38 Weeks Today

My last post was only over a week ago and a lot has happened since then.  So last weekend I was getting over some sort of stomach bug.  Not fun.  I was feeling better and back to work.  On Monday night, I woke up to this awful urge to itch my entire body.  I wasn't really sure what was going.  Needless to say I didn't get a lot of sleep that night.  It was really crazy.  Every part of my body itched and itching did not help all that much.  I called the doctor that next day and they had me come in.  They said I had cholestasis which is an issue with the liver.  I have high estrogen in my body right now and some livers can not handle this and dump bile salts out of the liver which go to the surface of your skin and make you itch.  There is a medication you can take which I am on currently.  It took a couple of days to actually kick in.  The itching is a little better now but I still have issues.  The same day they decided to put me on the fetal monitor, have an ultrasound and take some blood.  The fetal monitor showed she was doing well.  The ultrasound showed that everything looked great as well.  They haven't gotten the test results back from the blood work though as they had to send it out.

I went back to the doctor's on Friday for my regular appointment.  She did the group B Strep culture at that time.  This is something that is present in some women.  It does not effect a healthy adult but if it is present then it could effect the baby during delivery.  So they check to see if you have it and then when you go into labor they give you antibiotics to protect the baby.  Of course, I have it.  Not a big deal though.  She also checked to see how I was progressing.  I was 30% effaced which means the cervix has thinned out 30% out of 100%.  The baby's head is down and at a -2 station which means she is not quite at the opening of the birth canal but getting there.  She couldn't tell the dilation as it was really painful procedure.  Yikes they have to do that again.  Not looking forward to that.  The baby is facing forward which means if she stays that way, I have back labor.  She may turn to the back and at least help me out there.  But with all that's going on, I don't have much hope. 
The rest of that day after this check up, I had some really uncomfortable lower pelvic pain that was lasting pretty much all day.  I thought I was going into labor kind of.  It was a constant pain which I didn't really think would happen.  I ended up going home early from work and laying down and then I felt a lot better.  Poor Chris thought we were going to have a baby that day.  Not yet!!

Also, at this appt. I had a high blood pressure reading.  I had one two appts before but a normal one in between.  They wanted to take blood just to be sure.  I went back to the doctor's yesterday and the BP was down.  My blood work came back and one of the things was high, so they decided to do it again just to make sure.  When they are looking at the results they look at it as a collective whole not individual stuff which is why they want to do it again.  She also decided to put me out of work as I should rest as much as possible.  My feet and legs are really bothering me. I can barely walk anywhere.  They are huge.  Good thing for my man shoes.  So I am out of work as of today.  I am going in for a bit to wrap things up and check on other stuff to make sure I have all the right documentation.  If this kid wants to stay in there, I could potentially be out of work for 4 weeks before she actually wants to come out.  2 weeks until the actual due date of 8/9 and 2 weeks past if she decides to be overdue.  Please, please pray that she doesn't decide to do that. 
I go back on Thursday to do a non stress test where I am hooked up on the fetal monitor again.  They will be doing this once a week to make sure baby is doing great.  I can already tell you, she is awesome.  She is a mover and a shaker.  I am always feeling and seeing movement around my belly button which is where either her hands or feet are.  Chris had a bit of a shock the other day witnessing that.  It was pretty funny. 

So on my time off, I will be organizing everything for the baby, reading, getting some extra sleep in, and trying to get as many projects done as possible while resting.  I would like to at least make it until this Thursday as that is the waterbirth class.  I have to take that in order to be able to have a waterbirth so any time after that would be super. 

Hope all are well.  Send good thoughts my way to the baby so she decides to come out soon. 

Tuesday is 37 weeks - Full Term!!!

Here is the 8 month photo.  I feel huge and look huge.  The last few days have not been stellar for mom.  I seem to have caught some sort of bug that is wreaking havoc with my insides.  Won't get too into it but just not feeling well and the heat and everything else is not helping. 
So today is 36 weeks 5 days.  Technically on Tuesday, at 37 weeks, I will be considered full term.  Yay!!!  I can't believe that I have made it so far.  It seems to be dragging and going fast at the same time.  We are pretty much all prepared.  Yesterday we spent some time doing some final laundry and organizing the baby room.  She is not going to be up there for the first couple of months because I am not going to be trudging up and down the stairs every 2 hours to feed her.  So she is going to be in the pack and play down stairs in the living room for a little while.  We have a lot of the stuff that we need but I am sure once she gets here that we will figure out something we missed. 
Today has been spent cooking up some meals for us to freeze so that when she does choose to arrive, we won't have to worry about cooking.  Just pop something out of the freezer and into the microwave or oven.  We made chili, lasagne and tuna casserole.  Later on, I am going to do a few more things.  Chris has been big help with that. 

We had our appointment on Friday.  Thursday, I started having my issues, and had to call the doctor as I was shivering uncontrollably and had a bit of a temperature.  They suggested taking some tylenol and eating the Banana, Rice, Applesauce and Toast diet.  I did and in a couple of hours was feeling much better.  On Friday, when we were at the doctors, she looked at my weight and my measurement and then at the chart and was a little puzzled.  The nurse had written 36 w 2 d.  But her 6 looked like a 0 so the doctor is seeing that I have gained a lot of weight and am measuring about 36cent and but thinking that I am 30 weeks.  She then asks how far along I am and I say 36 1/2 weeks and she is like oh thank god.  She was wondering how to let me know that with 10 weeks left I was much bigger than I should be.  Yikes, I am not sure I could have lasted 10 more weeks.  3 weeks is hard enough.  Everything else was normal.  BP was 120/88.  Heartbeat was fabulous.  She is moving around like a champ.  She is pretty sure she is head down which is excellent.  I think that her feet are just about at my belly button because the last few days there have been these little movements across my stomach in that region.  It is a bit creepy.  Next week, I get the group B strep test.  Most adults have this but it doesn't effect healthy adults.  It can however effect the baby in labor so if you have it, they give you antibiotics when you are in labor so the baby doesn't contract it.  No big deal. 

I can't believe it is soooo close.  I can't wait and I can.  Chris is feeling the same way.  He is anxious and excited at the same time.  One thing we do know is life will never be the same for the Other Bakers once she gets here. Can't wait to see what she looks like....

5 1/2 weeks to go!!!

Last Saturday I had my 2nd baby shower in Westmoreland at Carrie Staple's house.  We had a good turn out and the day actually turned out really nice.  Got a lot of great baby stuff and gift cards which I am soon to round out the things that we need for the baby

Carol Johnson, Charlotte Chamberlain & Loretta Ball

Shannon McNamara Litchoulis, Rachel Davis, Adrienne Domey and Stella Chickering

Aunt Betty Rancourt and Aunt Joanie Richardson

Hailey Mackey, Evelyn Shelley, Barbara Messer and Harley

That's me, Hailey, Evelyn & Harley with Levi (Hailey's newest edition)

Carrie Staple, Adrienne, Stella and Rosalie Walker

Me holding up a super cute outfit that I got from my Aunt Betty

The super cute poofy purple patagonia jacket.  I love it Rachel!!

A quilt my cousin Donna made.  She couldn't make it so sent her gift.  It is beautiful.

A handmade sweater made by Carol Johnson.  It is so well made and gorgeous!

Carrie holding Levi while Harley looks on.  He took about a 10 minute cat nap.  He is 4 months.

Had a doctor's appt this past week.  Everything is measuring where it should.  Next appt is 2 weeks and then it is every week after that.  I can't believe it is already July and I have 38 days to go.  I can't believe it went by that fast.  On the other hand, it feels like it can't come quick enough.  The feet have gotten pretty swollen.  Chris learned from the chiropractor how to massage the fluid back into the ankles which does help temporarily but not permanently. It gets really uncomfortable on some days.  I have a box under my desk at work but sometimes days can get pretty crazy and I don't have a lot of time to sit down.  I try to lay low when I am at home with the feet up.  That seems to help a little.  Still doing prenatal yoga once a week and my swim class twice a week so at least I am getting some exercise.  The ankle/foot that I sprained is still a little tender.  This along with the swollen feet makes walking a bit difficult.  Oh well, in another 5+ weeks I will be back to regular exercising.  Can't wait for that.  The baby is moving a lot these days.  She tends to stick out a butt or something in the front and sometimes it feels like she is going to burst out the front.  That can get kind of painful.  I think she has the hiccups right now.  She doesn't get them very often but they are weird to feel.  Heartburn is still about the same and the peeing frequency has gone up quite dramatically.  Can't wait until that stops.  Other than that am doing well.  Still going to the chiropractor which is helpful.  I have to work on my posture because now I have the lower back, hip and pelvic pain.  Once the baby comes, it will be shoulders and neck that will hurt. 

Chris, unfortunately did not win his beard contest and when I got back on Sunday, he had gone back to his old self and shaved off the whole thing.  I was shocked.  It has been 3 months since I saw bare face and it is quite a change.  I am slowly getting used to it as his he.  He had a disc golf tournament on Sunday where he placed 4th out of 30.  That is pretty good.  He is off playing today so it is just me and the dog to get this place cleaned up a bit.  Our weekends have been so crazy, we haven't had a lot of time to do other stuff. 

Below are a few pictures of flowers and vegetable gardens that are growing so far. 

This is where the driveway meets the garage.  Don't know why or how these got there but they keep coming up.

Eventually I wil get those maple trees out of there and also pare this down a bit so that some of the smaller ones can have some room.  There is a lot packed in to this small space.

These are cool. They are growing outside the stones.  They didn't flower last year but they are pretty.

These are new this year.  Really cool looking.



This is the view from the road.



Chris made me a new raised bed.  We have tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, radishes, onions, pepper, rhubarb, zucchini and sugar snap peas growing. 



These are my neighbor's tiger lilies.



Raspberries or blackberries back by the composter behind the garage.

This is the side of the house that is a jungle.  We have lilies growing.  Eventually a new fence and clearing out this area will be a big project. 

My lonely beach rose.  The rest have gone by.

Also, I don't know how many noticed but in one of the beard pictures, Chris was standing in front of our front steps. We decided to paint them red like the shutters. He painted them white and then started with the red that we had. Woah!! It came out purply. He didn't finish them. We had some old gray paint so he decided to put that on and then maybe the red over it to dull down the red.  Maybe we might keep them that way, who knows.