36 weeks - happy thanksgiving & 8 months

Wow, so much to obviously be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I'm 8 months pregnant now with a healthy baby boy and no complications, what a miracle. We were able to travel home again so I am also grateful to be able to spend the holidays with my family and visit long time friends while we're here. We also just found out on the ride up here that Papi is receiving a well deserved promotion! It is quite impressive, I am so proud of him. All these things have made this Thanksgiving extra special.

Our trip here should take anywhere between 6-8 hours. However this year it took 10! We left on Tuesday instead of Wednesday this year so we'd have an extra day. We thought it might help improve our trip and beat some of the traffic, but this was easily the longest it's taken us. I did need to stop a little more than usual, with my bladder crushed and the need to get up and walk around because of the higher risk of blood clots we stopped maybe 4 times or so. But I don't think that's what did it.  There was a big storm headed this way, really for Wednesday. But Tuesday rain had already started half way through the trip. That slowed people down. In addition, in the past at least one of us works half a day and we don't leave till after lunch time. This year we didn't and left at 8:30 in the morning. This was nice because we typically have a good part of our drive in the dark when we leave so late, and we don't get in until 9 or 10 and are getting drowsy. That being said, it probably did perpetuate this traffic by arriving at rush hour. So it was nice to be done by 6:30, but the process was more painful.  The ride back is usually better because we leave first thing Sunday morning and get through any real problem areas pretty early. So even though we'll still have to stop more than usual, it should be far less painful.

Before coming I had a regular doctor appointment and we wanted to make sure I was ok to travel. The doctor did a cervical exam which turned out to be painful and uncomfortable. She just jammed her fingers as hard as she could and it felt as though her nails were too sharp, even with gloves on. She said it would get better in the future as everything gets lower or something. I hope she's right, I want expecting that.  The findings of the exam anyway were basically that everything is status quo. Which with 5 weeks left was probably a good thing. However, I still havent noticed Braxton Hicks so I'm hoping for some sign that everything is starting to prepare for labor. Baby boy has started his part at least, he's facing down!!! I'm already a proud Mami! The only thing they didn't do was tell us his weight, or expected weight. She said next time, although I won't see her at my next appointment so we'll see.

Otherwise everything else is good. Just going to enjoy the rest of our time at home and off of work. Its hard to believe there's only 4 weeks left until we expect to meet Baby Boy! We're so excited!

35 weeks

Been feeling pretty tired this week.  Went to bed by 8:30 more than once this week.  And since recovering from my cold I have not cleared up the nasal congestion.  This is a common pregnancy symptom however so I'm not entirely surprised.  Its annoying and doesn't help my sleep.  Besides being harder to breathe its really because makes me breathe more through my mouth all night; this chaps my lips and can hurt my throat a little by the time I wake up.  Its not ideal but I can handle it. The heartburn is definitely the worst and it continues to get more severe with time. The doctor offers medicine, but I'm really not inclined to take anything.  I don't typically medicate and now I'm worried about what side effects it could have on baby boy. Its definitely worsened by pregnancy, but if it stay bad for long after pregnancy I plan on taking action.  Its probably damaging my esophagus and such. For now I have found various things that can help a little.  During the day, sometimes I find I need to eat a little food to absorb the extra liquid in my stomach (too much water?)   Hot chocolate has been doing the trick too.  I don't know what it is, I'm guessing any warm liquid would do the trick, but since I don't drink coffee or tea this is all I've tried. Chewing gum is no longer cutting it. The other day I happen to get up and walk around for 10 minutes and noticed that helped as well.  When its bed time, I just have to go to sleep in a sitting up position.

33 weeks & 34 weeks

I missed last week because I had cold. It started Wednesday when I woke up with a very sore throat that seemed like it was cause by post nasal drip.  It was painful but I didn't think I was sick.  Made it through the day but had a doctor's appointment that afternoon anyway so I let her know.  She checked me out and agreed it likely wasn't strep throat.  She said that I could take Sudafed and use saline nasal spray for congestion.  It was strange because in the car ride home I started feeling progressively worse.  When we got home I gargled Papi's recipe of warm water with salt and lime.  The next morning I gargled again and my throat was feeling a lot better however new cold symptoms were forming.  Thursday experienced a lot of congestion and sinus pressure. I suffered through the day at work and that night.  I woke up Friday with less pressure but lots of mucus running everywhere.  I called labor and delivery early in the morning from the persistence of Papi bugging me to take something even though its not in my nature.  They told me the same about the Sudafed and added I could take Robitussin DM or Mucinex DM.  I stopped at the pharmacy on my way to work and had to ask the pharmacist about the Sudafed.  He told me it could cause premature contractions and that the other would be equally as 'hazardous' is the word he used.  As someone who is not inclined to take medicine, that certainly did not convince me.  I left with just the Saline nasal spray and Emergen-C (vitamins).  I again struggled through the work day, coughing and sneezing, clearly ill.  I came home and lied down for awhile.  I had been feeling slightly feverish throughout the day but wasn't expecting to have a fever.  Finally I took my temperature and it was 99.7, elevated but not enough to warrant calling the hospital (100.4)... yet. By 7 or 8 however it was up to 100.9.  Called labor and delivery and they instructed me to take 975mg (3 regular strength) Tylenol.  Papi was kind enough to go out and get some with a can of chicken noodle soup, not because I love soup, but I thought it was worth a shot and possibly more nutritious than the peanut butter & jelly I was considering.  And hour later my temperature dropped to 97.7!  It worked! From then on I began feeling better and better, but continued to take it easy through out the weekend.  By Monday all I had left was a runny nose and am continuing to improve.

Recovering from the cold has really been the focus these past couple weeks, but Baby Boy is kicking around like crazy! And today when I look back at my weight tracking I think I discovered that I started 1 pound less than I thought.  Which means that I'm up 9 pounds instead of 8.  No big deal, just funny that I've been confused this whole time... I'm going to try and look back a little closer and make sure that's correct.  My wedding band suddenly stopped fitting sometime around 32 weeks, just overnight, but I think it has to do more with swelling.  Being at 34 weeks feels like I have so little time, 6 weeks is nothing!  And the holidays are really going to make them fly by I think, especially for work.

We both think that Baby Boy is going to come early.  My prediction was December 17-December 20, if I had to guess a day, I'd pick the 18th.  Papi told me he thought the first week of December, like December 2nd! That would be crazy! I can't imagine it begin so soon, right after we return from Thanksgiving travels.  Most importantly we want Baby Boy to be healthy, so whenever he needs to come for that to be true is ok with me.  We'll see if I go the typical week late like they say most first time moms are.

Christmas music started playing on the radio stations the day after Halloween. I would usually find it pretty absurd, however that combined with and early cold front has really got me excited for the arrival of our winter baby. I can't wait to meet him!