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40 Weeks & No Dialation : /

Still no baby, unfortunately. I am getting pretty impatient but I know that I've got to wait for her to be ready. We had an appointment yesterday and I was not dialated at all. He told me to come back for an appointment Friday with dates that I might want to be induced. I *really* don't want to be induced. Everyone who has been through it says it's so much worse to be induced.... and even the doctor said it takes much longer. I would rather just wait till she's ready then rush things & make us both miserable. I don't like the fact that it's just not natural. But they won't let me go 2 weeks past my due date without being induced. I'm not sure why. Jeff & I plan to ask more questions about this on Friday if I make it to my appointment.

Some days I feel better then others, but for the most part, my whole body is just sore and tired. Jeff had to completely get me ready for work this morning by dressing me, cooking me breakfast, getting my stuff & lunch together, and dropping me off at work. This morning I was having a hard time. Hopefully things will get easier or I will go into labor really soon!

I think the worst part is anticipating everything. I'm nervous about the birth and scared about everything that could go wrong but Jeff has made the good point that worrying doesn't help anything and just being relaxed is the best thing I can do for myself now. As much as I'm NOT looking forward to the actual birth, I can't stop thinking about our lives after our little princess is finally here. I'm looking forward to being away from work and getting to spend 100% of my time and energy on my family. I know it'll be crazy and frustrating but I really can't wait.

Soon!

I'M 39 WEEKS PREGNANT! We had a doctor appointment today and he said my cervix is now really soft so it should be "soon"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They put us in a room with an ultrasound machine today & I asked for an ultrasound & he did it! That was awesome. I love Dr. Vaclavick. He's so relaxed and so cool. I made him double check that it was definitely a girl, haha. He also measured all her parts & said she has long legs :)

I'm having more and more trouble walking. It's the weirdest feeling. I guess she's just so low that it's putting so much pressure on my pelvis and it's really uncomfortable to walk... or even sit actually. The only time I'm really comfortable is when I'm laying down. It's only a matter of time now... I'm super excited!

38 Weeks Pregnant...

I honestly can't believe I'm 38 weeks pregnant. All I have to say is I'm ready for this little girl to make her entrance whenever she is. I'm getting pretty uncomfortable, especially the last 2 days. I've been feeling this super sharp pain on my left side just about every hour. I asked what the deal was at my appointment yesterday and she told me a bunch of things. After ruling out kidney stone, infection, & something else I can't remember from my urine sample, she told me it's just something comparable to a muscle spasm - I forget the word she used exactly. She said the best thing to do is just relax and try not to stress so much because that's probably what's causing them and that I could rub the area which would help.

I don't want to sound like a wimp but I honestly thought I might be getting close to labor yesterday, that's how painful these things are! They were also happening regularly about every hour. I realize you should feel contractions over your whole stomach and not just the one part but I felt like they were way too painful to be nothing. Maybe it's just hopeful thinking!

Jeff & I went grocery shopping yesterday to stock up on everything we're going to need. I think this weekend I'm also going to make some meals to freeze & store so we don't starve those first couple days. Jeff & I also got a DVD called Baby's First Days or something. It came for free with something so I thought it would be totally stupid but we started watching it last night and it has lots of good tips! We put it in late last night expecting to watch 5 minutes and turn it off but after the first 2 sections I realized how good it is. We were both exhausted though so we'll have to finish watching it tonight.

I also got my breast pump. I bought the avent isis duo. That also came with a DVD to learn how to use it which I watched. All the pieces were kind of intimidating until I watched the DVD but now I'm just excited to use it. I'm sure the biggest problem for me will be making sure I get enough food, sleep, and of course stop stressing so that I don't have milk supply problems.

We still have quite a few more things on our baby to do list then I would like, but hopefully that will change after this weekend. Jeff is going to a car seat inspection place today to get the car seat properly installed and make sure there are no problems. That's probably the biggest thing left. But we also have to pack a hospital bag, clean some items that we got used including her tub, finish putting her stuff away so her room isn't a mess, open up/set up/put batteries in all the stuff, BUY the batteries to put in all the stuff, put sheets on the pack n play, co-sleeper, & crib, etc... ugh, overwhelming! Jeff's mom came down last Saturday to help with a bunch of stuff and she offered again this Saturday so we'll probably take her up on that. She cleans way better then Jeff :)

P.S. I have stretch marks and I'm not happy about it...

37 Week Doctor Appointment

Today I had to go get bloodwork before work and then we had yet another doctor appointment on my lunch break. I had my first internal which wasn't at all as bad as most women make it out to be. It was really no big deal. I complained to him about all the pelvic pressure I'm having and he pointed at Jeff and said, "that's why", haha! Then he made a comment that maybe if I got together with a jockey I wouldn't be in so much pain. But he said it's continuous now until the baby is born! Ah! When he felt my belly he said, "wow, that's a good sized baby" and then made a comment that he could feel the head when he did the internal. I had no idea they could feel the head! That's pretty amazing.

I have definitely felt her drop and while it sucks that I have all this pelvic pressure, it's kind of nice to be able to breath a little better. I guess since she's lower she's away from my ribs. I feel like she's been doing gymnastics most of the time in there. Her kicks are getting SO strong and when she kicks me in certain spots, they really hurt! It's so awesome to just lay down and watch my belly move around. We can see her little body parts poke out. Jeff is getting much more excited lately and I'm getting much more needy. I don't ever want to be alone and I feel like I'm always asking Jeff for different things because I always need something!

36 Week Doctor's Appointment

We had an appointment with our favorite doctor yesterday! There's 4 doctors at the office I go to and you have appointments with all of them because you never know which one will be on call at the hospital when you're delivering. I'm ok with all of them but Dr. Vaclavik is really my favorite. I'm hoping that he's the one that will be there when I go into labor. I lost 2 pounds since my last appointment! I'm not sure how that happened because I've been eating A LOT of food and I have also been laying in bed A LOT. He wasn't worried though because he doesn't really care how much weight I gain as long as I'm within the range and the baby is growing normally, which we both are!

I asked him if I needed to make a birth plan or anything and he told me not to. I thought it was kind of weird that all these women had birth plans telling the doctor what to do. I mean, I'm not a doctor so I won't be trying to tell him how to do his job. I'm sure he can do it much better then me. He said that a lot of times women make up these crazy birth plans and are then upset when everything doesn't go perfectly to their plan. This really isn't something I can plan so I'm thinking I'll just go with the flow and do things how my baby girl wants to do them. I did make sure to ask him if it would be possible to keep the baby with me directly after the birth to breastfeed right away. I heard that's beneficial. He said he recommends that unless there's problems with me or the baby, then we might need to be separated. He did a strep test and gave me a thing to go get more blood work done. It's never ending!

Our focus now is figuring out which car seat we want to use and installing it so we can bring it to have it checked ahead of time. If it's not an approved car seat of it's not installed correctly they don't let you take your baby home and I don't want any surprises that day, so we need to do that ahead of time. We also still need a pediatrician. It's not like I have crazy/demanding criteria or anything but I just haven't gotten a good enough vibe at any of the offices I've looked into. Plus I have to make sure they have all the important stuff, like accept my insuranse and are affiliated with the hospital I'm delivering at. It might be awhile before we settle on one...

I've been good. I haven't really had any crazy pregnancy cravings until now, but they are officially here. I've been waking Jeff up in the middle of the night for crazy food combinations. He's been lucky until now because I haven't bothered him much in the middle of the night except for when I was feeling sick. I'm getting super anxious for her to be born. I sit in the glider in her room a lot and just look around at all her stuff. I know I should be enjoying the quiet time but I'm really just excited about all of it. It's a little scary, but I know that with everything Jeff & I have been through, we will be there for each other through every crazy newborn night!

3rd Trimester

I was scared to death of the 3rd trimester after everything I've heard, but I can honestly say that it's been the most enjoyable for me. I can taste my food again and actually eat what I want without throwing it up (most of the time). I've even been sleeping better at night. I don't know what's going on or why it has been so much better, but I'm definitely not complaining.

My fingers are a little swollen and I drop nearly 50% of what I pick up. My feet are REALLY swollen so I can't stand up for long periods of time and it has made my toes look really big & gross. The only kind of exersize I can really do anymore is swimming. BUT it's all a small price to pay to be able to enjoy food again and sleep longer then an hour at a time. Best of all - I'm feeling the baby move stronger & stronger. I see my belly move and all of her cute little body parts sticking out. I actually feel like I'm already bonding with her and she isn't even born yet. The third trimester is incredible!