Pregnancy

I’ve been having really good stop-me-in-my-tracks cramping and some decent contractions all week just about every evening and especially after that extremely long walk on Sunday afternoon. I was hoping for a lot more progress at today’s check-up with my obstetrician. Last week we were measuring a “loose 1 centimeter” and 50% effaced. This week we were still at the same loose 1 cm / possibly 2 cm but much more effaced. Really? That’s it? All that cramping and contracting after long walks, tons of household chores, running around after Jeremy and hardly any progress? The baby’s heartbeat is still very strong and I’m still good and healthy so I’m glad for that, but I was really hoping for a baby soon. We decided that this little one gets one more week in-utero and then we’re kicking him out. Our next appointment is the morning of our due date (next Thursday). Jason’s still hoping for an Easter baby and I’d be happy for him to come anytime between now and Thursday (though Sunday would be pretty nice). On the way home from the check-up we decided that this baby is most definitely taking after his father already. Jason LOVES...

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Waiting for this baby to make his appearance is frustrating. Jason and I went Easter shopping tonight after dinner and I was having stop-me-in-my-tracks contractions the whole time we were walking through Wal-Mart. They continued after we got home so I started timing them. Sure enough, as soon as I start timing they stop altogether for over an hour. Then they come back really strong but sporadic. This has happened over and over for the last several days. I’ve decided that I’m not going to bother trying to time any of these anymore. Every time I do, they go away. I’m rather tired of that, I’d like my baby now please. So I’m just going to take notice when they start getting really close together, hang out at home as long as I can, and then head to the hospital (10 minutes away) when I feel like it’s time. I do NOT want to be sent home from the hospital for coming in too early like I was when I was in labor with Jeremy. Hopefully paying just a scarce amount of attention to the contractions will make them stick around longer. Obviously I’m not supposed to keep track...

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Our visit to the doctor this morning brought us good news. As I shared on Facebook yesterday, after a nice long day of playgroup and the park with Jeremy I was getting some decent contractions in the evening. They lasted less than 30 seconds each and were irregular, but they definitely felt like they were working. All night I was hoping that all those would add up to some real progress at the doctor today. Well, last week we were only dilated a single centimeter and almost no measurable effacement. This week we are a “loose 1 centimeter” and 50% effaced. Also, instead of -4 station, we’re at -2 now. If you’re not up on your obstetrical terminology, that means that the baby is moving further down which is thinning out and opening up my cervix. All good stuff! Looking at our current progress, since this is our second baby the doctor said that there’s a good chance that we could very well have a baby next week! That’d be awesome. When I was pregnant with Jeremy, I went in for my 37 week appointment and was a “snug” 1 cm dilated (like last week). At my 38 week...

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Just yesterday we hit 35 weeks. That leaves us with just 2 weeks until the baby is considered full-term. However, a “complete” pregnancy is 40 weeks, 3 weeks after full-term. I don’t get it. One thing I can say is that I am definitely feeling almost full-term. As I went on and on about in my last pregnancy update, I’ve gained weight steadily through the whole term so far but my shape has certainly changed quite a bit in recent weeks. I went from an average woman shape to pudgy all over, to chunky in the middle, to most assuredly round. What was most different was that I was able to wear my non-maternity pants all the way up to about 6 months this time. With my first pregnancy a few years ago I had to start wearing maternity pants at about 4 months even though my regular shirts still fit. This time it was the other way, I needed maternity shirts long before I had to give in to the elastic waist pants. Here’s a couple of belly shots. The first one is when I first really started looking pregnant instead of just like I gained a quick...

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First off, this little boy is doing great. He’s very strong and moves around a lot every day. When Jason and I are drifting off to sleep in bed he snuggles up to me with his hands on my belly feeling the baby move and settle-in for the night. Once when he had his ear pressed to my belly listening to the heartbeat and the baby swooshing around, his son kicked him in the face! It was a sweet moment turned hilarious! We need to do some shopping. The only baby clothes we have are size 12-months and up. All of Jeremy’s smaller clothes were donated without my permission, so we need to buy everything an infant needs. It truly isn’t much, because babies really don’t need as much as they usually are given, but we still need to shop or else this kiddo is coming home from the hospital in some clothes that will be way too huge for him. In the next month or so I’m going to scour our local Goodwill for gently used or like-new clothes before paying full price for anything a baby will outgrow in less than 3 months. I know weight gain...

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This is a post-doctor visit update to part of yesterday’s post where I mentioned falling down the stairs…. As I Twittered and Facebooked about this morning, my body is finally feeling the damage that I did to it by falling down the basement stairs Saturday morning. When I first hit the bottom of the stairs I laid there for a minute getting my bearings. After my head stopped whirling and I could see straight I just kept going with my laundry. My head hurt, so I took a dose of Tylenol and went on with our plans for the day. The baby had started kicking and squirming like normal not long after the fall, so I wasn’t worried about him. Yesterday I felt fine aside from the scrape on the side of my back being pretty tender. Baby moved as normal, so I still wasn’t worried. However, as I sat up watching tv after putting Jeremy to bed I had what felt like a horrible migraine. I dosed myself with the sugar and caffeine which help with that when my usual solution of Imitrex isn’t possible during pregnancy. It worked for a while, but as I tucked myself into...

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