Nearly 36 Weeks

This Thursday I will be 36 weeks, which means that after Thursday, if I should go into labor, they won't stop it.

Guess what momma's doing this weekend?? Walking. A lot.
We have to drive to Farmington to buy a car seat, and we'll probably end up walking the mall there. Then hopefully we'll be able to take a drive up to higher elevation, several people around here say the midwives send their clients to higher elevation to induce labor. Supposedly the lack of oxygen boosts things along, so I'm all for it.

Some people think that I am being a little impatient about this whole thing, I mean, I only have 3 weeks and 3 days until my doctor has agreed to induce me, but they don't really understand the misery of where I'm at physically.

Imagine, for a moment, that you had to carry this around not only in front of you, putting strain on your back, but also in your pelvic cavity.

 

Now keep in mind that at this stage, babies gain an average of 1/2 pound per week...if there are four weeks left of gestation left in my pregnancy, try to picture this baby growing another 2 pounds (probably more, because boys in my family are huge). Got that image in your head?? Now I have a question for you.

where is he going to go?!

There is no more room!! I'm telling you, there is no way I'm going to last that long!! For the first time ever, my belly button popped ALL THE WAY OUT. That didn't happen with either of my other two, that alone should be a hint of the full capacity.

>sigh<

I'm getting desperate. I really am. 

I want this mainly for my family, though. They are the ones who have to deal with my yelling and temper tantrums due to insanity brought on by lack of sleep....

Why must this take so long?!

Am I the only person who gets crazy-impatient at the end of pregnancy? In all seriousness, I am nearly at the verge of tears for wanting this pregnancy to be done. I've been anxious the whole time, don't get me wrong, but now that we are only four weeks away from being induced, the thought of waiting that long is downright upsetting for me. I know he needs to bake for as long as possible, I understand that, but why does human gestation have to take so stinking long??

I've done a little internet research, and found the different gestation times for different animals.
Reading some made me thankful for being a human, and others made me yearn to be a cat...

I thought I'd share some with you.

Human- 303 days - 9.9 months

Donkey - 365 days - 1 year

Cow - 280 days - 9.2 months

Elephant - 624 days - 1 year 6 months

Groundhog - 32 days

Cat - 63 days - 2 months

Sheep - 151 days - 4 months

All in all I'd prefer to have the gestational commitment of a groundhog, what about you?

Update

Yesterday we had our doctor's appointment. It was fairly uneventful.  Owen is now measuring about 2 weeks ahead, his heartbeat is strong and consistent (Dom got a recording of it) and he is still head down. Now. I like this doctor, really. She's nice, she listens to our needs and concerns for the most part, but I was truly spoiled rotten in California. You see in Cali, my doctor was and OB/GYN. That's all he did. Day in and day out, he saw only preggo ladies. He's a pro. He's amazing. He systematical and educated and so comfortable with it all that he probably doesn't even have to think about it any more.  My doctor here is a family Practitioner. She probably only has one or two patients that are pregnant, a year. So she seems to not really believe us when we say "there has only been one boy in our family that was born UNDER 9 pounds, and that was Vin. He was 5 weeks premature and he still weighed nearly 6 and 1/2 pounds". She just kind of nods it off.

No seriously, Dr. Dany,  I'm huge now, look at me. The lady in the waiting room was a month ahead of my and I'm bigger than her. This baby is at least 6 pounds right now, and he's not gonna just stop growing to spare my va-jay-jay.

Even still, she said to us yesterday that we have to wait at LEAST 10 days to go into labor, other wise she'll stop the labor. WHY?! Tomorrow marks the point when Vin was born and he didn't have ANY problems with his breathing!!! I'm miserable! I don't sleep, my back and my uterus are beaten and sore from all the false labor, I'm turning into a water balloon, my skin has stretched as far as it can and now is under so much pressure from Oz moving around the the blood vessels in the layers of dermis are actually bursting, I can't stand for more than 3 minutes before I either have a contraction or my legs go numb.     Save me.   Please......

So this is our plan. If I go into labor earlier than 10days from now, we'll drive into town and just hang out close to the hospital until my water breaks, then they won't be able to stop it!!! BWAA HAA HAA HAA.

Ok, so we're going to do out best NOT to go into labor sooner, but if it happens, I believe it will be because my body simply is ready to not be pregnant any more, and that Oz will be ready too.

Until then I have no choice but to be miserable, tired, uncomfortable and cranky.

Thankfully my husband supports me in all of this and is understanding and sympathetic to my pains.

Last Day of April

I can't believe it's April 30th already! This month has gone by so quickly for me. Time is so funny, isn't it? It seems like just a few weeks ago I was complaining because it was only February, and May seemed so far away. While the time is passing, it seems to lag, but once it has passes, I realize how fast it went by. I sometimes wish it were the other way around, that the time flies as it's happening, then later I would say how it seemed like forever ago that it happened.

In any case, May is at the door, and I'm so ready for it!! Starting this month Dominick will no longer be going on any business trips, and we are going to be taking me for more walks to encourage my cervix to ripen and start dilating, that way when I start labor there is less work to be done. I can't believe there are only 3 more weeks until I'm to term. Wow.

I'm trying not to dwell on everything that still needs to be done. Dom says that he'll put the crib together this weekend, and today we are going to the Mart of Wal to return a few odd items and purchase some things for Oz. That will make me feel much better, I'm sure. Then all we will really need is a car seat and I'll be able to breathe easier still.

Panic Ensues

I have at most 5 weeks until Oz makes his debut, but in reality it could be any time, especially since my uterine irritation seems to be increasing every day. I'm so excited and anxious that I can't even put it into words! One thing that is seriously driving me crazy though: We have almost none of the essentials.

We have the crib (but it's not put together
We have crib bedding
We have diapers and wipes
We have some clothes
We have blankets

That's all we have.

No car seat.
No bath tub
No breast pump
No stroller
No burp rags
No pacifiers
No gas drops
No swing
No bouncer

Panic.

For our previous two kids nearly all of these things were given to us by my sister-in-law or other friends, and of course this baby wasn't planned so we got rid of EVERYTHING when we moved from California. I can handle not having the bath tub, stroller, swing or bouncer yet, I can work without them for a little while, but the car seat, burp rags, breast pump, and especially the CAR SEAT (slightly important) and GAS DROPS (death will occur without them) are the things that are seriously making me want to pull my hair out.

With my oldest I had the entire nursery and every thing we needed set up and ready to go by the time I was 7 months pregnant. With my second we didn't have anything set up (He was 5 weeks early and we needed what would be his nursery for my sister to sleep in while she stayed with us for a little while) but we HAD everything. It was all in bags just sitting in the corner of his room and in his crib. (He slept in the bouncer or the bassinet for the first three weeks of life because he was so sick)

I have this fear that we won't have what we need by the time Oz is born, and my hormonal baby-brain won't let it go. I go online nearly every day and look at prices for all the things we need and panic pours over me in waves. I should probably avoid this by NOT looking anymore, but I can't help it.

Are we seriously going to be ready for this baby?? How are we going to afford all this crap?? Why the dickens does this crap cost so much when it gets used for a max of 10-12 months before you have to get the next grade up??

Does a car seat really need to cost 150 bucks?? And how does a Universal Stroller (the ones that are just frames, and any car seat can click into it) come out to 60 bucks?? Why are babies so stinking expensive?? How is it that the cheapest thing we need is a breast pump??

Even now as I am writing this post I can feel my body tense up and my mind is starting to go in circles. This is going to drive me mad.

As if my lack of sleep and hormones aren't making me senile enough.

Oh The Pain

I am at the final 5 weeks of my pregnancy, and I don't know how I'm going to make it to the finish line. Things are starting to get painful quickly.  My skin is so tight but it's not stretching fast enough, so what I get instead is not stretch marks is broken blood vessels. I have them all over my belly, and some of them make their way to the surface of my skin, so I have to wear bandaids. (attractive).

On top of that my sweet Oz is now so cramped that it literally feels like he's trying to claw his way out. He rolls a certain way and his knees poke out so far in my right side that it hurts like the dickens. You can actually see them. In my side. Sticking out.

My Braxton Hicks are also getting more frequent and more intense. I'm having anywhere from 4 to 8 within an hour, even at night. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in a long time.

All this complaining, I know. "Pregnancy is a beautiful thing". It is, and I love it, no matter how much I complain. After every child I've wanted another, I do truly enjoy being pregnant, but anyone who's been here knows: The last month is always the most difficult.

I am so looking forward to being able to have normal mobility again....and not have to pee all the time.....and roll over in bed without needing a crane for assistance.