34 weeks

How Far Along 33 weeks 6 days
How Big is Baby 18" long, 4.75 lbs is average for 34 weeks.
Total Weight Gain 35 lbs.
Stretch Marks They seem not to have changed lately.
Sleep I'm taking a Benadryl before bed every night, but failure to stay asleep is plaguing me more and more.
Best Moment this Week Saturday was our joint baby shower with Claire. It was so much fun, and we got all kinds of great stuff!
Movement He's still a very active baby and kicks me hard enough to inflict pain on a daily basis.
Food Cravings None this week. It's Thanksgiving, so I'm looking forward to many yummy treats, despite the fact that I'm not supposed to gain any weight. 
Labor Signs None yet. But, at this stage, things change a bit. Previously, if I had 4 or more contractions in 1 hour, I should go to Labor and Delivery. Now, I don't go to L&D until I'm having consistent contractions 3 to 5 minutes apart.
Belly Button The elastic of my jeans goes right over it, so it's flat today. :) It still changes periodically depending on Nate's position, but more out than in most of the time.
What I Miss Being able to sit at my desk all day without an increasing intense pain growing in my ribs.
What I'm Looking Forward To As I was washing and sorting through the gifts we got at the shower, I found myself daydreaming about giving Nate a bath. He would hate it and scream a lot. But then, I'd wrap him up in an adorable soft hoody towel and dry him off, lotion him, and dress him in a fleece sleeper. Then he would settle down and get all cuddly. So that's what I'm looking forward to right now.

Weekly Wisdom To the non-pregnant people: telling a pregnant woman that it will only get worse from here on out (or to just wait and see how much life sucks after the baby is born) is the opposite of helpful. To pregnant people: a numb or tingly feeling in a small region at the top of the belly is a common experience but the Dr doesn't really know what causes it. It's something stretching or pushing or something.

Milestones After today, they will no longer stop me if I go into preterm labor. So, Nate will definitely be born sometime between now and January 17 (a week and a half past my due date is when they would induce if I wasn't going into labor on my own).

it's so true, and becoming more and more true

From The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy, by Vicki Iovine
Chapter 13 Coming into the Homestretch
"I Can't Sleep!"

Being unable to sleep and stay asleep were my greatest challenges at the end of my pregnancies. Being tired was no guarantee that I was going to snooze when I went to bed each night. Some Stepford Wives cheerfully told me that this was nature's way of preparing me for the sleepless nights that I would experience as a new mother. That's like saying dieting will prepare you for starvation! As far as I was concerned, a nature that was capable of giving chameleons the gift of disguise wouldn't be stupid enough to think that the cure for no sleep was more no sleep.

No, you can't sleep for two major reasons. First, the baby is pulling or sitting on every part of your body but your face and your feet (and those are swollen from water retention). Second, you are so preoccupied with what lies ahead—labor, delivery, motherhood—that you have a hard time turning your brain off at night. (Which is kind of ironic, because you will swear that you haven't been able to turn your brain on most days.)

Madame Zaritska

Madame Zaritska suggests my children's names.

What she senses for your child

If you do not know the gender of your child, I do not wish to spoil that surprise. Therefore, I will offer five names for boys, and five for girls.

These are the names I suggest to you now:

For a male child:

Devon
Jamison

Miguel

Ralph

Trent

For a female child:

Clarissa

Dasia

Lacey

Raegan

Skylar

I hate them all.

Madame Zaritska predicts my birth experience.

The day you deliver, outside will be rainy. Your baby will arrive at night.

After a labor lasting approximately 13 hours, your child, a boy, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 8 pounds, 11 ounces, and will be 19 inches long. This child will have hazel eyes and be completely bald.

I must admit that I kept getting new readings until she predicted a boy.

32 weeks

A lot has changed in the past 2-3 weeks since my last belly picture!

How Far Along 32 weeks

How Big is Baby 16.75" long, 3.75 lbs is average for 32 weeks. The nurse who measured me yesterday said he may not be bigger than he should be, but he's definitely not on the small side at all.

Total Weight Gain 30 lbs.

Stretch Marks Despite Halloween candy and Thanksmas treats, I think they're the same.

Sleep It took me so long to fall asleep last night. Then, I dreamed about The Godfather, since we had just finished watching it before bed. It was interesting.

Best Moment this Week It was when the nurse practitioner told me that I am "the picture of health in pregnancy"

Movement He's a very energetic guy. Not many kicks today, he's mostly been sticking his butt out under my ribs. And hiccupping. A lot of hiccups.

Food Cravings Froot Loops. But as I was eating them, I was kind of wishing they had marshmallows in them.

Labor Signs None yet.

Belly Button Most definitely out today.

What I miss Buying cute shoes at Payless. I stopped by Tuesday after work and none of the shoes fit me. I need an 8W now, but I couldn't find any wides. Then, I tried on some 8.5s, and they were wide enough, but way too long. Looks like I'll be sticking with my 2 pairs of "maternity shoes" that I bought a few weeks ago.

What I'm looking forward to Baby shower a week from Saturday!!

Weekly Wisdom 1 Zantac in the am and 1 before dinner makes for a happier tummy

Milestones Nathanael should have fingernails and toenails now!

31 weeks

How Far Along 30 weeks 6 days

How Big is Baby 16" long, 3.3 lbs

Total Weight Gain Up 28 lbs total as of Tuesday last week

Stretch Marks I keep getting more and more on my thighs, but the belly is still stretchy-free

Sleep Getting worse at this all the time. If I take no sleep aid, I wake up hourly or more frequently. If I take something, I sleep for about 3 or 4 hours straight, then wake up hourly after that. If I take another dose when I wake up, there's no hope of getting up in the morning.

Best Moment this Week I'm really looking forward to the weekend. I'm not sure anything this week will be better than that! We're celebrating Thanksmas with the Atkinson Jrs, since Trey and Amy will be in Mississippi for Thanksgiving, Claire and Matt should have a newborn at Christmas, and Rodgers and I won't be traveling at Christmas.

Movement The nurse practitioner had me start doing movement counts. Even on his mellow days, Nate moves way more than he needs to to pass the movement count (10 movements in 2 hours)

Food Cravings Today, I just wanted tacos. So I got 2 tacos for 99 cents at Jack in the Box, and my sandwich that I brought for lunch is still here in the office fridge. Maybe I'll eat it tomorrow.

Labor Signs None yet.

Belly Button It's more and more out, but still has a mote

What I miss Belly sleeping. With the body pillow I can sleep kind of halfway between side and belly. But I can't stay that way for very long.

What I'm looking forward to Thanksmas!!

Weekly Wisdom There can be good things about morning insomnia - like being up early enough to see a mouse scare the crap out of Rodgers!

Milestones We started childbirth classes! The first week, we talked about some of our fears and anxieties, anatomy of a pregnant woman, and watched a video that I don't remember. This week (week 2) we talked a lot more about actual labor, some of the devices that mom or baby could be hooked up to, breathing techniques for surviving contractions, and watched a video of a natural birth and one of an epidural birth. I was afraid that watching the births and seeing the epidural put in would freak me out, but I kept my eyes open through the whole video and didn't get freaked out at all. I'm very proud. Gold star for me. 2 more weeks to go. Next Monday is the much-anticipated tour of Labor and Delivery.

what?! another mouse?!

So we thought we were done with the mice. I plugged up all the mouse holes and extra space around plumbing with steel wool. I occasionally hear them in the wall, but they don't pull out the steel wool. It has been a long, long time since we saw any, and that was the day that I plugged up the holes.

 

Rodgers mentioned this morning at breakfast that yesterday he thought he saw something scamper across the floor and under the oven, but he might have been imagining things. I asked if he looked behind the drawer under the oven to see if the mouse hole back there was still plugged up. He hadn't. So, he pulled out the drawer, and laid down in the floor to see. The steel wool is still plugging the hole, but they chewed a bigger hole!

 

I suggested getting one of the other mousetraps we have left and putting it right under that hole. To the right of the stove are 4 narrow drawers. We only use the top 3. The last time we found mice, there were little poops in every one of those drawers (but, oddly, none in the drawers where we keep food). So, I put a trap in the bottom drawer, with some fragrant peanut butter in the middle of it. I check it every so often, but it never catches anything. Also, there have been no more poops in the other drawers. He went to get that trap to put behind the under-the-oven drawer. As he reached in to pick it up, he abruptly withdrew his hand, as we heard, "EEK! EEK! EEK!"

 

I had been sitting at the table, finishing a cup of coffee while this was going on. I very nearly fell out of the chair laughing at Rodgers so hard. I've never seen anything make him jump like that. I mean, this man plays with all kinds of creepy crawly things (but nothing that slithers).

 

We still have 2 traps left. One is still in a bathroom and one is now behind the under-the-oven drawer. I wonder if we could just pour poison down the wall. Or maybe we should get a cat.

sarcasm is my favorite

First of all, it's completely hilarious that Playmobil made this product, a toy airport security checkpoint. But, even better, Amazon allows for customer reviews of the product. I'm giddy with delight. Click here if you have an hour or two to do some online reading.