37 Weeks

Well I am heading into the home stretch. I am now considered full term, which isso exciting! I can't believe it has gone by this fast. My belly is ginormous now. It is amazing how much your skin can stretch to accommodate this little one in such a short period. My tank top that I wear for these pictures no longer completely covers the bottom of my belly, but I am surprised it made it this far being that it isn't a maternity top.

I am still doing quite well going into the ninth month. I do get winded a lot easier these days and I definitely get sleepy early in the evening and I try to sleep in in the morning. Although I usually have anywhere from one to five hour stretches in the night that I can't seem to get comfortable or fall asleep. That is a bummer, but I suppose it will prepare me for the complete lack of sleep I will be blessed with once she is here.

My ligament pain comes and goes, but it has been a good five days since I had my last bought with it. I keep waiting to get the Braxton Hicks contractions, but so far nothing like that. My doctor told me that Baby is happy in there, so that is why. So other than the normal uncomfortableness from having an extra 20lbs hanging on the front of me, I am pretty lucky. I've heard a lot of horror stories of heartburn, acid reflux, constipation, water weight gain and stretch marks. Thankfully I don't have those...yet. Now that I say it, it is probably going to all plague me at once.

Christmas

Christmas this year was a bit bitter sweet. I had a great time opening presents in the morning with Pete and Danny, watching Elf, then heading out to our friends Bill and Becky's for dinner, but I so missed spending it with mine and Pete's family. This time of year is really hard to be away, and I think being pregnant makes it worse.

We did a small Christmas again this year, and we got some pretty great gifts. Mom got us a Flip Video, which is going to be so great to keep everyone updated on Baby Heikes. Momma Heikes painted us a beautiful Tuscan themed picture, which I love, and Pete got me Mario and Sonic Winter Olympics for the Wii. I love that game. We also got some great gift certificates and of course, the gift that everyone loves, cash! Baby Heikes got some cute outfits and bath stuff as well as a sheep skin from my Aunt Sally! I am so excited about it. It is going to be so great, especially for taking pictures on.

Pete's birthday was today and before we went to dinner I asked Danny to take our picture because besides the one with ugly Christmas sweaters, we don't really have any.

Aren't we just cute? Danny and Pete were messing around so we have those giant laugh smiles going on. Only a little while longer and that belly will no longer be that huge! There are definitely things I will miss about being pregnant, but I am so excited to see our baby girl!

36 Weeks

About a month to go and I can't even believe it. I had my doctor's appointment on Tuesday and everything is great. Baby is head down, which is so good to hear and my cervix is starting to soften. Baby is still really active, she even kicked Dr. Murphy while he was measuring my belly. He said her heartbeat is really strong and fast because she is so active.

My belly continues to grow and it is rather hard most of the time. I find that when I have been sitting for a while when I get up I walk kind of funny for a few steps until my belly stretches out. I have moments of uncomfortable these days either from eating too much and feeling too full, which happens quickly since my stomach doesn't have much room anymore, or my round ligament pain, or from just not being able to get comfortable if I'm sitting or laying. Pete and I were worried that I would have a lot of back pain because of my scholiosis, but I have been pretty lucky on that one. I only get back pain every once in a while, at least at this point. Overall, my baby girl has been really good to me, and I hope that continues through labor and delivery, and of course, beyond.

I went to Babies R Us yesterday and picked up a couple sleep sacks for her. Everyone says those are so great for babies during the winter months and I don't have very many. They were having a 50% off Carter's sleepwear sale, so I got a great deal. Unfortunately they don't have very many so I was limited.

Recently I decided I should attempt to put the carseat in my car now so I can make sure it is ready to go should we need it early. I decided to put it in the center, but I have a feeling I am going to want to have it on the side, cause it is kind of a pain to climb in and pull the seat up and out when it is empty, so I can only imagine when there is a baby in it. We will see I suppose. Everything fits; the front seats can't go back all the way, but there is still a decent amount of room. Eventually we will be getting me a new car anyway, but mine will work great for now.

35 Weeks

35 weeks along now and I can't believe how close it is getting. I'm starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable more often these days, especially if I get that awful ligament pain that lasts forever. But overall I'm still doing quite well. Pete and I went to our friends Ugly Christmas Sweater Party over the weekend, which was such a good time, as always. Baby got a lot of love from everyone.

My sweater was perfect because baby made the tree look somewhat three dimensional. I swear I can actually watch my belly getting bigger now. Just when you think it can't possibly get any larger you wake up, and it has.

She has been a little easier on my ribs these days, which is so nice, and she gets the hiccups all the time, which is so cute. I wish I knew how she was situated inside there so I knew what it was that was moving around. I think my doctor said at my last visit that she was head down, but I don't know if that means she will stay that way or if she is still moving all over.

My friend, Stacy took some pictures of my belly up in Santa Barbara over the weekend in the gorgeous weather we were having. I think she got some really cute ones so I will be posting those up as soon as they are ready. I can't wait! Thanks so so much Stacy!

34 Weeks

I have hit the 34 week mark and with it has come some pain in the form of round ligaments. Now let me tell you, these pains suck! I literally thought I had appendicitis because the pain was pretty intense and it was so concentrated on my lower right side. Fortunately, no appendicitis just painful round ligaments. Apparently this is the number one complaint of pregnant women, so I am not alone. It hurt for 12 hours straight last night, so between that and my worry that I was going to have to go the emergency room I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Now if the pain hadn't been concentrated on my right lower abdomen, I probably wouldn't have worried much, but since it was and I take after my father, who is quite the worrier, it freaked me out. Fortunately today was my usual checkup and Dr. Murphy put me at ease. He is so great.

Other than that everything is going quite well. I got Baby a Christmas present. A baby swing! It is too cute and I hope she will like it. I got a smokin' deal on it on cyber Monday on Amazon. Regular $160, I got it for $89 shipped and no tax either! Woohoo! How I do love Amazon.

I've got the house all decorated for the holidays now, which I love. There is something about the glow from the little white lights on a tree that is so cozy. The tree was quite difficult to decorate as it is so full, but I definitely got the important ones up. And Pete got the outside lights up too, which I love cause the half of our street that we live on doesn't really do lights, so I like that we break the mold and are the only happy house!

I'm excited because this weekend my friend Stacy is taking some belly shots of me! I wanted to make sure I got some before it was too late, so I will be posting some in the next week or two. Hopefully they will turn out cute.