Ally’s Pregnancy Journal

It’s hard to believe I have been prego for 36 weeks, boy the time keeps flying by and any day now we will be welcoming Little Pike into the world. I’m amazed that the baby will be here no later than 37 days from now and we still have not setup sleeping quarters for the baby yet. We are hoping to do some of that in the next 2 weekends.

The pelvic pain is still going strong and unfortunately getting worse, the other thing that has been increasing is braxton-hicks contractions - and now the baby has started to hate them as it pushes out on the belly when the contractions happen. Though breathing has gotten a little better (I think the baby is really dropping now) the baby seems to push and kick at my stomach even more now during and after eating a meal - no matter how big or small.

Today a bunch of my co-workers surprised me with a baby shower - it was so wonderful and they so surprised me - one of the girls who I had not seen in a while since we kept missing each other so a few days ago asked if I could stop down after 2 today - well she emailed me and said her meeting was pushed off a bit so if I could come at 2:15 - well at 2 I get an email that her meeting got out early and if I could come down now - so I went down and she said lets go for a walk and when we rounded the corner to a confrence room I could see balloons - I was soo surprised! about a dozen of my co-workers were there and many had sent their regards since they had meetings - we had chips and dip and cookies and cake! Then got to open presents. They even had little wrapped tea bags that said “Baby’s Brewing” on them - thought they were sooo cute!! I got a moses basket, a lighted mirror to see baby, lots of onsies and outfits, teething rings, a baby album, an easter basket with an easter bib, blankets and baby bankie with a frog head, a lamb, a baby einstein video and a diaper cake, it was soo wonderful! I even got a gift card from many of them so I think we will get our crib with that - guess I’m going to make a trip to babies r us this weekend!

I am still working on the ThankYou cards and had a lot of fun making them - now it is just a matter of writing them all out! Guess I have more to add to that list now!

Today a co-worker gave me a very cute photo frame that holds 3 photos - it is very cute and I can either put it on a shelf or hang it up.

This weekend we hope to get lots of photos taken of Bryan and I together and some cute belly shots since our friend Tim from NY is here and brought some of his equiptment. I think the guys are going to go tonight and find some backdrops or material we can use.

We are down to the last month till we meet our child!

Friday was the 35 week appointment - I gained 3lbs since the last apt so the total is 14lbs so far and the uterus measurements are dead on for 35 weeks. When I mentioned the pelvic pain and shoots of pain she said it was normal for some women to have unbearable pain at this point as the baby gets lower. She was ok with me using the heated rice pack I have been using to help diminish the pain since it is usually at it’s worst at night. She thinks everything is going great and said keep doing what I’m doing since eating wise it seems to be helping - I told her about my craving for nutella and strawberry crepes and seemed fine with it since it really has been nor more than once to twice a week max. I was surprised when she said to make an appointment for 2 weeks from now but I’m not going to complain since this week is so busy for me already work wise.

Sunday was our baby shower and we were both amazed at how many people came and how generous everyone was! It was great that so many of the new mom’s brought their babies with them, I really enjoyed spending some time - though wish I had more time to chat and socialize! They played the guess the girth game - my aunt Patty came in first being less than an inch off and my aunt Jinni came in second being just over an inch off. Everyone also wrote down advice on a card that I read off after collected then they brought around a tray to have everyone look at for a minute then write down everything they saw on the tray. I then was sat into a seat where I spent quite a lot of time opening presents. It was wonderful seeing all the books we got since Bryan and I both plan on reading to the baby every night and most nights for the last few weeks have already been reading out loud for the baby to get useto our reading voices and the last 2 nights I have read in a row some of the new books we got. I did cry when I read one Sunday night “Love you forever” it is soo sweet and of course with these hormones going crazy I couldn’t help it - Cyndi, Michael and Lauren got us that one! Last night’s book was “My mom is great” -my aunt Patty got that one. I didn’t cry but it was really cute and definitely a great book to read to kids, you have to say words like “Ta- Daaahhh” and “Weeeeeeee” so any kid would love hearing that read! The most touching gift by far had to be the knit blankets my aunt Patty made for the baby - one is a takehome blanket for the baby to be swaddled in and the other is a twin size blanket knitted the way my grandmother useto knit blankets and had taught her. I couldn’t help but cry since it meant so much that she took so much of her time to do something for our child that meant so much to me! I’m also in love with these 2 little ducks we got - one is for the bath and it quacks and the other is my first ducky and it smells like baby powder! Turns out we got a lot of ducky themed things.

Monday and part of Saturday we spent clearing stuff out of the spare bedroom (aka storage) since we have to make room for the baby’s things to have handy and to be able to take things out of our bedroom since the baby will be sleeping in our room till we move into a house. Though I do no think finding a house is going to take too much longer since the market is really changing right now in our favor.

This week Bryan’s friend Tim will be staying with us for a few nights and this weekend will be taking some pregnancy photos of us. At some point this weekend Bryan and I will also be doing the belly cast since they say 36 weeks is a good point to do that and plus we never know when I will go into labor!

Happy Valentines Day! Today I received a baby blanket from some co-workers and some chocolate!

2 weekends ago it was my birthday and Bryan surprised me with a full body massage at the Edamame Salon that specializes in prenatal massage and then took me out for dinner for Japanese at one of our favorite places OGA. I also got to pick up some nursing tops and nursing pjs since I only have so long till the baby comes and I wanted clothes that would make it easy to feed the baby.

Baby kicks to the ribs have gotten much more frequent - even more so after eating (think the baby gets upset that when my stomach is full that it has less room to move) and the pelvic pain has been getting really bad at night - I think sitting in an office chair all day is taking it’s toll so I have been using this rice pack that I can heat up to help with the pain - doesn’t make it go away but makes it a little less uncomfortable. For my birthday I also got a travel tempurpedic pillow to support my lower back and that has seemed to help me sleeping on my back since the baby still hates me on my side (I feel like I have internal bruises from the kicks I get if I do lay on my side - baby has even woken me up in the middle of the night with kicks if I happen to shift to my side in my sleep). All this tossing and turning I have woken up a few mornings only to find Bryan sleeping on the couch as my constant moving in my sleep wakes him since he is such a light sleeper.

This Friday I have my 35week appointment and from there I think I move onto weekly OB appointments, I wonder if my OB has any predictions as to when she thinks this baby will come - hopefully she doesn’t say late - though worse case on that is the baby will be here in 47 days since they will only let me go 10days past my due date!

Yesterday afternoon was our 33 week OB appointment and looks like I was right - this baby is definitely head down. Everything is measuring on target so dispite everyone saying that this baby is going to be small or I must be carrying small - the measurements don’t lie. The doctor thinks that I’m just carrying differently and I don’t look all that big since I started out overweight before the pregnancy anyway. I went up 4 lbs from the last appointment 5 weeks ago so according to their charts from week 7 to now I am at a weight gain of 11lbs - she told me not to worry about any weight lost before that point since it was at the 7week appointment that my doctor said she would be happy if I gained 10lbs in this pregnancy. So they love the numbers (she said it is more common for overweight women to gain a ton more in the beginning and she expects me to have about a 20lb gain total in the end since this baby will be growing so much in these last few weeks). I handed in our birth plan and she looked it over, pretty basic. We also talked about what happens in the end game - she said they will let me go a week over if everything is fine but no longer than 10days over the due date so this means no matter what this baby should be here in less than 60days! The doctor also told me that if my heartburn continues like it is I can take over-the-counter Zantac 75 to relieve the pain proactively and if the 75 doesn’t help after a week or so I can move up to the 150. Lately it has been happening even from drinking water so I have a feeling I will have to give the 75 a try!

Last night I didn’t get any sleep and Bryan was sweet enough to sleep on the couch last night so I could surround myself with pillows and stretch out as much as possible. He is also looking into a latex foam topper for the bed as that may help relieve some of the pressure on my back and give us both a better night sleep.

These weeks seem to fly by and as I look ahead to things we are doing before the baby is born we pretty much have something in our calendar for every weekend till the second weekend of March though I’m sure the 2nd and 3rd weekends of March we should be filling with setting up a space for the baby.

I say setting up a space since we are still looking for a house and as the days tick down the odds of us being in one before the baby comes gets smaller and smaller every day. I’m not too worried about us moving with a newborn but our apartment just is not big enough for the baby to have a room. It is a good thing we planned on having a bassinette next to our bed in the beginning, just now we have to make that much more room for a changing table as well. It will be tight in there but knowing a house is not very far in our future will make it worth it, we don’t want to rush and end up in a house that we really don’t want just so we can get into a hosue before the baby is born!

Yesterday my grandmother passed away, she was my dad’s mom, whom I was named after. I had lived next door to her for 3 years growing up as well as lived with her one summer while I was in high school so felt pretty close to her, though over the last few years I hadn’t gone to visit her since it was really hard going since the last time I saw her she was in the hospital mental ward and really didn’t know who I was - I had been meaning to visit her with one of my cousins but we just never got around to it. From talking to my step-mom she says it is for the best since my grandmother no longer looked the same nor really knew who anyone was.

In baby news LP is getting much bigger and the movements much stronger to the point where sometimes they hurt so much that I can’t get comfortable no matter what I try to do! The baby is definitely very possesive about it’s teritory and if you poke in on part of the belly LP will move around to position to either kick or punch (can’t tell if foot or hand) where you are poking - this sometimes has been something I use to stop the other hurting pains since it will distract LP from the area it is pushing on to cause the pain. I haven’t seen hickups in a while but I now can spend so much time lying down and putting the remote control on my belly and watching the baby kick it - though it is barely pressing on the belly since it is really light the baby I guess can feel it and therefore goes to attack! between 9pm and midnight is when LP is most active so I’m wondering if that activeness will continue after birth as well!

Last night Bryan and I checked out a sale at Bob Smith’s Wilderness House since they are going under new ownership and Bryan ended up falling in love with a pair of Julbo sunglasses… for the baby!! He looked at me and said we had to get those for the baby and then when I saw they would be 20% off of $20 I really couldn’t say no! So now the only things we have purchased for the baby other than the take home outfit and book is gear! Between the booties and now the sunglasses I think Bryan is going to go gear crazy on this baby - I could just imagine if we knew if LP was a boy or girl, he would go even more crazy! I’ll have to find a picture of the sunglasses online and post them.

This afternoon we have an OB appointment and I’m hoping the Dr. can tell us what position the baby is in since I’m really thinking LP is head down and has been for the last week or so from the movements I have been feeling.

Other than that I am filling out the pre-admission form to turn into the hospital today, I have another form I need my Dr’s office to fill out and tomorrow night when we get together with our friends Ellen and John we are going to fill out a Healthcare Proxy form, the only other paperwork I want to do is a will as well as a Birth Plan (almost done) and then we should be all set paperwork wise!