Bumpdate: 37 Weeks!

Every time I write these little updates, I still can’t believe we’re getting that much closer to having our baby!  3 weeks until the due date is seriously not a whole lot of time left.  It’s completely insane how fast each week keeps flying by.

I’ve been getting asked a lot if I’m ready.  My answer is always basically the same… I’m not sure if I’m 100% ready, but I’m about as ready as I’m going to get!  I do feel like I’m ready for this next chapter to begin and start figuring out life as a family of 3, and I know Jacob feels the same way.  So hopefully soon, Elliott will make his appearance when he’s ready!

How far along? 37 weeks! – I was dilated 2cm at my 36 week appointment.

Size of a? swiss chard

Due date? May 1, 2018

Gender? It’s a BOY!

Name? Elliott Brooks

Weight gain so far? 24.5 pounds.  I’m so over gaining weight!  😉

Exercise? Walking when I feel like it.  I’ve been doing a ton of errands lately, so that’s got to help a little as well.

Maternity clothes? I’m over these too!  😉  I cannot wait to be able to start working on losing this weight and reaching my goal weight once and for all.  I’ve pretty much resorted to wearing leggings lately because I’m so over the maternity jeans.  They just aren’t comfy!  And I totally went to the grocery store today in basically what would be considered my pajamas.  Oh well!

Sleep? I’ve been sleeping really great, so I hope that continues!!

Food cravings?  Not much as usual; however, I’ve been enjoying the brownies my mom keeps baking.  😉  I have noticed that I am  hungry a lot, but I try not to overeat too much.  Junk food is tempting though… not going to lie about that!

Movement?  He’s pretty active for the most part and lately it’s been a little bit more painful I guess because he’s getting so much bigger these days.

What I miss? Sleeping on my back, lunch meat and steak.  I’m looking forward to enjoying all of those soon!

What I’m loving? Pretty much everything still.  This entire pregnancy has been so incredibly amazing.  I still feel really great, especially for someone that’s 37 weeks!  I don’t really have any aches or pains and I don’t seem to be waddling just yet.  My belly button has still not popped out, and I really don’t know if it ever will.  I recently painted my toes and thought that was a pretty good sign that I feel great and can still reach my feet.  😉

I really don’t think I could have ever asked for a better pregnancy, and I’m so incredibly thankful my body has been so amazing throughout this entire journey.  It’s definitely something I do not take for granted.

What I’m looking forward to? Meeting Elliott!  We’re getting so close and we’re really excited.  Of course, we have worries and wonder what life is going to be like in the near future, but I really can’t wait to see what it’s like to become a parent.

Best moments of the past few weeks? Getting some of our last minute things done.  I finally packed the hospital bag.  Well, I need to add a few things, but for the most part it’s done.  Jacob finished some house projects as well, so things are steadily getting ticked off the checklist.

My mom cooked a ton of yummy freezer food for us, so we should have quite a few easy meals at home for the first couple of weeks!  Woohoo!!  Plus we have some trusty pizzas and lasagna, too.

Words of wisdom?  Trust your instincts.  This past Friday, I experienced some crazy all over body itching, and when I say all over, I mean everything itched… my arms, legs, hands, feet, toes, fingers, wrists, etc.  It was absolutely awful. I tried to ignore it, and I just could not stop itching.  I remembered reading something online a long time ago (way before I was pregnant) about excessive itching, so I googled it just to see what that was about and to make sure it wasn’t some kind of preterm labor sign.

Remember how I saw Google is not your friend?  Well, like I said before, it’s not.   I read about cholestasis, which is basically a liver/bile issue and can cause the baby to be stillborn.  I read about different symptoms you may have from it, and while I didn’t have any of those besides the itching, it did worry me a bit because it said that you may or may not have any other symptoms either.  That’s not very reassuring, right?!

So, I was a little worried, but I tried to just convince myself that Google was wrong and this was not what I had.  I didn’t say anything to Jacob for a couple of hours, but then I got scared because I couldn’t get Elliott to move no matter what I tried.  I tried drinking something cold, eating an ice cream sandwich, playing music, rubbing my belly, lightly poking at him, etc and absolutely nothing worked.  He wouldn’t move at all, and then I was really worried.

For someone whose baby is incredibly active throughout the day and night, it was pretty alarming.  Usually one of those things will get him kicking or pushing, and I just couldn’t make it happen.  Jacob and I both tried and tried and tried and he just would not move, so at about 1:30 am we headed to the hospital to get checked out.

I was terrified.  The nurse hooked me up and performed a non-stress test for a little over an hour.  For the first 30 minutes, I still couldn’t really feel him, so she used something that provided some vibration (I think… it’s all a blur now), and eventually he started kicking.

Although everything turned out okay, and the baby seems fine, I’m thankful Jacob pushed for us to get it checked out because like he said, “If it’s nothing, then it’s nothing, but if there is an issue, at least we would be in the right place to get help.”  Luckily, my doctor didn’t seem concerned too much about it, especially since all of my labs have been perfect and I haven’t had any complications or concerns throughout this pregnancy, but I am anxious for my appointment on Friday just so I can ask some more questions about what I experienced.  It was the first time in this entire pregnancy that I felt like something might be wrong.

So my advice is: trust your instincts always.  While it appears that my instincts were wrong this time, I’m really glad we went to the hospital even if it was just for some peace of mind.  I’ve always trusted my instincts for the most part, and thankfully, they were wrong in this case, but had we not had things checked out, I really don’t know how I would have handled it if something were truly wrong and I was too hardheaded to go to the hospital.

Two more things:

1. Things seem to be changing lately, and I feel like labor may be coming sooner rather than later… I won’t go into details to spare you some TMI, but I guess we’ll see what happens.  My next appointment is Friday, so we’ll see if I’m dilated any more than the last time.
2. Since we’re getting so close to meeting out little guy, I’ve been wondering what in the world he’s going to look like!  Will he have darker skin like I do or my crooked pinkies?  Or will he look more like Jacob?  Or more like one of our parents?  I keep trying to imagine what he’ll look like, and I always say I hope he’s cute… which is kind of silly because it’s our baby, and we’ll think he’s cute no matter what, but I sure wish I knew what he’d look like before he gets here.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  Any predictions on who he’ll look like?  Here’s a photo of us from 9th grade (our first “date”) and here’s a more recent photo of us:

 

Just a few more weeks until our due date!  When do you think he’ll make an appearance?