39 weeks

I feel like my life is going to change this month. I think October is going to be the best month of the year. It's just a funny hunch I get.  This week has been another good one! Nothing too spectacular has happened, I've just been enjoying the ride!
I've had some serious shoulder pain return from my accident and it pretty much feels like Muhammed Ali punched me. It's hard because there isn't much I can do about it except go to the chiropractor which I am doing, but it still hurts like a son of a... it makes me feel really grumpy and irritated to be in pain that I can't fix. My poor husband has been handling it well though, bless his heart. I also kept him up all night a few nights ago because I was snoring so loud I kept waking him up. Pregnancy is sooooo  cute you guys. I blame it on the fact that we forgot to turn the humidifier on. I can imagine that living with my grumpy butt this week has been insufferable, but for some reason Zach is handling it so well. Bless his heart. He has had a couple conversations with Uriah about coming out soon because he wants to meet him. We will see what "soon"means to Uriah, because I'm sure he is just like his father and will be very obedient (not!)
I've also had a touch of insomnia, some very restless legs and feet, heartburn up the wazoo, and don't you dare try to eat in front of me because I will steal your sandwich. I have the appetite of a teenage boy, or worse. It's like all I really think about is food. It's exhausting. It makes it hard to eat right when I want to eat so much and so frequently. And I know breastfeeding is probably going to be the same thing. Bring to me all the carbs.
We got our car seat installed this weekend. I'm very excited about it. I love looking back in the mirror and seeing it there, just waiting to safely transport my little moose here and there.
Uriah is still moving and grooving in my belly. I can feel his toes wiggling and feel his feet shake when he gets a good stretch. He seems pretty comfy in there!
My chiropractor offered to induce me next week, and I politely said no. I've been lucky to have a healthy body and healthy baby, so since there is no reason to, I say let him pick his birthday! It is nice to know I have that as an option so I wouldn't have to turn to pitocin, or even castor oil. I'll give castor oil a big hell no!
But I will say that for the first time I actually feel ready for labor. I will welcome it with open arms. I'm ready to be a mom (er well are you ever REALLY ready ha ha) and hold my baby. Whenever you want mister!

38 weeks!

Bah! I love being 38 weeks pregnant. It kinda makes me feel like a crazy person because I'm essentially a loose canon! Don't even look at me wrong or I could go into labor! I kinda want to start faking it in public and see what happens!
But seriously, I'm not about to sit around and wait to go into labor, but at the same time, it might be crazy if I was somewhere really inconvenient and I got hit with a real contraction... however I will probably just be trying to sleep one night, or doing the dishes one afternoon, or something super mundane like that. It is fun to think it could happen anywhere at any time though! I'm clearly not your typical 9 month get-this-child-out-of-me, pregnant woman. I am really loving this stage of pregnancy. It is my last month of 24/7 snuggles from my little guy who won't want to be this close for forever. He has every single need met on demand, and I'm happy to be able to do that for him now, because there will be a day when he is sad and crying and I won't know why and I'll feel like the worst mom ever! So today, I'm happy being pregnant.
Sometimes I get a tad bit of anxiety because there are some things I haven't done yet, but my husband reminds me that even if I went into labor right now, everything could be figured out just fine, but it won't be anything I'd have to worry about anyways. And that is why he is winning at being a husband and daddy.
I packed Uriah's diaper bag last week! It was kinda crazy feeling. I love the diaper bag I got, and I like to think of all the places I will be toting it to in the near future. Now I just have to pack my bag and we will be ready to go.
Last weekend we went hiking to a waterfall that was more like a water trickle, but it was still cool! I got super swollen, and I got a serious calf workout, but it was nice to just get outside for awhile. I'm going to have to be more careful about where I go now, because like I said, loose canon!

This week I've noticed my body is really excited about having this baby, or at least excited about feeding the baby. Let's just say I don't foresee any supply issues happening in the milk department. My uterus is getting lots of practice contracting. It should be a pro by the time labor starts. I bet if I timed them I'd have at least two an hour, but I don't bother timing them. I've struggled with a bit of insomnia, which is really dumb because right now I have all the reasons in the world to sleep, and yet, I just can't do it sometimes. I tried meditating last night to clear my thoughts. I tried for about 10-15 minutes and gave up because there wasn't a moment of silence in my brain. I realize my days of sleeping whenever I want are limited, so I wish I could just fall asleep easy-peasy. I'll sleep when I'm dead I guess.

This week I had my most favorite prenatal appointment to date because my amazing midwife painted my belly! It was so fun! She felt for little guys position and then painted him exactly how he is laying (er-uh hand-standing) in my belly. It was really cool because he kept kicking in the exact spot where she painted his little foot! I felt like I was carrying him around on the outside for the day, and it made me that much more excited to see my little moose. I was really sad when I had to take a shower at the end of the day and wash him off, but we got plenty of pictures thanks to Mollie! This is exactly why I love my midwifery care. Can you find one OB who would paint your baby on you? I doubt it! My midwives really care about me and my baby, and they have taken it so far as to find ways to help me connect with my little guy. One of the most frustrating things about being pregnant is not being able to see your baby, and my midwife created a way for me to do that in a small way (way better than creepy 4-D ultrasounds.) Every appointment when they listen for his heartbeat over the feta-scope they talk to him by name, and I love that. Uriah isn't just another baby for them. Sorry, I could go on and on about how excellent Bella Vie is, I can't help it, I LOVE this place!

37 Weeks!

This past week has gone by pretty quick, as I'm sure the rest of the weeks will go up until my little ball of sunshine gets here. This week my crafty husband refurbished a dresser into a changing table where we will spend many hours changing diapers. He did a great job on it, and I'm really glad he is so crafty with things like this. He is such a great daddy already. We also went to Oktoberfest for a little bit, but it was unbearably hot, and sweaty and there were SO MANY people there! I kinda felt like a sheep being led to slaughter. I'm walking this line where I want to stay busy so I'm not waiting for Uriah, but I also don't want to overdo it because I really can't do too much.
You know what is hard? Standing. Walking is pretty easy (although it makes me swell,) but standing is much harder because it makes me want to lock my knees which makes my feet fall asleep almost instantly. It's really sad. I had to ask for a chair at the Verizon store today because there was a 20 minute wait and I didn't want to walk back and forth and there were no chairs available. I felt very old lady, but hey, at least I didn't pass out from lack of blood flow.
I've been craving a pumpkin spice latte like every other white girl out there, but I refuse to get one until it is actually cold, since it is strictly a fall tradition. Today was going to be that day I thought. It was raining this morning and all I wanted to do was sip that PSL on my deck and watch the rain come down as I wrote my blog. But no. The sun is shining now, and I'm hot. Come on Oregon, cut a girl some slack. I also thought I'd be able to wear a long sleeve maternity shirt that is really cute too, but that didn't work out either because my belly is too big for it now, and I'm sad about it. I'm to the point where my maternity clothes don't fit me anymore, so it's a miracle if I get dressed in something other than yoga pants. If I go much further past my due date I'm just going to have to show up to places in my birthday suit. Remember that if you invite me anywhere anytime soon!
So other than standing and getting dressed my 9th month is going great! I still love having my baby inside my belly, and with each day I can feel him getting bigger and stronger (based on how bad it hurts when he kicks my ribs.) My uterus is getting a hell of a workout with all these braxton hicks, which are spurred on by anything. You name it, Sneezing, sitting up, standing up, rolling over, laughing, speed bumps, pretty much anything makes me have them. They usually aren't uncomfortable though, so I'm grateful for that!
This week I look forward to getting our maternity pictures back and meeting with our photographer to talk about our birth! I'm really excited to have this event documented. I don't think there would be a better picture to have then the moment we meet our son. Also at my appointment next week my sister, mother and husband will get to go and I get to have my belly painted by my wonderful midwife! It looks like there are a few more days of heat and then it should start cooling off for good, which will really help me enjoy the last month of pregnancy!

MY FINAL MONTH!!!! (36 weeks!)

How is it even possible to love having you in my belly but at the same time wanting you earthside now so I can see your sweet face and also because I'm so stinking uncomfortable? I do not know little guy, but I love you so stinking much.
This week has been great! We had the second part of our newborn class, and holy guacamole, it was fantastic! I am so glad we decided to take the class! It has really put things into perspective for us, and made this feel real, as in I'm not going to be pregnant for forever! Zach and I have had a lot of really great conversations about topics brought up in class, everything from co sleeping to diapering and breastfeeding! I feel like if the baby decides to come tomorrow we would be so ready! Except for please don't Uriah, you need a little bit longer!

I have gotten to the point where I have appointments every week until little guy gets here, which is awesome because I love my appointments because I get to hangout with my midwives for an hour, and they are amazing! I've been asked a couple times if I've been progressing at all as far as effacement and dilation goes, but I prefer that my midwives don't check. Some women stay dilated to a 2 or 3 for weeks, some go from 0-10 in a day, and I really don't want to play that mind game right now. I will probably avoid cervical checks as much as possible even during labor because it is only an assessment of how far you've come, and not at all accurate as to how long you have to go, which is all I care about anyways. Plus if I found out I was dilated at all people would start waiting for me to go into labor, and I'm trying to avoid waiting, although ask me that at 40 weeks, I might be singing a different tune! Because my midwives have trusted me to make my own decisions about my prenatal care I have confidence in myself about my birth, and that is something that is invaluable to me. I'm not saying my birth will be all giggles and sunshine, and I know women who have babies already love to mock first time mommy's about their birth plans, but my only birth plan is to rock my birth and do what I need to do, and I fully intend on following through with that! I've also picked out a really rad birth team. Firstly, there is my husband who I selected when I married him (best decision ever) and then there are my midwives, and midwives assistants who I selected when I decided I didn't want a man or woman I didn't know in or around my lady parts, and I'd rather get to know them first thanks. Then there is my brilliant sister who I can say anything to and she still loves me, never judges me, and has helped me through so many things in life. I would say I chose her to be my sister, but she was born first so yeah. I am also choosing to have my dear momma there because she has always been an incredible source of comfort to me, and from what I hear contractions are uncomfortable yeah?

So with the support of my dream team, I'm so ready for this!

As far as symptoms go this week, I think little guy is having a growth spurt because I've been really achy! Baby is really really low so I can no longer sleep in my favorite position, and this makes sleeping really hard, but I'm sure it's not as hard as sleeping with a newborn, so I'll take it for what it is. My lower back is getting really stiff because I feel like I can't even move it anymore. I've been trying to do small stretches throughout the day to get it moving, and it has helped some. My neck is still healing from my car accident, but it gets painful when I try to do too much. I've got some new stretch marks recently on my legs, to add to the ones on my hips. It's funny because I already had some old ones in the same places from puberty, so I'm confident no amount of cream would have prevented them. I'm trying to embrace them because it's all apart of the incredible feat of growing a baby. I've been pretty emotional lately, but in a good way. I'm just getting so excited to meet my guy, and I'm learning so much through everything, and I'm so thankful that this is my life right now. I couldn't imagine a better place to be, and it makes me want to cry tears of joy like ALL THE TIME!

My husband took me to the beach this past weekend, and we saw a whale! It was incredible! I learned taking a stroll on the beach isn't nearly as easy when your pregnant, but still as enjoyable. I live in a beautiful state. I'm guessing next time I go to the coast I'll be wearing the baby in a wrap instead of carrying him in my belly!

I've been walking in the park almost every day, and it's been really great to get fresh air, Uriah really seems to like it too. If I put my hand on my belly as I walk I can feel him swaying with my strides and it kinda makes me want to cry. It has turned into some nice quiet time for the two of us, well I guess Reggie comes too, but he doesn't say much!

I'm really enjoying the last few weeks I'll have before little guy gets here, I'll never have this time alone with my husband again, and I'm soaking it up! 

35 Weeks, good riddance to Summer!

I'm sure you have smelt it... maybe you've seen it? Fall is coming! It's in the air and on the trees, and it's coming to us singing about scarves, boots, pumpkin spice lattes, and the delivery of a very special butt chin, my Uriah Blaine.
It's been a great week! I really needed a good one! The only symptoms I've been experiencing is the usual heartburn and Braxton hicks all the time, oh and a touch of insomnia. Other than that my neck has been giving me grief from my car accident, but that's about it!
I had a prenatal appointment this last week, and starting next week I will have them once a week! Can you believe that? I'm so pregnant!
We also had the first session of our birthing class with Jen Holland. She is great! We talked about what our ideas about birth were, we tried labor positions, we practiced relaxation techniques, we practiced vocalization, we did a ton of stuff! It was really helpful, I feel like my husband and I are a better team and are more equipped now to make our birth the best it can be.  I'm looking forward to next week's class as well where we will be covering more of newborn stuff!
We also had our maternity shoot this week, and we had fun with that! I was planning on wearing my wedding shoes for the shoot because I love them and I rarely get a chance to wear them, but I could just barely cram my toes in there and the buckle was just not going to happen, no way no how. It was very sad. Oh well, they would have been horrendously uncomfortable anyways!
I've been trying to go on more walks, and it's funny because it is always so stinking uncomfortable! I ALWAYS have to pee when I walk, even if I just went, it gives me Braxton hicks, and it makes my fingers swell up so huge! But you have no idea how many times people will tell you to go on walks when you are pregnant, so I just do it even though it sucks. Maybe I'll get some pregnant lady waddle award for doing it? Or my name will be written on a hall of fame? Or maybe, just maybe this sweet little love goblin will not be "over due." But if he does, I really couldn't blame him, he's got it made in there, although he is getting a little snug, he's gone from mansion status to studio apartment, but it's the most cozy little studio!
I'm ready to be done with summer, but apparently it's supposed to be 97 on Saturday, so thanks for that Oregon! Hopefully my knight in shining armor will take me to the beach this weekend to escape the heat, and also,  I just love it there!

33 weeks: Death by Camping and Maternity leave

As you probably heard I went camping this past weekend. It was ROUGH. It was uncomfortable, and it tested my patience, but I guess I survived because here I am!
In case you were considering going camping with a big ol belly bump let me fill you in on what your up against.
You will be covered in layers of bug spray, sweat, and dirt with no access to a shower. You will probably get bug bites on the bottom of your belly even though it stays covered because you can't see them land down there. I have about ten bites bellow my belly button. Those jerk-faced mosquitoes couldn't care less your belly was already itchy to begin with. In all my years of camping I've rarely found completely even ground to sleep on. Sleeping on a hill equals more swelling, and a horrible night's sleep. You know what? I think I'll just leave it at that, because I think I already painted a pretty good picture for you.
Everything we did was a struggle for me, but I did enjoy being outdoors with my family. My husband apologized for making me go and he said he felt really bad. I don't think he realized how hard it would be for me till he saw me struggling with everything. We did a short hike, sat on the lake, and kayaked while we were there. Waldo Lake is beautiful. I will not be staying at that campground again (Shadow Bay) because people left their crap all over the beaches, and it was pretty loud at night. Zach and I had some alone time next to the campfire on Saturday night, and we talked about our baby (my absolute favorite thing to do) and we looked up at the brilliance of the stars and saw a shooting star. It was a nice little picturesque moment.
My nice and hot shower when I got home on Sunday was the best thing in the whole world. I felt like a million bucks when I laid on my mattress to fall asleep that night. I am so thankful for my bed. I love it.
On our way home from camping I downloaded my new work schedule and to my dismay I was only scheduled for one 4 hour shift. I had planned on working until my due date, or until I go into labor, but it's become apparent that my employer has other ideas for me. I asked why my hours were cut and I was given a couple of hog wash reasons that made me feel like I really am not wanted there. So I was dropped off the schedule at 33 weeks pregnant. I can't get another job because I only have less than two months to work and nobody will hire me anyways. I was given a measly 4 hour shift to keep me dangling, and I hate that there isn't much I can do. I feel taken advantage of, and so I put my two week notice in. I hate that I am leaving my customers without saying goodbye because I probably won't even be on the schedule at all next week, and I honestly don't even know what to tell them. I'm hurt and angry and it would be a lie to tell them I was taking maternity leave early. I also hate that I feel un-welcomed there and I don't want to go back to see my co-workers and introduce them to Uriah when he gets here. The coffee shop is already struggling enough and I hope they learn that if they treat their employees like this then it won't do good things for  their business.
That being said, I am going to start my journey of being a stay at home mom for awhile. You can bet your bottom dollar that Uriah's room will be the best thing ever. I'm so excited to work on it. This weekend we will be refinishing his dresser/changing table, and making some decorations for his room. I love my little Sprout so much, and when things don't seem to be going so smoothly I have his kicks and wiggles to remind me of what's important.
I did have to take my wedding ring off this week. I'm sad about it. All I have now is a tan line. My poor little big fingers are just too swollen.
I am looking forward to our childbirth classes coming up soon, and also our maternity pictures. Even though I feel like a whale, and I hate getting dressed, I'm trying to channel the "beautiful vessel of life" side of me and get excited about my picture being taken, and reminding myself that I will regret it if I don't do it!

32 weeks

This past week was lovely because I had my baby shower! I was showered with so much love and support from my family and friends, it was so heart warming. I'm constantly reminded of how much love Uriah is already getting, and how many people are there to support Zach and I in our journey to becoming parents. I really do think it takes a village to raise a child, and even though my "village" is spread out far and wide, I know they are still there for me and my family. The most important gift I received was seeing all my friends and family together, a bunch of strong, wise, and beautiful women who can't wait to smother Uriah in kisses. Our little guy is going to be looking so adorable when he gets here because everyone who came has great taste in baby clothes! Thank you to those of you who were able to come, it really meant a lot to me!

I'm really glad I had my shower a little earlier than most. Now I get to take my time finding all the things that we still need for our little love bucket. I'm trying REALLY hard not to spend all of our money at Target. It's not easy. The nesting thing makes me want to prepare EVERYTHING! I've been doing lots of little random organization things around our apartment, trying to stay busy until we get all of Uriah's furniture in his room. I found a nice dresser at a garage sale that my crafty husband will refinish and paint for the nursery, and we are hoping to pick out a crib next week. Once I get those two things in there it is game on for decorating. Watch out Craft Warehouse, I'm coming for you!

Last night as we were snuggling into bed my husband gave Uriah a little jiggle to wake him up, and when he did Uriah got all crazy and flipped around. The left side of my uterus is no longer feeling left out (no pun intended.) I have a baby bum on my right side and baby feet kicking my left side (still head down I think.) Also he came up a lot higher than he has been. He is a crazy little baby, and I can't wait to kiss the feet that have been kicking me for so long now.

My husband is taking me camping again this weekend... I say he is taking me, because I am 3 weeks more pregnant than I was last time, and last time was rough enough as it was, so this is mostly him wanting to go and me begrudgingly going. I know I'm crazy, but for the sake of the family, and the great state of Oregon I will go. OR I might fake labor and stay home... Don't tell Zach I said that ha ha. If I survive I will take pictures and pretend I'm a hard core Oregonian who's only solace is dirt and trees and perhaps a delicate stream, or enchanting lake, and I will rub mud on my calves to ease the swelling as I sing warrior songs alongside a smoldering campfire... I'll let you know how it goes!