BUMP REPORT – 38 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 38

My age: 27

How far along: 38 weeks

How big is baby: the size of a jackfruit.  She is approximately 19-20 inches long and weighs 6.8 pounds.

What have you been up to: I have been trying to tackle more things on our to-do-before-baby list.  We installed the car seat bases in both vehicles (so the car seat only needs to be clicked in to be all set to go).  We have appointments set up with pediatrician offices to narrow down a baby doctor choice.  Other things I checked off the to-do list: bought a baby book, made a phone list for announcing baby’s arrival, finished the baby announcement mailing list, and I even packed a hospital bag.  I was seriously dragging my feet on packing a bag because in my opinion, as soon as I am “too ready” that means the baby is just going to sense the readiness and arrive early.  Well, I decided I would rather pack a bag in a calm-relaxed state rather than a hasty in-labor stressed state!  So my bag is packed.  I even selected Baby Lute’s going home outfit…it’s an adorable lady bug outfit.

As I mentioned, one of my goals is to get a pediatrician lined up before the baby arrives.  I have meet and greet appointments set up for two different offices within the next few days.  Each of the offices have multiple doctors, so it will be great to meet several and make a selection.  One of the offices is in the same building as my O.B. doctor.  I walked in their office and it seemed like the most fun doctors office I’d ever been to!  It was decorated to the nines to look like a tiki hut or a luau!  How fun!  More importantly than decorations, I will be interested to meet some pediatricians so that way Eric and I can choose the one we feel would be the best to care for our daughter.

I have been all across the board with my moods this week.  I officially had two meltdowns….  One meltdown was because I was panicking that I don’t feel 100% ready for the baby to be born yet.  The uncertainties about me being a good mom as well how drastically life is about to permanently change were overwhelming me.  My second meltdown was after I spent some time shopping at the grocery store and I came home beyond uncomfortable & exhausted — I had a meltdown because at that moment I felt like I just couldn’t handle being hugely pregnant for one day longer!  My poor husband is so amazing in dealing with these mood swings:)  I know that the baby will come at just the RIGHT time.  Plus, God only gives you as much as you can handle, so I know that His timing is perfect.

Now for the random thoughts & things we have been doing….  Forewarning: I am about to post a bunch of random assorted pictures from the past week or so…they may not necessarily piece together that well, but this is my blog.  So sorry if there is lack of cohesion!

BABY CLOTHES.

Because we have received so many adorable clothes as gifts from our friends and family, we have bought almost NOTHING clothes-wise for the baby.  Well, I broke down and have purchased a few cute things lately.  The two bikinis were on sale at Target & I just couldn’t resist.  I also got some summery outfits (size 9-month) for next summer.

36 WEEK ULTRASOUND.

I realized I never posted baby girl’s most recent ultrasound photo from 36 weeks.  Here she is!  Even with a regular 2D sonography, you could still see her face and her eyes opening and closing.  We were so pleased that she was measuring a healthy size!

BABY POOL.

We have a baby pool set up for friends and family to guess our baby’s birth stats and name.  I did a post last week (https://babylute2013.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/baby-pool-make-your-predictions/) about our baby pool we have going on.  It has been so much fun to have friends, family and fellow bloggers guess our baby’s birth stats and name.  So far some guesses for baby Lute’s name include: Aralyn, Jessica, Avery, Lily, Stephanie, Aspen, Katelyn, Erica, Piper, Audry, Autumn, Lillian, Violet, Lucy, Becky, Adelyn, Genevieve, Hollie, Elizabeth, Kendall, Chloe, Hallie, Ava, Carol and Sequoia.  I LOVE HEARING EVERYONE’S GUESSES!!!  This is just so much fun.  It’s not too late to participate.  Just click on the link to the post and it will give you all the directions to play.

BABY BUMP.

Another bump shot from this week.  I am always just amazed at how this belly keeps on growing!  I take a lot of pictures because I don’t want to forget this time.

SKIING: OUR FAVORITE THING.

For anyone that knows us as a couple, our FAVORITE thing to do in the entire universe together is skiing.  We are ski addicts.  Ski-aholics.  Ski junkies.  Ski bums.  Call it whatever you like–but we are CRAZY OBSESSED with skiing.  It’s almost what defines us as a couple.  We typically purchase season passes and ski an average of 30-35 days per year.  No kidding.  Our obsessive ski lifestyle is about to drastically change with a newborn coming.  We decided that this year we would attempt to ski a mere FOUR DAYS.  So we bought 4-packs to Winter Park/Mary Jane ski resort this week.  I’m excited because I have never skied Winter Park or Mary Jane because it hasn’t been a part of the season pass we typically buy.  When we were buying our 4-packs, the guy at the counter told me he was amazed that I was full-term pregnant because of how well I was getting around.  I told him I’m a runner still—and then he was even more amazed.  Oh, the Colorado lifestyle!

THE NURSERY.

If you missed last week’s BUMP REPORT (https://babylute2013.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/bump-report-37-weeks-full-term/), I did a full picture display of our finished nursery.  It feels SO GREAT to have the nursery complete and ready for baby.  Seriously–all that is left is a baby to sleep in there!  We are proud of how the nursery turned out.  Thank you SO MUCH for all of your sweet comments last week!  We felt so loved by all of the nice things people said.

MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHY.

We had our maternity photoshoot two weeks ago.  The photographer sent us just a short preview to the shoot.  I cannot WAIT to get the full collection and post photos.  If you would like to access the short preview, here is the link: http://dueckphotography.blogspot.com/2013/09/katy-colorado-maternity-photographer.html?m=1

BARE BELLY SHOTS – IT SURE IS GROWING.

Sorry for the bare-belly shots…but this belly is just HUGE!  I take so many pictures of this belly, it’s probably illegal to take so many.  When I get out of bed in the mornings, my belly is usually very lopsided and sticks out to one side.  In the third picture above I was trying to capture this, but you can’t really tell from the photo.

LUKE BRYAN/FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE CONCERT.

On Saturday night we went to the Florida Georgia Line/Thompson Square/Luke Bryan concert.  It was the final concert of the 4-pack summer series we had bought.  We love FGL and Luke Bryan.  We had a fun night enjoying the music and hanging out with friends.  Unfortunately there was a chick right next to us to continued to light up and smoke weed joint after joint.  It tried to stay away from her–this baby does NOT need a contact high!  Finally the security guards came over and wrote her a violation because of multiple complaints.  The marijuana smoking ceased from that point on, thankfully.

NOW SURVEY TIME.

Exercise/Activity Level: I got my 6 workouts in like usual this week.  And yes, for anyone wondering, yes I am STILL running.  Not beautifully-so, but I am running.  It is getting so much harder day by day.  Some days I feel awesome, and other days I have to take it super easy and scale things back in order to listen to my body.  My pace is uber-slow, but I just feel so grateful that my body is still even letting me run that I don’t care HOW SLOW I am!  I just feel happy to be going still.  My breakdown for the week: 3 runs (2 outdoor, one indoor-treadmill run) and 3 cardio/weight sessions at the gym.

At my doctor’s appointment last week, the O.B. and I had a heart-to-heart about all of this exercise I’m doing.  I wanted to give her an update on my current level of activity and get her honest-to-goodness medical opinion on it.  She is thrilled to hear that I’m still able to run and workout at the level I am going.  She highly encouraged me to keep up the hard work, but simultaneously to listen to what my body is telling me to do.  She said if I need to slow down, then slow down.  Her opinion is that exercise (including running) has tremendous benefits for both me as well as my baby.  She said it will help with my labor & delivery (an overall quicker and easier birth), the baby will be healthier, it keeps pregnancy weight gain under control and it will help me to have a quicker/easier post-natal recovery.  It felt good to hear such positive feedback (and even encouragement) from my doctor.  I know that some people get a little nervous with the amount of exercise I do, but just so everyone is clear, I am medically cleared to do so!

Maternity clothes:  Here is an example of how my maternity clothes are fitting my bump just a tadddddd differently (the same shirt at 28 weeks when I thought I was huge already, and then now at 38 weeks):

I actually thought my belly was enormous in the 28 week photo…now it looks tiny next to my current belly!

Stretch marks: None.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I actually make it through un-streaked!  I’m so CLOSE to delivery now!

Belly Button: Outie.

Sleep: Sleep is hit or miss.  I have to get up most nights at least twice.  Sometimes it’s for bladder relief, other times it’s because of extreme hunger pains.

Newest baby milestones this week: Baby is fully developed and is simply getting bigger in the womb.  She will make her grand appearance on the day and the hour that God has picked for her!

Best Moment of the Week: Getting people’s guesses for our baby pool all week.  It’s so much fun having people actively participating in our baby’s birth.  I love hearing all of the name guesses.  If you haven’t yet voted, I’d love to hear from you!

Worst Moment of the Week: My two meltdowns that I mentioned above.

Food cravings: My diet is still healthy and going great.  My 10 Pregnancy Health Goals (https://babylute2013.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/10-pregnancy-health-goals/) have still been going very well and I have stuck to my guns.  I have been staying very true to those goals!  I truly believe the reason I have had basically ZERO HEARTBURN in the past 7 weeks is due to the fact that I eat clean.  Eating healthy makes such a big difference!

Food aversions: None.

Symptoms: Braxton Hicks contractions, growing belly, trouble bending over, trouble tying my shoes, calf tightness while running, feeling heavy, etc.

Movement: Lots of baby movement.  As always!  She continues to favor my right side.  I am wondering if I will notice when she starts to “drop”…I don’t think she has quite yet.

Gender: Girl

What I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to meeting some pediatricians this week and making a selection for our baby.

What I’m nervous about/praying for: Praying for a healthy baby that continues to grow all the way up until her birth.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling nervous jitters about labor/delivery/birth.  I am trying to focus on positives, but frankly, birth is a bit SCARY!  I just want everything to go smoothly….and I don’t want to end up in a C-section.  I know it’s all in God’s hands, and I am trying to let God give me peace that whatever happens is His will.

What I miss: My stable go-with-the-flow-positive mentality.  I don’t like being on an emotional roller coaster.  I am normally so easy going and sane….I hate breakdowns and irrational crying!  I know that even post-natal this won’t go away for a bit, but I am just looking forward to managing my emotions better.

Next appointment: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 @ 11am.  I had my first official pelvic exam at my 37 week appointment last week and discovered that a week ago I was already 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated.  I will be curious to see if there has been any cervical change at this week’s 38 week appointment.

To-do list before baby’s arrival:  THINGS I WANT TO GET DONE THIS WEEK:

-Get out all the parts to the breast pump (sterilize them as well as read all the instructions so I know what I’m doing)

-Make an appointment to get the dog’s hair cut (I need him freshly shaved before the baby arrives)

-Clean the whole house (even though it’s already clean—I just need it CLEAN!!)

-Make final choice about pediatrician