Well I lasted through the night. I went to bed around 2:30 or so and slept until 10:30. I had a great nights sleep. Best I’ve had in a really long while. Which is a good thing since I’m pushing a baby out tomorrow.

Upon waking this morning, I ate a bowl of cereal and felt just fine. A couple hours later, I had a few-pretty strong contractions. So strong that I had to put down my laptop and get up off the couch to “walk it out”. The bean keeps pressing his knee into my belly button as if that were the way out…ha ha, silly boy. The contractions haven’t been regular and they are back to being really far apart, just a few every so many hours. So with that being said I am going to finish making some curtains for the babies room, take a shower, clean the house a bit for company, and make sure I have all of my bags packed for the hospital.

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So around 7ish tonight I started getting some pretty regular contractions. Me and hubby timed them and they were about 10 minutes apart lasting only a minute each. So after an hour and a half I decided to get off the computer and go make supper. I figure if I’m going to go into labor tonight then I’m going to be at least full doing it. Well all during preparation for supper, I cooked hamburgers and french fries btw, I was still having the contractions. I knew this could be the onset of labor since typically a braxton hicks contraction goes away when I’m up and moving about. These are not the case.

Once supper is prepared, I plop myself in front of the tube and chow down. After eating I noticed that I wasn’t having the contractions anymore. Strange. Maybe the bean was just hungry, who knows.

Anyways, a couple hours pass and it is now midnight. I suppose dinner has digested and now we are back to having contractions. I’m starring at the clock on my laptop saying that it is 2:45 in the morning. Hubby and pnut both went to bed fully clothed, just in case I scream “my water broke” in the middle of the night. I think I’m going to attempt to get some rest as well. After all I have a baby to push out in a matter of a couple of days.

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So here is a recap of my hectic week. Tuesday we went to the doctor for my 38 week 4 day check up. Doctor did an internal exam to see how far I’ve dialated. I’m at 1 1/2 centimeters. My weight was 189 lbs, I ate a huge bowl of homemade, comforting macaroni and cheese before I went…ha ha. The baby is measuring and his hearbeat is normal. The doctor then informs me that he wants to see me back on Friday.

Wow, Friday so soon. We go to the doctors appointment today do the typical routine pee in a cup…normal….weight…. 187 lbs, didn’t eat mac and cheese today….blood pressure….good. Go into the exam room and they have me disrobe from the waist down. Here comes the fun part. More probing to see how far I’ve dialated. 2 1/2 centimeters!!!! Holy cow! I dialated a centimeter in just a couple of days. So then the doctor so graciously informs me that she will see me bright and early Monday Morning. I was like monday? what is happening monday? She was like “Oh my husband didn’t tell you, we are going to induce you on monday”. Uh, excuse me, what did you just say. Induce. So soon. But, but, I’m not due till Friday, the 25th. She said “Yes I know but he has already booked a spot for you, be at the hospital at 6 am on Monday, that is if you don’t go into labor between now and then.” Me and hubby nearly fell out of our chairs. We had a bet that they would schedule me another appointment on Monday not actually send me into labor. Immediately our minds started to think of all the things that we haven’t done yet to prepare for the baby. I’m sitting here thinking I still have a week to prepare but in actuality just a couple of days. Wow!

So we go home and then decide that since the bean will be here soon that we should go and pick up some formula for him since I’m not breastfeeding. Well we hit up the local Wal-mart and snag the dollar store on the way back home. I get back home and go to the potty like a normal preggo chick. And what to my surprise, what is that I see….but behold it seems to be my mucous plug or at least part of it. With a Slightly pink/brownish tinge to it, it indeed looks to be of a mucous consistency. So I immediately tell hubby and he starts to freak out. “What does this mean?” he says starting to panic. This means that I could go into labor soon or not so soon. If I start bleeding then you worry I tell him. With each braxton hicks contraction my husband freaks out because he knows the end is near. They are strong with lots of pressure down south but they aren’t regular nor are they 5 minutes apart so going to the hospital now is a waste of time. I definitely feel a little different “down there” than I normally do. Lots of pressure and this dull ache as if I were about to start my period. Maybe I’ll be giving birth tomorrow, who knows.

If I dont go into labor this weekend I will be at the hospital bright and early Monday Morning. They will induce me and I will have a new bundle of joy in my arms by the end of the day. The following day I will undergo surgery to have my tubes tide, well actually burnt. I’m getting “fixed”. Me and the hubby both agree that we dont want anymore children since we already technically have 4. If anyone knows my husband, just a mere sneeze from him will make someone pregnant. He is definitely fertile. I’ve done my research on tubal ligations and it seems to be a reasonable solution for us. The worst cases that I’ve read on tubal ligation is the risk of pregnancies in your tubes. But typically the egg that is released every month is supposed to be reabsorbed by the body never making it to your uterus to be implanted. If I am unable to get on the surgery list the day after I give birth then they will have to schedule the surgery at my 6 week check up appointment. I don’t want to wait 6 weeks, I want to have it all done at once. With having it done right after giving birth my uterus is still large and up by my navel so all they will have to do is make a small incision in my belly button pull a tub up and out clamp them together and put them back. With the 6 week surgery they have to make two incisions one at the navel to perform the surgery and one near my groin for the scope to snoop/look at things. So I choose option #1.

Now I told hubby that I’d have my hospital bag packed tonight but I’m just too darn tired. I’ve stopped with my little contractions and now I’m off to bed. Surely I’ll pack first thing in the morning….ha ha.

Wish me luck!

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Well you might be wondering what I’m doing pregnancy wise and the reality is not really much. I’m still slowly but surely working on my nesting/get ready for baby because oh my goodness just 11 more days until he is here list. I go through spurts of energy here and there but overall I don’t have a sense of urgency to get anything major accomplished. I still don’t believe that I’m having a baby despite the fact that my braxton hicks contractions are getting increasingly stronger. So much so that now when I have them and I’m in a seated position that I have to stand up to relieve the pressure. It isn’t fun let me tell you.

I’ve been buying lots of last minute baby items that should be here before my due date. Some of the stuff I don’t necessarily need right now but would like to have on hand.

Last weeks doctor appointment was pretty much uneventful. All they did was weigh me, made me pee in a cup, listened to the babies heart beat, and measured my belly. The usual stuff. I weigh 183 lbs. So I’m still gaining the typical 2 lbs. a week. I have another doctor’s appointment tomorrow. It will be my 38 week appointment. Technically I’m like 38 weeks and 4 days. He is going to check my cervix to see how much I’ve dialated. I haven’t pass my mucous plug or anything yet so I am thinking I’m going to make it to my due date or beyond. I can’t believe I have just 11 days left. That is totally insane. I just can’t get over how “not real” this all feels.

In other news, I finally hung my belly cast up on the wall in the baby’s room….

For those of you thinking of making a Pregnancy Belly Cast and don’t know how to hang it on the wall. I found that just using an ice pick you can poke two holes wherever you want the ribbon at. It is very easy to poke holes through the plaster.

I think the belly cast came out better than I had hoped. I love the ribbon especially because I found it on clearance at Walmart. The ribbon has a stripe of the sage green that we have incorporated the babies whole room around. I just love it. I love that it is original and that many people haven’t even heard of doing this. Some Many think that it is weird but I think it is precious and great way to preserve my once child bearing body. I’m very proud of my sculpture.

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So I’m feeling a little nesty these days. Now that I’m officially in my 37 week of pregnancy, I can see that the end is near, within arms reach, and there isn’t much time left to “get ready for baby”. I constantly have a list of things running through my head of what all I want accomplished before the big day.

There is the…
-hospital bags to pack [mine and the beans]
-his room to finish decorating
-baby essentials to finish putting together like the car seat and actually put in the car
-the car cleaned out.
-pnuts outfits to put together so daddy doesn’t have him running around naked for a week
-slings/carriers to finish making
-curtains to wash and stamp for the windows in the babies room
-pnuts winter clothes to be changed out with summer stuff
-groceries to buy
-then there are my winter clothes that still need to be changed out into my summer wardrobe [not that I’ll be able to fit into that stuff anytime soon but you get the idea]
-general clean up and decluttering of junk
-my room set up for recovery with things such as books to read, a television to watch, baby monitors to listen to [this requires testing and batteries, I’m sure], and a computer station to keep ya’ll up to date with the latest baby news.
-video camera needs to be charged, so does the digital camera. All of their bags need to make sure they have everything in them and by the door for easy grab and go.
-workout equipment out of storage and into workout cabinet for easy access to whip my post-baby body back into shape [that is, when I am able to actually move again] *PHOTO*
-belly cast to be hung on wall

Then you have to add in the typical household duties that need to be filled before I start any one particular task like the goo-gobs of laundry that seems to never go away or the endless pile of dishes in the sink [man, it sucks not having a dishwasher].

I’m starting on my list today. I’m hoping to accomplish at least one of the tasks above. I know for sure that we will be doing some grocery shopping today but the actual list of things we need is yet to be written. I believe the only thing we have left to buy for the baby would be diapers and formula. My mother has bought him a million different outfits so he will definately not be lacking in the clothing department. If anything he will be a very spiffy dresser.

So I have exactly 20 days to go or possibly shorter and I haven’t started a single “nesty” thing. Shame, on me, shame. One of the problems I’ve been having lately and one of the main reasons why things haven’t been completed is the whole feeling of utter exhaustion. I feel so tired lately. I sleep about 10 hours at night and take a 2-3 hour nap during the day with the pnut and I still feel as if I’m not getting any sleep at all. I’m just so drained. It isn’t like I’m running around the house all day either, I’m usually doing my “online work” or writting posts in advance just in case I go into labor. So why am I so tired? I realize that I’m making another human being but goodness it shouldn’t take this much out of me. Even my focus is off now-a-days. When I sit down to work it is like I can’t concentrate. It is so frustrating because I have so much work piling up that it needs/ has got to be done before the baby is born but I just can’t seem to concentrate long enough to do it. It is as if the baby is taking over my whole being. He is slowly eating my brain and zapping me of all of my energy. I will definately be glad to have my body back. How many days are left again? Ah, yes, 20!!!!

I will attempt to cross things off of the list above as I do them throughout the day. I’m going to try to stick to my goal of “NO BLOGGING”, I know how horrible, today until I get at least half of the things accomplished. So come back and check on me throughout the day, give me some words of encouragement to keep going and at the end of the day I’ll let you know what all was accomplished.

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[begin rant]

“Yep, she is definately pregnant!”
“That baby is done”
“That baby has dropped”
“Any day now”
“She looks like she’d have that baby at any minute”
“I bet she’s ready”
“Not long now”

All of these things I hear as I pass people at Wal-mart while grocery shopping. It isn’t so much that they are talking about me but they could at least be quiet about it. I mean if I am going to talk about someone behind their back, I’m definately going to make sure that they DON’T HEAR ME! I mean how incredibly rude is it to pass someone in the supermarket aisle only to hear them say, just as your back is turned, “Wow, she is HUGE!!!”. No, really, thank you for pointing out the obvious as if I didn’t wake up this morning and feel how extremely large I really am. As if my back and feet don’t scream at me on a regular basis at the roundness that is my ever expanding waist band.

I get it people, I’m pregnant. I’m fat. I’m round. I’m huge. Whatever label you want to put on me is fine just please stop making the habit of having to point it out to me everywhere I go. Stop telling me I’m ready to have the kid, stop telling me how large I am, and for goodness sakes stop TOUCHING MY BELLY.

Sheesh! I’m fed up with it. This is why I don’t leave the house. I love being a homebody because I don’t have to put up with peoples stupid comments on a daily basis. I’m sorry but the last thing a 9 month pregnant woman wants to hear is how fat she is.

[/end rant] And scene.

On a side note: the photo above was taken a couple of days ago right after I took a shower, hence the towel head….LOL.

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Here I sit 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Little more than 3 weeks to go. Time is flying!!! Yesterday, I had my weekly doctors appointment. Upon going in I knew I’d get lots of questions about…my belly burn. Yes, I did a not so smart thing. In my nesting stage last week I decided to wash and sanitize all of the millions upon millions of bottles that I have for the wee-one. Well, after HAND WASHING each and every bottle, I then decided to sterilize them even more by boiling them in water on the stovetop for 5 minutes. Well, on bottle batch one million, I was taking one of the bottles out of the pot to put on the rack to dry and…..PLOP!!! I dropped the bottle into the hot, BOILING water resulting in water leaping from the pot right on to my stomach, giving me a second degree burn, blisters, pain…the whole nine yards. The burn looks significantly better than it did at the time of the accident. But still I didn’t want the doctor to see how incredibly clutsy I was. She informed me that I wasn’t the only one to come into the doctors office with a scalded belly. She did point out that mine looked pretty bad. You’re telling me. It is even ribbed like the tank top I was wearing at the time of the incident. Funny.

I’ve gained 2 more lbs. bring my total up to 183 lbs. Wowzers!!! Doc says weight is good, blood pressure is good. Everything is good and ready for baby. The itching that is occuring on my stomach is normal and very common in pregnancy. It has something to do with the newly occured stretch marks that now have taken residence on my abdomen along with 3 appendectomy scars and a huge burn. All of which you can see in the video below…

This is video taken last night in the wee hours of the morning. I wasn’t able to sleep and you can see why…the baby was just plain restless. I feel as though he has dropped. When I sit I feel as if my belly is resting on my lap now. I’m not comfortable slouching and the baby doesn’t like it either so proper posture is how I sit now.

The baby could not find a comfortable position. I was trying to help him out by wiggling my belly but it never really worked out. Where I am placing my hand is where I believe his little tushy is. It is big round lump that he kept trying to wiggle to a different position with no such luck. Pardon my “road map” of a stomach. You can see my burn as well as appendectomy scars and new stretch marks. Ah the joys of pregnancy. My tummy will never be the same.

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*the above slideshow are photos that I took during my belly casting*

What a great way to remember my last pregnancy. I discovered belly casting just after I gave birth to my first born son and knew that I wanted to have a belly cast done if/when I got pregnant again. I ordered the Pregnancy Belly Cast Kit a couple of weeks ago just to be sure that it would be here in time to do it. Ideal time to make a belly cast is around your 36 week of pregnancy. Waiting longer than that is risky due to the fact that you could go into labor at anytime.

My mother said that it was easy to apply the cast, although a bit messy as expected. To prevent the cast from sticking too much to your skin you slather the area to be cast with vaseline. Even though we had vaseline on, the cast still pulled at the tiny hairs on my body much like a bandaide. I was scared that it wouldn’t come off. But as the cast dries it lifts off of you. Removal is easy, much like snatching a bandaide from your skin.

Once we have the cast completely dried and hung on the wall I’ll take another photo to show you the finished product. I’m loving my pregnancy keepsake. I recommend that other pregnant woman have this done, especially if they know that this going to be their last pregnancy [like me]. Let me know if you have any questions about the process.

*click the above scrap page to view my pregnancy scraplog*

Here are some more photos from our belly casting session…

Belly Cast Photo 1
Belly Cast Photo 2
Belly Cast Photo 3
Belly Cast Photo 4

In other news, I had yet another doctor’s appointment today. I am now topping the scales at….181 lbs!!!! Sheesh. I gained 4 lbs in two weeks. That is 2 lbs a week. At this rate I will be right around the same weight that I was when I gave birth to my first child, which is 187 lbs. The did a routine pelvic exam and the doctor told me that my cervix is about a fingertip open. He told me not to leave town just in case I go into labor early. I will now go to the doctor every week until I give birth.

I can’t believe how close this is getting and how REAL!

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35 weeks…35 WEEKS! Ahhh, that means that I’ve got only 5 weeks left to prepare for the bean to come home. I’ve really gotten nesty over the last week or so. I’ve washed and sorted all of the the baby clothes that we have bought over the months as well as started to put the baby’s room together. I have 5 million bottles left to wash and a middle name to pick out. At the beginning of the pregnancy I didn’t think this day would ever come. This has been what seems to be the longest pregnancy ever. But now that I have the clock ticking down and just 5 weeks left to go, I feel rushed and anxious. We pretty much have everything bought that we need to buy with the exception of diapers and formula, but those can wait till the last couple of weeks. I doubt I’ll be having a baby shower this time because with my first child no one showed up when I threw one so I’m basically not going to bother with baby #2. I just don’t feel like going through that again.

Back pain, oh the back pain is unbareable. I’ve never had such bad back pain before in my life. If I lay flat on the floor it is just absolutely excrutiating. You can see in the above photo that my tummy really does stick straight out. I’m sure that that whopping baby of mine has something to do with messing up my sciatic nerve. I just hope that it goes away after the baby is born. I can barely walk at times the pain gets so intense.

Can I really get any bigger? As I look at my stomach I just can’t imagine getting any bigger. But as I look back on past photos in my pregnancy you can really see the belly grown, especially in the last month or so. WOW! I know I’m stretching out further than I did with pnut because I now have some new stretch marks to add to the roadmap that was formerly known as my stomach. I keep telling myself, just 5 more weeks….5 MORE WEEKS!!!

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Well there is one of three things going on with my tummy now. I am either getting new stretch marks *crosses fingers and prays this isn’t true*, have really dry skin due to having to turn the heat back on the last couple of days due to 30 degree temperatures, or I’m beginning to get the “pregnancy rash” that I had during the last week of my pregnancy with pnut. I have a feeling it is a combination of new stretch marks and the heat. It sucks but I’m doomed to have a road map for a stomach for the rest of my life. The “pregnancy rash” usually doesn’t happen until the last week of pregnancy and goes away after you give birth and since I’m 7 weeks or so away that is obviously not the case. I have some red spots on my stomach but I can’t determine if they are fresh stretch marks or irritation from scratching so much. Lotion doesn’t help at all. Nothing helps. I know I shouldn’t scratch but that is like trying not to sneeze, it is just bound to happen.

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