We started our Tuesday with a trip to our midwives. Andrew said we will never again go on a Tuesday; it was pretty crazy in there that day. We normally wait less than five minutes to be seen for our appointments, but we did have about a fifteen minute wait that day. Again, everything checked out great. I'm measuring right where I'm supposed to be. Of course, that doesn't really tell us much about if we have a five pound baby baking in there or a potentially ten pound baby. I'm going to hope for somewhere in the seven pound range. Our next midwife appointment is scheduled for the Thursday after Labor Day. That's the big 36 week appointment and they will run the strep b test at that appointment to see if I will need antibiotics during labor. They will also check to see if I'm dilated at all. That will actually be the only appointment they will routinely check for that, and will only check after that if I ask them to. Also, next week starts our weekly appointment schedule. We are getting close. Only four and a half weeks until our due date and two weeks until they wouldn't stop labor if it started.
After we left the midwives on Tuesday, we enjoyed some lunch at Olive Garden while we planned out the rest of the day. I do love their salad and breadsticks! We completed a few other errands including running to the bank and taking my wedding ring in to get checked and cleaned. Andrew and I will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary in September, hard to believe it has already been five years!
Our main goal for Tuesday was to get all our last minute items off our baby registries at Target and Buy Buy Baby. With completion discounts, coupons, and lists in hand, we headed into the stores. I'm sure anyone watching us was probably quite entertained. Andrew isn't a huge shopping fan, so I have found it works better if we have a very specific list when we head into the stores; it gives him a mission. This would be one things I have learned through five years of marriage; you have to learn to work together as a team. He likes lists and missions, so that is what shopping turns in to. It keeps us both happy because he has a task and I get his help shopping; it's a win for everyone!
We started at Buy Buy Baby because that was where we had a shorter list. Luckily, we were able to use all those 20% off single item coupons I had been receiving in the mail. On the things we weren't able to use those on, we had our 15% off completion discount for our registry. We were in and out of the store in under and hour, which I thought was pretty good. I knew Target was going to be a whole other story.
We made a quick pit stop at home to let the pups out. They are totally spoiled with me working from home. They aren't used to spending long periods of time in the kennel any more, so I always feel bad leaving them in there too long. After our pit stop, we were off to Target. I love a good deal, so I was pretty excited when I saw a few items pop up on Cartwheel that were also on our list of things to buy. FYI, if you don't have Cartwheel and you routinely shop at Target, you are missing out. It's an amazing ap Target has where you get discounts on items in the store. I have been using it for about two years now and have saved over $500 during that time. Our big score for the day was the Kinsa thermometer. We had a 25% off coupon that came with some other goodies when we started our registry at Target. There was a Carthwheel that day for 15% off the thermometer PLUS we got to use our 15% completion discount for our registry. Talk about some good savings! We got a $50 thermometer for $30; those are the kind of deals I love. I told Andrew I felt like I was robbing the store, but we were doing it legally. We also had 15% off Cartwheel discounts on several other items on our list including the Diaper Genie, diapers, wipes, window shades and mirrors for the car. Add those in with the coupons we had for a few of the items, and I felt like we scored some awesome deals!
Our load from our Target run. Does such a tiny baby seriously require this much stuff? And I thought we were trying to be minimalists.
We brought everything home and put it all in the nursery. A couple times I went in to start sorting through it all, and found it to be quite overwhelming. Andrew continues to be a huge help and we sat down one night last week and went through everything and organized what we could. He can tell when I'm getting overwhelmed by it all and is an amazing support system. I'm excited for our baby girl to arrive, but there are times when the whole thing becomes overwhelming. I would like to think it's normal.
Wednesday night we were supposed to have our final meeting with our doula. However, we had a message from her early Wednesday afternoon that she had a client in labor, so we re-scheduled to Saturday. We did meet with her on Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours and talked about our birth plan as well as labor techniques, when to call her, timelines, breastfeeding, etc. Talk about another overwhelming moment realizing we are less than a month and a half, and maybe less than a month out from the big day.
So, for week 34, I guess you could say my symptoms have become more emotional than physical. I still have the same physical symptoms. The feet and ankle swelling, dairy cravings, and frequently forgetting that I can't squeeze through spaces I used to. I have to remind myself to take it easy and not to push it. I have a growing list of things that "need" to get done and I forget I can't go at the pace I was able to before. On Sunday, my goal was to get our bedroom cleaned up. We had random junk accumulating and the whole room needed a general cleaning. What would normally take me about an hour and a half took me four because I would work for a while and then have to sit and take a break. It's frustrating, but I have to remind myself my body is doing overtime right now.
Here we are at week 34:
Yes, this is the same dress I had on a few weeks ago during week 32, so here is week 32 below for comparison. Baby girl is clearly packing on some weight.
Looking ahead to week 35, which we are currently in, we have a pretty low key week in terms of appointments and things. Don't let that fool you, I have quite the list of things to get done this week. I can't wait for our three day weekend! I know fall doesn't officially start for several more weeks, but fall starts for me when the calendar rolls over to September! Fall decorations will be going up in the house this weekend. Anyone who comes to our house between now and December 1st will probably be looking at the same decorations; sorry, not sorry. I love decorating for fall probably more than I do for Christmas! Also on the to do list this weekend is washing baby clothes and linens for the nursery. Our goal is to have the nursery set up by the end of the weekend. Yes, that means I might post pictures next week. We also need to get our hospital bag packed (eeek) since we hit that magic 36 week mark on Monday. Andrew has very clearly stated he doesn't want to be running around while I'm in labor trying to pack a bag. I have our list of things to pack ready, so I don't imagine it should be too difficult. The hardest choice will probably be what bag to use.
Next weekend we are doing our big frozen meal prep day, which means I need to work on our grocery list this weekend so we know what we need to buy. I hope to have at least 15-20 meals put away in the freezer and ready to pull out and cook since I know we are going to have our hands full with other things those first few weeks home.
So, there you have it. Things are getting a little more chaotic in this house and will probably remain that way now until little miss makes her entrance into the world. We are trying to enjoy a few moments of calm where we can. We make sure the dogs get lots of extra love and attention; we know they also sense the coming changes in our house.
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