And she's beautiful. Meet Joan Elizabeth.

Four days to go, and we had our last appointment and ultrasound. Unfortunately, Bear is so low into my pelvis, that we really didn't get to see a lot. But she has a strong heartbeat, plenty of fluid, and is nearing 8 pounds in weight, according to the ultrasound. Though since she was so low, we're not too sure on accuracy.

But here's what I thought would be a fun pic, but isn't as dramatic as I thought it would. It's a comparison of weeks 30, 34 and 38. To be honest, I don't see that much of a difference...

Here's a similar comparison I did with Evan (weeks 30, 33 and 36). The difference is far more dramatic, I think:


Do you know what to make of it? Because I don't.

So surgery is scheduled for next Friday at 8:30 am. I'll update here as soon as I feel like it (let's face it, with a baby, a toddler and after major abdominal surgery, it may not happen for a few days)

I gained another 3 pounds for a grand total of 40 pounds so far. I'm 171 pounds right now, which is exactly 10 pounds less than with Evan. But that's exactly how much lighter I started this pregnancy. It looks like even though Bear will be delivered 10 days earlier that Evan was, my weight gain will be about the same with both pregnancies.

And here's me at 38 weeks with Bug (in blue) and Bear (in red):


There's a difference in the angle of the picture, but I still think I look bigger with Evan (though again, I was 10 pounds heavier to begin with). I'd say chances are they'll be pretty similar in birth weight. We shall see.

But 4 more days and all we'll know if all this guessing is worth anything!

We'll call this week "contraction week". I'd had a few more episodes of tight BH contractions every 5 minutes. The most notable one yesterday, and it lasted about 4 hours. We went for a walk and during the walk contractions were every 2 minutes. Crazy stuff.

But alas, we're still here, didn't go into labor. So things continue right on schedule, which means we'll meet Belly Bear in 6 days.

Today we were busy cleaning and organizing the house. But now I'm very sore. I have more cleaning to do tomorrow, we'll see how I feel.

Oh, and I didn't gain 6 pounds between week 36 and 37 as I did with Evan, only 1.5 lbs. Not bad, uh?

You know how I was so nostalgic about these being the last days I'm pregnant ever? Forget about it. Last night I was begging to go into labor. Such an uncomfortable night! Not really painful, just uncomfortable.

Well, painful in that every time I stand I can feel pressure on all of my joints, from my fingers to my knees and hips, from all that swelling I get at night. And for a while I was sleeping so hard I didn't wake up to go to the bathroom, so when I finally did it was because I had a really tight BH contraction that put a lot of pressure on my bladder. Not a nice way to wake up.

And when I woke up this morning I was thinking: "it's Friday, right? tell me it's Friday! Fuck, it's Thursday..."

I'm feeling better now, but still, I'm pretty close to done. Good thing it's only 8 more days as opposed to over 16. And good I have a big chocolate cake to pull me through.

My cousin David and his wife Paty lost their baby girl, Patricia Ximena, last night. She was born on April 29th with Esophageal Atresia and Tracheoesophageal Fistula (esophagus not connected to the stomach) and passed away last night of respiratory complications after what was to be the first of a series of surgeries.

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. I cannot imagine the pain they must be going through, but it's heartbreaking.

Thank you.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday my lovely husband, who's so smart and has been very good at keeping my anxieties and nesting instincts at bay (he's so experienced with my pregnancy freak outs now), drove a total of over 3 hours to get Bear's furniture and a few basic assorted items. I sent him with a very specific list, and he not only bought everything on it, but he added a couple of things of his own. He's adorable like that.

So today we've been doing what every mother wants to do before the imminent birth of a child: build furniture. This after a delicious breakfast I didn't have to cook, and while knowing I won't have to cook dinner either. And also knowing I'm allowed to have donuts for lunch, because it's Mother's Day, and I'm pregnant.

So today we built the changing table while Evan was asleep, and the crib, while Evan was outside Bear's room (with a baby gate) playing with a box of his old clothes (though "old clothes" sounds inappropriate, doesn't it? I mean, he's only 15 months old! Those clothes aren't really that old, but they don't fit anymore)

Anyways, we were about to finish building the crib, when Evan started to get anxious about being left out, so he started screaming and crying. As soon as we were done, I carried him inside so he could take a look at the crib, though we couldn't let him roam around the room yet. We were pretty surprised to see he did not like the idea of another crib in the house. He was not happy to see it. I guess he couldn't understand why we needed another crib, since his is there already! And why would we keep him out while building this, what the heck were we hiding? Or something of that nature, I imagine...

We took him outside again, gave him something to drink and attention, and he was fine. Later when the room was a bit more organized and decent enough for him to walk around, we let him in again. He was fine with the whole thing then. He looked at the crib, started banging the mattress amused, and just walked around, looking for interesting things to mess with.

So maybe it was just the not being allowed in part that had him upset, or maybe he's realizing something is up but is dealing with it (he's very adaptable). The bottom line is that we're now very glad we got the furniture now rather than later, so Evan has time to adjust and get used to it before Bear's arrival.

And me, I couldn't be happier. Seriously, I didn't have to cook at all today. I have an amazing husband, an unbelievably cute toddler, a little girl on the way and all of her furniture (almost) ready. And donuts. Life doesn't get much better!

Well, ok, maybe a beer would be nice. Just two weeks for that!

And we're full term! Belly Bear could be born today, and she would be alright. However...

Our appointment last Monday went well. No dilation at all, which to me confirms Bear won't be in any rush to be early. I gained a bit more weight that usual: instead or my normal one pound per week thing, I gained 2.5 pounds, for a grand total of 166.5 so far. Darn, I knew having a chocolate cake and half a coffee cake would come back to haunt me!

As I was looking at old blog entries to find that false alarm episode, I ran into the 37 weeks post too. Turns out I gained a whooping 6 pounds from week 36 to week 37 with Evan. What?? Yes, 6 pounds in one week. I hope it doesn't happen again, I swear I've only had a couple of donuts this week! ;)

Ah, yes, the urgency for baked goods has arrived. I crave baked goods now like I did for months while pregnant with Evan. I don't really know what that means...

Last night was interesting. Though we didn't really realize how interesting until this morning.

Starting at about dinner time, I started to notice that I was having contractions pretty close together. Not painful, just really tight, my basic tight BH contractions. So after we put Evan down to sleep and while we were sitting on the couch, I decided to time them just to see really how close together they were. I was surprised to see they were 4-5 minutes apart!

I was drinking water and I was pretty well hydrated, and I had been moving around and walking, even if I was just sitting at that time. But we were unfazed. We're all pros, remember? We've been here before. I had the same thing happen when I was pregnant with Evan.

That time we were surprised and unprepared, and as I lied in bed on my left side, drinking water and timing contractions, my husband was occupied packing a to-go bag, just in case we needed to go to the hospital. We'd been so sure it was too early to pack anything, that the contractions episode caught us off guard and we were excited and panicky at the same time. But alas, that was a false alarm. And we were really alarmed for a little while!

This time, we figured it was the same thing, and we just went to bed after a while. Though the excitement kept me awake when it happened with Evan, this time around I just slept. I figured if the contractions were something to really worry about, they would wake me up. I had contractions in my dreams, but they never woke me up, and in a few hours it was back to normal. Just the same thing as with Evan, nothing to worry about.

The interesting part was when I found the post about that false alarm with Evan. Turns out I was 36w5d along that time. Exactly as far along as I was yesterday! What are the odds?!?

So Evan and Bear are starting to act alike. Which to me means two things: Bear is going to be as awesome a baby as Evan was (fingers crossed on that one!), and Bear will not be here early. Two more weeks!