The Fun Continues

Dear Readers,
Thank you for reading this little blog of mine. I know that I am not as good at updating it as I once may have promised.. and for that I must apologize. Also- I know that on multiple occasions I have provided TMI. Well folks.. this blog will continue that tradition. If you have a weak stomach or don't enjoy TMI- you need to go up to your address line and type in another site to go to. I will write this blog and attempt to not be too graphic.. but no promises. :)

Well my unilateral pitting edema continues. I thought that if I drank enough water then I can stop the swelling.. but no such luck. I am pretty sure it is because I continue to wear my crocs. I need to just wear my tennies, they provide much more support for my waddling legs. I realized that it is mainly the right side (the left swells, but on a much smaller level than the right). Last week when I got off work the swelling was a definite 2+ pitting edema. It was quite the site. It took a couple days to completely come down. I have began another 3 in a row and the swelling has already began. I have attempted to take a picture of it, but I must admit it does not do it justice. LOL

I went to the doctors for my 36 week appt. That appointment started the beginning of my weekly appointments. Whoo hoo! I am siked about getting to hear my babies heartbeat weekly (and also get checked for dilation weekly!!). Wow, I gotta tell ya- there is nothing better than having someone reach up and push at your cervix. This 36 week appt also included my strep b swab (there is nothing like a vaginal-rectal swab!) and checking for dilation. Dr.Adams ended up having to be at surgery that day so I had to see the nurse midwife. I was nervous that she wasn't going to check me for dilation- you have no idea how much I was looking forward to this part of my appt. So I made sure to make a point and ask if she was going to check me. Much to my happiness- I was checked!! I was 25% effaced with no dilation. The midwife said that my dear daughter is head down (which she has been for a while) however she is not completely wedged down into my pelvis. She felt Antebellums head, but then the baby quickly moved her head up. She said once Antebellum wedges down into the pelvis further I will much more quickly dilate. So with that being said... I think I may have dilated a little bit. I was using the restroom and felt something a bit funny "down there" and when I went to wipe I got this big blob of clear mucus. That my friends.. was my mucus plug... and I lost it! Whoo hoo! It was not bloody at all- which makes me think I am not very dilated at all. I read that if it is bloody that means that you have opened up quite a bit and some small blood vessels that have dilated with the cervix have started bleeding a little. I guess time will tell... but I have told my dear daughter to hold until Nov 1st. But if she chooses to go ahead and come in October- I won't be mad. :) I have posted a pic of dilation and effacement below.. enjoy!

The Clock Keeps Tickin

35 Weeks and 2 days. Holy molly I am not even 2 weeks away from being full term. Crazy!! The whole pregnancy thing has been wonderful! I know I need to enjoy it now because soon enough I am going to be going on no sleep and have sore boobs ( I can't wait!!). :) My baby girl has settled down and isn't awake all the time now. I'm hoping she is going into more of a better sleep/wake pattern. She is also very good to me! Anytime I start to get concerned that she hasn't moved in a while, I will place my hand on my stomach and she will kick it. Its as if she knows exactly what I'm thinking and she puts my mind to rest. Baby girl has also started getting the hiccups. They are so adorable!! Joey felt them on Wednesday- they felt as if they were in my hip bone. She must be pretty low by now. Because if I walk more than 5 steps I feel like I am going to tinkle in my pants. I guess a pantie liner should be called a necessity by this point... And then whenever I do go tinkle, it is max 200ml. I feel like my bladder is going to explode and then when I sit to pee I barely pee anything. It can be a bit frustrating. When I was running the vending route with Joey on Wednesday, I peed like 8 times (we only have 8 locations we go to). Joey is a trooper though and doesn't say much when I have to pee twice at the same location. :) He only has a couple more weeks of the constant peeing.

I also have recently started to swell a bit. It is definitely not symmetrical. I swell more to the right ankle than the left.
Dr.Adams said it is probably the way she is laying and putting pressure more on my right hip than my left. However.. I did discover somewhat of a solution to the swelling. See, I was told the more water you drink the less swelling you should have. And I was doing magnificent on my drinking- always drinking at least 64oz/day. However, once she dropped so low I thought she was going to push out my bladder.. I slowed down (alot). I would notice I was only drinking like 30oz/day max. It was at that point that I started swelling. So, in the last 3 days I have started back on my heavy drinking and there hasn't been hardly any swelling- even after I ran the vending route! Whoo hoo! Maybe at my next doctors appt I won't have such an increase in my weight since the swelling has went down. Only time will tell.

My next doctors appt is next Friday. At that point they will swab me for Strep B and check me for dilation. Whoo hoo! I can't wait.. is that weird?! Probably, but I don't care! And then at 38 weeks I am going to have a sonogram to see how big the baby of mine is. That way we know if I can push her out. I have started to not eat anything in hopes of her not gaining any more weight... YA RIGHT. I don't care if she has to be a c-section baby. I just want a healthy baby! But honestly, my hopes are to have her naturally. I guess Jesus is the only one who knows what will happen. :)

P.S. I have finally updated my belly pics. However.. I skipped my 32 week photo shoot. Not intentionally, just because I was so outrageously tired and couldn't get motivated to take the pic. So I have a 30 wk, then a 34 and 35 wk photo up. Sorry for such delay!!
I also have pics from the baby showers.. they were awesome! I will try and post those soon!