39 Weeks - FULL TERM!

At 39 weeks pregnant, Cayetano is as big as a winter melon. Baby measures about 20 inches long and weighs about 7.3 pounds. Baby's probably able to flex his or her limbs now. Baby's brain is still rapidly developing—he's getting smarter by the week! Baby's nails may extend past the fingertips now.

How far along? 39 weeks

Weight gain/loss: 38 pounds.

Sleep? Terrible. I've been up in the middle of the night for a few hours the last couple of nights thinking I was maybe going to go into labor, but no such luck. And even when I am able to sleep, I wake up at least every hour and a half to pee. Yesterday I was so tired I came home early from work and took a nap from 5-6pm - not exactly my norm for a Thursday evening.

Best moment this week?I've been having one with the kids this week- trying to focus on spending time with them before Cayetano starts being the center of attention. On Saturday I took Joaquin to the mall and we went shopping, had sushi and cookies and had a great time just one on one. Twice this week Joaquin has gone with Jay to the big pool after work to swim laps with him (this is such an awesome development!) so Emi and I have had some one on one time as well. One night we went to Trader Joes together and then picked up dinner, where Emi had her first ever cherry soda. She LOVED it. The next night we stayed home and I gave her a mani/pedi. I love my kiddos and I especially enjoy spending time with them one on one. No breaking up fights or dealing with them competing for attention. Just good quality time.

Movement:He's squished. I'm squished.

Food cravings:Stuff that isn't hot. It's unbearable being in the heat lately so eating hot food sounds quite unappealing lately.

What I miss?My chin. Holy smokes. I want my normal face back.

What I am looking forward to? Being done of course. But I'm just trying to take one day at a time so I will repeat my response from last week and say date night with Jay. It may be our last one for a while (oh dear, I hope so!).

Milestones: Well, I am actually full term today, which is wonderful. There is zero medical reason for baby to need to bake any longer, which is a relief. And based upon my very different experiences with Joaquin and Noemi, I am grateful to get to this point. I am hoping that Cayetano takes after his big sister and is a good eater and sleeper and generally makes life easy on us (well, in realistic baby terms anyway).

What I'm nervous about:Where my water might break. Haha. I am constantly planning for that happening. I am even driving around with a doggy pee pad on the seat of my car. I'd really hate to ruin my brand new (to me) car!

Appointment Update from Yesterday (TMI Alert)

Still 1 cm. Sigh. My OB stripped my membranes (you can google that if you want to, but there's a reason I'm not giving all the details here). I felt crampy and had a few other signs of possible labor last night but no such luck. I'm back at work today and hoping not to be here next week.

Single Digits!

I'm one day late on this post, but woohoo! Single digits until my due date. Today I have only 8 days to go. But let's be honest, I'm hoping for 1 or 2.

38 Weeks

At 38 weeks pregnant, Cayetano is as big as a winter melon. Baby is about 19.6 inches long and his head is about the same circumference as the abdomen. Average baby weight at 38 weeks is 6.8 pounds. Baby may have about an inch or so of hair already. Baby's also slowly shedding that white goo on the skin (called vernix caseosa).

How far along? 38 weeks

Weight gain/loss: 38 pounds. Back on track with that 1 pound per week pattern. Oh well.

Sleep? Eh. It's been worse this week. Between the heat and my discomfort and late pregnancy insomnia I am fairly tired.

Best moment this week?It's not really a moment. Since Monday, I have been virtually back/pelvic pain free. I swear, it's the closest thing to a miracle I've experienced. I really thought I was doomed for severe pain with every step until this baby came and then all of the sudden I have been able to move about freely (well, as freely as one can when a 38 pound basketball is attached to them). I need to bring that physical therapist a bottle of wine!

Movement:Yep, but nothing new here.

Food cravings:Anything I don't have to prepare. I am not at all in the mood for cooking or even preparing food these days.

What I miss?Mezcal. My ankles. Energy. Yoga. Running. Sore muscles from a good work out. Good coffee. Can I keep going?

What I am looking forward to? Well, it's Friday so I will focus on date night tonight!

Milestones: Each week is a big one now. Plus, now that I am not in huge pain I am hoping to get one more week in. So, I guess the milestone is moving away from the whole LET ME BE DONE NOW attitude I had a week ago. It's nice to be a little more relaxed about things. Don't get me wrong, I'd be fine if he came tonight.

What I'm nervous about:Transitioning at work. I still have a few items on my plate to deal with and setting another person up for my job is a little awkward. I am hoping the transition goes smoothly for everyone and that I am not the cause of too much stress.

One Belly Pic

This is the only one I've posted of this pregnancy. I'm not a huge fan of myself in pictures pregnant. This was 37w4 days.

Appointment Update

No big news here. I'm about 1 or 1.5 cm. My OB said could be tomorrow, could be a few more weeks. In the very short time she was checking Cayetano's heart rate, I had 2 contractions so she said it's very hard to say what could happen as I can go from 1 cm to ready in a very, very short time. I'll be satisfied if this kid is born in the hospital!

37 Weeks - WOOOOHOOOO!!!

At 37 weeks pregnant, Cayetano is as big as a head of romaine lettuce. Baby measures about 19.1 inches. Average baby weight at 37 weeks is 6.3 pounds, and baby is gaining about half an ounce each day. Baby's practicing some cool new skills: inhaling, exhaling, sucking, gripping, and blinking. In less cute news, baby's getting the first sticky poop (called meconium) ready for his first diaper (sounds like a job for Dad).

How far along? 37 weeks

Weight gain/loss: Still 35 pounds. That's two weeks in a row of not gaining weight. Double woohoo over here!

Sleep? It has been super hot lately so sleep is difficult. Plus it is still painful every time I have to get up to pee. Just a bit longer until I can at least sleep on my stomach. Although I don't think the heat issue will get better any time soon. Plus I am remembering the really lovely post-birth night sweating issue. Ick.

Best moment this week?This morning. Waking up 37 weeks pregnant. I wasn't super worried for the last few days about making it to today but it was still a big relief to be officially "term". 37 weeks is now considered "early term" and not "full term" so the general consensus is that it is still too early for baby's debut. That being said, getting to today means no NICU team in the delivery room ($$$$$), no car seat challenge (which means being separated from baby for 3 hours or so plus additional delay getting checked out of the hospital, and - thank god - only one glucose test (assuming good results) instead of tests every 4 hours (each of which requires a foot prick that is painful for baby). We were in the hospital for about 4 days with Joaquin and only 21 hours with Noemi. I am hoping we are in and out quickly again this time. I know lots of moms like the extra time with nurses but I feel the opposite. I don't like sleeping in a hospital bed and I really don't want to pay 20% of the huge bills that come with a longer stay.

Movement:He is still moving and gets the hiccups a lot. But I can tell he's running out of space in there.

Food cravings:Lots of fruit. I love this time of year. Otherwise, my appetite is fairly suppressed these days.

What I miss?My chin.

What I am looking forward to? Meeting Cayetano. I keep reminding myself that it's best to be patient. But at this point I am also so excited to hold this new guy and get started on the next phase.

Milestones: Obviously, getting to 37 weeks is a huge milestone. Otherwise, I think I've also done a really good job of preparing work for my absence as of this week, so that is another nice milestone.

What I'm nervous about:This cut on my foot. It still hurts after a week of antibiotics and I am tired of the nuisance of the pain and the medication. I need to go back to urgent care for them to take a look and it is just a pain in my buns taking all of this time at the doctor. I feel like I spend way too much time with medical professionals lately.

Appointment Update

I went to the OB yesterday for the first of my now weekly checkups. I'm 1/2 cm at this point. She said, "Could be 3-4 days, could be 3 more weeks." So, that's super helpful. Haha. She was not worried about me making it to Friday though, so that's great news.

36 Weeks

At 36 weeks pregnant, Cayetano is as big as a papaya (which I sort of thought was smaller than a pineapple, but whatever). Baby measures about 18.7 inches from crown to heel and weighs around 5.8 pounds. At 36 weeks pregnant, baby's liver and kidneys are in working order. Circulation and immune systems are basically good to go. Now, baby is getting closer and closer to being able to breathe on his own. Plus, his skin is getting smooth and soft, and his gums are rigid.

How far along? 36 weeks

Weight gain/loss: Still 35 pounds. So there's that! I would have thought I would be gaining weight rapidly these days with my inability to move.

Sleep? I have experienced mild bouts of pregnancy insomnia but nothing too horrible. In fact, most people would probably be thrilled to fall asleep as easily as I do now but I usually fall asleep in less than 2 minutes so I am a bit spoiled in this department.

Best moment this week?Although it was a long day, we had a lot of fun on the 4th. We pool hopped and had a bbq with friends. The kids had a blast and it was nice for me to get out of the house. Plus being in a pool feels nice these days. On top of it all, my back pain was decidedly lower that day than it had been in the weeks leading up to it and also in the days since - good timing.

Movement:He's kicking me a lot in painful places lately.

Food cravings:I haven't been as hungry as usual lately. Cherries are in season though!

What I miss?Mobility. I am pretty tired of the pain and particularly tired of not being able to get things done easily. It is quite difficult for me to be okay with not getting chores done.

What I am looking forward to? A week from today. When I can start doing jumping jacks (kidding).

Milestones: Every week is a big milestone at this point. Both because I managed to make it through the pain for another week and because Cayetano keeps getting bigger and stronger and better equipped to make his debut.

What I'm nervous about:Trying to keep my cool for the next couple of weeks. I am fairly tired and cranky lately and it is difficult to handle two little kiddos who know I can't catch them if they don't want them to.

Cayetano Andres

We met way too many Mateos lately. Our minds are now made up. Baby boy is now officially Cayetano Andres. If that's too much of a mouthful for you, you can call him Cay (rhymes with HI).

Blog Name Change

You know, I was looking at my blog title today and it irked me. The whole three men and a "little" lady thing just seems so, ugh, for lack of a better description. With all of the misogyny I have witnessed over the course of my lifetime (and particularly over the last 9 months of this Trump-era (double side note - can't this era end???)) I am just DONE with anything even appearing to belittle the strength and importance of women in this world. Noemi may be physically little still but she is big in every other way and is one of the strongest women I know already. I am so proud to be her mother - I can already see that she is unafraid to advocate for herself, understands when it is and is not appropriate to compromise, and has the utmost confidence in her own abilities.

Single Digits!

Well, until I am 37 weeks at least. Just 9 days to go to get to the safe zone! 30 days until my due date...

I am particularly excited to get to 37 weeks lately due to the chronic pain I've been in for the last 2 weeks and 3 days (see, there I am counting days again). I went to physical therapy on Friday and today and also bought the correct belt (https://www.amazon.com/Serola-Sacroiliac-Hip-Belt-Medium/dp/B000NIFVLW/ref=sr_1_2_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1499287805&sr=1-2&keywords=SI+belt) and that has been helping tremendously. But I am still less than perfectly comfortable so I am looking forward to being done soon.

Baby Names

Naming this baby has been more difficult than with our previous two kiddos. Those of you who have read this blog since I was pregnant with Joaquin may have noticed the contrast - we immediately began to call each of our first two kids by their names on this blog as soon as we found out their gender. This time, he is consistently just "baby boy." I guess it's hard to come up with a second name of the same gender considering that you already came up with one before.

We started being totally sure of a first name - Mateo. But we struggled with a middle name. Then, we arrived on a middle name - Andres - but started to have second thoughts about the first after Jay brought up that there was someone in his family tree named Cayetano (pronounced KI (like Hi) - A (like "uh") - TA (like the sound in the word "tall) - NO (just like "no"). The nickname for Cayetano would be Cay (like the popular name for boys, Kai).

For months we have wavered between the two names. People consistently looked puzzled at the name Cayetano because most people have never heard it before and most people say they love the name Mateo. But for us, we really don't want our kids to have names that are super common. Ideally they will rarely be in a class with another kid with their name. This has certainly been the case so far with Joaquin and Noemi. But we also aren't too into the whole super-unique name trend (I'm looking at you Apple). They have to be real names - we don't just make them up.

And then there's the who initial thing. Mateo would be MAN and Cayetano would be CAN. I don't know about you, but I can just picture some obnoxious frat boy going on about how his initials are MAN and me wanted to roll my eyes right out of my head. Maybe it's the whole Trump thing but, ugh, I just find that who scenario a little barf-worthy. We could always do a different middle name (Javier is our next choice) if we do Mateo, but I really like Andres.

Anyhow, all this to say that we are still on the fence on the name but I am leaning toward Cayetano Andres for this baby (with appropriate accent on Andres that I can't type on this blog). It may end up being a very last minute decision after we meet the baby though!

Hospital Bag (Mostly) Packed

Although my OB isn't too worried about me going into labor imminently, she did say that I should get my hospital bag packed this week. Thanks to my previous post on this when I was pregnant with Emi (see November 2012 posts), I have a very handy list of stuff to pack already. With Noemi we were only in the hospital for a grand total of 21 hours (yes, from the moment I walked in to the L&D wing in labor to the moment we left as a family to go home). As a result, I barely used most of the items in my bag last time. But with Joaquin we were there for nearly 4 days so you never know what you will or won't actually need.

This time, because Noemi came so quickly and the trend is that each labor is faster than the last, I want to be as prepared as possible to get out of the house and to the hospital. My plan this time is to call an Uber immediately to take me, and only me, to Hoag as soon as I feel like I am in active labor. Depending on where we all are at the time, Jay will deal with getting the kids home/finding someone to watch them and grabbing the hospital bag and will meet me at the hospital. Hopefully he's actually there by the time the baby comes!

So, as of now, I have a bag that is packed and ready to go with nearly everything on my list accounted for. Some things just can't be packed early because I use them daily or only have one. So, trying to help myself and Jay out, I am taping a list to the wall of all of the last minute things he needs to pack (like a toothbrush, comb, my makeup, a bag of snacks, etc.).

I am still hoping that we make it to 37 weeks, which is 12 days away. Ideally, we would make it to 38 or 39 weeks but if I am being totally honest with myself, this back pain is so debilitating that I will be thrilled if I am done very soon after we hit the 37 week mark. I am still taking my procardia when I feel like I am getting more contractions than normal (i.e., more than 4/hour) and will keep doing that until I'm 37 weeks. After that, I will stop the medication all together and we will just see when baby decides to arrive.