Week 38- Still no baby

Hi friends, 

Well I am still pregnant and actually am in week 39 as of yesterday. We have 6 days till our due date and I still can't believe how time has flown by, does everyone say that? I know I have said it over and over again but truly it still amazes me. Hubby and I will be lying around and suddenly he'll look over and say "Doesn't it feel like we just found out about this baby?" It's true and it makes me nervous for how fast these first few weeks, months and years will fly by. At my doctor's appointment last Tuesday things were still status quo. I was still at a 3 but my cervix had thinned a good amount. The doctor did strip my membranes and although I did have an increase in contractions it did not bring on full labor. Go figure it works for 7/10 women but not me! It's kinda okay that baby is being stubborn though. My mom is planning on coming down for the arrival so that we have some help at home but she watches a special needs child 1 week every summer and of course that's where she;ll be until this coming Saturday night. The earliest she could be here in Maryland is Sunday afternoon so I am hoping baby can stay in until at least then so that I can rest easy knowing mom will be here when we bring him home. 

This past weekend we just hung out and wrapped up some last minute stuff. Hubby lucked out and had Friday-Monday off so it was nice for us to actually have a weekend together. He went and saw Captain America on Friday and of course loved it, he was dying to talk to me about it but I'm sure you can all agree if you haven't seen the movie it's like listening to rambling. Haha. We finally finished hanging the curtains and valances in the nursery and touched up the paint in our living room. Sunday we hung at the pool for a few hours and it was nice. I love being able to float and would love to spend the next week just floating around. We did pretty much the same on Monday but also threw in a trip to Borders. The deals were not good so it was kind of a waste of a drive since the closest store is a good 20 minutes away. You live and you learn, but that's a word of advice for any of you looking for deals, wait a few more weeks until they increase the percent off. At most it was 40% and it wasn't on much. Also the online deals for Borders are much better. I went to the gym Monday and Tuesday because everyone keeps saying that I will be doing so much sitting over the next few weeks that I should enjoy whatever activity I can. I would have gone today but I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment that got rescheduled again and by the time I found out I was not in the mood to go and sweat it out. Haha. So no doctor update today since the doctor has 5 labors going on today! Holy cow right. I would complain but I know that it will be me any day and I'm sure I will be messing with someone else's schedule. 

Hmm, let's see I think that's about it this week. I have been working on writing a letter to the baby to give them someday when they are older. I want to document this time when I had them to myself and want him to know how much I loved and cared for him during these 9 months. I think it will be special(probably more special if the baby were a girl, women love that stuff more than men) but I want hubby to write one too. We will see if we can get him on board! 

Ok ladies, hopefully the next time I write to you I will have a baby update! 

week 37- still no baby

How Far Along: 37 weeks 

Gender: this cracks me up every week- he isn't changing sexes I hope 

Size of baby: watermelon- 22 inches 6.5 lbs 

Total Weight Gained: right at 30 but again I am trying not to focus on the number, i have a healthy baby in there 

Maternity Clothes: still living in sundresses, i will say i am proud of the fact that i didnt outgrow any of the maternity clothes i did buy. i know some women do. 

Movement: moving a lot but also having longer rest periods. the doctor says that he is already mimicking life outside the womb, so hell have active periods and nap times too. 

Sleep: crazily enough I have been getting really good sleep lately. i think my mind can rest a little easier now that most of the stuff on the list is done. there are still things that im sure i could do to be better ready for the baby but i am just kinda over it. i will take the full nights rest and not complain! 

What I miss: This week i dont miss too much but i am looking forward to being somewhat thin again. having so many nice pairs of shorts that i cant really wear this summer was a bummer so hopefully in a few weeks i can squeeze back into them! 

Cravings: Fruit- watermelon and grapes especially. Total raisin bran. cereal of any kinda really. eggs, broccoli, corn on the cob. 

Aversions: still not really eating meat, i dont have much of an appetite to begin with so i try and eat what really is good and will be most nutritious. 

Symptoms: contractions- a lot of them, a few other things that could be labor related but since we haven't gone into full blown labor yet we will just chalk it up to normal pregnancy stuff! 

Best Moment this Week: Hubby and I had a date night last night just in case it's out last weekend as a twosome. It was nice to sit back and relax and talk about this incredible journey so far. Everytime he looks at my belly he makes a comment about when we told everyone we were pregnant back in December. It's amazing to think about how fast life has changed and how much more it will changed. I think as much as he is scared that he doesn't know much about babies he is starting to get really excited. It's fun. 

This week has been interesting. Friday I was having a ton of contractions and was worried I was going into labor. I tried to relax as much as possible but got the last minute stuff here at the house done, ie laundry put away etc. Tom also packed his hospital bag and installed the car seat just in case. Luckily when he left for work I was able to just lie around on the couch with the dogs and the contractions eased up. I have had more and more contractions everyday but nothing on a set schedule yet so I don't think we are quite ready for the hospital. I want to try and hang out at home until the last possible minute because lying around an uncomfortable hospital is far less appealing than lying in my own house with the dogs. I don't know if the baby has dropped yet or not because my belly looks the same to me and hubby is clueless. I have my appointment tomorrow afternoon and they are stripping my membranes so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that sends us into labor. When my sister had it done she went into labor the next evening so you never know. Honestly if the baby wants to stay in until his due date at this point it's fine with me. I've made it this far 2 weeks won't kill me and really I am not in pain at all, have no swelling and have had a pretty easy pregnancy so there's no reason to force him out any faster than he wants to. I guess the doctor figures since we are already so far dilated that maybe little one is ready to join us. 

Date night was fun, we went to a hibachi restaurant so that hubs could get some sushi. I barely touched my food. I think I have finally reached the point in pregnancy where no food is appealing and the food that is appealing fills me up so much faster. I am making sure to eat enough I just have to spread it out over a long period now. Works for me I guess. I think that's it for this week, I will keep you all updated once I get home from the doctor tomorrow or if baby arrives! 

Belly Shots 

Week 36 Anxiously awaiting our little guy

workout- 48 minutes on treadmill- walked 3 miles- 20 minute upper body weight routine

This is a super quick update since I am currently swamped trying to tie up last minute loose ends.  We had our doctor's appointment yesterday because my 36 week was cancelled on Friday for an emergency C-section.  All looked really good at the doctor.  I am currently 3 cm dilated and in the doctor's opinion we could be meeting out little guy in the next 7 or 8 days.  I have my next appointment on Monday(if baby doesn't come obviously) and we are stripping my membranes at that appointment.  The doctor wanted to do it yesterday but when he told me that 7 out of 10 women go into labor that night after having it done I knew I wasn't 100% read for baby.  The carseat isn't installed yet and I still have to finish packing our hospital bag.  I am excited that we could meet our guy so soon but also nervous that I am not 100% ready at home.  I guess I will never be 100% ready though.  Oh well we are rolling with the punches and today I am finishing up some cleaning and packing.  The nursery is done minus the curtain panels which I hung then realized I needed to iron so I have to take them down tomorrow and iron them.  Otherwise bring on baby!

nursery pics and belly pics for the week!

Three Things Thursday- What I love edition

Workout- 30 minutes arc trainer- 20 minute arm strength routine

I have seen some blogs floating around about things people are currently loving so I am running with that theme tonight, mostly because I am too tired to come up with anything original.

Current obsessions
1.  Watermelon and corn on the cob- not together obviously but I think I have eaten 6 ears of corn and an entire watermelon since Sunday.  I love it.  Summer food is so much better than winter food but I might just be saying that since it's summer.  Come back in December and I will probably be loving on macaroni and cheese and hot chocolate!

2. Spending cuddly mornings in bed with my two furchildren.  We don't let them sleep with us but hubby leaves for work at an ungodly hour and since I get to sleep in he usually walks them and then brings them to lie with me.  It has become some of the best moments of my day.  I usually wake up with Remi right near my head and Sophie curled up at my waist. I love my babies and know that once the real baby arrives these special moments will be harder to come by.  I hope they don't feel too jealous!

wouldn't you love waking up to this face?

 my two babies in bed with me.

3. Pandora on my iPhone.  I never used Pandora until the last month.  At my old job we couldn't stream anything from the internet since none of us had speakers or the capabilities for head phones.  I used my iPod and a docking station and that worked fine but ohh now that I have been exposed to the wonders of Pandora I will never look back.  I am obsessed and listen to it all the time.  I discovered it on a trip to Pittsburgh because driving through the mountains with patchy radio stations gets old as does making the hubby listen to 4 hours of Justin Bieber from my iPod.  Luckily for him I found a station of hard rock that he likes so I plug him in and then I take a nap haha.  Now I use Pandora all day, while I'm cleaning, while I'm at the gym, driving around in my car(my car has the sync technology) and I can't imagine life without it. My favorite stations right now are Summer hits of the 90's, Summer hits of the 2000's and Glee.  LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Other than my Thursday things I have my next baby doc appointment tomorrow morning and I hoping for some dilation progress.  Wish me luck!!

Nervous

BTW now that I have officially put my eating habit past out there I am super nervous about backlash.  This is a huge step for me and I would appreciate kindness and sincerity out of anyone who has an opinion on the subject, please?

Getting to know all about you!

Workout- 30 minute elliptical and 35 minute walk on treadmill


Again another post about me and some random info since I haven't figured out how to post the about me tabs! This blog thing is much more complicated than I ever anticipated and I hope I figure it out sooner rather than later.

I figured now was as good a time as any to show everyone my weight loss journey.  Now that I am 9 months pregnant and 30 lbs heavier than I'd like to be it's nice to look back and see where I will be after this baby arrives.  I can't really ever remember a time in my life when I wasn't a little overweight.  I am a tall girl(almost 5'9") so I always carried the weight better than someone shorter but I don't know if I was ever a healthy weight for my height.  We don't come from a family that stresses healthy eating, exercise or weighing yourself.  My dad was overweight, as were my paternal grandmother and aunts.  Food was a huge part of our get togethers and my Nunny(dad's mom) was an excellent cook but definitely not a health food addict.  I have very fond memories of eating homemade chicken potpie, fried eggplant and zucchini as well as copious amounts of cookies and other goodies at her house.  That's the best part of a grandparent isn't it?  My dad passed away when I was 13 and I think that's where my eating really spiraled out of control.  My family never really talked about his passing and we still haven't really addressed it to this day.  I can remember that after the funeral everyone was talking about not being able to eat at such a  time but all I could do was eat.  Eating became a source of comfort and I'm sure part of that had to do with having those memories with my dad attached to certain foods.  I still get weepy eyed whenever I see a Snowball hostess cake since he always brought them home for my sister and I.  I don't even like the damn things but  I know that I have eaten my fair share over the years.  

I was popular in high school and relatively active playing volleyball so I kept to a relatively "normal" size and started college in "ok" shape.  My freshman year of college is when things went a little haywire.  During the month of January my roomie stayed home so I was all alone in the dorms.  I became obsessed with working out to keep myself busy.  Slowly I started losing weight and realized how much more attention I got when I was a little thinner.  All of the sudden I realized if I changed what I ate I would have even more success.  Rather than dieting or watching what I ate which is what most people would do I turned to unhealthy habits.   This is the first time I have admitted this to anyone other than Tom but I became bulimic that year.  I realized that I didn't like not eating so I would pig out eating everything in sight and then make myself purge.  There were days where the only foods I kept down where a few oranges so not many calories but it worked.  I was thin and everyone noticed how good I looked.  I felt proud that instead of gaining the freshman 15 I lost 45. I never weighed myself during that time so I don't know what my weight was but I felt like I looked good and for the first time since I was a child I wore a bikini to the beach.

Around this time I met Tom and things started going well and of course you start getting comfortable and going out on dates.  The weight started creeping on and never really stopped.  I gave up one bad habit for another.  I never really addressed my body images or bulimia though.  I guess I felt comfortable because I found someone who loved me no matter my size and I figured if he could eat a whole pizza so could I.  The trend continued post college when I moved to Maryland with him.  In July of 2009 I reached my breaking point.  I had been living in Maryland for 2 years and had been graduated with a full time job and realized I was wasting my youth being overweight and unhappy with how I looked.  I joined the gym July 1 and signed up for Sparkpeople.com the same day.  I never looked back. I started cutting back on my portions and working out 5-6 days a week.  Soon those ugly habits reared their head again although this time I was starving myself.  I would limit my calories to under 1200 or sometimes 1000 calories a day and was working out an hour every week day and at least 2 hours on Saturday and Sunday.  I became obsessed with calories and counting every single thing that went in my mouth.  If a restaurant didn't have nutritional info listed online I wouldn't go there.  I missed out on fun times with family and friends before I realized I was out of control again.

 Finally I came across some healthy living blogs like Carrots N Cake and Kath Eats Real Food.  I saw these women who ate well and exercised and looked and felt great.  Suddenly it all made sense you could do things in moderation and not have to go to extremes.  Ultimately I started my weight loss journey in July 2009 at my highest weight of 273 lbs and when I got pregnant in October 2010 I was almost to my goal weight of 145 lbs.  My prepregnancy weight is between 150-155 lbs and I stayed at that weight for 6 months.  I'm not saying what I did was always healthy or condoning any of the bad habits I had but I will say when I held steady at 155 I was practicing moderation in all parts of my life and was really LIVING!

 When I got pregnant I felt a little anxiety about watching the scale creep back up so I threw away our scale.  It has been quite the journey and I can't lie there are days where lots of old habits rear their ugly head(I'm pregnant I can eat 6 cupcakes or my weigh in is this Friday I can't eat anything bad until then) but I have adjusted because I realize my body is a miracle that needs nurtured.  Being pregnant has probably actually helped me more than anyone could guess.  Knowing that I abused my body for so long and that it could still produce this little human is an amazing thing.  I look forward to teaching him about healthy habits and having an active family.

Wow so that's it.  Here are some pics over the years.

 Halloween 2006- notice the round cheeks

dating anniversary September 2007

the photo that shocked me into weight loss- vacation May 2009 

 about 40 lbs down November 2009

 wedding December 2009

exercising on our honeymoon in the Florida heat- May 2010

July 2010 wearing shorts for the first time in a looooong time

 first half marathon October 2010 weighing 155 lbs

 12 weeks pregnant and amazed at how my body was changing

 this past Sunday night almost 9 months pregnant!  Life is a miracle

I am an open door to anyone who has questions btw so ask away.

35 weeks pregnant- where has the time gone!

Hi all, 

As I sit here typing this I have less than 30 days to go until my due date. It's crazy and unreal and totally something that has snuck up on us. I still can't believe how fast these past months have gone. It's amazing to think that in this short time I have created another little being. I am getting so excited to meet him! 

Things are going pretty well in our neck of the woods. I had my weekly appointment on Friday and had my first internal exam. It wasn't as bad as I worked it up to be but everyone told me it hurt so I was panicked! Basically things are right where they should be. Babies head is down and we are 1 cm dilated. I am not getting too excited about the dilation yet because my sister was dilated for weeks before she gave birth so I am just taking it week by week. Blood pressure is still normal and so is weight. As it stands today I am on pace to gain 35-36 lbs which makes me super happy. I was about 5-7 lbs above my goal weight when I got pregnant so I know I can shed all these lbs once my little guy is here. I have had a truly blessed pregnancy with no constipation, heartburn or swelling and believe me I do not take it for granted. I know so many women who have such a terrible time and I have been so lucky. I have continued to work out and the doctor encouraged that until the baby drops and it becomes too uncomfortable. He keeps telling me what a good pusher I will be so I hope he is right! 

This weekend has been a little frantic still trying to wrap up some things around the house since hubs finally realized there isn't much time left. For some reason everything seems to need replaced at once. For example we had to replace 7 overhead light bulbs this week between ceiling fans and bathroom vanities not to mention that 2 times this week our smoke alarms started beeping because 1 needed a new battery and 1 needed replaced altogether. Then yesterday the closet door on our laundry fell off and needed a new spring. Just crazy. So that's how we spent Saturday and Sunday. Today hubs had to work so I am hanging with the puppers. It's kinda depressing to not have big plans for the holiday but it comes with the hubs job so I deal with it. Normally I would find some friends to hang or picnic with but since it has been in the 90's all week I have tried to avoid too much heat or sun. It's nice to hang in and spend quiet time with our puppies.

The nursery is 99% done finally. I am finishing 2 craft projects and Tom's mom is finishing curtains and valances for us so I just can't wait to have the little guy all settled in there. 

I wish I had more exciting things going on but life is slow when you are almost 36 weeks pregnant haha! 

I did the survey this week for a different blog I write so I figrured I would post here as well! 

How Far Along: 35 weeks 

Gender: this cracks me up every week- he isn't changing sexes I hope 

Size of baby: still the size of a large cantaloupe about 22 inches and 6 lbs. 

Total Weight Gained: 29 lbs- stresses me out a little but what can you do. If he's healthy and happy so is mommy! 

Maternity Clothes: I live in sundresses and I think they might be the best part of summer pregnancy. Saved me a ton of money on not having to buy maternity clothes. I never broke down and bought a maternity swimsuit either, I made an old suit work for the few times I've braved the pool. 

Movement: Still moving like crazy. It's amazing how much this has changed during pregnancy. It still boggles my mind that we went from butterflies to actual kicks and punches and now we have a big baby in there using my ribs as a foot rest! 

Sleep: This week has been the worst for sleep. I have had terrible back pains most of the night and have to wake up and stretch before I can fall back asleep. I also noticed that sleeping in doesn't exist. Maybe it's my bodies way of getting me ready for those early mornings. 

What I miss: This sounds bad but I think it's holiday related, but I miss being able to have a cocktail. I never drink and I mean never, like maybe 2 times a year but for some reason this week I have wanted summer cocktails. Mojitos, margaritas etc. It's a small thing in the grand scheme of pregnancy. 

Cravings: Fruit- watermelon and grapes especially. Total raisin bran. Sugar-candy, ice cream, dessert, etc. Chips with french onion dip(I haven't given in to this one just yet because I never in my life have liked chips and dip so I think this is a fluke) 

Aversions: Meat, I haven't cooked or eaten meat in several days. I get enough protein from milk, yogurt and eggs so I am not concerned but meat just grosses me out right now. Also the lemonade that I was loving and couldn't get enough of suddenly creeps me out and makes my mouth hurt. Weird. I think I burned myself out. 

Symptoms: Still having contractions but now I am waiting for the other good stuff to come! 

Best Moment this Week: Sitting with the hubby and really talking about life after baby. It was scary to talk about who will get up and change diapers and how he will help me on his 4 weeks at home but also so satisfying. It made me realize how much our lives are changing but how glad I am that he could be by my side for it all. I am blessed to have such an amazing and supportive husband and I am so looking forward to watching him become an amazing dad. It makes me smile just thinking of it.