36 weeks TOMORROW!!!! :) :) :)

I know I have said this quite a few times throughout my history with this blog... but... I STILL can't it!!! And I know what you're thinking... "Honey, BELIEVE it!" Tomorrow, I'll be 36 weeks, and I'm feeling good :)

How far along: 35 weeks 6 days! :) Cervix is still high and closed, too. 

Total weight change: Last week I was up to 38lbs (eek!) and this week I actually lost a pound, so 37 (still, eek!). But, again, I haven't been lectured, and my OB has not seemed concerned with my weight. He seems pretty happy with the progress I am making :) 

Maternity clothes: Still the same. I refuse to buy anymore maternity clothes, and am getting by with what I have. With the amount of time I have left, why bother? Plus, no need to layer in South Florida for Fall... I can get away with wearing the same ol' stuff. The only thing I need to get is... nursing bras and tanks!!! Need to head to Target for that... 

Stretch Marks: I am officially a zebra. Oh well :-/ It's for a good cause. Mr. DBud doesn't seem to mind, so I guess I won't let it bother me. 

Movement: He still moves quite a bit, but has definitely slowed down a lot. When he does move, it's mostly rolling and such. Sometimes, I look at my belly and it's completely lopsided! The FUN part is when he stretches and puts pressure on the upper part of my belly AND on my bladder. Not cool! lol! I am being sent for an Ultrasound on Monday to see how big he has gotten... this will be fun, since I haven't seen him since end of June!!! Looking forward to it :)

Sleep: Sleeping like a rock! Thank GOD! I am trying to get as much rest as possible, and find myself hitting the sack a lot earlier than I used to. I think my body is trying to tell me something... get your rest while you still can! ;)

Best Moment This Past Week: Finding out that our furniture arrived (Mr. DBud is out picking it up with his friend now) and getting the nursery ALMOST finished! Once the furniture is in place, we will only be missing the mattress, which his mom is getting for us, and putting the bedding in place. I am also in the process of figuring out what I am going to do for the wall area above the crib. I want to do something with his name, but am looking for some creative ideas that will match the "Safari Sky" theme. We shall see :)   

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: My FIRST cervix check since being pregnant. Mr. DBud and I haven't been too "active" in the intimate department lately. Mostly because it is just too uncomfortable. Truth be told, it's been quite a while. So, when I went in to the Dr. yesterday, and he had to do cultures and all that good stuff, it was SO uncomfortable. That sucked. 

Belly Button In or Out: Still in... but doesn't seem like it will be for long lol! But seriously... I'll be surprised if it completely pops.

Cravings/Aversions: Still into chewing ice when it's hot and I feel dehydrated (and it still is here in South FLA). No other major cravings, though. 

Symptoms: Heartburn comes and goes, which can really suck at times... and the cold I've been battling for 2 and a half weeks is ALMOST gone. But, I speak like I have a frog in my throat, which is annoying since I'm a singer and so MENTAL about my voice. 

I am looking forward to finishing the nursery this weekend, and getting our bags packed. My official goal was to have EVERYTHING ready by 37 weeks which is NEXT weekend, so I think we are good :) :) :) I hope to have everything done by Friday the 5th so Mr. DBud and I can have a little Date Night and go see Frankenweenie :) I am a HUGE Tim Burton fan, and have been looking forward to seeing it. Hopefully, baby stays put until AFTER the movie. So far so good ;) 

Can't wait to post pictures... and hey, before long... I may be posting my Birth Story ;) 

Until next time!!!!! <3

36 weeks

How far along: 36 weeks today!!!  This week Parker is the size of a honeydew melon and is in  17.2- to 18.7-inch and 4.2- to 5.8-pound range and continues to beef up.  He is getting closer and closer to being able to breathe on his own.  His skin is getting smooth and soft and his gums are rigid.  The liver and kidneys are in working order and the circulation and immune systems are basically good to go!  

Total weight change: I gained 5 pounds since the last OV, but the swelling in my lower legs/ankles/feet are getting pretty bad sometimes.  I didn't get fussed at though by my OB!

Maternity clothes: My maternity scrub tops have gotten a bit too short and my belly shows if I lift one of my arms to grab a blood pressure cuff or something.  It's kind of funny and luckily I haven't had any patients comment.

Stretch Marks: Still none new but I'm keeping my skin moisturized with lotions and stuff.

Movement: Parker is still moving up a storm...more shifting and rolling than actual kicks.  Sometimes I swear the kid is trying to stretch his way out because I see a butt and feel his feet or something pushing on my pelvis!  

Sleep: Definitely needing a lot more here lately.  During the 2nd trimester I felt great after only 6-7 hours of sleep and woke up fairly early on the weekends with rare naps.  Now I could take a nap several times a day and sleep in every morning!  I love sleep and I figure I need to start banking some hours!

Best Moment This Past Week:  I have 2 as well: I had my 36week appointment yesterday and found out that I'm dilated to a 1, my uterus is tilted back like it should be, Parker is head down and getting engaged!  I was quite surprised, but I guess all that walking I'm doing at work trying to keep up with my provider has helped.  My baby showers are this week: my mom and girls at work are doing a combo tomorrow and my mother-in-law is throwing one this upcoming Sunday.  Hopefully I'll get lots of stuff that we need!


Oh yeah, I bought my breast pump yesterday and we bought the paint for the nursery on Monday - painting this weekend!

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: Umm, I think dealing with the extra fatigue has been the hardest thing for me this week.  I don't feel like getting out of bed, getting up from desk to go get my patients or staying until 6pm finishing everything up.  All I want is to wear my stretchy pants and chill on the couch!

Belly Button In or Out: Officially an outty!  It's funny and I play with it sometimes!  Hahaha.

Cravings/Aversions: Craving ANYTHING sweet and totally not feeling meat, especially chicken.

Symptoms: Having dizziness again this week.  Still having the swelling, fatigue, tender nipples/breasts, Braxton Hicks, and heartburn.

36 Weeks Pregnant

Well here is my official 36 week post. Our baby is about 6 lbs by now and gaining about an ounce a day! That is incredible! She should be about 18.5 inches long by now. On Monday I got the fabric that I had ordered online to make our babies crib bumper. I got really excited and worked on it way too late...about 1:30 am. I worked on it the next day too, but made so many mistakes that I got fed up and decided not to work on it anymore, and put it away for a while. Unfortunately I wore myself down from staying up that night, and not eating quite right that day. I can't believe how long it has taken me to recover! I have felt just awful all week, and even went to sleep  by 7 pm on Thursday and Friday. I am feeling a bit better now, but think I am just starting to be a little worn out over all since I don't sleep well these days. I have sworn not to stay up past 10 for the rest of my pregnancy!

I had my 36 week home visit from my midwives on Friday in preparation for my home birth. Even though it was pretty uneventful, I have been really excited for this day, just because it is kind of a mile marker, and I could give birth at home now anytime if she were to come early. They brought over my birthing tub and we will have to do a dry run to practice setting it up. I have all my supplies together for the birth, and I have started making a bunch of dinners in advance to freeze so that I won't have to worry about cooking for the first few weeks. I am feeling really prepared now and am anxious for our babies arrival, although I am starting to get a little nervous about the labor and birth. I am afraid that I will be a complete wimp and not be able to handle it.

My baby shower was on Saturday. It was fun to start getting some cute girly things. I had fun and it was fun to see all of my friends together to celebrate our baby coming!

We have made final plans to meet up with our embryo donors this Saturday in Philadelphia at a mall there. I thought it would be a good place to meet up because then the boys will have a place to run around at the play area, and Little Lucky Bud will be excited about the indoor carousel. It is a little over 3 hours away, and just weeks away from my due date, so I am a little nervous to drive so far, but I am sure it will be fine. By the way, that makes me think of Mr Lucky Bud's sister who for her second child only and an hour and a half of labor and her husband had to deliver the baby in the bathroom in an emergency. I hear it was a very intense and stressful thing. Although I would love to only have an hour and a half of labor, we definitely don't wan to be delivering any babies on our own!

The Saturday before Mother's day is Birth Mother's day. Baby Lucky Bud and I met up with his birth mother who only lives a half hour away. We had fun playing at a mall play area and then had dinner at Red Robbin. We had fun reminiscing on the day of Baby Lucky Buds birth, and on the emails we exchanged in the short two weeks before, as she found us and we got to know each other a little bit. It was a very exciting time for both of us and it is fun to look back on it. She is very proud that she was able to find parents for her son all by herself, and for us it was exciting for obvious reasons! It is funny that she was actually worried that we might not want to adopt our little bud because of the short notice!

Well that pretty much sums up what is happening right now. I am so excited for all of my fellow buds that are pregnant right now too. Congratulations again to all of you!

36 Weeks

I am 36 weeks now! I just thought I would post a picture and then write a post this weekend after my home visit and baby shower. A huge congratulations to Bossy Bud!

36 Weeks

Oops! It's been awhile...

I've tried to be really good about posting weekly to the blog but the end of this pregnancy has me going crazy! There is so much to do to prepare for baby how can I possibly blog?

Today I am 36 weeks 3 days (I think). I had my 36 week appointment on Tuesday and got some fun news! They did the GBS swab (yuck) and since they were down there anyway I asked to be checked. Guess what? 2 centimeters dilated and 50-60% effaced, yahoo! I know it *technically* doesn't mean anything BUT ask any pregnant woman and I bet she will say she was excited about any progress she had made. I figure those are 2 less centimeters I have to be in labor for.

My midwife also gave me the go-ahead to start taking Evening Primrose Oil three times a day. This will help soften my cervix. She also told me baby is facing posterior (sunny side up) which is usually the cause for some painful back labor. Great! So she gave me a sheet with ways to sit to help baby turn to the right side. I've been living in those positions since Tuesday. Back labor? No thank you!

I think I have gained between 20 and 25 pounds. I feel like a whale. I sure hope I can lose all this weight after baby is born.

Mr. BB is getting pretty excited about baby, he is always asking me whether I think baby is a boy or a girl (no idea) but will never share what he thinks (not fair)!

We can't wait to meet Baby BB. The kids are so excited! The car seat is installed, the cosleeper is set up, diapers are prepped, and the clothes are all washed. I have been nesting badly lately so hopefully I can clean/organize the whole house before this LO arrives since I know I won't be doing much cleaning with a newborn.

The nursery is not finished and I doubt it will be before Baby BB arrives. Oh well, what can you do? He/she will be sleeping in our room anyway. I am hoping we get it finished soon after LO is here though. The dry way is (FINALLY) going up this weekend. Then it will need mudding/sanding before we can paint and tile. I am actually heading over to pick out some tile right now.

Our last Bradley class is Tuesday, woo hoo! I'll also be full term then too. My Bradley instructor thinks I'll go into labor in the next two weeks, exciting!

I *will* *(at least try) to update Tuesday.

-Buttercup Bud

36 Week Update

How far along: 36 weeks and 6 days. Full term is tomorrow!

Total weight change: Going by the doctors scale at my 36 week appointment on Wednesday, +27. I actually went down a pound from the week before. No worries, it balances out the +2 from the previous week.

Maternity clothes: Always. I've pretty much moved into dresses at this point. It kills my hips to get pants on and off. I'm starting to look forward to wearing regular clothes again, eventually. Feeling like my wardrobe is really limited these days.

Stretch Marks: No new developments since last week.

Movement: I think he's getting pretty squished in there. Movements have changed yet again to subtle butt wiggles and occasional limb stretches. My kidneys appreciate this change, but it does mean I have to lay really still sometimes to get kick counts done.

Sleep: I just can't seem to get enough sleep lately. Sleep at night is broken up by bathroom trips and braxton hicks contractions. During the day if I need a nap, and my schedule allows, I'm all about taking one.

Best Moment This Past Week: At the end of my appointment this week the nurse went ahead and made all of my weekly appointments up to my due date (they usually go appt to appt). There are only THREE more appointments. The look on my face when she started saying "October" for the appointments beyond next weeks? Priceless.

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: My worries about something going wrong in these last weeks of the pregnancy are getting pretty bad. Its reminding me a lot of my worries in the first few weeks of the pregnancy...just instead of praying for him to not miscarry, I'm praying that I won't get this far just to have him taken away. I have more anxiety about making it to delivery day than about the actual delivery.

Belly Button In or Out: Still an inny.

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing major.

Symptoms: No major changes in the last couple weeks. Braxton Hicks pretty regularly and sporadic (last night being one of those times) instances with lots of pressure downstairs. My carpal tunnel has gotten a lot better, probably thanks to the braces and the change in temperature. Mostly I just feel like I'm enormous and its hard to get around.

Things not to say to Pregnant Women: a 36/37 Week Update

Another week (or two), another update. Tomorrow we hit official full term and, at this point, time is just starting to drag. I'm so ready to meet our little girl (of course, being able to roll over in bed without a series of levers and pulleys is also something to look forward to.) Pregnancy has treated me well, but I am so ready to move onto mommyhood.

I'd like to slide into Pregnancy Annoyance mode for a moment. Something I've discovered during this pregnancy is that people LOVE to give unsolicited advice, and they love to give it to you on everything. Some of it is useful ("Witch Hazel. It's a lifesaver"), some of it is not ("You HAVE to give a baby formula at some point!"), but what it should never, ever be, is demeaning or mean. Once people found out I was going to be doing everything in my power to avoid interventions (read: pain meds) during labor and delivery, I got mixed reactions. The ones from women who had done it were great. "It's totally doable!" They would tell me "And so worth it!". Women who had had epidurals would either give me"More power to you" with a shake of their heads or warn me of how very, very painful labor was and how wonderful the epidural was. But nothing, nothing, nothing, could have prepared me for the moment that I overheard a woman telling my mother, the veteran of two unmedicated births, at my baby shower, that unmedicated delivery was the "stupid way" of birthing a child and that she couldn't believe I would be so stupid. My mother, ever my advocate, said "She has a great coach, and I did it twice, with her and her sister. It was completely worth it" To which the woman replied: "Oh, bull. It's stupid." This same woman, who attends my church (seriously, that just makes it ten times worse), has said the exact same thing to my face since then, reminding me on each occasion that she thinks I am stupid (with that word. "I call it the stupid way!") for wanting an unmedicated birth. Maybe its just the wording that rubs me the wrong way, but seriously? Lets be supportive of fellow women. If you want an epidural, awesome. If you want unmedicated, great. Breast v Formula, Cloth v Disposable, whatever it is, lets just be considerate and supportive of one another as women. I may not agree with one of my good friends who is due a week before me, getting the epidural as soon as she can, formula feeding and using disposables, but I would never ever EVER call her stupid for any of those things. Just because its not the way I am doing things does not make her wrong. ugh. Kills me.

In a great moment this week, Mr. CB installed Baby's car seat in his car, the hospital bag is completely packed, along with a separate bag containing Baby's cloth diapers, although I'm not sure we'll end up using them in the hospital, and both of us knows how to use a prefold, thanks to several websites and a very cooperative TY bear.

For a concise update:

How far along: 36 weeks, 6 days. One day from Full Term!

Total weight change: 28 lbs, still under they 40 they recommended I gain, but I'm feeling it.

Maternity clothes: When I actually need to look presentable. My at home attire is sweat pants and Mr. CB's t-shirts.

Stretch Marks: Several deep ones on my lower right side, none of my left. Interestingly enough, a lot of the deep ones on my right side are being well-hidden by a vary darkly inked tattoo on my right hip.

Movement: Active enough, but the poor thing is running out of mommy-room. I've been getting a lot of elbows in the side.

Sleep: I'm sleeping ok, though my dreams are getting hard to deal with. they have a lot to do with her..."D-wording" inside me because of something I do. Awful, awful. I have a lot of good dreams about her too, though. Every time I dream, I dream about her, and always about nursing her. I'm not sure what that means, although the fact that I'm leaking colostrum all the time may have something to do with it.

Best Moment This Past Week: Going to Itchetuknee Springs with friends from church. It was so nice to relax in the water.

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: Aforementioned woman and her use of the word "stupid"

Belly Button In or Out: Flat

Cravings/Aversions: Cold stuff. Ice, especially. I could chew ice all day long.

Symptoms: Back pain, fatigue, the ever-expanding belly.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Being full term and meeting my girl for the first time!

Feeling the Toll of 3rd Trimester

36 weeks down... 4 to go... at least that is if they don't induce me before 40 weeks. Dr. C had originally said when I was Dx with GD that she wouldn't let me go past my due date (of March 29th mind you - SO CLOSE!) although as of my appointment on Monday it seems that since everything with the GD diet has been going well and since Baby GB is measuring right on track she might just let me go instead of inducing on my due date. Time will tell though - I have my first internal next Wednesday so we'll see if we are making any progress.

Photo Credit


I'm ready... and maybe I'm being a wimp but I'm so over being pregnant. I hope no one thinks I'm being ungrateful - I'm SO happy to have made it this far with little bumps in the road - it's just starting to really take a toll on me.

Lets recap how I'm feeling:

• My hands are swelling so my ring is too tight yet I refuse to take it off. I haven't went a day without it since the day we got married.
  
• My feet are swelling. As I type this post I've got them propped up on an upside down trash can under my desk. (And yes... I'm blogging at work... don't tell.)
  
• My maternity clothes are even starting to get tight. WTF - I just bought most of them less than a month ago?!
• I've been getting nauseaus every day in the middle of the day... not sure what is causing this but I've made more than one run to the ladies room thinking I was going to lose it. I haven't yet and it seems to subside after I eat lunch - maybe I need to eat earlier or something?!
  
• I'm exhausted. Walking up a flight of stairs makes me feel like I've just got done running a marathon - yet, I've still refused to take the elevator up the two flights to my office.
  
• I've mentally checked out of work - the ladies I'm training are just idiots and I'm so afraid of what I'm going to come back to yet at this point I really just don't care. If they eff up, it's their own fault and will hopfully have it cleaned up before I get back.
  
• I feel sleep deprived - whether I've had 9 hours or 4 hours it doesn't matter. I guess this is a dose of what's to come once Baby GB arrives?!
  
• I want to eat... EVERYTHING. Especially ice cream, cake, burgers, chocolate, french fries, candy, pizza... everything I CAN'T eat on my diet. Which is probably good so that I don't gain 20 more pounds in my last 4 weeks alone.

What else?! Ugh... that pretty much sums it up for now?! I debated whether or not to make this my "3rd Tri Addition of What I've Learned While Being KU" but I've got a pretty good list going for that and didn't want it to be this depressing... :)