Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 36

36 Weeks Down  4 To Go - or if you prefer 26 days! (That is under a month!!!)

This has been kind of a fun week with hitting different milestones. Ok its actually the same milestone but I like to phrase it lots of ways to make it sound even better. We hit the one month from my due date mark. I am due next month so I don't really have to specify which month I'm due in, I just say the 3rd. There is only one flip of the calendar until D-Day. I can say I am 9 months pregnant (and I'm praying that I never have to say a number higher than that!)

Pregnancy Thoughts from the week:

1. I had a great Dr. appointment yesterday. My regular OB was out of town so I met with a Nurser Practitioner instead and she was just wonderful! My normal doctor is very just roll with it, and doesn't really get worried about things, which I have really appreciated up until now. But this NP was very mother hen-ish which I really like now with the end drawing near. I had mentioned that Baby has been less active lately and so she hooked me right up to the monitors to make sure everything is ok and Baby behaved beautifully. Everything looked good, and she says that it is probably just because Babe is running out of room and has dropped lower to make his grand entrance. (Although since being home Baby has been throwing a party and has been moving all over the place, such a little stinker!) But it was kind of fun to lay there listening and watching Baby's heartbeat and just take time to focus on baby and not get caught up in getting ready or other distractions.
2. The aches and pains have definitely spiked in the last week, which just comes with this time of pregnancy so I really shouldn't complain but it makes me even more excited to have this child to get rid of some of the discomforts (although I know it will get replaced with another set of discomforts!)
3. I started to get my hospital bag ready. Please don't laugh at this, I am fully aware that I could have more than 4 weeks until I need any of it, but it just makes me feel better to know that I have at least a few things thrown in a bag for the unlikely scenario that something happens soon. I have also started to do as many ahead of time projects at work as I can so I don't get too far behind when I return. So my list  of to-do's is shrinking almost as fast as I put more things on it!

And here is my 9th month belly:

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 35

We've reached 35 weeks! And as of Tuesday we were down to 35 days!!

It seems like things are happening quite quickly with all the lasts and time to finish this up projects, but unfortunately I just can't remember them from week to week as my mind is just shot. Bryce laughed at me the first time I used pregnancy brain as an excuse for something, but I think he is finally learning that it really does affect you!

So the list of things that I can remember happening from this week:

1. Started my run of weekly appointments. Which I am actually glad for. Since learning about my family history of pre-eclampsia I've been very nervous about that and it is so nice to have those tests done frequently to make sure that things are still going smoothly! Also at my last appointment my dr. gave me a few suggestions on what meds are safe for me to take to help combat my lingering head cold symptoms and I all but ran to Walmart to get relief. Now I can sleep again and not feel like I'm trying to cough up a lung! Oh happy day!!
2. I finally had to stop wearing my wedding ring due to my fingers catching up to the rest of me in the weight department. That was a really sad day. So now I have a plain band that Bryce bought me when I got my rings sized during our engagement. So it is still a ring from my husband, just not the one I want to be wearing!
3. Started losing my ankles. After our car trip home from Thanksgiving in MN they were gone, even with walking and stretching every so often. They apparently decided that wherever they went to was better than being with me.
4. I am getting more and more impatient to meet this little one. I have to remind myself so very often that everyday that Baby stays inside of me he is getting stronger and more ready for the world. But it is tough to wait!

While home for Thanksgiving, my family gave Baby his first Christmas gift. It was all my favorite books from my childhood. It has been so fun to look through them and see how familiar they still are! I cannot wait to be able to rock baby while reading these treasures!

And because my other little love is just so darn cute I thought I would include him as well. Bentley has been banned from jumping up on the couches for awhile now but he isn't happy with the arrangement! Yesterday morning after I heaved myself off the couch and went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee I walked back into the living room to find this:

Please notice that he is laying on both the pillows and the blanket! What a little sneak!

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 34

34 Weeks down - 41 days to go!

Well I guess I used up all my funness last week. This week hasn't been nearly as great. It can be summed up in two words - Headcold  (I'm making it one word) and Insomnia. This cold has been sticking around for about a week now and every time I think that it is on its way out the next day I get knocked down again. I think it would be way more manageable if the insomnia hadn't kicked in at the same time. So when I wake up from not being able to breath I am just wide awake and sleep is nowhere to be found! There have been several late nights curled up in the recliner and see if anything interesting is happening on Facebook at  3 o'clock in the mornings (answer is usually no, just an fyi). So to sum up the week I'm tired, can't breath, and really want to be able to take some medications to feel normal.

But that is way too much complaining the day before Thanksgiving, so here is what I am thankful for:

1. I am thankful for this little Baby that is currently doing gymnastics inside of me, and even though it is starting to take my breath away from the strength behind the movements I know that it means Baby is healthy.
2. I am thankful for a wonderful husband who has been taking care of me this last week. Who even after a really long day and not feeling good himself runs to the store to bring home Chamomile Tea to help me feel better.
3. I am so glad that we are able to go home for Thanksgiving and spend time with both of our families!
4. I am glad that we were able to go to Baby classes and learn so much stuff there, but also glad that they are done now and we don't have to sit for 3 hours learning when we would rather sprawl out on the the couch and chill.
5. I am thankful that we have had such a mild fall so I don't need to worry about driving and walking on ice and snow while I am huge.

I think I could just keep going on and on, I really do have a whole lot to be thankful for, so pardon my complaints, life is good -just a little uncomfortable to times!

And here is the reason for the uncomfortableness!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 33

33 Weeks - 47 days to go (that's right, we're down to days!!)

This has been a pretty fun week baby wise.

1. I'll start with the most important reason. We got our ultrasound results back and while baby's kidneys are still dilated, they didn't get any bigger so there is no reason to expect damage. We wont be having any more ultrasounds until after baby is born, then we'll do a quick check on them to ensure that everything went back to normal! Also at the ultrasound we sort of got to see Baby's face. Babe always has at least one hand in front of his face and so we got a quick peek until both arms and a foot started covering him all up. Unfortunately we would have been able to get a 3d picture had those pesky limbs been positioned differently. Oh well, I get to kiss those cheeks in just a few weeks!
2. I went on a Baby Shopping Spree (I should clarify, shopping for baby items, not for babies) last weekend. I picked up all the baby essentials and that is just too much fun. So I got to wash baby clothes, sheets, and blankets and try to find places for those things this week. Now I just need to finish the dresser so I have a place to put most of the things! Those cute little sleepers make me smile every time I see them!
3. We have names picked out! We've narrowed it down to one for each gender. Not to say they wont change once we see baby, but it feels good to know we're not going in at a stalemate in discussions.
4. I booked all my remaining doctor appointments today. That is just weird! 
5. We got to tour the L&D unit at the hospital. It was so helpful to see where everything is going to happen. I got hooked up to the monitors and got the read out of baby's heartbeat.  It felt pretty weird to be in the bed with feet in the stirrups, maybe it was just that it felt really real at that moment. Labor is going to happen -  I think I tend to skip over that part of the baby experience in my mind so it was good to have a reality check.We got a lot of great info on how things happen at our hospital and that put me at ease. I do so much better in tense situations when I am in a familiar location.

Here's Baby and me this week:

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 32

32 Weeks, 2 more months (insert different punctuation as you see fit - ! - ? - Holy Cow! - I think I might faint...)

Pregnancy Thoughts 

1. Things haven't changed much this week. Just keep trucking along.
2. Sometimes its feels like that truck has hit me though. I can tell we are in the home stretch (can I call 8 weeks the home stretch? Well I guess I am going to for my own sanity!) as my body just doesn't like to deal with life sometimes. I was told by several friends to make sure I just baby myself during this pregnancy since it is the only one I will have where I will have that luxury, and I have been taking advantage of this advice. 
3. I have come up with a theory, that I am fairly close to proving! Throughout this pregnancy it has been really funny to me the differences in opinions on how big I am. I can be told I look huge and then turn around and get told that there is no way I am as far along as I am. But after much consideration, pie charts, white board doodlings, and magic eight balls I have it figured out. The people who say that I look huge are people that are older (not old, just kids out of the house and up age) and people my age that have no kids. Those that say I am small are the ones that have kids. I'm assuming it is because they remember how awkward it is to respond to someone who calls you fat. So far there has only been one exception to this rule, but I'll let you know if it holds true over the next couple of months. So now I can relax and have a response ready when I start talking to someone based on these few simple facts. Love it!
4. Really looking forward to next week as we have the next ultrasound/Dr. apt  - praying for answers!
5. This weekend I am hopefully going to finally start buying things for Baby. Target is having a baby stuff sale and I have a 10% off coupon that I am ready to use up. So I just have to decide whether or not I want to drive an hour and a half to go to a Target and pick things out in person or just do it from the comfort of my couch. Oh the decisions in life that must be made! But looking forward to filling up the cute dresser that is getting a makeover!

And here is my big/small belly ( you can chose which way it is, just don't tell me!)

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 31

31 weeks down, 9 (single digits people!!!!!) to go

I keep putting off writing this weeks post because, well honestly I just haven't wanted to write it. It has been a very emotional week, partly do to pregnancy hormones and partly due to some news we kinda sorta got. But considering that I write these to keep a journal for myself to look back on, I want to document this week. 

At our 20 week ultrasound we found out that the Baby's kidneys were dilated. We were told not to worry, this is super common and will most likely fix itself, especially when Babes were just border line larger than the norm. So we set up a follow up ultrasound for 30 weeks, which we had last week. This week we went in for the results and it did not fix itself as we had hoped in the last 10 weeks, instead they are a little larger (not just because baby is older). Still a pretty common problem, so I don't want anyone freaking out that there is something seriously wrong with baby. However, its not a great thing and we don't know what is causing the dilation. So we have to go back in again and get them checked out a little closer and then I guess we go from there. Baby is still growing fine, and fluid levels are good, so we know that babe is not retaining all the urine which is great! What makes me nervous is that we have no answers. I know that this is a common problem, but when it is my baby I hate it. I want to make it all better. I want to know what is going to happen. I want the next ultrasound now so I can see baby again and know its going to be alright. So needless to say this week has been a little bit of a up and down week. There has been lots of prayer for peace and a more trusting spirit, and lots of chocolate (good timing since it was right after Halloween!) Also this week we started Baby classes. The instructor is one of the most annoyingly happy and upbeat people you have ever met. Very knowledgeable, but man if she was my l&d nurse, I probably would have to tape her mouth shut. I think it will be helpful, if for nothing else to get familiar with the hospital and they procedures. 

So after all of that unloading, here's Babe and me this week:

Cooking For A Month in a Day

I decided a long time ago that I wanted to stock up the freezer with a bunch of meals for the last months of pregnancy and then again for the first months of mommyhood. I started to do some research on the best way of doing this since cooking in bulk and freezer cooking is very new to me. I stumbled across the website Once a Month Mom (www.onceamonthmom.com) and loved what I saw. They share a new menu every month and use a lot of items that are in season for that month. What I liked about their website is how simple they make everything. They give you an excel spread sheet with all the ingredients/amount you will need based on how many you want to feed, recipe cards, and even write out the step by step instructions for your big cooking day so everything gets done in the most efficient way. I decided to go with the October 2011 menu (they have two years of menus archived so you can pick whichever one you want) and made 9 different dinners, 2 dozen muffins, and some biscuits. 

The Set Up:

I used my kitchen table as my main prep area (which was great since it is tall so I didn't have to bend down to prep anything, thus saving my back!)  I also had all my canned goods, recipes, instructions, and containers here.

I set up a veggie cutting area away from all my meats so I didn't have to worry about grabbing the wrong knife or cutting board.

Then I had my dry goods area with mixing bowls, utensils, flour, sugar, spices... It was really nice to have all the most used items pulled out so I'm not digging through cupboards or drawers looking for what I need. This saved a lot of time, and a lot of sticky fingerprints all over the cupboards.

I took some pics of the foods I made, forgive the quality of them, I don't have the know-how to do good food picks.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Broccoli Cheddar Biscuits

Chicken Enchilada Lasagna on top and Stuffing Chicken Bake on bottom

These look to disgusting, but it is Salsa Chicken on top and Beef Pot Roast on the bottom
(uncooked and in a bag, not a good way to show you deliciousness!)

Taco Soup

Towards the end I was ready to be done and didn't take pictures of the finished products, but you'll just have to trust me that there is a bunch more!

 And what does a kitchen look like after that much cooking, well it looks a little something like this:

 Thankfully after 45 minutes of cleaning and picking up it was back to normal, well better than normal!

This is the menu that they had written for the month:

Breakfasts

• Harvest Pancakes
• Chocolate Coconut Granola Bars
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Lunches

• Taco Soup
• Broccoli Cheddar Biscuits
• Ham and Cheese Quesadilla
• Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Dinners

• Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf
• Salsa Chicken
• Chicken Enchilada Lasagna
• Mama’s Meatballs and Gravy
• Spinach Artichoke Pasta
• Lentil Tacos
• Ground Beef Stroganoff
• Chicken and Stuffing Bake

I didn't do a few of them as you can see, and most of the ones I did do I doubled to get 2 meals (most of the meals will give Bryce and me two suppers worth, so by doubling we are really 4 suppers out of them.) Over all I think it was a success, but since we haven't tried many of them I guess I don't now that for sure! I learned a lot about what I will do next time. I want to focus more on slow cooker meals and less casseroles. I will do more of the prep work the day before, like veggie chopping and all the cooking of meats and so on. I also learned that Pandora is a must during a big cooking day. I listened to everything from Andrea Bocelli to Black Eyed Peas to Josh Groban to Norah Jones and everything in between. It was a great day (started at 9 am and finished clean up at 5 pm) of listening to music, learning new recipes, and feeling so satisfied when I look at my full freezer at the end of the day. I think it is going to be so great to have this all done as planning and cooking meals is seeming more and more like a chore lately.

If you have any great slow-cooker/ freezer meals, I would love to know as I am already planning my next cooking day! And if you want to join in the fun, let me know and we'll have a cooking party!