As I'm sitting here typing this, I'm getting Braxton Hicks contractions. They've been pretty frequent the past few weeks, but not very strong and not very regular. But regular enough that I sort of keep getting my hopes up that baby is on the way! I don't *really* want her to be born 5 weeks early, but like I said...I can't wait to meet this baby! Last night I woke up with some strong cramping, but it turned out it was just gas pains. Good thing I didn't wake Aron up to start timing! It's still so bizarre to me that I'm feeling the BHs all the time anyways since I didn't at all with Parker. And very bizarre that I'm so eager for them to turn into real contractions and start getting painful... it's probably about time I ask Aron to give me a refresher on how much pain I was in last time! :-)
Just like in my last pregnancy, I've already started leaking colostrum, although not as much as I was at this point the first time around. Which is surprising, since I'm an old pro at breastfeeding now! I thought for sure it'd be more/worse but so far nothing embarrassing has happened. But I'm confident my milk will come in just as great as it did with Parker and I'm really looking forward to breastfeeding again.
Little baby girl is still pretty active, although she's slowed down quite a bit this past week. She used to be really mobile after every meal, now it's mostly just at night. I think she's running out of room for her shenanigans! I'm measuring big with her so I know she's definitely taking up a lot of space. At our 33 week appointment, I was measuring at 34 weeks, and at today's 35 week appointment, I was measuring 36.5 weeks! My belly actually seems to be smaller overall with this pregnancy, but I think it's just higher and wider. I'm also carrying more in my back, but luckily haven't had any bad back pain yet. I'm actually glad she's less active now, because a few weeks ago her kicks would actually make me nauseous. She was great at aiming right for my stomach. Now she just sits contentedly on my bladder.
Everything else went well at our appointment. My blood pressure is still normal! I did have to do some blood work; apparently things that UCSD didn't test at the beginning of the pregnancy but that Scripps requires. Our doc is pretty sure baby girl is already head down, so that's a relief. Parker stayed butt down until almost the very end, then managed to rotate himself thank goodness. Our next appointment is on Feb. 22 and I'll be just about 37 weeks. Our OB will do a vaginal exam then to check on things and will confirm that baby actually is head-down...and will hopefully tell me I'm already dilating and it's time to head to the hospital! :-D
Parker is getting really good at saying "baby sister" and he points to my belly when we ask where sister is. He will also say he's a "big brother" when prompted. It's adorable! We have a few books that talk about a new sibling and a baby coming home, and he knows that the baby in the book is "sister." I'm not sure he understands anything beyond saying the words when asked or when looking at the books, but we're hoping when we actually bring baby sister home and tell him that's who she is, it'll make at least a little sense! We've also already built all the baby equipment to get him used to that being around. Aron tackled the swing, the bouncer, and the bassinet all in one afternoon! It was really sentimental for me when we pulled everything out of the garage. We have so many wonderful memories of Parker with these things, and very soon they'll all be put to use again.
I really need to get on taking some more preggo belly pics! This is the most recent one I have, and it's from January 21, at about 32 weeks.
