37 Weeks

I am a few days behind of this post, but I have been waiting until I got a belly picture to put up with it. I just took this crummy picture a few minutes ago, but hey, it's better than nothing!

So, at my 37 week visit last Thursday, I was still ZERO percent dilated and ZERO percent effaced! In my dr's words I am still "closed and thick". Yee ha. I had hoped for some progress, but in the absence of any real contractions, I had a feeling there would be nothing. It is still hard to believe that I was already a full cm and 75% effaced with Jackson at this point.

I also tested negative for Group B strep, so hopefully no antibiotics will be needed at delivery. Good news!

My dr took me in for a quick growth scan because I have been measuring on the smaller side for fundal height every week. This is funny because I keep getting comments on my huge belly. Many people who saw me with my last pregnancy have commented that my belly looks bigger, but overall I look smaller. Uhh-Thanks...I guess?! haha! Anyway, I had the tech that I can't stand do the measurements b/c my favorite tech was out that day. Boo! It was a short and sweet scan and he measured at 6 lbs 1 oz, which is about a week behind. He is measuring in the 32nd percentile, which is still fine. I was a little concerned as to why he is measuring a week behind, but my dr. said that is perfectly fine. It makes me feel better that Jackson was only 6 lbs 9 oz when he was born at 39 weeks, so this baby should be close to the same size. I am really relieved that I don't have a 9 lb bowling ball in there! I am really hoping for another vaginal birth, so we'll see.

The only new symptom that I have been having is that my pinky finger on my left hand has started twitching every now and then. It happens more at night. I am guessing that must be related to the pregnancy. I have not had the pregnancy induced carpal tunnel like I had last time with Jackson, but my swelling has increased, so it would make sense that my medial nerve might be compressed again this time. Other than that, just feeling rather large and in charge!

Unless things start moving along more quickly, we will get to meet our new sweet baby two weeks from this Wednesday!!

34-36 weeks

Tomorrow I will be 36 weeks!! We have just a few weeks left to go before we meet our baby. The past few weeks have gone well. I don't really have any really exciting updates, but there have been a few new developments.

I keep having some round ligament pain on the right side, which has really jolted me at times. I don't know why it is only on the right side. My dr said it could be that my uterus is slightly tilted and thus creating more pain on one side. Sometime it feels like it could be a nerve issue instead, but I didn't have this with Jackson. It has been happening since around 20 weeks or so, but it is getting more constant now. For example, if I am in a certain position for too long, it really acts up. And in general, I am just having more aches and pains as this baby keeps growing.

I think he is about 6 lbs now, or close to it. As for me-I am up 29 lbs now, so I am definitely on track to gain at least 10 lbs less than I did with Jackson...yeah! Sometimes when I am holding Jackson, Justin will offer to take him and I am like "Hey, I am already carrying around an extra 30 lbs, what's 30 more?" ha! I wonder why I am having more aches than with Jackson and gaining less weight-Well theres my answer. Keeping up with a 2 1/2 year old wild man is exhausing! Thank God Justin takes him out every day and makes sure Jackson gets out some of this energy. I try to keep up, but I am slowing down by the day :)

I had my 36 week appt yesterday and that included my Group B strep test, which I won't get the results back for about a week. I did have my first fun "cervical" check, which showed that the baby is still head down ( yay!), but it also showed that my cervix is completely closed and just beginning to soften. I thought for sure I would have some dilation, but I was wrong. With Jackson at this point, I was already almost 1 cm diated and 50% effaced. I thought the second baby was supposed to come faster??? I guess this boy wants to stay put for awhile.

We did set an induction date for April 4th, so if he doesn't come before then, we will be at the hospital bright and early on 4/4. This would be so special, because Justin and I began dating on 4/4/04, which as always been a special date for us. Plus, Jackson was born on 8/8, so it would just be kinda cool. We'll see if this baby has other plans, though!

I am going to try and update every week until the big day, so stay tuned. Also, we had some sad news 2 weeks ago. My grandmother who was 88 years old passed away unexpectedly. I am going to write more on that later, but that is another reason for my slackness with the blog.

I will update after my appt next week!! Until then, here are some pictures of Big Momma:

Me and my big brother after the funeral. Please excuse the sloppiness of my outfit-It was a long and sad day!

36 Weeks-I need to remember to smile when I take these!

That's better! :)

"Hell hath no fury like a woman (or preschool-aged little girl) scorned"

Jackson learned this lesson the hard way! We got our first "incident" call from Jackson's preschool a couple of weeks ago. Apparently Jackson's class was on the playground with several other classes. He was playing with a firetruck and a little girl tried to take it away from him. Of course, Jackson hit her or either pushed her away (WHEN will this hitting phase END? This child spends so much time in time out, even though much of the time it is playful). I guess this girl wasn't going to take that lying down, so she bit him....in the face! She bit my precious boy in the face!! The good thing is that she didnt break the skin. Still, the preschool called us to report it. They saw it happen, but didnt get to them in time before the bite.

Jackson was all smiles when we picked him up that day and was in a great mood. I guess it didnt bother him too bad. The school talked to them and made both apologize to each other. This was also the day that he slept in his big boy bed for the very first time! Here are a few photos:

(please excuse the waxy ear!)

I guess he didnt know the little girl because he told me that he didnt know her name. It's probably better that I don't know anyway :) I definitely understand that this is normal behavior for this age as they are all trying to figure out how to express themselves, still I hate to think about him getting a bite on his (perfect!) face. The good thing is that the mark it left looked like a kiss, so in true Whaley fashion, Jackson got to walk around looking like he had just been kissed. haha!

Baby Showers

My sweet friends Camy and Ginny threw me a wonderful baby shower last weekend. We have all been friends since elementary school and have had many fun adventures together! I love these girls! Despite the nasty monsoon rain the day of the shower, we had a great time! It was a small gathering of some of my close friends and family and I LOVED having some "girl" time! The food was wonderful and the blue cupcake tower was so cute!!

Also, my coworkers threw me a surprise baby shower at our monthly meeting this past Wednesday. I absolutely loved all of the special touches that they made with the decorations, cupcakes, and awesome gift- a baby bag full of goodies for the new baby and Jackson. I am lucky to work with such a great and thoughtful group of ladies!

Here are a few photos, although I wish I had taken more.

The hostess(es) with the most(eses), or as I like to call us, The 3 F***** N**** (inside joke!)
Love them!

Wish I had taken this before we dove into the cupcakes :)

Awesome coworkers!

Cute (and delicious) cupcakes! (Thank you Becky!)

31-33 Weeks

I have finally hit the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy-the home stretch! These next 6 weeks or so will most likely go by very slowly. Of course, chasing after a 2 1/2 year old might make time go by faster than with my first pregnancy-we'll see! These last few weeks have been really good. Other than the big ole belly getting in the way sometimes, I have been feeling pretty good. My dr appts are happening every 2 weeks and this baby's heart rate has stayed right in the mid 140's every time. I am still doing pretty well with weight gain and my dr predicts I will not gain more than 35 lbs this pregnancy, which is about 10 lbs less than with Jackson. I hope she is right!

I am definitely moving a little more slowly these days the heart burn is still ever present, especially through the night. This baby also continues to move constantly. Sometimes when I look down, he looks like he is trying to bust his way out! It is hard to imagine that he still has some good growing to do before he makes his grand entrance. From his movements, he seems so big and strong already!

I finally took a few pictures of the belly:


31 Weeks:


32 Weeks

33 Weeks:

31 Week Ultrasound

Last week we had our OB visit and an ultrasound to check on baby's size and my fluid level. Everything looked perfect! My fluid level was right on the nose of average and baby boy was measuring in the 45 percentile for size. My u/s tech estimated that if I go full term, we will have a 7 lb baby. Of course, that is just a guess. Also, he is head down and should stay that way, so that was great news.

I had really hoped for some great 3D shots of his face, but he wasn't having any of it. He kept his sweet face buried in my placenta and every now and the he would turn a little bit. When those moments came, he would put his hands and feet over his face! We tried over and over again, but we couldn't get a single good shot. I guess we will just have to wait until he is born to see him again. He was more than happy to show off his boy parts to us, though! That was by far the clearest photo that we got and he has his whole "tool kit" now (as the u/s tech calls it). There will definitely be no surprises about gender in the delivery room-this child is ALL boy!

We did see him drinking and at one point it appeared that he was sucking on his toes..ha! His heartrate was in the 130's and he was moving around a good bit. Overall, it was a great appt.

28-30 Weeks

I can't believe I am 30 weeks...the countdown is officially on! We have been busy bees around here. Over the last few weeks we have started to get things ready for the baby. We also purchased Jackson's big boy bedding! It took FOREVER to find something because he is going to be using Justin's childhood furniture, which includes a queen size bed. We didn't realize it would be such a challenge to find toddler queen size bedding. Part of the problem was that most full/queen's were to small. We needed a true queen sizing. Here is what we found at PBK and we love it!

We weren't looking specifically for monkeys, but he loving Curious George right now, so it worked out great. We are most likely going to put up a few of the wall decals and we found a cute lampshade to match on etsy.com. We also rearranged the bedroom furniture to make the space bigger and hopefully we will start transitioning Jackson to his new room in a week or so. Then Justin will put the crib back together and we will get the nursery ready for baby boy.

We also upgraded our swing and bouncy seat to the new Fisher Price snuggabunny line, since they now have plug in options. With Jackson, we went through a ton of batteries! Let's see, we picked out a new infant car seat (we hated our old one and sold it immediately after Jackson outgrew it!) and it works with our existing stroller to make a travel system. We also purchased the matching double stroller for times when we need both boys in strollers. Here it is:


Other than that, we have so much of what we need already, which is really nice! My longtime good friends Camy and Ginny are throwing me a baby shower in a few weeks, and I am looking forward to it! Justin and I had a "day date" as we like to call it last week. I took off work and we made a registry at Babies R us and Target, ran some errands, and then had a wonderful lunch at Mustard Seed before picking up Jackson from preschool. It was a great day!

Now, on to this pregnancy....So far, things are looking really good! I am feeling good, other than getting a little more uncomfortable by the day. My heartburn has kicked it up a notch or two, so that has not been fun. It still seems better than it was with Jackson, though. My OB visits are happening every 2 weeks and the baby's heart rate is still hanging out in the 140's. Last week asked my OB if my fluid was low b/c it is crazy how much I feel this baby moving all of the time. She measured my fundal height and said I was measuring just about a 1/2 week behind, which is totally normal since the measurements aren't perfect. She asked if I would feel better getting another ultrasound and to get some cute 3D shots of the baby and OF COURSE I said yes! haha So I have an ultrasound scheduled on Thursday to see our sweet baby again. I can't wait to see how big he has gotten. As for me, I feel like a huge cow, but I am still doing well weight-gain wise. At 30 weeks, I am up 22 lbs. This is still about 5-6 lbs less than I was with Jackson at this time. Hopefully if things stay as is, I will only gain between 30-35 lbs...My OB thinks I am obsessing about my weight too much, but I just feel big. She said I am well within normal limits. The good news is that I know breastfeeding is going to take most of it off and then it is up to me to tone it all up! Thankfully I am not swollen yet and I am still able to wear my wedding rings just fine.

As for the way I am feeling, I am definitely starting to feel more excited as time goes on. I think it is finally sinking in that we are going to have a newborn in a couple of months. It has always seemed so far away to me, but I think getting things ready for baby is making it more real. When we were registering, I was looking at all of these teeny tiny baby clothes and diapers and I can't believe Jackson was that small. I know how fast it goes, so I am going to really try and enjoy the newborn phase this time around instead of being so nervous. All of my friends who have recently had 2nd babies have said that there are challenging moments with 2, but that they are much more laid back this time around. That is about it for now. I will update after Thursday's ultrasound and post some belly pictures soon. I haven't taken a single one in weeks!