36 weeks

I'm still doing well with the weight gain: 35 pounds so far. We're going to the doctor every week now, since we're so close!

We actually got an ultrasound last Monday. Our doctor checked for the sex again, and yes, Bear is still a girl :) I know it's crazy to doubt, but a friend of mine was told she was having a girl and it was a boy, and this happened just last year! I like having confirmation.

Other than that, everything looks great. Bear is just over 5 pounds and measuring right on target. So now we wait.

standing alone

Evan figured out how to stand by himself. He goes from his downward facing dog position to standing, so he no longer needs me or any furniture to get up and go.

He's also trying to speed, which sometimes ends with a plop on the floor. But he's getting pretty fast regardless!

35 weeks

Remember how I was saying my feet were swelling? Well, the whole body swelling has started. Just like last time, I get more swollen at night, and my fingers and hands are swollen every morning.

It was finally time to trade my wedding rings for my I'm-too-pregnant-to-wear-my-wedding-rings ring. it actually feels pretty big during the day, but at night it gets pretty tight. No need risking my rings or my fingers, I'll wear this one for the next 7-8 weeks, probably.

We have a walker!

I knew once Evan got started, he would get it right away. He's walking! Of course he still crawls around, but if you help him stand, he will walk. He does pretty long distances now (for a toddler learning), and he's enjoying it.

So we have a late walker, but a walker nonetheless!

Walking business

As you may remember, Evan is not walking yet. He walks with us holding his hand, but he’s not really walking solo yet. He took a few steps by himself a couple of weeks ago, but then he got sick and stopped all efforts to try again. Until last week. Last week he started standing on his own for a few seconds to just over a minute, for the first time. He seemed to be gaining confidence. Once or twice, he even repeated the feat of taking a couple of steps, but no more than four steps at a time.

But tonight, Evan started venturing more steps. I think I counted just over 10 steps at a time. He still goes down to his knees all the time, but he’s getting there. He’s realizing this walking thing might be worth the effort. It may take a couple more weeks for him to really walk all the time, but we’re getting there.

Feet

I’m sitting in bed, with my legs extended in front of me, looking at my swollen ankles. Just like last time, the right one is more swollen than the left one, and just like last time, it was a trip that screwed me.

Last time, our Babymoon to Hawaii had some major repercussions on my feet. I wouldn’t change a thing about that trip, but being on a plane for so many hours really did a number on my feet, and they never recovered from that until after delivery. Sadly, this time it took a whole lot less to get my feet swollen: two consecutive trips to Norfolk, VA, approximately 1.5 hours away, that’s all it took.

We went to pick up and drop off my sister in law, Sharon, as she visited this past weekend. We also took the chance to do a little more window shopping, and some actual shopping for Bear (we got her bedroom decorations, yay!). And now, after the hours on the road and at stores, my feet are swollen. C’est la vie, I guess.

Today was fine. The one thing I can say about today is that I miss how when I was pregnant with Evan I could just lay on the couch and watch TV or sleep, or do nothing. This time around, I obviously can’t, since I’m on Evan’s schedule. I wish I could veg on the couch and not worry about dinner or dishes; that would be awesome. But alas, not this time. Evan can’t eat take out all the time, nor do we have the energy to go out to get it anyways.

34 weeks

Week 35 is a special milestone in pregnancy: not only does it mean you’re 35 weeks in, but you only have 35 days left. In this case, though, that milestone happens this week for us because of the way the c-section is scheduled: we’re 34 weeks in, and have 34 days to go.

This week was the first time I thought to myself “you know, I’m pretty over this being pregnant business”. My hips have been in pain. Sleeping is such an uncomfortable ordeal. I try to sleep on my left side as I should, but my hip starts feeling like something crashed into it, so I turn to my right side. Then my right thigh goes all numb, and it’s just not as comfortable, so I have to move again. If I lie on my back, I can’t breathe too well, plus I snore (ah, yes, another wonderful thing about pregnancy). So there’s a lot of shifting around and potty trips, especially as Bear is so low already. Needless to say, this is definitely the uncomfortable stage.

Also, nesting instinct kicked in HARD. This morning I woke up at 5:20 am because I had to pee, but then I stayed up thinking about all the things we still need to do and set up and how little time we have left (because obviously 34 days is not enough, people!), to the point that if it weren’t because my sister in law was in the guest room, I would have walked in there and started sorting clothes and moving the bed around to figure out the configuration of her furniture. I finally just waited until my husband was awake so he could talk me down, because
I was really starting to get worked up about things not being ready.

So I’m a bit calmer, but I’ll definitely finish all the laundry I have left, and we’ll start thinking about buying Bear’s furniture soon, as opposed to the original plan of waiting until August.

33 weeks

Tired. That about sums it up. I’ve been tired to the point where I feel like I could take a nap by 8 am. That’s still at least 1.5 hours away from Evan’s first nap. Lucky for me, Evan has been very tired too. He has been taking really good 1.5-3 hour naps, which allowed me to nap a little, or at the very least rest a lot.

Of course, that ended today. Evan is back to his 40 minute naps. I’m hoping it’s just for the weekend, because daddy is home, but I’m not holding my breath.

A couple of things you may or may not want to know about: my belly button has officially popped. I think it should be called an outie once it can be seen through clothing, regardless of if that’s the case all the time. So by that definition, I have an outie. When I lay down it sort of hides again, but for the most part it’s out. Also, the linea negra is finally showing up. It was there from very early on with Evan, but with Bear it has taken its sweet time. I’m not complaining; I would’ve been fine not seeing it again. But it’s here, and that’s fine. It’s still not as dark as it was with Evan.

Bear's nursery and needs

Every now and then, I obsess about the things we need for Bear. I obsessed about her bedding for weeks, until finally I found something we liked. I obsessed about double strollers, and now I have it narrowed down to 2 or 3 I like (but some of those are too pricey to consider!) We decided not to get her furniture until August, so I hadn’t looked for that, but this weekend we went to Babies R Us and figured out which furniture set we like. We also found decorations that would go great with the bedding and theme we decided on for her bedroom (birds! Are you shocked?) Those are the big ticket items we need, so I’m glad we have figured out what we want, even if we’re not buying it yet.

We also got a list of needs started. We have a lot of things covered: car seat, pack & play, swing, bouncer. So our list is not that long, and it has the boring items that are truly a necessity: monitor, waterproof covers, changing pad and covers, hamper, that sort of things. I’m glad we don’t need many things, but we still need to get a move on and start getting some of them that we really need from the start. I would like to be done with that list before I’m too big to want to deal with it!

We still have time, though, I’m sure we can get it done.

32 weeks

This week has been a bit strange. First, and much to my dismay, my varicose veins have reached my ankle and foot. I just can’t get over the fact that they won’t stop, they just keep spreading. Sigh, only a few more weeks left.

Also, it has been a week of weird dreams. Anything under the rainbow, from dreaming with people I haven’t seen or thought about in a long time, to dreams of persecution and murder plots. I actually think I could write a few short stories if not books out of those dreams, if I had the discipline to write the plot down.

But I digress. I don’t think I’d had so many crazy dreams so close together in a while. Even with potty breaks, I would go back to dreaming the same thing.

Other than that, it’s been alright. Nights are getting more uncomfortable but that’s to be expected. One more week down, seven weeks to go.

On the mend

Evan is doing much better. The fever is finally gone, he’s letting all the nasty congestion out, and he just looks happier and he’s acting more like himself again. A few more days of antibiotics and he should be all good!