35 Week Update

 33 weeks

A few weeks ago, Matt's co-workers got together and had a happy-hour gathering to celebrate baby Claire! They were so generous in giving her some of the things they loved using with their babies. 

They also had this delicious and incredibly cute cake. We feel so blessed that Matt works with such great people who are excited about Claire.

At 34 weeks, I had another appointment. Everything looks great. My midwife did say that I'm measuring a little ahead though. If it gets to the point where I'm measuring 2 weeks ahead, they'll do an ultrasound to check the size of the baby.  She did say she predicts Claire will be an 8 pound baby! I was hoping she would get some of her daddy's genes. :/

Work has been super busy lately. So much so that they've been begging people to pick up extra shifts. With a baby on the way, money goes quick. Since I had the opportunity to get overtime pay, I jumped on it. At 34.5 weeks pregnant, I worked four 12 hour shifts and didn't realize how exhausting it would be. Thank goodness I don't work on the transplant floor anymore. I probably would have put myself into pre-term labor!

The most exciting news lately is that baby Katelyn has arrived!! Matt's sister had her baby on Monday. It makes me a little sad that we moved away because it would be so fun for Claire and Katelyn to grow up together being so close in age. I hope we get to make lots of visits though. I can't wait to meet her. She's absolutely adorable :)

Here's an update of where we are now:

How far along? 35 weeks. Only 5 more to go! However, both our families tend to bake their babies a little longer than 40 weeks.

How big is baby? About the size of a honeydew melon. Most of the development is complete, now she'll just start packing on the pounds.

Total Weight gain:  Up 25 pounds. Hoping not to put on much more but I hear the end of the pregnancy is when it really starts to add up.

Sleep: Nothing too out of the ordinary there. A few times I've woken up with some cramping but it's pretty mild and I'm able to fall back asleep.

Movement: Still moving. For the first time, she got me really good up behind the ribs. Enough to make me jump in my seat.  She's still head down and that probably (hopefully) won't change. She gets hiccups nearly everyday.
 
Symptoms: A few cramps like I've mentioned before. What I had been thinking was frequent Braxton Hicks is probably more of her stretching and pushing. My midwife confirmed that when she felt that it was only getting firm in one area and not all over my belly.

Food Cravings:  Sweets as usual :)

What I Miss:  Normal clothes fitting the right way.

What I'm looking forward to:  Finishing up the nursery.

Prep for baby:  The crib is set up and the mattress arrived. Soon, I need start washing everything and make her bedding.
Matt and I also took the first half of our "birthworks class". We finish it up tomorrow. Matt wasn't sure why we needed to take these classes. His thoughts were that people have been having babies forever, why do we need someone to come tell us how?  I think he was pretty surprised about how much he learned. When his family called to talk about his sister's water breaking and being in labor, Matt surprised us with actually taking part in the conversation. Before the class, I don't think he realized there was so much he didn't know. We both gained some valuable information and I hope it helps when Claire decides to arrive!