Pregnancy Week 39

39 weeks pregnant

Here I am, 2 hours away from being 39 weeks pregnant! And just 36 hours away from being admitted to the hospital to have my second sweet baby boy. I am so happy I have made it this far, but am ready for the pregnancy to be over at the same time.  There have been so many times where I was like "Is this the night?" because I have had so many irregular contractions. Its all been so uncertain yet surreal.  I am quite honestly not looking forward to the recovery, but it is par for the course when you have a c-section.  My preferrable choice?  Of course not! But it is the least dangerous choice in my particular circumstance and I would just like people to respect that.

     Anyway, I have definitely felt a spurt of energy this evening preparing 5 baked potatoes, 4 chicken cutlets, and 12 blueberry muffins and not even for me!  I am preparing some food for my Dad, who has so lovingly and graciously decided to help us out while I am in the hospital by watching Judah.  I love him so much.  Tomorrow I also have planned to make a chicken pot pie, banana bread, and 3 dozen pancakes.  I will probably freeze some of these things, but I just kind of wish I had this energy a little sooner and not at the last minute : )  At least its getting done.  Tomorrow also on the agenda is some last minute food shopping, signing some mortgage papers (ahh! yay!), and prepping for the surgery.

     Almost there....!

Pregnancy Week 38

Week 38 - I had my prenatal appointment this week with a different doctor since my regular was on vacation.  I still weigh in at 178 lbs!  I heard your weight can level off at this point in pregnancy so I am hoping it stays that way so I don't cross the 180 lbs mark.    I was telling the doctor that saw me about my contractions and he really emphasized that if I had more than 4 an hour to go to Labor & Delivery immediately.  But of course, I was not "checked" again so I am clueless to how much I am dilated if at all.  He actually had me go to the hospital for a non-stress test the day he saw me .  I've never had a non-stress test (NST) before so it was a new experience for me.  It didn't take very long, but it was neat because I got to hear my baby's heartbeat for about 30 minutes straight.  The straps they used to monitor my belly were a little itchy though.  But, the tech gave me this cool game show like buzzer to hit every time I felt the baby move. The test ended up going just fine and I only had one contraction during the time she monitored me (figures), so it didn't reveal much there, but my son's stress level (or lack thereof) passed with flying colors.  

As for pregnancy symptoms, I am experiencing a lot of heartburn, no matter what I eat. It is such an awful feeling and there isn't much to remedy it, but luckily I won't need to deal with it much longer.   I have also been very tired.  After my prenatal appointment I took a 2 hour nap, it was great. Then the next day Judah took an amazing 4 hour nap and I rested about another 1 1/2 hours.  My bed time lately has been nothing later than 9 or 10 p.m.  Other symptoms include shooting pains, lots of continued irregular contractions, increased appetite, back pain, groin pain, and many frequent trips to the bathroom.

As a joke, Timm and I have been playing Monopoly Deal to "send me into labor" since I have had a horrible losing streak for about a month, but of course now I've been winning.  So I'm thinking the Lord doesn't want stress to be the catalyst for labor.

It is so strange to be so close to the end of a pregnancy and not be going into labor three weeks early.  It's a totally new experience for me, but now I just feel like all I'm doing is waiting and waiting.  Luckily it is only one more week at the most!

I am officially 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant today!  I'll only be doing one more pregnancy post if I make it through the next 4 1/2 days.  My lack of picture taking will SOON be made up with tons of hospital and baby pictures.