more than 9 to 5...my life as "Mom": August 2013

Here I am at 36 weeks!

Yikes! Looking a bit rough here. May have been the afternoon and evening full of Braxton Hicks contractions taking a toll on me (more about that later). :/ Trying to keep the little guy in there cooking for 4 more weeks, but we'll see what happens!

Week of Pregnancy: 36 weeks, 2 days

Baby size: Baby is about the size of a head of romaine lettuce this week!

Baby is now around 18 1/2 inches long from head to heel and weighs almost 6 pounds! In the funnier, Dad-to-Be Edition of How Big is Baby? that I discovered, our little guy is as long as a ukulele this week! Wow! If born now, he'd be much smaller than the other 2 were, but not too small!

Symptoms: Still dealing with intense back and hip pain. It has become increasingly harder to move from a sitting or laying position to standing. :/ Also, can you say Braxton Hicks?!? Ugh! I don't remember really having much of these with either Ethan or Noah, so this is new. They actually got so bad after my appointment on Monday that I was afraid I was going into labor. They weren't super painful, but very uncomfortable, and they weren't getting more frequent, just irregular, ranging from 5 to 13 minutes apart, but lasting for 30-60 seconds. It was a bit scary. It's funny that even though this is my 3rd baby now, I've never really gone into labor since I was induced with both Ethan and Noah, so I still don't really know what to expect!

Food cravings: I still want sweets 24/7 (is it bad when your 4-year-old asks what is for dessert every night??). :/ I've put on at least 25-28 pounds now, so I'm hoping I soon reach that point where it's hard to eat anything and I can lose a little, or stop gaining at least!

Food aversions: Tomato sauces are kind of making a reappearance here. Trying to clean up after a spaghetti dinner a couple weeks ago was making me a bit nauseous.

What I'm excited about: I think we may have finally decided on a name for this little guy!! We like to wait until they are born to reveal our choices though, so you'll have to wait a bit longer to find out! ;) I'm still trying to get used to this one, too, and want to make sure it will be the perfect name. Unlike the two top 10 popular names we chose for the first two, I'm 100% certain that if we use this name, this little guy will never have to worry about sharing a name with a classmate, like Ethan and Noah already have! Haha!

What I've done to prepare for baby: Sigh. I did actually make it to the fabric store, to see what they had, and sadly, did not find a single piece of material that I liked and wanted to use in the nursery. So, I'll either need to find some fabric online, or just buy a few things that are already made. We have finally finished painting Ethan's room (though there are still quite a few finishing touches I want to make), so we're ready to move Noah in with him shortly, and then I'll start getting the nursery ready for a baby again! I need to go through clothes and get all of that organized, so I'm hoping I have time to do that soon while the boys are at school.

The boys decided they wanted to share a bed the other night. I'm not sure
how they managed to stay asleep in some of those positions, but they did
a great job! I'm hoping that having them in the same room will go well.

Funny moment: Last week, out of the blue, Ethan asked me if he could ask God for a girl. I had to tell him that it was a bit late for this one, but that if Mommy and Daddy decide to have another child, then yes, he could. ;) At dinner a couple nights ago, Ethan's prayer went like this: "Dear God, thank you for the good Transformers and the bad Transformers (yes, for some reason, they've been getting a lot of prayer time lately, haha!), we'd like a girl, but thank you for the boy..." LOL! Well, I guess he didn't waste any time!

I went for an OB appointment last week, at 35 weeks, then again this week for 36 weeks. Baby's heartbeat was strong in the 150s both times, and I was surprised to learn that at 35 weeks, I was 2 cm dilated already, and measuring at 36! She said I was still pretty thick (not effaced much) though, so not too much to worry about yet, but definitely measuring ahead when I had been right on every week up until that point. At my appointment on Monday, I had dilated farther, to 2-3 cm, was 50% effaced, and measuring at 38! This is definitely more progress than I had with either of the other boys at 40 weeks! So, I have a feeling this little guy is going to make his appearance on his own, without having to be coaxed out. After leaving my appointment that afternoon, I went over to the hospital to take a quick tour and see where I needed to go when it was time for the big day. While leaving the hospital, I started having contractions. They weren't painful, so I didn't think much of it. After getting home, the contractions weren't stopping, but they weren't getting more intense or frequent, so I tried to take it easy (Josh made me lay down while he took care of the boys and dinner and such) and see if they would subside. When I went to bed, they were still happening, though they were better when laying vs. standing or sitting. When getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, they were still happening, as well as when I woke up the next morning. Things got busy as I started getting the boys ready for preschool, and then I discovered a huge rash on Noah, which made things even more crazy. I dropped Ethan off at school, took Noah to the doctor (where I found out that he had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic he had just finished for an ear infection!) and then back to school, then made my way to another appointment, and finally lunch with Josh. Whew! Since I was so busy, I didn't have time to think about the contractions, so I'm not sure how frequent they had remained. After settling down that afternoon, they came back again. After speaking with the nurse at my OB's office, she advised me to lay down and hydrate to see if that helped. After more rest and much water, they were getting better, but still not completely gone until late that evening. When I woke up in the morning, though, I felt much better. I had some contractions again yesterday, but nothing like what it had been. So, I'm hoping it was just a hydration issue and that this little guy is going to give me a few more weeks before he makes his entrance! I go back again on Monday afternoon to see if there are any changes. I'm assuming I'll have more progress after contracting for two days, but we shall see. I would love for him to stay in there for the full 40 weeks, but at least if he is born anytime soon, he should still be a decent size and pretty much fully developed. :) Perhaps he would like to surprise his Daddy and share a birthday with him at the end of this month!