I've got beth on e-mail/FB, so hopefully she'll let me know what's going on!  I was just going to text ringy, not that she knew that.  :P

37 weeks today!  I can't believe it.  Here's a pic from my shower on Saturday.  Yes it's the same dress as before.  That's my mama on the right.

 

I've got my weekly Dr's apt today, including the swab for Group B Strep and my first progress check.  Here's hoping I'm still locked up tight.  Lots of work to do before he can come!

Still mostly good.  I had a couple of sharp-ish pains last night, but I'd been up and moving around/bending down most of the evening, so I took it easy, put my feet up and wrote thank you cards while watching Bones.  I'm not yet to the point where I just want the kid out, so I guess that's good!  0-4 more weeks!

Happy full term raynes!  Great pic - I love that your mom is matching, so cute.

Ups: Great NT scan on Monday, and now we're just waiting to be able to tell DH's family this weekend, and then our NY friends shortly afterwards.  We leave for NYC tomorrow for a week, and pretty much every person we catch up with we get to share the news with, so I'm thinking it's going to be a lot of fun.  Plus shopping!

Downs: Can't think of anything!  I still feel great, and so lucky to have so few symptoms.

Question for all: I'll be doing some maternity shopping in NY next week because it's so much cheaper there.  But I really don't know what I should be buying, and how to guess how things will fit when I finally do get a bump.  Any suggestions on staples I should definitely pick up, or any other tips on buying clothes when my body hasn't really changed yet?  (I know they have the fake bump, but is it actually realistic?)

sushisamba:

Question for all: I'll be doing some maternity shopping in NY next week because it's so much cheaper there.  But I really don't know what I should be buying, and how to guess how things will fit when I finally do get a bump.  Any suggestions on staples I should definitely pick up, or any other tips on buying clothes when my body hasn't really changed yet?  (I know they have the fake bump, but is it actually realistic?)

Get a few pairs of jeans, for sure.  Mind you, my work dress code is such that I get to wear jeans every day, so I live in those.  Sizing wise, Motherhood goes by S/M/L, and they can do sizing based on your pre-pregnancy sizing.  I personally prefer full panel jeans, but as you'll be PG in the heat of the summer, you might want something less covering.

My other staples maternity wear wise are a few cami's.  Motherhood does them O/S, so sizing doesn't really matter there.  I like them (I got 2 different ones in black) because I can pair them with all sorts of cardi's.  No need to get maternity cardi's, because, well, they don't have to close!

I also like the full panel for pant/jeans. Capri's I like the one with a band, since I was so hot all the time by April.

Ups: regardless of how out of control the boys can be, they always put a smile on my face. Christian is blowing up with words now. It's like he is having a conversation with you. Zachary, I've heard a few smaller words and they both can sing twinkle, twinkle little star.

Downs the shoving. Christian beats Zach up. Well now he's starting to fight back. When we were leaving for DC today, Zach started to push Christian out the door. It's crazy how they can go from hugging, playing nicely to little devils in a matter of seconds.

 

sushisamba:

Question for all: I'll be doing some maternity shopping in NY next week because it's so much cheaper there.  But I really don't know what I should be buying, and how to guess how things will fit when I finally do get a bump.  Any suggestions on staples I should definitely pick up, or any other tips on buying clothes when my body hasn't really changed yet?  (I know they have the fake bump, but is it actually realistic?)

For me, my work is more dress pants and tops (but nothing too fancy) with a dress down day on Fridays.  I ended up with about 3 pairs of Motherhood dress pants and they have done me well this entire time. 

I only bought one pair of jeans since I only wear them on Fridays and weekends.

For tops, I found the fake belly to be good at helping you figure out if something will still fit farther on.  The lady in the store said it adds 5 months?  I haven't had a problem with my shirts becoming too short or anything but if you do, just wear a cami or tank underneath.

What I found I needed was bigger workout tops!  I just ended up buying 2 extra large Nike Drifit tops.  I debated getting larges but now I am SO happy I went with XL.

Many of the Macy's carry the Motherhood line and you can sometimes find better deals.  Good luck and have fun!

ETA - I LOVE full panel.  So much more comfortable and I found it always stays up.  I felt ridiculous wearing a full panel at 18 weeks when I was barely showing but it feels so good.  I'm not looking forward to becoming friends with zippers again.  lol

I lived in dresses in the summer heat. Then I had to find some shorts to wear because my thighs would chafe really bad. Granted, you aren't nearly as big as me, so that might not matter. Plus, the dresses will have a ton of longevity for your pregnancy. I also did full panel shorts. When I was inside, I could pull it all the way up,and when I was outside in the heat I could fold it down. It really looks like a cami showing under your shirt rather than a maternity panel.

ups: We have a crawler! He just decided to take off and go last night. I was so glad to have Jay home and a video camera ready. I also managed to teach Jackson how to blow raspberries. Not the best idea, but I was ecstatic that I taught him something. haha

downs: Now it's time to baby proof. Our house is pretty much a disaster for a small child. We'll probably head out to find a gate for our stairway and some way to hide the rest of the banister. We also have a fireplace and tons of entertainment equipment to figure out. Oy. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. 

raynes:

I've got beth on e-mail/FB, so hopefully she'll let me know what's going on!  

As long as raynes and I don't end up in labour at the same time, I'll probably just let her know to pass on the info!  lol

I'll post a bump pic and update after my OB appointment today.  I still need to shower

ups: Myles is much more independent now, likes to entertain himself. Is eating real food and feeding himself.

down: apparently crawling backwards the other day was just a fluke, hasn't done it since, and has still made no progress towards crawling. Honestly hearing how everyone else's baby is who younger than Myles is doing all these other things sucks. I want it to be Myles so badly. I'm worried if he doesn't start moving soon that he won't be able to get into the school we want him to go to. In order to start they need to be firm on their feet by 18 months. Well he's over 9 months old and hasn't really tried walking on his own yet let alone even attempted to crawl. 

 I feel like a bad mom because I get so frustrated and angry that my child is the one with the delays I don't care if they're fixable I don't want them at all. I feel like we've had enough to deal with that we don't need this too. 

eta: The reason I say 18 months is because if you get them into their preschool they are automatically in until 8th grade. It's much harder if not impossible to get in after pre-K

First, I ditto others about the full panel pants--especially earlier on for me, they were the only pants that didn't slide down. I am planning on wearing lots of dresses this summer though.

Thing here are good. LO is kicking up a storm lately and I had my first stranger ask when I was due yesterday, so I am feeling better about looking pregnant rather than just fat.

Now that I have energy again and the weather is good, I am also trying to get back to more consistent exercise. I am trying to walk or do prenatal yoga 5-6 days a week. I am having to adjust my expectations though--I am switching to counting time rather than mileage until I am really back running after baby.

Here is my bump from today at 38w2d...

ups...still pretty much all ups.  I've been very fortunate this entire pregnancy and I try not to take it for granted.  I got a nice 3.5 mile run in this morning.  I really have no swelling or anything like that.

Had my OB appointment today and baby looks good.  Maybe moved down a bit more and I'm about 2cm dilated and 50% effaced.  I had a really hard, long BH contraction before he measured me so we talked about those.  I'm not smart when it comes to the labour stuff and he said that eventually the BH will turn into real contractions and I'm likely having way more than I realize.  Like I said yesterday, unless I'm walking around or have my hand on my belly, I don't really notice them.  I think I have MANY at night.  Every time I wake up I'm super tight.

My fundal height was still only measuring 34-35 cm and I completely forget to ask about that being a concern but I figure if it was, he would be mentioning it.  I'm up about 27 pounds now.

downs...the only real downs are the occasional bad headache that will not go away and the insomnia that I get several nights in a row. 

I can't believe how close we are getting to meeting this LO. 

rxbeth:

My fundal height was still only measuring 34-35 cm and I completely forget to ask about that being a concern but I figure if it was, he would be mentioning it.  I'm up about 27 pounds now.

Lookin' good Beth!

Perhaps you're measuring smaller because baby's dropping?  I believe fundal height is less accurate when you've dropped.  

raynes:

rxbeth:

My fundal height was still only measuring 34-35 cm and I completely forget to ask about that being a concern but I figure if it was, he would be mentioning it.  I'm up about 27 pounds now.

Lookin' good Beth!

Perhaps you're measuring smaller because baby's dropping?  I believe fundal height is less accurate when you've dropped.  

Thanks!  And I was thinking it might be because of dropping so I'm not going to worry but follow up on my appointment this Thursday.

Both this week and last week he could touch baby's head.  I did NOT tell DH that because I might want to get some action to get things started at some point.