35 Weeks!

Wow, we just ticked off another week on the calendar and we're halfway through week 35! I can't believe I'm getting so close. A friend told me today, "in a couple days, you'll be able to say he's due later THIS month!" Wow!

I've gotten to that point where I'm starting to say, "I officially want my body back!" Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for him to cook as long as he wants to cook, and I definitely don't plan to induce or anything, but I've rather sweetly told him that if he wants to come sooner rather than later, that would be ok with me! I'm to that funny point in pregnancy--you know, the one all the jokes and TV shows make fun of. I waddle, I crash (or rather Matthew crashes) into things, I drop things and then can't pick them up, I need help getting out of chairs, rolling over in bed is a multi-step process, I take potty breaks like every ten minutes, my feet are ginormous (when I can see them anyway), my ankles have ceased to exist, I nap a lot, I huff and puff after the smallest exertion, people make fat jokes at my expense, the whole shebang. And for the most part, I laugh. As uncomfortable as I am, it IS rather fun to be so...typical, I guess? That sounds crazy! But I guess it's just another relishing in normalcy moment for me.

The biggest frustration is that I hurt all the time. I have a bad back, anyway, and God has been VERY gracious to me in sparing me back pain these first 35 weeks. But the last few days, something has changed. I don't know if Matthew's protruding more, or weighing more, or has changed positions, or what. But it just hurts to BE these days. So, that's slowed me down a lot. Today it took me 3 hours to do the grocery shopping--it normally takes me 1.5 hours but I just move so slowly, I had that much to buy, and I had to sit down every little while and just rest. It was really sort of comical at some point. I know things could have gotten to this point a lot sooner, and my DH is sweet to help me as best he can, so I'm not complaining, but it definitely heightens my anxiety for Matthew's quick arrival!

My poor DH and brother have both been in the ER this week, so I'd love your prayers!. DH has been sick for 3 weeks now, and they still don't know what's wrong with him. We're currently waiting on test results to confirm if he has one of two different kinds of pneumonia, or Valley Fever, or something else altogether. Then when we got home on Monday night from Bradley class (which is going very well, now finally!), there were 3 messages from our doctor that said "one of your lab results was abnormal. You MUST call us back tonight." We called and they said that his potassium was "critically high" and that he needed to go to the ER immediately and be retested because if that number was correct, he was on the verge of a heart attack or kidney failure. DH's granddad died at age 36 from a heart attack, so it didn't take him long to panic. Thankfully when we arrived, the nurse at reception said that the potassium level is the most common false-positive they see and that put his mind at ease while we waited. 2 hours later they confirmed that it was indeed a false-positive. They explained that you can damage the cells with the needle when drawing the blood and somehow that damage can produce those really high results --weird! We're so thankful it was nothing. But it definitely gave us some extra excitement! One of us has been in the ER every year in November for like 3 or 4 years now...we thought we'd escaped this year, though we didn't know it would only be on a technicality ;) We still don't know what's wrong with him illness-wise but they changed his medicines on Monday and today he said he finally thought he was feeling a little bit of change/production. We'd love your prayers that he gets better soon, and in the mean time we're rejoicing that this has happened NOW instead of after Matthew comes. When DH gets sick, he gets REALLY sick, and he usually gets sick at least once per winter, so hopefully this is his one time and it will be behind us soon.

My brother is unemployed and uninsured so he went to the ER in the absence of having a primary care doctor. They said he had tonsilitis and strep. If he's still got signs this week, they want to take out his tonsils! He's also developed a problem reaction to some of the meds they put him on so he went back to the ER today and they basically told him "tough luck, we can't help you, you just need to wait it out." So I'd appreciate your prayers for him too.

A HUGE praise is that I saw my brother last week for my birthday on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. He got sick early Sunday morning so the germs were cooking in him some point prior to that, even likely when I saw him. And I of course live with DH. And I had to take him to the ER and went with him to one of his doctor's appointments, neither of which excited me because of the germs in the waiting rooms and such. But God has been so, so, SO generous in that, despite all of these exposures to various kinds of germs, Matthew and I continue to stay healthy. There was one day last week I thought I was getting sick, so I slept all day and woke up feeling fine the next day. Aside from that, I've literally not felt sick or like I was getting sick at all! I'm really grateful for His protection!

We had a non-stress test last week, as well as another ultrasound. My doctor said he's going to do them every week until Matthew's born. Honestly, I think it's for my doctor's peace of mind. He said he just wants to watch fluid and placenta levels. Matthew hasn't really given us any cause for concern in those (or any other, really) areas, but I think he's just overly cautious, especially given his own lack of experience with ET pregnancies. It's ok with me so I'm going with it. The one thing he DID have cause for concern about because of my sudden weight loss was Matthew's size, but he came in at 5.5pounds last week (75th percentile) so he's not worried about that anymore! That puts him on track to be 8.5 pounds at 40 weeks--not too heavy, but I wouldn't mind if he wanted to come at say, 38 weeks, when he weighed only 7.5pounds ish ;) The fluid level looked great, as did the placenta. Matthew is partially locked and loaded. He is head-down (praise God) but the rest of him is still hanging out willy-nilly. He's got his head down, along with his torso, but then his butt and legs are kicked out to the side, and he likes to rest his feet up under my right rib cage. My Bradley teacher called him a "riblet!" But the doc says so long as that front half stays down, we should be good to go! I just can't believe we're talking about that already!

We've washed all his newborn clothes, blankets, and bedding. We'll install the carseat and start packing our bags next week! Have I said I can't believe it, yet?

Anyway, I should get to bed. My family is coming tomorrow for 5 days for Christmas, and all 3 of their birthdays. I think it will be fun and probably one of the last times with everything "this way" instead of the "post-Matthew" way! That's been weird--realizing that we've celebrated a lot of our "lasts!" When we put up the tree, I actually teared up a little--it was the last time for a while that we could put the ornaments wherever we wanted (or even on at all) without paying attention to keeping breakable things away from the bottom, etc). It's not that I'll really miss that, it's just that our eyes continue to open to how much our lives are about to change in EVERY.SINGLE.WAY. It's a little overwhelming!

We had a nice Christmas with DH's side of the family, albeit short (his illness cut our day short), and we spent Christmas Eve with our church and the WWF (Mike's family and the other family from church that make up our trio), so we've had a lot of nice highlights this week, even in spite of DH feeling so lousy. Matthew has already made out like a bandit and he's not even here yet--such that my brother in law joked that next Christmas, he's showing up expecting! People sure do love our little guy, that's for sure!

Ok enough rambling...off to bed! I hope you all had wonderful Christmases and that you will enjoy happy and safe New Year's Celebrations! Love to you all!

PS: I'm current on all the blogs in my blogroll--I just have been unable to think of many comments! But do know that I read faithfully, even when I'm quiet!