Big Day!

Tomorrow is a mini milestone...not only is tomorrow November 1st, a day that I can officially say (at least I hope so...LOL) that I will get to meet my baby girl this month, it is also the day that I move into the teens in terms of days left. Tomorrow I am 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant...which means I have 19 days until my due date. I know she may not come right on her due date but its still pretty cool to think I have less than three weeks!

I'm having a little dilemma when it comes to maternity leave. I fully intend to take 12 weeks of time off from when she is born. Originally my plan was to work right up until I went into labor, whenever that may be. Then I decided if she didn't come by my due date that I would start my maternity leave that week regardless. Its Thanksgiving week so I would already have a few days off anyways. Then a few weeks ago I started getting really sick again, like different sick than what I was feeling in the first trimester. I was dizzy and lightheaded all the time, throwing up and the Zofran wasn't helping. It was really wearing on my mentally to think I could potentially be sick like that for another 7 or 8 weeks so Eric and I decided that I would officially start my maternity leave the week before my due date. We figured having a specific day in mind when I get to quit working as apposed to some arbitrary day I go into labor would help me mentally get through those rough times. Well here we are about a month later and although I am really tired, my feet get swollen every time I'm on them for any extended period of time and my heartburn is raging but....I'm not sick. Don't get me wrong, I could do without the heartburn and lack of sleep but its livable and again...I'm not sick. Now I think maybe I should just bight the bullet and keep working. I have friends that have done it both ways. A good friend had to start her leave two weeks before her due date as it is her companie's policy, she said she really enjoyed the time to just relax and prepare for labor. However she works for a private company that offers paid and unpaid maternity leave so she had a lot more time to work with. Another friend worked until the day she went into to labor and said it was no big deal. I mean sure, she didn't want to be there those last couple weeks but it meant more time with baby (that would be paid!). I think I'm going to play it by ear and see how I feel in the next two weeks and if I'm fine maybe Ill at least work another half week.

What do you think? Go ahead and start my leave, even if it means another unpaid week on the end or suck it up and work until my due date????

36 Weeks

How the Baby is growing:

This week Baby Girl W weighs almost 6 pounds, like a crenshaw melon (whatever that is...) and measures more than 18 and 1/2 inches long!



I sort of think she may be even bigger than 6 pounds, especially due to my crazy weight gain at my last doc apt (nothing to worry about but more than I usually put on between appointments). I asked the doctor her prediction for birth weight and she said she thought right around 8 pounds. That may sound large to you people but considering I was 10 pounds 11 ounces( you read that right, almost 11 pounds...but I was 4 weeks and 1 day late) and Eric was 8 pounds 7 ounces ...an 8 pound baby sounds just fine to me!!!

How I am changing:

My belly is still growing! :) And by the looks of it I have dropped! When you compare pics from the last few weeks you can see where my belly used to be rounded starting right below the breasts but now it is more sloped like a teardrop.

I have been feeling much better than I was a few weeks ago! (Thank the lord) I am really starting to feel the exhaustion though. I find that on Tuesdays (when I have court and I am on my feet all day) I apparently use of my energy for the week. I come home ready to crash and I don't seem to recover until the weekend! Doesn't make for the most productive employee but I'm doing my best!

I am still feeling the dreaded heartburn and although I'm not really having "morning sickness" I did get sick in the middle of the night and I think heartburn is to blame. Last night I tried sleeping with an extra pillow so I would be more elevated, I think it helped with the heartburn but it wasn't too comfortable considering I am supposed to sleep on my side. Tonight I will have to try something different.

Fun Stuff:

This week we decided to hire a doula to assist during labor. If you don't know what a doula is she is essentially a labor coach. Someone with experience with labor that can help you achieve the labor experience you want. I'm really excited!

We also decided on our Pediatrician this week. We were able to meet with a doctor at Pediatric Associates and we really liked her!

We did a little more work on the last minute nursery touches this past weekend as well. No picture updates just yet but as soon as we are officially done I will post pics, I promise! It is looking so good and coming together just like a pictured it!

My friend Lindsay's due date is this Friday! Think good thoughts for her as this is her first child! Love you Lindsay Sue! You can do it!



35 Weeks and my absenteeism...

So I have been a little MIA the last few weeks...between two awful sickness weeks, THREE baby showers, a garage sale, out of town visitors and other crazy happenings I let the blogging slip...but I'm back with an update now! Better late than never!

How the baby is growing:

This week Baby Girl W tips the scales at 5 and 1/4 pounds and measures about 18 inches, about the feel of a honeydew melon!





How I am changing:

Where to begin. Lets just say it has been a long few weeks. As you know if you have kept up with my pregnancy I was pretty sick from about 7 weeks until at least 18 weeks. It seemed to taper off and be an "every once in awhile" thing at that point. Well...about two or three weeks ago I started getting sick again, only this time it was different. When I was really sick in the first trimester the doctor prescribed me Zofran. Its essentially an anti-nausea medicine, it didn't make me feel perfect but if I set my alarm for 30 minutes before I had to get up and took the pill I did not throw up when I actually got out of bed. When I started feeling better I stopped taking the pill everyday and moved to an "as needed" basis. Eventually as needed became never, something I was very happy with! When I started getting sick a few weeks ago I tried taking the pill...but it didn't help. Several times I would take the pill and get sick not 30 minutes later. Plus I was feeling weak and light headed and even dizzy at times. The doc even sent me in for a non stress test, just in case. Everything was fine, baby is great. They did all the regular tests at my appointment, blood pressure, blood draw, etc....nothing is wrong. The answer...probably just pregnancy hormones raging. Awesome. Do not get me wrong, I would NEVER want anything to be wrong but its a little hard to hear that its just pregnancy and I might be sick for 7 more weeks! Luckily in the last week things seem to have gotten better. Again, not perfect, but better and I will take what I can get!

The heartburn is still raging and getting worse at night before bed. I am LIVING off of Tums Smoothies! On the bright side I do not seem to have heartburn on days when I have nausea. Just one of god's little blessings! 

I have been feel a whole lot more fatigue these days. I think it is a combination of the extra activities I ahve had going on and the fact that I am 35 weeks pregnant! Its gets hard to carry around a little person all day! LOL! I have only almost fell asleep at work once or twice...no big deal! 

The belly is growing and growing! Although many people tell me I am quite small for how far along I am it is still quite a change in my body that feels huge to me! Sometimes it still catches me off guard! Here is the belly at 33 weeks and at 35 weeks since I missed a few posts:

33 Weeks

35 Weeks

I am still feeling Baby Girl move and kick like crazy! She also seems to get the hiccups about once a day! I honestly don't mind it one bit...unless I am trying to go to sleep! Babycenter tells me that she will be changing positions less due to her size in the uterus. She is hopefully head down (I'm going to see if the doc can tell at my appointment on Thursday) and getting ready to drop! If you look at the last two weeks it kind of appears that I may have begun to drop but its hard to tell because the pics are exactly to scale! We try but its hard! 

The fun stuff:

We have been blessed with THREE Baby Showers over the last month and each was amazing. I plan to do a separate post recapping then but a BIG thank you to my co-workers, my incredible Greenville friends and Spartanburg friends.

This past weekend my bestie Chrisoula and her husband came up to visit from Florida for our baby shower. We had an amazing (and EXHAUSTING!) weekend. We celebrated Baby Girl W ( in costume) on Saturday and went to Fall for Greenville on Sunday, my FAVORITE fall festival. It was so nice to be able to spend some time with them before the Baby comes. Hopefully the next time they visit we will have a little one. (They are hoping to stop by on their way home from Thanksgiving in North Carolina!)

Some great news! Another wonderful friend Lauren had her baby girl Nora FOUR WEEKS EARLY! Nora Mary Elizabeth Mersberger is here and doing great! Congrats Lauren and Freddy!