38 Weeks

And of course, I am a couple of days late on this update. This past week has been really good! I had my 38 week appt on Thursday and I had been having a few contractions, so I was expecting some progress this week. The good news is that I am a fingertip dialted and 50% effaced...moving along! I am just glad for some progress!

We have one more dr appt this Thursday and then we have our scheduled induction next Wednesday. We are almost ONE WEEK away (or sooner) to meeting our baby boy. It seems surreal to me, but it is fast approaching. We have been making our final preparations this week and we are just trying to enjoy our last week of being a family of 3. I keep looking at Jackson thinking of how much our little routine, or "bubble" as I like to call it, is about to be shaken. Tonight on a whim we decided to drive Jackson to one of our bigger parks/playgrounds in the area and have a nice dinner out, complete with a special stop for 1/2 of a chocolate donut for dessert for him. The weather was so nice, and except for one fun toddler meltdown while leaving the park, we had a wonderful evening together.

I am so enjoying this age with Jackson and our conversations. He loves to have long conversations recapping his day or what we are going to do tomorrow. His vocabulary has just taken off and he is so expressive and sweet. I will make a separate post of all of the sweet things he says nowadays, but I just love that child so much I can't stand it. I hope that he adjusts to his baby brother well and that we only have minor jealousy issues that arise. He has been very affectionate to my belly and loving on his baby brother.

I asked the dr. if she thought I would make it to induction date and she said that we will be able to have a better idea on Thursday, but that she thinks I will probably make it to 4/4. We had such a great experience with inducing (unexpectedly) with Jackson where the labor lasted just over 5 hours. With this pregnancy, it would just be so much easier to induce so that we can plan better for Jackson's care while we are in labor. That being said, I just hope that if we do make it to induction, that it goes as well as it did with Jackson. I am trying not to think about it all too much because anything could happen. I am trying to be open about the whole experience.

I haven't taken a belly photo this week (surprise, surprise!) so I will try and do it tomorrow and add it to this post. I definitely feel like I am about to pop, although my weight has seemed to level off at this point. We are so excited to meet our baby very soon!! :)

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!