Busy week

This is going to be a random grouping of topics because there've been several things happen since I last blogged. Okay, maybe not a lot, and not that exciting, but enough. Also, I'm not feeling very well today so I hope it even makes sense.

~I had my 35 week appointment on Tuesday. Everything was totally normal. BP was like 118/80. Weight was up maybe another pound or so. According to my scale at home, I'm still down about 2 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. Sarah's HB was around 150. With the holidays and since everything has been progressing normally, my next appointment isn't until after the new year. I'll be 37 weeks and 3 days when I go in again. I'm still having trouble believing that I'm only a week away from being term! I've had a feeling that Sarah's going to come early. But now that I've said that out loud, she'll probably be 2 weeks late or something!

~Josh's mom came to visit last week. She brought 2 or 3 boxes of girl clothes for us. Some of it is hand-me-downs from my niece who is now about 2 1/2. That's one of the good things about having a girl even though that's what most of the rest of the family has. I've also got a big box of clothes that my mom had saved from when my sisters and I were babies. Now, I've got a lot of stuff to go through to see what I actually have and what we still need--clothes and blankets wise. My shower will be in a couple weeks so then we'll see what else we'll actually have to buy for the nursery and toys and stuff.

~Christmas was really nice. It was kinda weird not visiting family though. Ever since I can remember I've spent some of the Christmas holiday with either my or Josh's family. This year we decided not to go anywhere with me being so close to my due date and Josh's shoulder still bothering him from his surgery. Our closest family is about 5 hours away. On base, any servicemember E6 and below can get a free turkey dinner for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since it's just the two of us, we didn't sign up for it for Thanksgiving, but someone signed us up for it for Christmas. So I made my first big turkey dinner this year. We still have so much turkey left over!

~Friday night, Josh took me to see the movie "Marley and Me." We haven't gone to a movie in so long. We used to go all the time, sometimes even 2 or 3 a weekend--especially if they were playing anything good on base where it would only cost us about $10 for the movie and snacks! I think the last movie we went to see was either Prince Caspian or Indiana Jones. I just hadn't felt like going out and trying to sit for 2 hours or so without having to run to the bathroom or being able to stretch out. But I'm really glad we went to see this one. I highly recommend it. Though I will warn you that it's not just a cute funny "family" movie the way it looks in the commercials. It's a real movie that deals with grown up issues. I don't want to give too much away, but you'll need some tissues. Also, as fair warning, there's a particularly emotional scene that will be hard for those dealing with IF or loss.

~I ordered some nursing bras and got them in the mail the other day! But I do have questions for all the BF moms out there. I went to a BF class so I have a basic understanding of how nursing works, but how does it work practically? I mean, I get how you can do it if you're wearing a button down shirt or something. But how does it work if you're wearing a t-shirt or something? Do you just pull your shirt up and stick the baby up under your shirt or what? Also, when do you start pumping and using bottles? The lactation consultant here suggested not using bottles until nursing was well established--like 4 weeks or so. But I've seen some mention pumping much earlier so that dad can help with the feedings. Do you make enough milk to pump and to BF at the same time? How often do you pump once you've started back to work? Do you have to take your pump to work with you?

Okay, so this has gotten really long. And it's been a while since I've gone through Reader so I'm sure I have several blogs to catch up on. Happy New Year's everyone!!

34 weeks

I had my 34 weeks appointment on Thursday. Everything went well. BP was 112/80. Weight was up about 2 pounds. I'm currently about 3 or 4 pounds less than my pre-pregnancy weight. Sarah's HB was about 160. I asked Dr S if he could tell how big she would be. He's estimating (based on external measurement) that she's probably close to 6 lbs now, but shouldn't be much more than 8lbs when she's born. Beginning at my next appointment (the Tues before Christmas), he'll start doing pelvic exams so we'll have a better idea how she's growing.

Tonight was Josh's command's annual Holiday Party. It was a lot of fun, but I ate way too much! It was also the first time that I've had someone reach out and feel my belly. It was kinda weird having someone pressing the belly feeling for baby. As you can see by my new 34 week belly pic, my belly is starting to stick out more and look more preg. Sarah's been kicking and squirming a lot more tonight. I also think I've really felt a contraction or two in the last few days.

I can't believe I'm only 6 weeks from my due date! There's still so much to do, ack!

Childbirth Class

We had our all day childbirth class yesterday. I'm really proud of Josh and being able to sit through most of it. He's still in some pain and on narcotics. And the chairs in the room really sucked. He also has issues sometimes when learning the ins and outs of how the body works. So actually seeing a baby being born in the video was a bit rough for him.

Over all the class was really good. There was a lot of info. But I feel better about knowing what's going to happen when I go into labor. I know a lot of people have differing views on the subject, but I'm definitely planning on getting an epidural. I don't do well with pain. Though I'm going to do my best to avoid any narcotics.

I can't believe I've only got around 7 weeks left! I can feel Sarah moving around a lot more. She's not kicking as much, but she's definitely squirming. I don't think I've really had any BH contractions so far. There've been a few times I thought that maybe I was having one, but then I realized I just needed to go to the bathroom. This is probably TMI, but it's so weird how I go from times of constipation to times where I have to poop every time I go to the bathroom.

Well, I gotta figure out something for dinner. Have a great week!