39 weeks

Had my 39 week doctor's appointment today.  All is well, belly size, heartbeat, blood pressure, all look good.  I'm feeling pretty good too.  Earlier this week I had a stomach bug which made me feel paranoid that I might go into labor.  I wasn't feeling any contractions or anything, but I just worried that maybe the stomach bug would jumpstart labor in some way.  So, I ended up staying super late at work to get everything as ready as possible just in case something happened.  Since I am sitting here 39 weeks pregnant clearly nothing did happen, but on the bright side my classroom is way more ready for me to be gone than it was before, and that gives me some peace of mind.

On the other hand every time I turn around I see or think of something else that needs to be done before the baby comes.  Packing our bag for the hospital, getting the carseat put in the car, finishing putting up the pack and play (it has defeated both Mark and myself on separate occasions), picking a pediatrician, lesson plans, papers that need to be graded, birthing and breastfeeding books that need to be read, phone calls to people I haven't talked to in forever that need to be made, random baby things we should probably buy before the baby comes, and general housekeeping.  If this baby shows up before the due date we are in big trouble.

And the belly continues to grow.

Boy or Girl?

I thought I would attempt to have an interactive moment on the blog, so I have added a poll for boy vs. girl predictions.  Of course I would never ask someone to make a prediction without having highly scientific research to back it up.  Here is as much information as I could come up with for whether or not the baby will be a boy or girl.
1. The Chinese Gender Calendar Charthttp://www.thebump.com/calculators/ChineseGenderChart.aspx?MsdVisit=1 : boy
2. They say if your belly is high you are having a girl, and if you are carrying low you are having a boy.  I think for most of my pregnancy I was carrying pretty much in the middle, recently it seems to have dropped some, but the baby's head has dropped so it makes sense that my stomach would sit lower: undetermined
3. Mayan predictions, legend has it that Mayans predicted the baby's gender by looking at the age of the mother at conception and the year of conception.  If both are even or both are odd it is a girl if one is even and one is odd it is a boy.  I was 27 in 2010: boy
4. Morning sickness, I was sick as a dog for my first trimester and part of the second trimester as well, they say this indicates a girl:  girl
5. Heartbeat, if the baby's heartbeat is over 140 it is supposed to be a girl under 140 it's a boy. This has varied as well.  It seems to stay around 140 sometimes it's 145 sometimes it's 135: undetermined 
6. Mark is pretty much 100% convinced it is a girl.  He's felt that way since almost the beginning.  Daddy predictor: girl
7. Supposedly pregnancy acne means girl.  I haven't really had any pregnancy acne, a zit here or there, but it's no different than how my skin was pre-pregnancy: boy 
8.  My face has definitely gotten rounder and fuller:  girl
That's all I've got for now.  I know the whole dangling your wedding ring from a string, but I don't feel like getting up right now and checking it.  So you will just have to use the information already given, or go with your gut.  My prediction is undecided.  I went through a phase in the second trimester where I was pretty positive it was a girl, but now I really have no clue.  When I think about it I don't lean one way or the other.  So go ahead and make a prediction by participating in the poll.

38 weeks

Nine minutes to blog before Mark and I go meet friends for dinner and trivia.  Going out on a school night, is crazy for us, but we only have so many nights left that are baby free so we are pushing ourselves to go be social.  We will definitely be leaving early, but I'm proud of us for making it out.

I had my 38 week appt. today.  All is well with the baby, my stomach measures 38cm which is right where it should be.  The babies spine is on my right side, and it's head is still down.  Against my Bradley teacher's advice I went ahead and had the pelvic exam.  I am 50% effaced, and possibly 1/2 cm dilated.  I think the doctor was trying to make me feel good by saying I was dilated even just a little.  The funny thing is I kind of already knew I wasn't going to be dilated.  I just don't feel like I've started the whole labor process yet.  I'm okay with it, I know so many women who in the last few weeks to month of their pregnancy they couldn't wait for the baby to come.  I am excited for the baby to come, but I'm also enjoying every last moment I get of my life before there is a baby in it.  I like getting to hang out with Mark, and work late without feeling guilty, and even though I get up to pee several times a night it lasts 3 minutes and I get to climb back in bed and go right back to sleep.  I know when the baby comes my life will change and be a new kind of wonderful, but for right now I am enjoying my current state of wonderful.

38 weeks

      

37 weeks

I wrote a post last week, but lost it.  So here is try number two.  I had a doctor's appt. on Thursday, I go once a week now, and everything looks good.  The last 3-4 times they have a hard time finding the baby's heartbeat, which the first couple of times made me panic and try to remember the last time I felt the baby kick.  Now I'm just used to it.  This most recent time it happened again, the doctor had the dop tone and was moving it around on my stomach not finding the heartbeat when the baby kicked, so we could see it just not hear it's heartbeat.  The doctor finally found the heartbeat, and she explained to me that the problem is as the baby gets bigger there is more mass for the scan to go through and it makes it more difficult.

Last Saturday was the Baby Shower that Jen and Rachel threw for us.  It was wonderful, and Jen and Rach were great hostesses.  The food was spectacular, and everyone had a great time.  I was a little nervous, because my mom was at my other two showers and she's a lot more comfortable in the spotlight than I am so I could hide behind her a bit.  But this time around I had to be front and center.  Rachel and Jen did a great job of making it a relaxed atmosphere, and I didn't feel uncomfortable at all.  Definitely my kind of shower.  We also got tons of gator stuff for the baby.  We have so many gator onesies  now that we don't have to worry about the baby not being able to represent during football season, and throughout the rest of the year.  The best part is that we did not have any repeats, which just goes to show you the sheer volume of gator baby clothes out there.  A big thank you to Jen and Rachel for all the hard work they put in.

In other pregnancy news the rest of my body is feeling worn out and sore. I make it through the school day pretty well since I am moving around so much, but as soon as I get home and sit or lay for too long, everything tightens up, and makes standing up rather difficult. I'm peeing even more than before which I did not think was possible. I get up to pee 3-4 times per night. I am looking forward to when the baby comes, and I can get some uninterrupted sleep, oh wait...

I think I look ridiculously tired in this picture, I did not realize that this is how I look now.

Wonderful food, and spectacular diaper cake that Jen made.

One of the many adorable gator outfits we got.