Cravings/Aversions: No changes here.
Belly Button: flat as can be!
Movement: Still big waves of movement and parts of baby pushing out in different areas at different times. Makes me laugh to watch the ever shifting shape of my belly.
Leg Cramps: Just when I thought they couldn't get any worse ... ::sigh:: I had a rough night on Friday, terrible leg cramp again. Not sure if I just didn't drink enough water that day or if my electrolytes were down. Whatever it was, it hit me again and kept me from getting a good nights sleep. The whole rest of the weekend I had mini leg cramps throughout the night every night. I was waking up every hour or two and having a hard time falling asleep for fear of waking up to the pain of another leg cramp. Not the best weekend, at all. Monday night/Tuesday morning I finally slept better. I remember waking up around 3:30 A.M. and thinking that was pretty good for the first wake up of the night, especially just to use the bathroom and not be dealing with a leg cramp. And now to drink some more water ...
Sleep: Well, just see above.
Weight gain: I forgot to weigh myself Monday, but did have a doctor appointment that day. But the scale there is not an accurate representation of how much I've gained. Weighed myself Tuesday morning and the scale was the same as the previous week. So I'm still going with a 16 pound gain at this point. Hubby and I were just musing that with the weight of the baby, the fluid, the placenta, and extra blood volume that maybe I've actually lost a little weight. I have no idea how that would be possible, but I'd be okay with it!
Big difference from 33 weeks with the boys! I was just looking to be under 40 pounds then. Here I am at under 20 still this time around. I'm continually amazed at the difference.
Appointment: Had an appointment on Monday. It was pretty short and uneventful. Because I work on a college campus and parking is a major pain, I decided to walk to this appointment. It was a gorgeous day and I was feeling good, so I thought "why not!" Plus, if I had driven, who knows where I would have had to park when I came back and the walk could have ended up being just as long. My blood pressure was surprisingly good for having just walked over, maybe a tad high, but I made sure to let the nurse know that I had walked over. I think it was around 130-something over 68. Baby's heart rate was 150 and I'm measuring right on schedule.
A resident was the one who did the heart rate and measuring and asked me a couple questions on how things were going (saw my doctor briefly after all of that). At one point, she asked if I was feeling pregnant yet. I think she was trying to be lighthearted, I mean, I am 33 weeks pregnant! But I did hesitate in answering her because honestly, I don't feel very pregnant. I assume she thought I would chuckle and tell her, "oh yes, very!" I ended up explaining to her that I really don't feel terribly big and therefore not all that pregnant (despite how far along I am) because my only point of reference at this time is a previous pregnancy with twins. But I did kind of laugh about it, so I think we avoided any awkwardness.
Following this appointment I also scheduled my first NSTs (non-stress tests). I don't need them until I'm 36 weeks, but they will still be twice a week, just like last time. So much fun being "advanced maternal age!" So my first two are scheduled for the week of Nov. 18. My next regular appointment will be Nov. 4.
The Big Brothers: We have definitely entered a period of "testing" with them. By which I mean, they are testing us. Big time!! I'm using time outs where I can and I'm becoming a bit more consistent (yes, I know, consistency is key. I'm working on it.). Overall they are very good, but they do try to test our limits quite often these days.
But there is plenty of cuteness factor to go around, too. Just one example, their pronunciation of "Amen" is cracks me up! When we do prayers they do a version of the sign of the cross, they keep their hands folded (most of the time) while we pray, and they say Amen. But it sounds something like "may-ma." It's incredibly cute!
Names: One night recently we found the site The Baby Name Wizard. We spent a lot of time putting in various boy names that we've talked about. I think I've definitely settled on one that I like. Hubby is still trying to decide, but I think this helped. He really liked the graphs and seeing how popular or not a name has been over the last 130 years. He seemed just slightly more agreeable to the name I have picked out. Right now it is our default unless he finds something different or the baby is a girl. We're set on a girl name, no debate there.
To-Do List:
For reference, click over to last week's post to see the list there. Not a lot has changed. Only change worth noting is that we did go through the online version of the hospital child birth class this weekend. So that's one thing done. We were supposed to go to a Labor class through an independent group last night, but they had to cancel the class. Everyone but us cancelled so they called me to see if we could reschedule for the November class. I agreed, but I am a little worried that it is going to be getting very close by that time.
Prayers: I got to go to an hour of Adoration and Benediction last week. I haven't had the opportunity to do something like that in forever and it was so nice. Peaceful, prayerful, reflective, quiet ... just wonderful. I tried to remember all those that I am praying for, particular my prayer buddy A and all the other mommies I know who are in high risk pregnancies or who are trying to conceive. I also tried to just absorb the silence. So little silence in this world, this is one of those places where the silence is pure and I didn't want to take it for granted. I had a very brief moment during that hour that is hard to describe. An overwhelming feeling of peace came over me and I immediately thought back to a previous time when I had felt that same thing, but yet it was a very different circumstance. Still the feeling in my heart was exactly the same, I have no doubt. I knew that it was a feeling of knowing that I was where I needed to be. Beyond, that I'm not sure I can describe it. I need to reflect on it more and maybe write sometime about these two instances in my life roughly 20 years apart, how completely different they were, and yet had the same feelings associated with them.
One last prayer request (and this is related to a topic I have written about in the past), please pray for all the pregnant women in places like China and India. Also pray for the unborn babies, especially the unborn girls who are at such a high risk for abortion just for being girls. I keep seeing stories about the horrors women face in these countries (and many others) and I want to do something. Not sure what, but we can at least start with prayer. Thank you.
That's all for this update!!
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