34 Weeks....

How far along? 34w3d

Size of Baby/Baby Milestones: According to babycenter.com, at 34 weeks, "Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well."


Total Weight Gain/Loss: As of the last dr's appointment, I'm up 29 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. But, that doesn't include the 17 pounds of IVF weight, so I'm feeling huuuuuuuuge. I'm currently weighing more than I've ever weighed in my life. No, it's not some crazy 500 pounds....but carrying an extra 46 pounds is just hard on me. It's hard on my feet, that's fo' sho'! I look at my body and just see this  3 inch layer of fat that seems to coat and surround the real me! Here's to hoping for some rich, thick, fatty breast milk for this baby! "I don't make breast milk. I make cream." {....okay, that seems kind of gross now that I put it out there....}

Maternity Clothes:  Are getting a little short in the front.... I'm just saying..... This belly of mine likes to peek out the bottom of maternity shirts now! It's crazy!

Belly Button In/Out: Disappearing. Well, not really, but it's getting flatter.

Labor Signs: Still with the Braxton Hicks. Other than that, not so much. It's crazy to think that by this point in my pregnancy with Gage, I was going on bedrest. Don't get me wrong---I'd like to stay in bed all day sometimes.... but I'm just saying.... other than the Braxton Hicks, this girl shows none of the same signs of wanting to make an early debut.

Movement: Movement for me is getting difficult. Picking up stuff off the floor is not so much fun. Mopping makes me want to vomit. Turning from my left side to my right is difficult. Getting up from various seating surfaces is difficult. If it's a really soft, cushy seat---no thanks. I'll never get up on my own!

Movement for this baby: generally wonderful. She's still head down. Her little feet s-t-reeeeee-ech out to my right side and it's really crazy. I swear that all of my internal organs are in some sore of a line going down my left side, and this baby is in the middle and so far to the right that she can practically kick the right side of my body almost to the back!

When I was this far along with Gage, he would put his feet in my ribs and his movements huuuuurt. This time, the positioning is just different, and very rarely do her movements hurt me. Some are not as pleasant as others, but they aren't as painful as I remember those finals weeks with Gage.... But, then again, this baby has time to grow and get bigger, so next week, I may feel totally different!

Another difference related to movement in this pregnancy is that when I rest, I can lay back and watch my belly move and jump and contort. When I was pregnant with Gage, I was told that I was "all belly." I dunno....maybe I had more fluid, or something....but, this laying back and watching the belly contort and feeling from it the inside and watching it from the outside----it's just amazing, and not painful, and all kinds of wonderful.

Sleep: Well, Benadryl is approved during pregnancy, so that helps on occasion. But, I am now up 3-4 times a night to go to the bathroom, as this little girl doesn't allow for my bladder to expand much! I've got this all day and night insatiable thirst (no, my blood sugar is not a problem), so I wake up to drink water. I go through two water bottles per night these days....which only contributes to the bathroom breaks....but what's a thirsty girl to do???? Then there's the snoring that bothers my husband. Then there is a 7 year old who comes into our bed every night at some point. His knees find their way to my belly at least once a night. So, between the kicks from the inside, the kicks to my feet for snoring, and the knees to the belly.....that's usually at least 3 more waking incidents per night.

Let's add it up for the # of times I wake per night (using minimum #s):
bathroom break: 3
family kicking: 3
drinking water: 2
get hot/kick covers off: 1
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That's a minimum of 9 times per night.
No wonder I'm cranky all the time!!!!!

Cravings/Aversions: Tums can't really be counted as a craving, but they are a daily staple for me. Not much as far as cravings. Still liking milk a lot. We are going through about a gallon a day here at our house.... Still not wanting much meat....

Symptoms: Tired, short of breath, waddling now my predominant mode of self-transport, weight gain, swelling.... Oh, let's talk about the swelling. Yes, my feet swell. That's super sexy (not!) and super comfortable (not!).... My hands are swollen/stiff. My fingers hurt in the mornings when I wake up. My wrists are tight and uncomfortable. When I drive, if I put my hands at the top of the steering wheel, my hands fall asleep, so I have to put them down low. It's sooooo weird!

When I lay down, I primarily lay on my left side, but that gets uncomfortable after a while. If I switch to my right side, I get some weird burning sensation on top right side of my belly. Is it my gallbladder? Is it bile? Whatever it is, burning from the inside is not pleasant, and can't be good for whatever it's burning! So, I don't ever stay on my right side for very long. I'm ready for my organs to go back to their normal spot and normal functioning.... I'm just sayin'! Anyway----so, if I lay on my back for any length of time, my feet and legs start to fall asleep, and they say something about it not allowing for the best oxygen/nutrient flow to the placenta when you lay on your back, so there's that....

Have to say this though: haven't had the leg cramps in a while..... (I'm sure I will now because I just put that out in the universe)... The backaches that had me up and soaking in the tub and crying almost nightly when I was pregnant with Gage----hasn't been the same this go around. When she was transverse I had a period there where walking for any length of time reeeeaaallly made my back hurt, but overall, it has been to a lesser degree than when I was pregnant with Gage. Looking back, I really think I had some kind of pinched nerve or something when I was pregnant with Gage because my back would hurt to the point that I'd lose my breath and feel like I was going to vomit all at once, and it was upper back/mid back pain, not the typical lower back/pregnancy back pain.

Anyway.... I'm having lots of pregnancy symptoms. All normal. Few are pleasant. And new to the list: bat-shit-crazy-mood-swings. I think I covered this yesterday....but the smallest things make me cry, or feel alone/neglected/mad/sad/you name it. And then I look back over these episodes and I can see how irrational my thoughts were during certain times....but, in the moment, things that I say, think, and do make TOTAL SENSE to me.

....one month to go.
....one month to go.

Feeling:  huge, crazy, thankful, sometimes feeling every emotion under the sun all at once.....

Best Moment this Week: This week, I had probably one of the sweetest moments of all time with my son. He loves me, and I love him more than he can imagine. Every day, by the end of the day, my feet just hurt. It hurts to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen. They just get that sore and tired. So, the other night, I took a shower or a bath, and then I got into my jammies, and I climbed up on my bed to prop my feet up. I was trying to put lotion on my legs and feet before we started reading in our Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, and Gage could see that I was struggling to reach my feet and getting winded just trying to tend to my lotion need! So, he sweetly asked if I wanted him to do it for me. He offered to do it.....and he did it. Somehow, magically, my feet weren't super ticklish, and he just did it without hesitation....and it was WONDERFUL. His little bitty hands just doing what needed to be done to help care for his Mommy. So of course, then I was crying while he just sweetly put the lotion on my feet and rubbed it all in.... That freaked him out. I explained that I wasn't hurting or sad, and that I was crying because I was just SO VERY appreciative that he would do that for me. Mentally, I went to the story of Jesus washing his Disciples' feet, and although I can't exactly say that the kind gesture that happened at my house was on a biblical level----it was a wonderful, wonderful, moment in my life that I will never forget.

What I Miss:  ....being able to reach my own feet easily. Sleeping through the night. My pre-IVF weight. My pre-IVF non-puffy, not super-round face. Not feeling crazy all the time. Energy.

What I am Looking Forward To:  My mom coming this weekend to help me get organized!!!!!!!! The arrival of the bassinet. The arrival of the rocker (though, I'm still peeved about the book shelf being on backorder....).

Next Appointment: Next week? I think.... I forget. It's on my calendar.