Hello Friends!
We are fast approaching our due date and the anticipation to meet our sweet little one is killing me. Last week’s down spell has been lifted, but the feeling of “Ok, this has gone on for long enough already!” has only been building up.
35 Weeks Pregnancy Update
Here are some things that have happened this week:
- Ultrasound, NST and Doctor: we had our 36th week ultrasound a bit early, but it was perfect timing to give us a sneak peak into baby. Now that he is so big and crunched up like a pretzel, it’s so much harder to see him, but we were able to see that he is head down and has gained a whopping 2lbs since our 32nd week ultrasound. I have also gained 2.5 lbs so the baby is making up for the majority of it. He now weighs 6.3lbs and is in the 53% percentile, which makes him average size for this week. Let’s hope he continues to grow at an average rate! During our NST, he continues to be very active and kick and move as soon as the monitors are put on. No surprises there. Lastly, during the doctor’s appointment, I had the strep B test done, had my cervix checked (still close and high- no signs of labor) and had our birth plan scanned at the practice. I am definitely getting induced at 39 weeks, unless labor starts naturally before then, which makes the whole process a week shorter. WOW, I feel like I should be freaking out right about now! Not about labor, but because OMG I will be a mother in 4 weeks!
- Car Seats: we had our car seat and both car bases checked this week. In all of our classes and hospital tours, they warned us that the baby can’t go home, unless the car seat is installed and has been checked for safety. We took ours to the local children’s hospital where a safety inspector checked it to make sure it was right. There are so many details about car seats that we never knew about. Like did you know they have an expiration date? Or that you shouldn’t buy used because if it has been in a crash, it’s most likely compromised? Or that if you do have a crash, the insurance company will replace the car seat? And let’s not even go into weight, height restrictions, convertible vs. not and how long your child will seat rear facing. All I can tell you is do this in advance with a safety/CPR class so you are not scrambling when you get discharged from the hospital.
Symptoms, Cravings and Observations:
- If I ever needed a reminder why I should never be so overweight as to have a huge belly, pregnancy has done that. When you have a pumpkin/basketball size belly, life is so much harder. It really is. You can’t bend over, you can’t tie your shoes, and just getting out of bed is a struggle! Specially when you need to do it half asleep in the middle of the night to pee. It’s no joke, but I sometimes laugh at myself because I must look like a walrus trying to get on the beach. Nice visual right?
- My hands and feet are getting bigger due to swelling. I can barely get my wedding rings out now and will probably have to stop putting them on until the end of the pregnancy. In the morning, it’s when it’s most uncomfortable. My fingers feel like sausages and it’s hard to even flex them.
- My braxton hicks contractions are getting stronger and stronger. Sometimes I need to breath it out like I was in labor. They come so suddenly and are lasting for a minute or more sometimes that I wonder how they relate to real contractions in the pain scale. My friends tell me it’s nothing like it, so I will just have to wait and see.
- My belly is itchy, specially around where my belly button used to be. the skin is tight that I am using copious amounts of cocoa butter to avoid the stretch marks. So far, it has worked. Fingers crossed, it will continue to work.
- The baby is moving a lot. Now I even feel like he has a certain schedule. I quite enjoy feeling his movements even if sometimes his feet poke out. LOL!
- I am still craving sugar, but not quite as much. I altered the recipe for one of my favorite desserts that my mother-in-law makes to be sugar-free and low carb. It’s called Chocolate Delight and it’s pretty darn good. The experiment turned out very well, so I will be posting the recipe in the next couple days if you need a sugar-free alternative for yourself.
That is it for this 35 Weeks Pregnancy Update. Thanks for following along with me!
xoxo
Jana