37 Weeks- Happy Birthday!!!!

How Far Along:  37 Weeks

Total Weight Gain:  32 pounds

Maternity Clothes: yes yes yes!

Stretch Marks: Not too bad at all- only a few

Sleep: Impossible. 

Best Moment This Week: Braxton being born!!!!!

Miss Anything: Ha- sleep!

Movement: All the time

Food Cravings: Not really- can't each much with the baby taking up all the room

Anything make you quesy or sick: Um.... the stinkin IV!!!

Gender Predicition- They were right- he's a BOY!

Labor Signs: Oh you know, just some pressure that comes and goes every 3 min- oh wait, thats contractions!?!?

Symptoms:  Pressure, Tiredness, Swollen Feet

Belly Button in or out: Still flat- never popped!

Wedding ring on or off: Was able to keep this on the entire time too!

Looking Forward to: Being a mom :)

Well we made it to 37 Weeks! He is the size of a winter melon and should measure 18.9-20.9 inches long and weigh between 6.2-9.2 pounds.  He is practicing exhaling, inhaling, sucking, gripping, and blinking! This was the crucial week we needed to make it to- so I am so excited that we did!!!

Monday I had another chiropractor appt- we were talking about how we didn't think Braxton would "drop" because he was already so low I just didn't see how he could get any lower.  Ironically, later that night I was laying on the couch and he proved us all wrong- because I totally felt him drop.  The pressure that I didn't think could get any more- did. 

Tuesday I had my follow up ultrasound to re check Braxtons weight since the earlier one put him so heavy.  According to the previous one he should be at 7.5 pounds right now and would between 9-10 pounds at birth.  This ultrasound tech however, measured him much much smaller- she said at the time he was only weighing 6 pounds.  We also saw Dr. Hall and I was now 70% effaced and 1.5 cm dilated-  she said she thinks this would probably be the last time she saw me before I had the baby- she said she can't predict when I will go into labor, and I might make it another week, but she really thinks he will come within the week! Ahhh!!!!!

Wednesday we finally got my maternity pictures back!! (Now that Im about to have the baby) But they turned out good! Here are a few of them:

I also got my flu shot at work- I was so nervous to get it- but it didn't hurt at all!! Thankful I work at a place that offers them for free to their employees! And thankful I made it to today so I could get it :)

Wednesday night I was feeling a lot of pressure- felt like his head was just pushing down on me and ready to come out.  As the night progressed the pressure got stronger and stronger and more and more.  It started out just kind of uncomfortable, but by the time I went to bed it was pretty painful- not tears painful- but complaining painful.

Little did I know that "pressure" was actually contractions! And the next day- October 18th- was Braxtons Birthday!!!!!  We technically made it to 37 weeks and 1 day! (His technical due date was Nov7th)-  he stayed in just long enough to make that all important 37 Week mark!  My next post will be all about the labor and delivery and getting to meet our little baby!

36 Weeks!

How Far Along:  36 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: 28 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Of course

Stretch Marks: Just the few

Sleep: Its okay, just have to get up a million times to pee- and getting my big ol belly out of bed in my maternity pillow is quite the task!

Best Moment This Week: Massage Class and the chiropractor!

Miss Anything: Being able to do normal things

Movement: Non Stop- this week he targeted my ribs hard :( Not fun.

Food Cravings: No cravings really, still want my Indian Taco though!

Anything make you quesy or sick:  Nope!

Gender Predicition- BOY oh BOY!

Labor Signs: Contractions

Symptoms: Swollen Feet, Contractions, Tiredness

Belly Button in or out: Flat- still hasnt popped!

Wedding ring on or off: Still On!!!

Looking Forward to:  Holding our baby for the first time!

Nursery Progress: Its all ready for him to come home to :)


Baby is now the size of a honeydew- should be about 17.2-18.7 inches long and weigh around 5.8 pounds (I wish Braxton was that small- he was that big around 32 weeks!!).  Most of his bones (besides the skull) are now hardened and his muscle tone is improving.

We had our weekly doctors appt on Tuesday- it went pretty good- I had the Strep B Test done -it tested negative whoo hoo- and the doctor said we are pretty much in the clear now. Meaning, if I go into labor they arent going to try to stop it anymore.  So now instead of coming to Labor and Delivery if I have 5 contractions in an hour- instead I only come in once I've had contractions 5 minutes apart for an hour straight.  That was a relief knowing that we are out of the pre term labor scare!  And I'm now 50% effaced and dialated to a 1! Whoo hooo!!!  I asked her if she was concerned about how big he was- she looked back at his number and said yah, we need to get another ultrasound in to re-weigh him for both my safety and Braxtons- so we are doing that again next week- all we are all hoping the numbers were off last time!  So for now, I'm still on "bed rest"- its not as strict anymore, I can walk around the house as long as I am comfortable.  She still doesnt want me walking around the block or a store, but I'm not stuck to the bed anymore.  Well technically not, my body still cant be up long.  If I stand for even a few minutes, I have to sit down, the contractions are too strong. But I do feel like we are making good progress!

That night we had our last baby class- Infant Massage.  I am SO glad we took this!  There are so many benefits to doing this, I don't understand why not everyone does it!  We learned techniques to help with colic and help with crying and overall health.  And just the bonding it creates between the parent and baby is unbelievable!  So with the chiropractor care Braxton will have and the infant massages we will be doing all day every day- I cant wait to see the benefits he will get!

Wednesday came along and just absolutely killed me.  I would get 3 strong contractions pretty much back to back followed by 1 long contraction that didn't let up for at least 30 min.  That happened every 2-3 hours. I was in so much pain.  Driving home with Brian I was just gripping the seat belt crying out in pain from the contractions- and on top of that Braxtons foot was shoved up my ribs making it feel like my ribs were literally breaking.  I was in so much pain we called the hospital on the way home to see if I needed to come in, but they wanted me to go home and try laying down first. Laying down really helped- guess work had just been really rough on my body that day- slowly but surely the pain started decrease and I began to feel better.

Thankfully, I had a chiropractor appointment the next day- she was able to get him moved out of my ribs and get me some relief! I love going to the chiropractor!!!

Friday brought a whole nother round of trouble though- I was doing good all day and then about 5pm I started to get a headache (which I never get) and it just kept getting stronger and stronger- my whole body just started to feel awful and achy- then my throat starting feeling like it was closing up. By this time I started getting pretty vocal with Brian that I wasnt feeling good.  A little bit later I started to get really really hot- and then shortly after my body stayed hot but I got so cold and just started shaking uncontrollably.  Thats when Brian started to get really worried.  We called the doctor to see what to do-  they wanted us to take some Tylenol first and see if that helped and if it didnt to go into the ER.  I took 2 Tylenol and within an hour it had knocked me out and put me to sleep. I woke up the next day and felt perfectly fine- so weird!

I am so worried that I'm not going to know when I actually go into labor- with all these contractions and pains Ive been having for so long, Im nervous I'm just going to write off the real labor pains as just what I have been going through already.  Everyone tells me that I will know- but I just have a feeling that I'm not going to...

1 more month to go until we get to meet our little one!!! :)