36 weeks

How far along:  36 weeks  (5.7.15)

Total weight gain/loss: 28 lbs

Maternity clothes:  yes... same as before.  i went to the temple tuesday.  if i go again before this baby is born then i will for sure need to rent a temple dress. i was thinking of renting one this time around, but i forgot until i was already in the dressing room and i didn't have any cash anyways and i wasn't sure if the temple took visa.  ; )  anyways, i looked absolutely ridiculous and my friends had a good laugh.  

Sleep:  not bad at all.  my dreams are really low key.  last night, i had a dream that i was at walmart and was trying to find all the stuff on my shopping list and was buying weird things like store bought beef jerky because ibotta was having $4 back rebates on stuff that only cost half that much.  

Best moment this week:  definitely monday night.  honey got back from his trip and we went out to dinner at carrabbas for our anniversary.  happy 8 years to us!  we talked about baby names and when we guessed the baby would come and he told me all about his trip and it was perfection.  i ordered the lobster ravioli, which was divine, and the waitress gave us a scoop of ice cream with caramel sauce and candied nuts with a candle on top.

Movement:  just holy cow, she never stops moving!  and it is intense!  lots of feet in the ribs and knees and elbows all over.  i won't lie... it's frequently uncomfortable and painful.  my doctor asked about her movement and i told her it never stopped and it was just constant jabbing and rolling and everything and she said that was great and a good sign of a healthy baby.  

Food cravings:  i'm not a huge fan of eating, but it isn't terrible.  i'm normally just not in the mood for anything and i get full really easily.  i still like chocolate chips though.  and scrambled eggs and egg salad sandwiches.  i've noticed that i have less of a tolerance for junk food and i feel gross when i eat it.  so if i have a morning with not a lot of nutritional value, by 3 o clock, i'm craving some squash or zucchini.  so basically, i'm kind of a picky eater again.  i picked going out to carrabbas solely because i wanted the lobster ravioli (and because i remember that christopher and i went there two years ago for our anniversary and it's the perfect environment for quiet conversation)... but i checked out the rest of the menu when i got there anyways and wouldn't you know, i had no interest in any other thing on the menu.  the plus side about getting full so easily was that after the initial bread (with olive oil and herbs and balsamic vinegar) and house salad, i really only needed to eat a small part of my entree (which is always a small serving anyway because it's lobster ravioli) before i was completely full.  so i got to bring home leftovers... which always makes me happy.  ; )

Symptoms: nausea and headache and backache and fatigue and lack of motivation and highs and lows of emotions and all of those sorts of things.  nothing that's getting in my way of life (except for all the bad days brought on by the pregnancy emotions... but i'm able to handle it better, knowing that it's just because i'm pregnant) so i'm still very much enjoying pregnancy.  several times this week, i've gotten lightheaded and sick like i'm about to pass out, but if i sit down and cool down (if i'm hot) then it goes away within a minute.  i feel really good so i'm still doing everything i normally would, but occasionally my body will really let me know that i need to slow down... and i'm not too proud to listen.

Gender:  i am happy to report that baby is still a girl!  and that we're getting super close to deciding on a name/nicknames/spelling... but as before, no official announcement til it's all set in stone on the birth papers.  i'm not a super decisive person so it's really not safe to go ahead monogramming anything right now.  ; )

What I miss:  fitting into my temple clothes... ; )  and having more control over my emotions and happiness.

Milestones:  i've got less than a month to go!
Theme: the week of ups and downs
What's different this time around:  with abigail, movement was slowing down... this time, not so much.  also, with abigail, i was getting comments about being pregnant with my third (because i was a nanny to two boys at the time) so this time it's actually cool that i AM super pregnant with my third.  dreams do come true! with brady, i was enjoying eating more than what i currently am.  but that makes sense because morning sickness during that pregnancy was a breeze... whereas i'm still getting it regularly in the evenings this time around.  

Extra:  i had an appointment on monday and met with my actual doctor, dr. walker.  i really like her.  she wasn't my doctor last time around, but she was the doctor on call that delivered brady.  she's always so nice and friendly and upbeat.  she brought in an ultrasound machine (i totally wasn't expecting this) and i told her i'd never had an ultrasound after the 20 week ultrasound with either of my previous pregnancies and she was blown away.  "how did they know if your baby was head down?!?!"  ha, i just shrugged.  anyways, she was happy to see that baby was nicely head down.  and i asked if she could confirm that baby was still a girl... which she did... and she is.  ; )  i asked her if i should take another hospital tour (they've been doing construction on the hospital so i wasn't sure how much is different now) and she said definitely yes because she's concerned about me getting to the hospital in time.  i told her i didn't waste time last time after i KNEW i was in labor and she said that i should come to the hospital this time around even if i just think i might be in labor.  i told her i would have a list of friends to call to watch my kids and she said it was fine if i needed to just bring my kids to the hospital with me.  i mean, hopefully my labor won't be any faster than it was with brady, but we're just trying to be prepared as best we can. she'd previously mentioned/asked about induction, but i told her i've only heard horror stories about it and wanted nothing to do with it.  luckily, she was really relieved and happy about that and fully supported my decision to wait for things to happen naturally.  everything at the appointment looked and measured and seemed to be just right so that's great.  i think i must be pretty straightforward as far as pregnant women go because she ended the appointment with an enthusiastic "i love pregnant women like you!"  ha.  

y'know who i wasn't as crazy about though? the nurse that was checking my blood pressure and everything.  she started out nice enough and was all "how're you feeling? great? that's good, you look good." and i was all "thanks, it's really fun to have a belly."  and she couldn't resist making a comment that was something like "well, it won't be fun for long" or something like that.  that has got to be by far my biggest pregnancy pet peeve... why do people insist on treating pregnancy like a horrible thing? or constantly feeling like they need to inform you of impending doom and gloom?  it drives me crazy.  pregnancy is such a crazy amazing miracle and there are a million and one women who have felt the intense sorrow of not being able to experience it.  so why would you say something as ungrateful and superficial as "it won't be fun for long" when you don't even know the whole story?!  either the lady is having a hard time and is already ungrateful for the aches and pains pregnancy brings and doesn't need you to add to it... or, she's glad for the experience and your comment will never apply to her.  i'll hop off my soapbox now, but come on, does anyone else feel the same way?

also, abigail is still dead set on naming our baby "vaseline" and we've been trying to be even more direct than before about how that will NOT be the name of her new baby sister.  she hasn't been very receptive to that though.  case in point... playing with her friends on wednesday afternoon, abigail suggested "vaseline!" as a name for whatever her friends were trying to name.  the 8 year old present was all "but isn't that a girl name? isn't that your baby sister's name?"  i about died.  apparently people are naming their kids such strange names these days that this 8 year old has no problem recognizing vaseline as an acceptable girl's name.

and, oh my goodness! i scheduled my last two appointments and my hospital tour (which i'm going on tonight) and i preregistered with the hospital and it's so crazy to me that this pregnancy is almost over!  yikes!  no!  i'm not ready to have three kids yet!  and ohheavensanewborn!  anyways, that's a little surreal to me.

and if i haven't mentioned it before, this is definitely the most nervous i've ever been about birthing a baby.  with abigail, i had a feeling i'd be late and that it would be a long and peaceful (epidural!) labor lasting roughly 24 hours.  i was late and, even though my labor was only 7 hours and my epidural didn't kick in til i was at a 10 and ready to push, it was pretty peaceful and all happened in good timing.  with brady, i was a little nervous (second labors are frequently half the length of time as the first) thinking i might have a 3.5 hour labor and i might go a few days early.  but hey, i'd practiced my hypnobirthing and surely everything would go pretty similarly to last time, right?  well, he was more than a week early, i was in denial about being in labor, and my contractions came on so fast each time that i would forget about my correct breathing until i was already hyperventilating.  my body was pushing while i was in the car on the way to the hospital, and it all happened so super fast.  after it was over, i was all "that couldn't have been more perfect!" but that's because i was already holding my healthy baby and everything was fine.  this time i'm all "oh my goodness what if this baby comes even sooner?" and "what if this baby comes even faster?" and "what if this labor doesn't go smoothly like my previous labors did?" and all of that sort of stuff.  i'm worried about knowing if i'm truly in labor, but i'm also worried that i'll show up to the hospital too early and there will be some complication or something and then there will be interventions and crap.  i'm not sure.  i just never was nervous for labor before but this time i totally am.  deeeep breaths.  and i'm still on hold at the library for that hypnobirthing book.  hopefully i can get a hold of it soon.

5.7.15 at 36 weeks

5.7.15 at 36 weeks

ps- sorry, i know the outfit sucks for really seeing the belly, but you get what you get.  i just snapped these as i ran out the door for my hospital tour.

pps- after two additional trips... walmart had baby hangers.  woohoo!