Full Term!

Yesterday I got my weekly emails from my three pregnancy websites. I had signed up for these in the beginning of my pregnancy. Each week tells you what is going on with baby, your body, ect..
This weeks all said something along the lines of :

Hi Nicole,you're 37 weeks pregnant!

Today brings two beautiful words: full-term. Now, whenever baby's born, he's likely to thrive!

WOW! And to think this time last year I thought I might never be able to hear those words. And now we will be welcoming our lil miracle into our lives any day now!! And this "best lil thing in life" was well worth the wait!!

So Thursday we went for my weekly check up. Everything is still going great! BP and urine were both fine. We spoke with my Dr. about a birth plan. He basically already knows most of our requests and said we can bring one to the hospital but to be honest with us, sometimes the nurses will label you as a bit crazy when you come in with this. And he knows we are not one of those crazy couples. So we discussed with him again our plans for natural drug free birth. About strictly wanting to breastfeed. If everything is fine with Lil Pea to hold her and bond with her while waiting to birth the placenta. And a few other things. Chris and my friend Lauren that will be there during the labor and birth know all of these things so they can speak up for me when it might not be possible. My friend Lauren took the same Bradley classes as I did and will be coming over as soon as I start to go into labor. We have been taught the best thing is to stay home as long as possible were you will be most comfortable. We told my Dr. we were going to do this and he said that is great and very true. But as soon as my water breaks to call or come in. And obviously we will be timing my contractions. So we will see what happens!! I am also very realistic in a sense that I know I cannot control or predict how my labor will be. And if I do end up needing an Epidural then I will get one. But I am going to try to do without and if not at least without as long as possible. I am also aware that things could turn where I would end up needing a C-Section. And if that means getting our little Angel out safely, then so be it.

So Friday I go for my next check up and my first internal exam. Yayy!! lol I will be 38 weeks. My Dr. does not like to start internals before this because they can be uncomfortable, too many can risk infection, and even if you are dilated you can be for weeks and still no baby.
After having catheters shoved up my cervix during our Fertility testing I'm hoping to leave there thinking, Wow! That wasn't so bad. If I am at all dilated I will then schedule an appointment for an Induction Massage. Some people swear by these. It is an intense massage hitting all your pressure points to induce labor naturally. Since I am trying to have a drug free birth the last thing I want is to go over my due date and possibily have to be given Pitocin to induce labor. As our Bradley teacher told us, Pitocin and Epridural are best friends. Not that it still can't be done, my BF Dana had both her babies with Pitocin and no other drugs. But most women cannot handle the intensity of the contractions that Pitocin causes. Or start getting too worn out to be able to push so need to have the Epidural.

I am still very nervous about everything but I am ready to meet our little girl. This past week we have gone walking every day so I hope it really helps like they say. At this point you are just so uncomfortable, as many of you that have been @37 weeks pregnant can relate. I never truly understood friends that would tell me this at the end of their pregnancy. It still amazes me that there is a little baby I am carrying around all day in my belly that is the size of most newborns, if not bigger! She already possibly weighs more than 2 of my friends babies (at birth) since our last week scan. No wonder I am so swollen and waddle everywhere! lol But if she feels she needs more time to cook in there, I can handle it for her. ♥

*new pics of my "Full term belly" can be found in Lil Pea album*

6lbs. 3oz. (approx.) @ 36 weeks

How Far Along? 36 weeks & 2 days

Total Weight Gained/Loss? 25 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Of course, I'm huge @ this point!

Sleep: I've added another pillow to the bed so this is actually helping a little. I am soooo exhausted just the past week or so now.

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing our "not so Lil Pea" one more time during an ultrasound before we get to meet her face to face. She weighed approx. 6lbs 3oz!! Was not prepared for that. I was thinking maybe 5lbs?! The lady did say this is just approximate. She said on thinner women it does tend to be a bit more accurate. I don't know who she was addressing the thinner comment to. lol Lately I am so bloated it's unreal. My thighs and feet are like sausages! But our little chunker looked great, the tech even said I still have a great amount of amniotic fluid. I put two new pics of Lil Pea in Our Lil Pea Album.

Movement: Oh yeah! It's quite a sight to watch now that she is so big & strong. Punches to the bladder are not so great, though.

Food Craving: The past few weeks I have been craving sweets. And I am not a big sweets person. No wonder she is getting so big. (& me!)

Food aversions: Not really

Morning sickness: Still gone, thank goodness!

Gender: Confirmed again on Friday, it is still def a GIRL!

Labor Signs: don't think so, maybe just some braxton hicks

Belly Button: ugh! Halfway out now.

Stretch Marks: still none (whispered with fingers crossed)

Wedding rings: still on, but my fingers have been getting a bit swollen @ times so we will see.

Exercise: still yoga but that's about it. And trying to get more nightly walks in. Now that I know how big she is I need to start some serious WALKING! ;-)

What I miss: I heard the horrible heartburn/indigestion goes away immediately. I can't wait for that!

What I'm looking forward to: At this point my weekly visit which will be Thursday. I was supposed to go Friday after our ultrasound for an appt., but my Dr. was out of town. And his partner who I was supposed to see instead got called out to an emergency surgery. So now I wait and go Thursday. And of course meeting her very soon!!!

Other NEW news this week: hmm..well already mentioned the ultrasound. Also got the results of my Group B and it was negative so that's good even though it's not a big deal either way. Also started the perinial massage with the help of my wonderful hubby. Was not prepared for it to hurt so much!! Feel the burn!! lol This kinda freaked me out even more about my natural vaginal child birth we are trying for. But I am going to do this every night so we will see in another week if it's getting less painful.

Weekly Wisdom: If you are pregnant get your rest while you can in the first and second trimester. By the 3rd there is no more "resting before baby get's here" as people like to tell you. At this point you are getting up to pee 3-6 times a night and NO position is comfortable even with your different many pillows. And baby is so big & strong a swift kick can wake you up in a heartbeat! Just like her little cries will soon enough.....♥

**Hope everyone had a HAPPY EASTER!!**

32 more days?!? *gasp*

Tomorrow will be March 30th. Lil Pea's DD is April 30th. And the days continue to fly by!! My anxiety level, it can get pretty high lately!! I try not to focus too much on what I still need to do, but many of you that know me well.....let's just say easier said than done for me. lol
I also try not to allow the many thoughts that run through my head bother me too much, as I read in my pregnancy books that these are common and normal thoughts to start having as your DD approaches. But I still get them. I am a bit of a control freak. And we are about to be faced with MANY things I cannot & will not be able to control. Like labor. And how she will be and how we will be as parents. Sure we can control these things to an extent. But we have no idea how my labor and delivery will be. As I have learned the past few months, every woman's L&D is SO different than the next. And we also won't know how she will be or how we will be as parents. All these unknowns have my anxiety level a bit on the high side lately.
Also as uncomfortable as I am getting I think I am going to miss having her in my belly. Or maybe not since I will actually have her in my arms?! It is still a bit surreal that she is a real little baby in my belly. All the videos we have seen and yet I can't imagine one of those coming out of me?? Okay so maybe that sounds weird or maybe you felt this way before you delivered too? And my newest symptom is a sore spot on my belly. Actually two spots. I started getting nervous but two of my friends said they felt this towards the end of their pregnancy. It kinda feels like a bruise would or sore muscle. It's probably cause this little girl is already so strong and can really punch sometimes!

So this Friday I had one of my now weekly visits with Dr. G. Everything still looks good. They did the Group B test. Didn't know they were doing that but hope things looked ok down stairs! lol I need to get a mirror for the shower! ;-) I cannot see there at all anymore!!
I also expressed to him my nervousness about labor, but mainly about getting a 4th degree tear. (Warning: If you are or want to become PG DO NOT google 4th degree tear. It can cause nightmares) I used to work for a colo-rectal surgeon years ago, and unfortunately learned a bit too much info on this. And as uncommon as it is I do know of two women that have had it happen to them. Both ended up having to have an additional surgery to repair it. This is so horrible and really freaks me out! I just want to enjoy her once the pain of delivery is over. I don't want to have to be on pain meds and worry about an additional surgery. Isn't being a new mother and getting over the trauma of just giving birth with no drugs (if I can do it) enough?!? lol Ok enough about that. No need to work myself up again. Repeating to self and what Dr. G said, this is very uncommon and will hopefully never happen to me. But just in case we are going to start doing the perinial massages, even though they are not proven to be 100% helpful. Like Dr. G said, it can't hurt. We learned about these in my Bradley class. Anyone else hear of this, done this or had experience with it possibly helping during delivery?? They also do this during delivery to avoid tearing, but say it can be done the last month before delivery to help also.

Some exciting news, we put the car seat in!! Here is a pic I took with my phone. Also started putting together my bags for the hospital! Just need to go get some PJ's. I don't have any that are button down or loose straps for easy breastfeeding. Going to get that this weekend and then I will have everything!

Friday I will be 36 weeks. We also have our weekly check up. It will be with another Dr. in the practice because Dr. G is out of town (so that means no coming out this week Lil Pea!). We also go Friday for our last visit @ the perinatal office to have our last ultrasound of her. This ultrasound will be to check her position, and also to check her growth and see about how much she weighs!! Of course I feel like she is huge but she will probably be a little peanut. I will also be asking the Dr. about my new sore belly. But I am sure she is going to say this is normal and part of the end of your pregnancy. Funny cause I could never fully understand why most pregnant women would complain so much the last month for it to just be over. I always felt being pregnant is such a blessing. Why rush it and not enjoy it. I have enjoyed this pregnancy. Even through 16 weeks of horrible 24 hours nausea. And even with this new all day uncomfortable feeling from just being too big. But this last month you are just so big there is no way you could just stay like that for very long. And this is why we go into labor. Some of us sooner and some of us later. Let's wait another 2 weeks and see what I am saying. I still haven't gotten to that point of, Please just let her come out!! But I think that's also because I'm so dang nervous about it all. And this will probably not go away so I guess we will see.

As far as her name, NO we still have not decided on one of the three we have picked. (located on upper right corner of blog) Chris has a favorite out of the three. But his favorite was actually different when we first found out I was PG again. (it was still one of those three) So I tell him he is just as confused as me! I'm actually not confused. I love all three names. I just really don't have a favorite out of the three! Not for her. I am really thinking I will know when I see her what it will be. And if not guess I will have to decide real quick either way! lol

This past week was also a very sad time. One of my best friend's mother passed away last Monday after fighting a long battle with cancer. She was young and it is such a sad situation. I am so sorry for my friend and her family. I can't even imagine her pain and hate that I can't do anything to help take it away.
Still thinking of you every day and I am here ANYTIME you need me.♥

**you can check out new pics of my HUGE belly by clicking our Album top left corner of blog, then go to Lil Pea's album**
*also special thanks to Jodi for my new header! ♥ it!*