39 Weeks

Well we are almost to the due date, but I am not holding my breath on delivering just yet, I'm pretty sure I will at least make it to my due date, which is next Monday (6 days from now), and possibly longer, which is okay I guess. The only thing that makes me a little nervous is that my step Mom took off work this week and next in order to be available around the time of the baby's birth and her parents are coming all the way from Illinois next week also to be around for the birth. It's definitely a great idea and I'm excited that they all want to be around for the birth, but part of me thinks "what if she's not born during that time?" That would kinda stink, but it's out of my control. Mostly I miss running, and I really don't enjoy my feet being swollen and sore all the time, and I'm often very tired but for the most part I don't seem to be getting any more uncomfortable so as long as I stay about like I feel right now it's bearable. 
This past Sunday I had a hard time getting up and I felt kinda sick and crampy, like menstrual cramps kinda. We got up, went to church like always and by then I felt a little better. However during lunch I started having some pretty strong Braxton Hicks contractions and we tried timing them but they were very irregular and like 15 minutes apart so not enough to excited over. Eventually they went away and then tonight I got really hungry before dinner and had a few contractions so I think we've decided that being overly hungry causes me to have contractions, or at least to think that I'm having them. I mean I've been having irregular ones for a while now but hunger is one thing that just seems to set them off.  
I'm still going for walks and doing yoga at Destination Maternity twice a week. Michael and I even went to partner yoga this past Saturday and told the instructor we thought it would be our last partner yoga but then the instructor told us that the next one would actually be this coming Saturday June 2nd soooo we will probably be there since my due date is not until June 4th. 
Several friends and family members actually texted me today to see how I was feeling which I thought was very sweet of them! 
Meanwhile Zelda is always squirming around, I always feel her back on my right side and her feet (or something) poking out on my left side. She gets hiccups A LOT, even has them right now! I still appreciate the feeling of her moving inside me, I wonder if I will miss that after she is born...

38 Weeks and Super Tired

37 week Belly Shot

Today I am 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I've stayed super busy and productive most days this week. The days have kinda blurred together, but I spent one day cleaning and organizing like a mad woman, so that hopefully I will not have to do a deep cleaning like that again until sometime after the baby is born. I went to yoga twice this week and went for a walk/run once, I mostly walk now, if I jog it's incredibly slow and only for maybe 30 second increments.  I've got 6 meals in the freezer, 4 of which I made and 2 were from a lady from my church. I bought a closet organizer for the baby's closet and got that set up today. I've been meaning to pack for the hospital but I'm having a hard time doing that, I feel like it would be easier to do it once I'm in labor and I know I'm going to the hospital soon, versus having that bag sitting there for weeks. All that said I went ahead and have started packing today, mostly the baby's things and some clothes for me, I guess that's better than nothing for now. So I feel like I've been pretty productive this weeks, however today I just wanted to stay in bed. I didn't but I felt like I was dragging myself around, to yoga and then a couple errands. It was rough, so I finally gave up and attempted an hour and half nap, which was more of doze but that's okay it definitely helped. 

I've moved on from reading about labor and delivery to doing more reading about breastfeeding. I plan to breast feed exclusively but I've heard it can be a challenge so I want to be prepared for it just as much as I've prepared for labor. I've been to 3 La Leche League meetings, which have been great! There's not as many pregnant women there as there are women who already have babies, but they've all told me that I'm smart for going to the meetings before having my baby. The books I've been reading are "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding," and "Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding." Both are great, especially the first one, it offers TONS of great baby care information. 

It's crazy to think that I basically have a whole infant inside of me right now! If she were born right now she'd be completely ready for life outside of my body however, the more time she gets inside the better! Babies practice breathing movements before they are born and at this stage my baby should be taking 40 practice breaths each minute. I never knew that newborn babies can't produce tears! According to www.whattoexpect.com it won't be until sometime after the first month that she will cry real tears, despite the fact that she'll probably be crying upon birth. I'm surprised I never noticed that with my baby brothers. 

37 weeks and 1 Day

Sunday was Mother's Day! Although Zelda is not born yet, I consider this years Mother's Day to be my first Mother's Day. Every decision I make already affects her, and I've worked hard getting things ready for her, so I think that qualifies me as a mother : ) I actually did get a few mother's day wishes in person and via text message, so that totally made my day! 
My belly has definitely grown A LOT since last Monday when we had our maternity photo shoot. The photographer, who is actually a friend of ours, wants to retake a few of the pics so I think we will be doing that this Thursday, and my belly will be nice and big for it! 
My workouts last week went great! I activated a 7 Day pass with Lifetime Fitness, so I've been lifting weights a lot more, my biceps were sore for like 4 days last week from assisted pull ups and dumbbell curls. I ran/walked on the treadmill one day and that felt great because the speed of the treadmill stays constant so it helped to push me to run more. I went swimming one day, however I was a little self conscious  because I'm still just wearing my old bikini....I'm too cheap to buy a maternity swim suit. Saturday, Michael and I went to partner yoga, which was a lot of fun, we hadn't been in several months. On Sunday (Mother's Day) I actually got up before church and went for a nice 3 mile run through the neighborhood, it was nice and cool out so it felt great! But I've crashed again, yesterday and today I've just been tired. I attempted running on the treadmill again today but I was just so tired and mentally not into it, I mostly walked. But that's okay, every day is different. 
The nursery is almost completely decorated, she'll be in a bassinet in our room for the first few weeks so I'm not too concerned if the nursery isn't finished quite yet, it would just be nice if it was finished. We got our tree decal on the wall, and finally bought a crib mattress so today I put the crib skirt on it and put the sheet on the mattress and put the mobile on the crib! Yesterday we also bought our BOB jogging stroller! Michael was super excited, we brought it home and he had it out of the box and set up in no time! 
So the main things on my to do list now are just to keep organizing the baby stuff (I'm sure I'll just reorganize it after she's born) and make some healthy meals to freeze before Zelda is born. 

36 weeks exactly

My Pregnancy Thoughts Tonight

Today I am 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant, and still feeling strong!  Everyone keeps asking how I'm doing and oh I must be so uncomfortable, and I bet you can't wait to be done. But really I'm just trying to enjoy and soak up these last few weeks! Yes I have been more tired recently and I do have days where I'm not completely comfortable but for the most part, it's not a big deal, being pregnant is not that bad! I enjoy feeling my baby move, she's strong and tonight she's made me a little sore from kicking the same spot over and over but that's okay, it's all part of the experience! I am almost 37 weeks, and babies may be considered full-term at 37 weeks, but I know that every extra day she gets to develop inside me will pay off for her in the end. She's still growing and practicing breathing and sucking her thumb and all of those things she needs to do so that she is ready to face the world as strong as possible! I'm a planner and I love being in control of everything happening around me, but pregnancy has taught me how to let go and not be in control, it's really a good time to practice trust. I am trusting my body and God, that when the time is right labor will start and I will be able to handle it. Is it going to be easy? Probably not, but I'm not afraid of a little work and discomfort, especially when the end result is that I get to meet my baby girl!  

Placental Function and Adaptations to Exercise

The Placenta is an organ that develops during pregnancy, it functions to maintain the transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the mother and the baby. It basically serves as the baby's lung. It is highly vascularized; small blood vessels carrying the baby's blood run through the placenta which is full of the mother's blood. Nutrients and oxygen from the mother's blood and transferred to the baby's blood, and waste products (including CO2) are transferred from the baby's blood to the mother's blood so that her body can get rid of it. Although not relevant to the discussion of exercise, it is important to note that the mother and the baby's blood never actually mix, the baby has it's own blood separate and individually unique from the mother 

35 weeks and 1 Day

Wow it has been an entire month since I last blogged! Time really does fly by, and this pregnancy has been no exception! I am nearing the end and getting so excited! About 4 weeks ago we met with one of our nurse midwives, Pam and she confirm with a quick ultrasound that our baby's head was in fact down. I had been worried that she was still lying sideways across my belly so getting to see that image of the back of her skull (indicating that she is also Occiput Anterior, meaning facing back) was a relief. I knew she had time to flip but I was of course unnecessarily worried that she wouldn't. We have had several baby showers, 3 more since the first one, all of which have been a lot of fun! This past weekend I had my baby shower in Austin and it was a lot of fun getting to spend time with my parents and little brothers and getting to reconnect with other friends and family that I had not seen in a long time! I'm so thankful I was able to make that trip before the baby was born. 
This week is bittersweet, it is my last week of working at USAA. I have been working there since finishing my internship 2 years and 4 months ago. There is one client that I have been training from the beginning and several others that I have had for a very long time as well, so I am of course going to miss working with them. Today I ran the trails at USAA just for old times sake. I trained for my first half marathon on the USAA trails, because it just felt a lot safer running there at 5:30 AM in the dark rather than in neighborhoods. Yes I am still running, I had a couple weeks where I only ran once and did elliptical and weights the other days. I had actually made a final decision to stop about a week ago because it was just getting so hard, but then we had a few mornings of gorgeous, cool weather and I just had to get back out there! So now I'm back to jogging 3 days a week for 2.5 to 3 miles, taking about 45 minutes. I've been communicating with my nurse midwives about it and they all say "If you're feeling good you can run until the day she's born."
The nursery is finally coming together, about two weeks ago Michael and his brother got the blinds and the curtains up! Our friend Courtney gave us her crib so they built that too! Very exciting, we are so blessed to have been given a crib rather than have to purchase a new one!
I don't know if I mentioned this in a previous blog but the first couple from our Bradley class had their baby (like the following week after the class ended), and she had a very fast, intense labor, also called precipitous labor. But she did it naturally with no pain medication as was her plan! The second family, my friend Carly, just had her baby last week I think, and I do not know much of the details of her labor other than that she pushed for under ten minutes! That's crazy awesome! She attributes that to having aligned hips thanks to going to the chiropractor for the last few weeks of pregnancy. I've been going to the same chiropractor for 3 weeks now, and whether or not it's going to help me in labor, it's definitely helping my back, I have almost no pain now! And finally, last week my friend Valerie, who has been giving me lots of pregnancy and baby advice just had her 3rd baby. Her labor was also pretty fast, as it always is, but she had her first home, water birth this time! I'm so excited for all of the new babies, and I can't wait to have mine!