Week 35: The Final Month

Today is 35 weeks + 1 day! There are a little over 30 days left until my due date of September 23. This means that we will very likely have our baby girl home in less than a month. It is hard to believe that we are so close now.

Activities for this week included our meeting with the doula. That went fine. She made a cast of my belly which looks less large than it feels when I carry it around every day. Ross got to meet her and we discussed the birth plan. I had an appointment with the OB on Tuesday that included a sonogram. Baby Wallis appeared to be doing well and was estimated just under 6 lbs. If accurate, we expect her to weigh 7.5-8 lbs at birth. Not too bad. Wyatt and I also made a trip to Babies R Us where we picked up a few things, but not too many. I now have a baby sleeper to use next to the bed until the nursery is ready, some newborn diapers, and clothes. Good to go. Hopefully, we won't have feeding issues and she will breast feed like Wyatt did so we don't need any supplies right now, but I do have some new bottles for when the time comes for her practice taking the bottle or me to get out of the house for an hour or two.

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Physically, I am still doing well. I am starting to swell and get a few pains, but nothing too bad. I have gained a lot of weight overall and that is pretty uncomfortable. I can't exercise, so I shouldn't be too surprised that I will probably gain a little more this time.

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Sleep is in 1.5 hour increments generally. Occasionally, I make it three hours and it is bliss. I have been having a lot of bad dreams. I didn't have that problem with Wyatt but it's been a problem that has come and gone throughout this pregnancy. It was really bad right after the misdiagnosed miscarriage. I was having terrible dreams, mostly about Ross and Wyatt, every night. That has returned the past couple weeks. I also keep having dreams that our baby is an animal (mostly a cat, I think). And I realize that I am nursing a cat. That's a little disturbing. Especially when I catch sight of the teeth!

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Emotionally, I am still hanging in there. Last time I recall being very grouchy the last few weeks of pregnancy. And it wasn't even 105 every day (or any day) that time! I am a little irritable and less patient that normal, but not too bad. I have, however, stopped reading any news stories involving harm to children. I really can't handle that right now. That puts me over the edge. I also keep getting teary when Wyatt tells me "I'm growing up on you!" He's so ridiculously cute and sweet to me lately (except those times when he is arguing with me incessantly, because he is three and he knows EVERYTHING (takes after his mother in that respect) ;-)

Activities for the coming week include another OB appointment (every week now). Getting the car seat cleaned and installed. Not sure what else.

Here's the big baby belly as it appears today.
Belly cast from last weekend.

Feed and Grow Baby

Today marks the completion of week 34. Wallis is officially a "feed and grow baby" as the MFM call them. This means that if born now she is very unlikely to have any lasting health issues. Of course, we want her to hang on for several more weeks. Truly, since the two weeks following the cerclage, I haven't felt like she wouldn't make it to term. I always worry, but I have been feeling pretty normal since the post-surgery contractions stopped. The past few weeks I have really just felt like a totally normal, if sedentary, pregnant woman. I can't really tolerate the heat, but who can? We are nearing 60 days of 100+ weather and about the past 25 have been consecutive. Yikes. Misery, even if you aren't huge and pregnant.

This past week my sweet and thoughtful coworkers threw a little baby shower for me and another attorney. It was extra special for me because (1) it was on my 7th anniversary of employment there, and (2) they also had a shower for Wyatt before he was born, so this was just a really nice celebration for the baby girl. Every week my friends at work cheer on Wallis's progress!

This weekend Ross and I are meeting with the doula to discuss our birth plan. Plan seems too strong a word, maybe birth aspirations, is a better description. We are also making a belly cast, which should be fun. I will also probably hit the Babies R Us to pick a few more items for Wallis's nursery using my shower gift card. Tuesday is another OB appointment and sonogram. We will probably have at least one appointment per week now until Wallis's birth. That is just around the corner. I am both excited and nervous. I can hardly recall what it is like to have a newborn. Seems such a strange and foreign notion now. While I actually have forgotten the pain of child birth--other than it was great--I have not forgotten the pain of months of sleep deprivation! I hope baby Wallis isn't a worse newborn sleeper than Wyatt. He was really good starting about four months, but it was very hard before that. That first four months of sleep deprivation has been the hardest part of motherhood for me.

Next week I'll update with pictures--I should have some of the shower and belly cast. And one of Wallis, too.