34 weeks = cantaloupe

How your baby's growing:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help 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.

Well, all is well in Sweet Pea land! So far I should say! Every day that goes by, we are one small step closer to having a healthy baby. I can't believe it's almost June. Then before I know it, July will be here! I have a shower that some girls from work are doing for me this Saturday. I'm excited for another shower!! I've already made a "must buy" list of things we have to get before Sweet Pea's arrival. So whatever I don't get from the shower, we'll start buying from the list. I've also made a "must do" list of things to get done beforehand. It's just like deep clean the house, clean out the car, etc. Things that I don't really want to do, but have to be done! So, we've got our work cut out for us in the next few weeks! Only 6 to go!

Latest news

Sorry I'm a bad blogger! I know I haven't updated in almost a week! So, here is the latest news.

I went to the doctor's office this past Friday for a routine checkup. But I saw a different OB, because mine was out of town. This doctor wanted to check my cervix to see if I was dilated any since I had that scare with contractions 2 weeks ago. He told me that I was 1 cm dilated already and about 70% effaced. Which means that my cervix is opened to 1 cm and on a scale of 0-100%, 70% thinned out. These are normally occurrences for the beginning of labor, just normally not at 33 weeks. The doctor said that these things did not necessarily mean that I will go into labor in the next few weeks but I certainly could if I didn't take it easy and not do strenuous activities. So, I'll be going back to the doctor this Friday so they can check me again to see if everything is the same.

Sweet Pea would be ok being born right now. S/he just wouldn't be able to come home with us right away. Probably a 1 or 2 week NICU stay would be necessary in order for Sweet Pea to gain weight and get bigger. So we definitely want him/her to cook a little longer!! I would be the crazy mom you have to call security on to get her to leave the hospital after visiting hours!! I can't imagine being discharged from the hospital and not taking my baby with me!

So, please pray that whenever labor does come, that Sweet Pea and I will both get through it healthy and sound.

Hiccups :)

Sweet Pea got the hiccups this morning at 4 am for the first time! I thought it was just s/he moving a lot, but then I noticed it was a rhythmic bumping in my side and I knew it was hiccups. It was so incredibly cute! It really makes s/he seem like a human. Sometimes I feel like I have an alien in there trying to escape instead of a baby!

Only 49 days left!

These are the latest pictures I've taken (at 33 weeks). The bottom one is from my view point. I can't see my feet anymore!! Ha ha! I guess that it's a good thing...it means this baby is growing and subsequently so is my belly! =) I don't mind, really, even though I do complain to Jeremiah a ton. We get a precious present at the end of the tunnel. And believe me, it's been a long journey for me AND Jeremiah. I get to deal physically with pregnancy and he gets to deal with the rest of ME!! He is such a wonderful man for putting up with all of my aliments, complaints, mood swings, etc. He handles it all with a smile, well, most days! ;) THANKS HONEY! I LOVE YOU!

33 weeks = pineapple

from babycenter.com- How your baby's growing:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Just for kicks...

This is a baby face generator from www.makemebabies.com. I uploaded pictures of Jeremiah and I and this is what the website says our kid will look like!! It is sooooo incredibly funny! I do not think this kid is cute whatsoever! She has this creepy grin on her face. Which by the way, I did not pick the gender. The website picked on it's own...so maybe that means Sweet Pea really is a girl! ;) And really, what is up with the dreadlocks in her hair. She is a white girl A.K.A. will have no dreads!! Anyway, it was fun to do it! And lets hope Sweet Pea really is cuter than this!

BABY SHOWER #1

Sweet Pea's first shower was such a blast!! The theme was "sweet pea"! How fitting!! My friend Jessica hosted it and essentially made the shower perfect! She should seriously be a party planner! We had the most delicious finger foods and desserts AND a white chocolate fountain! I was in heaven!

We played the infamous "dirty diaper" game, where candy bars are melted in the diaper and you have to guess what they are. It was kind of disturbing but all in all, fun to play. We also had to complete a "P" crossword puzzle, where every word had the letter P in it. It was super creative and fun to do! We had to guess how many sweet peas were in a vase and my mom won that with a guess of 3500, I think. There were around 3400 in all!

It was a fantastic party and I appreciate that Jessica took time out of her very busy schedule to give us this shower! Thanks again Jess! Thanks also to everyone who came and celebrated Sweet Pea's impending arrival. It made me feel very loved!

Getting closer!

The realization that we are only 50 days away from Sweet Pea's due date is enthralling!! We had one baby shower this past Saturday and have one more on the 30th. Then the furniture will be here the first week of June and we'll be getting the nursery together! We put the pack-n-play together last night. So all of the big ticket items (minus the nursery furniture) are purchased and put together and are just waiting for Sweet Pea to get here and use them! But they can wait another 7 weeks or so to be broken in!

We attended the breastfeeding class yesterday afternoon. Needless to say Jeremiah really wasn't looking forward to going, but I'm glad he was the trooper that he is and went anyway. He learned some things that he could do in order to help Sweet Pea and I. There isn't really much to say about this class...it kinda speaks for itself. ;)

1st birthing class

Amidst all of the other excitement of the day, we also attended our first birthing class last night. It was really cool. The class in general just goes over the process of birth and teaches relaxation techniques for the mom and the coach, or dad. We both (I think!) enjoyed learning new information about the pregnancy. The classes are held each Monday night from 6-8 and they last 6 weeks. Well, technically ours will last 7 weeks b/c we won't have class on Memorial Day. I'll be 38 weeks by the time we finish our classes, so just in time for the real birth!!

I can't believe I only have 56 days left before the due date. CRAZY!

32 weeks = large jicama (?)

from babycenter.com- How your baby's growing:

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

Okay, so I don't even know what a jicama is!!! Oh well!

Sweet Pea's first trip to Labor and Delivery

Let's hope it's the last one before the big visit in July!! Well, here is the story:

Yesterday I got up a 9:30 and ate breakfast. Around 10:30 I noticed that I hadn't felt Sweet Pea move yet, which is very uncharacteristic of our morning. No matter what time I eat breakfast I always feel him/her sometime afterward. Well, this had me a little concerned so I laid down on the bed with no distractions around me and tried to poke him/her a little bit. Still nothing. I got up and took a shower, moved around a lot. Still nothing. So then I really got concerned and ate lunch and laid back down on my left side and poked/prodded again. STILL nothing and it was 12:30. So I got into panic mode and went to the hospital. I called Jeremiah and told him, but I really didn't think (well, hoped) it would turn into something big so I told him to stay at work and I just update him frequently.

I got to L&D around 1:00 and they immediately hooked me up to monitors and placed one thing on my belly to monitor the baby's heart rate and another to monitor for contractions. I was thinking "I'm not having contractions, but okay". The nurse asked me did I feel my stomach tightening up at all, and I said no, I don't feel anything. When she turned up the baby's heart rate so I could hear it, it was the sweetest sound in the whole world! It was the greatest feeling to know that our precious little baby was okay! The nurse came in and asked me again was I sure I wasn't feeling my stomach getting tight, again I said no. She said well, you are having contractions. I was seriously stunned. How in the world could I not feel any of them?

I got really scared when the nurse came in and said she needed to call my OB b/c of the contractions, so I called Jeremiah and he came to the hospital. She gave me a dose of Terbutaline at 2:00 to stop the contractions. The medicine worked almost immediately. Each contraction was 2 min. apart from the last one, so they were pretty regular. But thank the Lord that my cervix was not dilated at all, so I wasn't really considered to be in preterm labor. I just had preterm contractions, which could have been due to me being dehydrated. I'm supposed to be drinking one glass of fluid for every hour I'm awake. Yikes! That's a lot of drinks!

They monitored me for about 2 more hours, then sent me home. I asked why Sweet Pea didn't move in 3 hours, which is not normal for him/her. The nurse didn't know why, but I definitely think s/he was telling me "something's wrong in here and you need to go have it checked out!!" Smart little thing already! =)

not being able to sleep = not fun

I've been up since 3 am and I am still not tired enough to go back to sleep. Granted I have to be up in 3 hours or so to get ready for church, so I might just want to stay up. But then I'll be literally not able to keep my eyes open by the end of the service.

AND it's not even poor Sweet Pea's fault. S/he hasn't woken me up out of a dead sleep in a few days. Some nights are just like this...I wake up for no apparent reason, then can't fall back asleep. Not fun for anyone, but especially not fun for a pregnant lady who is exhausted enough during the day without being sleep deprived.

Anywho, just rambling. Sweet Pea is kicking me now, probably saying "can we please get off the internet and go back to sleep?"!!

Oh my! =)

The breakdown of the 25-35 pounds gained during pregnancy:

-Baby: 7 to 8 pounds
-Larger breasts: 1 to 3 pounds
-Larger uterus: 2 pounds
-Placenta: 1 1/2 pounds
-Amniotic fluid: 2 pounds
-Increased blood volume: 3 to 4 pounds
-Increased fluid volume: 2 to 3 pounds
-Fat stores: 6 to 8 pounds

Goodness! I can see now why I'm so tired all of the time!! Look at what I'm carrying around! Ha ha!

Here is a picture from yesterday at 31 weeks. My belly keeps looking rounder and rounder each time I see it! Sometimes I look in the mirror and don't even recognize myself. Seriously!

31 weeks = four oranges

From babycenter.com- How your baby's growing:

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Hmmm...Sweet Pea feels a little heavier to carry around than 4 oranges!! But maybe it's because I'm carrying around extra weight besides that too!! No kidding, last night I looked down at my feet right before getting into bed and I could not even recognize them!! If it were not for my tattoo on my foot, I would swear somebody switched legs with me! Ha ha! My right foot was worse than my left. I couldn't even differentiate my ankle from my calf. So I officially have CANKLES!! And it's painful too. My skin is so taut and when I walk it feels like I'm walking on pins and needles. Ouch! Ah, at least all of this will be worth every second of uncomfortableness when we get to hold/kiss/snuggle Sweet Pea.

Randomness

So this is a gift that my awesome friend Shelbie got for us! Isn't it sweet? The basket has just about everything a baby would need. It was so thoughtful of her and we really appreciate it (as does Sweet Pea)! It was just so darn cute that I had to take a picture of it and post it! =) THANKS SHELBIE!

And here is the latest picture of the Petty family taken yesterday, with Sweet Pea being 30 weeks and 3 days. Our nephew, Kameron was the photographer and he did an excellent job if I do say so myself.

Everything is going good! I'm still feeling great, well besides being kicked in the ribs a lot and not being able to sleep due to the one person dance-off in my belly! Seriously I wake up at least once a night to Sweet Pea dancing away in there. Again, at first it's quite cute and comical, but after an hour of entertainment, I'm ready to go to sleep! One of the latest things Mr/Ms Petty has been doing is following me to whichever side I'm on sleeping on. Example- I'm laying on my left side, s/he will come over to that side of my belly and start kicking over there. So I'll move over to my right side to not squish Sweet Pea. But NOOOOO...that little booger just comes over to my right side and starts kicking over there!!! I guess this kid is already giving me a run for my money!