Friday, October 28, 2011

32 weeks

Holy cow! Can you believe there's only about 8 weeks (or hopefully a little less) until Jaxon arrives?! This pregnancy has flown by but I have a feeling the next few weeks are just going to crawl until his due date. Thank goodness I have some holidays in the meantime to help make the time pass by more quickly.

Jaxon now measures in around a little over 4 pounds and anywhere between 16-17" long. Our big boy is still quite the little mover! As soon as I realize I haven't felt him for a little while he'll start right back up with his dancing to remind Mommy he's still there. I felt like the past couple days I have felt him even lower than what I have before. I think he is starting to make his way down into my pelvis which accounts for most of my pelvic pain. His immune system is starting to function on it's own, but of course Mommy is still doing most of the work. And good thing too, because I've had this cold that won't go away now for over a week! I think it's starting to slowly get better though.

I did have a dream last night about Jaxon's big arrival! The only part I could remember was that I had to have him via C section and he was born on December 7 and weighed exactly 7 pounds! Wouldn't it be weird if those things were true?!

I'm starting to wash all of Jaxon's clothes and bedding today. I was going to try to have pictures up of his nursery by this blog post, but I don't think that'll happen. I guess you all will have to wait until my next update. Sorry!

Jake is so cute! I don't think he notices that I notice, but every single day he'll go open the door to Jaxon's room and just look in there for about 30 seconds then close the door. He's so excited and anxious for our son to be here, just as I am!

Jake and I have a lot to do this weekend. We're going down to the condo and cleaning it before turning it over to the property manager. We also have some water softener people coming over Saturday afternoon to test our water and just for letting them come over they're giving us a free case of water bottles and free lunch at Olive Garden, so you know I couldn't turn that down! And hopefully we will be 90% or more complete with Jaxon's nursery by the end of this weekend. I really hope we can get everything put away in the house this weekend too because I'm tired of looking at boxes everywhere. I also have to find a dress to wear for the Marine Corps Ball that's taking place Nov 10! I know Jake is thrilled to be going with me to do that.  ;)

I'm really hoping at the appointment with my new OB on Wednesday that they'll want to give me an ultrasound so they can see for themselves where I'm at with Jaxon's growth. I'm still measuring a little big on my fundal height so hopefully that'll give her enough of a reason to check me out. I am really curious if Jax is just a big baby like his daddy or if Mommy has just gained a little too much weight and that's why I'm consistently measuring ahead. Either way, I'd still love to just see little man on the ultrasound one last time before we can meet him in person.

Well I hope you all enjoy your Halloween weekend!! I'm anxious to see how many trick or treaters we'll be getting at the new house. I made the mistake of buying candy yesterday when I really should have waited until Halloween day because now I'm going to eat it all before Monday!  :-)





Here's a picture of my big ol' belly and my new dark hair! 



Love you all,
Mommy Daddy and Jax

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Finally, a new OB!!!

I couldn't wait until Friday to update you all on this wonderful news I received yesterday and today!

My referral to get a new OB up by our new house finally went through!! It's for the doctor and hospital I've been wanting to deliver at and that was recommended to me by others. I had a little scare yesterday when I called the new doctor to set up my appointment. They told me they don't accept new patients after 32 weeks (which I will be on Friday) and that they still need to receive and review all my medical records. So I called my previous doctors and asked them to fax my records ASAP so they could be reviewed and accepted by my new doctor by Friday. Luckily, the new doctors called me this morning and said they received my records and reviewed them and that they wanted to set an appointment up with me next week! It was such a sigh of relief. I have no idea what I'd do if I went past 32 weeks, I'd be so upset. But anyways, my appointment with my doctor is set for Wednesday, November 2. Jake and I couldn't be more excited!!

Here is a link to the hospital I'll be delivering at. It was recently built and I've heard so many great things about it. I'll go visit there this weekend to pre-register as a patient and look at what classes they offer for new parents.

http://www.llumcmurrieta.org/maternity.php


Let's celebrate that Alycia and Jaxon will finally have a doctor that cares about ua and takes time for us!!! Wahoo!!!!

Love you all,
Mommy, Daddy and Jaxon

Friday, October 21, 2011

31 weeks!!

"No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you're the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside."


Baby Jaxon is growing away in Mommy's belly. Today we are 31 weeks along with only 9 more weeks to go! It's crazy to think that he could come even sooner than 9 weeks. Jake and I will be totally prepared for his arrival after this weekend. Jaxon's nursery should be complete by Monday. But on average, babies at 31 weeks are around 16 inches long and a little under 4 pounds! In coming weeks, Jaxon will be gaining weight but not as much height as he has been. Jaxon can now turn his head form side to side along with the rest of the acrobatics he's been practicing in my tummy. I believe he was practicing the moonwalk on my ribs a few minutes ago!

As of Thursday or Friday last week I've had some pretty bad pelvic pain. It hurts every time I move, whether walking, turning over in bed, etc... It only hurts where my pubic bone is, so I'm not 100% sure what it is. I talked to my regular primary care doctor and she thinks it's just normal pregnancy feelings. I tried Googling what I was feeling and I am starting to think Jaxon is either taking his position for labor or I'm starting to have SPD. SPD is pretty much just where the ligaments are loosening up enough for labor and the symphysis of my pubic bones are separating, also gearing up for labor. I've definitely started waddling now that this new pain has occurred.

I've also been feeling really sickly since we moved up here. I'm not sure if it's because we slept with the windows open the first night here, or what, but I have had runny/stuffy nose since then. I feel miserable. It's almost allergy-like feelings since I also have watery eyes, but I've never had allergies before. I know you can acquire them with age, so I'm not ruling it out entirely. I can't sleep because I can't breathe and it makes for a long day.

Of course I'm still having problems figuring out who my new OB is. The Naval hospital I was being seen at and my insurance company apparently do not talk to each other. They keep pointing fingers and saying it's up to the other one to change my OB. I finally got a mean bone in my body and yelled at some lady the other day. I told her that I could go into labor at any time and I have no idea where I'd even go, let alone I have no doctor. My primary care doctor has even tried calling both and they can't give straight answers to them either. So pretty much it has come down to me calling both every couple days to check up on the progress.

We painted Jaxon's nursery the day after we moved in. The bottom half is green that matches his bedding and the top half we left the beige color the room already was. Jake installed a chair rail along the walls as well. We're hoping to finish off his nursery this weekend, which consists of putting together his crib and placing all his furniture and clothes in their appropriate spots.

We still have a lot to unpack in the house. Unfortunately the first week we move up here Jake has had to work super late. He has been getting home around 7-8:15 this week which makes it hard on both of us. We still have a few things left in the condo that we'll move up here either this weekend or next. Both of the girls love having a big yard to run around in. Lucy of course found a hole in the fence behind a big plant that she could escape into the neighbors yard. We really lucked out she didn't run around the neighborhood because the house next door is for sale and their gate to the backyard was open, but Lucy stayed in their yard. We put big rocks to block the hole for now. Eventually we're going to have to replace the whole fence on that one side, but we have no idea who we talk to about that since it's a foreclosure.

Hopefully by the next blog post I will have pictures of our house all set up (maybe not decorated).

And here's my huge belly! I also included a little collage of photos from the pregnancy so far.




Until next week,

Love
Mommy, Daddy and Jaxon

Friday, October 14, 2011

30 weeks down, 10 more to go!

Today marks 30 weeks in the pregnancy! Can you believe we're only 10 weeks away from meeting Jaxon? Our little man is a little over 3 pounds and 15 and a half inches long from head to heel. He is still gaining brain tissue and making nerve connections throughout his body. If he were to be born now, he could perceive the world with all 5 of his senses, although his eyesight right now is about 20/400. He obviously can't smell in the womb, but his first scent (and one of his favorites) will be the smell of mommy and daddy as soon as he comes out. Right now there's about a pint and a half of amniotic fluid surround Jaxon, but as he gets bigger and bigger there will be less space for the fluid. They say at around 30 weeks the top of my uterus can be felt 4 inches above my belly button, but I'm still measuring a little big. In the upcoming weeks our baby boy will just continue to grow and develop until he decides he's ready to embrace the world with his presence.

As I posted last time, I was in the middle of getting a referral to a new OB doctor that is closer to our new house. I found out the referral got denied again, so yesterday I was on the phone all day calling all kinds of departments in the naval hospital trying to get them to "disengage" me as a patient. I think it finally worked, but now I have to go through the military base that's a little closer to our new home. In reality it isn't any closer than Jake's base is to our house but on paper it looks closer. The guy on the phone said he isn't sure if the new base will refer me out to a civilian doctor since I am still far away or if they'll want to see me. So that is what I'm waiting on now.

Yesterday was an exciting day for Jake and I! We finally got the keys to our new house!!! We met with our realtor and he gave us the shiny brand new keys that unlocked our front door. It was wonderful. We only moved a few things with us yesterday. We took Jaxon's dresser (since it came pre-assembled and we knew it would get scratched in the moving truck) and a couple other fragile items. We bought online yesterday new locks for the house since who knows how many people have gone through the house before us and it just makes us feel safer. Our front door lock is really cool, instead of using a key you just punch in a numeric code and it locks and unlocks the deadbolt. Cool huh? We also found out we'll have to replace a few sprinklers that are built in our yard. One of them in the front yard is so completely broken that when we turned it on it looked like someone had ran into a fire hydrant with the gushing water. Jake met a couple of our neighbors yesterday too and they seemed really nice. They both commented about how safe and nice the neighborhood is. Apparently there are two cops who live on our street too so that makes me feel extra safe! Tomorrow is our big moving day and we still have a ton of packing to do tonight. We got all the utilities switched over to our names at the new house and we're getting the cable/internet installed tomorrow. On Sunday our new couch and chair are supposed to be delivered too. The house will be a mess for a little bit while we sort and organize our things, but I promise I'll put up pictures as soon as we're done.

I haven't taken my belly picture yet for the day. I'll update the blog later and post it.





We love you all,
Mommy, Daddy and Baby J

Friday, October 7, 2011

29 Weeks

Today marks the beginning of the 29th week of pregnancy for us! Our baby Jaxon is almost 3 pounds now and a little over 15 inches long! His weight is going to at least double  (or may even triple if he takes his daddy's genes) in the next 11 weeks. Jaxon's brain is rapidly developing and is starting to develop some characteristics that our brains have. The grooves and folds of the brain are taking shape this week, making way for more networks and brain cells. Jaxon is also gaining more "white fat" on his body. This is the type of fat that you and I have, it's used as an energy source whereas the "brown fat" he was putting on earlier was more for body temperature regulation. Since Jax is more able to regulate his own body temperature he is shedding the lanugo that once covered his skin. He'll still have a little bit left when he is born, but most of it will be gone. Little man is also getting more and more cramped in Mommy's belly. He still produces some pretty big kicks, but I can tell they're getting a little smaller since he doesn't have as much room to fully extend out. Don't you worry though, he is still moving like crazy just as he should be!

Last night I had a really tough time falling asleep. Almost every single time I lay down I get heart palpitations for about two minutes, but then they'll go away. When I get them I have a really difficult time breathing- it feels like I can just never quite catch my breath. My midwife said it was a normal part of pregnancy, though. Well anyways, last night I laid down and my heart palpitations would not stop! So I had to sit up in bed and try to fall asleep that way. It took quite a while for me to actually feel like I could breathe normally and try to rest. Luckily I don't think this hurts Jaxon any because he was still pretty active when all of it was occurring.

So everything with the house is going really well. Our VA appraisal/inspection came out great! The house was appraised for $14000 more than what we paid for it, so that's wonderful! Our loan requires we get one of these done to make sure we don't overpay for the property, if it gets appraised for less then the VA won't allow us to purchase the house. We are set to close and get our keys on October 12!!! We will move all of our stuff on October 15! I'm just so excited to get Jaxon's nursery set up finally. And now I can start nesting and being a clean freak about everything in the house. I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend my days just sitting in Jaxon's nursery while Jake is at work.

I'm so excited that Jake gets Monday off of work for Columbus day! And then he will also get a 96 on Halloween because no one in his shop has had any drinking and driving incidents in a long time. (When they go a certain number of days without any incidents, they give the guys a Friday and Monday off...aka a 96....to help boost morale and have it be an incentive to not get in trouble) And that just means spending more time with me! So I love when he has days off work.

I had a doctor's appointment this week with my new family doctor located by our new house. They were all so great and nice! I'm so relieved that they turned out to be great. I didn't like my regular doctor in San Diego because every time I'd schedule an appointment and go to the office on my appointment day they'd never have me in the system for that day! But this doctor was great and she was super nice. I don't think she sees a lot of later-term pregnancies so she was so excited. She found Jaxon's heartbeat and measured me. She told me that they were going to put in an urgent referral for the OB doctor I wanted, but until it gets approved and I can actually see the OB, she wanted to see me every two weeks!! My midwife on base doesn't even want to see me every two weeks! So I was just extremely happy with how it all turned out. I'm hoping since I'll be switching OB's that the new one will do an ultrasound so they can see baby for themselves. I'm pretty sure with my current midwife on base that my anatomy ultrasound I had at 20 weeks was going to be my last one unless there was a problem. I hope I get to see little man again before he's born.

Well I rambled on enough for today. I hope you all are enjoying cooler weather. It's so nice to wear sweatpants and hoodies!!! Jake and I are going to be busy this weekend packing our house up!! Here's a belly pic for you all:


Love you!!
Mommy, Daddy and Jaxon