Week 38 Recap

Alright y’all, this will be the final weekly recap, because next week at this time, baby girl will be here! That’s right, we have a c-section scheduled for next Tuesday morning (8/8).

This has been a great, quiet week.  The calm before the storm.  Reese, Taylor and I had a great weekend of just hanging around the house, playing with toys and in our playroom–which I should have an update post for you later this week!  We also took advantage of the slightly cooler weather and went to the neighborhood pool and the local YMCA water park over the weekend.  Taylor pretty much spends the whole time at the water park people watching instead of playing in the water, but they have fun fountains and a fun toddler splash area, so it was a good distraction out of the house.

We got down all of the baby items that we had been storing in the basement–like the rock n’ play and playmat and bouncer for baby girl to use. And just generally relaxed since we won’t have much time to do that after she comes! I’ve had my hospital bag packed since I started having contractions… so I feel like I have everything that I could have ready, ready!

Speaking of contractions, I’ve been having them pretty much non-stop for two weeks now, which is CRAZY, but since they aren’t very strong and not very close together, Doctor says they are normal and just to live with them! I’ve had 2 doctor’s appointments since they started and haven’t made enough progress for her to think anything will interfere with our regularly scheduled c-section.  I went back and forth for a while about whether or not to have a scheduled c-section with this baby (If you weren’t around back then… or just want to re-read it, here is Taylor’s birth story and why I had a C-Section last time).  Anyway, after long convos with my doctor, we decided that probably a c-section was the best course of action this time for a few reasons: 1. My body had a hard time with c-section recovery last time and we thought maybe not having to go through hours and hours of labor first would help it have a better recovery time this time.  2. VBACs can have complications, and after talking about why I didn’t progress last time, she wasn’t convinced that it would be any different this time. So, to each their own about whether or not to do a VBAC or C-section, but this seemed like the safest and best option for us! So bright and early next Tuesday–exactly 39 weeks, I’ll check into the hospital to meet baby girl! (That is unless she has other plans between now and then).

So here’s your update:

Baby’s Size: Yep, still no idea–guess we will be surprised! She feels about the same as Taylor did–so I’m guessing right around 7ish lbs since she will be a week earlier than Taylor.

Baby’s Progress: More temperature regulation, brain and lung development are the name of the game.  At our last sono they did tell me she had a lot of hair, so I expect that to be similar to Taylor as well!

Weight Gain: I’m up 2 more lbs from last week, so about 22 lbs gained.  There is just no describing how large you feel when you are literally weeks away from giving birth. Every movement is effort.

Sleep: I’m still getting some decent sleep, which at this point is much appreciated.  I’ve had a few nights where I’ve woken up with the contractions or having to use the bathroom a billion times, but overall… I’m still getting some sleep. I’m going to enjoy it while I can, since in a week and a half it will be a distant, distant memory.

Symptoms: I’m still rocking the serious back pain, I actually thought to myself a few days ago that I understood why people used walkers… they seem so useful when I need something to lean on.  Its usually the worst right when I get up from having been sedentary, and after my doctor appointment this week where I had to lay there for 20 minutes on one of those awful hard tables, I looked like a 100 year old woman trying to shuffle walk out of the appointment. Other than that I have some trouble breathing deeply and some pretty solid heartburn… all lovely things that 3rd trimester of pregnancy and sharing your body organ space with a 7ish lb baby will do to you.

But most days I feel as good as can be expected, and I’m mostly just trying to soak in as many of these moments as I can before we change over to a family of 4! PS… how cute are they doing laundry together?!? Although I am sure all you parents of toddler+ age children can attest to JUST HOW HELPFUL 2 year olds can be at laundry.