35 Weeks- What Happened

35 Weeks was eventful in the most eventful way.

I woke up feeling exhausted and thinking that I may not be able to work until 36 weeks as planned. When I got to work that day two different people said, "you look different today". That day I decided that even though I was in the thick of orienting 2 people to replace me, I would probably not come back to work after the weekend. I had a great time celebrating my babe to come with my co-workers at a potluck baby shower for the Little Lady that afternoon.
When I headed back to work at the end of the potluck I suddenly felt like I had to pee really badly. Like REALLY BADLY. As a made a beeline for the bathroom, I felt like I was peeing my pants; soaking them, emptying my whole bladder-type peeing, not just a little leakage! When I got to the bathroom I finished up and wiped, but felt like I was still going. Then I saw a little blood on the toilet paper. Then it sunk in that I had not peed my pants at all...oh shit, my water was breaking. Lucky for me, I work on the same floor as Labor and Delivery, so I walked my wet self down the hall and checked myself in. 

This was a very inconvenient time for this to happen for several reasons. 

1. The Hubs was WAY out of town on business and at least 24 hours by plane travel away.

2. I had not yet started my maternity leave and working until the last minute was not my plan!

3. My Mom was also across the country.

4. Nothing. Let me repeat, NOTHING was ready. No crib assembled, no hospital bag, washing machine broken, bathroom remodel in full swing, "nursery" a big pit of boxes to be unpacked.

But...February 6th was destined to be my Little One's Birthday, convenient or not.

Looking back, I think my motto for the day was, "I can't believe this is happening". Because I really couldn't. I must have said it 205 times and even after she was born it took a good long while for the reality to sink in because my mind just wasn't there yet. For some reason I thought I would go right to my due date or even later and be worrying about induction and what that would mean for labor.

As I write, my baby is 3 weeks old. She is perfection. She makes all of our journey worthwhile and lets me know that while I wouldn't have chosen infertility or wished for baby-making to be so high tech and such a lengthy process, I wouldn't change it. Because she was meant to be ours.

Friends, meet Piper.

34 Weeks and One Final Photo...

Since I am back-blogging, I will leave you with a recap of week 34 from my jotted down notes throughout the week. 

Boobs and nipples are bigger. Rib pain! Hubby traveling. Nursery prep. Pee leakage.

Boobs and nipples bigger...yes, clearly preparing themselves for breastfeeding. They are turning into targets I think.

Rib pain. Wow. I have a baby butt lodged in the right side of my rib cage that I often have to press down on to relive some of the pressure. It is particularly noticeable when I am sitting for extended periods of time or driving to and from work. I am excited about this rib pain only because I can totally tell it is a butt, which means that her head is pointing down! No breech baby here!

Hubby traveling.  This one makes me simultaneously cringe and giggle at the same time looking back at it. He's in Brazil from 34-35 weeks and 2 days for a last-minute work trip. Not stoked on this one, but making the most of it and laying low!

Nursery prep is in full force! Unfortunately much of it is on hold while the Mr. is out of town since it requires some assembly and heavy lifting.

Pee leakage...it's happening. Enough said. And sweat. I am awfully hot all the time and often end up with sweaty undies. It's not a glamorous life, people.

No cute photo this week, just a selfie in PJs. Cause I'm tired.

She's coming when?!

Something happened in between the 32 and 33 week marks. At 32 weeks I felt like we had a lot of time. At 33 weeks, suddenly I felt an incredible panic that Baby's arrival is JUST AROUND THE CORNER! And we have so much to do! And we haven't gone on date nights or had a lot of loud sex, or slept in super late, or... yikes.
A lot of life events happened right around this time too that just might be contributing to my sense of the time slipping away. One being a bathroom remodel. Why at 8 months pregnant did I think this was a good idea? I have no clue except that it sounded like a better idea to do it now than with a newborn. This remodel necessitates us moving out of our cozy bedroom with the king-sized bed into the crap-filled guest room/office with a full-sized mattress. It also means that we have construction workers in our house A LOT. Boo. And that we are hemorrhaging money on bathroom tile and vanities while also trying to save money for my maternity leave all the while buying a bunch of baby crap.

Aside from the life stress, I'm feeling pretty darn good. Sometimes I almost feel like my symptoms are disappearing. One week I have heartburn, the next I don't. Week 32 was a good one for this.
I have a good belly shot, but having technical difficulties uploading, so I'll save it for another date.

 At 33 weeks, aside from being 7 weeks away from D-Day, I started feeling a lot more "pregnant". I feel like the belly just keeps growing and growing and lugging my tired body around is getting a lot more challenging. And bending over? Forget about it! The absolute highlights of the week were attending our first childbirth class and our Baby Shower!
The childbirth classes are taught by a hippy dippy woman who refers to herself as the "cervix whisperer" and reminds me of one of the women in the SNL skit "Schweddy Balls". Hilarious and informative at the same time :) I don't feel like I gained a lot from the classes, but Mr Hubs certainly did. I think he's feeling much more confident that he can support me during the birth than he did before. The take home video scared the living sh*t out of me...even though I've witnessed hundred of births. Somehow it's way scarier when it's only 7 WEEKS AWAY and going to happen to you instead of someone else! Go figure.

Anyway...the shower. Oh so much fun!!! Our friends and family did an amazing job throwing a circus-themed shower complete with cotton candy, caramel apples, corn dogs, baby pictures of both of us, and no cheesy games. Opening the gifts and bringing home oodles of baby goodies made it very real very fast. You guys, this baby is going to come home with us. Whoa.
Without further ado, some shots from the shower and a belly shot!

I think they should make this the glucose challenge test...WAY tastier than orange syrup!

30-31 Weeks

I'm feeling a bit like a failure in the picture and life department. The holidays really did a number on me, being in and out of town, traveling for Christmas to see family then back for a day before heading to Seattle for a wedding and New Year celebration with friends. All awesome, all exhausting, and all resulted in no "fruit/veg" pictures. Boo. I was super excited to have a weekly photo of myself to document, but somewhere around rutabaga (uhhh, apparently we don't have many of them around here!) I started having trouble finding the corresponding weekly fruit or veggie and it all went to hell. Luckily with Christmas and wedding festivities, I have plenty of belly shots sans fruit that will have to do.
Week 30 was chock full of traveling and was the official end of the horrible rash. Thank. God. And just in time to wear the cute wedding dress I found without having to cover all bare skin! Yay!
I also had an OB appointment that was fairly uneventful. Heartbeat, check. Measuring 30 cm, check. Rhogam and TDap shot, check. And OB's guess is that she's head down! Stay baby, stay! This week was also when I started feeling work "senioritis". You that feeling of being almost graduated, but still not and how mentally checked out you were? Yeah, that's how I feel about work. I couldn't care less about it and have officially started counting down the weeks until I'll be done! The baby lady is moving around a lot, and by moving I mean full body torsion. It no longer feels like kicks, it feels like an elephant doing somersaults. Crazy amazing.

Baby is the size of a cucumber! I'm guessing more like the length of a cucumber, but with more "meat" I hope :)

31 weeks and feeling HOT, HOT, HOT! Like SO HOT I can hardly stand it or stand myself. It is the dead of winter and I am wearing sleeveless dresses to work. Granted, it has been unseasonably warm, but I have still been getting weird looks from people because of my wardrobe choices. To get by I have been eating ice all day long, which kind of helps keep the heat at bay.
The other eventful part of the week was lots of braxton hicks contractions. They totally freaked me out. The advice nurse was not so freaked out and reassured me that they are normal unless they become painful or regular. I'm still having a hard time adjusting to the sensation and not worrying that I'm going into labor. I am really looking forward to seeing my OB again so I can talk with her about my worries.

Does this jersey make me look fat? According to the Hubs, playoffs are not the time to switch up the wardrobe, so I rocked it. It didn't help...

 Baby is the size of a squash...again. They really need to vary those veggies a little more!

Merry and Bright

29 weeks pregnant and soaking up another wonderful Christmas! Almost nothing can ruin Christmas magic for me, so even while "in the trenches" Christmas made everything better.
This year was no exception and we had a wonderful day celebrating with family and friends. The little one got a few fun gifts from the Grandparents, which was very fun and makes all of this a little more real.
I don't know if this "is this really happening?!" feeling happens to all pregnant chicks or mostly pregnant chicks with a history of infertility, but it definitely has not hit me yet that I am going to be a Mom in 11 weeks or less. Been there before? When did it sink in for you?

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Wishing for lots of babies in the new year!!!

Again, photos coming...

I'm a New Woman

All better! Okay, maybe not all better, but so, so much improved. And I'm back in the game!
Turns out I probably do not have PUPPP. Thank. God. Most likely I am having an allergic reaction to Amoxicillin that I was on for a weird face rash. Since I stopped taking it the rash is much improved, not quite as itchy, and my swelling has gone down almost completely. Phew. I have continued taking all my homeopathic remedies just in case it is PUPPP and it's just being controlled by everything I'm doing, but if it goes away completely I will start phasing out all the supplements.

I have noticed that I am having a hard time bending over all of the sudden due to the growing belly. It always takes me by surprise and almost takes my breath away when I bend down and realize I've gone too far.

The other kind of funny event this week happened at the hardware store. I have been hearing about overly protective Daddy instincts, but haven't really noticed it in my Hubby until this week.
While my sweet hubby was waiting in a giant line, I said I was going to check out the paint selection (trying to pick out nursery colors!) But then I had to pee...per the usual. I saw him still in Big Fat Line, so I sneaked off to go. When I came back, no Husband in sight. But then he was in sight and he was freaking out. I don't know if I've ever seen him so frantic. He was speeding around the store looking for me with pure panic in his eyes. When I found him he was not pleased. Not pleased in the way your parents are not pleased when you crash your first car and almost kill yourself but don't, so they yell instead of cry. This may have happened to me once. He was clearly relived that I was okay, but kind of pissed because I scared him, and also kind of tearing up.
You guys, I was kind of baffled and wanted to say, "what do you think could have happened to me in a span of 10 minutes?! Clearly no one's going to make away with your knocked up, rashy wife!" But I felt so guilty because he was so worried! Man, that Daddy instinct has kicked in in a big way! Sweet and strange.
 
I did take pictures this week, but am so behind on uploading that I thought I would get these posts out and update with pics later! The holiday season always does a number on me, but I feel like this year is particularly busy...anyone else? 

Welcome to the Third Trimester. F you.

This week I failed. There is no fruit or veggie photo, just a Christmas photo taken just before my life became a living hell. I remember people saying that the first and third trimesters were hard, but I kind of felt like I paid my dues in the first trimester with the all day nausea, so I would skate through the third. I don't know why I thought this. It's kind of like that time when I thought I would get pregnant as soon as we "pulled the goalie". Ha. Ha. Ha. Joke is on me my friends.

I am insanely excited to be in these shoes of mine, and until this week I was a blissful person. Like sickeningly blissfully pregnant. Then I got out of the shower and noticed that my belly was red and kind of itchy. Then the next day my whole body was itchy. Then the next day my whole body was covered in a bright red, horrific rash from chest to ankles that makes me want to literally scratch my skin off. Then my legs swelled up like an elephant and I ended up in OB for a few hours (all was fine, my doctor was just equally horrified and shocked by my rash and insta-swelling and wanted a little baby monitoring and blood pressure check). 

So to say it was a bad week is an understatement. I am incredibly down in the dumps at the prospect of this being the rest of my pregnancy. I am upset to be feeling itchy and puffed up like a balloon, yes, of course I am. But mostly I'm upset because I feel like I'm not going to enjoy the rest of this baby-growing journey to the fullest. And I feel like a bloated, gross red, bumpy blob of yuckiness. Sorry for the whining and self-pity. I think this is part of my "I love being pregnant!" grieving process.

While in OB I got a maybe diagnosis of PUPPP (otherwise known as the worst thing ever that won't go away until baby has exited my vagina). The "maybe" part comes because most women don't get the rash until much later in pregnancy. I am relieved that there is no harm to me or to the little one, but not relieved because there is no good way to get rid of it. I have researched and researched and contacted my old acupuncturist for some recommendations and along with the OB and Dermatology recommendations I am armed with a plan to make this tolerable:

1. Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap: I ordered a couple bars from Amazon and the should be here within a day or so. Not sure how this stuff works, but a lot of people swear by it.

2. Benadryl nightly: The verdict is out on whether or not this helps the actual rash or if it just helps you sleep so you aren't scratching your body off.  Either way, I'm giving it a go.

3. Dandelion Root: 2 capsules 3 times a day. PUPPP is sometimes attributed to a sluggish liver. Dandelion root is supposed to help and is also a natural diuretic. I am going to increase my water intake to counteract the diuretic properties, but hoping this might help the swelling too? Started this already and of everything that is rumored to help, the most people tout this one as a miracle. Bring it.

4. Prescribed Topical Steroids: Obviously the most Western of the treatments, the consulting dermatologist told my OB this should help and is not to be worried about in pregnancy. Hallelujah.

5. Omega 3s: This was a recommendation from the acupuncturist. So flax oil it is. 

Hopefully next week I will have some good news to report! I do NOT know how I will sustain this for more 13 weeks if not!

Prior to all of this sad news, we took photos for our holiday cards. Here's to hoping this isn't the last picture of my unblemished skin!