Pregnancy #3: Weeks 36-37

36 weeks

Time is flying by. I'm now 37 weeks. Full term and cleared for a home birth. I've been on maternity leave for a week and it's AH-MAZE-ING! Not to brag, but I'm kind of a kick-ass housewife. I cook, I clean, I organize, I try to send my husband out the door with a healthy homemade lunch. And I've been taking the kids on all sorts of adventures and finishing up projects that I'll post about later.

At my 35 week appointment I measured ahead, about 40 weeks. My midwife wasn't too concerned and said if I measured so far ahead again she'd like me to have an ultrasound just to check things out. At 36.5 weeks I measured 41. Ugh. Blood pressure, urine, baby heartbeat and all that other stuff was perfect. I basically follow the diet recommended for gestational diabetes anyways (high protein, low/no sugar/grains) so that wasn't really a worry. My midwife is on vacation until July 5th so the appointment was with her backup who said I was probably just going to deliver early, or have a huge baby. I'm not worried about having a big baby. I don't think my body will grow a baby too large for me to deliver, but I reaaaally don't want to have this baby until my midwife comes back, and even a week or two after that would be nice. I'm super excited to meet this little girl, but I'm also trying to really savor the time I have alone with the boys and finish up more of my to-do list which is just so much easier while #3 is in utero.

Anyways, after the appointment I had a little pity party then decided to do some things I've been putting off like washing the newborn and 0-3 month clothes, and ordering the remaining birth supplies. I also picked out a first outfit and a spare.

I also ordered a birth pool. For the last two births I've rented the midwife's Aqua Doula tub for around $250. This time money is tight and I decided I was just going to use this fishy pool:

It's 24 inches deep, lots of people recommend it for a birth tub, and it's only $30. Jerad really likes the Aquadoula tub because it has a heater, but honestly I've never had it filled long enough to need or use the heater. With both boys it basically finished filling right when I was ready to get in and push. Plus the sides and bottom are hard and the inflatable sides of the fishy pool are supposed to be more comfy to hang over or lean on. Even though both boys were born in the water, I'm not stuck on the idea of a water birth so if it doesn't work out I'm fine with that too. I'd so much rather use the extra $220 towards a house cleaning... or having the windows washed... or just in the bank.

The ultrasound went fine. The baby is measuring a little ahead (38.5 weeks) and they're guessing 7lbs 12 oz. Ultrasounds can be off by a pound and a half, but that's probably fairly close since the boys were 8 and 8.3. I also had extra amniotic fluid, but nothing crazy. The two combined plus the way she's positioned are just making me measure ahead. The good news is she's head down and in a good position for delivery. I've never had an ultrasound this late in pregnancy before. The baby looked so CUTE! Like a chubby little baby, not like an alien.

She looks so much like the boys. Especially Miller, he had that same little wrinkle in his nose.

I'm having weekly chiropractor appointments which I loooove. I'd been having trouble sleeping and waking up about 4 times a night. At my last adjustment she said I was really rotated to the left and did all sorts of special  chiropractor ju-ju and brought out some weird tool thing to roll on one of my legs and then I slept through the night the next two nights in a row.

37 weeks.

To be honest, I'm getting pretty uncomfortable. Especially at night. I usually wake up once or twice and its quite the chore to get out of bed and waddle to the bathroom. My vagina pops when I stand if I lay down too long. I'm sure it's not actually my vagina, it's some sort of ligament down there but its suuuper awkward and scares me every time like something is breaking. The last 3 or 4 days I've woken up to slightly painful contractions around 2am. Jerad is usually still awake working on drawings or bids on the computer downstairs and I usually have a little panic attack and think "crap, if this is labor I should tell Jerad to get some sleep ASAP... or maybe he should stay up and finish all his computer work so he doesn't have to do it when he's even more sleep deprived with a newborn... or maybe we need to blow up the birth pool and make sure there's no problems... or get the birth kit down from the attic... or figure out what we're going to do with the kids...or clean the house..." then I make myself go back to sleep and so far, no baby.

My plan is to actually do some of the "must happen before the baby is born" things over the next few days like go through the birth supplies, organize them, buy what we still need, make a post-partum care basket and a breastfeeding basket. I'm not really feeling like labor is imminent, but when it does happen I don't want it to be a hectic scramble to get things ready.

During the day I do okay doing chores and chasing the boys, even in this 113 degree heat! I have been sneaking in a nap most days when they take theirs which helps me last through the dinner/bath/bed routines which I've been doing solo most nights as Jerad tries to finish up all the projects he has going on. Then by 8-8:30pm I'm mentally and physically done, usually having braxton hicks contractions about every 5 minutes and just get in bed. I watch TV or listen to my Hypnobabies tracks and go to sleep early. I'm actually feeling really rested! Besides my body feeling like its 41+ weeks pregnant, I am enjoying this time. This isn't my first rodeo and I'm trying to really soak up and be thankful for this time instead of impatient for the baby to come. She'll arrive eventually, and in reality caring for a newborn (and an 18 month old... and a 3.2 year old at the same time) is much harder than some aches and pains and vagina popping.

Pregnancy #3; 34-35 weeks

33.5 weeks

34 weeks

35 weeks

So... 35 weeks. This is getting to be that awkward time where the baby could be here in 2 weeks, or who knows, another 7. I've been seeing the chiropractor regularly which has been amazing, and at my last midwife appointment I went ahead and got my clearance for this to be my last week of work.  I was planning on working until 38 weeks, but the days that I work my feet are swelling and I'm getting so uncomfortable. If I'm being honest, I'm pretty mentally checked out at this point so stopping at 36 sounded good to me!

Jerad actually came to the last appointment with me and the kids, which doesn't usually work out with his work schedule. The seat was adjusted funny on my car for some reason so I'd have to straighten up every time I had a Braxton Hicks contraction because they were too uncomfortable otherwise with the way the seat was. On the 40 minute drive I had 6 or 7. I don't even pay attention because I'm used to just having them CONSTANTLY no matter how much water I drink, rest I take etc. I had them a lot with Miller too and supposedly it gets worse with subsequent pregnancies. Since they're not really painful, just uncomfortable, I ignore them. But it was freaking Jerad out because he is so crazy at work right now it would be pretty horrible timing if I had the baby early. So he pretty much demanded that I stop working ASAP.

Not that being at home is more restful than being at work.

So, this is my last week at work. After today I'll only have 3 more days left. I am sooooo excited. I hadn't realized how mentally and physically I was over working until the morning I turned in my notice. Not having to wake up the kids if they want to sleep in and have to deal with loading and unloading them from the car all before I have to be at work at 7am will be AMAZING.

Last Thursday my coworker's surprised me with an ice cream cake and some gifts for the baby:

 

My plans are to take spend lots of quality time with the boys, get lots of projects done, get lots of rest, and take up everyone on their offers to babysit or help around the house so that I'm actually able to accomplish those things. I was re-reading my old blogs and how bored I was on maternity leave with Marshall and... oh man... I just want to go back in time and kick myself. I would KILL to just be able to sleep and clean and window shop whenever my little heart desired without feeling like it was cutting into time with the kids! First time mom's, enjoy your maternity leave and take as much as you can... it's a whole other ball game once you have kids to chase around! Obviously completely worth it or people wouldn't willingly have multiple children, but still... enjoy your alone time while it still exists. Honestly at this point, I don't even remember why I thought it was hard being pregnant while caring for ONE other child. Especially because he was still taking 2-3 naps a day at this point. Oh well, hindsight.

What else it there to say about 35 weeks? I'm sleeping pretty well, usually I wake up about once to pee. I'm achey when I sit or lay in the same position so long (hence why working sucks), but I am roughly the size of Texas so that isn't that surprising. At my last midwife appointment I was measuring waaaay ahead. Like -- 40 weeks. Which explains why I feel like I'm 40 weeks:) She thinks its just lots of extra fluid and we'll check again at the next appointment (next week), but doubts it's anything to worry about.

That's all I've got. After today's 10 hour shift, I just have two 8 hour days then one more 10 then I'm OFF FOR FOUR MONTHS! Not that I'm excited or anything...

What we've been up to

We've been busy! Last Friday the playcare/preschool Marshall goes to twice a week had a little graduation party potluck. Marshall was so excited to have Jerad, Miller and me all at his "school."

 We had been planning on having a yard sale the next day but Jerad had been working late every night and I just couldn't get everything done in time so we decided to try again in a few weeks. The main reason I wanted to do a yard sale was to declutter... so now there are piles of things EVERYWHERE to donate, or sell. I am slowly going insane. It's like, why even clean when it looks like we're living on an episode of Hoarders. There is seriously not one room in the entire house that doesn't make me twitch right now. Well, I guess the bathrooms are all ok.

Anyways, instead we focused our energy on finishing the baby room. Nothing had happened since 2 months ago when Jerad put up the drywall mud. He works really well under pressure so telling him that we HAD to get it done before the baby shower on Sunday finally kicked him in gear. We spent one day sanding (we meaning Jerad of course... but I did stay awake until midnight to keep him company), then 2 nights painting. Oh my gosh, he turns into such a BEAST about drywall and painting. I think he would literally rather wade through raw sewage. Which is ridiculous because it is such a small room that it went so fast.

The night he was doing the drywall he went to vacuum after sanding and noticed that the canister needed to be emptied and the filter washed (apparently you're supposed to check those things?). He went to wash the filter in the sink but I had just finished cleaning our bathroom so I asked him to go use a different one. He's usually so cheerful and even tempered it just cracks me up when he gets an attitude. Basically he was annoyed at me for cleaning. If I wasn't constantly vaccuuming then the canister would be empty and filters all clean. Whatever. I'd offer to stop, but even with my seemingly constant cleaning our house is a disaster so stopping al together probably isn't the best plan.

These pictures were taken late at night on my phone so they're not the best but you can get an idea:

view looking in the door

crib bedding

wall hangings above the crib

changing table to the right of the door

The walls are Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue:

We still need to clean the drywall mud off the carpet, add a few more things to the walls and maybe some shelves, replace the light fixture, and get a rug, but overall it feels done to me and I'm extremely happy! We ended up buying the crib bedding I wanted, and the changing table on Craigslist then spray painting it. We left the crib yellow which we had painted for Miller's room. I had the fabric, frames, and mirrors already so we only spent about $150 on everything including the bedding! I know the baby won't really use the space, but I feel good having a special place dedicated for her.

Saturday night my sister and her husband were visiting and brought us delicious Thai Food and played with the kids for hours. Then my BIL helped babysit them during the shower! I wish they lived closer, I miss when we were neighbors:)

Sunday my mom threw me a surprise baby shower. It wasn't really a surprise... but I didn't think I was having one at all this time and she decided to do it about a week and a half before the shower so it sort of felt like a surprise. It was just a low key ladies lunch with a pink theme. I had the boys with me and forgot my camera so I didn't get a ton of pictures

My sisters, mom and me

Both the kids skipped naps and were a little tired when we got home. Miller fell asleep in the car and stayed passed out on a living room chair while Marshall and I watched a movie.

He even stayed passed out when Amy came over to visit and deliver our pictures and Jerad's sister stopped by to pick up a canoe! I have weird kids who are crazy light sleepers and ONLY sleep in their beds... so this was a blog-worthy event.

  

Its been triple digits and I'm feeling huge and lazy so I stocked up on a bunch of dollar

store shaving cream which the boys have been playing with in the shower.

This usually buys me 30 minutes and they end up really clean so it's a win-win. I anticipate lots more of this type of thing while I'm on maternity leave. Which will be SOON!

We're kicking around the idea of going to Gilroy Gardens this Saturday. I really really want to get some things done around the house... and our front yard looks so white trash right now since it got all torn up by the tractors for the backyard then the yard sale stuff everywhere... but the kids would have so much fun and I know I won't feel up to going for much longer. And since it's Father's Day weekend I'm sure Jerad would prefer a day trip to a theme park over sweating outside doing yard work:)

Marshall 3 years, Miller 1.5

Here are a few pics of the boys. I know everyone says this, but man I think I have the cutest kids in the world! They at least have to be in the top 10 right?

Baby #3 Maternity pics

Last week we had Maternity pictures taken. With Marshall (see his here and here) I waited till 36 weeks, but I'm so big already this time around I'm fine with getting them done at 33:) Apparently I never posted Miller's Maternity pics. I think because we were also using them for Christmas cards I didn't want people to see them in advance. I'll find them and add them later!

Anyways, here you go. It was a CRAZY windy evening and the kids were wired and hadn't napped all day but I'm still happy with how they turned out.

I had to include this one because it's just so typical:)