Pregnancy 1: Week 34

34 Weeks:

Symptoms: Lots of movement, gas, exhaustion, back pain, rib pain, heartburn, breast soreness, constant peeing, baby pressure on bladder, muscle spasms occasionally in my feet or lower legs, BH Contractions, Nerve pain.

Weight: This week I have gained 2 lbs which puts me at 14 lbs gained. We are getting so close and I am excited that it is at the low end of the gain expectations my doctor explained (15-25lbs was my healthy range) and expect that I easily will stay within my range.

Surprise: I started this week with a nice pancake breakfast with my sweetie. He planned on surprising me. I asked him if he wanted me to make him a bagel the next morning and he said no he had plans. I thought this meant he was going to go out with a coworker so I asked with whom? And he thought I was saying he was going out with another lady. This is probably a you had to be there and really know us situation but we both died laughing so he explained his plan was to surprise me with breakfast. Even without being a surprise it was nice to wake up to yummy pancakes and eat with my hubby before he had to go to work. My breakfast was great and I went into the nursery and sat more things up and organized things for a few hours. However, then I was drained. I just got so tired and wasn’t able to take a nap at lunch time like initially planned and so I ended up laying around the rest of the day just waiting for bedtime. The only thing I managed to get done was take my maternity dress and a dress shirt of hubby’s to the dry cleaners.

Pierogi Festival: Over the weekend we went to the Pierogi festival in northern Indiana. It was definitely a long drive for us but so worth it at the same time! We arrived early which was even better because we were able to walk some of the festival before it became packed. There were so many neat pierogi themed items and things celebrating the Polish heritage my husband comes from. We hit the first tent and I did feel a little emotional at first just missing his grandfather, we called him dziadzio, who I grew quite close to in the years that I helped care for him before he passed. I know he is watching over us now and would have been so happy to see us celebrating the heritage and traditions he has passed on to us and we will one day share with Patrick and any other child we have. But we had a blast even one booth had “Butterbier” although I will admit it wasn’t nearly as good as the butterbeer from Universal or the butterbeer I make from scratch.

There were some fun booths even for our pups where we bought some special doggie treats that were also shaped like pierogi! I managed a picture giving Maggie one but Ruby isn’t so easy to get when it comes to treats, maybe next time.

We tried so many different types of pierogies including a chicken something (we don’t remember that one), cheesy potato, cheese, potato and onion, & kraut fillings PLUS some that were buttered and some that were pan fried. We didn’t go for the deep fried option as neither one of us are interested in it. We also sat at one of the stages and listened to Polish music then Mr. Pierogi and his Pierogi ladies which was super cute and they sang remixes of popular songs but related them to the festival, pierogi, or other Polish related things.

By the time we were done we hit the shuttle and I was ready to go home. Unfortunately the shuttle didn’t show up and it became quite confusing, we decided in the future we would rather pay more and park closer than we did. As we were making the walk back I started experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions in my lower abdomen. Once we got in the car I was able to relax and they went away. I spent the next day not feeling well, my upper abdomen was hurting and I was exhausted so hubby and I just relaxed, cuddled, and watched tv together which was really nice as it doesn’t happen very often but we knew we were also in for a busy week so we took some us time.

Yums: I was actually able to have sugar for the first time in this entire pregnancy! Patrick had a little backlash from it but it wasn't anything compared to when I normally have sweets. I just couldn't resist this smore's setup that Tomek surprised me with!

Baby Hazel: Our friends Pat & Hannah had their baby girl! Baby Hazel was born at 9lbs 12oz, 22.25 inches long with beautiful hair and was just such a cute baby to meet. Mom and dad are both doing well as well and we were just happy and blessed to have the opportunity to come to the hospital and meet her and check in with the parents. They are such wonderful friends and already such great parents. We are blessed to have Pat as our little boy's godfather and Hannah & new little Hazel in our lives!!! We are so excited and can’t believe how time has passed so quickly, our friends Gabe & Mere are next and then us...in 5 weeks or so!

Nurse Gifts: This week I also decided to make some gifts for our nurses. I was already working on packing and it was something I had been thinking about doing. And honestly after my Monday hospital experience I can say I am even more happy that I thought of doing this for all the nurses as they have already went out of their way for me! So I made these little blue baskets. Each basket has: Granola Bar, Yoohoo, cracker jacks, fruit squeeze, 2 water drink mixes, york patty, a 3 pack of lotion/body wash/ and hand sanitizer, pack of gum, peanut butter crackers, teddy grahams, raisins, kit kat, and rolos. Note to all of you considering doing such a thing: Do NOT take homemade goods as they are not allowed to keep them. Make sure that everything is prepackaged or delivered from the establishment (i.e. some order taco bell, dunkin donuts, etc.)

Dog Spaying: Early in the morning I was supposed to take Ruby to get spayed...finally! However, the weather was so bad I just wasn’t going to be able to drive her there safely so Tomek had to go into work a little late and drop her off himself. This meant Maggie got a happy day to herself where I left everything open so she was free to roam the house (can’t currently do that with Ruby as she gets into everything).

Gallbladder Pain: I left to go get groceries and was struggling with that same upper abdomen pain. It was so bad the night before that I couldn’t sleep and was tossing and turning all night. I had talked about this pain with a few people over the past month or so though normally it would briefly hurt and then disappear so I just kept ignoring it honestly in fear that it was my gallbladder and that something was wrong with my body. I managed to get home from the store and carry all the groceries in (too heavy...not a good idea) but the pain became so unbearable that at times I was crying from it. So I called my OB office. And told them my symptoms which included: eating only breakfast (7 hours earlier), being nauseous, upper abdomen pain that was like a dull roar with occasional stabbing pains as well that brought tears to my eyes! After discussions and talking to the Physician on call they decided I should go into labor and delivery and get checked out as she too was concerned that it was a gallbladder issue. I however had to wait to go in for Tomek to get off work, pick up Ruby from getting her spayed, get her settled in, and then we were finally off to the hospital.

Labor & Delivery: When we arrived we were sent into triage and I was put onto a fetal monitor, contraction/agitation monitor, and the physician had blood draws done. She also ordered a upper right abdomen ultrasound to check my gallbladder, kidney, and pancreas. So after about 4 hours I was told they were going to send me down for the ultrasound. (Background: When I was young I had some trauma history that especially has impacted me from men and so on my medical chart there is a note that says no men allowed to work with me) So the transporter arrived and it was a man. As soon as I saw him I looked at Tomek, started crying and struggling to breath, which was probably intensified by the fact that I wasn’t covered completely when he showed up. Thankfully the nurse walked it and saw, sent him away, and apologized that she didn’t know they sent him up already as she hadn’t called for anyone yet. Tomek was able to comfort me and I calmed down. Though this experience did make me even more aware of the intensity of my fears and trauma history and so we are definitely not allowing any men in the room during our labor as it will more than likely cause my labor to stop progressing and could even potentially push me to an unwanted c-section. She ended up getting another nurse to take me to the ultrasound and everything went quite smoothly from there thankfully! After the blood tests and ultrasounds came back our nurse came in and told us….ALL perfect health! What?! Yep, that’s right. All my organs and everything are doing well. With the continued monitoring they were able to see that little Patrick was doing well (quite active actually) and his bpm ranged from 130-160 depending on all his activity. They were also able to see that the sharp pain I was having was actually BH contractions (false/practice labor). They also expressed that they could see our little guy moving up there and so it is quite possible that was intensifying the pain and the muscle is probably quite sore (he has literally been on the right side of my body most of this pregnancy!) which unfortunately isn’t likely to go away until after the pregnancy is over. So, now knowing that the pain isn’t anything serious, I am just working on managing it the best I can, drinking lots of water, and keeping up with my prenatal yoga.

Birth Class Friends: Speaking of our experience at the hospital we actually arrived and saw one of the couples from our birthing class who was a week behind us and was experiencing false labor. Then as we were checking in we saw another guy from our class (he and his wife were the furthest along at 38 weeks) and actually that morning they had their baby girl! YAY!

Pedicure: I scheduled a pedicure this week but it started raining so much that I wasn’t able to go but my MIL wanted to go later on so it worked out. I went with her and my SIL to get pedicures. I actually had them ask who did my nails and got complements on them...I actually did them myself...I was quite proud. You will see them in our maternity pictures later! We also planned on going to see a movie but when we got there the seats were all taken and so we bought tickets for the next showing, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to go because we had our birthing class hospital tour during the time that it was...oops!

Hospital Tour: I have to say Tomek was right (Yes he loves when I admit this!). Since we were stuck in the hospital Monday in Labor and Delivery the tour wasn’t really necessary. We went ahead and went because we had already said we were going to our instructor the week before. And it was nice seeing where the nursery is (though we don’t plan on using it a lot) and seeing a suite that we would be in (the suite we were in before was an overflow triage room with 2 beds). I will say from our experience on Monday I am 1) Very thankful I ordered my own gownie for the hospital as the ones they have do NOT fit be right ALSO 2) the non-skid socks are the worst! I don’t like those socks because they are a one size fits all and there is no top or bottom SO I will also be taking my own non-skid socks (though they are Christmas themed heehee) to wear.

Sweetie: My hubby has been such a sweetie and I have shared some of the sweet things he has said but the most recent melted my heart the most. As I am getting more uncomfortable, feeling HUGE, and experiencing pain I am sitting on the couch and he looks at me and says, “I know I haven’t had the chance to say it yet but I want to thank you for carrying our child!” AWWWW Isn’t he just the cutest!?! Every time things hurt or aren’t feeling well things like this just put the biggest grin on my face, he is so amazing!

We concluded this week with my husband and I having a nice lunch date with his parents, we drove up by hubby’s work and had a great lunch, then came back home and I prepped for our doula interview! Which brings me to our birth plan!!! YAY! I will be sharing a post this week with our birth plan.

Doula Interview: So last we talked about the doula service I was really nervous because we had to turn down the first recommendation. We turned her down for a few reasons, the primary being her extreme lack of experience but also because she went to the same school as my husband which was awkward. Because of this I was nervous about the second recommendation. However, I looked into her ahead of time and was really excited to see that she has quite a bit of experience, has had plenty of kids herself (and actually 4 of the 5 were natural like we plan), and she is very pro-natural labor and deliveries which was something I really wanted supported from our doula. We interviewed this lady, Carli, and to say the interview was a hit might be an understatement.

She meshed so well with us while we were talking, had a humour (very us), and even had great ideas to help further support us to have the best hospital experience when we go in! Really I could not have asked for a better pairing then we had talking with Carli! So, we will be utilizing her doula services for our L&D experience. I will also say to anyone considering a doula make sure they are on track with what you are wanting. I was hoping to use aromatherapy (Carli specializes in it) and I needed to make sure whoever I had would understand why the no men situation and be helpful in making what we want possible. One great example of this was after expressing the fact that men can’t enter the room, telling her about my Monday experience, we discussed the natural birthing. And I explained how it has got to be 100% off the table because the person administering the pain medications would realistically be male, and I don’t think that will help us out at all. Thankfully Carli was very on board, and shared that most of the births she has attended and assisted in have been natural and that she actually thinks it’s better to say it is 100% off the table (like I have been the entire time) as if it is even remotely on the table most moms change their minds and get the meds, because it is painful and it isn’t always the easiest but our bodies were built for this and I can do it without if that is what we want to do! YES YES YES! Her natural discussion was all I needed to hear. We are all set and so thrilled to have her on board with us now! And I will be honest that I wasn’t the one who wanted the doula initially, though I think it will be very helpful, as Tomek wants someone to guide us (we both freeze) and if he needs an emotional break (not to leave but to step back for a minute...he won’t feel as though he is leaving me alone...and I am so thankful that he even thought of that!).

Cookies: I made oatmeal raisin cookies for all the guys at my hubby's work. I initially promised that they would be in at the beginning of the week but with the hospital visit things got pushed back a day. However, the next day I was able to make the cookies from scratch (first time i've ever made this flavor) and even added a maple drizzle glaze to top them off with, and added some gold sprinkles (Tomek's idea) to add some fun to them. They quite enjoyed them so I was told. heehee.

And with that very long week in the books we are so excited for next week, even though it too will be a little busy, as at 35.5 weeks we are going to get our growth ultrasound!! YAY! We will get to have more information on his weight and length and we can't wait to see him on the screen again. :)