39 weeks. Or, "Yes, I'm still pregnant."

Here I am, one week away from my due date, and I'm still pregnant. At the beginning of my pregnancy, I was all about being pregnant until my due date. That's before I knew what it was like to be 37, 38, or 39 weeks pregnant. Now I just want her OUT.

She has dropped, so I'm eating and breathing better now. It's hard to find clothes to wear out in public because my belly hangs out of the bottom of most of my shirts now. I really don't leave the house anymore unless I'm going to the grocery store or over to my mom's to work. She lives closer to the hospital and it's nice to get a change of scenery every now and then. Roger and Charli enjoy their time together as well :)

In the next week, I have two weddings to attend. Yes, two weddings. The first one is tomorrow and it's at the Blanco courthouse so it's literally 2 minutes down the road. I think I'll survive that one. Chris' friend (who had the bachelor party in NOLA) is getting married.

The one I'm worried about is next Saturday. I'll either be 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant or I'll have a newborn with me. I know it's only a week difference and a little further away, but I'm kind of dreading it. One of Chris' best friends, Brandon, is getting married. They've been friends for the longest time and I've never met the guy, so I've been looking forward to this wedding. Chris is the best man in the wedding so I feel like I have to go, but I don't know how I'm going to be feeling at that point. It's hard to explain to Chris that I may be happier sitting on the couch than going to the wedding. Not because I don't want to go or I'm lazy, but because I will most likely be over 40 weeks pregnant and that just sucks.

I don't really like to be around people at this point because I'm large, uncomfortable and awkward. I just don't know.

I'm still working full time and they still haven't gotten my temp! Imagine if I had stayed at the office until that happened, haha. They have a 3rd temp starting on Monday. We'll see if I make it long enough to train her. I'm not too worried about that anymore, it's not really my responsibility anymore. I am glad to be working because otherwise I'd be going crazy with boredom and time would be passing a whole lot slower.

Hopefully my next blog will be welcoming Emily to the world! I can dream, right?

Full Term

Emily is full term this week! That means I'm ready for this little girl to come out now! My doctor told me she will only let me go 2 weeks past my due date... that's in a month! I could be induced the day after my due date (doctor thinks I'll be begging for it by then) but I'd like to give her more time to come out on her own. We'll see how I feel at that point if Emily hasn't shown up yet.

I've read that her growth will slow down now that she's full term. That's good news for me- I don't know how much bigger I can get! Some people have told me I look like I'm going to pop, and a lot of people keep telling me how small I am. I think I look about average? Aside from the back pain and heartburn, I still feel pretty good.

I'm feeling better about everything lately. Chris has been helping me calm down and I don't feel so stressed out today. He's been working overtime this weekend to make some extra money so we're not in a bind between maternity leave starting and my short term disability kicking in.

I'm finally working from home! Well, my mom's home. She lives 10 minutes from the hospital and has a faster internet connection. I'm also less distracted when I'm there. When I'm at my house, I want to clean up the house during my lunch break or wash a load of laundry while I'm waiting for a report to load. At my mom's house, I'm able to concentrate on work.

At my last appointment, the doctor told me that I'm 1cm dilated. Hooray progress! I go in again tomorrow for my (almost) 38 week appointment.


She has definitely dropped! Most of my shirts don't fit anymore because she hangs out of the bottom. Now we just have to wait! 18 more days!

My bellybutton.

Ah, football.

I'm almost full term! Today is the first Texas game of the season, so naturally I took my photos wearing my burnt orange. Hook 'em!

34 weeks!

I decided to switch it up a little and take my belly pictures from the other side. Whoa, I know. I'm so unpredictable. I also straightened my hair today. Watch out.

My pregnancy is still going well. Everything is normal, my doctor's visits are short, and I'm happy to know I've got a healthy bouncing baby girl cooking in there.

She's still a mover. Less kicks, more rolling. And hiccups. SO. MANY. HICCUPS. I feel bad for the girl, but at the same time I feel bad for me. She gets the hiccups every single night as I'm trying to fall asleep. I can feel her entire torso jump every time. It's the weirdest thing, and honestly I really don't like it that much. It just doesn't feel right! I don't mind her wiggles, but the hiccups are driving me crazy. I have to push (gently) to move her up a little when it happens, that seems to help.

Chris has been super helpful the past couple of weeks. He's always been helpful, but I wouldn't say "super" helpful, haha. He's been helping me cook dinner more often, actually does the dishes (without me saying anything), and does laundry occasionally. He also mows the lawn, takes out the trash, fixes things, moves the crib when I decide it's not close enough to the wall, all the man stuff. My favorite thing is when he does the dishes. For real.

It's the little things, guys. If you have a pregnant wife (wife, I'm allowed to say that now!), try to help her out as much as possible. Easy chores like sweeping and pulling laundry out of the dryer become very complicated tasks for a woman who is 8 months pregnant. Even cooking dinner. I have to stand a foot away from the stove and lean a little to get near a pan. Of course, if I stand for too long doing that (sweeping, cooking dinner or washing dishes), I start to get these lovely contractions.

Painful contractions. They wrap around from one side of my back across the bottom of my belly the whole way to the other side of my back. Some are just uncomfortable and if I walk around a bit or sit down they'll be fine. Others have me laying on my side swearing to Chris that I'm going to die in labor because I cannot take the pain. You all know by now that I'm a huge wuss, don't act surprised. Every time that happens Chris wants to take me to the hospital. Every time, I say "no, I'm fine" with teary eyes.

Hopefully when it's actually time to go to the hospital I let him take me. I have a feeling I will.

33 weeks

32 weeks!

I swear I'm working on the wedding post, I just have a few more pictures to edit! Here's my 32 week pictures :)

And a bonus picture from this weekend, because who doesn't like a pregnant chick in a bikini?

Roger and I spent Sunday afternoon on the deck. I floated in the pool (yup, I laid on a float in a foot of water) and Roger made sure I didn't drown.

31 weeks

I'm behind on my posts! My apologies, I've been just a little busy this past week!

30 weeks!

30 weeks. That's 75%. When you think about it, that's a solid C. Passing, but nothing to brag about. I really want to be in the A+ range.

In baby related news, nothing too spectacular or new has been going on this past week. She is still moving around a lot, but not kicking so hard anymore. That might have something to do with the fact that she is running out of room and can't get as much force and speed on those kicks as she used to. In the next 10 weeks she's going to get very squished.

When I eat, I feel like I'm going to pop. Like, if you were to stick a pin in my belly I feel like I would pop. Like a big balloon. So uncomfortable.

Speaking of comfort, does anyone care to tell me what that feels like? I seem to have forgotten. I hurt when I lay down to sleep. I hurt when I'm sitting on the couch. I really hurt while I'm driving in the car. My back KILLS when I'm at my desk at work. I'm ok when I'm sitting on the toilet. When I walk for too long, I start to feel like someone kicked me in the crotch, really hard, and that hurts even if you're a girl.

I realized this week that I can't remember what my belly used to look like. You know, when it was flat? I thought I could stand to lose a few pounds back in January. What the heck ever, Jessica. Look at you now! Granted, I don't look bad. I'm sorry to those women who gained 80 pounds during pregnancy, but I am so glad my weight gain has been on track so far. At the beginning, I was honestly worried that my skin couldn't stretch. I mean, I know that it happens, I just couldn't imagine it.

I also don't remember the last time I zipped up a pair of pants. I'm going to be walking around with my fly down for weeks after I get out of these maternity pants. Now I just pull up and go. Like a 4 year old.

I read that Emily can see light when her eyes are open. Kind of like when you shine a flashlight through the palm of your hand- she sees the light in a red tint. You could say she sees her world through rose colored glasses right now. I like to think she's fairly content in there. I've been feeding her well. Lots of fruit, as many veggies as I can stomach (read: not many, but they're there) and the occasional (almost daily) bowl of ice cream. What a life.

She's also finally losing her body hair. According to the books I've read, up until recently she's been covered in a kind of fur, like Roger I guess. It kept her warm. Now she's starting to fatten up so she doesn't need it anymore. Go Emily! Put some meat on those bones!

Now I'm off to meet my mom to plan my wedding. Because I'm getting married. Next weekend. With a pretty dress and flowers and family and the most amazing man in the world. I can't wait.

29 weeks, glucose test

I had my glucose test this week. I was scared. Last time they drew blood I passed out, so I feel like I'm a little justified in being scared. I had to fast for 8 hours so I scheduled my appointment at 8am so I just skipped breakfast instead of starving myself all day. Chris wasn't sure if he'd be able to get out of work to come with me and that made me even more scared.

Yeah, I'll be giving birth to a baby soon and I'm afraid of having some blood drawn. Awesome.

He called when I was driving to the doctor and said he'd be there a little late. Whatever, he'll be there, I was happy. I asked if his boss gave him a hard time- apparently he said "she's a bigger wuss than my wife!" Wow, thanks a lot a-hole. I was already so upset about the appointment that I just started crying. Ugh.

I finally got to see the nurse around 8:40 and Chris came in with me. I thought I'd drink my gross orange drink, wait an hour, then give up my veins. They had some confusion with my paperwork, left the room, said they needed to call someone because I wasn't their patient... this just made me more upset. They said they had to take blood before AND after the drink. Cool. I managed to get through it just feeling a little lightheaded. The drink was okay at first and pretty disgusting towards the end.

My doctor's assistant stopped by and said she was ready to see me so we went back to her office. She saw the bandaid on my arm, asked why they poked me already and then told me they shouldn't have done that. Great. She said I felt clammy then asked if I was going to cry. I told her no, but I thought I might just because I didn't know why everyone was so confused about what they were doing with my blood. Totally not a big deal but I was tired, hungry, and thirsty.

Part of the fasting was no water, which sucks when they ask you to pee in a cup when you arrive. I said sorry, I've got none, maybe after the test.

She said everything looked good, confirmed that the pains I've been having about once a day are contractions and told me to call if I had them 5 times within an hour. Can we talk about these contractions? Sharp pain wrapping around my poor little baby that would literally bring me to my knees if I happened to be standing when they hit. Luckily I've been laying down or sitting when I get them. Labor is going to be fun! Yay!

The doctor went and scolded the nurse for poking me before my glucose test.

Back in the waiting room, Chris said he had to leave because his boss needed him back at work and he didn't know we'd be there this long. I started crying AGAIN. What is my problem? He felt bad but had to go and I wasn't really that upset, I felt like a little kid on her first day of school. I didn't want him to leave.

I calmed down and went back inside, read a book for a while and was a very brave girl when I went back in to let them take my blood again. I did NOT pass out, I only felt a little dizzy if I was standing for too long afterwards.

I decided I needed to eat. Let me rephrase that, I decided I needed to eat chinese food, and I needed it now. I drove a mile down the road to a chinese place to find that it was closed for another 30 minutes. No good, I have to get back to work. Then I remembered that there is a chinese place right next door to my doctor, so I drove back that way, and they were closed! Damn it! Surprisingly, I didn't cry. I got some nuggets at Wendy's and started driving to SA.

About halfway to Blanco I started feeling sick. Not going to throw up sick, but going to pass out sick. I stopped at the house, called my boss and told her I couldn't make the drive. Thank goodness she understood. I climbed into bed and didn't get out until Chris called 3 hours later.

Interesting day. I felt a lot better the next day, and my week got exponentially better. More on that in my next blog.

Oh, did I mention that I have a HUGE bruise on my arm now? Thanks a lot, confused nurse. Now I look like a drug addict mother. Oh, I finally managed to pee in a cup before I left. Guess what? The cup had a hole in the bottom! Funny joke, guys! I got to clean pee off of the seat and floor while desperately trying to reach for another cup to put my faulty cup in. That just wasn't my day.

28 weeks!

The countdown continues. 12 weeks left. That's 3 months. 3 months! I have a feeling she's going to wait until October, but we're so close now!

We spent our last week with Audrey and I had to drop her off at her aunt's house yesterday morning. We have been talking to her a lot about going back to Arkansas and trying our best to explain why she can't stay with us. It breaks my heart when she gets so upset about leaving. I know she loves her daddy, and I know she would miss her mom if she couldn't see her either. It's just so hard to see someone her age have to deal with all of this stress. I just wanted her to know that we're not sending her away, it's just time to go back! We finally got her to understand and told her that when she is older, she can decide where she wants to stay.
Yesterday morning she finally sounded happy about going home. I talked to her about her mom and her brothers and she told me that she missed her brothers (even though they're not big enough to play with yet, which is very frustrating for a 4 year old). I cried when I pulled out of the driveway. I couldn't help it. That little girl drives me crazy but I really do love her and I hate to see her go.

It was so quiet at home last night. Chris and I didn't know what to do with ourselves. Our evenings had felt so short the past month. Get home, playtime, clean up, make dinner, attempt to eat dinner, bathtime, get in our pjs, read a book, read another book, read another 3 books, and pass out. Last night we just sat on the couch trying to figure out what to do with all the time we had.

It won't be quiet for much longer. 12 more weeks and I'll be wondering why I ever complained about it!

My baby shower is tomorrow. I am SO EXCITED. I get to see all kinds of friends and family that I haven't seen in months or years! Hooray!