34 Weeks

Seeing as my 36 week appointment is tomorrow, I figured I should post my 34 week update! And I still  need to do my baby shower post...but that's for another day, I suppose.

I have to say, this last trimester of pregnancy, while overall uncomfortable due to a gigantic belly getting in the way of EVERYTHING, has been easier than I expected. On the whole, I have felt physically better than any other time in the pregnancy. My heartburn is finally under control (thanks to a prescription reflux med), my ruptured ovarian cyst doesn't hurt anymore, and I'm used to many of the random aches and pains that surprised or concerned me when I first felt them. The main complaints at this point are hip and back pain as well as just a general feeling of constant sreeeeeeeetchinnnnnggg. Seriously, my belly seems to pop out more by the day, and it is going STRAIGHT. OUT. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely glad to not be getting wider and wider. But I don't understand how this belly can stick out any further - I already run it into door frames constantly because, in my head, there is no way anything could protrude from my body that far!

My 34 week appointment was short and uneventful. A quick weight check (25 lbs gained so far...could be worse, but man, it's hard to see that number pop up on the scale!) and a quick listen to baby's heart rate (strong and steady as it ever has been, which is always so comforting to hear). This one was the last appointment of the every 2 weeks appointment schedule. From tomorrow's appointment on, I will see the doctor every week until the baby arrives. I cannot believe my due date is 3.5 weeks away at this point!! The main thoughts going through my head these days: Must get house organized and ready for baby. Also, must figure out HOW to take care of baby. (May not have presented those in order of importance).

Every week we try to tackle one or two small projects to get ready for Alex's arrival. Within the past couple weeks, one of the major things was to finish packing my hospital bag and install the car seat. I think I'll do a separate post on what all is in the bag and why - if nothing else, it will probably be amusing to look back on and realize all the useless crap I brought while forgetting something that was clearly essential. Something that was NOT amusing, though, was the car seat installation. We decided on a popular model with high safety ratings - the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 4-35. My Nanny (as in grandmother, not childcare specialist) was sweet enough to gift it to us at the family baby shower. The installation of said car seat was apparently SO easy that there was no need to provide a booklet of any kind. Just a tag with simple drawings showing 4 steps to install. Well. Needless to say, we ended up Googling blog posts and videos on how to properly install the damn thing. Much cursing. A little blood. But I think we finally got it. I'd still like to have it double checked by some sort of car seat professional, but it's IN  the car now, which is definitely one for the victory column. We won't mention the level of annoyance at the realization that after baby arrives, Steven cannot ride with me unless he sits in the back seat. Now that the car seat is in the back middle space, we can't move the front passenger seat far enough back for him to squeeze his long legs in. Again, much cursing. But, not the end of the world I suppose. Might be helpful to have one of us sitting in the back seat to keep Alex occupied, especially on longer drives.

I constantly wonder how and when I will go into labor. Will I be one of the small percentage of women whose water breaks? Will I have a ton of false alarms where I show up at the hospital and they send me back home? Will I have horrible back pain that I think is just my normal daily backache but is actually labor? Time will tell, I suppose. I've decided the ideal situation would be to have my water break in the middle of the night when I get up to pee one of the thousand times that happens each night. Benefits to this plan - won't have to drive in traffic and the hospital won't send me home once I get there. We'll see if my body gets the memo and cooperates with that scenario...highly doubtful, I'm thinking! But, what will be will be, and I'm going to do my best to roll with the punches.

I guess that's all for now - I'm sure I'll have more to report after this 36 week appointment.But first, a quick look at the baby bump at Week 34:

Yet another classy bathroom selfie - this time at my office! What a beautifully documented pregnancy.