Pregnancy Update: 39 Weeks

Hello from there other side!!! :) Yesterday officially marked full-term which means that any risk of having a pre-term baby has diminished. Again, mamas can absolutely have the healthiest of babies preterm and late-term; I think for me mentally, it just helps to know that I've made it to this point, especially as I prepare and go into labor and delivery. The flip side of being on the "other side" at 39 weeks, is that I am now playing the waiting game. Most mamas know this feeling all too well; that 39th and final week of pregnancy seems to go by suuuupppperrrrr slow, almost as if time has stopped. I literally have between now and Wednesday (my due date) to go into labor before you REALLY start to wonder. I will go into more detail about how I'm handling the fact that I could go into labor at any moment later in this post. The reality of this hasn't hit me until now. All in all, I am feeling super healthy. In fact, today marked an amazing day; one of those days in which I almost feel like I'm not pregnant because of how mobile I feel. The sun is shining beautifully in Nashville and I am SO excited for the baby to come... now I wonder when that will be :) In the meantime, check out my stats below...

Weight Gain: ​I am likely around a 30 pound gain at this point, plus or minus. Again, I communicated in my last post here, that I am abstaining from the scale. Yesterday at my appointment when I was weighed, it took every bit of me to not look at the scale, but in reality, it really isn't important. Even if I put on an additional 5 pounds in the last week, I'd be weighing in at 34 pounds, which is still AMAZING for me - given that I gained 60 last time. At this point, I don't want to stress about my weight; I'd rather enjoy the impending excitement of baby's arrival.

Diet: Still eating super healthy. My calorie consumption has likely decreased, simply due to the fact that I am not that hungry. I don't know why I don't want to eat as much (totally out of character for me), but I've heard that it's common at this point in pregnancy. I will say that I am eating less during the day, but am likely making up for it at night because of the cookie dough we have in the freezer. When Cate was in town, we made these amazing cookies for the boys - the recipe is here. My neighbor introduced me to the dark side; these cookies are literally life-changing. I say we made them for the "boys" but in reality we ate them too. Now that Cate and her fam have left, the dough is in the freezer and my willpower to avoid the world's best cookie is just not strong enough. Thus, at night, I've been allowing myself one cookie, yes, sometimes with ice cream (Vanilla Soy Ice Cream from Trader Joe's). This is my reward for eating so dang healthy and working out my entire pregnancy! I only have a few more days, right?!

How Lincoln is Doing: What a champ. I seriously love this guy. He is so sweet when we talk about the baby and all of the fun things we are going to do with him/her. He acknowledges the baby quite constantly and loves touching my belly or giving my belly a kiss. The other day, I asked him what he wants the baby to get him when the baby gets here. I got a few answers, including the usual "balls".. we also found out that he wants a helmet for riding his little Strider around. I asked him what color of helmet, he said, "Pink." (sorry Ry!). Maybe that means it's a girl? I am savoring every single moment with this little man and know that life will certainly be different with not one but two, but indefinitely enhanced by the intro of a new baby. It will be fun to find out the gender and think about how that might impact their relationship. Overall, Linc is the sweetest big brother to date and it's only going to get better when the baby actually arrives.

Nesting: The nursery is finished! You can see a photo of it above that Cate's hub, Duke, took. I honestly love every inch of this nursery, from the removable wallpaper to the glider to the Gabby Home chest to the African decor. Everything looks amazing! Our home is also coming together nicely - we get a big Restoration Hardware delivery for more downstairs living room furniture on Friday, and should have our big sofa upstairs soon. My final, finishing touches are wall artwork and decor and also finalizing the drapery.. man, decisions decisions. The closer I get to my due date, the harder it is for me to make decisions! I feel like I need Ryan's help every step of the way (he is amazing at making decisions!).

Labor Prep: My hospital bag is somewhat packed. I did this last night after seeing the doctor. She tipped off when she thought I will go into labor, which I will talk about below. Last night around 9pm, I started having an intense Braxton Hicks contraction or maybe a real contraction and started freaking out. Ryan was already upstairs in bed; I didn't want to wake him or anything, but I also had that feeling I talked about in my Labor + Delivery post here, like I thought that this was the night that it was all going to go down! I got super super anxious and my heart started racing. I was pacing around the living room like a crazy person, almost as if I couldn't think straight and a little bit as if I wasn't ready to have this baby! Who was going to watch Lincoln?? I thought. We have designated my aunt as that person, but she is a 30 minute drive away. What if my water broke and we needed to go to the hospital right away? What if she didn't answer her phone? All of these thoughts came rushing into my head, and my contraction didn't let up. It was unlike a contraction I had felt before in this pregnancy; it was a tightening of the belly all the way around paired with some menstrual cramping. I was almost sure it was going to happen - that my water would immediately break. I cleaned up downstairs frantically. I had already texted Ryan (who was upstairs) from downstairs to get my suitcase out of the attic before he fell asleep - yes I am a lazy pregnant lady who doesn't like to walk up our steep stairs to tell my hud something lol. He got the message and put my bag out. I went straight up and started packing like a crazy person, still having the contraction. Again, I was pacing, couldn't think straight and didn't know what to put in my bag. Feeling somewhat overwhelmed, I literally searched our cateandila.com site on my iPhone and pulled up my "hospital checklist" post, which you can find here. It put me at ease, having an easy checklist to follow, but then also got overwhelming because some of the items I couldn't get because they were in the room that Linc was sleeping in - this included the baby's "going home" outfit, swaddles and a few other things. I panicked. I did the best I could with my suitcase and started to calm down. I did lie in bed for awhile on my phone thinking that I may not be able to fall asleep and that we'd have to go straight to the hospital, but eventually around 11:45pm, I tired and talked myself into going to bed. If it was going to happen, I would need the rest. I woke up fresh at 7am to no additional labor symptoms and feeling amazing. I'm not sure when I will go into labor now because I feel so incredible. I also haven't lost much of my mucous plug, which was a huge indicator in my first pregnancy, and I also haven't had my bloody show - so we will see...

Doctor's Visits: My 39 week prenatal appointment was a game changer, or so I'd like to think. My vitals were checked and everything looked great. My doctor started talking to me about scheduling a date to be induced, if I so chose. Apparently nowadays, doctors allow you to be induced once you hit 39 weeks. My doctor had originally mentioned that this can help second-time moms with scheduling and taking care of childcare for their other kids. The thought was nice, but I am prone to let baby come when he or she is ready. Thus, I told her that I wanted to do it the old-fashioned way and wait for the baby to come as such. I said I might be ready at 40 weeks but wasn't sure (I really don't want to be induced if I don't have to be). She asked if I wanted to schedule it then because it would be hard to get a bed. Then I asked what her typical protocol was; i.e. when was the latest I could carry the baby before she wanted me to be induced. She said she didn't want me to go beyond 41 weeks. I told her maybe I wanted to schedule it on a Friday for Ryan's sake but that I needed to look at a calendar. She told me that she'd check my dilation and then we could discuss. So, she checked me, and quickly told me "Nevermind. You are 3cm dilated and 50% effaced. You are definitely having this baby on or before your due date." I was taken aback! What? I thought. I asked, "So do you see moms go into labor quickly after they are dilated around 3cm at this point?" And she said, "Yes. It should be soon. We don't need to schedule an induction date." So I left the hospital feeling a hundred million times lighter; like my baby was within reach!! I could go into labor at any moment! With my due date a week away, that means that I would for sure go in the next few days. So of course, I do what all anal moms do and I google "3cm dilated 39 weeks". To my shock, I found several (the majority) of posters saying they too were 3cm dilated and some even more dilated and were like that for weeks before they had their babies or worse, that they still had to be induced. What theeee, I thought. My mother-in-law told me to not worry about these rogue posters and to follow what my doctor told me. I agree with her, but it's hard to disregard all of the forums, you know? So, that is where I'll leave it. The doctor thinks it'll happen any day and indefinitely before my due date, but "web posters" seem to think it is not indicative of anything. I think I'll go with the expert's voice on this one :)

Other than that, mamas, we are patiently waiting our little one while trying to enjoy our lives as a family of three. Hopefully this will be my last "pregnancy update", so we shall see.

Until then!
xx,
​ILA