Midwife appointment Week 34 Baby Cleve #2

Another uneventful midwife appointment.

Bo came along for this one, and she stole the show entertaining the nurse with singing and dancing.

Now for housekeeping: 
Week 34

Blood Pressure: 94/60

Baby's heart beat: 150
Fundal Height: 36 cm 

Weight gain: 25 lbs.

Results from Bo 
Week 35

Blood Pressure: 96/64

Baby's heart beat: 140
Fundal Height: 34cm

Total Weight gain: 35 lbs.

Baby Cleveland #2 Week 33

Week 33

Baby Size

17 in

pineapple

Baby Weight

4.25 lb

Baby

Over the next four weeks your baby will put on another half pound per week. This rapid weight gain will slow by next month.

The skeleton is also hardening although the bones in his skull will not fuse together completely, but will overlap allowing for continued growth all the way up until early adulthood.

Body

This month your body will still gain about a pound a week. You might find the extra weight makes it hard for you to get comfortable or sleep and you'll likely feel more tired this month than the previous. The extra fluid your body is retaining might also cause aching and numbness in your extremities; remember to stretch and rest frequently.

Me:

It has been much easier to track my blood sugars without the monitor and just watching what I eat.  I have just started to really check it only when I feel really off to see if I should eat more or not.  She is still really active mainly at night right after Bo goes to bed, and she doesn't stop for about 2 hours.  Sometimes I love it, and other times it just hurts and it brings tears to my eyes.  I can't wait for her to drop so I can breath and maybe not have her butt in my organs.  I might just have to wait until she comes out.  We are getting so excited to meet her and have her in our arms.

Week 33

Long weekend

We spent most of Memorial Day weekend at home re-arranging and getting ready for baby Pyper. 

Saturday morning, I woke up and made a list of all of the things we wanted to get done before Pyper gets here.

• Rearrange Bo's room so it can be Pyper and Bo's room
• Locate all items needed for Pyper to come home
• get out pack-n-play and all newborn parts
• Get crib parts out to transfer toddler crib back into a regular crib
• Find carseat
• Find baby toys
• Bring new dresser into room to put Pyper's clothes
• Go through all of the baby clothes
• sort based on size and need
• donate what we don't need or want anymore
• re-wash clothes
• put Newborn and 3 month clothes in her new dresser
• Re-arrange our bedroom to fit the pack-n-play in
• Clean out the garage from the long winter storage
• (we haven't even looked at it to see what we really need to do to it, maybe next weekend)
• Clean storage room in the basement
• get all kids stuff into the same place
• throwout empty boxes
• reorganize room to make it more functional
• do laundry
• sweep, sweep, sweep

Well we got 90% of our list done, and added a few new things to the list that we didn't even think of, like re-arrange the man-cave, and spreading out Bo's toys to the whole basement and not just in the corner.  It looks a little more like a family room and not just a man-cave.  In the last couple of weeks we have also re-arranged the upstairs living room, and found a home for all of the kids books, and cleaned and re-organized the hall closet.

There are also a few things I would still like to get done.

• clean out and re-organize the walk-in closet upstairs
• find all of the baby bottles
• clean out the garage
• drop of items at a thrift store
• find room to put a piano in our house
• get out baby swing, bouncy chair, and misc items that we have stored away
• Misc. items I haven't even thought of yet

Sunday morning we planned to head to where my parents are camp hosts at a campground near Rice, MN to meet Erica and her kids.  We love when we get to see Erica even if it is just for a little while.  Bo also loves playing with Owen and Kaitlyn, and practicing her signs with Owen.  One of the best things about hanging out with good friends is not having any of that awkward time catching up, it just is.

Kaitlyn where are you going?

Fred popcorn yummy!

Putt Putt anyone?

The girls

Going for a ride together

Waiting for the popcorn

Exploring the campground

We can't wait to go back to the campground after Pyper is born to take Bo fishing, and go tubing down the river.

Monday we did last minute touches on the basement, and just relaxing as a family.  Watching Bo show us her imagination, and watching DIY shows dreaming about adding a patio to our backyard.

I feel way better about Pyper coming in 6 weeks and look forward to spending this week celebrating my birthday and seeing Erica again on Saturday.

Baby Cleveland #2 Week 32

Week 32

Baby Size

16.7 in

large jicama

(What a weird image to have of my baby girl)

Baby Weight

3.75 lb

Baby

Your baby is really plumping up and will gain almost half his body weight by the time you deliver. This needed baby fat will help to keep your baby warm in the outside world. The layer of soft lanugo hair is also starting to shed.

Over the next few weeks your baby's real hair and skin will become soft and smooth.

Body

As you approach your due date it's normal to have anxiety. Now is a good time to discuss your birth plan with your practitioner to help ease some of your concerns or questions.

Inside your body you're likely to have more lower back pain as the growing weight of your uterus and belly pull your body forward and strains your back. 

 Me:

I have been feeling great, I am just so tired by the time I get home from work, and Josh has really been such an amazing husband, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc.  I couldn't ask for a better husband.  Bo has also been a lot more clingy lately, I think she knows that she will have to fight for my attention soon, so she is trying to get all of it in right now.  I still haven't been sleeping through the night, I wake up at least twice a night.  Sometimes I can go right back to sleep (after my quick bathroom break), but most of the time I am up for a couple hours at a time.  At least twice a week Bo has been waking up with me crying for mommy, and as soon as I open the door she grabs her blanket and her choose of stuffed animal she wants and walks into our room.  She usually just says sleep with mommy, and wants to lay in bed with me.  She is so sweet its hard to say no, so I usually let her lay with me for a half an hour and send her back to bed, which she usually agrees to.  

We have also started talking about our birth plan. I would like to have a water birth, but totally understand that what ever happens that day happens.  I believe in letting things just happen, women have been doing this since the beginning of time, and I am sure they did not have a birth plan.    Josh really didn't want me to have a water birth, but I reminded him that he was not the one delivering the baby.  He agreed, and said he would do what ever I felt most comfortable with.  I really wanted to have a water birth with Bo, but couldn't because of my increased blood pressure.  Crossing my fingers that that doesn't happen again. We will be delivering at Abbott again, and we are so excited to be in the new birthing center.  I can't believe how quickly she will be here.  

Week 32

Meeting baby Crosbi

We were so excited to finally head to Iowa to meet our adorable new nephew Crosbi.

Friday we finally got out of the cities at 5:00pm (our goal was 4:00pm).  Bo was great the whole ride down, she was so excited to see her Iowa family.  Naming all of them as we drove, and did not want to go to sleep.  She just was way to excited.  I finally convinced her that we would be there when she woke up, that seemed to work great and she finally fell asleep at 10:00pm.  I on the other hand did not do as well as she did.  We stopped to get something to eat and as soon as I finished I felt sick, and needed Josh to pull over immediately.  I got a little fresh air and got back in the car and told Josh to go to the next town (1 mile away), so I could use a bathroom.  We found a gas station/farmer supply store, and quickly went to the bathroom.    The rest of the trip went well, but I could not get comfortable in the car after that.

Sat morning Stevi headed over with the boys, so that we could go to Jess's to go garage sale shopping.   Bo was so excited to see Auntie Stebi, and Van then she finally noticed Crosbi and had to go see him.  

Bo seeing Crosbi for the first time.

Chris stayed back with Van and Bo while we went shopping, and the Boys headed to Grandpa Verg's house to go through it.  Mitch dropped off Maddox and Grady, and I am sure Chris had a wonderful time hanging out with four of her adorable grandchildren.  That night everyone headed to Jess and Mitch's new house for dinner (pizza on the grill great job Mitch)  Grandma Pinky even stopped over.  It was so nice to spend quality time with all of them.

Waiting for dinner

Playing with Ada

Enjoying the cuteness of Crosbi

Playing in the toy room with the kids

The kids had so much fun playing together, and they defiantly wore each other out.

Bo, Maddox, Grady, and Van all passed out

Sunday was mother's day, and it was so nice to spend it with the great Cleveland mothers.  

We enjoyed a lovely brunch together, and then Jess did us the honor of taking our family pictures/pregnancy pictures.  She sent me this picture as my sneak peek and I fell in love.  Jess always does such an amazing job of capturing the moment.

I will cherish this moment forever

Loving her new cousin.

So excited to have this adorable new addition to the family, and he made me even more excited for ours to be here in 8 short weeks.

Minnesota finally decided that winter was over, so what do you do....

Test drive the car

Visit Minehaha Falls after a Twins game

Enjoy our back yard

Play on the swing set with guests

Pretend that we are on a roller coaster ride

Temp the dog with string cheese

Celebrate the Twins first communion, and 7th birthday

Get pictures with the twins on their very special day

I love Minnesota in the spring, and am so excited that it has finally decided to warm up enough to enjoy it.

Follow-up Appointments

I promised follow-up from my appointments, but I never got to it.  Life just gets way to busy.

1. Ultrasound to check if I had a kidney stone, or just an active child

2. Meet with Nutritionist to talk about my diet and hypoglycemia

3. Follow-up appointment with my midwife

Appointment 1:

Bo and I went to the ultrasound early Thursday morning, I have really enjoyed having her at the ultrasound appointments.  She has been so well behaved for all of them.  I also think it has been really good for her to see her sister to help with her understanding of what is happening.  I had a wonderful ultrasound tech, she was so sweet, and Bo loved her.  She did her job of checking all of my organs to ensure that where no problems with any of them and especially looking for kidney stones.  Then she took a peek at our baby girl, she told me that she wasn't suppose to, but how could you not when your just right there.  I loved seeing our baby girl again, and as soon as Bo saw her she said "baby sister", to precious.  She also confirmed that she is a girl, and that she has hair.  (I can't wait to hold her.)  She also told me that although she can not officially tell me, but she thought everything looked good, and I most likely had bruising from our strong little girl.  They later called me to officially tell me that every thing was fine.

Appointment 2:

Thursday afternoon I headed to the Nutritionist to learn more about how I can eat to keep my blood sugars level.  What I learned that I need to eat 6 times a day, and only 30 carbs. at a time.  Who knew.  She also gave me a wonderful guide to how many carbs. are in the most common food items. I was amazed at some of the items and how many carbs.are in some of the foods I thought were good for me.  Like, a regular sized banana is 25-30 carbs.  She also recommended that I have a Extend bar right before I go to bed to help prevent my blood sugars from dropping over night.  My blood sugars were usually in the 70's when I woke up, and they should be in the 90's.  Now that I know what to eat and how to track my blood sugars, I have started to feel better, and less bitchy.  (I'm sure Josh is excited about that)

Appointment 3:

Tuesday I went to my midwife to do a follow-up from the previous week.  Everything was normal, and she just did the standard check-up.

Now for housekeeping: 
Week 31 Appointment

Blood Pressure: 94/62

Baby's heart beat: 130
Fundal Height: 32 cm 

Weight gain: 20 lbs.

Baby Cleveland #2 Week 31

9 weeks to go...

This girl is so active and strong, she loves moving around for hours at a time.  Sometimes she has even brought me to tears because she has kicked or punched me for such a long time. I really love knowing that she is healthy, but man calm down sometimes.  If her movement in the womb is any indication of her personality she is going to be a firecracker.

Week 31

Baby Size

16.25 in

four navel oranges

Baby Weight

3.3 lb

Baby

This week your baby is gaining more weight as baby fat is filling in underneath the skin. Your baby's color is also becoming less red and more pink in color.

By now, your baby's irises can dilate and respond to changes in light.

Body

As you prepare yourself for your coming baby, your breasts are also working hard to prepare for your hungry baby. It's common to have some discharge or leaking of colostrum. Many women find comfort by going up a bra size and using nursing pads to prevent unexpected leaks.

Some women are just now experiencing their uterus practice for labor, Braxton Hicks contractions, which feel like sporadic uterine contractions. It can be difficult to distinguish Braxton Hicks contractions from the signs of preterm labor. If you are unsure and your contractions become longer, more intense and more frequent, call your practitioner immediately.

 

Week 31

Baby Cleveland #2 Week 30

Week 30

Ten weeks to go, I can't believe that she will be here in ten weeks.  There are so many things we haven't done yet.  Gotten her clothes out, put her crib back to a crib, found the pack-n-play for our room, figured out where the girls will go to daycare when I go back full time, etc.  However, there are so many things we have done, planned my maternity leave, found someone to watch the girls when I go back part time for 7 weeks, figured out her doctor (same as Bo's), figured out Aflac for my leave, talking to my boss about what I need to do before I leave for summer break, figured out who is going to take care of Bo, Pistol, and Wrigley when we're at the hospital.

Baby Size

15.7 in

cabbage

Baby Weight

2.75 lb

Baby

As your baby continues to practice breathing you may notice a bout of the hiccups. Many mom's have described this feeling as a series of small twitches.

Body

With only 10 weeks to go you may wonder how much more your uterus will grow. By this time you may have gained anywhere from 25-35 pounds, depending on your pre-pregnancy weight, and you will continue to gain about a pound a week.

And for many women, as your due date approaches, it's a common and very normal time to feel more emotional than usual. You'll experience more frequent mood swings, and very likely some anxiety over the coming baby and the new responsibilities that lie ahead.

Week 30

Midwife Appointment Week 30 Baby #2

I headed to my appointment Tuesday morning feeling great, but as soon as I walked in the door I started having a hard time breathing and getting really light headed.  My nurse got me some orange juice and some water and laid down for a minute.  When my midwife came in she asked me what I had eaten and I told her two bananas, yogurt, and a protein bar.  She told me that although all of those things are healthy their are two many carbs. in those and I needed to save those for later in the day.  Who knew that eating healthy really isn't healthy for me in the morning.  I also talked to her about how my right upper torso hurts all of the time.  We both think that it's just the baby pushing everything up and I am probably just bruised internally because of it.  However, she ordered an ultrasound to make sure that I don't have kidney stones, or my organs aren't getting to squished.  We also made an appointment with a dietitian to help me understand how to balance my blood sugar levels so I don't get light headed, and just generally feel better overall.  They also gave me a blood glucose reader, so I can start to track how food effects my blood sugars. 

After talking about all of these new developments she told me that the third trimester in the a second baby is worse then the third trimester in your first baby.  She said it was because your hormones are greater and your body is already stretched out.  This pregnancy is defiantly a lot different then with Bo not bad or good just different.

Now for housekeeping:

Blood Pressure: 108/76 
(this is high for me but they took it when my blood sugars were dropping)

Baby's heart beat: 155
Fundal Height: 30 cm 

Weight gain: 17 lbs.
(which means I haven't gained any weight since my last appointment)
 I'm not sure if that is bad or good

Results from Bo 

Blood Pressure: 100/60

Baby's heart beat: 152

Fundal Height: 29 cm

Total Weight gain: 31 lbs.

Both my appointments are tomorrow, so I will update how they go soon.

Busy...

The last couple of weeks I have been doing a lot of working on the weekends.  April 19-21 I spend the weekend with my students, while Josh stayed home with Bo

My co-workers and I

Daddy did my hair today

Then last weekend I spoke at the MN - Autism Conference twice once Friday afternoon, and once Saturday morning.  It was great honor to be a part of this conference.  We had to summit a proposal last October, then we had to wait until February to find out if our proposal was accepted.  To my surprise both of our proposals were accepted.  We then had to summit a whole bunch of other information like mini bios, more information on our presentations, and our power points.  I later found out that there were a lot of people that submitted proposals and only half of them were picked. 

Josh slept in the living room with Bo so I could get a good night sleep before my presentation.

While I did that Josh hung out with my cousin Zack and went to the Twins game Saturday night, it was great to have him here for the weekend.

Bo and I picked them up at Minehaha Falls

 Then Sunday Josh's uncle Mike, aunt Christine, and cousin Alaina stopped by on their way back to Ames after Alaina's volleyball tournament. We love having company.

Alaina and Bo

Baby Cleveland #2 Week 27-29

I have been a little busy lately so I haven't had a whole lot of awake time outside of work and conferences.  (more about that later)

Week 27

Baby Size

14.5 in

cauliflower

Baby Weight

2 lb

Baby

This week your baby looks like a thinner, redder, more wrinkled version of what he will look like at birth, but in the next few weeks more fat will fill out his appearance. Your baby's immune system is continuing to mature as are your baby's lungs which are still practicing breathing amniotic fluid.

Body

Just when you were getting used to your second trimester, you may find new uncomfortable symptoms beginning during your third trimester. You may notice more leg cramps due to the pressure of your uterus on your veins and nerves running from your torso to your legs. Remember to stretch and move your legs to ease or prevent cramping. 

Week 27

Week 28

Baby Size

14.8 in

chinese cabbage

Baby Weight

2.25 lb

Baby

Your baby's brain has developed more tissue and has formed grooves on the surface. It's likely your baby has developed a more regular sleep schedule in 20 to 30 minute intervals.

If you're having a boy, his testes are migrating into his scrotum. If you're having a girl, the clitoris is beginning to form.

Body

Welcome to your third trimester! This is a common time to find out how your baby is positioned (presented), whether it's head first, feet first (breech), or sideways. Even still, in the next month your baby may still change positions.

This trimester you will likely increase your prenatal visits to every two weeks to ensure your pregnancy is progressing smoothly. If you are at risk for gestational diabetes or your last glucose screen test result was high, your doctor may have you take the 3-hour glucose tolerance test. 

Week 28

Week 29

Baby Size

15.25 in

butternut squash

Baby Weight

2.5 lb

Baby

Over the next three months your baby is in for a major growth spurt. Because of this, you may have noticed smaller movement inside your belly. This is due to the increasingly cramped space.

More importantly, you should still notice fetal movement and it's a good idea to monitor the frequency. You can do this by lying down in a quiet place. It's often recommended to do this after dinner when many babies are more responsive, generally between 7pm and midnight. If you have any concerns with your baby's movement, contact your practitioner.

Helpful hint: If you haven't already tried the BabyBump Kick Counter, now is a good time to start monitoring your baby's daily movement and kicks. Many practitioners will ask you to notify them if you notice a decline in fetal activity.

Body

Your third trimester will bring back some of the fatigue you felt in the first trimester. You body is working extra hard to carry oxygen and nutrients to your baby and your diaphragm will be pushed up by your still expanding uterus, causing you to feel short of breath. Fortunately, your baby will become very active and you can start to count your baby's kicks each day.

Week 29

Me: The last couple of weeks our baby girl has been crazy active for hours at a time.  I have also been trying really hard to monitor my blood sugars by trying to eat more protein and less sugars.  Not so easy when you are craving sugar.  I'm starting to get really sick of things I use to love like cottage cheese, string cheese, and eggs.  I need to start finding more inexpensive to get my protein in.