Alright y’all, this will be the final weekly recap, because next week at this time, baby girl will be here! That’s right, we have a c-section scheduled for next Tuesday morning (8/8).

This has been a great, quiet week.  The calm before the storm.  Reese, Taylor and I had a great weekend of just hanging around the house, playing with toys and in our playroom–which I should have an update post for you later this week!  We also took advantage of the slightly cooler weather and went to the neighborhood pool and the local YMCA water park over the weekend.  Taylor pretty much spends the whole time at the water park people watching instead of playing in the water, but they have fun fountains and a fun toddler splash area, so it was a good distraction out of the house.

We got down all of the baby items that we had been storing in the basement–like the rock n’ play and playmat and bouncer for baby girl to use. And just generally relaxed since we won’t have much time to do that after she comes! I’ve had my hospital bag packed since I started having contractions… so I feel like I have everything that I could have ready, ready!

Speaking of contractions, I’ve been having them pretty much non-stop for two weeks now, which is CRAZY, but since they aren’t very strong and not very close together, Doctor says they are normal and just to live with them! I’ve had 2 doctor’s appointments since they started and haven’t made enough progress for her to think anything will interfere with our regularly scheduled c-section.  I went back and forth for a while about whether or not to have a scheduled c-section with this baby (If you weren’t around back then… or just want to re-read it, here is Taylor’s birth story and why I had a C-Section last time).  Anyway, after long convos with my doctor, we decided that probably a c-section was the best course of action this time for a few reasons: 1. My body had a hard time with c-section recovery last time and we thought maybe not having to go through hours and hours of labor first would help it have a better recovery time this time.  2. VBACs can have complications, and after talking about why I didn’t progress last time, she wasn’t convinced that it would be any different this time. So, to each their own about whether or not to do a VBAC or C-section, but this seemed like the safest and best option for us! So bright and early next Tuesday–exactly 39 weeks, I’ll check into the hospital to meet baby girl! (That is unless she has other plans between now and then).

So here’s your update:

Baby’s Size: Yep, still no idea–guess we will be surprised! She feels about the same as Taylor did–so I’m guessing right around 7ish lbs since she will be a week earlier than Taylor.

Baby’s Progress: More temperature regulation, brain and lung development are the name of the game.  At our last sono they did tell me she had a lot of hair, so I expect that to be similar to Taylor as well!

Weight Gain: I’m up 2 more lbs from last week, so about 22 lbs gained.  There is just no describing how large you feel when you are literally weeks away from giving birth. Every movement is effort.

Sleep: I’m still getting some decent sleep, which at this point is much appreciated.  I’ve had a few nights where I’ve woken up with the contractions or having to use the bathroom a billion times, but overall… I’m still getting some sleep. I’m going to enjoy it while I can, since in a week and a half it will be a distant, distant memory.

Symptoms: I’m still rocking the serious back pain, I actually thought to myself a few days ago that I understood why people used walkers… they seem so useful when I need something to lean on.  Its usually the worst right when I get up from having been sedentary, and after my doctor appointment this week where I had to lay there for 20 minutes on one of those awful hard tables, I looked like a 100 year old woman trying to shuffle walk out of the appointment. Other than that I have some trouble breathing deeply and some pretty solid heartburn… all lovely things that 3rd trimester of pregnancy and sharing your body organ space with a 7ish lb baby will do to you.

But most days I feel as good as can be expected, and I’m mostly just trying to soak in as many of these moments as I can before we change over to a family of 4! PS… how cute are they doing laundry together?!? Although I am sure all you parents of toddler+ age children can attest to JUST HOW HELPFUL 2 year olds can be at laundry.

Happy Friday, y’all!! As I await these last few weeks… I’ll try to keep updated on the ole blog… but you know, no promises! This has actually been a fairly eventful week in the life of new baby and us as well!! Saturday the dear old (haha) hubby turned 30 (he’s 3 years younger than me… so he doesn’t feel very old to me!) We had a great weekend with lots of friends over for a BBQ on Saturday and his brother and a couple of his nephews came up for the weekend.  So we had a blast eating WAAAAY too much bad food (ahem… cookie cake I’m looking at you) and the guys hooked up the original Nintendo system and rocked out on some RBI Baseball to relive their childhoods.  This may have also prompted a grown adult tourney of Goldeneye on the N64 as well.  Thank God for hoarding things or we wouldn’t have ALL OF THESE OLD GAMES that we have now moved from house to house to house.  Although to be fair, if I can move 4,301 mason jars and glass vases, a Rubbermaid container of old video games is probably worth the space.  Oh and in case you were wanting a picture of the birthday boy on his birthday, you will be sorely disappointed.  I managed to make it through the entire day and party without taking a single picture of Reese–or the party.  However here is an adorable picture of our child with the balloons Reese’s mom sent to celebrate.  #adultproblems

Anyway, on to the reason you all are here… a baby update! And here is where this week feels like a big update! (or maybe not. hard to tell.) We went in to the hospital to get checked out last Sunday because I was having regular contractions (not just one here and there) every 7-8ish minutes.  And while they tell you later in pregnancy not to go get checked out until they are 5 minutes apart, I’m just at 36 weeks so the on-call nurse thought I should go get checked out.  After spending our entire afternoon at the hospital, it was determined that nope, not in labor, just having LOTS of Braxton Hicks contractions, so to go home and wait it out.  I saw the doc on Monday and she confirmed the same thing.  So… here I am, just having contractions and waiting it out. I’m just going to be real honest here and say that pregnancy can be very confusing! I thought I would know what I was getting into since this is the second time around, but nope… still as unsure as I was with the first! But baby girl is moving around a whole lot, and everything else looks normal, so I’m just taking advantage of these last few weeks and taking it easy! (and trying to stay out of the heat!)

Baby’s Size: No idea.  Our last sonogram was a couple of weeks ago, and to be honest I don’t even remember her guessing how big she was then! She is definitely moving and grooving in there… so I’m pretty sure she is big enough to be running out of room!

Baby’s Progress: More temperature regulation, brain and lung development are the name of the game for the next 3ish weeks.  And hoping she doesn’t make an appearance until later!

Weight Gain: I’m up a couple more lbs, so about 20 total.  And like last pregnancy… I’ve pretty much quit weighing myself, it seems fairly futile.

Sleep: We had a few really rough nights of sleep for Taylor last week, which means no one gets much sleep, but fortunately, when she is sleeping… I’m sleeping fairly well.  So after a few rough nights, we are all back on schedule and sleeping (mostly) well. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.  I’m also very fortunate to be working from home now, so I’ve snagged more than one lunchtime snooze.

Symptoms: I’ve got some pretty serious back pain that I can’t seem to shake (probably because I added 20ish pounds to my front side and my back is not a fan, but that’s just a guess).  LOTS of Braxton Hicks, and just generally exhausted most of the time, but it could be worse, and its definitely better than first trimester, so there is that!

Also random side note- I forget how GINORMOUSLY pregnant I am, until I go out in public.  Can I just tell you the funny looks I get from people in stores? I went to Hobby Lobby today and I thought an older gentleman was going to trip on his own feet trying to get out of my way.  So funny.  I’m pregnant not sick or dangerous!

Well folks… the best of intentions were overtaken by life.  I really did intend to blog every week of this pregnancy, or at least most of them.  But here I am basically a month from giving birth and I have done exactly 0 updates for you guys. And if future baby girl ever happens to read these blog posts, please do not interpret this lack of posting as representative of my love for you. And someday I hope you have two kids so that some small part of you will understand that it has nothing to do with levels of love and EVERYTHING to do with life and how busy life is with a toddler and a full time job. With that being said, here is an update:

Baby’s Size: a cantaloupe

Baby’s Progress: Baby is almost 5 lbs, is starting to gain more fat which helps regulate body temperature and adds those cute little chunky legs I fell in love with on Taylor.

Weight Gain: Overall I have gained about 18lbs, which is right on track for what I should have gained at this point in pregnancy.  HOWEVER, I feel like I’ve gained about 50… I keep telling Reese when I roll over in bed it feels like I’m a beached whale–he is a great husband and assures me that I’m not. I went back to look at my 34 Week Update with Taylor- and I have gained about the same amount of weight and I also mention feeling HUGE, so apparently I am nothing if not consistent.

Sleep: Sleep is actually still pretty good for me, except for the occasional trips to the potty pregnancy is not keeping me from sleeping.  Taylor however, sometimes does (although I can’t complain, even though she can be a very early riser, she is a GREAT sleeper for 2 years old… knock on wood).

Milestones: Well since the last update, we have had tons of milestones! We have finished the nursery–I’ll post pics soon–promise! We have had 2 sonograms–everything looks fine and healthy, she is right on track for growth and has a lot of hair we could see on the sono, so just like big sister! She moves a lot, so dad has gotten to see and feel her move quite a bit.

Favorite clothing item of the week: Shorts and leggings.  Comfort is key these days! Its starting to get really hot here in Kansas and we have a long week of 100 degree days ahead of us, so I’m just trying to stay inside the A/C and as comfy as possible!

Symptoms: I am actually very blessed this pregnancy that most of my negatives symptoms were stacked in the first half of the pregnancy! I do have some back pain that comes from 18 lbs of extra weight stacked in my belly… and my feet never really recovered from pregnancy #1, so I have to be careful about wearing comfier shoes! And I am still tired ALL OF THE TIME, but I’ve come to accept that as a fact of pregnancy!

Workout: I did go to my workout classes through month 6 of pregnancy, but man once summer came and I got bigger, I quit working out.  I haven’t even been swimming or walking much towards the end of this pregnancy, but I do chase Taylor around the house and still play with her quite a bit… so its not quite a sedentary life for me! I’m sure I’ll regret not working out post baby, but for now… I’m not picking up any exercise routines!

Overall life has been great these last few months, and while this pregnancy has definitely been harder than my first, we are super excited to be welcoming baby sister.  We talk to Taylor about it fairly often and she takes excellent care of her ‘baby’ at home… although her baby doll takes a few too many hits to the head when wandering through the house for us to be too comfortable with her ‘caretaking’ skills.

Since I was so neglectful in my weekly ‘bump pictures’ here are the precious few pictures I’ve taken that show off the bump over the past few months.

At a friend’s wedding in KC April 29th- about 25 weeks pregnant.

A week after that, in Dallas with my BFF and her daughter:

We took a trip to see my cousin get married in New York, so in lieu of bump updates from those weeks, here are a few pictures. The wedding reception venue was BEAUTIFUL about an hour north of NYC at the Brotherhood Winery. I’m about 32.5 weeks pregnant here:

And one photo with terrible lighting that I snapped for my mom of what I was wearing to go see Hamilton– but it does show off the bump– 32.5 weeks pregnant!

And just last week at Tanganyika- the local wild animal park where we have a membership and can go feed the giraffes whenever we want–one of Taylor’s favorite pastimes! 

And because I can’t resist a cute photo of Taylor, here is a pic from this weekend showing off her new stars and stripes swimsuit from Aunt B!