Pregnancy Recap: Weeks 33-37

Here's the recap of my last few weeks of pregnancy!

Week 33:

We did our last pre-baby tailgating weekend in College Station this week. It'll be interesting to see how tailgating works out next season with a baby... usually I do a lot of prep work for food, and Jeff and I do a lot of heavy lifting and preparation to get everything set up in Spence Park, and I'm sure we won't be able to manage all of it with a baby, so tailgating will probably look a little different next year. We can't fit all the tailgating stuff in the car with the car seat either, so who knows how we'll end up doing it all!

I've been having some lower back pain and I'm not sure if it's contractions or just back pain from carrying around a giant belly. I'm also starting to get headaches, which was one of my doctor's preeclampsia warning signs, so I have a lot to talk to my doctor about next week. I'm glad we're almost to the every-week-appointments stage.

I've pretty much given up on taking belly photos in our backyard like I was doing for the first few months. It's hard for me to get home from work while it's still light outside now that the days are getting shorter, and we keep going places on the weekends so I can't take the photos then either, and I just decided to not worry about it. So now I'm mostly doing iPhone selfies in the bathroom at work. Haha.

32 weeks, 4 days

Week 34:

We attended a "baby basics" class and Infant CPR class at the hospital this week, so I guess now we're as ready as we'll ever be to take care of Connor!

I talked to the doctor about my headaches, lower back pain, and a few other weird things that have been going on. They did a non-stress test to check on Connor and monitor my contractions, and apparently I'm having some real contractions every 5-10 minutes (I still can't feel them though). My doctor is worried about preterm labor and my high blood pressure... so now I'm supposed to be on "modified bedrest," which basically means I can still leave the house, but I'm supposed to be sitting and laying down as much as possible. I'm lucky that my job mostly just requires me to sit at my desk, so I can still work, but I was instructed not to be on my feet cooking Thanksgiving dinner (but let's be honest... I bent the rules a bit on that one).

I turned 34 weeks pregnant on Thanksgiving Day!

Week 35:

Still pregnant! Since the doctor told me last week that pre-term labor is a very real possibility, I'm starting to try to get everything organized at work so that I can hand it off if Connor comes early. I'm trying to leave everything at a nice, clean stopping point at the end of every day and keep everyone informed of what I'm currently working on. It's very odd to leave the office every day not knowing whether I'll be back in the morning!

I'm also trying to get everything organized at home. We put in a giant Amazon.com order for baby things that we still needed, and all the baby laundry is done. Connor's nursery probably won't be totally done until after he arrives (unless he actually waits until his due date), but he'll be in our bedroom for the first few months anyway.

I'm starting to get headaches and some pretty bad vertigo/dizziness, which is apparently all related to the high blood pressure. My doctor did a bunch of blood work and labs to test for preeclampsia, and everything came back fine, so at this point I'm just dealing with all the weird symptoms and wishing for Connor to arrive soon! Still having lots of lower back cramps/pain.

34 weeks, 4 days

Week 36:

I'm starting to feel pretty horrible all the time. The nausea I've had throughout the whole pregnancy has taken a turn for the worse, and the headaches/vertigo/dizziness are getting pretty bad. I had to call Jeff to pick me up and take me home one day this week because I was so dizzy at work that I didn't feel comfortable to drive. We skipped my holiday party for work because I was just feeling so awful.

My blood pressure is getting into scary numbers territory, and my doctor's aware of everything but she wants to try and keep Connor inside a little longer. I think the goal is to make it to at least 37 weeks so he'll be full-term. I'd really like to avoid an induction, but I feel so awful that I also want to get him out as soon as possible. I've been eating a lot of pineapple and spicy food. :)

We attended a breastfeeding class at the hospital this week, so now we've officially completed all of our baby classes!

Week 37:

36 weeks, 1 day

I'm not comfortable driving anymore because of the dizziness, so Jeff dropped me off at work Monday morning and then picked me up to go to a doctor's appointment (36 weeks and 4 days). I told my doctor about how the nausea and dizziness were getting worse, and I was telling her how it feels like I'm stuck on a spinning teacup ride and can't get off, and then I just started tearing up and I couldn't stop it... and there I was, sitting on the paper on the exam room table crying my eyes out.

I haven't really dealt with emotional mood swings much during my pregnancy... no hormonal breakdowns or anything, and I've never ever even come close to crying in a doctor's office, so the whole thing was pretty embarrassing, but my doctor is wonderful and handed me some tissues and told me she's seen worse. Haha.

It was an eventful doctor's appointment. I'm a little dilated and definitely having some contractions, so things are progressing, but it could still be weeks before Connor arrives. I'm officially not allowed to drive or go to work anymore, so I went back to the office to wrap a few things up and tell people what was going on, and then Jeff took me home. I'm planning to work from home the rest of this week, and next week I was planning to take some time off anyway for Christmas, and if I'm still pregnant after that I guess I'll have to figure out whether I need to start my maternity leave early or work something else out with HR. It was very weird to be leaving my office for the last time pre-baby!

We actually never made it to the end of Week 37, since Connor arrived at 36 weeks and 6 days (making him officially a "preemie" by about seven hours... haha)! More details on his birth to come!