40 Weeks

How far along? 40 weeks

Weight gain? 42 lbs

Baby is the size of - a watermelon

Stretch marks? I'm seriously beyond shocked (as I'm sure some of you are as well) there have been no signs of stretch marks

Sleep? There is no sleep anymore, it's more like quick naps interrupted by excruciating pain.

Miss anything?  Sleep, having energy, being pain free

Cravings? Apples covered in about half a jar of peanut butter, sea salt and Nutella.  Sweets as well.  I had some Reese's cups packed in our L&D bag for John while we are at the hospital but I couldn't resist the urge anymore, they are now in the fridge and quickly disappearing!

Anything make you queasy or sick?  Nope, other than things prior mentioned

Symptoms? Pain, pain, pain…  so much pain that I'm actually looking forward to delivery day knowing that it's the only thing that will make this pelvic pain go away!  I've had some mild contractions this week but nothing major.

Belly button - In or out? My "turkey timer" says he's done…hehe!

Wedding rings - on or off? They are still off

Any movement? Jaxon still isn't slowing down, he's full of movement and stretches all the time.  Sometimes my stomach gets hard as a rock and I'm unable to move because of his position.  Take the hint Jaxon, you need to come on out!

Happy or moody? I've been more moody this week but I try to control it.  At this point in pregnancy, I would love to know of someone who's full of sunshine so I could find out what kind of drugs they are on!

What emotions have you been experiencing this week?  It's been an emotional week for me.  We went to our appoint on Friday (40 wks 2 days) so excited and left feeling completely deflated.  So much excited, not to mention so much pain and we both had in our minds that this was the weekend we'd welcome Jaxon into to the world.

Looking forward to - Seeing John hold our son for the very first time.  I know it'll absolutely melt my heart a million times over.  Maybe this sounds a little selfish, but I'm also looking forward to not having to share my body with Jaxon; it's getting beyond painful.  I'm looking forward to bringing him home and starting our new chapter in life as parents.

Week 40 Fun Fact - Jaxon IS stubborn just like his momma and his daddy agrees!  Also, this will be the last pregnancy blog update since I will be induced this coming week at 41 weeks & 2 days.  We're hoping and praying that he naturally makes his appearance before he's forced out but either way, he'll be here by next week!



So our "due date" has come and gone with no signs that Jaxon is ready to come out.  Since our appointment Friday was past our due date I was hooked up for NST monitoring.  NST is short for Fetal Non-Stress Test and let me tell you, there was no stressing on this momma-to-be either.  I got to kick back in a recliner as John and I listened to his heart beating.   I had a few mild contractions while hooked up but nothing crazy.  Jaxon's heart rate stayed around 130bpm with a high of 158 and low of 95.  We were told everything looked great on the monitor so we were put into an exam room so I could be checked for dilation.  Still only 1.5cm dilated.  The excited feeling completely drained right out of us upon hearing that.  The OB told us that she'd have her assistant schedule us for induction at the hospital in the coming week and that I would need to check in the night before for cervical ripening.  It took all I had not to completely fall apart at that point and the rest of the day to be quite honest.  We'd planned to go out for eggplant parmesan after the appointment but after hearing that I wasn't dilating I didn't know if it would be safe to induce labor.  Since they won't induce me at the hospital without dilating me first I wasn't sure I should try it.  If anyone knows if it is safe or not, please let me know! If not, and if things don't progress naturally, we are scheduled to check into the hospital on Thursday and I'll start pitocin early Friday morning.  In ways I think that it would be nice to go in the night before and have that time for just me and John and have everything more on a schedule (I'm a scheduled type of person) but on the same token I know every day he's in me at this point the risks get higher for him.

Saturday was John's birthday and unfortunately he had to work.  Boooo.  I'm really loving that he's not in Afghanistan anymore but I'm not loving the fact that he's always working.  He headed off to work and I tried my best to find a comfy position to get some more sleep.  I woke up a few times but laid in bed the majority of the morning just trying to relax.  Although the later in the day it got, the harder it got to relax because all I could think about was how I wished Jaxon would make his appearance for John's birthday.  It was a hard realization to come to and there might've been some tears momentarily shed over my disappointment that it wasn't going to happen.  People mentioning how they hoped he'd be born on his birthday only made it harder.  I know there was nothing I could've done to had changed it but deep down I couldn't help but feel like a total failure that it didn't happen.   After John got off from work I met him at Biltmore Estate where we took a nice waddly walk, yes, I waddle I have no shame to admit it at this point, and then we got some ice cream before heading to dinner.  We had Italian at Pomadoros.  It was our first time eating there and we will definitely be going back!  We headed home after that where I surprised him with some gifts and a Smores Blizzard ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!  Part of his birthday includes what will possibly be our first night out after Jaxon's arrival.  We will be going to see ZZ Top perform at the Biltmore Estate in July.  Yes, a babysitter is already lined up for us to get away for a couple hours that night!  It was a good day after I was able to be with him.  He has a way of putting a smile on my face when no one else can, especially the past few days. 

39 Weeks

How far along? 39 weeks

Weight gain? 40 lbs

Baby is the size of - a watermelon

Stretch marks? I'm seriously beyond shocked (as I'm sure some of you are as well) there have been no signs of stretch marks

Sleep? Sleep, I get it when I can.  I've found my best sleep comes in the early evening when I'm too exhausted to stay awake any longer.

Miss anything?  Sleep and moving with ease

Cravings? Apples covered in about half a jar of peanut butter, sea salt and Nutella.  I've devoured a canister of toasted coconut almonds this week.  I'm still eating Lucky Charms daily and craving Dr Pepper.

Anything make you queasy or sick?  Nope, other than things prior mentioned

Symptoms? Pain, pain, pain…  so much pain that I'm actually looking forward to delivery day knowing that it's the only thing that will make this pelvic pain go away!  I've done lots of deep squats and sat on a large exercise ball this week to help ease the pain and it does help momentarily but I can't do that stuff around the clock, although, the thought has crossed my mind!

Belly button - In or out? It's an outie and it's definitely not cute by any means! (You can see it poking out in this weeks picture)  My "turkey timer" says he's done…hehe!

Wedding rings - on or off? They are still off

Any movement? Jaxon isn't slowing his movement down just because he's out of space.  The OB says it's a great thing and that most people don't feel their baby moving much at this point.  I sure hope she's got good hands because she's going to have to catch a circus monkey any day now!

Happy or moody? I've not been a beaming ray of sunshine but I've not been a thundercloud either.  I've tried to laugh as much as possible and not let my uncomfortableness show so much.

What emotions have you been experiencing this week?  This week I've still been stressing over going back to work after Jaxon is here.  I finished up my FMLA paper work and got it turned in this week, it wasn't easy I won't lie.  I'm in disbelief that this is (possibly) the last week, I'm nervous, I'm scared, I'm excited!

Looking forward to - Seeing John hold our son for the very first time.  I know it'll absolutely melt my heart a million times over.  Maybe this sounds a little selfish, but I'm also looking forward to not having to share my body with Jaxon; it's getting beyond painful.  I'm looking forward to bringing him home and starting our new chapter in life as parents.

Week 39 Fun Fact - Jaxon is still continuing to gain weight with each week.  He's in position and according to the OB, he's pretty far down into my pelvis already.  The last part of that was of no surprise, trust me, I know he's down there! (But exactly how far down down was a surprise, continue reading)

Me & my cousin Leslie.  She found out this week that she is having a little mister as well.  His due date is in October! 

Source

Week 39 started off pretty easy, I thought that I'd finally figured out how to ease the pelvic pain after positioning myself differently two nights in a row and waking up pain free.  Much to my disappointment, that only lasted two days…bummer!  But oh my, those two days of relief were AMAZING.  It was so nice to be able to move around with ease and feel human again!  We had another visit with the OB on Friday.  I like our choice of for an OB in that they let you have options as far as whether or not you'd like to be checked for progression during the visits.  At our last visit I was disappointed to find out we were only at 1/2cm and no effacement so I was on the fence about being checked this week, I didn't want to disappoint myself again if there had been no progression.  But, if I was going to have to go into the office, I was going for more than just to pee in a cup, check of the weight and BP and be informed that our due date is getting close.  It was a pleasant surprise to find out that I'm now dilated to 1.5cm, 70% effaced and he's down to a +2 station.  The OB said that he was at a +2 and mentioned that he was really far down into my pelvis.  I didn't think much of it because all anyone ever mentions is dilation and effacement.  Well I googled what the stations meant and holy smokes a 2+ looks like he's just ready to fall out according to the chart I found!  If only it were that easy but it definitely explains why the intensity of the pain has increased so much lately!  For anyone that is like me and only paid attention to dilation and effacement, I've added a diagram to show you the different stations.  After seeing this diagram, I'm ready to camp out in the parking lot of the hospital! No joke! I'm not the woman that wants to forgo the drugs, I don't want to feel him coming out.  Trust me, I know I'm a woman and I know what an amazing moment it will be to deliver Jaxon but I don't need to feel everything to know and appreciate what an amazing thing my body has done!

Yet again this week I've had returning to work heavy on my mind.  I finally got the paperwork finished up and turned in to HR.  It was beyond hard to turn in papers saying that I would return to work in only 9 weeks.  9 weeks…that seems like such a short amount of time at home with my little fella before returning to work.  Thank God they are willing to let me work from home initially when I return so I'm not stressing over a pump/work routine in the office.  At least I'll be at home and I'll be able to more easily transition.  I know that nothing is going to take the sting away completely but being allowed to ease back into work won't be as traumatic.

Jaxon's room has completely transformed over the past few weeks!  It's amazing to see the transition from a plain room to a Gamecock inspired nursery.  I did have my doubts when I agreed to using garnet and grey thinking that it would be too USC for me because everyone knows I'm a Vols fan!  The nursery turned out really well and we are both proud of it!  Here's a few pictures!  I made the crib skirt and the curtains.  My mom helped me out with the curtains since every time I'd get in the floor to cut fabric or measure my feet would swell up horribly.  Mom also hand knitted the quilt that is wrapped over the railing of his bed, we both LOVE it! 

This week also marked an important date for John & I!  Four years ago, I sent him an email telling him that I recalled him mentioning that he'd be home for R&R around the first part of June and that I would like to see him while he's home.  He'd tried for the longest time, years actually, but something told me that day that I should take a chance.  Just as luck would have it, the very day I sent the email, he was on his way back to Afghanistan and he'd just finished up his R&R.  It was disappointing at the time but now we know it was just part of God's plan.  It would now be 6 months before we could go on that first date so while we anxiously awaited those months to pass, we sent novel sized emails to one another daily.  When I picked him up at the airport that December, it felt more like I was picking up my best friend and soulmate moreso than picking up someone I hadn't seen since high school.  So where was our first date you might asked?  It was to Boston and New York!  His cousin was getting married and as anyone in contracting or military knows, you make the most of every single day of R&R leave and that is exactly what we did!  4 years and it just keeps getting better and better!