Our Pregnancy: 35 Weeks

8/13/13 34w2d - It's Tuesday and so far so good! I've been feeling about the same day to day - a few good contractions, but not that many close together. Tired, but feeling pretty good. I was up last night with a bad leg cramp that had me walking around for about 15 minutes and drinking lots of water and eating a banana. I swapped some laundry out while I was up and around and eventually got back to sleep. I didn't much feel like getting "up and at 'em" when my alarm went off this morning though!

I'm starting to feel pretty good about the nursery coming together. There are still a few more things that need to be put away and cleaned up - but overall it feels pretty useable. Kenneth and I talked about getting a rocking chair too, which I would love to have. I had one when Kent was a baby and remember using it quite a bit. I used the Toys R Us gift card I'd received to buy the lamp that matches the crib bedding set, and am hoping to set up a little table for the lamp next to the rocking chair (when we get one) and have a good spot for late night quiet time - and a lamp will be nice for changing baby when it's late without having to turn on the main light.

Right now we have the pack n play assembled in the nursery, and I realized I really don't know where we're supposed to store all the "extra" pieces that came with it for use with an infant - the shelving inset, changing table, and bassinet are all extra

Kenneth's parents will be over early on Saturday to help with some around the house type repairs and things that need to be done - installing a light fixture in the kitchen, installing fan / light combos in the kids' rooms, and maybe helping with a patch that needs to be done on the kitchen ceiling. We'll see how much time they have. I need to have something for breakfast munchies and lunch too since I don't know for sure when they're coming or how long they'll be there. I have muffins and fruit for breakfast items, and was thinking of putting some chicken in a crockpot to make shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches for anyone who wants one at lunch time. I can fix some baked beans, pasta salad, veggie sticks and dip, and/or chips to accompany depending on the mood and if I can get into my kitchen!

8/14/13 34w3d - I've been reading back over my past pregnancy entries at this same point and it is always a fun walk down memory lane to try to remember how things were going and how I was feeling, and what happened after various events. I keep trying to remember to bring my ball to sit on to work - they have some here, but they're not the right height for my desk. I used my ball a lot during my 2nd GS pregnancy and liked it a lot. I have 16 days until my next OB appointment - and I'll be just shy of 37 weeks at that point and will have to find out if they start internal checks at that point or not. I know I am going to be REALLY curious to hear how much I'm dilated at that point. I know I will be at least at a 1-2, there's no way I can't be at least a little dilated with all the contractions I've already had up to this point (not to mention the fact that I've been pregnant 4 times before!). With both of my singleton deliveries I mentioned loosing some of my mucous plug starting about 2 weeks prior to actual labor, and with the very last singleton pregnancy I had bloody show about 2 days before labor started. So you can bet I'll be keeping an eye out for that. I am still counting down the day to September 1st and 37 weeks so I can really start getting excited about the final days before baby arrives!! 18 days to go until full term! I've had some nausea off and on the past few days - so I'm keeping an eye on that. I'm definitely hitting that point of getting tired easily as well. I get home, get a few things done, and then feel like I've hit a wall and need to collapse. Otherwise, overall, I'm still feeling pretty good most of the time.

Miss Lindsey has been wiggling around a little bit this morning and providing me some entertainment. I haven't really noticed any contractions this morning, but definitely pelvic pressure. I slept through for the most part last night which was nice.

I took a few pictures of the nursery after going in and moving a few things around and tidying up a few small things. I have 3 boxes of baby clothes to sell or donate, and everything else has been washed, folded or hung up, and put into a drawer or bin for later. I have all NB through 0-3 month sizes in the armoire, and anything larger that's on a hanger is in the closet, anything larger not on a hanger is in a bin either in the closet or in the basement.

I have a couple more pictures I wanted to hang, and we have the crib to assemble, and then I can get the bedding put in and the butterfly mobile up. I'm thinking all of that will probably happen this weekend - then I can pretty much call it done! Yay!

8/15/13 34w4d - I am so ready for this week to be OVER. Yesterday during the day was pretty much fine, but by the afternoon it was like a whole different ball game. On my way home from work I stopped at Babies R Us to pick up something I'd ordered for in store pick up (the "keep me dry" quilted cover for the crib mattress so I'd have it for this weekend). I walked around the store a little and felt fine while I was there. I got in my car to head home (and picked up a McDonald's fish fillet sandwich - still the only consistent craving I keep getting!!) and about 5 or 10 minutes into my drive I started contracting. A LOT. They weren't painful, not "real" contractions, but they were one on top of the other. I got home and Kenneth banished me to the couch with a big bottle of water and I put a pillow under my feet. It took over a half hour, but they slowed down. Then they would pick back up, then slow back down, then pick back up. Around 7:30 I decided to get into a warm bath and try soaking for a little while. The contractions still kept coming and going. I would say they were ranging between 5 - 15 minutes apart sporadically. A few came with some pretty strong pelvic pain and pressure, but most were just a tightening sensation. Finally Kenneth suggested we get to bed. I know he was worried a lot last night, about me and Lindsey. It's just too early still for her to come, but my body sure is acting like it's in full blown warm up mode. We laid down and I had a few more contractions but conked out pretty quickly. I was wiped out. If I contracted during the night (which I'd be surprised if I didn't) they weren't strong enough to wake me up which was nice, and I actually slept through the night thank God. I'm still feeling totally wiped out this morning, and still contracting irregularly. I had quite a bit of nausea last night as well, and am having it this morning too. We'll see how much longer my body can keep up this pace of "pre-labor" before the real thing is kick started. I want her to stay put for at least another 3 weeks, but am having a hard time imagining that happening at this point. We'll see though - anything is possible!! I am probably going to move up my doctor appointment to next Friday instead of waiting for the 30th. We have a home blood pressure cuff, and when I checked when I first got home last night my BP was low, but my pulse was pretty high. Not surprising, and I know low BP is ok, high is bad, but it definitely contributes to me feeling tired and lightheaded. We kept debating whether or not I needed to go to the hospital last night. I don't want to make the long drive, just to be monitored for awhile, maybe given a dose of meds, be told to drink fluids and take it easy, and be sent on my merry way. I know a lot of people go through what I'm going through right now - having an irritable uterus, or long pre-labor, or whatever you want to call it, is certainly nothing new and many just have to deal with it for weeks upon weeks. It is physically and mentally exhausting though, and I think if I was even another week along it wouldn't be as mentally stressful, but the thought that "real labor" could start soon with all of this activity freaks me out being only 34 weeks... I just want to keep her safe, and take care of her, and it's frustrating to constantly feel like you're fighting your own body to do that! Staying focused though - 17 days left to full term. Hang in there little one!

8/16/13 34w5d - Getting closer to being able to say we're in week 35 and 16 days left to full term! I am debating whether or not to stop by Labor & Delivery this evening. I am sure they will monitor me, tell me everything is ok at the moment, and send me home - but it has been day after day and night after night of nausea and cramping and contractions... I am fairly certain nothing is actually causing cervical changes, but it is just happening so much that it worries me and I am getting to the point of wanting some reassurance that things are ok. I'm now almost 2 weeks out from when they did the FFN test that came back negative too, so it would be nice to have another one done and hear if it's still negative. That would give some reassurance as well... I feel edgy and tense a lot, not knowing what my body is doing, and how much longer this can keep going without resulting in active labor. I'm feeling really worn out and am very glad it's Friday. Saturday is going to be a very busy day with Kenneth's parents coming over, a vet appointment for two of the dogs (annual exam and injections for Diamond, and adequin for Sadie), and my cracked windshield is going to be repaired as well. I think on Sunday we're going to get together with Kenneth's grandmother for lunch or dinner; it's been a little while since we've had the chance to visit with her! She may want to come over and see the nursery too. Kenneth's parents will get to see it tomorrow, and I'm hoping that even if Kenneth and his dad don't have time to put the crib together, that by Saturday PM between Kenneth, Kent, and myself we'll have it done so I can put the finishing touches on things and call it pretty much "done" for the moment!

I need to call and set up our annual termite exam as well - probably for next weekend though - we have enough going on this weekend!

I got the final E-Bay lot of NB clothing yesterday that I'd ordered (which I really didn't need, but it was a great deal with tons of really cute, excellent condition, Carters items!) so those have all been laundered, folded, and put away now as well. I ended up with one more small box of items from that lot, and going back through what was in the NB drawer, of some onesies, shorts, and sleepers that I am willing to pass on. I'll get those posted on Craigslist or something in the next few days and then move those boxes out of the nursery.

I got my Babies R Us order yesterday - so now I have the lamp that matches the bedding set. I have a little table set up to put it on, and it will be over by the crib so I just have to wait for that to get set up to have a place to put it. Kenneth wants to get a rocking chair that can be moved to the front porch once we're done with it in the nursery, so I'm thinking we're going to have to just go to Home Depot and buy one new since everything I've been finding when searching is really for indoor use only. There are some gorgeous old antique rockers that I love... that's the kind we had in Kent's nursery. Wish I had an idea of where that one still was, but we probably sold it when we moved from Washington many, many years ago.

It has been so rainy this past week! Kent has been trying to finish up with mowing the yard little bit, by little bit, after school each day and is usually only able to get 30-60 minutes in before it starts raining on him and he has to call it quits. The grass in the back yard hadn't been done in a couple weeks so it was on the longer side which meant it was still wet at the base which of course makes it take longer too. He's been working on it a lot - I'm sure he must be burned out on yard work by now poor kiddo! He's a good sport about it though - it helps, I'm sure, that he knows there will be a financial "reward" for his efforts!

It's another quiet day in the office, and Miss Lindsey is being very wiggly again at the moment. She's waking up and stretching. :) Hopefully today will pass quickly without too much eventfulness and I will be on my way home before I know it! I'm ready for a (hopefully) relaxing evening and attempting to have a good night of sleep. I won't get to sleep in tomorrow, but I am looking forward to sleeping in on Sunday!

8/17/13 34w6d - Well last night was not uneventful - Kenneth and I talked in the afternoon before it was time for me to head home and decided I'd stop by L and D just to make sure I wasn't dilating with all of the activity I've been experiencing the past few days. I went down to my car, and went to start it and nothing... the lights were coming on but the dadgum thing kept giving me a keyless entry error message. It took 2 1/2 hours to get a tow truck to get to me to tow me to the nearest VW dealership. Kenneth was super sweet and handled things over the phone with the dealer so that they'd be waiting for me and have a rental car ready to go. Thankfully it was ready when I got there and it didn't take too long to drop my car off and make the exchange. I was pretty grumpy and tired by then, but decided to go ahead and go by L and D - the nausea, loss of appetite and contractions had felt a little "more" that afternoon than they had the day before. I figured I'd be told things were fine and I'd be sent home, but wanted some reassurance that I wasn't dilating. They didn't keep me there too long - they were pretty quick about getting me hooked up to the monitors and sending someone in to do a cervix check. I'm dilated just a fingertip, which is pretty much to be expected at this point with how many pregnancies I've had. I did have 5 contractions picked up on the monitor in the hour I was hooked up - but apparently they're not really "doing anything" yet so I just get to wait it out, and let my body stay in warm up mode for however long it takes until real labor decides to kick in. It's reassuring that I've already gone 2 weeks with this level of warm up and activity, so hopefully I'll get at least another 2 weeks more. We'll see how things go.

Kenneth's parents didn't end up coming over today since Donna wasn't feeling well - so we'll have to install the fans another time. Kenneth and Kent did get the new light fixture installed in the kitchen though - it looks great and they did a fantastic job!! So proud of my handy boys. :) We started assembling the crib and then realized a couple pieces were missing, so we have to go back to the house of the people we bought it from tomorrow. We're going to have dinner with Kenneth's grandmother tomorrow evening too, so it will be another full day. I've rested a lot today, and napped quite a bit but I'm still feeling pretty wiped out. 

I'm looking forward to hitting 35 weeks tomorrow and counting down another week!

 

According to Baby Center:

 

How your baby's growing:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (about the size of a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.