34 Weeks

34 weeks

How Your Baby’s Growing (from Babycenter.com):

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (about the size of a cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

How far along: 34 weeks
Pregnancy symptoms: heartburn; carpal tunnel syndrome; trouble sleeping; lower back pain, making it difficult to walk; mega stretch marks; tiredness; hip, pelvic, pubic pain; anemia; swollen everything – feet, legs, hands, belly  :); constant need to pee; stretch marks
Food Cravings: these may not all be current, but they happened some time this past week: pork chops, Pringles, pie, potato soup (it is a total fluke that those all start with P)
Food Aversions: Some sweet things
Sleep: Sleep is pretty rough.  My everything hurts at night, and there’s no comfortable position.  Even so, I can sometimes get everything positioned just right and get a few hours of sound sleep in a row.
Measurement: 229lbs
Movement: Even with how tight it is in there, I still feel them both move regularly.
Labor signs: Braxton Hicks contractions, some of which are doozies.
What I miss: A lot, frankly!  I miss being able to walk across a very small room without my back hurting.  I miss not having to go to the bathroom constantly.  I miss my hands not falling asleep and being in pain all the time.  I miss having more things to wear.  I miss being able to do simple chores.  {I’m whiney!)
What I’m looking forward to: cooler weather, meeting the babes (I’m ready when they are!), getting the nursery put together (hopefully before they come?)
Milestone: I have a few!  34 weeks feels milestone-y as far as growth and viability.  We finished our Bradley birth class tonight.  And (I’m technically finishing this on Tuesday) I made it to October!  This is in all likelihood the birth month of the boys!
Thoughts from the children: Joanna asks so many thoughtful questions, but of course I’m not thinking of any right now.  :)
Doctor’s visit: I had another non stress test, which was rather uneventful.  Yay!  I had some blood work last week that showed I’m still anemic, even taking an iron supplement.  So I’m taking the supplement twice a day now.  Or twice when I remember the evening one.  I don’t have a routine set up for that one, so I keep forgetting.  I set an alarm on my iPod; hopefully that will work.
Other thoughts: I actually feel better this week than the beginning of last week.  My mother says I must have gotten stronger.  :)  My everything still hurts, but it’s not that unbearable pain from last week.
Baby-related projects:

• I’m putting this on the list kind of after the fact: Work on potty training James.  Hallelujah that boy is doing so so well!
• Clean up/organize the girls’ room to make space for eventual James.
• Go to IKEA.  Look at and possibly purchase the Kura low loft bed and shallow mattress for the girls.  **I’ve been putting this off since it is logistically hard, but we are ready to get this done!
• Move the majority of the toys into the main living area to make space for sleeping and clothes in the bedrooms. I still need to sort through and organize the books, which are in a giant pile on the floor.
• Do some research on the best sleeping arrangements for newborn twins.  *I’m currently planning to use a standard sized pack and play with the newborn “shelf” in it for our bedroom when they’re bitty.  If we discover they don’t sleep well with each other, we can always switch to two pack and plays or just use the cribs.
• Figure out number of diapers that would be ideal for the babies.  **I think at this point we’ll just get a few more newborn sized diapers and then wait and see what works when they come.
• Pick out infant car seats.
• Organize James’ closet.  (This is where the not-in-use clothes live as well as a lot of baby things, and it’s a super-pit.)
• Shop for a king sized bed.  We really really really really want one.  :)  But the logistics and expense may mean this isn’t the best time.
• Tinker with a baby registry.  We don’t need much, but I have started putting some things on an Amazon registry when I think about them
• Pull the baby boy clothes from the attic and take inventory.
• Possibly get some maternity/family pictures made.  **I got some maternity pictures made last week!  There will be a separate post on that.
• Wash, dry, fold, put away the 0-3 months clothes. 
• Pull the new infant car seats out of the boxes and make sure they are what we think they are and work as they should. **Done! And I’ve started stalking Joanna’s new car seat, waiting for a great price.  **We got Joanna’s new seat last week!  “We” have yet to put it in the car and make sure it’s going to work, but it’s here!
• Preregister at the hospital.
• Work on a birth plan (mainly just for us but also to bring up any questions I want to ask my doctor about this different kind of birth coming up!)
• Hospital bag lists – one for labor/delivery/right away, another of things I’d like to have if I stay a few days.
• Work on “decorating” the nursery.  Basically this involves pulling out anything that isn’t baby boy related and putting up things that are!  **It’s really not too bad in there, it just needs some TLC.  This may simply have to wait until some far away time to get done.  :)
• Pack the hospital bags, including a list of things to add at the last minute.  This is pretty much done.  I felt the need to get that taken care of last night.  Basically, as long as I have my camera and camera bag, I’m happy to go to the hospital with nothing else.  Somebody can bring me the things I’ll want for my stay later on.  :)