Looks like Junior is going to be late.

We just got back from our 39 week ob appointment. Everything looks good, except that it looks like baby is not going to come on his due date. She doesnt seem concerned about anything at all, and said -again- that she doesnt think she will be seeing me in L&D this week.

I am supposed to make an appt to have an ultrasound at the end of the week, which is standard for all babies who come late. Its to check on their amniotic fluid levels, and the condition of the placenta.

She said that at my next appointment if nothing has progressed then we will need to start talking about a plan. So that is all the news for now. I generally feel good, but have my not so good moments. Im pretty lucky because alot of the May mothers on my forum are pretty bad off with pain and everything. My worst time is at night.. my hips hurt, and thats when my swelling gets to be at its worst and its really uncomfortable.

All in all, Im not at the end of my rope or anything.. just wondering what this little lad has in mind now, and what it means for both of us.

Not feeling very social.

For anyone who is trying to reach me, and you cant seem to, please dont take it personally.
Im just very, very close to my due date now- and getting a little anxious. Its hard for me to small talk with people, and its really hard for me to talk to people who just want to talk about the birth. That doesnt really help me right now, it just makes me more anxious, and I dont want to feel anxious right now. (Unless, of course-like Jaunna- when I call and ask you something about it specifically. lol)

It is 6 days to Dday, and Im trying not to wonder when things are going to start. Im trying to just go with the flow, be ready for it, and just go with it.

So needless to say, I havent been feeling very social lately. Every now and then I want to go out and walk around the stores, or the neighbourhood, but beyond that- Im just waiting, and trying to keep my calm. :-)

39 weeks, and no stretch marks.

So Im very happy, and very leery all at the same time. I have finally reached 39 weeks, and still no sign of stretch marks. I am really hoping that it continues this way, but every day that goes by I worry they will suddenly just appear. I have heard of some women getting them after the baby is born... which really doesnt make sense to me.

Before I was just hoping I would get through my maternity pictures with no stretch marks, but I never dreamed I would go this far without them. I dont know if its true now what they say about it being hereditary. I know for sure that it does run in the family. Im not sure if its because my skin is a little darker and the other women in the family are really fair- or what.
They also say it doesnt matter what creams or oils you use- if you are going to get them, then you will get them.

So, here is what I did- if it helps someone else, great.. if not, then I dont know what the causes are or what to do about it. No one seems to know why some people get them and some dont. I have eaten really well through my pregnancy, and continued exercising. I walked 30 min a day 4-5 days a week, and I didnt gain too much more weight than what I was supposed to gain.

I started out from the very beginning using palmers cocoa butter. Then when I started showing I used baby oil after every shower, and palmers before bed.

Around the beginning of the middle of month 7 (cant remember exactly) I stopped using baby oil and cocoa butter and switched to Curel Life Stages Pregnancy & Motherhood lotion. Just simply because I ran out of oil, and I couldnt tolerate the smell of the palmers anymore. So Ive been using the Curel after every shower, and before bed.

Hopefully my luck will continue. If not, Im not worried about that, either. I signed up for all of it and knew that those things were a possibility. I can still keep hoping, though!! :-D

Sunny side up baby.

So Ive been doing some reading about sunny side up babies, and talking to some other May mums on my forum, and my conclusion is that its not something I can worry about. One mother is pregnant with her 4th baby and they have all been sunny side up at delivery.
It usually does mean more damage to the mother at birth, but again, worrying isnt going to help me.

I did read that babies can roll and change position even during labour, so even if he was face down right now there would still be a possibility that he could change again. It doesnt seem likely that he will change out of this position now, but you never know. It looks like they just allow them to come out that way.

I can definitely feel how low he is now. We went to the pottery show today, and walking isnt too bad, but sitting in the car is actually worse. Every bump is misery. Im still not complaining though, because I have loved being pregnant, and I really have had fun having him with me. It will make me a little sad when its over because we really dont think we will be having more than one baby.

Anyway, nothing actually new. Just found this new info about position interesting.

10 more days, baby has dropped, but no dilation....

We just got back from our 38 week ob appt. Everything looks good.

Baby has dropped, but his head is not actually putting any pressure on my cervix yet, which is what starts dilation. Ive been telling Dan this week that I feel like nothing is happening. I only occasionally feel alot of pressure, but it always goes away.

So, no dilation yet, and the one thing I dont like the sounds of is that he is facing up instead of towards by back. She didnt think this was a problem, she said he can still turn around. It worries me because when they are facing up instead of towards your back- thats when you end up with back labour which is supposed to be horrendous.

She said that I should have fun this weekend and go out for dinner, go to the movies. My next appt is on Friday, and that is a couple of days before my due date. Im just trying to keep my go with the flow attitude and not worry about it. Whatever is going to happen, will happen. I just really hope he isnt late. The longer he stays in there, the bigger hes going to get. I hear its common for first babies to be late so I hope thats not what hes up to.

So that is the news for now. We're going to the pottery show this weekend because I broke our milk pitcher last week. I think if you are able to, walking is really good at this point to get things moving. Im still walking 30 min a day on the treadmill and doing ok with that.

Will write again if anything new happens.

Visitors.

I posted not long ago about our plans for visitors, but we see the time has come to post again. :-)

We have been rather bombarded with people's opinions on how things should be going as far as visitors when the baby is born, so again this is to let everyone know how it is going to be.

We will not be allowing any overnight visitors until we feel settled in with the baby and have some kind of routine. We will have our own bonding time, just the three of us, for as long as needed before alot of visitors start coming in. We will let both sides of the family know when we are ready for visitors.

Also, and most importantly- we do not want anyone at the hospital. We want time alone as a family before others can be introduced into the situation. We will not be notifying anyone when labour begins and when we go to the hospital. The grandparents will be phoned when the baby is born, and we will notify the rest of our families and close friends probably by email as soon as we can. We will not be having anyone at our house the day the baby comes home. This time is going to be spent bonding and getting used to caring for baby, and for me to recover from the birth.

We understand that family wants to meet the new addition, but we want our own time also. We will be using google live video chat so that relatives who are far away can see the baby, so if this is something that anyone wants to do you can let us know and we will send you our contact information for google.

Please respect our wishes, and we will be sure to keep everyone updated on the baby when he arrives.

38 weeks 1 day.

So we are 38 weeks 1 day today. Things are going really well for the most part. I cant complain too much. I have been having worse heart burn the past two weeks or so, and have been having some dizziness and seeing stars the past couple of days. I went to the pharmacy yesterday and checked my blood pressure- its normal. I havent been able to get ahold of my obs office to ask about it, but Im not as concerned at the moment because it hasnt happened much today.

Our diaper service started today. We are using cloth diapers, and we found an excellent diaper service that drops off unlimited fresh diapers once a week and whisk away the dirty ones. No yucky work on our part. We just have to get around to buying the covers for them before he arrives. I keep forgetting to do that. They say he only needs 2 newborn covers and 2 small ones.

Everything is as ready as it can possibly be for baby boy to arrive. The bags are packed, his little bag is packed with his coming home outfit and everything he needs at the hospital. We are all systems go.

My next appointment is Thursday, and Im really hoping it comes quickly. They said last week that she will start checking this week for dilation/effacement. I really hope something is happening.... it will make me feel much better to know that things are moving along like they should.

My greatest accomplishment.

Baby boy, 38 weeks.

37 week OB appointment.

We had our 37 week appointment with the OB today. Everything looks good. Its just down to waiting for the baby to come, now. Next week she will begin checking for dilation.
I asked her about the BH contractions and if/when they should be worrying- and she said they are not. Its not a problem at this point, and that if they are five minutes apart and lasting for a minute then its time to go to Labour and Delivery.

So really its just waiting for it all to begin. Im feeling not great these days. My legs and feet hurt so badly sometimes from the swelling that I just dont know what to do about it. Im holding onto so much fluid these days that I feel like a giant water balloon. Ive really loved being pregnant, but its definitely getting to be time for this little guy to be born.

Im sure I will probably be writing again before then, but my next appointment is Thursday.

37 week belly picture

Here is the belly at 37 weeks. Only 2 weeks, 6 days left until Dday. :-D

Nursery pictures.

Three more weeks until Dday! :-D We are still thinking that his date isn't correct, though. It was originally April 27th, and they changed it at the end of the first trimester to May 2nd, which didnt make sense to us. We are thinking he might be an April baby, but we'll see.

Here are a few pictures of the baby's room. It has been finished for quite awhile, but I kept forgetting to take pictures. Before anyone has a freak out and leaves comments about the dangers of crib bumpers- I am fully aware. It came with the set and is in the crib at the moment for pictures only. It is not staying there.

36 week OB appointment.

Today was our 36 week appointment with the OB. Everything looks really good with baby. My blood pressure is up some, and I have Edema, but they will keep an eye on it. I forgot to mention the BH Ive been having, but thats no surprise. I dont remember anything these days unless its written down. Im not worried about it, though, it seems to be perfectly normal.
She did my group b strep test today, also, results will be back next week.

I start seeing her every week now. Next appointment is next Wednesday.

Braxton Hicks and SWELLING....

Friday evening I started having regular BH. I counted four in one hour. Ive been having them regularly ever since, but not so much that Im concerned or anything. I am almost there, after all.

Swelling began Friday evening, and also have had it ever since. It is mainly in my ankles/feet, and mainly on the right side. All of these things are happening to the other mammas on the WTE board, as well, so again- not worried. I feel generally swollen and large this weekend, so for some reason I am holding on to my water. Ive read the best thing to do is drink lots of water.... for both the swelling and the BH, so Ive been trying to do that. Im thinking the swelling might also have something to do with the sudden warm weather we've been having.

My next appt with the OB is this Wednesday so I will mention all of this to her. This week I have to have the GroupB Strep testing. Its a routine test they do for all pregnant women around this time. I imagine she will begin doing cervical checks then also, but Im not sure. I read that some Drs check that over the last few weeks, and some dont because it is supposed to be very uncomfortable. I also imagine she will start having me come in weekly now.

We made a big batch of perozhki today, to freeze for quick meals after baby is born. I would like to freeze a couple of other things but Im not sure what.. maybe lasagna. Im really tired of soup after making it all winter.

There isnt much else new at the moment. Im trying to deal with my swelling, but not alot seems to help. Its just annoying. I will write again probably after the appt on Wednesday.