33 Weeks

It's week 33 and SO much is happening!

First, we got dumped by our second team of doulas and had to scramble to find a replacement.  Long story short but I think we have finally found the perfect match.  We signed an actual contract with this one too so I'm hoping they don't flake out like the last two.

Second, I am officially on the Job Hunt!  Yes, applying to jobs in the third trimester.  Holy crap!  I never really expected to be doing anything career wise at this point except counting down the days to my extended maternity leave, but I really can't ignore my current job woes anymore and decided to be proactive about my professional satisfaction.  Part of me is nervous about so many life changes occurring at the same time but most of me is just excited that there seems to be good opportunities out there for me.

How Far Along: 33 weeks.

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a honey dew.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained another pound or two this week.  It was Administrative Professionals Day so, with leftovers, I had eggplant parm and ziti three times this week for lunch.  Three or four pounds over pre-IVF weight and two or three below BFP weight.
Workouts: I started walking on my lunch break with the nice weather.
Maternity Clothes: I bought another dress yesterday (see above) even though I told myself I was done spending money.  Oh well, it was on clearance.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: Yes, he's been active this week.
Sleep: Yes please.  I love sleep.  I'd sleep all day if I could, just like the cats.
What I miss: Nada.
Cravings: I have recently picked up an affinity for frosted donuts.  I don't usually like sweet things but man are they good.  See above about weight gain.  LOL.
Symptoms: A little acid.
Anxiety Level: Only a one or a two this week.
Best Moment this week: Meeting our third (and final?!) doula team.  Date night with H.

Reading: What to Expect The First Year.

Dad is: Still recovering from his back injury but doing a lot better.

 

On Saturday we had the second part of our hospital birth class.  It was very reassuring to hear how much our hospital (seemingly) supports an unmedicated childbirth.  I was a little put off by the recovery rooms and how cold and clinical they look, but it's only one day I guess.  The actual delivery rooms are nice but you have to change rooms two hours after you give birth.  I think we've decided to rent a birth tub to bring with us so that I can labor in water. It's not something I ever would have predicted I would be interested in a year ago but the idea is very appealing to me (and DH!).

 

I think I've written before about how most pregnancy books are awful and should be avoided, but in case you needed proof, check out this page from Your Pregnancy Week by Week.  There's only three pages in the book devoted to Week 33 and 1.5 of them are about Placental Abruption.  Lovely.  In Week 34 it explains how epistomies are better than tearing naturally.  Terrible terrible book.  I didn't buy it, for the record, but it was in the library at my office so I've had it on my desk forever and bring it out every time my computer crashes.

 

Tonight I went to a Red Tent event where women discussed their birth stories and childbirth options.  It was a mix of college students who were there for class, midwives and natural birth veterans.  I really enjoyed it.  Part of me wishes I was working with a midwife for this pregnancy (and DH thinks I should switch) but I am thinking it's just too late in the game to make such a major change.  Maybe next pregnancy (ha!).

32 Weeks

32 weeks pregnant!  Less than two months to go!  My coworker keeps telling me (wrongly) that 34 weeks is full term so "after that, the baby can come anytime."  So even though I still have a ways to go (56 days) I'm close to what one random woman (with two grown children, mind you) consider full term, that weirdly makes me feel like I'm close to the end.

Also, we had our Prepared Childbirth class at the hospital on Saturday and I can safely say that my husband and I are Birth Experts.  He was such a knowitall, answering all the questions the teacher asked.  I was surprised he had actually absorbed as much as he has, but he has been to four other birth classes and watched The Business of Being Born, so I guess he was paying attention.  In fact, he's SO into natural birth now, that I sort of hope I don't let him down.

But, speaking of pain, why is my picture a selfie this week?  Because my husband, the fearless natural birth advocate, threw out his back yesterday during Spring Cleaning and is laid up on the couch. I insisted on taking him to the Urgent Care today after he had been immobile and complaining for over twenty four hours, marking this as the second time in six weeks he's needed emergency medical care.  So now he's got the good drugs and hopefully he's on the mend.

We also took one of our cats to the vet last week.  He's fine.  Suffering from seasonal allergies, which is making him over-groom and develop a bald spot.  We just don't know how to treat it because he won't take the medicine, even covered in yummy medicine masking goo.

So I give up, man.  I'M VERY VERY PREGNANT AND I NEED EVERYONE ELSE TO NOT GET SICK RIGHT NOW.  Not to make everything all about me but, you know, bowling ball on my bladder and all.

How Far Along: 32 weeks

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a squash

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +2!  So two pounds over pre-IVF weight, four pounds below BFP weight.
Workouts: Nada.
Maternity Clothes: Today I wore my rehearsal dinner dress so that was nice.  And regular pantyhose.  But maternity clothes work too.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: Not as much as I expected but he loves mealtime and when I lay on my left side.
Sleep: Yes please.  I love sleep.  I'd sleep all day if I could, just like the cats.
What I miss: Nada.
Cravings: None. Most food tastes really gross.

Symptoms: Morning sickness?  Isn't that weird at this point?  But I've thrown up twice recently right after I got dressed for the day.  Other days I felt like almost throwing up.  Not acid reflux throw up either.  Actual gross vomit that stayed in the back of my throat all day.

Anxiety Level: Much better this week.  I drove on the highway!

Best Moment this week: Prenatal massage and also coming home to discover someone had sent us our car seat.

Reading: What to Expect The First Year.

Dad is: Recovering from the back pain but still pondering going out to Boston tomorrow for a meeting.

I'm excited to report that Gizmo has a friend!  DH and I heard a baby cry in our hallway for ten days before we finally came to the conclusion that our neighbors (who we barely ever see) may have actually added a baby to their family.  I still waited a few more days before I went out and got them a small gift and left it outside the door.  Today they came over to say thank you.  I was working late but DH reports that the baby is indeed here to stay and he's three weeks old.  Also, he's not adopted, so I had a pregnant woman living four feet from me for nine months and I never even noticed.  LOL.

I'm starting to think more about my birth plan and have a meeting with my doulas on Friday to talk about it.  I want to make a playlist too but I can't decide what type of music I'll be in the mood for.  Awesome 80's birth? Enya? I need to ponder this for a bit.  Speaking of music, we went to a show on Friday and so many people were staring at me.  I wanted to say "what?  How do you think you got here? I have eight more weeks and I refuse to be a hermit!"
Coming up we have the second part of our hospital birth class.  I'm also going to finish my bedroom declutter project and sort all of the baby's things so I can figure out what we will need to get.

31 Weeks

I wore the same dress you see on the left in Week 18.  Sadly, I've had it since I was twelve weeks and it's only now starting to look good on me (it looks a little silly in the Week 18 picture).  It's Liz Lange for Target so luckily it wasn't a million dollars, but I've learned my lesson not to splurge on lots of maternity clothes when you're newly pregnant because some of them are made for a humungous belly you won't have until nearly the end AND all of my pre-pregnancy wrap dresses still fit.

Thirty one weeks and I am getting some presents and other fun stuff, yay! We had a Jack and Jill (coed shower) at my in-law's this weekend and got some nice stuff we didn't have to pay for!  And a dose of "we know everything about babies and you know nothing, you stupid fool," but whatever, free stuff!  Included in our booty was a Sleep Giraffe, an Ubbi diaper pail, and our Skip Hop Versa diaper bag.  H actually picked out the bag and I'm glad I listened to him instead of spending my Fun Money on a pricey Petunia Picklebottom.  It's roomy, stylish and practical.

Here I am at the party sporting my only other maternity dress, which, yes, I did just wear last weekend but it was a different crowd and I friggen love that dress (Pea in the Pod, bought at full price only to see it discounted on the web site several days later).

How Far Along: 31 weeks

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a pineapple, OMG!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Haters gonna hate, still at pre-IVF weight.
Workouts: Nada.
Maternity Clothes: Pretty much.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: Hardly any this week.  I think he gave me a break because I was sick.  Doctor said he's very active and I just can't feel it.
Sleep: Fine when I am able to fall asleep.
What I miss: Nada.
Cravings: None.  I'm off cheese now, which is odd.

Symptoms: I HAVE CURED MY ACID REFLUX WITH PREVACID.

Anxiety Level: Not gonna lie, it's pretty bad at night.  I started sleeping with the Rock N Play next to my bed for some reason so maybe I'm freaking myself out.

Best Moment this week: Our party was the highlight of an otherwise crappy week.

Reading: Still reading Bringing Up Bebe and occasionally Instinctive Parenting.

Dad is: In desperate need of new jeans!  He's lost several inches on his waist due to his new fitness regime.  He refuses to buy any because he wants to lose more.  He even refuses to go to Marshall's and get "transition jeans" to appease me.  So he will just look ridiculous (but thinner!) for now.

So the good news is I don't have ANY acid reflux anymore.  Hallelujah!

 

The bad news is I was sick as a dog all week.  Monday and Tuesday I felt my scratchy throat getting worse and by the time I woke up Wednesday I felt like death.  I called in sick to work and slept all day.  Thursday morning I woke up feeling worse so off to Urgent Care I went.  My rapid strep culture came back negative but I got prescribed antibiotics because the doctor said it looked like strep.  In the meantime, however, he was concerned it could also be mono.  I was sent for a blood test and told to follow up with my OB the next day.

Friday I woke up feeling better but since I already had to go to the OB and since I was worried I could have mono I called in sick for a third day.  I never ever miss three days of work!  But anyway, not mono, not even strep according to the cultures but my white blood cell count was off so I'm just gonna finish taking the antibiotics and let them kill off whatever infection I had.

So, sort of a crappy week except for our party and I got to go to a poetry reading last night which was fun.  I've got tons of catching up at work to do this week to make up for last week.  I also have a class where we learn how to take care of babies tomorrow, a massage Friday followed by a concert and then a daylong Prepared Childbirth class at the hospital  It's all happening!

30 Weeks

Thirty weeks, finally!  I remember fantasizing about "the thirties" earlier in this pregnancy as a stage I couldn't wait to hit.  It's the point where exciting things seem to happen weekly.  Baby showers, home prep, birthing classes, signs of labor, etc.  As they said in the movie "Almost Famous," "it's all happening!"

And it is, really.  I'm at that stage women complain about but I sort of love; where everyone you meet seems to need to comment on your pregnancy.  Oh sure, sometimes it's annoying - like when the barista I've seen on a regular basis for years asks me if I want decaf when I've never ordered decaf in my life - but mostly it's nice.  People, even strangers, are genuinely happy and excited for you. In a way, accepting congratulations on a pregnancy is a little strange.  I mean, most people just pulled the goalie one night and two weeks later, bam, two pink lines.

Don't get me wrong. I don't feel I "achieved" anything by getting pregnant from IVF because most of that had to do with fate and doctors, but, looking back, I am proud of how far I've come in the past year.  Back when I was first starting fertility treatments circa March 2012 I was significantly more fearful of certain driving scenarios.  Unfortunately my fertility doctor was located past a "no go zone" for me. This meant a lot of getting my husband to drive me to appointments or taking a (pricey) cab ride both ways to get there.  

 

Eventually, just based out of necessity and frustration I "got over it" to the point where I not only drove myself to an average of two weekly appointments between June and September, I even picked a new OBGYN whose office location requires me getting on a highway (albeit very briefly).  It IS sort of annoying because it takes twenty minutes to get there and isn't as easy as going to my old OBGYN who was located less than two miles from home and on a bus line, but I hated her.

I AM still nervous about driving with Gizmo in the car.  To tell the whole truth, sometimes the thought keeps me up at night. Yet, because I have gotten over fears just like it in the past, I'm hopeful this is another fear I can just sort of "kick" with time and practice.

Anyway, enough of that, here are my stats....

 

How Far Along: 30 weeks!

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a cucumber allegedly.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Holding steady at pre-IVF weight exactly, which is technically two pounds more than last week but it fluctuates a few pounds daily.
Workouts: Nada.
Maternity Clothes: For the most part.  I ended up spending even more money on maternity clothes this week when I couldn't find a non-maternity dress to wear to my nephew's baptism but the dress I did find is awesome (see picture).
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: A lot more at night now but he's still lazy during the day.  I wonder if he'll be a Night Owl?
Sleep: I have good nights and bad nights.  The other night I threw my guts up when I accidentally laid on my back for a few minutes.
What I miss: I really want a margarita.

Cravings: Today I wanted chocolate, which is rare.

Symptoms: Ever present acid but I switched to Prevacid yesterday so fingers crossed.

Anxiety Level: I had one pretty crappy afternoon this week but otherwise well.

Best Moment this week: Hitting thirty weeks is pretty cool, also seeing my family this past weekend.

Reading: Still reading Bringing Up Bebe and occasionally Instinctive Parenting.

Dad is: Taking good care of me.

In exciting condo news, we finally got access to one of the few spare closets in the building.  For the low price of $200 a year we actually have a place to store the paint supplies and tools that are currently taking up space in the closet in Gizmo's office/nursery. So look forward to seeing a post on baby stuff storage in the near future.

I told H that getting the closet feels like the universe's way of telling us we don't need to move yet.  Maybe my mind will change when Gizmo gets here, but everything I was fretting about money wise last week holds true - we technically (almost) have the money but we don't have all the money we'd like to have. 

Coming up this weekend is our Jack and Jill! I'm excited to open some presents.  I stalked our registry and a couple of things have been bought already, which makes me excited.

 

And finally, here's one of our maternity photos that I like.  I will share more soon.

29 Weeks

I was totally starting to believe all the random comments of how "great" I look and even "not pregnant at all except from the front" until I saw the rest of our professional maternity photos.  Sigh.  Maybe next pregnancy I won't start out quite as big or I'll at least wait to take maternity photos when my belly safely extends past my mammoth breasts.

Oh okay, they weren't all bad but it disproved my theory that professional photos make everyone look good.  Sometimes I'm just going to look fat because my boobs are are big as a breadbox and there's really nothing I can do about that for the next several years.  I'll share some on the blog as soon as I have the non-watermarked images.

 

How Far Along: 29 weeks.
Size of baby: Baby is the size of acorn squash.  What is that?  LOL.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Down three this week? Two below pre-IVF weight.  At my appointment on Friday they said my weight was "perfect" so I'm just going with it.  I did tell H to buy more peanut butter crackers lest my Gizmo thinks I'm depriving him all of a sudden.
Workouts: Nada.
Maternity Clothes: Still loving my leggings, especially since the legislature is on break for the next two weeks.  Haters gonna hate.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement:Yes! Every time I think it's been a while Gizmo will kick me right in the lungs.  Good boy.
Sleep: Much better this week. Didn't have to get stronger acid medicine.  Maybe the Zantac is really working now?
What I miss: I really want a margarita.

Cravings: None.

Symptoms:Sleepy.

Anxiety Level: Ebbs and flows.  Everything is starting to feel more real, which is scary and exciting.

Best Moment this week: My second prenatal massage and working on the baby's space.  I'll upload more pictures when it's done but here's a sneak peak of my cat checking it out.

Reading: Still reading Bringing Up Bebe.

Dad is: On a weight loss kick of his own and looking good!

We had a really productive weekend!  I had hired a handyman to come on Saturday and do some projects for us and the jerk never showed up.  But since we were awake with coffee brewing so early in the morning we were determined to make some progress.  And, by we, I mean H.  He hung up our monkeys in the office/baby space!  And he mounted our old flat screen t.v. in the bedroom so I'll be able to hang there with the baby on maternity leave and beyond, while H is working.

Which brings me to this next thought - about home decorating in the age of Pinterest.  I thought about this a lot this weekend when I thought about how our "baby space" looked in comparison to the ones I used to lust after.  I was sort of obsessed with the modern minimalist nurseries on sites like Apartment Therapy for a long time.  Maybe if I had an entire room to work with instead of half a room I would have some "cooler" stuff.  But then again, my Gizmo is going to be a real kid who is going to want to touch and throw and slobber everything he sees.  He's going to watch Thomas the Tank Engine and suck on a pacifier. So....having a vintage ceramic elephant on his shelf is just not gonna work for us.  Thus, the monkeys.  Plus, they make me happy. 

And yes, I now have a 42 inch television in my bedroom.  It may look a little tacky but you try getting any sort of money for a four year old television in the resale market and then talk to me. I promise you I'm still going to get laid.  We don't' even have cable!

The point of this diatribe is this: my home may not be perfect but it's mine and, after this weekend, I'm feeling a renewed sense of affection for it.  Also, I finally started thinking more of the financial implications of moving and, whoa Nelly, I am not ready.  I know people buy houses all the time with nothing but a few hundred dollars left in their bank accounts but I just don't want to be that person (again - technically H bought our condo with zero money because his parents loaned him the down payment).

I want to have the following saved in addition to our down payment and closing costs:

Emergency Fund - at least one month's salary.

Moving Fund - we agreed to hire the "do everything for you including packing and unpacking" movers so I don't even know how much that costs.

Condo Fund - three months condo mortgage plus HOA fees in case we have some months without a renter.

New Car Fund - if we move to the burbs we're going to eventually need two cars even if H is working from home.  New cars are like $20k!

Home Improvement Fund - ideally this would have like six million dollars in it so I can get a heated driveway, a hot tub, a new master bathroom and the phattest kitchen you've ever seen, but at least enough for paint and rugs and stuff.

So, while we've made amazing progress on our debt reduction and savings this year we don't even have the whole down payment saved yet, much less all the other stuff. H and I said if we could stick it out until Gizmo was walking we would be much better off.  Maybe in a year?

And in fun news, a good friend of mine who I had lost touch with is pregnant too!  She's due in August with a little boy and we've resolved to get together more.  I'm excited even though she lives about ninety minutes away.

Next week I'll be in the thirties, hurray!