36 Weeks

I am 36 weeks pregnant today! Only about 3 more weeks to go! I weighed in today at 161 lbs. I go to the doctor on Thursday, so we will get to see my official weigh in then. I am really looking forward to this appointment because we get to have our last ultrasound. I have been worried lately that something could be wrong with Lucas for some reason and I don't have any specific reason to feel this way, so I am hoping for a good ultrasound report to put my mind at ease. I am also curious to see if I have progressed anymore. I think I lost my mucus plug yesterday and I have been having a lot of really bad cramps that come and go, so that makes me nervous that I could go on my own before the 17th. I really need to get through these next three weeks of work! My cramping doesn't really feel like contractions because I don't feel any tightening, but I just keep getting these sharp cramp like pains in my lower abdomen. They start off mild and then get really painful and then slowly subside. If I had tightening with them I would think I was in serious labor. I am making major progress on getting things ready for Lucas. Jason was a huge motivator this weekend. He finished cleaning out the laundry room and painted the floor and then we both cleaned out the storage room and he painted the floor in there. Then he took another load of stuff to the Goodwill. I got all the baby stuff out and washed it and set everything up. I am still waiting on an order of clothes to come in before I do the last load of baby washing. I also got all my blogs caught up yesterday and that is a huge relief. The weather has been so nice lately that I hate to stay inside working all day. My next area of motivation needs to be my photobooks and pictures. Next week I am going to start deep cleaning my house top to bottom. Then I will totally ready for sweet baby Lucas. Part of me can't believe he is almost here. It doesn't seem possible that in about 3 weeks I am going to have 3 baby boys to take care of! I have been sleeping a little bit better the last few nights. I still have to get up at least once to pee, but the heartburn hasn't been quite so bad. My latest cravings are vanilla ice cream and fresh berries and cereal. I am really looking forward to warmer weather so we can get out and grill, Jason has grilled a few times in the last week and it has been awesome. My goal this week is to finish up just the last few things around here that I have to do before Lucas gets here and pack just a few more things so I can be officially packed. I am hoping to have the outside as far as the yard and garage all cleaned out this weekend also. I will post back on Thursday with the results of my Ultrasound and doctor's appointment!

35 Week Doctor's Appointment

This morning was my 35 week doctor's appointment. I weighed in at 160 lbs. Lucas' heart was beating in the 150's. Dr. Leinenbach did the strep test today and I will get my results back next week when I go back again. She also checked me for the first time today and said that I was 1-2 cm and 50% effaced and that she could feel the head. When she said that she could feel the head I freaked out a little bit and asked if he had any hair. She said that there were still membranes in front of it so she couldn't tell that. I had no idea how it all really worked and she had never said that before so It makes me think that I could go at anytime. I asked her if she thought I would make it to the 17th and she thought I would be fine. As long as I make it through work I will be fine to have Lucas anytime after that! Next week when I go back she will check me again and I will have my last ultrasound. If everything looks good on the ultrasound she will then set up my induction date for sure! I feel like I have so much to do now this weekend to get ready for Lucas! Jason and I both are so excited and so nervous this time. We are just planning on things being very crazy for a while and being very sleep deprived. We talked last night about who all to have at the hospital for the delivery and who to be in the room. Everything went so good last time that we are going to do the same thing again this time. Hopefully Alisann, Jamie, Becky, Mom, and Grandma can all be in the room and then after I have Lucas we will have Mary or Martha bring Christian and Jaxson up to the hospital to meet their little brother and then we will call Jason's parents to come so they can have some time to meet their newest grandson and then we will have anyone else come that wants to come and visit. My family is so big that things can get overwhelming sometimes and I like for things to be somewhat under control at least in the beginning so we don't get too overwhelmed. I also don't want there to be too many people there before the boys get there because I want that to be as relaxing and special as possible for them. Jax is at a hard age and the more people and distractions the harder it will be for us. I know I plan things way too much, but it doe help me to not stress quite as much knowing that I have a plan in mind! 4 more weeks at the longest until I hold my sweet baby boy! I have 11 days left of work. I hope I can make it through it!

35 Weeks

I am 35 weeks pregnant today! Only about 4 more weeks until I hold my new baby boy! I weighed in today at 159 lbs. It looks like I might be a few pounds off from what I was hoping. Oh well, I will just have to work a little harder to get it all off. I have not been sleeping at all the last couple of nights. Lucas has been moving around so much and has been kicking me so hard. It is now painful when he moves. I have also been feeling a lot of stretching in my ligaments below my belly. I have also developed some slight carpel tunnel in my left hand. It isn't too painful when it is warmer out or I put a heating pad on it, but when it gets colder it is really painful. This happened with Jax a little bit but not as bad as it is with Lucas. It went away right after I had Jax, so I am hoping for the same this time. I have also been swelling down low from all the pressure and I have been feeling lots of pressure lately. Sometimes I feel like he could just fall out at any moment. My hands are swelling more when I walk. Today I could barely open and close my fingers after we finished walking because they were so swollen. I do still have my wedding ring on, but I am thinking it is about time to take it off so I don't run the risk of it getting stuck. My heartburn is getting worst. I need to try and not eat anything a couple of hours before I go to bed or lay down. I think this has been my problem the last couple of nights. I have been craving cereal in the mornings for breakfast and I have been craving chicken salad for lunch. I of course always have a sweet tooth when I am pregnant and right now I am loving double stuffed oreos. Christian put them in the cart the other night while we were grocery shopping and now I am addicted. I have also been in the mood for good hearty home-cooked meals. I am tired of wearing maternity clothes all the time. I will be so glad when I am back into regular clothes. I hate maternity clothes. They do not fit me right no matter size I get. It is like I am in between clothes when I am pregnant. I had my maternity photoshoot yesterday and I of course felt huge for it. I just had Alisann do a couple of quick shots just so I would have some. I was not as excited about them this time, because I feel so huge! I made several lists on Sunday trying to get myself back on track for what we need to still do before Lucas arrives. Since I have not been sleeping good at night my motivation to get anything done is awful. My plan is to clean out and organize the rest of the house this week, finish any projects and catching up I need to do in that department next week and then the following week I was going to deep clean my house and everything in it. Then the week leading up to having Lucas I want to spend as much time doing super fun things with Jax and Christian. I really hope I can stick to this plan and get everything accomplished. It is a little unreasonable but definitely doable If I get on track and stay on track. We sold our boat on Friday and actually ended up getting more than we were planning on which is great! Then turned around and bought a new vehicle for me last night. We decided to finance it for one year and pay it off next March since interest rates are so low right now. We ended up buying a 2012 Toyota Sienna Limited van. I was not thrilled at all signing all the paperwork, but I do have to say seeing the smiles on my boys' faces when we drove off the lot in it was absolutely priceless. Christian was so super excited! Jason drove it home. I had no clue how to work anything on it. It has all the bells and whistles and I don't understand half of them. It will take forever to get used to this. Christian was showing us where everything was for the DVD player and how to work it. I had no clue! As much as I hate the fact that it is a van it will be nice to have the convenience and room with three little boys. I only have to drive it for about 5-7 years and then I can switch to a Landcruiser or the Lexus LX. Jason already loves the van. He loves the way it drives and how comfortable it is. He is itching to take a road trip now. I think We are going to try and go to St. Louis in a couple of weeks for the day to shop, so that will be nice! I got everything back on track for our budget so that is a relief. I am so tired of rearranging things. I wish things would just calm down for awhile. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and I am getting checked for the first time. I am a little nervous of what they will say for some reason. Part of me is nervous because what if I am not dilated at all and then part of me is nervous that I am going to be really dilated and what if I don't make it past my last day to work. I have also been worrying that something could be wrong with Lucas. I don't know why but I keep having a bad feeling that there could be something wrong with him. I keep praying every night that everything will be okay. I think I will feel better when we have our last ultrasound in a week and a half. In the mean time I am just counting down the days of this last month of pregnancy with Lucas!

Maternity Pictures

34 Weeks

I am 34 weeks pregnant today and It's Valentines Day! I have about 5 more weeks until I get to see my sweet baby boy! I weighed in this morning at 158 lbs. I am not too happy with that, but I am beyond caring at this point. I am still craving cereal and strawberry things and cheesecake. This week my cereal is frosted mini wheats with a touch of fruit in the middle. They are so good in the morning! Lucas has been moving like crazy everyday all day long. It is starting to become painful now. Sometimes he kicks so hard it makes me gasp out loud. I think he is in a weird position because I keep feeling a foot or a hand all the way down by my hip bone. The other night he was hitting or licking it so hard that when I got up the next morning I went to the bathroom to check to see if he left bruises. He didn't but man was he rough that night. Last night Lucas was moving all over the place and you could see my whole stomach move around. Christian was loving it. I think him and Jason laid next to me for a good 15 to 20 minutes just watching and feeling him move around. Christian thinks it is the coolest thing ever! Last night we made Lucas his Build-A-Bear with his heartbeat in it. Christian had so much fun doing that! He wanted to pick out the green camo bear for him and I had to say 'no' and told him to pick out a more neutral one. I did promise Christian that we would go back and he could make the camo bear for himself and dress him however he wanted! My heartburn has been doing good as long as I take my medicine. My back has been hurting a lot lately, but that is to be expected with carrying the extra weight. I am wearing maternity clothes and for some reason this time my maternity jeans are more comfortable than my regular jeans even though I can still wear my regular jeans. I am still wearing my wedding ring, but I took off my sister ring because it was starting to get a little tight. Jason and I both worked on more things around the house this past week and weekend. I got all of Lucas' clothes washed and put away. Jason finished the last little bit in the guest bedroom and then he started on the laundry room. I am hoping that this week end we can have the laundry room and storage room all cleaned out. I also cleaned out behind our bar. We are definitely going to have to be making another big trip to the Goodwill. It is amazing how much stuff we end up with that we don't need. We discovered another little obstacle that was not in our plan last night. This whole time I have been pregnant my plan has been to make it one more year in my 4-Runner. I new it would be a tight squeeze but if I could just make it a year that would be perfect. I wanted to be able to pay cash for our next vehicle that I drive, so I wanted another year to save for it. We are paying Jason's truck off in a couple of weeks and mine has been paid off for a year now. I was looking forward to no more car payments. Last night Jason decided to put the booster seat in my car for Christian and we realized then that it does not fit in my car! Of course I freaked out, now realizing that we are going to have to get a new vehicle NOW! Jason and I do not agree at all on what I should be driving. Part of the problem is how small our garage and drive way is. The last thing in the world that I want to do is to drive a van. I was hoping that by next year we would be in a different house and I could just drive a big SUV. I am not crazy about this either, but I really do not have a choice if I want to continue having more kids and I definitely do! I would love to get a Land Cruiser, but there is no way we can pay cash for that right now, especially if we are wanting to buy a house in the next year. I really am not a huge fan of the Sequoias, but they are growing on me. I just hate that they all have a V8 in them. I really did not want to drive a V8 again. I also like the Lexus Lx, but that is also out of our price range to pay cash for. I have always been a Toyota person, so I have not really looked at other makes and models yet. I am guessing that is what we will be doing this Saturday now. I am going to try as a last resort to rearrange the car seats and see if that would maybe work, but I think it probably won't. I don't know why I even bother making my lists and planning my budget. Just when I think I have a set plan on how things are supposed to go something comes along and screws it up! I guess that is life. Now instead of getting my house deep cleaned and some more areas cleaned out this week I will be redoing all my lists and budgets for the next year and I will be looking at all big SUVs and I hate to even say this but I guess I can't rule out the new Siennas either. I will just die if I have to drive a van! I a more happy note I am excited that my new diaper bag came in yesterday. I ordered a Petunia Pickle Bottom Boxy Backpack one and I think I will really like it. I also realized that Lucas needed some spring Newborn sized clothes and some spring/summer 0-3 month sized clothes. I placed several different orders on different websites and I got one of the shipments in yesterday. It was the Zutano baby clothes I ordered and they are so cute. I am really excited to get my Magnolia Baby order in also. I love those two brands for babies. I need to make a stop at Hooray (a local baby boutique) and see what all they have in stock. I am going to wait until all my shipments from my online shopping come in first so I can go back and see what Lucas still needs. I am all packed for the hospital other than just a couple of odd and end things. I would still like to find one more night gown to wear in the hospital. I need to make a trip out to The Women's Hospital and see what they have. When I was there last week they had a bunch of cute Olian nightgowns with matching baby outfits, but they didn't have my size. They were supposed to be getting more in, so I am anxious to go back and see what they have for Spring!

Making Lucas' Bear

Tonight we took the boys to Build-A- Bear so they could make Lucas his teddy bear with his heartbeat in it. Christian was so excited to do this. He has been wanting to do this forever! After we finished he wanted to make one for himself so I promised him that we would come back just the two of us and he could do that!

33 Week Doctor's Appointment

This morning I had my 33 week doctor's appointment! I weighed in at 157 lbs. which I was not happy about, but oh well. I measured 33 cm and Lucas heart rate was 160. Everything is right on track for the 22nd of March. I did talk to her about me going early on my own. If I had things my way my water would break the morning of the 18th and I would deliver Lucas sometime in the late afternoon to early evening on the 18th. That would work out so much better for everyone's schedules that I want to be in the hospital room. Jamie wouldn't have to take off work and Alisann would have Justin to watch the boys and I would have a few more options also available for my boys. Right now I am hoping to have it all worked out between, Mary, Martha, Travis, and my Dad. Dr. Leinenbach said that she didn't have plans that weekend so that would work for her also. She said that if I didn't have Lucas by the 19th that I could go in and have my membranes stripped on the morning of the 19th. She did this with Christian and my water broke within 24 hours of her doing this. I have to say that the 20th or 21st are not ideal days for me or Alisann. Alisann has to work both of those days and I really didn't want him to be born on Becky's birthday only because I would never get to celebrate Becky's birthday with her because I will always be with Lucas. The 21st would be okay I guess for me, But I am hoping for an even day since the boys' are both even days. I think I am going to just start planning and thinking the 18th and maybe I will get my wish! I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks and she is going to start checking me then to see if I am dilated or thinned out any. I am anxious for this appointment just to see if I am progressed yet. I have had a lot of cramping and tightening in my lower abdomen. I don't know if that means anything or not. She is going to do an ultrasound at my 36 week appointment and I am really looking forward to that! My next appointment is my last 2 week appointment and then I will go every week. I can't believe that in 6 weeks from today I will for sure be holding my sweet baby boy! I am so excited to meet him and to not be pregnant any more.

33 Weeks

I am 33 weeks pregnant today! I have about 6 weeks until they induce me! I have a feeling it is going to be here before we know it. I weighed in today at 156 lbs. I go to the doctor on Thursday so hopefully I won't weigh anymore than that. I know I am weighing and measuring the same as what I was with Jax, but I just feel like I am so much bigger. I have been working out regularly still. I went to a pilates class yesterday and lets just say that was quite comical. I had quite the time trying to do different moves with this big belly in the way. I have to say it felt great to stretch and I am a little sore today! I have been trying to not eat quite as much at my meals and trying to eat as healthy as I can. I had a craving for a strawberry julius today, so after my pre admission appointment I made a quick stop at Dairy Queen for one. I still am craving strawberries and cereal. Salads have been sounding good and so have chocolate chip cookies. We went to Target on Friday and picked up some things that we needed for when we have Lucas. We really don't have that much that we need, which is really nice. I ordered new make-up and a new diaper bag yesterday. I think I am going to get all of Lucas' clothes out and wash them and put them in drawers. We don't have a room for a nursery for him. Our plan is to have him in our room in the bassinet and then when he is around 4-5 months old have Jax and Christian share a room and do a nursery for Lucas. I have everything I need to do a nursery for him I just don't have a room ready for him. I Have set up a station out in our living room upstairs for when he wakes up in the middle of the night for us to feed him and change him. I did manage to clean out my craft closet, the guest bedroom, the coat closet, and Jason's closet all last week. I am relieved about that! I am hoping to now get my closet and drawers all cleaned out, clean out behind the bar, and clean out the laundry room this week. Maybe if I get really motivated I will get the kitchen and bathrooms cleaned out. I have a feeling those are going to have to wait until next week. I am also going to try and get the boys' blogs caught up. They aren't too far behind, just a couple of posts on each of them that I need to do. I know I need to just give up on this lost cause, but I really need/want to get my photobooks caught up. I just can not motivate myself to do that! Lucas has been moving like crazy! Christian loves to snuggle up with me on the couch and wait for him to kick. He thinks it is so cool! I have my Maternity photoshoot in a couple of weeks. I am really looking forward to it. I hope that I don't look to huge in the pictures. I am so nervous about having three boys to take care of and divide my attention to. I really have no idea hoe I am going to do it all. I lay awake at night and think of how crazy things will be and if I will ever have a moments peace again. I wonder how the heck I am ever going to leave the house with all three of them by myself. Every time I walk into tristate I think 'how am I going to do this with 3?' I'm sure I will be fine after I get a routine down I just wonder how I am ever going to get that routine down. I am so tired and exhausted now with two at the ages they are that I can't imagine how tired I will be once Lucas gets here and I am up all night. I am praying that he is a good and healthy baby for me. As worried as I am about his arrival, I am also so excited to meet him and hold him. I am dying to see what he looks like. I can't imagine him looking any different than Christian or Jax. I feel Like both Christian and Jax resemble each other and you can tell they are brothers. Sometimes I think they both look identical and sometimes I think they look nothing alike. It's weird because I have never thought that Christian looked anything like Jason. I think he makes a lot of the same facial expressions, but I just don't think they look anything a like. Looking at my baby pictures and my brother I think Christian favors my side of the family. Now Jax I think looks so much like Jason, but there are times that I see me in him also. I think overall they have a good mix of both of us. I can definitely say that already Christian has my personality and Jax has Jason's personality. It is so fun to watch the boys together and I am just so anxious to see what Lucas will be like with them! My heartburn is much better since I have been taking my medicine. I take it every night before I go to bed and as long as I don't eat right before I go to bed I am fine. I am still wearing my rings and I am wearing maternity shirts and pants. I have been wearing my regular pants also with my Belle band and that has been working out good. I am just so tired of everything I do taking so much effort. I feel like I can't get comfortable no matter what. If I stand my feet hurt and when I sit it is hard to breathe and to get back up. I know I am getting into the miserable stage and it only gets worst from here. I hate to wish this time away, because you never know when this could be the last one. We are definitely hoping and planning on having more, but you just never know what may happen in the future. I really do want at least one more because I really feel like I have not gotten to enjoy this pregnancy at all. everything has been so crazy and unplanned that it has felt like such a whirl wind. I really hate also that we aren't getting to decorate a whole room for a nursery. That is such a fun part of all this! Hopefully I can stay motivated to get things done this week. I am also going to try and take more time in the next 6 weeks to try and focus on this pregnancy and Lucas instead of worrying so much about what the future holds!