's one of my favorite doctors in the practice so far. I've now seen them all. She has me scheduled to come in this Friday if I haven't delivered by then. I will then have an ultrasound to check how big she is and make sure my amniotic fluid levels are ok. I'll also have a non-stress test in which they monitor the baby's heart rate for an hour to make sure all is well. After all that, we'll discuss induction for the following week, probably around June 4 or 5. I'm really hoping to avoid an induction. With induction, the chances of needing an epidural and ultimately a c-section go up -- both of which I'm trying to avoid. So hopefully, she comes on her own this week!

Today, to celebrate my due date, I got a wonderful prenatal massage!! So relaxing. Emile and I also went to see the Indiana Jones movie and went out for dinner -- really spicy Thai food! On the way home, I bought an exercise ball which I'm sitting on now and rotating my hips around to help open up my pelvis for labor. I'm willing to try any of the Old Wives Tales in hopes of jump starting labor. I've tried walking, pineapple, spicy food, and now the exercise/birthing ball. Tomorrow I'm going to go get raspberry leaf tea. Something has got to get this show on the road. The waiters at the Thai restaurant at first suggested I not get a spicy dish when they saw I was pregnant so I didn't start labor. I told them it was my due date and that was exactly what I wanted -- they then suggested a spicier option :) Our little girl has been moving around a lot since eating dinner but that might not be related.

I have officially started maternity leave. My last day was yesterday and wow, was this week long. I decided to not wait till she was born given how uncomfortable and tired I've been feeling. So I'll have off until she arrives and then I'll be taking another 12 weeks off after she's born. That will probably put me at returning to work around the end of August/beginning of September. I'm so looking forward to this time away from work -- and more importantly, the time with our daughter.

We thought it would be fun to take a movie of me at 40 weeks and to show you our nursery. This is the first time using the video camera so let's see if this works:

Also, because we love our cats so much, we thought we'd add another video of Picus sleeping. He's always in the strangest, non-cat like positions.

Week 35

Two weeks until I'm full term. Time is really flying by! I had my 34 week doctor's appointment on Tuesday (34w3d) with Dr. Placide. He was much younger than I was expecting but a nice guy. Everything went well. He said my weight gain was on track (surprised me, I feel like a whale), blood pressure looked good, etc. He confirmed that she's still head down (yay!) and estimated that she's about 5 lbs right now, average weight. My fundal height measurement (measurement of my belly from my pelvic bone to my breast bone) indicates I'm a little further along than 34 weeks -- more like 36 and half weeks but I don't know if this will have anything to do with whether she'll decide to come early or not. Dr. Placide also indicated he didn't think the skin rash I've been bothered with is actually related specifically with pregnancy but rather because I'm pregnant and more sensitive to things, I came in contact with something that's causing an allergic reaction. He recommended taking Benadryl -- and surprisingly, the rash was gone by the next day and hasn't really bothered me since then. I wish the nurse would have said that two weeks ago when I called versus telling me it was just a normal pregnancy symptom.

Starting with my next appointment at 36 weeks, I'll be going in to see the doctor weekly until she's born! Emile is planning to come with at the next appointment because they'll be doing a Group B Strep test which is an internal exam -- they'll be able to tell at that point if I've already started dilating or not (won't be getting my hopes up, it will still be early).

I've started moving my projects at work over to others for my upcoming maternity leave. I want to make sure everything is taken care of well before I head to the hospital. My plan now is to work up until I go into labor so pretty much anywhere between the next 2 to 6 weeks!

We finished the nursery!!! I'm very excited about this. Since my dad and Emile painted, we had chair rail installed which Emile painted and then did some other touch-up painting. We've assembled the crib and put up the blinds, shelves, plants, decorations and diaper stacker. Just this morning, we got the glider in (but I have to call the store on Monday -- the finish is scratched up and poorly painted! Not something I really want to deal with). I'm really excited with how the room has turned out. We're still planning to add a small bookshelf next to the glider for her books but just haven't gotten one yet. Now if I could only convince the cats that the crib and the changing pad are not their new sleeping spots!

Our little girl has been moving around quite a bit now but it's much different than before -- a lot of poking out of her limbs and so forth. It's kind of weird to see my stomach go from being round to being lop-sided with a butt pushing out! My belly feels really heavy now so when I lay down on my side I typically have to have something supporting my belly. I've also noticed that my crotch feels bruised or like I've been riding a horse for awhile. Apparently this is pelvic floor pain and is caused by the weight of the baby pushing down on my muscles. It's not painful or anything, just annoying at times. According to the books, our little one should have a sufficient amount of surfactant in her lungs for them to work well on their own now.

Also, I've definitely felt her hiccup a few times over the last few weeks. At first I wasn't sure that that's what it was, but now I feel pretty confident -- there will be these repetitive bubble type feelings I'll get in my belly that last for a few minutes. Emile's even felt them with his hand. It's pretty neat!

Don't forget to enter a guess for when you think our little girl will arrive and her expected weight! (see the orange box on the right) I'm curious to see what everyone thinks!

Week 33

We're starting to get things checked off our list of to-dos before the baby comes which I'm relieved about. This past Tuesday, Emile and I toured the hospital, Rex, that I'll be delivering at. Rex is about 35 minutes from our house in Raleigh. We were pretty impressed with how progressive the hospital was -- they have available birthing balls, tubs, birthing bars, etc. Our little girl will get to room-in with us the entire time -- she won't need to leave the room unless there is something wrong (which hopefully is not the case) or I ask the nurses to watch her if I want to take a shower or something (if Emile isn't there). The rooms are all LDR (labor, delivery and recovery) although you're only in there for recovery for about an hour and a half before moving on to the post-delivery rooms for the remainder of our stay (1-2 days for vaginal deliver, 3-4 for c-section). I was glad to hear that electronic fetal monitoring is not required the whole time I'm in the hospital -- if things are going well with both baby and I, they'll only do intermittent monitoring which means I'll have more flexibility to be up and moving around (better to help labor progress than to be laying in the bed the whole time hooked to a monitor). They also have lactation consultants available and encourage breastfeeding within the first hour after delivery. Overall, we were really happy with the hospital and have no reservations about delivering there. I'm so glad to have the tour out of the way.

Today, Emile finished touching up the paint in the nursery and we both put the crib together. I'm so excited to start decorating. The paint job that he and my dad did looks great and we're really happy with the chair rail. Here's a sneak peak at us putting the crib together. Once I have the room fully decorated, I'll post photos again.



The big pregnancy issues for me this week have been round ligament pain and a skin rash. On Sunday night, I woke up to take one of my many bathroom breaks when I got this horrible pain shooting down the left side of my belly. It then emanated over to my right side. Nothing I did would make it go away -- I was walking around the bedroom and house, breathing like in the birthing videos, rubbing my belly etc. I started to get a little worried that it was a contraction and I was going into pre-term labor but it lasted for about 2-3 minutes so I didn't think it was an actual contraction. It eventually went away but I didn't sleep well after because I kept checking the clock to see if it happened again (and if so, when). Luckily, it didn't. I spoke with the doctor the next day and she confirmed that it was mostly like just round ligament pain which is just caused by the muscles around my uterus stretching etc. Little things like moving the wrong way etc. can spark it. She was actually surprised that this was the first time I had it happen, at 32 weeks. So far, it hasn't happened again. Given how much I thought it hurt, I figure I'm in a world of trouble when I actually start having contractions :)

I've also started developing skin rashes at random times throughout the day and at different places on my body. Mostly I get it on my neck, underarms, forearms, upper chest, hands and feet. It itches and is driving me nuts (although on the scale of things, it could be worse). The doctor confirmed that it is normal for pregnant women to randomly get skin rashes at this stage in pregnancy. Pretty much the only thing to do for it is put Calamine lotion or something similar. It should go away after I give birth!

Our little girl is probably about 4.5 to 5 lbs now (I feel like I'm getting huge overall). She will gain more than half her birth weight in the next seven weeks. She'll begin to move less now as she runs out of room and curls up with knees bent, chin resting on chest and arms and legs crossed.

Week 31 -- 8 Months

I have now completed my 7th month of pregnancy and am starting my 8th month! Wow! The biggest change for me this week was on Thursday night I noticed my feet and hands are starting to swell up. This was a little disconcerting for me. More than likely, it's due to all the time I've been spending lately sitting between my hours in front of the computer for work and the hours I've been spending driving for work and on airplanes recently. This isn't helping my circulation or the fact that my tailbone and butt hurt all the time now from sitting. Luckily, I think my last flight before the baby is born was earlier this week when I went to Ohio for work. Now that we're going to be spending more time at home with more relaxed weekends, I'm hoping to get in more walks and pilates workouts in hopes of helping my circulation. In addition, I'm trying to drink even more water and put my feet up more at night.

From how my friends have described it, I'm pretty sure I've also been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions the last week or two -- my whole front part of my stomach will periodically become super hard and tight. This lasts for about 30 seconds to a minute and then goes away. It's definitely not her body pushing out as that feels very different.

Our baby probably measures about 18 inches long from head to toe and weighs about 3.5 pounds right now. Rather than hearing vibrations, her nerve endings in her ears are connected now so that she can hear distinct sounds, like familiar voices and music. This week, a layer of fat will form underneath the thin, wrinkly skin. She'll also start practicing opening her eyes and breathing.

My parents drove into town for this Easter weekend. They are our first house guest! It was great to finally get to show our house to part of our family. It was great having them here. My dad was also kind enough to help Emile paint the nursery yesterday and today. The first lavender color I picked for the top half of the walls turned out to be much more purple than it appeared on the sample card. So they repainted it today with a light shade of lavender that looks so much better -- exactly what I was hoping for. We're going to have the guy who put up the chair rail in the rest of the house put up chair rail in the nursery on Friday. Then I can finish decorating!! I can't wait -- I'll post photos of the finished room soon. Here are some photos of their painting adventure.

While Emile and my dad painted, my mom and I started organizing all the baby items we received from family and friends plus those that Emile and I have purchased recently. We then put together a list of remaining items I will need to get in the next few weeks before our little girl arrives. I'm looking forward to getting everything put into the nursery and for her to start using the great gifts we've received from everyone.

My mom and I also set up in our bedroom the Pack-N-Play we received from Emile's aunt and cousin. We'll be using the PNP as our daughter's bed for the first few months after our her birth instead of the crib in the nursery so that she's close to us.