Ok so lots to say this week! First off I went to have Miss Ellie turned on last Wednesday. Well I got there at 9:00 am and the house dr came to check me. He put the ultrasound on me and said well looks like shes head down now.  Man was I excited I highfived everyone on the way out! They said I needed a appointment with my dr still so I went in to see the nurse practitioner that day like 5 mins later! Welp guess what she was NOT head down! So they send me back… needless to say the house dr was not happy to see me. Like I was pumped to be back… So my Dr gets there thank God! Well turns out we no longer have time for the epidural. So unmediated I go… I know what your thinking did it hurt? YES! not as bad as I thought it could be but it was not fun at all. So it only took about 10 minutes they got her head down then she fliped up the other side so back at it we go… we finally got her to stay head down. Then I had to be monitored for 4 hours. I then was having contractions so they kept me longer I was having them every 5 to 10 mins. So before they would let me go home I had to be checked again so that morning I was 1cm dialted and 50% efaced so she checked and freaked out and said I was now 4cm and she was calling my dr and that I should call Jon and Molly right away! So I did and they were on there way. Then another dr came to check me and said that the nurse was wrong I was 4cm dilated on the outside and inside I was a 2 now… I was thinking WHAT 2 holes… so I guess after you have a couple kids you have to dig deeper to find the real measurement. So I had to stay over night. Molly and Jon got there at 11:30. She stayed all night with me. I was lucky and got a sleeping pill! It worked AMAZING. Sadly Molly just had to suffer she got no sleep with all the beeping and nurses checking on me and me getting up to pee every 5 mins and babies crying it was a long night lol. So I stayed until 12:00 Dr sammons came back to check on me and said I was the same and could go home. But bad news she fliped up again!!!! Grrrr so now im trying acupuncture I hope it works! I got home and took a nap. When I woke up I felt really bad and it seemed to get worse and worse. I started throwing up every where. I couldnt stop so gross I know. So I called the dr line and they thought I had a migraine from all the stress. Thank God ricky was nice and went to get it for me at 10 at night and held my hair back all night. Needless to say I slept in the bathroom floor. Then ricky told me the thinks my van blew up… it was smoking every where just great when it rains it poors! lucky me my dad was able to fix it! Im now just ready to go back to work. im ecstatic in fact to be at work! We only have two weeks to go!!!! Also gross tmi alert!!! I am losing my mucus plug EWWWWW lol. So things are well on there way. I think thats it! Now for the fun part what Ellie is doing!                    Your Baby

With just three more weeks to go and at about six and a half pounds (though weight and height vary from fetus to fetus), your baby is doing just fine. You can expect weight gain to be about half an ounce per day. (Boys, though, are likely to be heavier at birth than girls. And here’s a bit of boy baby trivia to back that one up: Moms carrying boys tend to eat more than moms carrying girls — a foreshadowing of teenage refrigerator raids to come.) Since your little one is considered full-term, if your baby was to leave the wet nest this week, he or she would likely thrive. That’s because Mother Nature and you have done such a fine job.

So what’s keeping your little one busy while waiting it out until D-day? Practice, practice, practice. Your baby is simulating breathing by inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, sucking on his or her thumb, blinking, and pivoting from side to side (one day you feel the tushy on the left side, another day it has swung around to the right side). All these are skills needed for his or her next gig — starring as newborn.

Here’s an interesting fact: Your baby’s head (which, by the way, is still growing) will, at birth, be the same size circumference as his or her hips, abdomen, and shoulders. And guess what’s making an impression (literally) these days on those shoulders and hips: fat — causing little dimples in those cute elbows and knees, shoulders and hips, and creases and folds in the neck and wrists

Only 3 freaking weeks until we all meet little Miss Ellie!  Im getting excited I know shes just going to be beautiful!  Her mommy is ready too! So the only big news for the week is on Wednesday ill be going to the hospital to get her hopefully flipped head down! Shes apparently very comfortable in there lol. Im a little nervous but im less nervous about this then I would be a c section! I just hope it dosnt put me in labor and if it does I hope Jon and Molly can get here fast enough to not miss it! I promise to let everyone know whats going on as soon as i can on Wednesday I will have to be there in the morning but wont get started untill afternoon and then will stay to be monitored!  So here is what little miss is up to this week!                                      Your Baby

Your baby’s skull isn’t the only soft structure in his or her little body. Most of your baby’s bones and cartilage are quite soft as well (they’ll harden over the first few years of life) — allowing for an easier journey as your baby squeezes through the birth canal at delivery (and less prodding and poking for Mom along the way). At this stage, the skull bones are also not fused together yet so that the head can easily (well, relatively easily) maneuver through the birth canal.

So your little bruiser (who you’ve now learned won’t be bruising you all that much with those soft bones) is now about six pounds in weight and measures slightly more than 20 inches in length. Growth will experience a slowdown now, both so your baby will be able to fit the narrow passageway to the outside and also so he or she can store up all the energy needed for delivery.

By now, many of your baby’s systems are pretty mature, at least in baby terms — and just about ready for life on the outside. Blood circulation, for instance, has been perfected and your baby’s immune system has matured enough to protect him or her from infections outside the womb. Other systems, however, still need a few finishing touches. Once such notable example: digestion — which actually won’t be fully mature until sometime after birth. Why’s that? Inside his or her little gestational cocoon, your baby has relied on the umbilical cord for nutrition, meaning that the digestive system — though developed — hasn’t been operational. So your baby will take the first year or two to bring that system up to speed.

So I went in today they checked me for dilation I was only a finger tip. Good news! But the Dr could not find Ellie’s head at all lol. I knew she hadnt flipped… so we did a ultrasound to see where she was and her head is wedged in under my left ribs and her body is under my right side and her arms and legs are free to kick my bladder lol. So we now have to try to turn her next week. At 37 weeks. Good news my Dr thinks we have a 90% chance of it all working! Bad news she could flip back and we then start over. Also it could put me into labor or my water breaks or the worst my placenta detacing if that happens its a emergency c section! I will have to be admitted to the hospital for monitoring and I will have a epidural so that I can be more relaxed. The Dr said that helps!  Im a little worried now I really want Ellie to be ok during all this! Also molly and jon will have to be on stand by ready to go if need be or just come in town for it. Im glad I love and trust my Dr so much. She really thinks this will all work just fine! Ill update more when I know exact dates!

Sorry im late on this post… im actually closer to 36 weeks now but we will talk about week 35! Only 4 weeks to go!!!!! (Actually closer to 3 now lol) im going to be VERY honest in this post im feeling all kinds of ways right now! Extremely happy and excited for molly and jon!!! And extremely worried for me not just because of the c section thing but how I will feel with Ellie leaving me… let me first say I DO NOT WANT TO KEEP HER LOL!!!! I think molly said it best yesterday on the phone when she said she is my friend. That is sooo true! Shes my crazy friend that comes knocking on my belly and blatter at all hours of the night because she wants to play lol. I have spent 24/7 with her since September 23! I have worried about her and loved her and prayed for her! Shes amazing.  Im not sure where I fit in after all this is over. I know that molly is amazing and says I can call and face time whenever I want. But I also dont want to be over bearing I mean they are now going to be the ones up all night and tired and showing her off to all there friends and family! I always knew this would be different and im still very happy and confident in my decision to do this. I also want to be honest for others to know this is how I feel. Im also VERY interested in meeting her face to face its going to be very different to have a baby pop out that looks nothing like my kids or ricky! They both looked just like him it was creepy! Im also very excited to sleep on my belly and have a fun summer!!! As for Miss Ellie in my belly this is what shes been up to!                                               Your Baby

At about 20 inches and five and a half pounds (but with about five more weeks to grow), most of your baby’s growth over the next month or so before you meet will be in weight (with a gain of anywhere from one pound to several), not height (baby’s pretty much reached the in utero limit in that department). Accordingly, fat continues to accumulate at a rapid pace these days (on baby, not just on your hips). Back in the middle of your pregnancy, your baby’s weight was made up of only two percent fat; now that percentage has soared to closer to 15 percent (and will increase to 30 percent at term). Which means your baby’s once skinny arms and legs are now quite plump…and irresistibly, squeezably soft.

Also continuing to grow at an amazing pace is your baby’s brain power. Luckily, the part that surrounds that amazing brain — the skull — remains soft. And for good reason: A soft skull will allow your baby to squeeze more easily through the birth canal. (Mother Nature was really thinking this one through — imagine trying to push out a rock-hard head…ouch!)

I wanted to do something nice for molly for her first mother’s day. So I did a few surprise maternity pics for them to have! Here they are!

Everything has been going very well for the most part. I feel great! Ellie loves to move and play. (my favorite part!) My feet are definitely swelling now they look CRAZY lol. I’ve never been a normal pregnant woman so I never had this happen before lucky me I guess lol. My acid reflux seems to have passed I dont get it to bad now. We had a dr appointment last Thursday and I asked dr Sammons to check if Ellie was head down because she just felt odd to me her movements and everything. Well sure enough I was right she is transverse!!!! No wonder it feels so odd lol my kids were head down by 20 weeks. So we are holding out hope she flips head down before my next appointment. If not we then get to talk about trying to turn her… I’ve been told this is zero fun lol. Ill be hooked to monitor’s so they can make sure miss Ellie is ok when they try to do this. That makes me feel better I dont want her to be hurt in any way! If she dosnt move then its a c section. … uggggg I am really REALLY not wanting that lol. Part of it is so selfish and im just scared! Its the un known. I mean I know how to have contractions and push a baby out im very good at that! Plus thats my FAVORITE part! Also healing from a vaginal delivery I know all about that! Not a c section. I then feel instantly horrible for being such a baby for not wanting and complaining about a c section. I KNOW molly and any other intended mommy would give ANYTHING to do everything I have done and get to do. No matter how the baby gets here…  And if we have a c section only ONE person can be in the room! I have already told Molly I want it to be her. I find it very important for her to see her baby come into the world. Im also then crushed that Jon dosnt get the same experience its just not fair! So anyway I hope this is all just needless worrying and she flips all on her own and we all get to go back to the normal plan! But I know at the end of the day they get a baby and thats all that matters!    My mom thinks it looks like miss ellie has dropped!                        Your Baby

Your baby could be as tall as 20 inches right now and about five pounds. Need a visual? Hold a five-pound bag of flour in your arms and imagine it’s your soon-to-be-born baby (cradle it, and you’ll only get strange looks in the baking aisle). Then stack three such bags one on top of the other (and get ready for some more strange looks, maybe from the same clerks who saw you grinning and holding that one-pound box of sugar a few weeks ago). That’s how tall your baby is this week. Now go bake some oatmeal raisin cookies with all that flour!)

If your little doughboy is, well, a boy, then you’ll be pleased to know that this week his testicles are making their way down from his abdomen to his scrotum. (Some baby boys — three to four percent — are born with undescended testicles, but they usually make the trip down sometime before the first birthday.)

Your baby’s fingernails now reach the end of the fingertips and may even curl over the tip, making a manicure one of the first things you’ll need to do for your little bundle.

We are now down to 6 weeks!!! Im still feeling great. Im sleeping less and less between peeing and Ellie playing and my new friend acid reflux I dont sleep much lol. I also now use ricky as leverage to get in and out of bed. Oh and i almost forgot my feet swelled up a bit after spending the day at the zoo with the kids! Thats never happened before lol. Still eating my ice and im hitting the nesting stage a bit. Molly had her first baby shower and I face timed with all her friends. They were all sooo excited for her it was very sweet. They also got to see my big belly! Im very glad she gets to have all the fun of the baby showers plus gets to drink at them! Lucky her lol. Here is what Ellie is up to this week! Your Baby

This week your baby may be anywhere between 17 to 19 inches in length and weigh more than four and a half pounds. At this stage in fetal development, your baby could grow a full inch more this week alone — especially if he or she has been on the shorter side. Weight gain can range from a third more growth to a full doubling before the big debut.

The level of amniotic fluid in your uterus has reached its maximum this week, making it likely that you have more baby than fluid now. That’s one reason why you’re probably feeling lots of nudges and pushes — there’s less liquid to cushion the blows. (Of course that means you’re even closer to your baby now!)

If your uterine walls had eyes, here’s what you’d see: your fetus acting more and more like a baby, with his or her eyes closing during sleep and opening while awake. And because those uterine walls are becoming thinner, more light penetrates the womb, helping your baby differentiate between day and night (now if only baby can remember that difference on the outside!).

And good news! Your baby has reached an important milestone about now: The development of his or her own immune system that (along with antibodies from you) will be able to provide protection from mild infections. 

Only 7 weeks to go!!! Ellie is really starting to get some good kicks in lol she also lays on one side or the other so my belly looks all crazy lol. Shes pushing around in there now! I guess space is running out! Im still eating my ice and feeling great! Im really not sleeping and toss and turn at night but im trying to not wish moment’s of this away so many women would love to do this and im so lucky to get to!!!! Some days I feel huge then others I think I look to small lol. I went this week for a amazing massage thanks to Jon and Molly they are honestly way to kind! Im so blessed to have met such wonderful people through all this! I think thats my favorite part is meeting people I would have other wise never met! Here’s what miss Ellie is up too!!! Your Baby

This week your baby weighs almost four pounds and could be up to 19 inches long. And though that’s a head-to-toe length, your baby is actually back to a curled-up position (you try standing up in those cramped quarters!). You’re likely feeling tapping and squirming instead of your baby’s signature rocking and rolling. That’s because, while comfy, your baby is a bit tight for exercise space right now. Your baby has also probably settled into the head-down, bottoms-up position in your pelvis in preparation for birth. That’s because the fetus’s head fits better at the bottom of your inverted, pear-shaped uterus. It also makes it easier during childbirth if your baby comes out head first. Fewer than five percent of babies prefer the bottom-down (or breech) position by full-term. Don’t worry if your baby hasn’t assumed the head-down position yet. There’s still a good chance he or she will flip head-side-down before birth — even in the tight confines of your uterus.

While your baby is still getting nourishment through the umbilical cord, it won’t be long before you’ll be bringing on the breast milk or formula (and soon after, the mashed carrots and peas). In anticipation of that momentous transition to mouth feeding, your baby’s digestive system is all set and ready to go.

And because your baby is accumulating more fat, his or her skin is finally turning opaque (like yours), which means those see-through days are over. Though weeks away from D-day, your baby’s looking more and more like a newborn.

And speaking of that big day, hope you’re resting up for it — because your bambino certainly is. In preparation for that big first date with you, your baby is sleeping like a baby — with sleep cycles of 20 to 40 minutes long (which would also account for the decrease in movement you’re likely feeling these days).

Only 8 weeks to go!!!! I was having some issues this past week when working and busy I started seeing spots and felt like I would pass out!!! So I called the dr of course they wanted me to go to labor and delivery to be checked out. By the time I got in the room and they checked my blood pressure I had been in a bed for 10 mins so I felt fine so of course they said well you look great lol. I have been on the iron pills so Molly thought that could be the problem so Dr. Sammons said I could stop taking them and see how I felt and also keep a food log of what I was eating. So far I feel great no more issues since I stoped the pills! Seems odd iron pills could make a difference but I dont know what else it could be… when I was there and hooked up to the monitoring stuff I recorded Ellie’s heartbeat for her mommy and daddy! Thank God she was just fine! Im sleeping less and less and getting very winded doing little things like carrying Everett up the stairs for bed lol. Im also getting a few Braxton hicks and TMI WARNING my boobs are leaking a little!!! Ellie’s milk is coming lol. I hope Im able to pump well for her. Im worried about that I’ve never not had the baby right there to just feed so I hope this goes well. I really want her to have the best! Here is what Ellie is up to this week!!!                                                      Your Baby

As far as growth goes, your baby’s still on a roll, measuring an impressive 18 inches and weighing in at more than three pounds. You can still expect your baby to gain at least three to five pounds, possibly more, before you two meet.

Your baby’s brain is working overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a frenetic clip, and your baby can now perceive information from all five senses. Sure, your baby can’t smell anything right now, but that’s only because he or she is still submerged in amniotic fluid and needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything. Lucky for you — and your baby — yours will be one of the very first scents your baby breathes in, a scent that will quickly become his or her very favorite.

So what’s your little dove doing all day while you’re busy feathering your nest for his or her arrival? Making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along your uterine wall, and even sucking his or her thumb. In fact, some babies suck their thumbs so vigorously while in the womb that they’re born with a callus on their thumb (what a little sucker!).   

Omg in case anyone is doing a count down like me! We only have 9 yes 9 short weeks to go!!!!! Woohooo everything is going GREAT! Not much to tell so here is what Ellie is up to this week!!               Your Baby

Your baby’s height and weight haven’t changed much in the past week, but the big news is your baby’s brain gain. Until now, the surface of your baby’s brain was smooth. Now, your fetus’s brain is taking on those characteristic grooves and indentations. The reason for this change in appearance? Those wrinkles allow for an increased amount of brain tissue — a necessary change as your developing baby prepares for life outside your womb, and the street smarts he or she will need.

Another big change this week: Your baby’s bone marrow has taken over production of red blood cells (before, tissue groups and then the spleen took care of producing the blood cells). This is an important step for your baby, because it means he or she is better able to thrive on his or her own once born (with a little TLC from you, of course).

So it’s in with the new (brain cells, red blood cells) and out with the old (lanugo). Much of the lanugo — the soft, downy hair covering your baby’s body — is beginning to disappear now because both fat and the brain are regulating your baby’s body temperature (so no need for that furry coat anymore). But you may see a few leftover strands of fur on your newborn’s back and shoulders.