34 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: I've gained 24 lbs.

Size of Baby: Baby James is the size of a cantaloupe.

Sleep: Terrible. Between really bad allergies (breathe-right strips are a nightly requirement), leg cramps that send me leaping out of bed at all hours, and reflux choking episodes nearly every night, sleep has become a miserable experience. When I do sleep, I wake up in the morning covered in sweat. I think at this point I would rather be getting up every two hours all night to feed a newborn baby.

Movement: Oh yeah. My little wiggle worm has moved his way back into head-down position...yay!

Cravings/Aversions: I'm craving ice cream, but have been resisting the craving fairly well. Yesterday I noticed I was just really hungry for everything in sight!

Gender: It's a boy...Baby James!

Mood: I'm totally tapped out in every sense of the word. My mind feels like one never-ending to-do list right now.

Symptoms: It ain't pretty! Lots of reflux and choking. Sweating and burning up 24/7. Having a lot of pain in my pelvis and hips, as well as sharp nerve pains. While walking is a pretty painful experience, I am so thankful I can do it.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and it went great! James' heartbeat sounded strong and clear on the doppler and my doctor could tell he'd moved into a head-down position. When we go back in two weeks, I'll have another growth ultrasound and she'll check to see if I'm dilated...eeek! Hard to believe we're already almost at this point! From there, we'll start weekly appointments. As long as baby doesn't look super big on the ultrasound, I'll get to go into labor on my own! After being induced with Claire, I'm really looking forward to getting to experience going into labor spontaneously.

Milestones: 34 weeks is the point at which my doctor won't do anything to stop things if I go into labor. Crazy! James...don't take that as an invitation to come anytime soon...you need to stay put awhile longer!

Best Moment this Week: Getting to have a kid-free night on Friday. I'll be honest...earlier in the day before Claire left, I almost cried thinking about how weird and empty my house would seem without her, but of course it was very nice to have some time to ourselves. My parents were really sweet to keep Claire for us, and I'm happy to report that she did great. I think we were all a little shocked by how well she did...she didn't even cry when my mom put her down for the night! Thank goodness - it gives me so much peace of mind about leaving her to go to the hospital to give birth.

What I'm Looking Forward to: I'm looking forward to meeting my sweet son! I'm kind of over the preparing phase and I'm ready to move onto the next part, although I want James to stay in awhile longer. I'm also really looking forward to him dropping so I can hopefully get a little relief from the reflux.

And here's a bump picture from Sunday. I hardly have any pictures of myself during this pregnancy so I'm going to try to take some over the next few weeks so James can have some photographic proof that I actually carried him - ha!