34 Weeks

How far along? 34 Weeks! Baby Koch is gaining at least an ounce a day!

Total weight gain/loss: 26 pounds. Gained some weight this week.  I think the meds are helping me keep food in so I'm not feeling the need to heave.  It's tough because although I'm not hungry very much, I still know that I have to eat.  Before pregnancy, I only ate when I was hungry.  If that meant lunch at 3 or dinner at 9 then that was fine.  But now, whether or not I feel like eating, I have to remind myself that it's time for lunch and I have to put food in my belly.  It's never very much food but I constantly have to be eating because of that.  

Maternity clothes? So....I went out and bought a few pairs of extra long maternity jeans and the maternity store.  I was not happy about it but I was desperate.  I showed them to Dan and he said they weren't ugly but I can't get over how mom'ish jeans they feel (and look).  Who voluntary wears mom jeans besides crazy moms?  Well  begrudgingly I wore my maternity jeans every day this past week (minus the days I literally wore sweatpants the entire day (the weekend).  UGH!  Yes, they were comfortable and long enough but I'm going to go on record and tell people how much I dislike wearing them.  If my body wasn't a long sausage at this very moment, I would not be wearing these things!  But I reached that point of desperation where I had to do something or face going around town in a mu-mu.

This is happy Jackie...wearing pants that are actually long enough.

This is real Jackie.  This is what I actually think about wearing maternity pants.  They're soooo ugly!  The "belly" goes all the way up to my boobs!  But it doesn't always stay there. Ugh! Although they are somewhat comfy, I can't get over the fact that I'm wearing socially acceptable "Mom" Jeans.  Soooo not sexy. (O btw, I'm a slacker and these pictures were actually taken of me at 35 1/2 weeks along, not 34.  My bad)

Stretch marks? Nope. Thank you Cocoa butter!  I just love the smell of that stuff now.  And yes, my skin is as pale as ever.  That's the sad part.  Once a pasty ginger, always a pasty ginger.

Sleep: Pretty good sleep this past week. Still having weird dreams.  If I can remember some of my super weird ones, I'll come back and insert them in.  My only complaint is the fact that I literally have to pee at least once an hour whether I'm sleeping or awake.  So for those of you who can count, that's at least 24 times a day.  That's a lot!  Whenever I walk into a store, house, anywhere, my first thought is, "Where is the closest bathroom?".  This sucks.  So I will run to the bathroom because I feel like my bladder will burst at any moment and most times after I sit down I say, "I hurried to the bathroom for this?!?!"  Normally when a person feels like their bladder is literally going to explode and they finally reach a bathroom, they have to pee for what seems like hours.  Well that's not the case for me.  It's never that much any more but the feeling of an impending explosive bladder is still there.  Not a satisfying pee at all!  But there's nothing I can do about it.  The baby has "dropped" as the docs call it and although that means he's giving my ribs and lungs some more room, he is sitting more directly on my bladder which means more and more bathroom breaks for me and peeing smaller amounts.  How is this a fair trade?  In conclusion, my sleep would be more amazing if I didn't have to get up 8 times a night to relieve my aching bladder.  (I need to find a deal on toilet paper at the rate I'm going through it)

Best moment this week: Relaxing with my hubby.  Finally I got a decent weekend to relax with Daniel.  We got a lot of work done on Baby's room, purchased some of the last items on the registry, purchased some other last minute baby items, started actually decorating his room (check out the additions we added!  I feel so crafty so let me believe I am and tell me great things about the nursery.  [I'm a nut job who needs constant affirmation especially when you put crazy pregnant hormones in me]), found our pediatrician, installed our baby car seat, did some major fall cleaning, I started putting together and freezing some casseroles and meals for when baby comes, and I even got to serve as Chief taste tester to my husband's amazing chili!  In short, we had a huge week but it was so relaxing and wonderful at the same time.  We got to "nest" together which makes pregnant Jackie's mind feel so much more at ease.  We also took turns reading to our little man.  His latest book he listened to was Uncle Keith's favorite, "Ferdinand the Bull".

Miss Anything? The chili and beer festival made it very apparent to me that I was missing beer. It wouldn't have bothered me so much if they had more chili to keep my pregnant mind occupied.  Correct me if I'm wrong but when you hear that a city is throwing a chili and beer festival with over 100 different beer vendors coming, one would assume that there would be at least that many chili vendors too?  Or at least 30.  Disappointed doesn't even describe how angry I was that they only had 5 different types of chili.  5!!!  And one of them was a vegetarian chili so that obviously doesn't count in my mind as real chili (sorry to my vegetarian friends out there...but it's true).  Which means there were only 4 types of chili there, 1 of which was a chicken chili (not too bad but I had to wait for 25 minutes for it because they didn't make enough).  I realize you can't predict how much chili you're going to go through that day but if your ONLY responsibility for that day is to make chili, flipping make enough chili so my pregnant butt doesn't have to wait 25 minutes for it.  It's not like I could wait with a beer in my hand for the chili (which they actually suggested I do when I asked how long it would be for chili...then I told them I was pregnant and I received the awkward, "O Jeez. I'm sorry.  WTF are you doing at a chili and beer festival then?" comment.  Ummm, I came for the chili, which you obviously don't have so you ruined my day. [well they didn't technically ruin my day, but they made me angry that I had to wait])  Dan spent the rest of the day assuring me that he intends to make his own chili the next day that would be way better than all the chili we tasted that day.

Dan and I also went to bed before 10 every night for our 3-day weekend.  When was the last time I did that?  O wait, I was 12.  Man, I'm really getting old.

Movement: He was moving a lot less this week than before.  I've been seeing a lot less rib and lung action but there's more pressure and movement on my lower abdomen which makes think that he's "dropped" and I looked it up and all the docs say that now is about the time that he'll begin "dropping" and getting to that position to prepare for delivery in a few weeks.  Crazy!  (Did I just say few weeks?  Not months?  O jeez!  Sooo real!)  I think my Prenatal Yoga class is helping out with a lot of my flexibility because I'm able to move a little more (not much).  Little man does love to kick me at the most inopportune times though.  All I can say is "Not now, son".  He doesn't listen.

Food cravings: Milk, strawberry pop tarts, cheese, hot chocolate, ice cream sandwiches, chili...

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Getting up too fast makes the heartburn strike.  Eating too much makes my tummy hurt but I can never be sure of what "too much" is until it's too late.  Ugh!  But I didn't throw up this week so that's a positive, right?

Have you started to show yet:  Yepp!  Rounding out.  About flippin time!  I've only waited 34 weeks to start getting a decent belly and it will be gone soon.  Grrr!  I guess I'm not the only one who had unrealistic expectations of when I would get a belly.  Before I got pregnant, I assumed that when one "gets pregnant" that they wake up the next morning and a giant adorable belly is attached to their abdomen.  I've come to realize that this wasn't how things work.  Well in my aqua aerobics class the other day, the lady who is in her 19th week asked everyone when they started showing because she felt bad that she hadn't started showing yet.  Most people responded with "around week 20" and one lady said, "yeah, that's pretty typical except if you're tall" and pointed to me.  Then I said I suffered from bump envy and wished I showed earlier.  The lady who asked said she thought that when women get pregnant that bumps come right away.  I told her I suffered from the same delusion and she still has plenty of time.  She's a lot shorter than me so I told her that she'll probably start bumping out soon and get that belly she wants.  Jealous that she'll start showing way before I did.  But the moral of this story is: Jackie is not the only one who is crazy and has delusions about pregnancy.

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No.  Does everyone experience early labor signs or am I just weird that I haven't felt any yet?  (Not that I would even know what they feel like because I've never been through labor before.  Gah!  This is all so weird!  I guess that means I'll be better prepared for #2 whenever we decide to have him/her)

Symptoms: I have to pee!  ALL THE TIME!  It is sooo much worse than before.  I thought my bladder was small before, now it's just microscopic.  I cannot stop the urge to pee all the time.  AAH!!!  My heartburn is getting less and less but I'm still experiencing it a bit (maybe I'm just good at popping a Tums whenever I sense the heartburn symptoms).  I experienced my first night time leg cramps.  It was my left leg (the leg that I've been experiencing the mysterious numbness and tingling because of the kid on my nerve....I'm just falling apart).  I was not fond of the sudden shooting of pain in my left leg so I made sure to eat a banana the next day.  Hopefully that doesn't happen again.  I sneeze all the time as well as burp.  Lower back and sides still hurt.  My tummy is starting to get itchy despite all the lotion I put on it.  I read that it's normal though...just a symptom of my expanding and stretching belly.  I also lose my breath easily.  Gosh I feel so old/out of shape but I know it's because of the little man living in my body.  O and my boobs are getting even bigger.  I looked in the mirror the other morning and I said, "Holy boobs! Where did you guys come from?".  Yeah, I was in shock.  I apologize to the people of Champaign who have seen me out in public and have been disgusted by my appearance.  I simply cannot control these ladies.  They're gonna take some while to get used to so I apologize in advance.  Just shield your children's eyes.  I try to go out during the school hours in order to protect the innocent.  Sorry.

Belly Button in or out? In.  Lost yet another belly button contest with my kiddos this week.  I was hoping to not place in last place again but that didn't happen.  Gah!  Curse you deep belly button!  (Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I don't have an outie but I'm just curious what the bottom of my belly button looks like) 

Wedding rings on or off? On. 

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy!  We're continuing to be "nesters" and adding some adorable things to Little Baby K's room.  His room is coming together so perfectly!  Every day Dan and I go into it and say, "what else can we do to prepare for him?"  Today that meant finding an adorable rug to go in the room.  

Dan and I even put animal decals up in the room.  Yah I know, I didn't want a "theme" for his room because I think themes are dumb and they limit you to what you can put up in a room but these little animal decals were pretty cute and didn't leave too much on an impression in the room...they just added to the cuteness of the room.  

I also found some fabric to make into curtains for his room!  I've been having a lot of difficulty finding some curtains I like so I decided that I (my mom most likely) would make some instead.  I was looking for some adorable fabric but couldn't find any that I liked but at one of my trips to TJ Max this past week, I found this adorable patterned shower curtain that I loved!  Little known fact, shower curtains are just a way of packaging large amounts of usable fabric for cheap.  They're going to make perfect curtains!  I can't wait for my mommy to get here and help me work on the curtains (My mommy can make/fix anything.  I've been extremely blessed over my past 24 years that if I ever needed a costume/button sewed on/hem repaired/pants taken in/etc. that my mommy could and would do all of that for me.  She's amazing.  I've had to learn how to do some things on my own since I started college at 18 but I still have a long way to go to get to Momma Jones status).  

But overall, I'm just increasingly more and more happy by the day as Dan and I prepare for our little man!  Gosh I can't wait to meet him!

Looking forward to: Dan and I have a weekend away planned for us for this coming weekend.  It'll be our last getaway of just us two before the baby comes so I'm really looking forward to a nice romantic weekend away with my husband.  I don't know if you've gotten this from my blog or not, but he's kind of amazing.  I just love doting over my wonderful husband and can't express how loved I feel every day by him.  I love that he and I are embarking on this amazing journey of parenthood together and I'm so excited for him to get to be a dad really soon!  Everyday he does things that remind me of why I married him.  Through everything he does, he desires to be more like Christ.  Because of this, I know Daniel to be an amazing husband and I know he will be the most amazing father to our son (and future little Kochs).  I love being able to call myself his wife.  We know parenting will be a huge life changer for us and having time for our getaways will be harder to come by so we wanted to take some time while we still have it, to just relax and have a romantic getaway before our little man gets here.  So yes, I'm looking forward to spending more quality time with my partner-in-crime.

Anything Else?: I need to remind myself to breathe every once in a while because it seems like everything is happening so fast now!  Getting close to the 1 month mark before little man is expected to make his appearance.  Where did all the time go?  I feel like the first half of pregnancy was just miserable and I couldn't do anything and the second half has been nothing but busy.  9 months is both too long and not long enough.  Maybe I'll have my act together by the time we're ready for #2.  Probably not though.