Week Thirty-Six

Pregnancy week 36: September 14-21, 2011

Symptoms: Uh, nothing. Is nesting a symptom?

I've started to feel the pressure of moving next week. I've been packing and doing laundry like crazy (although today I've been much lazier... but technically this is week 37, so today doesn't count!)

I really, really want to be ready for this baby. But our financial situation precludes me from doing so. With Aaron's next paycheck, we'll order the crib and accessories. And hopefully, I'll get some necessities in my "basket shower" that Lindsey set up at work.

Not much to report this week since my doctor had to reschedule my appointment. So I'll get my cervical check / GBS swab / ultrasound done on Monday.

Moving!

The countdown is on... 33 days until my due date, 14 days until we move to our new house.

Yeah.

Our landlord called last week and informed us that she had sold the house we're renting, and we'd have to be out by the first of October. this all turned out to be a big lie - she didn't sell it, she's renting it to a friend of her son's who needs a place. Anyway, long story short, we have to move. And we want to move, rather than deal with a shady landlord who is screwing us over.

The next day, we went all out househunting. We called every real estate office in town, every apartment complex, any friends we could think of who might know of an open rental. The problem here in small-town Iowa is that not many people rent out their houses. It's either crappy apartments or you buy.

But, against the odds, we managed to find a nice-ish duplex that we could move into on the 30th. Done. Lease signed, deposit paid. All within 24 hours of getting the call from our landlord that we had to move! I was proud of us.

The new place is about the same size as this house, but the space is split up very differently. Instead of two small bedrooms, we will have three medium sized ones. The new bathroom is at least twice as big as the old one (thank God, this one is a *closet*.) And we have a laundry room right there off the hallway instead of having to throw things in the basement (which I thought was a good idea at first, but "out of sight, out of mind" is not a good thing when it comes to mountains of laundry.) The kitchen is about the same size, but there's no dining room - the kitchen is just open to the living room, instead. We will have to see if our table and chairs fit in there without making it too hard to maneuver in the kitchen.

Pros of the new house: One car garage. Management company handles all repairs, lawn care, and snow removal. Three bedrooms. Cons: No more central heat & air. Not sure if all the furniture will fit.

Anyway, we're getting ready to move. And my biggest stress right now is Asher's room. Because we have the space, we've decided that we're getting a crib. And if you get a crib, you have to get a mattress. And sheets. And a bumper. And a skirt. The list goes on. I mean, we already had a shopping list of things to buy for baby. This just added at least $250 to that.

I do have everything picked out, though. The crib, mattress, bumper and sheets can be ordered online to be shipped for free to my local Walmart. As for the rest of the nursery... I guess it will just happen over time. We certainly can't afford to decorate it completely right off the bat, but I do want to at least have the crib set up for him when he comes. Which means, basically, as soon as we're moved in, we'll order it.

So that's what's going down. Moving houses at 9 months pregnant. No stress or anything. :)

Week Thirty-Five

Week 35 of pregnancy: September 7-14, 2011

Symptoms: A few Braxton-Hicks, mostly when I stand up from bed or bend over quickly

I have won the battle against my raging heartburn! At my appointment last Friday, I got a prescription for Ranitidine (AKA Zantac), because my doctor thought that the amount of Tums I was eating could give me a kidney stone.

Anyway, since I've been taking this stuff, my heartburn has gone down considerably. Not disappeared, but instead of waking up 5-6 times a night and having to pop a Tums, I can sleep straight through. Do you know what a miracle it is to be able to sleep through the night at 35 weeks pregnant? A big one.

We had a little scare at that appointment. When the doctor went to listen to his heartbeat, she held the doppler on there for all of maybe 3 seconds before pulling it off and saying, "I want you to go over to labor & delivery." WHA? It took me a minute to comprehend that she had heard something troubling. She explained that Asher's heartbeat had slowed way down for a second, then come back up. I hadn't heard a thing... That's why they pay her the big bucks, I guess!

Anyway, I went over to the hospital and got checked in for my "non-stress test," which is basically just tracking baby's heart rate for 20 minutes. He did okay, but there were a few dips that made the nurses worried. They showed my doctor the strip, and she recommended another 30 minutes of monitoring. I watched some What Not To Wear, texted with Lindsey (I couldn't get a hold of Aaron, who was home with Declan.)

After that half hour, they showed my doctor again, and she said I could go home, and to rest assured that he was fine. She said he could have been playing with his cord. I stayed surprisingly calm through the whole ordeal - maybe because I could feel him kicking and rolling around like crazy the whole time.

My next appointment is a week from today, where I'll get checked, GBS swabbed, and get an ultrasound to determine approximate size and position. So let's all keep our fingers crossed for a soft cervix, and a head down, big-but-not-too-big baby!

There's also a whhhooooole other drama playing out in our lives right now, so I'm going to do a separate post on it (since it really has nothing to do with my pregnancy, except being a pain in my pregnant butt!)

Week Thirty-Four

Week 34 of pregnancy: August 31 - September 7, 2011

Symptoms: Same old, same old. Heartburn. Tired. I think I may have some new stretch marks, but I was already so covered in them that it's hard to tell. Oh, and I'm cranky.

This week's big news around here is the change in weather! We went from bearably hot (mid-90s) to positively fall-like (low-70s) with just one cool front last weekend. the air conditioner has been off since then, with all the windows open and ceiling fans going - it's so nice to get some fresh air in the house.

I wish that it made me want to clean and get the house ready... But it doesn't. I wish it made me want to get outside and take Declan to the park more... But I'm just too darn tired. Or maybe lazy. We have gone a couple of times, and we were outside most of the day on Labor Day, when Lindsey and her kids came over and we grilled brats and hot dogs.

I've been more stressed out this week. I don't know if it's because my due date is looming and we still have a lot to do, or if it's just hormones, or maybe our financial situation... Actually I think it's all three. We paid a bunch of extra bills this month, and as a result we are having to scrimp and save until my next paycheck (tomorrow, thank God.) I added up the cost of all the baby stuff we have left to buy, and it's about $250. Plus diapers. So like $275. Plus Declan's Halloween costume. So $300. And just like that, almost half of my paycheck is gone.

And we can't put the kids on state health insurance because we make too much? Ha.

So as a result of the hormones / stress, I've been a total grouch with my poor husband. I swear, he just looks at me wrong and I give him the silent treatment. It seems like every day I find something new to be mad about. Today we were watching A Baby Story and I said, "I'm so ready to have this baby." And Aaron said, "Yeah, you've been kinda cranky." My immediate instinct was to get mad, but how could I when he was just telling the truth? I just laughed it off and said, "Only six more weeks, honey."

What's Left

In the next 6 weeks:

Talk to work about maternity leave (Thursday)

Pack a hospital bag (35 weeks)

Organize clothes (36 weeks)

Install carseat (37 weeks)

Clean like crazy! (Start Oct. 1)

Shopping list:

Baby tub

Baby bath stuff

Thermometer

Carseat cover

Diapers

Breastmilk bags

Robeez

Humidifier

Bottles

Pacifiers

I have quite a bit left to buy, but nothing that we can't swing by Walmart for if he happens to surprise us before we buy it. Plus Lindsey (my sister-in-law) has plans to do a basket shower at work, so I want to see what I get in there before I go buy some of the little stuff like pacis, bath stuff, and bottles.

The carseat cover and humidifier are the most expensive things... and I think they'll both take quite a bit of convincing with the hubby. But really, the carseat cover will be so helful when it's cold here, and the humidifier we'll end u buying when he gets his first cold anyway, might as well buy it now before it's an "emergency."

As far as the to-do list, I've been procrastinating on talking to work. i really want to take Declan off my insurance and onto Hawk-I, but it looks like that may not happen before maternity leave. We shall see.

Later. Got so momentarily stressed about getting Declan on Hawk-I that I went ahead and applied... but looking at the income limits, we're not under them. So we don't qualify anyway, at least not using my pay BEFORE deductions. Ugh. After deductions (AKA, $199 out of every paycheck for our freakin' insurance) we're a lot poorer than we look on paper.

Aaron's Guess

9 lbs 5 oz.

:)

We shall see about that.

Watch him fake us all out and be a 7 pounder.