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.