39 week update... Surrogate Side

Date: December 23rd, 2013 (updated and posted on 12/26/13)

How Many Weeks:  39 weeks! (I, honestly, didn't think we'd get this far!!!)

Total Weight Gain: 24.5lbs! I had an OB appointment on Monday and I lost weight? Wait. I put on an additional 2lbs at my last appointment, but lost a pound and a half at this one. Geesh. I think it was scale. Lol!  That, or the fact that this appointment was super early morning and my other appointments are usually late afternoon. I'm going to stick with the 24.5lbs, though (wink,wink)!

Baby Size: Watermelon!


What is going on with this baby:

• He's probably able to flex his limbs now. (I can attest to that.)
• His brain is still rapidly developing -- getting smarter by the week!
• His nails may extend past his fingertips. (May account for the sharp stabs I've felt down there?!?)

Maternity Clothes:   I actually have a fully packed hospital bag to go along with my kiddies' bag! Well, at least it's zipped up and ready to go. I'm not quite sure it has everything that I'll need, but good enough. 

Sleep:  Getting a bit more uncomfortable. Moving is getting tough which makes alternating sides a little challenging. I feel as though each time I want to switch sides, as soon as I prepare to move, I have a contraction and can't go anywhere until it's done. Not ideal, but par for the course at this point. 

Movement:  This boy ain't gonna stop now. He's been a mover since day one. 

On a side note, I (obviously) was not induced on the 23rd. My last appointment revealed that I was not at least 3cm dilated. In fact, I hadn't changed at all apart from him "dropping" a little and my measly 1cm was "looser".  No progress = no induction date scheduled. 

We scheduled a follow-up appointment for Monday morning and that cervical exam pretty much sealed the deal that this young man is just so happily content in there that he'd like to stay for just a while longer. SAME as last week and the weeks prior: "1+cm dilated, 50% effaced". He's getting lower (which makes the exams a bit more tolerable), but I think he'll be staying for a while longer. (Totally okay with me - let's just get through Christmas and then I'm all yours!) -- WE DID! 

Our next step involves another appointment on Friday where the doctor will strip my membranes... (Yikes! Never have done that before!) We'll also likely schedule a date for an induction for that upcoming Monday or Tuesday (new year baby?). 

K&J got here this week and will be joining my last(?) appointment on Friday afternoon. Yay! 

Symptoms:  Can I blame procrastination on this pregnancy?? I really didn't want to wrap Christmas presents. Normally, I get excited to wrap (okay, maybe "excited" isn't entirely accurate), but I just wasn't eager to do it this year. I believe this may have been due to the anticipated discomfort that would surface after hours of wrapping night after night. I wrapped Sunday night. I was uncomfortable. I had many more gifts to wrap in the days leading up to Christmas (which were very few). And, my husband (who promised to help on various occasions) always had an excuse to offer each and every time the subject was brought up -- legit or not! Lol! 

Food Cravings/Aversions:  I haven't been overly hungry lately. Not sure if it's due to the fact that there really isn't much room for food or if I'm just a bit under the weather. (Felt something super crazy on Tuesday afternoon... I was drinking seltzer and I felt it bubble in my stomach. But, the strange part was that I could feel it bubble in my stomach just under my left breast... Holy cow, that was weird!)

I'm looking forward to:  this upcoming appointment on Friday with K&J! This is just getting so real! I love it!

Belly: 

 Thought I'd give a bare belly pic... Yowza! (39.5 weeks!)