35w 5d--tons of contrax

I had enough contractions in the wee early hours of the morning that I thought for a little bit I was going to have to wake Rob up. But then they went away. Had some more this afternoon at lunch, and then all through the time we were grocery shopping and yet again at home. Then I took a nap & had a few more near dinnertime.

And then they went away...

Blah. Braxton-Hicks, technically. The so-called painless "practice" contractions. Painless my ass. They better be doing something. I'll be 36 weeks on Wednesday. I told Rob I don't expect to last out the week. We'll see.

We have everything we need. That we could find, anyway. No baby scales to be had, but we bought an adult scale that weighs in 1/5lb increments, so that will get us close on the weight, at least. Rob wanted to buy a new pool, but we couldn't find one out on town for less than $29, and there's no way I'm paying that much when the one we have only needs a little help. So we aired up all three rings today and scrubbed it out with Ajax with Bleach (I love that stuff). It is now on the front porch, outside the window for the laundry room. Easy access to hot/cold taps that way, & underneath the clothesline so we can hang up some sheets for privacy. So as long as it doesn't rain, I'm all set for outside.

We got a heating pad. I wrapped two blankets around it and put it in a spare pillowcase and shoved the first baby outfit in on top of that. So it can be plugged in and will warm up the blankets & clothes. Baby won't be cold long.

We got the carseat too. That was $120+. But it's a good seat, the Evenflo Triumph V convertible. Consumer Reports Best Buy, ranked higher than the Blessed Britax seats even. Funny how the CR article said the MSRP was $70. We paid nearly twice that, if you include the tax. The older version, the Triumph IV that we have for Linda, we paid the same thing I think, if not $10 more. So I've never gotten it at a price near the "MSRP".

Happily, we finally found some decent-sized onesies. Gerber stuff used to be up to 7lbs for newborn sized onesies. Then they changed their newborn size to 8 - 13 pounds. For newborns. The average newborn is 7lbs. Very few are more than 10. They finally realized how asinine that was, but not before dragging the rest of the industry along with them. They didn't shrink them back down, but they relabeled them as 0-3 months. Carters, meanwhile, until very recently, was the same way. Their newborn stuff was up to 12lbs. They've now changed that size to "up to 3 months," and THANK YOU GOD have restored or brought out a new newborn size in their Child of Mine line which is sold at Wal-Mart--it fits 5 to 8lbs. Which makes them just the right size for my babies. I'm so glad to find that. I've got a 5-pack of white ones in the kitchen still in the package. I'll get some more in appropriate colors just as soon as I figure out what I'm having. I'm just so happy to have found those.

So...Baby, we're ready for you. You come out when you're ready. Everyone wants to meet you.

34w 6d--Look ahead to next week & some stuff I made for the kid.

I have 99% of the baby clothes and blankets washed. Everything is folded/rolled up and set in the bassinette. It needs to be downstairs, but that will wait until I am actually in labor.

A lady online was going to send us the infant car seat she used for her youngest--never in an accident--but she took it to PakMail since she didn't have a box for it, & they wanted $130 to ship it! Bear in mind, the car seat itself is worth maybe $50, and that's here in HI (meaning it's a good $10 - $15 cheaper on the Mainland), & we were to pay her for shipping. Intelligent woman, she told them to go screw themselves (certainly in a different way!) & donated the seat instead.

So Thursday we will go buy a carseat and a baby scale, and then we will have everything we need. Ah, scratch that, we need a new fishy pool, as our current one is in not-too-good condition. But only three things.

Five more days until I am at the same gestational age at which I had Linda Margaret. Nothing to say I'll go then, of course, but the theory is if you go early once, you're that much more likely to go early again. So we shall see, and every day past then is a good one for the baby to bake.

Went to Kaneohe Saturday. They have some of the cutest pixellated camouflage baby clothes. Even a little dress.

And more exciting news--someone actually noticed I was pregnant! Lady who was checking IDs at the Commissary Sunday said I was going to have a boy because of the way I am carrying. Actually, I've noticed I'm carrying the "boy" way too, & we had sex much closer to ovulation this time. So things are aligned in a boy fashion, but there are just no guarantees, especially with me consistently bearing girls. (I know, I know, two girls just make such a pattern!)

Now, to look forward to week 35:
The average-sized baby now weighs 5.5lbs & is 18 inches long.
Baby's lungs are completely developed.

Not a whole heck of a lot of info this week. The only thing the links say other than that bit of info is that the baby's getting fatter & has less & less room in the uterus.

Here's a photo of what I made to be baby's very first outfit:

Cute, huh?

34w 2d--A new kind of belly shot.

Was sitting on the couch crocheting when it occurred to me this'd be a really good photo:
My navel has popped.

Got a nice surprise today. Lady I very much respect on another website inquired about my birth plans, & said she didn't blame me at all for going unassisted! I know better than to share my UC plans widely on that particular site, especially after some of the stuff I read when we were discussing the subject in abstract. Woman in question had said in that thread that UC wasn't something she'd feel comfortable doing. Glad to see she actually does believe in others making their own decisions. So many people merely pay lip service to the idea.

I think more and more that there will be a birth soon. I'm only 9 days out of where I was when I gave birth to Linda. Not that that technically means anything, but I'm starting to feel as if I am in the very earliest stages of labor. Hoping the baby will stay in at least those nine days, if not a lot longer. Might be nice if the baby shared my brother's birthday; he was born 16th September.

Here's what is so odd to me...I could just about eat a whole head of raw cauliflower myself. It's a matter of getting full before the vegetable is gone, not of lack of desire. Baby has my innards squished up enough that I've not much of an appetite. But damn do I love raw cauliflower! I have a bowl in the fridge that has the remains of tonight's, & it's all I can do not to get up and go sit in the kitchen with the bowl in my lap and shove all the rest of it in my mouth. I'm not particularly hungry, mind. I just love the taste of it.

And my scent cravings have come back. Rob is amused greatly by this. I have a little carton of baby powder and a larger bottle of baby lotion. The powder is really what I'm using. It doesn't just smell good, it is handy because of how sweaty I get when I'm pregnant. (Which is a very odd thing that I haven't heard anyone else mention.) I do rub the lotion into my tummy at least daily though, hoping to keep away the itchies. The stretch marks...Well, they're not getting worse.

I have fallen in love with my spare pillow. I must sleep with it between my legs. I don't know why that makes such a difference in my comfort level, but it does. It's the only way I can actually sleep. Not that I'm sleeping a whole hell of a lot. I was actually in bed by this time yesterday, but I laid awake for so blasted long I'm not bothering going up early this time. I don't seem to be able to sleep at night. Is this a sign I'll be having another nighttime baby? Certainly hope so!

To wrap things up, a more conventional belly shot:

33 weeks, 6 days

I always get so impatient towards the end. I want the baby here, and I want it here NOW. As in, day before yesterday would be nice, but OK I'll take today if I must. If I could bend over, I'd be sticking my head between my legs and yelling "Hurry up already, haven't you gestated enough!"

But realistically, I know s/he hasn't and so I need to be patient. I am a day away from the earliest I feel comfortable with UC, and about two weeks away from where I gave birth last time (was written down as 35w 4d but was exactly 1 month before my EDD). So I am headed into the home stretch & can really feel that I am. And it's driving me insane.

Nesting, me? Heh. In my own way. Compulsively buying up baby things. The thrift store we bought the stuff for the hurricaine victims at was having a 50% off everything sale today. You can imagine what a pleasant experience that was. Thought it'd be a good idea to buy some towels today for the birth. Too bad everyone else in Honolulu apparently also wanted towels, and got there long before we did. The one rack with towels on it was stripped almost completely bare. I was able to find 2 towels that actually had price tags on them. The $1.99 ones I'd intended to get, thankfully. Will go back next pay period & grab a couple more.

Other than that, though, we did pretty well. Got four newborn onesies, one little shirt, and one pair of yellow shorts. All pretty much unisex, though I'm probably fooling myself with the John Lennon onesie, since its background color is blue. But it still looks unisex to me. Maybe I should be making myself a few headbands in case it's a girl...All in all, though, with the towels and the baby clothes, we only spent $5.70. The onesies were all 99-cents before the discount. I think we'll be going back there pretty soon after the baby is born, because they've got a whole lot of stuff that's really cute & in good shape, but gender-specific.

Rob is still hoping for a boy. I'm still hoping for a girl. OK, OK, I'm actually in the "I don't care, I just want to meet you already!" phase. Part of me thinks a boy would be neat, but damn I'm cheap I want to recycle the girls' clothes I already own. Still remember telling my insurance agent when I was pregnant with Linda that I was secretly hoping for another girl so I could reuse all of Bobbie's clothes. Maybe a second round is a bit much to ask, eh?

Come payday, though, I want to pick up at least one package of preemie onesies at the NEX if they have them in stock. I told Rob tonight I think I've got maybe two weeks left. Intuition? Dunno. But that's what it feels like. I am into that restless as hell stage, as I've been reiterating, and crampy all day today, which is sort of my form of Braxton-Hicks. What's insanely frustrating is that I still can't tell which end is up. Still. Guess I'll find out eventually, when we see what the presenting part is, but it would be nice to have a head-down baby for once. I've threatened it with a package of frozen collard greens on its head. Putting something cold up top is supposed to induce the baby to turn, especially combined with a bright light down below. So I was joking tonight about throwing all the turn-a-breech tricks at it at once--take the pulsatilla then lay upside down on the ironing board with frozen veggies on my fundus and a flashlight between my legs and have Rob get down there and tell the baby to turn around. Wonder if it would actually work...

33 weeks, 4 days

I am so peeved. I read a story about some pregnant women who'd been evacuated from Keesler AFB to Lackland AFB. So I reasoned that perhaps they would need some things. So I had my mother (who is actually still in San Antonio) call the base and ask about it. Oh yes, they welcome donations. They're happy for anything we can send.

So, I buy some stuff. Mind you, I'm putting off buying things for my own baby to buy these things. And I posted it online too, figuring the more help the better, right? Today I log on to one of the sites and someone else is saying she called them (I posted phone numbers as well), and they don't want any more donations of things. Several possibilities come to mind. 1) Whoeever my mother spoke to was clueless (should say, everyone she spoke to was clueless, since she was told at least twice that they welcomed what could be sent) and they really ARE all set. 2) Whoever this other person talked to was clueless and they DO need things. 3) Whoever this other lady talked to is lazy & doesn't want to deal with donated items/would rather have money. 4) They have adequate donations for adults but could still use stuff for the babies. 5) This other person online is full of shit & just trying to make me look bad.

Only possibility number 4 really appeals to me. Number five would just piss me off, and number 1 would really set me off. I spent a good $20 that I could really have used for other things on what I thought was a good cause. I don't have the energy to hunt down someone else willing to take goods. Everyone wants money, but judging from what I've read several places on line, a lot more people are able to give things than to give money.

This is just going to burn me out. I want to do something. Physically I can do little, being so far from the source of the disaster, and 8 months pregnant to boot. I got info on two families to help out, to send stuff to. I have one address right now. That box will go out on Tuesday. I am going to be royally pissed if I never get an address for the second family. More money I spent trying to get useful stuff. This is why some folks never do anything charitable. I try to do something good, and I get kicked down. Pisses me off.

But...Still pregnant. At least that is good. Here's the info for week 33, which I am more than half finished with, but oh well:

Rapid brain growth has increased the size of the baby's head approx. 3/8" this week!
I've got all the amniotic fluid I'm going to get; the amount will remain constant until delivery.
If it's a boy, his testicles have descended. A girl gets only a prominent clitoris...(Too bad they don't stay prominent, maybe then my husband would be able to find mine!)
Baby is approx. 17.5" long & weighs just over 4 pounds.

Since I'm almost done with 33, here's some info for 34:

The baby's eyes are open when she's awake, & closed when she's asleep.
She's developing the immunities to fight slight infection.
Fingernails are at the ends of the fingertips already.
The grasping reflex is already present.
Baby has gained half an inch and half a pound from the week before.

If memory serves, the average baby gains half a pound a week (comforting thought, when mama's gaining a pound a week) during the third trimester.

I had Linda at 35w 4d, so I'm only 2 weeks from where I gave birth last time. Scary thought. Still don't really have the birth supplies I'd like to have. Stupid thoughts of charity sidetracked me. (Ah well, if I can't send that stuff to Lackland & I have a boy, I've got some really nice things for him!) Still don't have much of a clue as to a name. Probably Esther or Judith. Yep, I like the old names.

Measured my fundus, & it's holding steady at 36 cm. Not really any more room for it to grow upwards. I still can't tell from kicks or from palpating which way the baby is facing. Half the time I think it must be double-headed, the other half it seems as if I've got two bottom halves instead of two top halves. Frustrating as hell. I've got the pulsatilla that's supposed to be very good at turning babies, but I don't know if I need it or not.

When you've had 2 breech babies, what're the chances of having a third not breech?