8/12/10 :: day 280 (+0)

Well, today is the big day.  D-day (a.k.a. – My Due Date)  No signs of baby yet. Bummer.

(4:09pm)  Today hasn’t been as emotional as I had expected.  I didn’t get much sleep again last night, even with the Tylenol PM I took.  Yes, my doc okayed me taking it.  Around 11:30am I met Derek for lunch at Lenny’s…his favorite place in the world.  Then I took a little shopping trip (for necessities) to Target.  I did a little window shopping.  I thought the air conditioned walking might help kick off some labor, but no.  I left Target with toilet paper, cleaning supplies, but no painful contractions.

I’m still having regular BH contractions, but nothing with pain yet.  Grayson hates the BH’s he gets real mad after they happen and starts kicking and flailing about in there.  Yea, for my internal organs!

When I got home from Target I swept the front porch and trimmed a few bushes.  Nothing too heavy.  Just a little activity to get me moving.  I also did a little house work today.  I vacuumed, dusted, and did a load of laundry.  Now I’m bored again.

8/13/10 :: day 281 (+ 1)

Yep, I’m starting to swell.  Geez that’s awesome. Last night it was my feet and today my hands are puffy.  I can still take off my wedding rings, but it’s a bit of a squeeze.  Last night, exactly at midnight, I got hit with some nasty pain in my back.  I thought FINALLY, THIS IS IT, but after 5-10 minutes it went away.  It was a no go.  Good thing I didn’t wake Derek up over that one.

Since I haven’t been getting a ton of sleep lately Derek offered to sleep on the couch last night.  Don’t worry it’s super comfy.  Well, sleeping in a big empty bed without the sounds of a snoring husband waking me every 30 minutes really helped me catch up on some  much needed sleep.  I didn’t wake up until 12:30pm this afternoon.  Like I said…much needed.

8/14/10 :: day 282 (+2)

Today was a bit rough.  I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night.  I conked out around 1:30am and was awaken by a barfing dog around 5:30am.  Then I couldn’t get back to sleep.  I tried laying back down for a while, but no luck dozing off.  All I could do was think of what needed to be done today.  I played on the computer some, cleaned some floorboard, did a load of laundry, and baked my sweetie some cinnamon rolls @ 7:30am.  I think he enjoyed the early morning surprise…just not so much the early morning part of the surprise.

After the cinnamon rolls I tried one more time to catch some Z’s, but again…no luck.  So at 9:30am Derek and I started our day.  We ventured out of the house into the nasty 100 degree weather.  By the way, the heat index was 112 today.  Ahhhh!  Around 3pm we came back home and I attempted to take me a little nap.  It worked.  I was zonked out, drooling my little heart out, for a solid 2 hours.

8/15/10 :: day 283 (+3)

Well, I was able to sleep last night.  The hubs was a peach and slept @ Sofa City so I could have the bed all to myself.  As much as I prefer having him next to me at night, I’ve gotta start catching some Z’s before this kid gets here.  He shut all the doors to the room and hallway to keep the room completely quite for me.  How sweet is he?  I stayed racked out until noon today.  Minus the occasional potty break.  I mean I AM 10 months pregnant.

We decided to skip church today.  We figure these are our last few days together, just him and I so we both slept in and when I awoke we grabbed some Taco Bell and lounged out the couch just watching movies.  It was wonderful.  Around 5pm we ventured out and went to and Ice Cream Dinner at church.  Yep, we skipped the service, but showed for the FREE ice cream.  Cuz that’s what heathens do.
I’m still having some BH contractions constantly throughout the day, but no real signs of labor still.  It still looks like Tuesday will be the big day.  At least we will be really, really prepared.

8/16/10 :: day 284 (+4)

Wow.  Tomorrow is the big day.  The day I have been waiting on for the past 9 months…more like my whole life.  The day I give birth to my 1st child.  To keep my mind off of this crazy event my mom took me out today for lunch and a day of shopping.  We had a great day.

I think tonight is going to be worse than the night before Christmas, with a side of skydiving for the 1st time.  I say skydiving, because you want this to happen, but you never really know that everything will turn out fine until you feet hit the ground.  Not that I would be crazy enough to jump willingly out of a plane.  But, I imagine that is what would be going through my mind.

The day didn’t start out so wonderful though.  I made myself wake up at 6am with Derek (when he left for work) to ensure that I would fall asleep tonight.  I don’t want to be exhausted tomorrow.  So, my morning was spent a bit groggy, but that wasn’t the bad part.

Just before my mom was about to pick me up I started a load of laundry.  I noticed the water looked a bit brown.  I thought maybe that there was just dirt left in the washer from washing dog towels the day before, so I started a load.  Next, I went to refill the dog’s water bowls and I noticed the water looked a bit brown there too.  I grabbed a white cereal bowl and filled it with water, and yep…it was brown too.  I about lost it.  Just then my mom walked in the door.  Isn’t that something you want to walk into? Your 40 week pregnant daughter on the verge of a melt down because all the water in her house is now brown, just one day away from bringing a newborn home from the hospital.
I had Derek call in and report the issue, and it turns out that down the street they were working on the water lines and I guess mud or something got into the main line.  When my mom and I returned from eating lunch and picking up 4 gallons of drinking water from the grocery store, just in case, the water was back to normal.  Disaster averted.

She and I spent the rest of the day hopping from store to store just killing time.  She shopped I watched.  Not like I can really fit in anything but maternity right now.  We did do some shopping for Grayson today as well.  Even though I felt like I walked a million miles today I am still only having BH contractions.  Nothing painful still.  Oh well, that will definitely change tomorrow.

Derek and I went out on our last meal as a family of two.   We went to our favorite little Taco Shop Swanky’s.  Since I am being induced tomorrow morning I can’t have anything to eat or drink after midnight tonight I pigged out on a huge pile of nachos and two big ‘ole Cokes.  Yummy in my tummy!

I’m quite nervous about what tomorrow will bring, but at the same time I am over the moon that I finally get to meet this tiny person that I have been baking for the past 9 months.  I can’t wait to introduce Grayson to the world.

**** Stay tuned.  The birth story is coming soon. ****

8/5/10 :: day 273

So every second of every day now it feels like my stomach is ripping open.  I try to push the skin together so it doesn’t hurt so dang much but that doesn’t really seem to work.

Last night was miserable.  Our a/c was acting funny so it was really hot in the house and I didn’t fall asleep until 1 am.  So to deal with the heat I sat in bed watching me some Netflix and eating leftovers.  Yes, I know…I’m bad.  But that is the 1st time I’ve done anything like that since I’ve been pregnant.  I haven’t really been too much of an over eater since I’ve been knocked up.  Although my stretch marks may beg to differ.

8/8/10 :: day 276

Last night was rough.  With only 4 days left till my due date I am having more and more trouble falling asleep at night.  Thursday Night/Friday Morning I think I finally fell asleep @ 3am. And the night after that it was 1:30am before I zonked out.  Last night I think I finally fell asleep at midnight.

Last night I also had a bit of a sinus headache.  Which was really strange, because I haven’t been getting these since I’ve been pregnant.  Maybe one or two, but nothing like last night.  I wonder since I had a headache like I did before I was pregnant if I am going to go into labor soon?  I wish.  The combo of the sinus headache and just sheer un-comfort due to my massive belly really hindered me from falling fast asleep last night.  I think I finally passed out just due to exhaustion from my previous nights of very little sleep.  This morning I woke up with what felt like a hangover from my sinus headache.  I have no idea how to explain it except by saying that I still had a headache and my neck and shoulders felt like The Hulk tried to give me a deep tissue neck rub.  OUCH!

In church I felt like…blah.  For some reason I felt like I was about to burst into tears at any second, but I never did.  I think I was just worn out and not feeling well and my mind felt like I deserved a good cry.  I sure think so.  After church Derek and I both came home and napped for two hours.  That was sooooooooooooo nice.

Just a little while ago we decided to take a walk hoping it would force this baby out.  No luck so far. Since it feels like a bazillion degrees out, wrapped in a cloud of 99% humidity, we decided to take our walking to the mall.  Bad Idea.  I totally forgot it is Tax Free Weekend here.  School also starts tomorrow.  The mall was packed!  We did 2.5 laps and I was sweating bullets.  So much for keeping cool.

8/9/10 :: day 277

(12:28am) My stomach has the hiccups.  I love when that happens.

(WARNING! ICKY INFO) –>  I’ve been having “the squirts” on and off for a few days now.  I wonder if that means I will be going into labor soon?  Doubt it.

My iPhone app tells me that I am 98.9% of the way through my pregnancy.  I really hope I deliver on my due date or before.  I’m running out of shows to watch on Netflix.

8/10/10 :: day 278

Since 1am I have been experiencing faint BH contractions on somewhat of a regular basis.  They are just tightness, no pain, so I was able to sleep straight through them.  Last night was actually one of the better nights of sleep I’ve had recently.  When I woke, around 10:30am….thank you very much, I noticed the BH’s were continuing.  Still without pain.  So, I went on with my day.

(5:16pm)  A huge thunderstorm is just rolling into Memphis.  I mean huge.  I just started feeling a tiny bit of that pain stuff…yuck.  Leave it to me to go into labor on the night of a MONDO thunderstorm.  Lets hope that the pain I felt passes and Derek doesn’t have to risk life and limb to get me to the hospital tonight.

8/11/10 :: day 279

Today was a bit of a let down.  Our last doctor’s appointment, before my scheduled induction on the 17th, was today.  After waiting almost 1.5 hrs to see the doc we were told that I hadn’t dilated any more from last week.  The strange thing is that over the past two days I have been having BH contractions like crazy.  I know that BH’s don’t mean that labor is beginning, but I thought that they might at least help in the dilation department.  But noooooo!  Tomorrow is my freakin’ due date, and I can pretty much guarantee that will won’t get to meet this kid at all tomorrow.

The car ride home sucked.  I just closed my eyes and tried not to let Derek see me cry, but it was pretty hard to hide the fact that you are crying when tears keep rolling down your puffy pregnancy face.

7/29/10 :: day 266

So yesterday was an exciting day for me.  I went in to see the doc for my weekly exam and low and behold I am officially beginning to dilate!  Woo Hoo!  Nothing too major just 1/2 a centimeter, but progress is progress.  I asked about my effacement and he said I was at about 50%.  That was nice to hear too.

My doc said that if next week I have dilated to 1.5 to 2 cementers then we can schedule an induction BEFORE my due date!  NICE.  If not then we will have to wait until my due date, and schedule an induction (in case I don’t pop on my own) for 3-5 days after my due date.  I asked if he is going to make me wait up to two weeks after my due date and he said no way.  I about jumped off that table and gave him a thank you hug, but then remembered I was 1/2 naked under that thin piece of pink paper draped over my legs.  Can you say awkward?

My doc suggested to start walking so we can force this baby out of me.  So that’s just what me and my patient hubby did when we got home.  Well, I more waddled and he walked.  Seriously though, walking sends shooting pains into my you-know-where area.  I guess that means it’s doing something in the progression department.

A few days ago I ordered a waterproof mattress pad from Walmart.  I am not about to let my water break in bed.  I refuse to sleep on a mattress that has that kind of nasty all over it, and I cannot afford a new mattress right now.  So, a quick $15.00 fix it was.  I know you are asking and concerned about Rufus (the car).  Towels will be placed in my seat for the duration of the next two weeks to prevent that kind of nasty happening as well.  Have I mentioned that my bellybutton STILL hasn’t popped out?  Cuz it hasn’t.  I know not everyone’s pops out, but I thought that by now I would at least have something.  That’s okay with me.  I guess my bellybutton was a super deep inny.

7/30/10 :: day 267

Today is my last day as a working gal.  I’m going to miss riding to and from work with Derek everyday and having the opportunity to get my Derek fix everyday at lunch.  I will miss my friends and co-workers….just not the work part.  That answer may change in a few months, but they said that they would take me back if I wanted to go back.  It’s nice to know that I will be missed for my work.

7/31/10 :: day 268

(7:02pm) I’m getting sharp pains down the interior of my right leg, right down to my knee.  I hope this kid is just hitting a nerve as he wiggles around in there.  Because he is really wiggling right now.

Earlier today our friend Scott came over and took some maternity photos for us.  I’m really excited to see the final results.

(9:44pm) Just woke up from a nap and getting ready to head back to bed.  Yippee!  Oh, the joy of having nothing to do. Derek and I had a long day, or at least I did.  After my stint at being a super “maternity” model, lunch with the hubby, and going to the movies I am pooped…hence the nap.

Now my tummy is itchy.  It’s not dry…trust me.  Ever since I started noticing a few of those nasty, stupid, ugly, poopy stretch marks on my tum tum I have been lubing that bad boy up every chance I get.  Which reminds me….

8/3/10 :: day 271

(7:13am)  I awoke this morning with my right arm in a weird state.  You know the feeling when your leg or arm is just about to or is just coming back from fall asleep?  It kind of starts throbbing and a few or a lot of pricklies start fluttering through that limb.  That is how my right arm has felt for the past hour.  I really want to go back to sleep, but this arm is bugging me.  If it doesn’t get better by noon I’m gonna call the doctor.  I even tried getting up out of bed and walking around the house, but no luck.  I think I’m going to try and take me a cat nap and see if it doesn’t fix itself.

Okay, so this is pretty much how my stomach feels all day…sore.  It’s sore so frequently now that I can’t really tell when I’m having BH contractions, because it feels like one giant BH contraction.

I am constantly on the look out for that PLUG of nasty.  Seeing that, I feel, may give me some hope that something may happen sometime soon.  My due date is only 9 days away, but to Derek and I it feels like an eternity.  We are both so ready for the little guy to get here, but still in disbelief that we are about to become parents to an entire human.  That’s just crazy talk.

Right now I use a pillow and sometimes Grayson’s Boppy pillow to hold up my stomach when I sit up.  This big ole’ thing hurts when it’s just dangling there.

(6:13pm)  I just finished eating dinner and this little guy is kicking away.  Just a minute ago I had my MacBook on my lap keying up a blog post, and the kid just about kicked the computer off my lap.  I have another doctor’s appointment tomorrow and I would love to see some progress in the dilation department so me and the boyfriend (for some reason I never stopped calling him that even after we got married) are going on a walk.  I wanna make this kid D-R-O-P!

*side note: I noticed another blogger calls her husband her boyfriend too…Katie Bower…I don’t feel like such a dork now for doing so*

8/4/10 :: day 272

I finally got to sleep in today, and it was glorious!  Even though I prayed for a significant change in my dilation I was only answered with .5 cm.  I guess that’s better than nothing.  That means that I am now officially 1cm dilated.

At our doctor’s appointment today we discussed induction.  Since I am only 1cm dilated we will NOT…I repeat will NOT be inducing on August 10th like I had hoped.  We now have an induction date set for August 17th.  Boo!  That is like 2 friggin’ weeks away.  Are you kidding me?!

I know the best thing to do is to let this little guy come on his own, but it is really hot here in Memphis and our AC is acting up, and I can barley go to the bathroom without assistance from my ever-so-understanding hubby.  I’m not kidding on that one.  It’s a huge pain in the hiney.

At my appointment today they did an ultrasound to see how big our little guy is, and during the entire ultrasound he kept pursing his lips like a duck.  This leads me to believe that he is going to be just like his daddy.  Derek is notorious for pursing his lips.  I like to call it his duck face.  We were able to see some hair floating around in the fluid, and his eyeball.  I’m so happy to see he has at least one of those.  It’s pretty hard to see things without eyeballs.  The strangest thing we found out today at the doc’s was that I have more than the average amount of amniotic fluid.  I have heard of women having to little, but never too much.  My doc said that is why my stomach is getting as big as it is.  That’s just like me to have something out of the ordinary, but good/strange out of the ordinary.  I mean how does someone end up with too much fluid.  Am I drinking too much water?  Maybe too much milk?  I drink about a gallon of milk a week.  Okay, maybe 3/4 of a gallon, but I really do drink a ton of the stuff.

My BP is awesome….112/76.  Take that pre-eclampsia!  Oh, and I only gained .5 lbs this past week.  Go me!

Have I mentioned how often I pee?

7/22/10 :: day 259

Yesterday, I went to the OB for my weekly exam.  Good and stinky news.  I certainly wouldn’t call it bad news.  I think my body is just one of those that was made to carry a baby.  This little stinker doesn’t want to come out.  I’m STILL not dilated and only 20% effaced. I mean my doctor is so confident that I will make it to my due date that he okayed me to go hang out at the lake all day even though I am full term.  I mean this lake is 2.5 hours away so he is not too concerned about me being too far away from the hospital otherwise he would have said no to me leaving town.

I like to say it is good news because there is nothing wrong with me.  The baby’s heart rate is perfect, my blood pressure is still low, I am not really gaining any weight anymore, and my body is holding strong…for the most part.  I say stinky news because it’s August…in the south…and I’m pregnant.  And this baby ain’t coming out any time soon.  I still have 3 full weeks left to my due date and my doc said that if I don’t dilate by next week we will be scheduling a induction date a few days after my due date.  So I may have this kid in 3.5 weeks instead.  BOO!

(10:12am)  My stomach has been in pain all morning.  It seems that every time I go to visit the doctor for my weekly check-up (which has been twice now) I seem to move to a new level of pain the next day.  And that pain level continues throughout the next week.

This morning when I woke up I woke to soreness and extreme heaviness in my tummy.  It was also a bit hard to breathe…so that sucked.  I put on some lotion and had to lay down on the bed after because it wore me out that much. Pathetic!

7/25/10 :: day 262

I finally, finally, finally had another dream about the baby.  This is only my second dream that he has made an appearance in.  I’m actually kind of happy about that, because I don’t want to get an image of him stuck in my head that may scare me or get my hopes up about what he may look or be like.  I want him to enter this world with no expectations by me.

On another note, my legs have been getting more muscle cramps…especially at night.  I flex my foot the wrong way and…OMG…the biggest charlie horse EVER!

My hips are constantly hurting these days.  Every time I stand or sit or lay down I feel them ache.  On occasion, I will feel an extreme pressure on my lower back while standing.  The feeling is as if I am carrying something really heavy and the weight of the item is being burdened just above my tailbone.  Now more often than not, when I stand up, whether I’m walking or not, I feel the weight of this little guy in my lower abdomen.  It is seriously heavy!  I think I may be carrying the 1st 30 pound baby.  I really do.  The extreme weight of this little boy really does a number on my already achy hips.

Just about every night now I wake up with something numb.  One day, I woke up and my middle finger on my left hand was numb.  What’s up with that?  Now every time I wake to pee, which is about 3-4 times a night, a different body part has gone numb.  Oh…I forgot, I drool.  I am like a leaky faucet.  No really.  I drool so much that EVERY time I wake I have to flip my pillow over, and wipe the stream of drool running down my cheek.  It’s getting pretty nasty.  Which reminds me I need to change my pillow case today.

I think something is broken in me.  I haven’t gotten that crazy nesting instinct yet.  I mean, there are things that I am making sure gets done before the baby gets here, but I just always thought the “nesting” would be like a flood of crazy that washed over me, and with only 2.5 weeks left to go I don’t think I have enough time to truly nest.  Derek’s nesting has kicked in so where is mine?

7/26/10 :: day 263

I’m just going to say it, well type it, I’m scared.  I have 2 weeks and 3 days left before my due date, and as much as I would like to meet my little guy I feel like there is not enough time left to complete all the things that need to be done.  We’ve had a major minor set back in the completion of the nursery.  One of the shelves over the changing table wobbled right out of the wall.  Now we have to patch the hole and move the shelf.  Boo.
As I cried into Derek’s arms last night I unleashed on him my mounting fears.  The poor guy just probably wanted to zonk out, but listened and comforted his sobbing wife for a solid 15-30 minutes.  I’m afraid while preparing the last couple of weeks I will forget to take the time to spend with my belly.  I don’t want to get so wrapped up in preprations that I miss out on my last weeks of carrying my 1st child.  I have more than enjoyed being pregnant, and want to savor every minute of this pregnancy.

In my sobbing last night I also reveled in the possibility that “what if something is wrong with our child?”  I will still love him just as much, but I don’t think anyone wants to see their child suffer.  I think all of this panic came along due to the craziness of yesterday.  The front passenger side window of one of our vehicles got broke out by a rock, and the windshield got chipped when Derek was mowing the lawn, and a blade threw a large rock right at the car.

I still need to buy nursing bras, tops, pads, and cream.  I need to sanitize my pump, and wash some bottles.  The pack-n-play is already set up in our bedroom, right next to my side of the bed of course.  Derek wants the dogs to get use to it in the room.  I don’t think they even notice that it’s there.  Well, except for the fact that we had to relocate Wrigley’s bed to the other side of the room.  I really don’t think she minds, because now she gets to sleep by daddy and her big brother all night long, and she is madly in love with both.

This little guy is getting uber cramped in my belly.  He hasn’t dropped yet, so he has been kicking my ribs.  At least he hasn’t been too bad about making it hard to breathe.  There are times when he moves that I wouldn’t say that it “hurts”, but the feeling isn’t pleasant.

Today I woke up and my entire body was sore.  With only 4 days left of work I just couldn’t make it in.  It was painful to lay in bed; I have no clue how I would sit in a work chair for 8 hours, so I stayed home.  That means only 3 days left of work…wow!  I’m not going back to work.  I’m quitting.  Three more days and I will be a stay-at-home mom.  How in the world did I get so lucky?

(8:44pm) Derek and I went to Target tonight to purchase a few things I still needed for my hospital bag, and some breastfeeding supplies I was lacking.  As we started walking into my favorite red and white store my belly started aching.  On and off during our Target excursion I was having sharp pains.  The pains are a bit more intense than BH contractions I’ve had in the past.  These are a sharp pain that are just below my belly button and all the way across my stomach. (both sides)  They are still hurting me on occasion now that I’m at home.  I don’t think they are anything to get excited over, because I can still talk though them.  Unless something changes I’m going to chalk these up to being a bit stronger versions of my normal Braxton Hicks contractions.

7/27/10 :: day 264

Cue tears.  Just last week I had a perfect “non-stretch marked” baby bump, and now with 2 weeks left I am developing stretch marks on my beautiful bump.  I know that most women get stretch marks, but with just two weeks to go?  Are you kidding me?!  I have some on my thighs from this pregnancy, but my belly has always been spared.  Why now?  Why on the one thing about my pregnancy that has remained untainted from the hideous skin tears?  I’ve done my best to keep my weight in check during these past 9 months, not to mention my mom didn’t get stretch marks even after 3 kids…so why am I getting them?  I know there is not much you can do about it I just think it’s hitting me hard, because I thought I was coming out of this with somewhat the same stomach as I went in with.   But now with only 2 stinkin’ weeks left I am left defeated.  Call me vein, call me selfish, just don’t call me late for dinner…I kid, I kid…I am just bummed. I know that once I see that precious little face no stretch mark in the world will ever bother me again.

(6:40pm) My sorority sister Ashley just gave birth to her little girl Harper today.  Ashley originally was just a week ahead of me in her due date, but got bumped up to this Friday…guess it should have been earlier than that.  And my other friend Whitney that was due on August 1st gave birth yesterday to little Miss Mary Collins.  Hearing of these two girls giving birth that are timed right there with me gets me excited to meet my little guy.  However, I don’t think I’m going to be quite as lucky as they were.  Grayson is holding strong.  I don’t expect to meet his little squishy face for another 2 week SOLID.

7/15/10 :: day 252

Yesterday I went to the doc’s for my 1st weekly exam, and didn’t leave as excited as I entered.  Even though I am not technically “full-term” I was hoping for some good news in the cervix area.  But alas….I am still carrying this little bean high and am zero centimeters dilated. I guess I should be happy that I haven’t had any problems during my pregnancy, and that my baby is happy as a clam living inside of me, but I just really want to meet him.  These last few weeks, because I can almost reach out and taste my due date, have been unbearable.  And the next 3.5 I imagine will be worse.  I think another part of me has mentally checked out of work already, and it’s torture having to sit in a cubicle all day when there are soooo many other things I need to be doing in preparation of Mr. Bean.

Last night and this morning haven’t been any better.  I awoke at 2:30am having to pee and couldn’t fall back asleep till 5:30am.  My alarm goes off at 5:50am.  JOY!

7/19/10 :: day 256

I’ve been sleeping better these days.  Well, about as well as you can sleep 9 months pregnant.

I am being blessed with some nasty gas pain or contractions this morning.  I am thinking it’s a little of both.  Oh joy!

(2:19pm)  I wouldn’t call my BH intense, but I would say that they are quite uncomfortable.  I make certain to drink plenty of water.  And thank goodness for that it has helped keep me regular.  I do not even want to think about being pregnant & backed up…if you catch my drift.  When the BH contractions come on I do my best to get up and take a stroll around the parking lot or walk to a co-worker’s desk, but that doesn’t always do away with them.  WAIT!!!  I just remembered only BH contractions go away with walking and water.  Am I in early labor????  Oh geez!  I guess I will find out on Wednesday. I’m not even going to begin to get excited about that though, because I’m sure he will tell me that nothing has changed and we are still on track for August 12th.  BOO!

7/20/10 :: day 257

(1:03pm) My stomach has the hiccups so hard core right now I kind of feel like I have the hiccups too.  Maybe he caught the hiccups I had at lunch?!?

7/8/10 :: day 245

I read somewhere this morning of someone explaining 1st trimester exhaustion as being almost coma like, and I totally agree with that.

(10:35am)  I am so tired today.  I got somewhat of a decent night’s sleep last night, but I think all of the mid-night potty breaks and lugging around a medicine ball in my belly all day is really starting to wear this little girl down.

Have I mentioned that my hips hurt.  And I’m not just talking about the sides…even the back portion of my hips hurt.  I don’t think that part even moves.  How in the world can it hurt?  I am constantly hearing bones move and often feel them shifting as I walk.  On occasion, I can hear my left hip click when I walk.  Thanks relaxin!  By the end of the day I am walking around with my back a bit hunched and waddling around the house.  I look a bit like a hunchback named Egor.

7/10/10 :: day 247

Dang!  I’m really feeling the weight of this big ole fat baby now.  I’ve learned or discovered in the past two days that I can no longer stand from a sitting position with in a few seconds, even IF I have help getting out of the chair.  There is so much weight in my belly that once I’m on my feet I have to stay hunched over for a moment and slowly straighten out my body until completely upright.

My sciatica is back!  It went away for a few weeks when the kid moved up in my abdomen and into my rib cage, but he didn’t stay there for long.  No sir.  He is slowly beginning to drop.  I wouldn’t quite call it lightening yet, but his shimmying his way downtown.  Oh yeah, back to the sciatica.  Now that he is moving his way back down into my pelvis he has landed once again on my sciatic nerve causing momma a bit of numbness.  Since there are only two positions I can sleep in now, my right side and my left side, I try to give each side a fare shot in sleeping time.  However, sleeping on my right side causes this little boy to press extra hard on that nerve and I typically wake up do to a funny feeling in my leg or foot.  Typically that feeling is numbness.  It’s not your typical numbness though.  I don’t get the exterior numbness that is usually associated with your leg being asleep.  It’s almost an internal thing.  When I touch my skin I can feel my fingers, but just below that layer of skin is where the numbness kicks in.  Often times it just my heel that numbs out on me.

In fact just the other morning I awoke to the front part of my lower leg an foot on my right side feeling this way.  It stayed that way for a couple of hours.  I guess Grayson wasn’t ready to scooch himself off that nerve quite yet.

7/13/10 :: day 250

Last night when I was trying to fall asleep I started feeling some light, but sharp pains in my upper belly.  They didn’t bother me if I laid completely still, but being as pregnant as I am that didn’t work for me.

This morning when I got out of the shower I noticed a sharp pain on the left side of my temporary baby housing place, and now at 9:10am it is still there.  It comes and goes.  I wonder if you can have or just feel contractions on only one side of your belly?

(9:52am)  The pains in my left side are gone, but I am now having Braxton Hicks contractions that I tried to walk off.  It helped a little.

Saturday night making it’s way into Sunday morning I awoke to stomach pains.  I was dreaming about the pain so it must have been going on for a while.  While I was dreaming I was aware of the pain in my dream.  As I began to wake up I was not certain what was going on or why I was waking up.  I was confused.  Then it hit me…I was in PAIN.  It felt like severe stomach cramps.  I remembered that with Braxton Hicks contractions you are supposed to change whatever activity you are doing.  If you are sleeping/lying down…get up and walk around, etc.  So I did.  I stood up and walked around my room while attempting to stretch my belly a bit.  I figured since I was awake I might as well use this opportunity to go tinkle.  It was 4am in the morning and not my usual 1:30am or 3am potty time, but I figured why the heck not.

(4:33pm)  I have been having some light BH contractions all day today.  It’s kind of exciting, but also quite scary.  I go to the docs tomorrow to have one of those “fun” exams.  Maybe I’m in early labor.  That would be awesome!  But if I am I just hope he holds out one more week so he will not be considered premature.

7/1/10:: day 238

(9:51am) My tummy has the hiccups again.  Love it!

My nails seem to be growing like weeds, but they are still quite thin and bendy.  Sometimes they get so long that I will hit them on something and they bed back causing me horrible pain.  I’ve done it to about 5-6 nails.  That generally tells me that my nails are too long and need to be trimmed ASAP.  I am kind of enjoying having long nails, but I sure don’t like constantly having to clean under them. Short nails are much less time consuming.

(2:33pm) My little guy is wiggling in my belly right now.  I love this.  When you are spending a boring day at work and it looks like there is no end it sight; all of a sudden you feel a little wiggle in your belly and it reminds you that you are not alone.  Not for one second!

7/2/10 :: day 239

I’m not 100% certain, but I think Grayson has dropped.  The past two days it seems like he is lower.  I have been feeling just a slight bit more weight down “below”, and I feels like his legs and butt are further away from my ribs now.  I don’t quite think it’s the “lightening” I keep reading about, but I think he is headed (pardon the pun) in that direction.