35 Weeks Pregnant:  Honeydew Melon

This week I am 35 weeks pregnant, which means we have 35 days to go! Baby Berry is now over 18 inches head to heel and weighs about 5 1/4 lbs (about as much as a honeydew melon!)

We have finished all of the classes that we are going to take before we have baby and we have also done our hospital tour.  Now we already had a stay at the hospital a while back and had a trial run. Although I do not really remember that so it was nice to take the formal tour.  We were given the official list of what to bring to the hospital.  Oh my goodness, this is a long list, forgot about packing a pack we will need three.  From this list, or not on this list, what  do you think is most important?

1. pillow with a non-white pillow case
2. portable music or video player
3. lip balm, hard candy, gum, mouthwash
4. games, cards, books, magazines
5. massager or tennis ball in a sock
6. camera, batteries, memory card
7. socks
8. focal point
9. snacks, drinks, sweatshirt for coach
10. gown, robe, slippers
11. underwear
12. nursing bras, clothes
13. toiletries
14. baby book
15. pen, paper
16. outfit for baby to wear home
17. baby blanket
18. car seat
19. maternity outfit for mom to wear home
20. paper bag in case of hyperventilation

Here’s how baby is developing this week:

Because it’s so snug in your womb, he isn’t likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he’ll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

35 WEEKS PREGNANT:

Current Weight: 160lbs  (0lb last week, 28 lbs total)

• Black Wrap Sweater : Pea in the Pod
• Purple Cargo Pants: Gap Maternity
• Black Airwalks: Payless Shoe Source

Baby dropped…Can you tell?

This week I am 34 weeks pregnant! Baby Berry is now almost 18 inches head to heel and weighs almost 5lbs (about as much as a cantaloupe.

Here’s how baby is developing this week:

His fat layers — which will help regulate his body temperature once he’s born — are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his 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.

34 Weeks Pregnant:

Current Weight: 158bs  (+0lb last week, +26 total)

• Blue Cowl Neck Sweater: Target Maternity
• Skinny Jeans: Gap Maternity

33 Weeks Pregnant: Pineapple

This week I am 33 weeks pregnant! Baby Berry is now a little over 17 inches head to heel and weighs a little over 4 lbs (about as much as a pineapple).

My Dad was here for a visit this week.  He drove out to bring all my precious things from my baby shower in November out to my house in Texas.  With me working at home he was able to put all the things together that he brought out with him and then ask me where to put them because I am here all day, but of course still working.  Luke enjoying having someone to follow around during the day, but he stayed on the couch a good bit and watched Dad work.  The curtains are now hung, the chair has cushions, the baby contraptions are all put together.  The walls do not really have art work yet, but other than that the room is certainly ready for a baby, which is good because he is coming.  

While Dad was here we went to my regularly scheduled bi-weekly doctors appointment.  Just the regular stuff at this point.  Making sure nothing has changed and that I still feel like I did two weeks before.  Baby’s heart beat still sounds good and strong and he is measuring just fine.  Next appointment Dr. Roberts will be looking at my cervix which means we will really know how baby is developing! It is only a matter of time at this point and time is moving forward.

Here’s how baby is developing this week:

For all the weight and bulk you’re lugging around these days, you’d think your little champ would weigh more than 4 pounds!  But once you add in the placenta, amniotic fluid, and extra blood, you’ve got at least 10 pounds of baby and their life-support gear smooshed up against your organs!

In terms of appearance, your sweet lil’ looker is getting cuter and pudgier every day as they pile on that adorable baby fat.

And as you know all too well, your womb kick-boxer is getting stronger with every passing day. Heck, it’s even possible to observe a well-placed belly-wobbling kick just by watching your belly!  Despite their obviously increasing strength, your bigger-by-the-day baby will actually start dropping their rate of movement in the last few weeks, no thanks to their restricted womb space.

33 WEEKS PREGNANT:

Current Weight: 158lbs  (-2lb last week, 26 lbs total)

• Grey Maternity Shirt : Old Navy
• Black Cords: Gap Maternity

I am not exactly getting bigger according to the scale, but I assure you that baby is still growing and that he is doing just fine.  From the pictures you can certainly that he is growing.  He is certainly consuming more space than his share these days.

32 Weeks Pregnant:  Jicama

This week I am 32 weeks pregnant! Baby Berry is now about 16.7 inches head to heel and weighs about 3.75 lbs (about as much as a large jicama).  I totally have no clue what a Jicama is, but it looks sorta like a coconut and 3.75 lbs for a coconut sounds about right, so I just image baby is about that size.  I am starting to get a little more uncomfortable and I am certainly a little more hungry as well.  It is funny how you can tell that baby is going through a growth spurt.  We are going to the doctor every two weeks at this point, which makes this feel all the more real.  We are making the list of the things we really must have before baby gets here.  Worse comes to worse Toy-R-US is across the street from the hospital and there is a Target in the mall which is actually attached to my hospital via a skywalk.  Eric loves to eat at food courts in malls, so I figured the least I could do is give him somewhere to go people watch while I am recovering.

You’re gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, he’ll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside the womb. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

32 WEEKS PREGNANT:

Current Weight: 160lbs  (+3lb last week, +28 lbs total)

• Grey Cable Knit Sweater: Target Maternity
• Black Cords: Gap Maternity
• Black AirWalks: Payless Shoe Source

Anyway back to the reason for this post, maternity pics.  She did not take that many, which was part of my disappointment.  She took ONE photo and then had us move, so if my eyes were closed or something like that that, it was actually one of the photos that she sent me as a proof.  I actually purchased this one because on Facebook where I had to pick them from, I wasn’t able to tell that.  Now it is hanging in my hallway with my eyes closed, just because I paid for it, I am keeping it up there until I figure out what to replace it with.  She kept asking us what to do next, she really did not have any ideas.  Then at one point she had us wait for about 15 minutes to use a bridge that other people were taking pictures on and then we only took two photos on that bridge.  That time came out of my hour session.  Then her ordering processes was ridiculous.  One of the photos I picked in a 8×10 did not crop right, so without asking me she ordered it in an 8×12.  Then e-mailed me and told me she upgraded it and hoped I did not buy frames yet.  Well of course I bought frames, that was my mother’s photo that goes in the same frame that it always does.  As I send her a new picture she replaces it and my brother’s frame is the same one, so you can not just change it.  Like I said she is not Robyn and at least I know that and I will just move on to someone else for the next time! 

There is no reason to tell you who it was because no one that reads my blog lives in my area and if you asked who it was I would tell you but would not just ruin her name like that.  The point is I do not think she is a bad person and I wish her the best and hope that maybe she is inexperienced and that she will improve.  Truth be told I am also a hormonal pregnant lady who may be unrealistic some days, just some days!

Awesome picture of Baby Berry’s Foot:

Frontal view of his face, with his foot again.

Frontal of the face, you can see his nose and his foot again.  Eric says he has the Roberts’ nose, meaning you can not miss it.

This week baby and I did a bit of traveling.  Eric, Luke, Baby Berry and myself packed our bags and headed to Birmingham to visit our families for the Christmas Holiday.  We traveled at night for the most part as I wasn’t actually off and with Christmas Eve and Christmas being on the weekend I had to be somewhere so I could continue working.  My job is still really flexible, but I just couldn’t be in the car all day on a work day.  Eric has a ton of vacation left over, mainly because I kept switching jobs and losing all my vacation and then we can not go anywhere.  He also gets three weeks a year at this point and I only get one with my job I have now.  One week of vacation is not much, but as I have said before I love my new job and the other benefits in my mind out way the cons, like lack of actual vacation and not being paid for maternity leave do not compare to working at home in my PJ’s and taking a nap on my lunch break if I need too.  Seriously, some people go to the gym, some people eat lunch out with friends and some people nap in their bed that is walking distance from their desk.  At this point I happen to spend my time doing the latter.  Not really, I have only done it twice in three months, but I was so thankful and refreshed after my “lunch break.”

Baby and I did alright traveling.  We did not love being in the car so long, but I can not say that I love the car when I am not pregnant, so it was not too much of a change.  We are back home and unpacking as well as putting away all the lovely prizes that we and baby berry received!!!  Not that anyone will be too surprised but Baby Berry was certainly spoiled already for a Christmas he did not actually attend.

Baby is now a little over 16 inches head to heel and weighs about 3.3 lbs (about as much as four navel oranges).
Here’s how baby is developing this week:

With each added layer of baby fat, your baby’s wrinkly raisin skin starts to look more and more like it will when they’re born.
The heavy news: you can expect your miracle-gro muffin to gain about a half a pound of weight per week from now until about two weeks before birth.
Your baby’s developing immune system has made some serious gains over the past weeks getting them in full gear to face our disease-ridden world o’ wonders.

31 Weeks Pregnant:

Current Weight: 157bs  (+3lb last week, +25 total)

• Red Hoddie: Target no longer available ($2.00)
• Grey Leggings: Old Navy Maternity

This whole working at home thing and getting bigger and bigger everyday not inspiring my fashion bug!  Although looking at these pictures makes me want to try a little harder!  I probably will not try harder though! In my defense I was about to get in the car to travel 10.5 hours through the night to Birmingham, I think that is a pretty good excuse.

1. Find a daycare
2. Find a Pediatrician
3. Take a birthing class
4. Finish reading 1 baby book
5. Finish the nursery
6. Buy baby necessities, ie car seat
7. Name the Baby something other than Samantha
8. Why this list is so short, because there is so much to do that I can not even think.

30 Weeks:  Cabbage

Your baby’s about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it’s not very keen; even after she’s born, she’ll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she’ll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

30 Weeks Pregnant:

Current Weight: 154bs  (+0lb last week, +22 total)

• Piink Hodded Tunic: Old Navy Maternity
• Black Jeggings: Old Navy Maternity

Now that I get up at 15 minutes to 8:00 and walk into my “office” at 8:00 I am much more rested and I enjoying working at this point.  When your job is just about job and not about other people and office politics and/or drama it is extremely peaceful.  I am very thankful for this blessing! 

Other than work I am up for doing more at night, as in grocery shopping, cooking, a load of laundry here and there, but that is about it.  I am not done with my Christmas Shopping, but it will happen.  I have not wrapped anything, let alone send gifts out in the mall.  I am not worrying about it, it will all get done at some point.

29 Weeks:  Butternut Squash

Baby is the size of a butternut squash.  Your baby is as big as a butternut squash, weightwise — about 2 1/2 pounds. (Length: a tad over 15 inches, head to heel.)

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you’ll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby’s hardening skeleton each day.

28 Weeks Pregnant:

Current Weight: 154bs  (+2lb last week, +22 total)

• Stripped Shirt: Old Navy (no longer available)
• Skinny Jeans: Gap Maternity

I feel like at this point I have to start making decisions on things that will effect my baby for the rest of his life.  One that I really need to decide on by the time I go to my next doctor’s visit is what to do about baby’s cord blood?  Did you save your baby’s cord blood or do you know people that did.  My doctor does not really seem to have much of an opinion on this one.  She is more in the frame of mind of what ever is best for you and your family.  In the state of Texas they have to give you the information and let you make the decision, so I am thinking that that might be part of neutral presentation as well.  I understand that it expensive, but I also couldn’t bare to think what if I had just saved that cord blood, if I do happen to need it done the line.  Then if you do store it for baby number 1 what do you do about future children, do you save theirs too.  Considering you are the one paying the yearly storage fee for it do you make it public or private.  I am leaning towards private, but then again that seems awfully selfish in the long run.  What if some other child dies because I did not share my cord blood……  I am really starting to become aware that the decisions I make now will effect my baby berry for many many years to come, welcome to parenthood!

28 Weeks:  Chinese Cabbage

Baby is the size of a Chinese cabbage.  Your baby is equal in weight to a Chinese cabbage — about 2 1/4 pounds. (Length: almost 15 inches, from head to heel.)

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She’s also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

28 Weeks Pregnant:

Current Weight: 152bs  (+2lb last week, +20 total)

• Purple Sweater: Gap Maternity (similar)
• Boot Cut Jeans: Motherhood Maternity