36 Weeks

Wednesday, July 23 - 36w, 5d
Friday, the day I hit 36 weeks, I had a CF clinic appointment. Prior to the appointment, I expected my lung function would probably be around 70% still just because I didn't feel completely different from my appointment six weeks before. To my surprise, my PFTs were no where near 70%...

That's right, an FEV1 of 83%!!!! I'm back to my pre-pregnancy baseline!! I was ecstatic! My first round, my FEV1 was 79%, the second is shown above, and the third one was around 80 or 81. I am so happy! It's a relief knowing that I'll be heading into labor & delivery with my pre-pregnancy lung function! I have to attribute this major increase to you dropping (didn't happen overnight and have a huge 'relief' feeling, but I can tell you're sitting lower) and me starting Cayston about a week before I did this test.
My doctor was pleased with the results, of course. We also discussed my lack of weight gain and thankfully, she's not as concerned as I thought she'd be. She said it's just going to have to be a threshold thing, see if I can tolerate the frequent bathroom trips and extra gas/bloating for another three-ish weeks. I told her I've gone this long, I can make it until you're born. Plus, there's not much else I can do...I've already increased my enzymes to the max amount and I'm taking two probiotics a day. They suggested adding Ensures back into my diet to try to add in extra calories, so we'll see if that helps at all.

After my appointment, I stayed with Auntie Catie for the weekend while Daddy was at Uncle Tony's

bachelor party. Catie and I caught up, pampered ourselves (she got a manicure, I got a pedicure) and visited with her family - my second family before moving away for college. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. Monday I spent a couple hours working in my classroom, and went back again on Tuesday for several more hours to meet with my sub to finalize things for the beginning of the year. My plan is to have everything completely ready to go for her (and my sanity) by the end of the day tomorrow. This way I can enjoy the wedding weekend and be prepared to have you any time after & not be stressed about what still needs to be done at work.

Pregnancy-wise, I really can't complain. You're still moving a lot every day (not at night when I'm sleeping, thank you!) but your movements are different now. You like to shake your booty from side to side on the top of my uterus, right near my belly button. Sometimes, I'm guessing when you're stretching, you stick it out really far and my belly gets super hard in one spot & we can feel your butt! You also like to stick your little hands/elbows/knees/feet out on my left side. We're never exactly sure what we're feeling, but it's usually a little, hard, round thing poking out from time to time and it's so cute. My Braxton Hicks have noticeably picked up this week, so I'll make sure to let the doctor know tomorrow...hopefully that means my cervix is starting to ripen, even just a little. And thankfully, I've still been able to sleep great each night. Some women have trouble sleeping this far into pregnancy because they're uncomfortable and/or because their babies will move around a lot overnight. You don't move from the time I fall asleep to a little after I start waking up in the morning - let's hope that means you'll be a good sleeper! Occasionally I'll feel you shift when I'm in the process of rolling over for the 100th time, or when I lay down after getting up for the third time to pee, but you seem to fall right back asleep like mommy does. :)

Oh, and how could I forget, your cousin, Alayna, was born today!!! She's so cute, looks a little like Isaac and has lots of hair! I can't wait for you two to meet and to watch you grow up with all of your cousins!


Thursday, July 24 - 36w, 6d
I had another OB appointment today. They did the ultrasound first where you did everything you

Here's the back of your head & that white blob on the back, top
left side is your hair flowing in the fluid.  

needed to do so that I didn't have to get a non-stress test. Your heart rate was 153bpm, you moved quite a bit, practiced your breathing a little bit and were way head-down. After the ultrasound, I met with the doctor (weight: 129). She's extremely happy about my last CF appointment and there really wasn't much to talk about because everything's been going so smoothly. I asked her when they typically start checking my cervix, and she answered that usually they don't on most women because in their clinic many women don't make it to term. But she said she'd be happy to do it if I was curious, but she wouldn't change how she was going to treat the pregnancy and didn't think I'd be dilated yet. Of course I was curious, so I asked if she would check me anyway. My cervix is about one centimeter dilated and is about halfway thinned out, which the doctor was happy about because it showed that my body is slowly getting ready (I have been absolutely amazed at what my 'sick' body has been able to do this pregnancy!). She said she could also feel that your head was way down low which was a good sign because it indicated that you'll most likely fit through my birth canal, yay!

Positive Thoughts Thursday

It's been too long since I've done one of these, and there are way too many positive things going on in my life right now to neglect mentioning!

• I'm 26 years old, with Cystic Fibrosis and will be 37 weeks pregnant tomorrow!
• My latest PFT (done less than a week ago) was amazing! My FEV1 is 83% and my small airway lung function is 92%!
• Baby Girl is growing steadily. :-)
• It absolutely amazes me what my "sick" body can do!!
• I have an amazing, hard-working husband! We've been in our house for just about a year now and it looks like a completely different home, inside and out!
• Tim's sister, Katrina, had her second child yesterday - our first niece, Alayna! I'm so excited that our girls will be so close in age. And the thought of watching all of the cousins grow up together is even more exciting!
• I've been walking with a friend 3-4 mornings a week which has been great exercise and great adult interaction over summer.
• For every hot week of summer, we've had a nice, cool week to balance it out. I absolutely love being able to have the windows open, especially at night, to feel the fresh air throughout the house.
• My classroom is ready to go for my maternity leave! Its a wonderful relief knowing that's all taken care of already.

35 Weeks

Friday, July 11 - 35 weeks
Today, Rhonda and I met at school to set up my classroom furniture. We made a lot of progress, but I'll have to go back at least once more before the school year starts. I also met with my sub to start figuring out everything for the beginning of the year. Thankfully she told me that my maternity leave time is my time to relax with you, and that she wants to do as much as she can on her own while she's in my room...yay! I'm glad she's willing to jump right in this year.


Monday, July 14 - 35w, 3d
Developmentally, this week you're about 'ready'. Your kidneys are fully developed and your liver can now start to process waste. Your hearing is fully developed (although you'll respond best to high pitch sounds right now), your circulatory and musculoskeletal systems are complete and your lungs are still maturing a bit - the longer you stay in there, the better it is for your lungs. Since most of your developing is complete, you're main job is to keep gaining weight so that you're able to regulate your body temperature here in the outside world.

Today one of my coworkers bought a book shelf that Daddy made, so that freed up some space in the living room. As soon as her and her husband left, I pulled your pack n play into the living room, added the changing pad attachment and stocked it with a few diapers and wipes. Now your room is a bit less cluttered. :) I'm trying to wait on packing my hospital bag until after my appointment on Thursday, just to see what they say. Being a day shy of 36 weeks then, I'm curious if they're going to check my cervix yet. I'll most likely pack the bag Thursday after the appointment because we're going to be out of town the next two weekends, so I'm going to try to convince Daddy that I'm not crazy for wanting to bring our bag and your car seat....just in case. It wouldn't do us any good to just have your base in the car.


Thursday, July 17 - 35w, 6 d
Just got home from my appointment today and it went well. They did not check my cervix and said they don't think I'll be going into labor any time soon because I haven't shown any signs and haven't had any contractions. I'll be bringing all of your stuff with this weekend, anyway, but I'm thinking we probably won't need it.
They did the Group B strep test which was just a quick swab down below. If I test positive (which one in four women do), then they'll give me antibiotics through my IV during labor & delivery so that you don't catch it. If they didn't treat me for it, you could catch it and end up with meningitis or pneumonia which could be very dangerous on your new little body.
You did great for your ultrasound today, the tech said you were being "very cooperative". We saw you do lots of movements, you practiced your breathing and I still have a good amount of fluid, so I didn't have to do a non-stress test. Your heart rate was 171bpm and my weight was 127.8lbs. I asked the doctor if they were concerned at all because I haven't gained any weight pretty much my entire third trimester and he said, "I don't care. As long as the baby is growing, that's all that matters." I was very glad to hear that. Now we'll see what Dr. Dowell says about it tomorrow from the CF side of things...
I'll be seeing her tomorrow, I'm assuming for the last time before I have you and I'm curious to see what my PFTs look like. Coming off of Tobi I didn't feel so hot, but now that I've been on Cayston for a week, they're feeling a little better. Even with you being head way down now, I never really felt that "dropping relief" the some pregnant women get, but that's okay because I know you'll be out soon and then my lungs will have much more room to expand again.

34 Weeks

Monday, July 7 - 34w, 3d
What a weekend! Daddy and I went up to Linda & Roger's Thursday evening and went out to dinner at Daddy & I's missed restaurant, China House. Friday morning (4th of July) I woke up with a lovely fever and felt like crap. I have no idea where it came from, but it wasn't fun. I felt bad laying around all morning especially because Elise, Kyle and the boys showed up, but I was between sweating and the chills and just exhausted. I knew from first trimester that it was okay to take Tylenol, so I took a couple doses throughout the day and once it kicked in, I felt slightly better. I felt good enough to go to see fireworks, because who misses out on fireworks on the 4th?! Liam loved them and Cole was so exhausted from playing all day that he fell asleep during them, but really enjoyed the ones he saw.

Saturday, I woke up feeling a bit better. My fever was gone, but I still has a slight headache and was pretty tired. I sucked it up, took one more dose of Tylenol and had some fun with the family at Wild West Town.

Cole & Tim on the roller coaster...their arms didn't stay like this for too long.
Cole had fun until he hit his head against the back of the seat because the ride was so jerky.
Their faces were priceless as they went around!

I'm glad I was feeling a little bit better because it was so cute watching the boys play the games and do the cute activities. After Wild West Town, we all went back home and took a nap before going out to dinner together. Unfortunately, the night I slept terribly. I was experiencing shortness of breath and a sore & tight chest while breathing, I assumed from you getting so big and taking up so much room. But what was worse was that it was all night and into the morning, it felt like it came out of nowhere, and I couldn't produce any mucus while coughing, so I felt like I couldn't do anything to make it better. Thankfully, as Daddy drove home, I got in a little bit more sleep and started to feel a little better. My chest wasn't as sore anymore, but I still felt like I couldn't take as deep of breaths as I could even a couple days earlier. I distracted myself by doing a little project with Daddy that I've wanted to do since I found out I was pregnant - dye onsies for you (and Daddy tie-dyed a few). We used size 3m short sleeve, 3m long sleeve and 6m long sleeve white onsies and they turned out super cute. :)

Today I slept for just over twelve hours and didn't get out of bed until almost 9:45, which felt fantastic. I also woke up without any chest pains, breathing a little deeper, and producing lots of mucus - finally! I don't know if it's because of your size (I'm assuming so) or because I caught something this weekend, but I'm sure glad to be slowly getting back to 'normal'. You're definitely getting heavier and harder to carry around for longer periods of time without needing a break, but I know it'll all be worth it in the end....which is getting so close!
My next doctor appointment is on Thursday, so I'll explain everything to them and see what they think. I never called them over the weekend because not only were we several hours away, but it was also a holiday weekend. I was going to call them today of it continued, but I'm feeling 10x better than I was Saturday and you haven't stopped your crazy acrobatics, so I'm not concerned about you. Oh, I'm also finishing up Tobi this week (which I felt was not helpful this time around) and will be starting Cayston as soon as I'm done with Tobi. Let's hope the Cayston helps my lungs during this home stretch!

Thursday, July 10 - 34w, 6d
I had your weekly doctor appointment today and everything went very well. I'm 129.8lbs (I seem to be stuck right around 130 now) and my blood pressure was fine. I met with the third OB in the office, I've only seen her once before she went on maternity leave when I was around 16 or 18 weeks. She was very nice and sat and talked with me for a while about labor and delivery, pain meds, reasons for a c-section (which we're all trying to avoid if possible), etc. It was nice to be able to talk to her about all of that, so now all three doctors and I should be on board with my "birth plan", I guess you could call it.
After chatting with the doctor for a little while, I had a growth scan for you. They measured your head, belly, leg bone, and your arm bone and estimated from those measurements that you're now about five pounds! I'm so proud of you! Even though I haven't been gaining much any weight, I'm very glad to know that you're still growing just like you should. They say you'll probably gain around another pound or so before delivery, so you'll probably be a tiny little peanut, which is okay with me...then hopefully Mommy won't have any problems pushing you out.
Today you were still head down, but this time your head was way down there - even a little hard for us to see (so no pictures, again!), but, I'm glad you're in the correct position still & let's hope you stay that way. The doctor said she wants you to stay in there at least two more weeks (37 weeks) because then you'll be full-term and then you can come whenever you want. Plus then Mommy & Daddy can go to Tony & Brittany's wedding (the weekend I hit the 37 week mark) and then you can come any time after. :)

This week I also installed both car seat bases in the our vehicles and found you a pediatrician. Tomorrow I'm going to do one final load of laundry, then all of your clothes should be good to go. There's not much left to do aside from packing my hospital bag, which I'll probably start next week. One month to go, little lady!! :-)

33 Weeks

Saturday, June 28 - 33w, 1d
Daddy and I (mostly Daddy) have been working machines today! I feel like I've been nesting for a while now, pretty much since finishing school a month ago, but I feel like its kicked into high-gear now! My friend introduced me to a group on Facebook where I can buy & sell items with local people...oh man, I want to sell everything in the house! So far I've sold our extra range, recliner (yay, its finally out of your room!), a couple books and other odds and ends laying around the house. I also bought a super cute bouncy seat for you and a couple adorable outfits & a dress from a garage sale that was posted on the group. As soon as some of our bigger stuff sells, Daddy says I should probably get off of it so I don't go crazy...I'd have to agree with him!
We also bought new vinyl flooring for a portion of the basement today, so right now Daddy's working on organizing it and clearing the room so he can put it down eventually. I started helping him, but it's mostly his tools and stuff, so there wasn't too much I could do.
Oh, and how could I forget...Daddy finished painting the front of the house today & it looks amazing!!! No more blue!!! He still wants to add shutters, paint the gutters, add a window and paint the little bit of blue left on the side of the house, but man...what a difference!! The neighbors across the street even thanked us because they were tired of looking at it! :-)

This is when he first started this morning

The top picture is from last July when we first bought the house and
the bottom picture is from today!
We didn't remove the section on the left in the top picture, it's just a different angle.

Monday, June 30 - 33w, 3d
Yesterday, Daddy and I ran a few errands and it was the first time I was uncomfortable in public. My legs were hurting after walking around for a while, it felt like you were going to bust out of my belly and I ended up getting irritable. Today, I'm feeling much better - no leg pain, no belly pain, etc. I'm just glad it went away and very glad that I don't feel that way on a daily basis.

We had your next doctor appointment today and you're finally head down! (Maybe that's why I was so uncomfortable yesterday) Now we'll see if you stay that way....although the doctor said usually babies stay head down once they get there...we'll see about you. Daddy and I wouldn't be surprised with as much as you move. Speaking of movements, you've been going crazy this past week! You are getting so big that I can feel so many more of your movements and we can also see most of them which is very entertaining! You love to throw your body weight around in my belly and sometimes those huge movements feel so weird! Of course you move constantly at home, but as soon as we're doing an ultrasound, you stop. Today it didn't take you as long to show them some of your moves. You also showed off your practice-breathing skills, you were grabbing your feet, moving your mouth, and they showed Daddy your hair. Your heart rate was 163bpm today and they were pleased with that. My weight was 130.0lbs and my blood pressure was "perfect". My blood sugars were a bit high last week, so I paid better attention to what I was eating this week and they were back to normal. Yay!
After our appointment, we went to tour the Birth Center which was really nice. We were able to see a birthing room, a post partum room, the nursery, and just get familiar with where we'll have to go whenever the time comes. It helped put me at easy since I like to know where to go ahead of time, and I'm very glad that Daddy came with, too.

Thursday, July 3 - 33w, 6d
Not too much else to add to this week. I, thankfully, haven't felt as uncomfortable as I did the other day again, so that's been nice, although you're getting huge and definitely running out of room! Now that I know you're head down, it's a little easier to distinguish which body parts I'm feeling when you move around.
We're heading out of town to spend the weekend with Elise and Kyle & the boys, and Linda & Roger and I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait for next summer when we're able to do all of this fun stuff with you, too. We only have a limited number of weekends before you're arrival and it's starting to feel more real as the countdown gets closer and closer! :-)