34 Weeks and Appointment Update

Wow, I have missed some updates that needed to happen... oopsies!

Yeah I can definitely tell that whole "pint of urine" thing - I swear, I have to pee every hour at least!

Rewind to last week...

Hump Day Bump Day - 33w + 3d

On Thursday I took the day off from work. In the morning I had a check-up appointment with the midwives. Got to meet the 4th and final midwife that I'd not yet met. Bethany was very nice and answered all of the questions that I've started keeping a running list of in my draft emails on my phone... lots of things come to mind from week to week, and I almost never can remember them by the time an appointment rolls around. Hopefully she didn't feel too bombarded! We discussed birth plans and hospital rules, and she said we'd start talking in more detail starting at the next (36 week) appointment. A small part of me is nervous I won't make it that far, but I'm trying to stay calm and positive!

She also did a quick ultrasound check to see if Cletus was still in the same position - apparently she couldn't tell his head from his butt (our child is a butthead!) because it's "very round". All looked good and he was still head-down with his back on my left hand side. Heartbeat was around 138 bpm and I'm measuring 32 cm (cm should coincide to # weeks gestation, give or take a couple). Hooray for another good appointment!

Afterwards, I headed to Urban Nirvana for a prenatal massage thanks to a birthday gift card from my neighbor. It was SO nice to relax and get some of the tension worked out of my lower back and hips. It's been a bit painful to sleep for the past few weeks - I wake up with my hips aching every night. The massage provided at least temporary relief!

From there, I decided to walk around downtown and find lunch since it was such a nice day. I wandered down Main Street and decided on my "pamper myself" day I would treat myself to second breakfast for lunch at Eggs Up Grill.

Half belgian waffle, eggs, and sausage - yum!

After breakfast I walked through Falls Park and documented the beautiful sites in a photo album. I was struck by how much I love and enjoy living in Greenville!

Had a nice long walk around town and ended up back at the car to head home for a relaxing afternoon and then a fun evening of mini-golf for Girls Night.

Mini Golf at Frankie's Fun Park!

This weekend, my parents came to stay with us for a final pre-baby visit which was lots of fun. We visited lots of local restaurants and breweries both in Greenville and Asheville. The weather in Greenville was crummy on Saturday but absolutely gorgeous in Asheville! So glad we decided to head up the mountain for the day. Even I got to enjoy a few tastes here and there...

Coffee Brown Ale at Twin Leaf Brewery

Mother/Daughter post-brunch photo - 34 weeks!

Also, at some point Sunday afternoon I noticed that Cletus had flipped over and is now resting with his back on my right side. I feel his little feet kicks on my left now. It's so odd since I was used to the opposite case for the past month or so! Not sure what made him flip, but I will say I was incredibly uncomfortable for most of Sunday afternoon.

6 more weeks to go!

33 Weeks

7 weeks (give or take) to go! Oh the excitement!

Oh lovely, Cletus is a smelly fruit this week! He's definitely a little prickly with his sharp kicks and jabs all over the place. Still a mover and a shaker in there!

Last week was a week full of wearing dresses to work - with only one pair of maternity work pants, I'm having to get creative with the wardrobe! Thankfully warmer weather will make skirts and dresses preferable anyway.

Hump Day Bump Day - 32w + 3d

We did our 7th Bradley class on Tuesday and discussed birth plans. We did an activity where we had about 20 cards with different aspects of birth printed with options on each side (like "epidural vs. no epidural" or "no induction vs. Pitocin"). Starting out you laid out all the cards with the choices you'd make in an ideal situation, and then in various stages the instructor would say "OK, now turn over 4 cards" and we'd have to make a decision on which aspects of our "ideal" plan we'd be willing to give up, obviously with the ultimate goal of having a healthy baby. We went through several rounds of "giving up" certain things, which was to help us figure out what parts of the birth plan were the most important to us. It was a tough exercise and really made us think, but definitely good to have the conversation and consider all of the options & scenarios.

On Friday, we had a wonderful shower hosted by some of our work friends - it was so great! The decorations were adorable, the food was amazing, and we were just so thrilled to have the love and support of so many of our colleagues. 

Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies, shortbreads, and red wine chocolate cupcakes! YUM!

Making our grand entrance 

Diapers!

So much to be thankful for!!!

That kicked off a great weekend that included watching some of the US National Cycling Championships in downtown Greenville on Saturday. Despite the questionable forecast, we had great weather and enjoyed a nice day downtown. We even participated in the "Townie Crit" - a bike race for us amateurs that was really just for fun, involving doing laps around a few blocks on Main Street while in costume!

Pre-race photo at the start/finish line!

Sunday was a rainy day, but we still managed to get to church and run some errands, then hung out with the 4-legged kids for the afternoon. :)

Leo has started standing on Shiner and giving him a massage. Not sure Shiner enjoys it.

Leo snuggling on my lap with the Cletus bump. Leo occasionally gets kicked in the head.

Lazy Harley - yawn!

And here we are trucking along in week 33. Hoping for less rain this week!

Monday morning bump at 33 weeks + 1 day

Shower Photos!

Forgot to add these to this morning's post... some photos from the baby shower in Charlotte last weekend!

"What's in there?!"

Link to full Photo Album: Baby Shower - Charlotte

32 weeks

8 weeks to go!

Definitely feeling more cramped - I think Cletus has grown OUT as much as possible for now, so has been growing UP into my rib cage, making it difficult to do things like breathe and bend over.

Last week was fairly uneventful. We did have our breastfeeding class at the hospital which was informative and helped to ease some of my concerns. Lots of things to remember and to work through in the first few days/weeks of little baby's life, but we'll manage! We also took some time to organize some of the things we got at the shower last weekend, so the nursery is slowly filling up with sweet, small things!

Hump Day Bump Day photo from last Wednesday

Thankfully all the rain that was predicted never really came about, so we had beautiful sunshine all week and weekend! Hooray, spring is here!

Our Dogwood tree in bloom - tulips are a little behind!

This weekend was excellent, though not all went as planned. Originally I'd hoped to walk the Furman 5k on Saturday morning, but some complications with Friday night's plans ended up making it so that I decided to sleep in instead and then had to bike to downtown to retrieve my car from the parking garage. Made for a nice Saturday morning bike ride, though, and the weather was beautiful! We had our neighbors (next door and across the street) over for dinner that evening which was lots of fun.

On Sunday, Scott and I went for a short (but steep!) hike to Falls Creek Falls near Jones Gap State Park. There were lots of beautiful wildflowers, including a wild Dwarf Iris which I'd never seen before. The waterfall was really impressive, too!

Dwarf Iris - the flower is about the size of a silver dollar

Small cascade of Little Falls Creek

Crossing Little Falls Creek

Climbing steep hills (see me at the top??)

View of the falls in the distance

We reached the falls!

Creatures!

The hike back down was much easier than the hike up, but overall it was well worth the effort. Love to be out in the woods in springtime!

Waterfall makes a nice backdrop for the 32 week photo! :)

Closer view

2 Months to go!

2 months from today is my due date... how has the time flown by so quickly?! I feel like there's still so much to do!

We had such a wonderful weekend with the baby shower in Charlotte and long Easter holiday weekend. Plus, some beautiful (though at times chilly) weather!

First was a group hike on Friday - we hiked along the Chattooga River with the destination of Ellicott Rock - the point at which NC, SC, and GA meet (or were thought to meet some hundred or so years ago). The weather was perfect and it was so nice to just be out in the woods!

First views of the Chattooga

Hiking along the trail

Lunch break by the river

Spoonauger Falls

Waterfall selfie

Yay we made it to the falls!

Spoonauger Falls was towards the end of the hike. A short but steep spur trail - totally worth it, though! It was a challenging day, total almost 9 miles of hiking, and boy was I pooped by the end.

Saturday we headed up to Charlotte for my first baby shower, hosted by my BFF Amanda and her mom & sisters. It was such a wonderful day, although sadly my mom was ill and couldn't make it. We still got to visit for a bit before and after the shower, but I hate that she wasn't able to be part of the festivities. My dad and others took lots of photos, though I didn't take any myself so I have none to post here! I'll post when I get them. It was a fantastic afternoon, though, and was so great to visit with friends and family! We got some time after the party to just hang out and visit as well, which was so much fun.

Sunday was Easter, and we went to church then had a nice afternoon bike ride.

Dressed up for Easter service

It was an active and busy weekend for sure! And now we're into the single-digit countdown... less than 9 weeks to go!