32 Week Update

Another milestone bites the dust! I'm running out of them! I feel like perhaps I've been making them too easy, but then when you think about it it's been at least 4 weeks since I made the 32 week milestone so it wasn't that easy! I think my 2nd to final milestone will be to achieve 36 weeks 5 days, which is the day after when I had the girls making me the most pregnant I've ever been. Sounds reasonable enough! My final milestone will be 39 weeks when I finally have him! 7 weeks away!

Monday I went in for my first NST, not really know what to expect! They set me up in a regular exam room with the machine and put two monitors on my stomach. One was to monitor his movement and my uterus and the other his heartbeat. He was really easy to find and stayed on the whole time (only kicked off once but it came right back). I also had a little clicker that I was to click every time I felt him move. It was kind of hard because the monitors put pressure on my stomach which is basically what it feels like when he moves, but I was able to do it. He was pretty sleepy though and was moving at a regular once every few minute pace. After ten minutes they came in with the buzzer and she buzzed my stomach a few times. His heart rate jumped from 148ish to about 165! I think it scared the poor guy! He started moving more, but it wasn't enough. At the end of the 20 or so minutes they came in and said the Dr was going to send me over to ultrasound for a BPP, because he didn't pass the NST.

What I learned about the NST is that they look for accelerations in his heart rate when he's moving well. When he moves his heart rate should change between 5-15 beats and they should see some movement of his heart rate within that 20 minute monitoring window. Bitty stayed the same the whole time, so that's why he failed.

I was pretty worried at this point, but excited that I got an unplanned ultrasound! She put the probe on and  you could immediately see his little butt up by my ribs, still head down! He was practicing his breathing really well the whole time, and wriggling around. It was weird that some of his moving I didn't even feel, so that didn't help the NST either. She also measured him and he's weighing 4lbs and measuring exactly 32 weeks! If he gains weight at a normal pace like he has been he could weigh anywhere from 6-8lbs when born. I think it's strange enough that he weighs what Vanessa did when she was born past 36 weeks, she was such a peanut! Still is, actually.

So tomorrow we have another BPP, I'm going to drink some orange juice before hand and wake him up a little but I think we'll be in and out of there in no time if he behaves like he did on Monday! I got some really cute pictures of his face in 3D this time as well. He has the cutest chunky cheeks, and he even smiled at us! It really made me excited to meet him and see what he looks like in person, but I can already tell he looks just like his daddy and sisters. He's going to be perfectly adorable!

Symptoms - Starting to experience some weird pica like cravings, so am taking iron supplements. Back pain has gotten really bad, acne is getting better though!
Food cravings - Nada! Although Jimmy John's isn't unappealing, I don't exactly crave it.
Size of baby - He's 4lbs! Growing perfectly!

31 Week Update

I just want to complain!! Whine and complain, possibly throw myself on the floor and have a real temper tantrum just like the girls do, just for a little while! And it's not even to complain that I'm uncomfortable and that I want this baby here NOW, because that's not the case at all. Although I will admit to being excited to meet my little man, time seems to be flying by on its own and I'm a little apprehensive about how we're going to fit him in (ok so I'm scared!) so he can bake a little longer!

I want to complain about this stupid acne! It's driving me insane! I wash my face religiously and I try not to touch it or rub it to clog my poors, but nothing is helping. I do think that if I weren't using my proactiv my face would be much much worse than what it is, but even using it it's still pretty bad!! And that isn't including my poor chest, shoulders, and arms. I've even been finding acne on my forearms, wtf is that all about?? I'm like a giant walking pimple! They're sore, they're unsightly, and I just can't wait until they are gone. Acne was the reason I had the mirena removed, I just can not handle what it does to my self esteem/image, and I'm already dealing with being overweight. At least I know there's an end in sight, I just have to keep thinking about that.

I'm also glad that acne is the worst of my problems! I keep thinking about my pregnancy with the girls around this time and I was pretty much down for the count until they were born. I hit a wall around 28 weeks and it only got worse from there. This pregnancy is much easier and much less painful! I can walk without severe pelvic pain, in fact the only time I have any pelvic pain is at night when I'm trying to sleep, rolling over seems to make it hurt pretty bad. Sleeping is probably the worst of the pain I do have during this pregnancy, my hips and back get pretty sore and stiff but I'm living with it. Although I'm not sure the pain is worse than waking up every two hours like clockwork to pee! My energy is depleted from this tortuous cycle.

Next Monday I start my twice weekly appointments, Mondays are NST day and Thursdays are BPP day. I'm excited to see him on ultrasound!! I'm not excited to be doing all that driving every week until he's born, but I'm sure it'll go by just as fast!

Symptoms - Acne, back/sciatic pain, tired, but otherwise doing much better than I thought giving the heat of the summer.
Food cravings - Nada still! I have lost hope on this one!
Size of baby - Over 3lbs and 17ish inches, gaining 1/2lb a week after this point. His movements feel like Allison and Vanessa at the end of my pregnancy and they were 4 and 5lbs, so perhaps he's about 3.5lbs or more?

30 Week Update

We're in the 30's! The home stretch! We're also at single digits, with only 9 weeks to go until my scheduled cesarean. It seems so close, and yet so far away at the same time. I think time is flying by though, and I don't know if that worries or scares me, or makes me excited. We'll see how it goes when he gets here I guess!

Had a Dr appointment on Tuesday, everything was as normal as it has been. My bloodwork all came back perfectly normal. So my thyroid is fine, I don't have gestational diabetes, and my blood pressure is perfect. I gained 1lb within the past two weeks, putting my grand total at 9lbs. Maybe I'll make my goal of 15lbs total? I start my twice weekly appointments on the 23rd. Mondays will be the NST and an appointment with my doctor, and Thursdays will be the BPP ultrasound and that's the day that I look forward to! She also said that they'll schedule growth ultrasounds on a 3-4 week basis, which means I could end up with 1 or 2 of those as well.

Remember when I was wondering if he was ever going to get the hiccups? I'm laughing at myself now! He hasn't woken me up in the middle of the night (yet) but he does get them at least 2-3 times a day now! So far today he has had them twice!

I was given the all clear to use whatever my heart desires on my acne, although I'll admit to already using my proactiv a few times. My face isn't cleared up but I'm not sprouting as many new ones a day and it's looking better, which better is fine with me as long as it's not as bad as it was getting! I have good days and bad days as far as being tired goes, today I started the day off really tired so I really needed a nap! My sciatic pain also plays around, today it was bad so I ended up taking tylenol so I could walk! I love going swimming and cooling off in the pool, but it seems to have the opposite effect on my sciatic pain making it worse instead of better. Go figure.

Symptoms - Acne, back/sciatic pain, tired, but otherwise doing much better than I thought giving the heat of the summer.
Food cravings - Still not craving anything! I'm saddened by this! No fun!
Size of baby - He should be 3lbs by now, and around 17ish inches.

29 Week Update

It's 4th of July! I'm 29 weeks today and my little princesses are exactly 18 months old as well! I can't believe they're already a year and a half, where does the time go! They will be just over 20 months when Bitty is born so time is inching steadily closer!

We grilled hot dogs and had some friends over for the 4th, it was a good time chatting and hanging out, but unfortunately our citywide fireworks were cancelled due to some rain that we had during the day. It is an absolutely beautiful, albeit humid, night so I don't know why they cancelled them, but they will be shooting them off on Saturday instead so we won't be completely without! I'm going to assume it's because the rain lasted so long today that they just did not have the time to set up so many large fireworks before it would be time to shoot them off, or maybe the ground is too wet, or it's too humid outside, who knows! I'm disappointed though, I wanted to see how the girls liked them, but we can wait a few more days I guess!

My little sister went home last night, we took her to the airport for her red eye midnight flight and was sad to see her go. It was weird waking up this morning to an emptyish house without her here, her presence didn't bother me at all, it was actually kind of nice to have someone here! I'm really going to miss her Kindle Fire and my Angry Birds, but I can't buy one for myself until I sell the Kindle Keyboard that I already have, and I haven't had any takers, ugh!

I can't wait for my ultrasound in 3 weeks to find out how big this little boy is, because he certainly feels pretty big in there! He did not want to go to bed last night, and I'm not sure what he was doing in there but it was very painful and I just could not sleep! No matter what position I was in he was fidgeting and kicking me so hard in the side that it really hurt! I pushed on him, poked him, moved positions, nothing helped! He physically assaulted me haha he better not do it again! For the life of me I can't figure out what he was doing in there either, except perhaps stretching his legs out and kicking/pushing as hard as he could, wish I could see in there sometimes!

Symptoms - Acne is still horrible, been washing my face every night with Cetaphil but it's not helping at all. Going to ask my OB what I can do about it! My back really hurts if I over exert myself, or carry two toddlers around all day. I'm still on top of the heartburn which is good!
Food cravings - Not really craving anything special at the moment, I ended up getting a Jimmy John's sandwich so I'm not craving them anymore, although I wouldn't turn one down!
Size of baby - He's gotta be about 10 lbs! Actually he could be anywhere from 2.5-3lbs right now and 15-17 inches from head to foot. Can't wait for my ultrasound to see!