Braxton Hick who. . . . 34 weeks

I have been told by a good friend to really think 4 weeks to go because 38 weeks is considered a term pregnancy. But I’m thinking 6 weeks to go sounds better as I feel I still have so much to do to get ready for Baby Girl. The thought of 4 weeks is a bit overwhelming. It’s all up to her when she wants to come, so it’s out of my hands. I’ll just do my best to be ready for her.  I have 2 weeks of work left until maternity leave. . . . .that means a total of 6 days! I can’t wait until that 6^th day. I actually had to run down the hall of our hospital floor the other day at work and I felt like my baby was going to come out. . . .not a fun feeling!

I unfortunately have discovered what Braxton Hick contractions are. For those that don’t know what they are, they are mild uterine contractions where the uterus is exercising and getting ready for the “big day.” For the most part they have been some mild discomfort and pressure in the belly region. But one day I thought I was going into preterm labor, the Braxton Hicks were so strong and painful. It was this radiating pain from the sides of my belly up to the top of the belly that lasted for a couple of minutes. . . . but the pains were completely irregular in frequency. This lasted for about 3 hours. . . .grrrrrrrr!!! Once again, not a fun feeling!

Baby and I had our 34 week check up this week. I have nothing bad to report back to the family. Baby and I are still growing as we should be. Measurements are good, baby heartbeat is still strong, and the midwife still says she’ll be somewhere between 6-7 lbs at birth. Her head has not dropped down into the birth canal yet but that is a good thing, we don’t want her coming until at least 37 weeks when her lungs are fully developed. Her head is still down and she likes to reside on my left side using her feet to kick my right side. She gets her little feet up in my right ribs and I have to massage her down. . . .not a good feeling! Are you catching onto my theme of this blog yet!?!? Oh how I long to take these 28 lbs off!!! It is hard and uncomfortable to carry this much extra weight around. I’ll be the first to say that I could NEVER be a surrogate for someone. . . sorry loved ones you can find someone else to carry extra weight around for you.

I don’t know if I have said this before. Our floor at work has a total of 7 pregnant nurses on it between the day and night shift. The nurses from the other floors say, “Don’t drink the water on 4North.” Really it’s just our floor has a good number of younger nurses on it. We are all mostly in our late 20’s early 30’s. So the 3 pregnant day shift nurses took a picture of their “bumps.” I am biased but I like my “bump” the best. In the back is Ruby she is 10 days behind me in gestation, then Hiwot in the middle is 6 weeks behind me in gestation, and then me! I’ll be the first to leave on maternity leave!! Woot woot!! I have the smallest "bump." (wink, wink)

 

 

Johnathon has been really helpful with the nursery. He painted the walls, put new flooring in and assembled the crib for baby girl. When I have the nursery all done or close to being finished I’ll post pictures to share. Until then, you’ll have to wait in anticipation!