36 weeks

Officially 9 months pregnant! I can't believe that I will be meeting my son sometime in the next 4 weeks (hopefully). Where has the time gone? I remember peeing on the first pregnancy test like it was yesterday. I've had a couple of moments where I got a little bummed thinking that at anytime now I won't have my son growing strong in my belly anymore. I guess that's to be expected when you've gone 9 months with a baby inside you. I know once I see his little face all those feelings will be out the door. 

My first week of maternity leave is officially in the bag. There is nothing better than waking up when I want to and not to a damn alarm clock! This benefit couldn't have come at a better time because sleeping through the night has not been my friend this last week. I am officially UNCOMFORTABLE in any position and peeing at least three or four times a night. Guess this lack of sleep is just preparing me for whats to come with little Emerson. My first week off was 80% productive and 20% relaxing or something like that. I spent a solid three days busting my butt getting through all our shower gifts and washing/folding all of Emerson's laundry and some of ours too. AJ finished the closet organizer and we started loading it up. This boy of ours is beyond spoiled with clothes! We have a solid amount in each size with very few duplicates. I made a pretty decent return to Target last week and was able to buy our new curtains (AJ hated the other ones) and some storage containers. Plan on returning a few other things and buying more decor for the nursery. Nursery update post to follow!

Friday night we finally met with a potential daycare. This lady actually watched AJ's sister from a baby to a little girl. I'd had never met her, but knowing that she was friends of the family made me feel a little bit more at ease. I'm not looking forward to having to use a daycare, but mama's gotta work. She has been doing daycare for 18 years now and has her husband and son help her. She is certified to teach preschool and her son is actually finishing up his credential to be a teacher. I had no idea what kind of questions to ask so I googled a long list before we got there. She gave us a tour and introduced her program to us and in the end I was left with zero questions. Everything I had printed to ask she covered before I could even ask. She is absolutely amazing and I can't wait for her to watch my son! A huge sigh of relief knowing that we have a wonderful daycare lined up!

Saturday night we finally got together with our amazing friends we hadn't seen in a few months. Between our work and busy schedules we had made and cancelled a few dates, but were finally all available! It was so nice to see them and their not-so-little girl. Can't believe their daughter is already a year and half! She's Emerson's future wife! She's going to be a cougar like me! We had such a nice night, but we missed the rest of our group-the Beefy and boy toy in TN. It always makes reality a little tougher to swallow when we have a night out without them. BUT, it's official, they are coming back to Cali for a trip home in July! I have a new countdown!! July 12th is only a couple weeks away, but it feels like an eternity! Although the BFF finally started her blog for us to stalk her through, it's just not enough of a fix-I can't wait to see you Casi and Josh!

Sunday we had our third and final baby shower. We are very blessed to have such amazing family and friends! AJ's cousins threw us one fabulous shower at Lake Cunningham in San Jose. It turned out to be the perfect day for an outdoor shower. It was warm most of the day, but never hot. They were calling for rain, but we only got sprinkled on for maybe a minute. A lot of AJ's dad's side of the family showed up and we enjoyed a nice BBQ while we all caught up. As great as it was to see everyone, I'm pretty sure the best part of the shower was our cake; go ahead, ask anyone! This amazing cake was made by LuLina's Cakes in Gilroy-not only do they look incredible, they are also extremely tasty! 

Of course we were spoiled with tons of goodies, which meant more laundry for me! Here are some pics from the day:

We had a large flock of geese that hung around all day and crapped everywhere.

AJ and I with his dad and just some of his siblings-we will not be keeping the tradition!

Newest addition to the Jimenez family-gotta get our practice on.

After the shower we decided to make a pit stop at Babies R Us. We came prepared with a couple of returns and all of our gift cards, cash, and coupons. We had a small list of essential items that we need before Emerson shows up so that's what we focused on. I could spend hours and lots of money in that store so it was good we came in with a plan. We bought our baby monitor, diaper pail, some diaper bag goodies, and a bouncer/swing. We had planned on getting a changing pad as well, but got so distracted by the bouncer/swing that we completely forgot it. When we started looking for a swing, I immediately went to the Fisher Price swing we had registered for. In order to get to that swing we had to pass the extremely awesome 4Moms Mamaroo bouncer. This bouncer has been on our "if we had money" list since we found out we were pregnant. I'm sort of obsessed with 4Moms and their products-they are so awesome, but SO expensive. We went back and forth with two different swings, both priced at $180 and finally decided to hold off on getting one. On our way back to the register AJ spotted a Mamaroo in the clearance section. He ran went over to the bouncer and saw it was marked down to $159! It was an open box item with absolutely nothing wrong with it! We plugged it in and once it started swaying it was SOLD! We have always been very lucky with the "as is" sections of most stores! This purchase made our day! AJ was a little concerned that we were going to have to spend a lot of our own money with all of these purchases, but I knew we'd be fine. Like I said, we were spoiled! Our total came out to $550 and after gift cards, coupons, and store credit we only had to use $160 of the cash that was gifted to us. We scored big time!!  

It's been so fun putting the nursery together, we can't wait to show it off! Now that it's 98% done, I'd be okay if Emerson decided to show up early. Everyone says that with your first you'll most likely be late, but not always. This week I started to get a LOT of Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing consistent. I swear I had an actual contraction on Friday, but it didn't lead into anything. On Sunday night I laid down and started feeling sick. I ended up throwing up, but then felt just fine afterwards. Apparently your body can start to cleanse itself when it's getting ready for labor. Went to the Dr last week, but he didn't check me. I have an appointment today so we'll see if I'm dilated at all. With a forecast like this I'm very ready to meet Emerson now!

Only 4 more weeks!

That's a Huge bitch!

How Far Along: 36 Weeks

Weight gain: 42 lbs
Maternity clothes? Not this week-it's all big t-shirts and stretchy shorts. 
Stretch marks? Officially have two small stretch marks and still lots of dots.
Sleep: Tossing and turning all night.
Best Moment of the Week: Being showered with goodies from the Jimenez family. 
Miss Anything? Being able to sit up straight without having issues breathing.
Movement?: A lot of stretching going on in there.

Food cravings: Ice water and that's about it. Don't have much of an appetite these days.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing specifically, but did get sick once.
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: Menstrual cramps, lots of Braxton Hicks, and I swear one contraction.  

Symptoms: Pressure/pain in my groin, heartburn, teeny-tiny bladder, swollen feet, back discomfort.
Belly Button in or out? In, but almost flat.

Wedding rings on or off? Off
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and relaxed
Looking Forward To: A very busy weekend celebrating graduations, birthdays, and the A's! 

35 weeks

Sorry for the delayed post, but I finally cracked and downloaded Candy Crush Saga.  Obsessed much! What an extreme waste of time, but time is all I have these days cause I'm on Maternity leave!!! Thursday marked my very last day of work for at least 4 months! Sorry to all my coworkers, but I will not miss that place! It's time to just relax and get as ready for Emerson as possible.

We celebrated the start of my leave with a couple of A's games. Friday we went to the game and both AJ and I were not in a baseball game kind of mood, but ended up enjoying ourselves. Saturday we had a relaxing day, finally, and a great night out. It was my Uncle's 40th birthday last week so a group of us went out for dinner and drinks (water for me). I love getting together with family for a night on the town; a couple of drinks always brings out the fun in my Uncles! It's getting harder to stay out late so I only made it to 10:30 before my body told me it was time for bed. It was probably a good thing that we left so early because most of the same group of people were headed to the A's game bright and early Sunday morning. It was Grant Balfour Raging Gnome day and we were all determined to get our Gnomes. The only thing that made getting up at 7:30 on a Sunday easy was knowing that I didn't have to set my alarm for Monday morning! It was such a nice day in Oakland, a perfect Father's Day! AJ celebrated his first Father's Day in his #1 Dad shirt I had bought him when I was only a few months along. 

It made me all giddy inside when I saw him in this shirt and thought that in just 5(ish) short weeks he'd be holding his son! I know his son isn't born yet, but AJ is already the most amazing father and Emerson is the luckiest boy to have a daddy like him. I've been lucky to have two great Dads in my life and they are going to be wonderful Grandpas, I can't wait! I hope all you dads out there were spoiled this Father's Day!

My first official day off on leave was Monday and it was actually pretty productive! I had a dermatologist appointment in the morning where I got some good news and some bad news. Good news first, the mole-like thing on my face isn't skin cancer! Now for the bad news, she told me it's just something we tend to get as we get older, around our 30's. UGH my body knows I'm going to be 30 next year! Age is just a number until you body starts  acting like it's that number. Getting old sucks!

The rest of the day was filled with grocery shopping, laundry, and making dinner. I don't do this housewife thing so well so I was pretty happy with what I got done on Monday. Let's hope I can keep it up for the rest of the week. Looking forward to finally going through all our baby shower gifts and starting to fill up Emerson's nursery. We finished repainting the changing table this weekend and it looks 100x better than before! We also got in the curtains and ottoman for our glider. The nursery is practically finished now! AJ started working on building a closet organizer Monday night and hopes to finish it up this week. I'll post pictures of our finished nursery (hopefully) in next week's post. 

Now back to Candy Crush! 

Only 5 more weeks!

How Far Along: 35 Weeks

Weight gain: 42 lbs -that's right, I lost a lb!!
Maternity clothes? Yes, but only plan on rocking some t-shirts and gym shorts all week!
Stretch marks? Still dealing with all the dots on my sides, let's just hope they stay dots!
Sleep: Getting my best sleep in the morning. Tossing and turning all night most nights.
Best Moment of the Week: Spending Father's Day with AJ and the family. 
Miss Anything? Being able to lay on my side for more than 30 mins before feeling any pain.
Movement?: A lot of stretching going on in there, he's running out of room.

Food cravings: Just want lots and lots of ice water.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing specifically, but have had a few waves of nausea this week. 
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: Having menstrual cramps on a daily basis, but no contractions.  

Symptoms: Pressure/pain in my groin, heartburn, teeny-tiny bladder, and swollen feet.
Belly Button in or out? In, but almost flat.

Wedding rings on or off? Off
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and ready for this baby to come!
Looking Forward To: Meeting with a potential babysitter on Friday and the Jimenez Baby shower on Sunday.

34 weeks and feeling hot, hot, hot

No, I'm not feeling attractive, I'm feeling hotter than a mofo in this stupid weather! I love living in California, but living in the Valley does not have the same perks that living on the coast does. It was a scorching 99 degrees on Friday and a whopping 106 on Saturday. That kind of heat is hard for anyone to get through, but try adding 40+ lbs of pregnancy and a big-o-belly to the mix and you're left with one unhappy mamma. Friday I spent the day in my office and avoided the heat, but we had our end of the year Bunko party that night so I eventually had to venture out. Luckily I was able to spend most of the night indoors in the A/C. Saturday we had another busy day with two family parties and then girls night out. Thankfully the first half of the day was spent in the pool at my cousin's. It felt so good to be in the water. For those who have been following my posts, I was able to go swimming because I went out and bought a maternity swim top at Target. This was a shopping nightmare! Target's maternity section is pathetic! They have very few clothes to pick from and one small rack of swimsuits. I get that you're bigger when you're pregnant, but that doesn't mean you're also an 80 year old woman! The options they had were hideous and reminded me of something grandmas wear! I only found two tops that I liked enough to try on, but zero bottoms. Thankfully I had my one pair of bottoms that still fit. I wanted to buy both tops, but saw that they were $25 each! WTH?? I can get a two piece in the Junior's section for $30, but because I have a big belly that needs some extra fabric I have to pay $25 for just one piece?! SO LAME! I wanted to go on strike with Target, but knew I really needed a top so I swallowed my pride and bought one. It was all worth it once I hit that ice cold water! It was so relaxing being in the water; my belly felt weightless and all the groin pressure was gone! We were in the pool for a good amount of time and Emerson didn't move once. My belly actually felt mushy while I was in the water, but the second I got out Emerson started kicking up a storm! Guess he doesn't like this whole idea of gravity. We have a lot of hot days coming our way so I plan on getting my monies worth and being in a pool as often as possible!

Saturday night we went to my Uncle's for my cousin's birthday party and then my sister and I headed to the good ol' Ripon Inn (dive bar) to have a girls night with some of the lovelies in my family. I knew I'd get some looks, but as the night went on and the crowd got drunk I was also getting some rude comments. Heard a lot of drunk whispering saying I shouldn't be at the bar. I personally think they were all jealous that they couldn't rock going out for lady's night at 8 1/2 months pregnant! I was a trooper and stayed out until 11:30, which ultimately led to a lazy Sunday spent on the couch with the hubs and the pup pups. Here's a shot of me at the bar enjoying my water in a coors light cup! You have a baby...in a bar!

Have I mentioned the peach fuzz forest that has started to grow all over my body? I had the same problem when I took the vitamin Biotin when I was trying to grow out my hair for my wedding. It works great for that purpose and it makes your nails amazing, but it also grows hair everywhere else too. I first started taking it every other day, but even that was too much. When I had to get my lip, eyebrows, and sideburns waxed for the first time ever I knew it was time to stop. Well the combination of intensified hormones plus the prenatal vitamins are giving me the same affect. My belly and face are covered with peach fuzz! I guess it could be worse, the hair could be dark and thick. Gotta see the positive side to things! Oh the many joys of pregnancy!

This week we had our 34 week Dr appointment and I only gained two lbs!! I finally gained ONLY the recommended weekly average! At this appt we started talking about what's to come in my next appts. My next appointment will be at 36 weeks and it starts the weekly appts. I'll be getting an exam each week to see if Emerson has shown any signs of showing up. I can't believe I've already reached this point! Emerson is going to be here before we know it! I made sure to inform the Doc that I will be requesting an epidural as soon as I check in to the hospital-ain't nobody got time for labor pains! 

We didn't make much progress in the nursery this weekend, but hoping to have some things done by the weekend. I told AJ I just want the changing table to be painted and back in the room for the start of my maternity leave. I need to get his room stocked full of all the goodies we got before he decides to show up. We ordered the ottoman for our glider and some curtains. I went curtain shopping, but found nothing that I thought would look good. Hoping these ones I found on Target.com will work out, they are supposed to be at the house today!

Ottoman

Curtains

I have been worried about staying on top of things while I'm off. At work I have my calendar open all day and never forget to pay bills or wish someone a happy birthday. AJ and I decided we should get a dry erase calendar to have out in the open so I don't forget to do things. I don't have every little thing set with a reminder and I know I won't remember to check my phone or go online to see what's coming up everyday, especially once Emerson gets here. Hoping this will be an easy solution to keep me organized. Any tips from stay at home moms?

I'm really hoping this week cools down a bit! I can't believe we only have 6 more weeks!

How Far Along: 34 Weeks

Weight gain: 43 lbs
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? Some dots on my hips. Rubbing that coco butter all over all day!
Sleep: Not getting much because I'm very uncomfortable. My groin pain is pretty intense when I'm laying down.
Best Moment of the Week: Only gaining 2lbs at the doctors!
Miss Anything? Being able to see below my belly and COOL weather!
Movement?: All day! 

Food cravings: Nothing except for ICE WATER!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nada
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: Some Braxton Hicks contractions and a little bit of cramping, but nothing that's consistent.  

Symptoms: Pressure in my groin, restless legs, sensitive skin, heartburn, and peeing every half hour.
Belly Button in or out? In-almost flat 

Wedding rings on or off? Off
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and hot!
Looking Forward To: My last week of work before maternity leave!!!   

33 weeks

Emerson isn't here yet, but I already think Diaper Rash cream is the best thing ever invented! Most of us are probably familiar with that annoying rash we get when our thighs rub together when we're wearing a dress AKA chub rub - I've had preggo chub rub x10 the last few weeks. I'm in a lose/lose situation right now-it's gotten too hot to wear anything but dresses and currently dresses are the only thing I feel comfortable in, but I'm guaranteed chub rub if I wear a dress. Typically I slap on some biker shorts or spanx to prevent the rub, but with this huge belly those options don't really work anymore. With no relief in site from the brutal upper 90s heat I dug through the bags of baby shower presents and found a tube of A+D Ointment and lathered up. BEST.THING.EVER! Not only does it help get rid of the current rash, it helped prevent a future rash. The only negative, if you consider it a negative is the lingering smell that surrounds you for an hour or so. Personally it doesn't bother me because it reminds me of being a little kid at the lake with white diaper rash cream spread all over my nose and cheeks. Old school sunscreen!

Did I already mention how hot it's been?? This weekend the temps were upper 90s and it's not looking any better for next week. When I looked at my weather app on Sunday it predicted Tracy would be 106 degrees on Friday-WTF?! I've never handled the heat very well so when you add being 8 1/2 months pregnant it only spells disaster. Friday I spent the day cleaning the house and pushed myself too far and ended the day with my first Braxton Hicks contractions. Wasn't planning on cleaning the whole house, but once I got started my OCD wouldn't let me stop until it was done. Saturday we had such a busy day and all I wanted to do was relax in my air conditioned house. We started the day with our childbirth class (more to come on this topic) from 9-2:30. Then we headed to our friend's baby shower and spent an hour or so there. We then rushed to our ring bearer's 5th birthday bash and finally I went out of town for a friend's house warming party. I thought things were supposed to slow down when you were pregnant?? Can someone pass that on to everyone planning all of these events I can't say no to?! I'm pretty sure I over did it on Saturday because I felt so sick by the time I got home. TOO MUCH HEAT! Sunday finally came and it was the first weekend day in a long time that we didn't have plans. Well technically we had tickets to the A's game, but we x-nayed that idea when we both came home exhausted Saturday night. Sunday started off nice with some yummy breakfast and hanging out watching the game on TV. BUT then it just got too hot even with the A/C on and we decided to go to my mother-in-law's house to swim. AJ had already made plans to go there and help her with the pool pump so it worked out perfectly. UNTIL....I tried on a bathing suit. UGH! Now you all know from my last post that the past couple of weeks have brought with them the rude comments that aren't helping my already negative self image. Well, trying on a bathing suit didn't help at all! Since I was planning for our honeymoon last year I had accumulated a lot of bathing suits so I figured I had multiple options to work with-not the case. I was able to find one bottom that fit, but not one single top fit me. AJ was in the room when I was trying on my 10 tops and he laughed each time I tossed the top back in the drawer. See, in a guy's perspective having huge knockers is never a bad thing, so not my thinking! It's not like I went out and paid for these things; I was perfectly happy with what I was working with already. Being hot, uncomfortable in my own skin, and now unable to relax in the pool all added up to one mini-meltdown. I shed a few tears and told AJ to go without me. I took a cold shower and had a pity party on the couch all day. AJ was trying to help by suggesting we run to Target to pick up a new suit, but by that point I was already over it. I know I'll have to invest in a new top or a new suit all together because the weather isn't getting any cooler and I would like to prevent any future meltdowns.     

Now, back to our childbirth class. AJ and I had been really looking forward to this class because we both only know what we've heard from other people and everyone has a different story to share. The class was extremely helpful in getting us prepared for what's to come with labor and a newborn. It also slapped me HARD with a reality check of what's to come for my hoohah. I haven't been afraid for the labor pains because I know they are inevitable and I'm also hoping to get an epidural, but what I haven't been fully prepared for is the destruction of my vajayjay. We had the pleasure of watching a birth on video and seeing that baby destroy his mama's hoohah made me cringe. You know when you pucker your butt cheeks-that's what I tried to do with my lady parts when I watched that baby come out. Watching the video with the addition of our teacher saying episiotomy, ripping, and tearing 100x left me extremely afraid for my vagina. Apparently I need to start giving myself a perineal massage to prevent any tearing. P.S. I don't recommend googling perineal massage to verify the spelling of perineal.

So have I complained enough in this post? Oh well, this is the life of me and my belly! Sorry I don't have any fun pictures for this week's post, but promise to be back on schedule next week!

Only 7 more weeks!


How Far Along: 33 Weeks

Weight gain: 41 lbs, but off to the Dr's tomorrow
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? Still just some dots on my hips.
Sleep: Back to getting up 3-4 times to pee. Makes it extra hard to get through my last few work days!
Best Moment of the Week: Touring our hospital's labor and delivery ward. 
Miss Anything? My clothes fitting and having control of my emotions.
Movement?: My little tiny dancer is kicking, stretching, and punching me all day! 

Food cravings: Fruit

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: Nothing to be concerned about, just some braxton hicks contractions 

Symptoms:  Pressure in my groin, restless legs, sensitive skin, and having a bladder the size of a pea.
Belly Button in or out? In-almost flat though

Wedding rings on or off? Off
Happy or Moody most of the time: Normally happy, but my hormones got the best of me this weekend and I was very moody.
Looking Forward To: Meeting with a potential baby sitter