42 things about pregnancy that I wish someone would have told me.

I'm no expert, but here's my 2 cents:

1. You will drool like a mature camel.

2. Your nose will run, like all the time.

3. Round ligament pain - random shooting pains, causing you to yelp out loud and everyone to keep asking you if you're alright.

4. It may hurt to actually get up in the middle of the night to go pee.  Which you'll have to do often.  

5. In the last month, your pelvis will hurt all the time.  And your hips.  And everything else.

6. You may not be able to work up until your due date, and that's OK.  

7. Your mucus plug may come out over several days or weeks, and it's gross - really gross.

8. You may cry, a lot, for stupid reasons, and you won't be able to stop.  It might even be over something so trivial as your husband putting the dishes away in a different cabinet.

9. Water can and will give you heartburn.  Everything can and will give you heartburn.

10. There may be days when you feel like you can eat and eat and eat, and you're never full.

11.  Everyone says to "Sleep while you can", but sleeping is so uncomfortable!  Just to switch from one side to the other takes such an incredible amount of effort.

12.  You may lose your sex drive completely, and even if you don't, sex may be too uncomfortable or painful to even think about.

13.  Everyone will want to touch your belly.  Some will ask.  Some won't.

14.  Even early in pregnancy, bending over to pick something up will feel like you have a balloon inside of you.

15.  Later in pregnancy, you may find yourself kicking things under couches or cabinets because you don't feel like picking it up (or can't).

16.  You may not have any morning sickness (like me!) or you may have morning sickness all day long, every day, for your entire pregnancy.  Everyone is different.  

17.  While most women might be getting sick the first trimester, other women (like myself) might be so exhausted that you may cry when you have to consider getting off the couch to go pee.  

18.  Invest in some comfortable slip on shoes.  Anything with laces was not an option for me the last couple of months.  I had some snow boots, and if it had snowed a lot, my husband had to put them on for me.

19.  There's a good chance you will pee yourself sometime during pregnancy, if not multiple times. 

20.  You will have crazy dreams.

21.  You may have night sweats so bad that you sleep in your underwear with no blankets and the window open in the middle of winter when it's -10 degrees outside, and your poor husband is freezing wearing a hoodie and under 4 comforters.  And you're still hot.

22.  Everyone will want to tell you their pregnancy/labor stories.  If you're like me, you will love every one of them.  

23.  Towards the end, you may be sitting down, and go to lean forward and getting shooting pains through your pelvis.  This is just baby's head pinching nerves.  No biggie.  

24.  Braxton hicks might only make your abdomen hard and feel like pressure, and sometimes, they hurt.  And first time moms get them too.

25.  People will give you a million suggestions on what to start labor.  You'll swear that you'll never do any of them.  You will do most of them once you hit 38 weeks.  It won't make a difference.

26.  Just because you're a first time mom, doesn't mean you'll go past your due date.  I had him 8 days early.  

27.  You might become very forgetful.  You may even forget to pick up your little brother at cross-country practice.  Or your eye appointment - twice.

28.  When they tell you to try and get as much rest as possible during early labor, when the contractions are mild and further apart - please listen.  You may be in labor for a couple of days, and you may not get another chance to rest before delivery.  Or ever. 

29.  Pregnancy clothing is expensive.  Try to find as much as you can at second hand stores. 

30.  Enjoy the second trimester.

31.  Compression stockings suck to put on.  But they work.

32.  You may get heart palpitations - where your heart starts racing for no reason.  Apparently it's "normal".  

32.  You will have a super sensitive sense of smell.  Random smells will make you gag.  Like perhaps bacon.  For all 9 months.

33.  Leg cramps.  So bad that they might make you cry.  Eat lots of bananas and they might go away!

34.  Pray that you never have to do a 24-hour urine sample.  

35.  Your taste buds may change.  During the first trimester, I had no desire to eat sweets, and chocolate tasted like cardboard.

36.  Your hands and feet might swell.  Take off your rings at the first indication of swelling, otherwise you might not be able to get them off!

37.  Don't get sucked into the "kick counts".  Some days I felt him move around all day, other days I felt nothing.  But when hooked up to the monitor or ultrasound machine, I could hear/see him moving and still not feel him.

38.  You can still do a lot of active things during your pregnancy.  I still lifted heavy items at work through about my 36th week of pregnancy, and I was fine.  My midwife said it was fine as long as I was used to doing it, and I was careful.

39.  You might need 10 pillows to get comfortable at night.

40.  You'll feel like you can't breathe, when all you did was get up and walk to the kitchen.

41.  There will be weeks (especially in the late first and early second trimester) when you don't "feel" pregnant at all.  Enjoy them.

42.  You'll constantly compare yourself to other pregnant women.  Don't.

What would you add to the list?

Zane's Birth Story!

Zane has arrived! I have been meaning to get on here and update this blog for quite some time now, but newborns certainly take a lot of attention! Zane Andrew Simmons was born on March 8 at 4:45am. He's 7 weeks old now! I'm hoping to post more with updates on Zane. I'm slightly disappointed that I didn't up until this point, as I don't want to forget anything while he's this small! But, alas, it's so much more important that I've been as present as possible with him these last 7 weeks. First, I'll start with Zane's birth story ... this is the long version, so get comfy!



Thursday, March 6th was a pretty normal day. I was 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I went to work for a 4 hour shift - I had cut my hours down for the last 2 weeks after a scare with possible pre-eclampsia and being on bed rest for a week and a half. The midwife allowed me to go back to work for the short shifts, making me promise I would take a 15 minute break in between and take it easy at home as well, after getting to know me well enough to know that if she didn't give me limits and boundaries, I wasn't going to make them for myself! That evening, my husband, Steve, and I settled into our normal nightly routine - crawl into bed, read a couple chapters of the Bible together, then read the daily page from our pregnancy book. We laid awake chatting for awhile, and I ended the conversation saying what I'd said every night for the last couple of weeks, "Maybe tonight will be the night. Maybe tonight the baby will come!" But then I went on to explain that it would actually be more convenient for the baby not to come for a few more days, due to the fact that my last day of work was the next day, and we had a ton of things planned for the next two days. "Maybe Saturday night, he can come then." As we were getting comfortable and starting to drift off into dreamland, I mentioned that I was having a hard time getting comfortable, as I was feeling a bit achy.  

Well, we went to sleep, but it didn't last long for me. I kept waking up with uncomfortable back pain and all over achy-ness. After this happened 3 or 4 times, I realized that the pains were coming and going and thought these might be contractions! So I downloaded a contraction timing app on my phone. The pains were coming about every 10-20 minutes and lasting about 1-2 minutes. After another hour of lying in bed, I started getting ancy and decided to get up. I was able to fall asleep between contractions, but the next one would annoyingly wake me up. So I woke up and took a shower. The contractions continued, getting slightly more uncomfortable, and being completely random. I would get one, then 8 minutes later I'd get another, then 14 minutes later, then 3 minutes later. I cleaned the house for awhile, and around 4am called the hospital. They told me to lay down for an hour and drink a couple glasses of water. If they continued, I could come in to get checked if I wanted to. I was Group B Strep positive, so I wanted to make sure the labor wasn't progressing too fast, as they ideally wanted to get me on antibiotics at least 4 hours before I delivered. After the hour was up, the contractions were still coming irregularly, so I woke Steve up and told him that I thought we should go into the hospital. When I told him I was in labor, he said, "Really?!" He was very excited and rushed about the house getting our hospital bags and such in the car. Every time I had a contraction, he would stop and rush over to me and put his hand on my back, but I told him that I was fine. The contractions were painful enough to stop me from what I was doing, but they were still manageable.  


On the way to the hospital (only about 10 minutes away), I had 2 contractions. During them, I had to ask Steve to slow down (though he wasn't speeding!), as the potholes in the road were making them more uncomfortable. When we arrived there, it was still before 6am, when the main doors open, so we had to walk all the way around the building to the Emergency Room. When we got in there, they called someone to take us up to the Maternity ward. I told them that I knew where it was and I could find it myself, but they insisted that I sit in a wheelchair and get wheeled up there. After a few minutes of arguing with them, I finally just sat in the wheelchair. When we got up to L&D, they put us in a room, and a while later, the midwife on call came in to check me. She's the one midwife (out of 4) that I hadn't met yet, as she's only on call one weekend a month. When she checked me, I was only 1cm dilated, and 60% effaced, and at a -2 station. All that means is that I was just barely in labor according to their standards. She told me that it would be better for me to labor at home, which I was fine with. She also recommended that I try and get some rest. I told her that I wasn't sure how I was going to do that, as the contractions were so irregular, and they were uncomfortable enough to wake me up. She gave me some medicine, and told me I could take it and it would help me sleep. On our way out to the car, I remember having one really painful contraction - a taste of what was to come.  



When we got home, I tried to lay down and debated on whether to take some of the sleep medication, Vistaril. It was explained to me that it would enable me to be tired enough to sleep through the contractions, since they weren't really bad yet, and if they aren't doing anything to help me progress in labor, it might even relax my body enough to stop them altogether. If that's the case, then this was just early labor that wasn't going to amount to anything. Or it could wear off and they will be worse when I wake up. So I decided to take the lowest dose (1 pill) and tried to sleep. It didn't work. After about 30 minutes I got up. I had been texting my doula, Avery, since the early AM, and she had made her way up to Augusta about then, so I asked her to come over, hoping she could help me with the laboring at home part. I tried taking a bath - the contractions continued and actually got closer together for awhile, but our bathtub is a stand alone claw foot tub and wasn't very comfortable, so I didn't want to stay in there long. When I got out I tried the birth ball, but it was very uncomfortable as well. When Avery arrived, we went for a walk outside, and the contractions were then coming about every 3-4 minutes apart while we were walking. I had to stop and lean with my arms wrapped around Steve when each one came and breathe through each one. After an hour, we came inside, and I laid down on the couch and Avery heated me up a rice pack for my back. I was definitely having back labor this whole time. It hurt in front too, but hurt 10x more in my back. While laying on the couch, the contractions slowed down, and I was able to fall asleep between them, sometimes as far as 25 minutes apart. At that point, Avery decided to head out to do some errands and she was going to check back in with me in a little while to see if I was progressing or slowing down.  


At 1pm, I had an appointment with a midwife at the hospital which had been set up last week. On our way back to the hospital, I had to have Steve actually pull over a few times because it was so uncomfortable driving on the bumpy road during my contractions. We talked about things with the midwife, and she told me to go home and come back in when my contractions had regulated to 3-4 minutes apart for at least an hour. She also told me to try and rest. Towards the end of the appointment, I had a really bad contraction that put me in tears. At that point, she decided to send me to L&D for what they called "sleep therapy". They just put me in a room and left me for awhile until finally they had an OB come and check me around 4pm (I think the midwife on call was busy). When he told me I was still only at 1cm, I thought I was going to cry! I had been at this for about 18 hours this point and hadn't progressed really at all! The contractions were getting stronger though, and I was getting really tired, so they let me stay and try to rest between contractions (not!), and about an hour later the midwife on call, Angela, came and saw me. She suggested trying a shot of morphine as well as some sleep meds so that I could rest up for awhile. As with the sleep meds that were given to me before (that didn't work), if the labor was going to progress, it would be stronger when I awoke, but if it wasn't, it would go away when I awoke. First, though, she wanted me to eat some dinner, and maybe go in the hot tub for a little while to try and relax. So I ate a turkey sandwich and some chips, and got in the tub.  


During the first hour I was in there, we noticed that my contractions actually started to regulate to about every 6-8 minutes, lasting about a minute long. So we decided to stay in the tub. My doula, Avery, arrived sometime around then. The tub felt good to sit in in between contractions, but during contractions, I couldn't stand to be sitting or lying down, so I would have to get up on my knees and lean over the tub onto Steve. They were getting a lot stronger at this point, and I just kept looking forward to getting out eventually so that I could get some pain relief and rest. But as the tub seemed to be working, and I just wanted this whole thing to be over with, I stayed in there for another 2 hours. When I finally got out of the tub, around 8pm, Angela checked me, and I had progressed to 2cm! It wasn't much, but it meant that I was getting closer! She said that they just had to monitor the baby for 20 minutes to make sure he was doing good before I was given the meds. Unfortunately, while they were monitoring the baby, his heart rate was way too fast, and wouldn't go down. They said it was probably because I was in the tub and had my belly submerged in the warm water for so long. So we waited and waited for his heart rate to go down - over an hour! During that time, the back labor was getting worse, and I was begging for any sort of pain relief, but they wouldn't give me anything until they knew the baby was OK.  


Finally, when it was better around 10pm, they got the meds ready, but since my contractions were getting so much stronger, Angela decided to check me again, and I had progressed to a 4! She knew then that they were definitely not sending me home and we were definitely having a baby soon! So she said they were going to officially admit me. She then suggested that I get back in the tub, since that seemed to help the labor, or try the birth ball or different positions. It was about then that I broke down. I was so weak and tired and in so much pain, and I told her that she promised me pain relief and I needed something! I was crying and asked if I could get an epidural. They asked me again and again if I was sure. I had talked to my midwives during my pregnancy about getting as far as possible without pain interventions, so she tried to encourage me to go a little longer and try some different things. But I didn't feel like I could go any longer, so they finally sent for the anesthesiologist. They told me that she was on her way into a surgery soon, so I might have to wait, but I begged them to ask her if she would come help me first, and she agreed! I remember at one point when they needed to do blood work as part of admitting me, and they also needed to start an IV for the Group B antibiotics and for the fluids for the epidural. I couldn't sit down at all during the contractions, as it was so painful, so I told them that they would have to do it while I was standing up. So I was standing up leaning on Steve, and I had one nurse putting a needle in my left hand, and another nurse putting a needle in my right arm, and my legs were shaking so bad. The contractions were coming every 2-4 minutes at that point. I was able to get the epidural around 11:30pm. I was really nervous because they made me sit on the bed and hunch over and sit really really still to do it, and I thought for sure that I wouldn't be able to do it. The contractions hurt so bad, and I got one right as she was putting the needle in. I kept telling myself that if I moved, I would be paralyzed! Since Steve had gotten a little lightheaded while I was getting the IV before, he left the room during the epidural, and Avery took his place. She was great, always reminding me that if I got through this contraction, it would be over, and I would never have to experience that contraction again. Once it was in a good position, I could feel a very cold liquid going into my back. After about 5-10 minutes, I couldn't feel the contractions anymore! It was such an incredible relief!  


They had to insert a catheter, which I wasn't excited about, but they said they would wait until I was numb to do that. But I still felt it when they did. I never even lost the complete feeling in my legs at any point that night. Angela told me to get some sleep, and hopefully when I woke up, I would be almost ready to push! I had the arm pressure cuff still on me, though, because of the epidural, and it was taking my blood pressure every 15 minutes, which was really annoying, as it would squeeze my arm really hard. I slept for about a half hour, and Angela came back in to check me at 12:30am. I was at 5cm, but she wanted to get things moving a little faster so she started me on a low dose of Pitocin. I slept for another hour, maybe less, when I started feeling the contractions again, but as really strong pressure instead of the pain in my abdomen and back. I asked Angela to help me get on my side so I could get more comfortable. At that point, my whole body started shaking uncontrollably from the contractions. Steve and Avery were resting, so Angela sat with me and helped me through about a half hour of contractions. Steve and Avery soon were by my side again. Angela checked me around 2am and I was at 6cm, 90% effaced. It was then that we realized that I wasn't going to get any more rest, and this was going to happen soon.  


Angela told me that my water sac was bulging, so she could break it for me. This would either relieve some of the intense pressure I was feeling and help me relax, or speed things up. I was sure the later would happen, so I had Steve call our birth photographer, Carly, and tell her to get there as soon as possible. For the next hour, the contractions were about 2 minutes apart, and lasting a minute long. So I only had about a minute break in between, and even then, I had a really hard time relaxing during that minute because I had lingering pains from the contractions. I remember telling Steve at some point that if I ever tell him I want another kid, to remind me of this moment right now, and how much pain I was in. I told him he better remind him that it really was that bad. We called Carly, and found out that she was only about 10 minutes away. I then asked Angela to break my water. I didn't feel it - I think that I was in a whole other place mentally by then.  


Carly arrived at 3am and by 3:45, I was fully dilated and effaced.  Angela told me that I could start pushing, but I didn't want to. I was already in so much pain, shaking uncontrollably, and so weak and tired, that the last thing I thought I could do was exert any more energy. Plus I was terrified of how much more it would hurt when I started to push. But she told me that I had to, there was no other way out of this, and if I wanted it to be over, I had to push. So I did. She had me pull my legs back at the beginning of each contraction. Steve was on one side supporting one leg, and a nurse was on the other. Avery was next to me as well. Steve or Avery offered me ice chips in between each contraction. I couldn't believe how much it hurt. I kept trying to push the button to get more pain relief in the epidural, but it didn't help any. I asked the midwife why it wasn't helping, and she said that for some women, like me, you only get partial pain relief, and there's nothing else they can do about it. And then there was the blood pressure cuff which kept going off every 15 minutes, squeezing my arm very tightly (it was electronic, so more tightly than if a person was doing it). At one point, it started inflating in the middle of one of my contractions, while I was pushing, and I freaked out - "Get that stupid thing off of me!"  

I pushed for 44 minutes. The pressure was so intense.  Angela kept reassuring me and telling me that I was doing great and that he was getting closer. It felt like forever! They had me doing 3 pushes per contraction, but as I wanted to get it over with, I would fit in one more at the end. You know that saying, "I dug down deep and found a strength that I didn't even know I had"? Well, I don't think I ever truly understood that until now. That's exactly what I had to do. At one point, she started getting geared up, and the nurse reassured me, telling me that she only does that when it's getting really close. Then Angela told me that she thought it would be in the next few pushes. That really gave me the motivation I needed to finish. She wanted me to listen closely to her as the head crowned, so that I could slow down a little and not tear, but the next contraction, I pushed as hard as I could, and with the first 2 pushes his head was out, and with the next 2, the rest of his body was. It was so startling, as I expected to have to go through a few more, and when they put him on my chest, I was just kind of in shock. It was 4:45am on Saturday, March 8th.  

I tried to remind myself what I was doing this for during the pushing, but I think the pain really overtook me. It was over, he was here! I couldn't believe it, honestly. The nurses quickly started wiping him down as Steve and I just marveled over this tiny, writhing creature. I couldn't believe that he had been inside of me! Steve didn't want to cut the umbilical cord, so we let Avery do it. Angela said that Zane actually came out with his hand up across his face (the same way it was in his ultrasound pictures!), so there wasn't quite enough room, and it left me with 3 moderate tears, all kind of connected. She spent about 45 minutes stitching me up, but I was more focused on this incredible baby! Before she did that, though, she delivered the placenta (which she asked if Steve and I wanted to see - no thank you!). After holding him skin to skin for about 45 minutes, I let Steve hold him skin to skin for about 15 minutes. I then tried nursing him for awhile, before the nurses took him to do the other stuff. He scored a 8/9 on his Apgar. He weighed 7lbs, 10oz and was 19 inches long. He had a head full of light brown hair, and a birthmark right below his chest. I just kept thinking, "It's over. It's finally over!" It was a very long 31 hours, but obviously, well worth it. We had our little boy, our sweet blessing from God! Welcome to the world, Zane Andrew Simmons!

Going through the labor, and especially the delivery, was by far the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And the most painful (coming from a girl who has 9 tattoos!) Looking back on it, here are my reflections:

~I'm so thankful I had Steve by my side the entire time. Just knowing he was there helped a lot.

~I'm so thankful I had such a wonderful midwife and nursing staff. They were all so encouraging and kind, and made sure that my thoughts, feelings, and opinions were heard.

~I'm so thankful for our doula, Avery. She was one more encouraging person by my side, reassuring me constantly.

~I'm so thankful for our birth photographer, Carly Murray (www.CarlyMurrayPhotography.com). Although I know I look like crap in those pictures, I'll cherish them forever, because they're documenting the most difficult, yet the one of the most wonderful things that's ever happened to me.

~I wish I had tried to get more sleep that first night when the contractions started. They might have stayed a good 10-20 minutes apart had I stayed in bed, so I might have been able to rest in between them. I was so excited and anxious for everything to be starting though, it was hard to stay in bed!

~I wish I had known that the epidural might not work completely. I never lost feeling completely from my waist down, as I could still move my legs around, and I could even walk right afterwards.. The catheter was annoying and uncomfortable. I still would have gotten the epidural, because it took away the back labor, which I'm so thankful for. But it just would have been nice to know that it might not take away all the pain. I'm really glad I didn't get any of the bad side effects.

~I wish I had called our birth photographer in earlier, so we could have gotten some more, maybe less intense, pictures. But I was convinced that I was going to be able to sleep for a couple of hours, so I didn't want to waste her time.

Here's the video slideshow that our birth photographer put together for us :)

38 Weeks!

Only 2 weeks until his due date!  Daddy and Mommy are so excited for him to be here!  I've been very uncomfortable this week, and although Steve has been awesome taking care of me, I can tell that he's getting very anxious to meet our son as well!

I went back to work this week, working 7-11am Monday-Friday.  I have to admit though, that it was more difficult than I anticipated.  Even though I'm not in my high-stress position anymore, the pelvis (and other) pains are increasing every day, and by the time I get home, all I really have the energy to do is to lie on the couch for a couple of hours.  When Steve comes home in the evening, I convince him to go out somewhere so we can walk around.  Although the midwife assured us this doesn't help labor to start, I still think that the exercise is a good thing!  Our appointment with the midwife went just fine on Friday - blood pressure is down a bit, and I measured right on target.

On Tuesday, I really didn't feel him move much at all, maybe once all day.  So Tuesday night before bed, we found his heartbeat with our doppler.  It gave me enough reassurance to go to sleep that night, but when I still hadn't felt him by morning, I ended up making a trip to Labor & Delivery just to make sure everything was alright.  Of course, he was fine, kicking up a storm with the monitors on, I just couldn't feel any of his movements.  This could be because of an excess of amniotic fluid, or just the position he was in, but I was relieved that the little stinker was OK!

Baby Zane should weigh at least 7 pounds by now (likely more!), and measure about 19.5 inches long. There's not much new going on in there, as he's just about ready to be born!  His lungs will continue to develop, and they become more and more healthy the longer he stays in there.  His immune system is also continuing to develop, and he's putting on more healthy fat every day!

Here's me at 38 Weeks - I know the sign is hard to read, I didn't realize it got smudged, but he's as long as a Leek this week :)

How far along?  38 weeks

Maternity clothes?  Yes, there's no chance I'm fitting in any of my normal clothes lol

Total Weight Gain:  I actually gained about 3.5 pounds this week - that seems like a bit much, but all well!  So that makes a total of 7.5 pounds gained.

Sleep:  Trying to get comfortable is tough, especially with my pelvis hurting so much every time I move :(

Best moment this week:  Just spending time with Steve, talking about how excited we are for Zane to arrive!

Miss Anything?  Not being in pain all the time, being able to sleep through the night

Movement:  Besides that one day, he's been back to his normal self.  Movements are bigger, and less often though.  And when he moves his head, it hurts Mommy a lot!

Food cravings:  I've been eating a lot of cereal and sweets this week . . .

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Smell of bacon

Any other symptoms?  Heartburn, a huge appetite, pelvis pain, cramps, hot flashes

Have you started to show yet:  Yes

Gender prediction:  Boy

Labor Signs:  Lots of braxton hicks contractions, some cramps, and loss of my mucus plug (ewwww!)

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off?  Off 

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Honestly, it's hard to be really happy when I'm this uncomfortable.

Looking forward to:  Zane being here!  We're so ready for him to come!  

37 Weeks!

Well, we made it to 37 weeks!  This is great, as baby Zane should now fare very well if he was born this week.

I spent the majority of last week on bed rest.  It was difficult to sit around and not do anything, but I was pretty good about it.  I had to repeat some tests this week, including a blood test, 24 hour urine collection, non-stress test, and a biophysical ultrasound, and got all of the results back by Friday. They were all within the normal range, which pleased my midwife enough to allow me to go back to work on Monday - with the restriction of 4-hour shifts with a 15 minute break.  So after 9 days, I'm off house arrest!  My midwife also checked me on Wednesday, and said that my cervix is soft and 50% effaced - off to a good start!

My friend Shandra came over this week and helped to install our carseat - one step closer to being ready!  I love seeing his carseat in my car when I drive - I can't wait until he's in there!  We picked up the rest of the things we needed from Target, and also washed all of Zane's newborn and 0-3 clothes, as well as his blankets, hats, and socks.  I made a baby-safe detergent, which I found online.  The only ingredients are Kirk's Castile Soap and Washing Soda.  I can now say that we are very ready for Zane's arrival!

I decided to go ahead and get the whooping cough vaccine this week - it's something I've been going back and forth about, due to possible complications with the pregnancy, but with Steve working at a childcare, I knew the benefits outweighed the risks in this case.  I didn't get a sore arm afterwards at all, which surprised me.  Steve burned his hand at work this week, and had to go to the ER.  While there, they gave him a tetanus shot, which includes the whooping cough vaccine.  It was then that I remembered that last spring, after my car accident, I got a tetanus shot, which means I already had the whooping cough vaccine, and didn't need to get another one!  Oy vay!

We met with our doula Saturday morning - we went over my birth plan again, as well as some labor positions.  Then Sunday, we met up with my sister, Alisa, who did a mini-maternity photoshoot for us in downtown Lewiston.  We then went to Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary and did another mini-session with our birth photographer, Carly Murray.  I absolutely love all of them!  Here are some previews from our sessions:

Adorn Photography

Adorn Photography

                   
Zane should weigh at least 6.5 pounds this week (though from his last ultrasound, it's likely more!), and measure about 19 inches long.  He's practicing his skills this week - inhaling, exhaling, sucking, blinking, and gripping.  He's also busy practicing his breathing, which is why I feel him hiccup so often!

Here's me at 37 weeks:

How far along?  37 weeks

Maternity clothes?  Yes 

Total Weight Gain:  Stayed the same this week, 4 pounds above pre-pregnancy weight

Sleep:  I spend most of the night trying to stay comfortable

Best moment this week:  Seeing Zane again at the ultrasound, and doing our maternity photos!

Miss Anything?  Feeling normal

Movement:  I feel him at least a few times a day, and he's been getting the hiccups A LOT lately!

Food cravings:  Anything sweet!

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Not really

Any other symptoms?  Heartburn, hip and pelvis pain, swelling in my hands

Have you started to show yet:  Yup

Gender prediction:  Boy

Labor Signs:  Some braxton hicks contractions - not as much as last week because of the bed rest

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off?  Off

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy

Looking forward to:  Being a week closer to seeing our baby!

36 Weeks!

Well, things got changed up this week a bit!

It all started on Monday.  I was having a lot of braxton hicks contractions, mostly at work, as well as anytime I was moving around even outside of work.  They were short, but very frequent, about every 5 or 10 seconds.  I wasn't sure what was considered "normal", so I gave my midwife a call, and she asked for me to come in on Wednesday just to check up on me.  She also recommended getting a maternity support band to help ease the weight of my belly, as well as ease some of the back pain I'd been having.  So Steve and I drove to Portland Monday night to get the support band, and Tuesday and Wednesday went better at work.  I tried to take it easier, which helped as well.  Tuesday night we went to a Breastfeeding class at the hospital.  Like the lamaze class, I don't feel like we learned a ton of new information, but it was still informative.

Wednesday at my appointment with the midwife, my blood pressure was slightly elevated again, as it had been in the last few appointments.  My blood pressure usually stayed around 110/60, but recently has been around 135/80 - not quite dangerous, but still higher than normal for me.  They also found some protein in my urine, so she ordered some tests for me, and asked me to take the next couple of days off work to rest a bit.  I had some labwork done that day, and they sent me home to do a 24-hour urine collection - I know, fun, right?

I had a hard time staying home for those 2 days.  I had planned all along on working all the way up until the day I went into labor, so it was a bit of a shock for me.  Steve had just started his second job that same day, which really was a blessing, but all I could think of was that he was working his butt off, and I was at home doing nothing.

Friday (Valentine's Day!), I returned to the hospital to do a non-stress test.  They hooked me and baby up to monitors for about an hour, and watched the baby's heart rate.  Everything went just fine with that test.  I then had a bio-physical ultrasound, which measured the amniotic fluid, the baby's heartrate, muscle tone, movement, size, and breathing.  Zane did great!  It did take awhile to get him to practice breathing, and after about 10 minutes, I finally asked Steve to come over and try talking to him.  As soon as he did, he started moving and breathing!  On our way out of the hospital, the midwife gave us the OK to go to Connecticut for the weekend, as well as for me to go back to work on Monday.

Friday afternoon, we made the drive down to CT.  The car ride down there was pretty uncomfortable for me.  We stopped every hour to take breaks.  Then Saturday morning, I got a call from one of the midwives.  My 24 hour urine results had come back, and they were very surprised to see that I had an elevated level of protein.  It wasn't dangerously high, but "normal" would have been well under 300, and mine was 387.  They were concerned that this could be an early indicator of preeclampsia, so that told me that I would be out of work for at least another week, and they wanted me on bed rest, as well as to repeat all the same tests next week.

The baby shower went well - thank you to our friends and family who came!

This is me and Steve with his grandmother on the left, and his great aunt on the right.  Baby Zane will be Grandma Barniski's first great-grandchild!

I tried to rest all weekend, and we headed back to Maine Sunday afternoon.  On the way back, we stopped at Babies 'R Us, and picked up the carseat.  We figured we'd better get it then, since who knows when this little guy is going to make his appearance!  So, that's been what's been going on this week - from what I understand about pre-eclampsia, it can be very mild, and then all of a sudden become very serious, which is why they're being so precautious at this point.  I'm adjusting to the whole idea of not going back to work and bedrest.  There's so much that I wanted to do in the next couple of weeks - get the baby clothes washed, the house cleaned and organized, and so much more!  But now, my only job is to relax and let this baby grow in the safest environment, and not to let my blood pressure get too high.  This baby is more important than a month's paycheck, or anything else that I could have done this month, so I will rest, and I will be very good at it!

Zane should measure about 18.5 inches this week, and weigh around 6 pounds, though the ultrasound on Friday showed he may weigh around 6 pounds, 5 ounces!  He's starting to shed the downy coating of hair that has covered his body, as well as the vernix that has protected his skin while in the womb.  Zane's most important job from here on is to just work on breathing on his own, and putting on some more weight!

Here's me at 36 weeks:

How far along?  36 Weeks!

Maternity clothes?  Yes, though I'm growing out of some of them

Total Weight Gain:  Gained about a 1/2 a pound this week, putting me at 4 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight

Sleep:  Tossing and turning most of the night, which isn't so easy to do anymore - I'm also usually awake for at least a half hour in the middle of the night.  

Best moment this week:  Seeing my baby boy on the ultrasound, and seeing him react to Steve's voice!

Miss Anything?  Not being sore and hurting

Movement:  I feel his movements everyday, they're getting bigger!  I swear, yesterday, I felt him drag a knee or something across my belly!

Food cravings:  Nothing in particular

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Strong smells

Any other symptoms?  Lower back pain, braxton hicks contractions, pelvis pain, some swelling

Have you started to show yet:  yes

Gender prediction:  boy!

Labor Signs:  The braxton hicks have pretty much gone away since I've been on bed rest and I'm not moving around much

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off?  Off :(

Happy or Moody most of the time:  All over the place this week

Looking forward to:  I guess just getting through the tests this week - I just want to make sure Zane stays healthy!

35 Weeks!

35 weeks down, 35 days to go!

The appointment with my midwife this week went well - measuring on track, heartbeat is good!  My blood pressure was a little high, though.  The midwife said that the baby felt like he was head down.  I mentioned that sometimes I feel his hiccups up high though, so she sent us for an ultrasound to see how he was lying.  The ultrasound went great - we got to see our handsome little man, though he was hiding his face behind his arm the entire time!  He's definitely head down, nice and low!  So it seems that all I'm feeling is his whole body jump every time he hiccups!  We also got to see his hair!  So cool!

Steve and I also went to our lamaze/birthing class on Saturday.  It was interesting - they went over a lot of things that we already knew, but we did learn a few new things.  We also got to practice breathing techniques and labor positions, as well as visit the new maternity ward.  It's really nice!  I still feel like I have a lot of things to do to get ready for Zane coming, and I'm running out of time!  I'm hoping to try and get the hospital bags packed this week.

Here's me and Steve this week:

Zane should measure about 18 inches this week, and weigh about 5.5 pounds!  His lungs, hearing, and kidneys should now be fully developed!

Here's me at 35 weeks:

How far along?  35 Weeks

Maternity clothes?  I've already grown out of a few of them lol

Total Weight Gain:  Gained about 2 pounds this week, putting me at 3.5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight

Sleep:  I toss and turn a lot, but I guess I'm kind of used to it.

Best moment this week:  Seeing Zane on the ultrasound - I still have such a hard time believing he's in there!

Miss Anything?  Being able to do simple things like get out of bed, or out of the car, or off the couch easily

Movement:  He's moving less, but the movements I do feel are big!  

Food cravings:  Oreos and milk, and anything chocolate!

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Still the smell of bacon right out of the oven at work - uck!

Any other symptoms?  Swelling in my hands and eyes, braxton hicks contractions, heartburn, lower back pain

Have you started to show yet:  Getting huge!

Gender prediction:   It's a boy

Labor Signs:  Just braxton hicks so far - sometimes just tightening, sometimes more painful

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off?  Off :(

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy!

Looking forward to:  We're having another ultrasound this Friday to measure his growth, and this weekend we'll be heading down to CT to visit family.  Steve's parents are throwing us a small baby shower there!

34 Weeks!

Last week of January!  Now we can officially say that we're expecting a baby NEXT MONTH!

We met with our doula this week.  It was really nice to sit and chat with her for a few hours, knowing that she was truly interested in everything I was saying about the baby and the birth, with no major time constraints.  We went over my birth plan, which she was very impressed with!  I've done a lot of research!  We also did an exercise where Steve and I each wrote down what factors would cause us to be more relaxed and calm, vs. being more stressed out during the birth.

Steve doing a puzzle during our weekly laundry date night :)

Steve and I took our youth group to a Kutlass concert and Red Claws basketball game in Portland this weekend.  I didn't make it long at the basketball game, my back was killing me sitting on the bleachers! So after a few minutes, I spent the rest of the game in the lobby in a folding chair, reading a book lol.

Zane should be measuring somewhere around 17.5 inches this week, and weigh around 5 pounds!  His lungs are continuing to mature as he practices breathing for life outside the womb!  He also getting plumper, which is helping to smooth out his skin.  Studies show that he might be able to recognize songs and music that he heard while in the womb, so maybe I'll start singing to him :)

Here's me at 34 weeks:

How far along?  34 Weeks

Maternity clothes?  Yes

Total Weight Gain:  Gained about a pound this week, putting me at 1.5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight.

Sleep:  Off and on, tossing and turning a lot, getting up to go to the bathroom, etc. 

Best moment this week:  Spending time with Steve :)

Miss Anything?  Caffeine

Movement:  More active in the evenings, and more uncomfortable when he does move and kick

Food cravings:  Sweets

Anything making you queasy or sick: Random strong smells - I'll walk by someone who smells of smoke, and it makes me gag

Any other symptoms?  Heartburn, waddling lol, swelling in my feet and hands, blurry vision

Have you started to show yet:  Yup

Gender prediction:  It's a boy

Labor Signs:  Lots of braxton hicks contractions, mostly when I'm up moving around

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off?  Off!  Sunday morning during church I noticed that my hands were very swollen, it was very difficult to get them off.  The rest of the week, there are sometimes I can put them back on, but I've been mostly leaving them off because I'm afraid of what if my hands swell too much, and I really can't get them off!

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy, except when I'm at work, then I'm kind of moody lol.  

Looking forward to:  My midwife appointment on Thursday

33 Weeks!

Ok, so this is terrible, but I completely forgot about posting my blog this week!  So it's very late, but here it is!

So, I met with the cardiologist again this week.  He said all my tests came back normal, but the heart palpitations that were recorded on my monitor were definitely something to keep an eye on.  I seem to be having them quite frequently in the mornings, and I have some extra heartbeats as well.  As of right now, he says that it's probably just the way my body is responding to the pregnancy - it's taking a lot of extra work to move my blood around and that's how it's compensating.  But he is having me wear the monitor for another week to get some more recordings.

I also had another appointment with my midwife.  My blood pressure was a little high, but after explaining that I'd had a very stressful day at work, she wasn't too worried about it.  I measured at 33 weeks, which is perfect!  I also met with Kim Reed, who will be doing Zane's 48-hour photography session in the hospital (about a day or so after he's born).  I'm excited to work with her!  You can check out some of her work here:  https://www.facebook.com/throughthereedsphotography

I've been feeling Zane get the hiccups a lot this week!  It happens at least a couple times a day, and it's a funny little popping, rhythmic feeling.

Best part about this week?!  My baby shower!  My friends India and Freya graciously hosted the shower at their beautiful home.  And my sisters and stepmom stepped in to help bring food, games, and decorations!  Alisa did a great job at planning some fun games, including the dreaded baby food tasting guessing game!  It was beautiful, and it was so nice having everyone together to celebrate this baby boy!  Thank you so much to everyone who was able to come, and thank you for all the gifts!

Zane should be measuring around 17 inches long this week, and weigh about 4.5 pounds!  At this point, the amniotic fluid surrounding him should reach it's highest amount, and should stay about the same until he's born.  His bones are hardening more this week, which mean he needs lots of calcium!

Here's me at 33 weeks - I wanted to take one with my jacket off, but my camera died!

How far along?  33 Weeks

Maternity clothes?  All the time

Total Weight Gain:  Lost 1.5 pounds this week, putting me at .5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight

Sleep:  Trying to get comfortable most of the night, and having to get up to use the bathroom a few times

Best moment this week:  Being blessed by my family and friends at our baby shower

Miss Anything?  Cold turkey sandwiches, energy drinks

Movement:  He was quite active a few days this week - a few times where I was begging him to stop moving to give my insides a break - it felt like they were bruised!

Food cravings:  Fruity pebbles!

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Random smells - our downstairs neighbor cooks in her crockpot most days, and whatever she's cooking usually smells nasty. 

Any other symptoms?  Palpitations, hungry all the time, general uncomfortableness

Have you started to show yet:  Yup!

Gender prediction:  It's a boy!

Labor Signs:  Getting braxton hicks here and there - it's a little different everytime as to where I get them, and how strong they are, but they never feel good!  

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off?  On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy!

Looking forward to:  Meeting with our doula this week