We are definitely closing in on the end of this pregnancy! Things are finishing up and we are preparing for the birth of our beautiful baby girl any day now. :) Michael and I have our hospital bags packed and ready to go. We still need to get a few more items to be completely ready, but they are things we don't necessarily HAVE to have. So if she decides to come before we get things like snacks, it won't be the end of the world. ;)
Lately I have been having plenty of Braxton Hicks contractions. These could actually be real contractions, as there has been little twinges of pain associated with them, but I think they are just the fake ones for now. Other symptoms lately include heartburn, difficulty breathing, and trouble sleeping. The heartburn continues to be a problem when laying down. Because of this, I no longer sleep completely horizontal, but instead am slighty propped up all night. I also eat lots of Tums. This baby is going to have strong bones if nothing else! The trouble breathing occurs while sitting up and laying down. She continues to be up in my ribs and diaphram. Standing seems to help them best to relieve that pressure and allow me better breaths. I keep waiting for her to "drop" and get rid of the pressure on my lungs, but no luck yet. My trouble sleeping is associated with the breathing and heartburn. I also have a difficult time getting comfortable at night. Sometimes I wake up gasping for air. I'm starting to wonder if it's the baby in my ribs or if I'm starting to develop sleep apnea and I'm forgetting to breath. I wake up every 1-3 hours and look at the clock. I'm up 1-2 times a night to go to the bathroom.
It all sounds pretty bad, and when it comes to resting and sleeping I really get tired of all of these symptoms, but overall, things are not so bad. ;) Our baby girl is still moving a lot. She dances to the music at church and does flips and kicks for her daddy at night when we're laying in bed watching TV. She keeps me entertained with her constant movement. And she reminds me how she's growing when she stretches out her arms and legs and my belly stretches from one side to the other. I have read that in the last several weeks her movements will decline as she becomes increasingly pressed for space, but as of right now, she shows no signs of slowing down. :P She is just as active, if not more active, than ever! :) I'm excited and glad that she has remained very active since I first started feeling her move. It's always given me reassurance that everything is going ok and that she's doing well. :) An active baby is a healthy baby. :)
We have another doctor's appointment today. :) Hoooray! This will be considered our 36 week appointment, even though we are actually past the 36 week mark and are up to 36 weeks and 4 days. (We got on our Tuesday appointment schedule back in February when I had to go in to get Zofran for my morning sickness.). From here on out, we will have weekly appointments. I am soooo excited for today's appointment and the appointments to come! Every week from here on out my doctor will check my dilitation and effacement. I'm looking forward to getting these numbers and having some quantitative data to indicate how close we are to getting our little girl in our arms. :) It's all up to her now. She just has to decide when she's ready to arrive. :) Michael, our doctor, and I are all ready and waiting. There is no reason for us to stop labor if it were to begin, so she could literally come any day! :D While I would be more than happy to deliver if she chose to come now, if she will wait 3 more days, and as long as her and I stay healthy, there is no forseeable reason that I won't be able to have her over at the Birthcare Center. :) But they made it very clear in our childbirth class that you will not be admitted to the Birthcare Center until you are AT LEAST 37 weeks, so for that, she will need to wait until Friday. ;)
I'm beginning to get excited about having 6 weeks (or more if I want) at home with my baby girl. I'm also beginning to worry about work and the people there while I'm gone. I'm not worried that they won't be able to do their jobs or that things will go wrong, I work with a great group of people and they will do great! What I'm worried about is the number of hours that will need to be filled. Lately I have been working between 30 and 35 hours/ week. This has been good because I haven't been too stressed or feel like I'm majorly overworking myself. However, by the end of this week we will have 1 full-time employee out for 4-6+ weeks for hip surgery. This week I am scheduled to work 39 hours. Next week that same person will still be out and I'm scheduled another 39 hours. I haven't seen the schedule for the following week yet, but I know our assistant manager is taking a week of vacation that week to move into her new home. I'm sure I'll be scheduled for another 39+ hour work week. Now this is fine, the more I work now, the better my short-term disability pay will be, but eventually, I will be on maternity leave and it will leave the store with even more hours to fill. Our managers work 40-48 hours/week already. All full-time employees are working 40 hours/week lately. 2 of our part-time workers are also working 40 hours/week. And our last part-timer is working 30 hours/week! Yikes! We have too many hours and not nearly enough workers. So hopefully the store will be hiring people soon. We will see.
Well, other than the baby and work, there isn't much going on in our lives. Michael and I are doing well and loving our time of 2 until our princess gets here. The pups are doing well and enjoying the beautiful weather. We will hopefully have our maternity photos back by the end of the week if not early next week. I continue to clean and nest in preparation for the baby. I'm getting bigger and gaining more weight every day. We'll see what my doctor has to say about that... :P I think that is about it. Hope you are all doing well and your Tuesday goes well. Only 24 more days until our baby girl is due to be here! :D Get excited! I'll try to update either today or tomorrow on the results from today's doctor appointment. :) Have a good one! :)
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