39 weeks and change

I was too lazy to take off my bella band and show the naked belly.


37 weeks



39 weeks, 2 days. Just 5 more days to go! (hopefully less)

tired and uncomfortable

That pretty much sums up the last couple of weeks of pregnancy. I get up every 1-2 hours these days either to pee or to switch sides, or just because. And when I get up I'm pretty wide awake. I guess your body is really preparing for baby. The night before last, I was SO happy because I actually slept for 4 hours straight! 4 hours! I haven't done that in months. But alas, last night it was back to waking up every couple of hours and I've refilled my sleep deprivation tank.

The belly is still getting bigger and now I have all kinds of strange little pangs and pains. My lower back hurts more often. The back of my right rib (and only my right rib...weird) hurts from time to time. If I push on the spot that bugs me, it hurts. Maybe the baby is kicking around that area and it's bruised? It is right where his feet are. I've also noticed my right pelvic bone/hip hurts in the last few days. If I turn a certain way or put weight on it, I feel a pang. I figure baby's head it so low that it's pushing against my pelvis. All of this is apparently just normal pregnancy stuff.

I think I've felt a contraction or two but can't be sure. It's not obvious enough to where I know 100% that it's a contraction. But I have felt strange pangs that I haven't felt before. But baby continues to stay in!

Tick tock, tick tock. And the waiting continues.

mystery gifts!

I finally finished up the last of the thank you notes. My fingers are so sore that it's hard to write and these poor last people are getting the messiest thank you notes ever. But there are two gifts that are still a mystery to us! We had 4 that didn't have a card or got separated from their card but I figured out two of them. The remaining two are the car seat base (the 2nd one) and a box of swaddler diapers that are both off of our registry. Neither had a card and I can't figure out who sent them! I don't have access to that info on BRU. I suppose I could call and dig deeper to figure out who bought these for us (if BRU will give out that info) but that's just such a pain.

So, I'm hoping that whoever gave either of these gifts to us some how comes across this blog post so I can say THANK YOU!

And if you did give us those gifts, please comment and let me know. :)

the waiting game

10 more days until my due date! Went to the doc yesterday and I'm still just 2cm and 50% effaced. Now I think this baby will probably stay in another week or so. Brian's hoping for 9/9/09 so we'll see if his wish will come true.

Since I've been dilated for awhile, Brian and I have had time to freak out and then calm down. Worked out well actually, because now we're both just playing the waiting game and are ready for baby to come whenever he decides it's time!

I've had a new surge of energy to clean and organize the house some more. It's small, silly things like clearing out the freezer and taking the mess in the corner of the living room and organizing it into a neater mess.

I'd be okay with the baby staying in another week but I also would be perfectly happy if the baby came today. I have decided to increase my activity a bit to encourage baby along. Plan to go back to yoga on Thursday (I figure the stretching will be good for labor anyway) and then if baby still isn't here by next week, I may need to start some home remedies! I've gotten tons of suggestions from folks so we'll see how it goes. :)

swollen fingers

The past couple of weeks my fingers have been bothering me. They're a bit swollen from excess fluid or something. My doc says it's normal and nothing to worry about since my BP isn't high. In fact, most times when they take it is lower than 120/80. (If your fingers swell and you have high BP, it's a sign of preeclampsia) I'm supposed to drink more water because ironically drinking water helps to reduce water retention. Go figure.

vaccinations: conspiracy theory or undiscovered truths?

A hot topic of discussion (and controversy) when preparing to be a new parent is around vaccinations. Are they completely safe? When should you vaccinate? According to the schedule laid out by the government? Or is there a better option for your child?

It's all quite daunting and from what I can tell, there are basically three camps. 1) Those who vaccinate according to the CDC 2) Those who don't vaccinate at all and 3) Those who ask to have certain shots broken up or spaced out to supposedly minimize risk.

My cousin recommended this book to me: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Children's Vaccinations. I went back and forth for awhile about whether I wanted to buy the book (I have WAY too many pregnancy/baby books!) But in the end I figured more information is better than less.

I was half right.

I did some research on my own and even asked a couple of my trusty early learning friends (read: gurus) their opinion on vaccinations and its link (or lack thereof) to autism. Both agreed it's a very personal decision on the part of the parent (I, too agree with that sentiment) but that the benefits of vaccinating your child greatly outweigh any risks. I definitely agree and it was NEVER and option for us to not vaccinate. However, I'm also not 100% convinced that these countless stories of babies falling ill or sometimes even dying have absolutely no connection to certain vaccines.

Now, is it the vaccine itself that causes these problems? Doubtful. I think if your child is healthy with a normal immune system, vaccinating it fine. But what about those babies who don't have a normal immune system? Apparently, there are two studies done in 2008 and 2009 that found that children with autism have lower levels of certain antibodies that play a role in immunity. Some believe that this is a prime reason why certain children react negatively to vaccines -- their immune systems just can't handle it. The problem is, there's currently no way of knowing how well your child's immune system is working -- no preventative measure as of yet. The only way to know is to give your child the vaccine and see what happens. Hm. That's like giving Brian a fistful of peanuts to see if he's allergic. Not comforting at all.

On the other hand, I think a lot of these books, including the one I mention above, don't REALLY give you the straight facts and a good part of what they're selling is just that -- what they're selling. It's marketing at its best to sell books and make money.

A perfect example is the entire Mercury chapter in What Your Doc May Not Tell You (chapter 3). It talks about thimerosal, an ingredient that in recent years has been challenged by parents because it contains mercury. The book does the right thing and distinguishes between the two kinds of mercury: methylmercury and ethylmercury. Ethylmercury is what's found in thimerosal. The book then tries to claim that the toxicity of methylmercury is the same as ethylmercury, but does not put forth any actual data to back up this claim. (Granted, the amount of research done on ethylmercury is limited, but still the author puts forth no actual evidence to back up her statement)

Then the scare tactics and spinning begins.

The chapter goes on to compare mercury levels in tuna, which everyone knows to be true, and compares it to the thimerosal vaccine. Here's an exerpt:

"Let's look at two items for which the level of mercury is known: a six-ounce can of tuna fish, which contains an average of 17 micrograms (mcg) mercury, and a pediatric dose of hepatitis B vaccine, which contains 12.5 mcg."

Notice that the author is very careful to just use the word "mercury" when making this comparison because the fact of the matter is, the mercury in tuna is methylmercury while the mercury in thimerosal is ehtylmercury. She has flat out stated the latter on a previous page, but doesn't state the former as clearly. The way the paragraph is written, you are easily led to believe that she's comparing apples to apples. She isn't.

Methylmercury is what contaminates fish and can build up in the body leading to nerve damage. But ethylmercury doesn't accumulate in the body the way methylmercury does.

My sense after reading the way the author wrote this entire chapter on mercury is that she knew she couldn't outright present false information. Obviously, she'd get reamed for it. So, she "spun" it in her favor. I found it appalling and therefore discount her entire book.

I will note though, that the book was written in 2001 so perhaps some of her opinions and "facts" are outdated. And since then thimerosal has been taken out of most vaccines anyway. But apparently, autism rates have still increased since then, leading scientists to believe that there isn't a connection between the two.

So...after all that what am I going to do about vaccinations? Well, I've been trying to get in touch with our pediatrician to ask what her philosophy on it is. I haven't been able to find much info on the cons to spreading out some of the shots so I'd like to hear from her on that.

I definitely want to ask her about the Hep B shot that they give babies right after they're born at the hospital. It's unclear to me why a baby needs to have that vaccination so soon. Plus, if my baby is smaller weight-wise, I want to ask her whether this should be taken into consideration (i.e. Is there any connection between his size and the development of his immune system?)

I know for a fact that our baby WILL get all his vaccinations. I just need to talk with my pediatrician about the pros and cons around timing and get some of my other lingering questions answered.

The doctor surely knows best (or at least knows better than I do!) so I will trust her judgment. But I need to ask the questions. Not asking and just blindly doing whatever "they" tell me when there's all of this known skepticism out there just doesn't work for me.

the sleep challenge

These days, sleeping well is a luxury. Since I've been side sleeping for awhile now I'm somewhat used to it but as my belly gets bigger, side sleeping brings on other new challenges. For example, the leg that falls asleep. You would think that since I'm already technically sleeping, that this wouldn't be a problem. You'd be wrong. Whatever side I'm sleeping on, that leg (the one on the bottom) will fall asleep after awhile. I suppose my heavy belly cuts of circulation to that leg and then it starts to ache and throb. Of course, the pain wakes me up...and once I'm up I have to pee. When I'm back in bed I switch sides to relieve the pain in my leg. But after about an hour of sleeping on the other side, all I've done is shared the wealth because now my other leg is asleep. Repeat process.

Recently, the "sleeping leg" has also started to morph into calf cramps. Now, I've heard about leg cramps from everyone. Apparently, it's very common in pregnancy. I've only had a couple of instances where my calf has started to cramp up but I've caught it in time to stretch it out. I'm noticing it a lot more as I get bigger. So, I've taken to stretching every night before bed for fear of a MAJOR charley horse (where does this term come from anyway?) in the middle of the night. So far, so good.

Then, there's the baby that keeps me from sleeping. He's bigger and definitely stronger now, which is great! But it also means he moves and kicks really hard when I'm lying on my side trying to sleep. Sometimes it's so uncomfortable that I pretty much beg him to stop and just "let mommy sleep!"

But I guess that's just a preview of things to come!