35 Weeks

LESS THAN 1 MONTH UNTIL BABY KOCH IS HERE!

How far along? 35 Weeks! Baby Koch is the size of a coconut!

Total weight gain/loss: 29 pounds. I've definitely gained more in my third trimester than in the first two.  Doc said I could gain more but if I don't then that's totally fine.  Basically it's whatever my body and the nug lets me do.

Maternity clothes? Obviously I'm wearing the stupid pants.  I got to pull out my Fall sweaters this past week and they're a little tighter than I remember.  No idea why that would be.  Going to wait a few more weeks before I get measured for a nursing bra.  The ladies are still growing.  My cousin and mom have me terrified with how big they're going to get while nursing.  They said that if I'm anything like them then I'll have watermelons strapped to my chest.  They gave me exact letters and I about died thinking of those letters on my chest.  Honestly, I was super content/happy with my pre-pregnancy ladies.  They were the only things on my body that were normal sized and fantastic.  My same cousin's exact words to me about my chest were, "you boobs are done. over".  Great. Thanks for the encouraging words cousin.  So basically my next maternity purchase will be nursing bras...also super not sexy.

Stretch marks? Nope. But I'm getting super tired of this whole shaving my legs thing (but that's not new to pregnancy...just aggravated by it).  And since it's now pants season, it's permissible to not do it that often.  Right? 

Sleep: I had the most amazing night of sleep this past weekend.  I didn't even have to get up once to go to the bathroom...but when I woke up, I realized my bladder was literally going to explode so I had to waddle/run to the bathroom before it was too late.  But besides that one night, I slept horribly the past week.  I hate not getting sleep.  I hate having headaches that prevent me from getting to sleep.  I hate having to pee every 30 minutes when I'm trying to sleep.  I hate having terrifying dreams that wake me up from a slumber.  (I had one particularly terrifying dream about me going into labor but bleeding profusely before I could get to the hospital so I had to wake up to see if this was true or not.  Way too scary of a dream for a pregnant lady to be having.  What made it even more terrifying was that I couldn't tell if it was real or a dream because it was too "lifelike")  Terrifying.  But basically this past week has made me sleep deprived and angry because I'm not getting good sleep...or even sleep to begin with.  UGH!

Best moment this week: Spending the weekend with Daniel.  We're not very good at setting aside time on a regular basis to just spend with each other so after some coaxing, I convinced Dan that we needed to spend some time, just us two, getting away before our little man gets here.  But since it is so late in our pregnancy, travel is limited for me (the 6 1/2 hour drive to Iowa we did the other weekend about killed me) so we couldn't go too far.  So Dan and I made plans to spend the weekend in Springfield.  Well we woke up on Saturday to some seriously crappy weather and driving my pregnant butt to Springfield was not going to be an option so we cancelled our weekend plans.  Kinda sad.  So while I was napping, Dan booked some tickets for that evening to go see the Champaign Symphony Orchestra.  I was pretty excited with that because I've never been to an event like that before and love experiencing new things. (Plus I love attempting to get dressed up)  But before getting dressed up, Dan took me to the Jane Addams book store in town and we spent quite a while there stocking up on some baby books for our little man.  I loved going through the stacks of old books and rereading some of these stories and then choosing our favorites to add to our collection.  I can't wait to read these books to our little man!  We also purchased some of the last items we think we'll be needing to finish off our nursery.  Dan and I then got ready, went to dinner, and had a fantastic time at the Symphony.  Before it started, Dan and I went to the gift shop and found these little gems.  Just what every little child wants! Right?

That's right!  Those are Beethoven and Mozart Action Figures!  As excited as I was about these, Dan wouldn't let me get them.  I guess I'll have to survive without them.

Side note: Dan and I were the youngest people there, by 60 years.  But it did make me super happy when an elderly lady chased me down on my pursuit to find a bathroom to tell me that she thought my hair was beautiful and that she was admiring it during the entire performance because she sat behind Dan and me.  That made pregnant Jackie feel really good inside because on the outside, I felt like a sausage.

The next day, Dan and I went to church, picked out our pumpkins for the season (not carved yet...still thinking of awesome designs for them), went to the apple orchard to get some apples that I could make into an apple crisp that I've been craving, and took a short drive to Allerton to walk (waddle) around and see the beautiful Fall trees. Allerton was gorgeous but had to wait out the rain in order to take a short walk (by short I mean less than 10 minutes because somebody...me...had to pee for some reason).

I promptly made that apple crisp and covered it in Prairie Farms ice cream and caramel sauce.  Then I literally licked my plate clean.  Those apples were just so juicy and they melted in my mouth.  The cinnamon and nutmeg aroma of the crisp was so intoxicating.  I was one happy prego as I concluded my weekend with a giant slice of that apple crisp.  Here I am, caught mid-bite of indulging in the heavenly creation.  Thankfully no pictures were taken of me licking the plate when I was done.  People might think I was acting un-lady-like or something.

We also totally scored on a rocking chair we got this past week!  My sister and good family friend like to go estate sale'ing (very similar to garage sale'ing but these go on all year long and you get to see an entire house worth of stuff) and I told them to keep their eyes peeled for a rocking chair for the nursery.  Within hours, I received a text with picture of our chair!  $30 for a dark, real wood, rocking chair!  Of course I said yes!  The chair was delivered to our place yesterday and now resides in the nursery.  It's exactly what we wanted and is the perfect addition to our little nursery.  I love good deals!  Thanks for the find Jill and Julie!

Miss Anything? Putting socks on and not having it be a challenge.  Taking a walk without having much difficulty.  Not having to pee every 30 minutes.  Breathing.  Fitting into my old bras and clothes.  And liquor and wine.

Movement: Last week I reported that he wasn't moving as much as he normally does.  Well apparently that was just last week.  Little man has kicked it up a notch and was making up for his nice week last week.  I swear he was jumping in there.  Dan couldn't believe how crazy his movements were.  Maybe he was moving so much because of the amount of crumblys I put on the apple crisp (there were a lot!  Dan told me that's there's no such thing as too many crumblys on an apple crisp.  I obviously agreed).

Food cravings: Milk, strawberry pop tarts, Halloween candy (maybe it was a bad idea to purchase Halloween candy this early...I might have broken into a few of the bags I got.  Whoops!), APPLE CRISP!

Anything making you queasy or sick:  I'm getting turned off of red meat.  It's super weird but I really don't feel like eating it and it kinda grosses me out.

Have you started to show yet:  You just saw my apple crisp belly.  You can be the judge.  

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: None.  But at our last appointment, our doctor did tell us that she thinks Baby K might be breech but that she wanted to schedule an ultrasound for our next weekly appointment to make sure.  She said not to worry, these things are normal.  Babies tend to move around a lot.  I was in complete agreement....no need to worry.  Plus she wasn't 100% sure so that's what the ultrasound is for.  Now we have to wait for our weekly appointment to figure out if he is or is not breech.  If he isn't breech, then no big deal...no need to worry.  If he is, then we'll start entertaining our options to move him/let the doctors tell me what they know (they know more than I do so I try to listen to them).  If he stays breech then that's fine too.  I just want him to be healthy and happy and have a safe delivery no matter what method that delivery may be.  I won't be delivering my own child (doctors do that) and I'm pretty confident that the doctors know what they're doing so I'll let them be the ones to worry about that.  What I don't want is for other people to worry about whether or not little Baby Koch is breech or anything else.  I appreciate all the love and support people have been giving us about our little man but it makes me even more paranoid to hear when people are worried about things that I'm not.  Should I be worried?  Then I'll go into crazy pregnant mode and start freaking out.  So please don't worry yet about Baby Koch's delivery (or anything else for that matter)...or if you do, don't tell me you're worried or thinking about it.  I don't want to know.  All I want to do is wait for our ultrasound and regular appointment to hear what our doctor has to say and then go from there.  If you're going to say anything to me, just tell me that you've enjoyed keeping up with what's going on with Dan and me and Baby Koch and that you're excited to meet our little man.  I just don't want to be more paranoid that I already am and I know how easily that can happen.  Baby Koch doesn't need momma Jackie to stress out so I'm trying my best not to.  Thanks for all your love guys!

Symptoms: Constant urge to pee. Heartburn. Headaches.  Lower back pain.  And as the doctors have told me, "your digestive system is slowing down."  For those of you who know what that means, I'm sorry.  That's probably (not probably...that IS) my least favorite symptom of this whole pregnancy.  I'll gladly take another month of throwing up than to have to have a constant reminder that "my digestive system is slowing down".  I'm ready to have my digestive system to get back to normal.  My body is no longer my own.  I've been sharing it with a little nugget for the past 8 months who has more control over what happens with my body than I do.  I no longer believe the adage "Sharing is caring, it can be fun."  Sharing is caring...it's not always fun.  But I'm more than happy to share with my little man, so long as he's nice to me.  Please be nicer to mommy.  Just one more month son.  One more month.

Belly Button in or out? In.  It's getting tighter though!  It's super crazy!  It's being stretched and although it's still a super innie, Dan seems to be super amused by how it looks as it's being stretched across my stomach.  I just want to see the bottom of it.  

Wedding rings on or off? On. 

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I wasn't as ecstatic this week as I normally am.  Not getting sleep will do that to a lady.  I was also a moody lady when the weather seemed to ruin our Babymoon plans.  But that turned into a relaxing weekend with Daniel.  I just hate when plans go awry. 

Looking forward to: Our next appointment when we get the ultrasound and get to see our little man again!  I'm also looking forward to our last trip before baby comes.  Dan and I are headed back to his home for his grandparents' pottery sale (it's kind of the coolest thing ever.  They make their own pottery.  I'm not talking about going to the store, buying clay and painting it sort of thing.  I'm talking about digging up their own clay on their land, processing it, making amazing pottery, firing it in their own kiln, etc.  It's kind of a big deal.  Hundreds of people descend on this super small town once a year to wait in line in order to get one piece of pottery.  Just amazing!).  All of Dan's brothers will be back in town as well as their ladies and I'm so excited to spend time with them!  My mommy will also be making the trip to go to the sale so I'm pretty excited to see her (not that I talk on the phone with her everyday or anything).  It'll be the last time that we see family (at least my last time) before our big day because the weeks after that are just too close to D-Day to make any plans.  So yah, I'm unbelievably excited to see Dan's family (and my mommy) this coming weekend.  I hope my body lets me be the social butterfly that I want to be this weekend because there's so many people that I'm wanting to see and spend time with.

Anything Else?: Holy cow!  Less than 1 month until baby comes!  The countdown is officially on!  I mean I knew this was coming but holy cow did that creep up on us!  The doc said I'm technically considered "full term" at 37 weeks which means that in just 1 week, things could literally happen any day.  Crazy!  Our to-do list has gotten smaller and smaller but it still feels like we have so much to do.  We preregistered at the hospital so now we just need to show up.  Well I should probably make sure I have our hospital bags packed.  But overall, Dan and I are excited to meet our little man more than anything.  We pray everyday that he gets here right when he's supposed to and not a day sooner.