34w5d. Feeling pretty good, actually. I am getting a big belly though! My newest symptom is swelling. I had started to notice that my wedding ring was fitting tighter until finally, yesterday, I had to put it on a chain around my neck. I thought my ankles were okay until I took off my socks last night and noticed that the rim of skin just above the sock line was puffy-looking too. Darn. I may also have had a Braxton-Hicks contraction or two… like the first baby movements, it is very hard to tell! Only 36 days to go!
Sadly, Darrell’s grandmother passed away the Saturday before last. We went to her funeral and spent some time with his family. Darrell was a pallbearer. Darrell told me that he was saddened by the fact that she’ll never get to hold our son but he did whisper Brendan’s name to her so she’d know it. She was a very kind lady. We are considering her name, Elizabeth, as a baby girl’s middle name if we are surprised with a girl.
Last week’s labor class was good. We covered delivery, when things don't go as planned, c-sections, delivery of the placenta and things like that. We learned two more breathing techniques for when you need more to concentrate on:
Ladder breathing- 1 "ah-hee" then "ah-hoo", moving on to 2 "ah-ees" then "ah-hoo"... so the number of "ah-hees" rises up and down like a ladder- 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 and start over until the contraction ends.
Coach-assisted breathing- same concept of different number of "ah-hees" except the number you do is based on how many fingers the partner holds up.
Our tour was just okay... I did see the main thing that I wanted to though- the difference between a semi-private, a private, and a private deluxe room. I am putting a foot down right now on a semi-private room here. My goodness, just the idea of dueling tvs, visitors for 2 different patients, 2 crying babies, plus all the interruptions for 2 different patients all crammed into a VERY tiny room- NO THANK YOU!! We are actually considering the deluxe room- because DH will get his own regular bed and there is a nice sitting area for visitors (great for putting FIL in while nursing!!!) But is it worth $150 a day? The regular private room has a futon chair that folds out into a small bed for DH for $75 a day... hmmm. We didn't get to see much else on the tour (besides the newborn nursery which we've seen before). Many stops were just "here is" or "through those doors is". Oh, well.
My 34 weeks OB appt was Friday morning. I gained another 6 or 7 pounds for a total of 15.5 pounds (the doctor was quite happy with that total). I think a lot is water weight again with my ring not fitting now and 2 weeks ago it was extremely loose. Surprisingly, I wasn't upset about the huge jump in weight this time. Blood pressure was excellent but I did have a trace of protein in my urine. H/B was all over the place- 130s to 150s. I measured 35-36 weeks. I have not worried so much about the out of breath incidents and haven't had any more near-fainting episodes, so I didn't mention any "complaints". Instead I told her I was doing well when she walked in and asked and then complimented her on her dress- a pretty, floaty blue thing. I must have brightened her mood because she was chatty and friendly today. She measured me and exclaimed "You're big!" several times (remember 2 weeks ago how I was worried he was going to be a BIG baby and she told me she didn't think he was... hahaha.) So, she told us that she wanted me to get another ultrasound at our next visit to see how big he really is- we were very excited to hear that!! She also went over my 3 hour GTT results- the numbers weren't even borderline!!! I was happy to see that.
Then, DH brings up the subject of drug-free labor:
Q: How many patients of yours have drug-free labors?
A: Not many. Maybe 10 or 15%- but I'm all for it!
Q: How often do you monitor your patients?
A: In early labor, just once in awhile. In active labor, I like a quick check every 15 minutes (we think she meant just a minute or two on a hand-held doppler). Monitoring to get printouts can be done in bed or in the recliner.
Q: Are you okay with laboring in the shower, walking around, stuff like that?
A: Sure, I see no problem with that.
As she was walking out the door she turned back and said she was impressed with us even wanting to try it. I told her there were no guarantees- I have never done this before! LOL. I must say we left in great spirits, much preferred over appointments that go like last time!
So, what am I currently thinking? It is just about baby time! I constantly think of (and stress a bit over) all the things I still need to do before I am fully ready to meet my son. I purchased some more nursing bras today- I hope these fit better than my last purchase!! I also need a few nursing tops- I may try to make one if I have the time. They are expensive!! I need to finish painting the nursery too. A lot of other things I need to do have to wait until my showers are over.
What have I accomplished? Darrell received the toddler car seat from work. We both hated it so we returned it to Babies R Us and put the money down on the glider and ottoman I want. It’ll be ready in about 10 days but I hope to wait a bit longer to finish paying for it to see if I get any gift cards from my showers. We also brought several large items that we won’t need for awhile up to Darrell’s parents house to store. That freed up some much needed space! We spent all last weekend cleaning, dusting and rearranging our apartment. The lower shelves in the living room now house baby toys!! We aren’t quite done, but what we accomplished was significant. I have also written and mailed the thank you notes for our first shower.
What am I looking forward to? We have 2 more labor classes and one breastfeeding class in the next several weeks. Our Valentine’s Day ultrasound and doctor appointment are highly anticipated as well! I look forward to having a completed, baby-ready nursery (my goal is by 37 weeks). I can’t wait for the 2 baby showers that remain! I heard that the baby dresser my aunt offered me has become a family restoration project and it should be ready by my shower on Saturday- I am curious to see it. I also purchased a Baby Bjorn carrier on Ebay and can’t wait to try it out with Brendan in it!! Oh, and I bought the cutest M&M wall calendar to write all of Brendan’s firsts in…. Perhaps in my last 2 weeks everything major will be done and I can sort through all our digital pictures, get some printed professionally and create an album for them. A baby scrapbook needs to be made too.
