hungry? grab a snickers

i went out this afternoon to run a few errands. while i was waiting in line to pay at one of the stores, i suddenly got very hot and lightheaded. i began feeling weak in my knees and my heart started beating really fast. out of nowhere, hunger hit me and i started shaking, literally. for all of my friends out there who are pregnant (and there are many!), this is a reminder to keep snacks with you AT ALL TIMES! i don't think hunger has hit me like it did this afternoon any other time during my pregnancy. i felt like i was going to faint right there at the checkstand. fortunately, there was a rack of candy bars within arms reach. now i appreciate the slogan for snickers candy bars..."hungry? grab a snickers." i did so gladly!

weighing in

beginning in the 30th week, we've been seeing our doctor every other week as opposed to once a month. we went to an appointment yesterday afternoon and learned that i'm still holding up pretty well. yay! my blood pressure was pretty low, which was a good sign. but since my ankles and feet are pretty swollen, the doctor is slightly concerned that i may get pre-eclampsia. fortunately, my blood pressure is low so the chances of it are slim. whew. i was dreading having to step onto the scale, and for good reason. within the last three weeks i gained not three, or four, or even six...but a whopping EIGHT pounds! incredible.

he continues to be very active throughout the day. in fact, sometimes i can just look at my tummy and see it ripple! then i think to myself, was that a foot? an elbow? his little behind? it makes my heart melt when i see and feel it. :) i can hardly wait to meet him!

uneasy

i am beginning to feel really uncomfortable as i keep getting bigger and bigger. today marks my 35th week, which means that i only have 5 more weeks to go. whoa! the baby is supposed to gain a half a pound per week from this point until he's delivered. that means i'm just going to continue growing until the very end. plus, my ankles and feet are constantly swollen now. earlier, they would only swell if i stayed on my feet too long. now, they're just swollen all the time. it makes it hard to do anything but sit back and kick up my feet. i'd love to do that, but i still have to go to work and get some things around the house in order. i can say that though pregnancy has had its fun and amazing moments, i am ready to meet our little boy!

"in-take"

we went to our "in-take" interview at the hospital tonight where we had a chance to tour the Birth Center and talk to a labor nurse about our birthing preferences, ask questions, and just to get a feel of where our baby will be delivered. it was a great experience. the best part was getting some tips on how to avoid back labor as much as possible. she described it as "loading the baby into the dock correctly"...funny, huh?

a view of the birthing room. looks cozy, doesn't it? :P

a look ahead

so i had another dream last night about our little boy's birth. this time, he had already been delivered and i was holding him in my arms all tightly swaddled-up. funny thing is, i didn't have any recollection of the delivery or the pain. one other interesting thing, he was born on february 11 - that's almost three weeks early! we'll have to see what the doctor has to say at our next visit.

i finally measured myself over the weekend. i'm now 41 inches around...yikes!

some privacy please

my friend offered to help me sew a few things for the nursery this weekend. thanks, S! we picked out fabric and sewed a cushion for the rocking chair, re-upholstered a foot stool, and sewed curtains for the window, which will make for some much-needed privacy down the road. it took us a little longer than expected (except for the foot stool - that was a breeze), but everything turned out beeeautiful. yay! we also had some friends come over to help finish up some home improvement projects that have been long-delayed. thanks, B and N! you guys are such a blessing to us. i'm beginning to feel a little less panicky about the arrival of our little guy.



for those of you out there who like apple juice, you must try Snapple Apple. i have been craving apple juice like crazy, so my friend S brought over a bottle of snapple apple for me to try. it was delicious...as if you were eating a real macintosh apple. yum.

aaaahhh

i've been getting lots of knots in my shoulders and upper back area lately, probably from working at the computer all day. so, i decided to treat myself to a prenatal massage. i was looking forward to it all day today, and it was wonderful! she worked on my neck and shoulders, then my legs, and finally my back. she even had a table with a hole cut out in the belly area so that my tummy would fit right in when i laid down. except, there was a slight problem. due to the fact that i'm vertically challenged, my head wouldn't reach the face donut they offer you when you're lying on your stomach! that didn't stop us, though; we made do. but i found it kind of amusing. i'm always surprised at the times i'm reminded of how "petite" i really am.

oh, and i've begun nesting. each night, i find myself going on purging sprees - getting rid of anything i haven't touched in the past year.

a shower for baby

on december 28, while we were home for the holidays, my sister and our friends threw us our very first baby shower. it was so special and so much fun! thank you to the girls who planned such a special night for us. the thought and love you girls put into it did not go unnoticed! thank you, also, to everyone who came to celebrate with us and shower us with gifts for the baby. we especially loved the storybooks you shared with us...they are a perfect beginning to our little boy's library.

epidural anyone?

along with eight other very pregnant couples, we attended a 7-hour birthing class offered through our hospital, Kadlec, this weekend. overall, it was very informative. i haven't decided whether i'm more scared or less scared now that i've gone through the class. i can say that i'm now more determined to wait and see if i'll really need an epidural. maybe it's just my naivete or maybe it's my over-optimism, but i don't want to go in having the expectation that i'll get one.

i also started having braxton-hicks contractions last night. they kept coming sporadically - 5 minutes, 9 minutes, 6 minutes, 11 minutes apart. they weren't painful...just...uncomfortable. i know they're nothing, though, compared to real contractions. what am i in for?

on the road

we hit the road for christmas, traveling to both northern and southern california to visit our families. i ended up faring quite well given my physical state. other than some swelling and backaches, i didn't have any problems...praise God! we had a great time celebrating the holidays with both sides of our immediate families this year. a scary thing happened - i was walking back to bed from the bathroom one night (with the lights off) and tripped over my suitcase! luckily, and amazingly, allan was right there to reach out his arm and catch me. we don't know how he did it because he was fairly sound asleep. but, just as i was lunging forward about to hit my head on the nightstand, his arm came in front of me and caught me. whew, that was a close one.

:: a peek at some of baby's first christmas presents ::

baby socks to keep little feet warm
pee-pee teepee to protect mommy and daddyduring changing times