Week 34 (with a pic)

Here’s where we are this week:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Images and content courtesy of babycenter.com

How far along: 34 weeks

Total weight gain: +31 total.  This is +1.5 from last week.  I skipped the 30 lb. mark by 1 lb.  It’s official, I now weigh more than I did the day I delivered Anna.   

Here’s a picture of my 34 week bump.  Unfortunately, laziness has prevented me from doing this weekly, so this is the only silhouette shot I have at this point.  I’ve been taking weekly bare bump pictures, but they’re not exactly blog worthy.  I was hesitant to even post this one (excuse my afro and puffy face).  By the way, I ripped this idea off of my good friend Liz’s blog.  She just welcomed her adorable baby Charlie to the world!


Sleep habits: Anna has been sick for the past week or so, so she’s been sleeping in my bed, and Joe has been sleeping in hers.  Is this the best setup?  No.  However, a queen size bed is just not sufficient enough for a 30 lbs. heavier pregnant chick, a wiggly toddler, and a grown man.  Anna sleeps through my frequent bathroom breaks and 3 a.m. Golden Girls marathon when my insomnia kicks in, so it’s working out nicely.  Joe gets his sleep.  I don’t have to feel guilty for being such a miserable pregnant person, and Anna gets to snuggle with her mommy. 

The only problem with this most recent setup is that Anna has been unusually vocal in her sleep not only with talking but also teeth grinding.  This keeps me awake.  Her constant kicking keeps me awake.  So, I’d say I’ve had about 4 or 5 solid hours of sleep in the past week.  Part of me is wondering if this is all preparation for baby J.  Is he Satan’s spawn or something?  Will he have colic and keep me awake for weeks?  I guess I’m better prepared now than I would’ve been for Anna. 

Maternity clothes: I’m so over maternity clothes.  While I don’t necessarily miss pants that button and zip quite yet, I’m just tired of the full-panel jeans that show the band at the top.  If I don’t layer shirts, you can totally see the band.  I usually fold it down, but it hits right at the base of my bump, and it makes for a painful experience. It’s still not quite spring/summer wear time yet, so I’m in that in between phase where I have no idea what the heck to wear every day.

Best moment of the week:  My mom and sister came to visit, and we spent the day making hair bows for my future niece, Jocelyn, and baking a cake.  It was fun to just have a chill day with them.

Food cravings: I haven’t had any overwhelming cravings or aversions this week. My appetite is decent.  I don’t have much room in there, so I get fuller quicker – especially in the evening. 

Symptoms:  My BH contractions are still pretty intense and very frequent no matter how much water I drink or how many times I change my position.  It’s to the point where I can’t even walk from the couch to the bed without having that tightening in my uterus.  Heartburn is also pretty bad although it’s not daily, so I can deal. 

The swelling has kicked in full force, and I have photographic evidence that shows the very ugly side of pregnancy.


When I’m not pregnant and swollen, my leg/foot/ankle is nowhere near that size.  It’s kind of alarming to see, but the same thing happened with Anna.  I remember being so excited when I could actually see my ankle bones again.

Movement:  My child is an alien, I’m convinced.  Either that or he’s a future soccer player or kicker for the Saints.  His kicks are so strong that they’re almost paralyzing.  It’s especially fun when I’m at work and he starts flipping and kicking.  Some of the kicks are so painful that I want to scream, but then my co-workers would think I was nuts.  He has these active sessions about 5 – 6 times/day.  He also still hiccups all.the.time. 

The nursery:  Joe sanded and began priming the dresser, so I’m really excited about how it’s going to turn out. 


Dresser is primed and ready to paint.

While filling in some of the damaged areas, Joe noticed a bullet-like hole that entered in through the front of one drawer and exited out the side (causing the entire side of wood to split). 



Then he found this lovely torn photo of what appears to be a rose tattoo with the name Vincent beneath it.



So, I’ve concluded that the dresser I’ll be putting in my son’s nursery is from a crack house. 

This is what happens when you purchase re-sale furniture.  Oh well, at least the dresser has a story.  I wish it could talk.  Or maybe I don’t. 

Anyway, to cover up the bong burn marks on the dresser, we’ll be painting it with Island Sky color 252B-3.  I looked online trying to find a paint sample to better show this awesome color, but I wasn’t able to locate it.  I don’t guess it’s a Valspar color. 


It looks very baby blue in this photo, but it’s definitely more aqua in real life.  Hopefully it turns out nicely on the dresser.

To save more money, I decided to just keep the original dresser hardware.  It’s very funky and retro, so I think it will look nice (maybe not as cute as the chevron knobs I wanted, but this will do).  Plus, that means Joe won’t have to re-drill new holes. 



Other stuffs…

I re-purposed some old mirrors I’ve had since we lived in our last house.  They’ve never really found a place anywhere, so I held on to them hoping to use them one day.  Once I took them out and saw the funky frame shape, I knew they’d be perfect for Baby J’s nursery.

I sprayed them with the Valspar Aqua paint I’ve been using for everything else, and they turned out great!


I’m not sure if I’m going to put the mirrors back in them or some funky artwork. 

The orbs also came in and are just waiting to be hung.  I just need to get the ceiling hanger things.  This will probably be something I do this weekend.  I’m really hoping that the dresser will be done and ready to be put into the nursery by Sunday.  That way I can hang all of the wall alphabet letters above the dresser, hang the bird mobile I made, and finally finish up the nursery.


Orbs are waiting to be hung.


Alphabet letters are waiting to be hung.

Bird mobile is still hanging in my kitchen. 

So, I can see my vision slowly coming together, but it’s taking a lot of my energy to remain patient since I just want it all done.

I’m also looking for a rocking chair/glider for the nursery.  We have one for Anna’s nursery, but it’s too large for Baby J’s nursery, and Joe wants to move it into the living room so it can be his man chair.  I really need something fun and funky that doesn’t cost $300, so I’ve been scouring Craigslist daily to see if there’s anything.  Nothing so far.  I may go back to the place where I got Baby J’s crack dresser to see if there’s a matching crack chair. 

Two things I’m really adoring right now are:


These frames – I have the aqua paint from the dresser and some white I can use.  I also have some chunky frames that are in Anna’s room that I don’t want to use there anymore, so I can probably make a few of these for J’s room.


I really love this look, and I love how inexpensive it is to accomplish.  Instead of making one of the walls in his room a bookshelf wall (which will probably never happen), I can just make it a funky art wall with lots of mis-matched stuff.  I have to make sure I don’t over-kill the funk factor as it’s very easy to do when you’re using lots of bold colors and patterns like I am.

What I’m looking forward to:  Putting on socks and shoes without feeling like I’m going to pass out.

What I miss: Sleeping through the night, but I know this won’t be happening for a long, long time.

Last appointment details:  My last appointment was Friday, February 17th.  Joseph’s h/b was 145.  I am measuring at 30 cm which is a little behind, but it’s nothing to be concerned about.  She checked me again since I’ve been having contractions daily.  Still high, closed, long (cervix).  So, no changes to my cervix at this point is a good thing.

Next appointment:
My next appointment is Friday, March 2.  It will be my last appointment with my OB before she goes on maternity leave.   I will update once I go to the appointment.