31 - 34 weeks

Bedrest, bedrest, and more bedrest...


How far along: 31 weeks (Dec. 15th), 32 weeks (Dec. 22nd), 33 weeks (Dec. 29th), 34 weeks (Jan. 5th)

Baby size: According to various baby websites, he is around 5 pounds now, and could be 18-20 inches long. According to my midwives, baby is almost 7 pounds already (at 34.5 weeks), which is another indicator that my due date is off! They all think I'm closer to 36-37 weeks, but we're still being careful just in case.

Total weight gain/loss: +20lbs

Sleep: Getting more difficult... this kid is getting too big! I often find myself wide awake for a couple hours between 2am and 5am. Maybe my body is getting ready for a newborn? Haha.

Movement: It's slowed down a bit now that he's so big, but he still moves a lot. It's fun to guess which body parts ares sticking out of my belly... elbow, knee, foot, hand...

Food cravings/aversions: Anything chocolate. We've been watching "Cake Boss" on Netflix recently and it's almost too much for me... everything they make looks SO GOOD and I just want it NOW. Haha. My cravings have been pretty unhealthy recently... burgers & fries, pizza, soft baked pretzels... so I haven't really given into them much. I'm still eating lots of fruit... can't get enough of it. Oh! And banana pudding. I found an amazing recipe on Pinterest for it, and I've had Thomas make it twice already :)

Pregnancy symptoms: Lots of contractions still. And general crampiness and achiness. My back and hips are sore from being stuck lying down all the time. I'm seeing a chiropractor once a week which helps... she is also getting my body ready for delivery by properly aligning my hips and pelvis so that baby has lots of space to get through.

What I miss: Being able to get up and move around freely. Cooking, using my sewing machine, even just picking up around the house!

What I'm looking forward to: Not being on bedrest :) Hopefully only a week or so left. I've been on bedrest for over a month now and I'm very ready to be done.

Milestones: At 34 weeks, if I go into labor they won't stop it. I'm actually 35 weeks tomorrow. We're hoping to make it to 36 or 37 weeks though. It looks like baby boy will be here sooner rather than later with all the contractions I am having. I've been into the birth center twice this week for the midwives to check on me because of all the contractions and basically we're just trying to make it 36 weeks for lung maturity, because my body keeps trying to go into labor. I have to drink lots of water, and take lots of warm baths to get the contractions to slow down, and stay lying down completely horizontally so that the baby isn't pushing down.

Best moment of this week month: Hmmm... well it's just been nice in general to have Thomas around more during his month off from grad school. He also got two long weekends off work for Christmas and New Years. I'm not looking forward to him starting classes again next week :(

Pregnancy moments with the hubby: We've had a couple of nights where we thought we might have to go to the hospital again, but fortunately it hasn't happened yet. But we did pack our hospital bags... and when I say "we" I mean Thomas was frantically running around trying to gather the stuff from the list I made him while I laid on the couch trying to get the contractions to slow down. It was pretty comical :) But at least we're now prepared for when we actually do need to go in... Thomas knows where to find everything now. If we make it to 36 weeks, we can deliver at the birth center... but if baby decides to come before then we have to go to the hospital.

Also, it looks like we will be moving THIS weekend instead of on the 28th... which is good because Thomas won't have started his next graduate school semester yet, AND we have a bigger chance of getting moved before the baby gets here! I LOVE our new apartment and can't wait to be settled in it.

it's been quite the month!

A month ago today I was happily and busily bustling around getting things organized, making Christmas presents, and planning fun activities for the holidays. Two days later we were in the hospital for a night because I was having lots of contractions, and then I was promptly put on bedrest because my body was threatening to go into labor at 30 weeks. At the time I thought to myself "OK, I can do bedrest for two weeks until my next appointment and then they will tell me everything is fine again and I'll be back up." But the contractions never stopped completely. Most of the time they are only 2 or 3 an hour, but sometimes they get as close together as 3-5 minutes, especially if I get up and walk around for more than a few minutes at a time. So I have been relegated to bedrest until 37 weeks.

I've been on bedrest for 4 weeks now, right through Christmas, our 3rd anniversary, and New Year's. We were planning to fly to Oregon for Christmas with Thomas's family, but we had to cancel those plans, sadly. But Thomas found ways to make each event fun and special even though we couldn't go anywhere. Unfortunately there are no pictures of him because he's good at avoiding the camera.

We made a gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.

Happy to be sitting up for a little while :)

Our little Christmas tree.

On Christmas morning, Thomas made this delicious raspberry french toast casserole.

I gave it a thumbs-up (please ignore the messy hair).

For Christmas dinner Thomas made steaks and roasted veggies.

It was amazing!

Reading one of my Christmas presents from Thomas :)

A few days later, a Christmas package from my family in South Africa arrived... so we had a second Christmas :)

The 28th of December was our 3rd anniversary, and since we couldn't go out on a date, Thomas brought home dinner and roses :)

On New Year's Eve we stayed up and celebrated with sparkling apple cider and banana pudding (a random craving of mine).

I took a little break from bedrest to get a baby bump picture at 32.5 weeks. 

Baby boy is getting huge!

I'm now 34 weeks, and both my midwives and doctor have said that they will be shocked if I make it to 40 weeks. They think my due date is off, too, because baby is measuring over a week ahead. If I go into labor after January 18th, they won't stop it. So we could potentially have a baby in less than two weeks. Yikes! They want me to stay on bedrest until the 24th, just to be safe.

In other big news, we are moving on the 28th! Yay! I'll be 37 weeks pregnant (or possibly have a tiny new baby). Not so yay. But we really need to move and I love the new apartment that we finally decided on. It's about twice the size of the one we're in right now, which is completely overtaken with baby stuff. Haha.

I'm not allowed to to any packing or moving, so it will all be up to Thomas and some wonderful friends who have volunteered to help.

As boring as bedrest can be, the past 4 weeks have actually gone relatively quickly. Time is starting to drag a little more now that we are closer to the end, though.

But the baby will be here before we know it, and with moving and everything else going on, the next few weeks (especially after I get off of bedrest) are going to be busy and exciting.