34 weeks
Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers – which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born – are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies. (www.babycenter.com)
I have heard a lot about the "nesting" stage kicking in while pregnant. My "nesting" stage kicked in around week 14 or so, but it keeps intensifying...like majorly. I keep creating lists and lists of things I want to get done before baby comes. It's pretty nuts. During my work lunch breaks I'm racing to the store to pick up a few things here and there. But at the same time, I keep getting sick! So I don't know if my body is trying to tell me to STOP and SLOW DOWN or if this is pretty common for most pregnant women? I'm kind of on this mission to get everything crossed off my lists. Like even remodel our master bedroom. Yeah, I know. How? When? I don't know either...
I caught two back-to-back colds this past August (that's when I kind of knew something was up with me since that happens about never). Then I get the flu in December. Then I get the stomach flu in February. And now, I have a bad bad cold again. What gives?? I have never gotten sick so often than I have in the past eight months. I absolutely hate it. I hear a woman's immune system goes down when she becomes pregnant because the body doesn't want to fight off the baby - which can be viewed as something foreign. So it adjusts accordingly. Oh man, I just can't wait to get healthy again. And for good!!!
Karl worked feverishly on setting up the crib in the nursery, so it feels good to have that up! But we need to find homes for all the stuffed animals and blankets. And I didn't want to just ignore the crib bumpers (they are viewed as a hazard now these days) so I put one of them on the outside. Ha. It's fun to walk by the crib though and look in knowing a baby is going to be in there. Soon. Our baby. So crazy.
Then I spent a couple weekends washing all the baby's clothes, sheets, blankets in Dreft. Yum, that stuff smells good - expensive, yes, but yum! The nursery now smells like baby to me when I walk in. I love that!!
Because of one of our showers, we were able to buy the crib, mattress and glider. We have some REAL generous awesome friends. Jeesh. We were so excited. And so we get the glider shipped to us and what do you know? There is no hardware to put it together!! So it's been sitting in the kitchen. We just heard back from Canada last night that they will ship the missing hardware. Hopefully this weekend we can get that together and the nursery will be complete!
In the meantime, we decided we needed to clear all the picture frames and clutter in the family room and kitchen so we went to Slumberland and bought a bunch of furniture to solve that problem. Things are really starting to come together around the Koester town home!
We're most worried about space though. Where is everything going to go? We have no idea. I have three more garbage bags full of things we're going to donate. How much purging can one couple do? Right now we have two strollers set up in our family room because there is no room in the garage. And we have a mattress and bed frame in the "man-cave" because my brother's roommates haven't moved out, and have also added all the old furniture that was in the family room down there. All the baby stuff we've gotten from the showers is in the guest bedroom, which needs to be cleaned out because my parents will be coming soon to help with baby and need a place to sleep.
Good thing there are five to six more weeks, right? We're going to need it!
This week and weekend, Thursday through Saturday, Karl and I are taking two more classes from St. Francis. Coping with Labor and Childbirth Preparation. I am excited about these classes because I feel like I'm kind of clueless. I guess that's what makes things fun! I just hope I start to feel better so I can focus!
We had our 34-week appointment yesterday. I'm measuring right on schedule and the baby's head is down and my ligaments are stretching and softening too! Our next appointment in two weeks will be to test for Strep B (GBS) - they take a swab "down there" and he'll check to see if I'm dilated at all. That'll be just crazy because there'll only be 3-4 weeks left! Yowsers!
And last but not least. Everyone told me that the last trimester will be the slowest, but I'm going to disagree. It has been the fastest for me, for both of us actually. Yes, we're excited to meet the little one but we're also extremely busy and I think that's helping pass the time a lot. We don't have a whole lot of time to think (maybe this is where some insomnia is now coming from). There is so much to do and so many places to be, we look at each other and can't believe another weekend has come and gone. It's pretty nuts. And I'm OK with all of this. No need to rush anything:)
Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers – which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born – are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies. (www.babycenter.com)
 |
| Me at 34 weeks! |
I caught two back-to-back colds this past August (that's when I kind of knew something was up with me since that happens about never). Then I get the flu in December. Then I get the stomach flu in February. And now, I have a bad bad cold again. What gives?? I have never gotten sick so often than I have in the past eight months. I absolutely hate it. I hear a woman's immune system goes down when she becomes pregnant because the body doesn't want to fight off the baby - which can be viewed as something foreign. So it adjusts accordingly. Oh man, I just can't wait to get healthy again. And for good!!!
Karl worked feverishly on setting up the crib in the nursery, so it feels good to have that up! But we need to find homes for all the stuffed animals and blankets. And I didn't want to just ignore the crib bumpers (they are viewed as a hazard now these days) so I put one of them on the outside. Ha. It's fun to walk by the crib though and look in knowing a baby is going to be in there. Soon. Our baby. So crazy.
 |
| The crib...very full of stuff right now... |
 |
| The closet full of clothes 0 - 9 months right now. |
Then I spent a couple weekends washing all the baby's clothes, sheets, blankets in Dreft. Yum, that stuff smells good - expensive, yes, but yum! The nursery now smells like baby to me when I walk in. I love that!!
Because of one of our showers, we were able to buy the crib, mattress and glider. We have some REAL generous awesome friends. Jeesh. We were so excited. And so we get the glider shipped to us and what do you know? There is no hardware to put it together!! So it's been sitting in the kitchen. We just heard back from Canada last night that they will ship the missing hardware. Hopefully this weekend we can get that together and the nursery will be complete!
In the meantime, we decided we needed to clear all the picture frames and clutter in the family room and kitchen so we went to Slumberland and bought a bunch of furniture to solve that problem. Things are really starting to come together around the Koester town home!
We're most worried about space though. Where is everything going to go? We have no idea. I have three more garbage bags full of things we're going to donate. How much purging can one couple do? Right now we have two strollers set up in our family room because there is no room in the garage. And we have a mattress and bed frame in the "man-cave" because my brother's roommates haven't moved out, and have also added all the old furniture that was in the family room down there. All the baby stuff we've gotten from the showers is in the guest bedroom, which needs to be cleaned out because my parents will be coming soon to help with baby and need a place to sleep.
Good thing there are five to six more weeks, right? We're going to need it!
This week and weekend, Thursday through Saturday, Karl and I are taking two more classes from St. Francis. Coping with Labor and Childbirth Preparation. I am excited about these classes because I feel like I'm kind of clueless. I guess that's what makes things fun! I just hope I start to feel better so I can focus!
We had our 34-week appointment yesterday. I'm measuring right on schedule and the baby's head is down and my ligaments are stretching and softening too! Our next appointment in two weeks will be to test for Strep B (GBS) - they take a swab "down there" and he'll check to see if I'm dilated at all. That'll be just crazy because there'll only be 3-4 weeks left! Yowsers!
And last but not least. Everyone told me that the last trimester will be the slowest, but I'm going to disagree. It has been the fastest for me, for both of us actually. Yes, we're excited to meet the little one but we're also extremely busy and I think that's helping pass the time a lot. We don't have a whole lot of time to think (maybe this is where some insomnia is now coming from). There is so much to do and so many places to be, we look at each other and can't believe another weekend has come and gone. It's pretty nuts. And I'm OK with all of this. No need to rush anything:)
