Lil Hoff Update Week 36

Woo-hoo...we have made it to then ninth month! Week 36 we are here..

What is going on with Lil Hoff...

1. We went back to the doctor this week and had a little scare. My blood pressure was 149 and the doctor took that as a possible sign of preeclampsia and scheduled Lil Hoff for a stress test in two days. 

2. The good thing is that I am so close to week 37 which is considered full term because most times the only way to cure preeclampsia is to have to the baby, so being so close to full term means I could have the baby and Lil Hoff still be born healthy.

3. The bad thing is that we were not ready for Lil Hoff so we had to get bags packed and stuff ready within 24 hours just in case they admitted us based on results from the test. 

 

4. The really good news though is that we went in for our test and they tested my blood pressure every 15 minutes for 45 minutes and hooked up Lil Hoff to listen to his heart beat and everything came back perfect. So they dismissed me and Lil Hoff to go home. 

5. The other bad news though is that when the doctor warned me about the preeclampsia I didn't ask enough questions to make Farmboy happy, so now he doesn't trust me to go to the doctor by myself. 

What is going on with me...

1. Since my last appointment (2 weeks ago) I have gained 6 pounds and all together 19 for my pregnancy. 

2. This week has been horrible. I think I overdid it for the Barn Party and that caused my blood pressure to go up which caused stress on Lil Hoff. 

3. Not only did the big weekend I believe raise my blood pressure, but I was extremely worn out. I am not sleeping very well at all. I wake up every morning about 1:00 with heart burn and that doesn't settle down till about 4:00 so nights are long and days are long and I am not feeling rested at all. 

4. Farmboy and I did get our bags packed for the hospital. So we are ready on a minutes notice, once I get makeup, hair stuff, and those last minute necessities packed in my bag. 

5. I went out with my friends Friday night and seen the movie "Footloose". It was wonderful, not sure if it is as good as the first, but really good for a remake. That I believe helped out with the stress level. A night with my friends with lots of laughter is good for the heart :)

5. My mom and sister came over on Saturday and helped me get the nursery ready and that takes stress off knowing that now we can bring Lil Hoff home and he has a place to sleep and clean clothes to wear.

6. Another highlight of the week. My brother told me I have mastered the pregnancy waddle. Score!

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Lil Hoff Update Week 35

Week 35....here we go...

What is going on with Lil Hoff

It's all about the head and brain this week.

1. Brain development continues at a mind-boggling pace, making baby a little on the top-heavy side.

2. A BIG PLUS...while Lil Hoff's head may be big, it is still soft, allowing that tight squeeze through the birth canal to be a little less tight.

3. Lil Hoff also continues to pack on pounds week by week until "D" day.

4. He also could be about 20 inches long.

5. He is also very active at different parts of the day. Usually early in the morning around 3:00, then once I get to work around 10:00, and then about 7:00 at night and when I go to bed about 10:30. He also gets the hiccups on a daily basis.

What is going on with me...

1. We had our church shower this week Got lots of very nice and useful things.

2. We continue to work on the nursery.

3. We are hosting a Barn Party for the church next Sunday night so we are getting ready for that..decorating, cleaning, and what not. A very busy week.

4. Farmboy decided this week (before we have 150 people at our house for the barn party) would be a good time to pour my patio that I have been begging for since Spring. So I had my brother in law and his concrete crew at my house by 7:00 three mornings this week.

5. My sister showed up Thursday morning to clean and help get ready for the Barn Party. She is truly a blessing to me from God. I wouldn't have gotten everything done without her.

6. My mother in law showed up Saturday to help decorate for the Barn Party. Once again a blessing from God for the people that know to show up and help.

7. We went with the Young Adults at church and went and seen "Courageous" it was a WONDERFUL movie and speaks highly of what father figures need to be to their children.

8. We have officially decided on a name. It will be a surprise until Lil Hoff comes, but Farmboy and I are both extremely excited about it. 

9. I have been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions lately. My stomach gets very tight and hardens up and you sit there for a while, you don't feel instant relief but then you just think "oh, I feel better"

10. As farmboy so lovingly puts it, I am developing tator feet and I am running out of shoes to wear. That is disastrous. I will be ready for my feet to quite swelling.





 

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Lil Hoff Update Week 34

This week has already been much better.. I think vacation wore me out and I wasn't ready for all the activity that we did.   I was just having a pity party last week.Farmboy is not really having sympathy for me, so I guess I have to get it from somewhere else. ha! We did go to the doctor this week and had a ultrasound, so what is going on with Lil Hoff will be more specific to him and not so much an average 34 week old baby, cause as we found out Lil Hoff is above normal.

What is going on with Lil Hoff....

Now before I start, I always realized that I would be having a bigger  baby. I was not a small baby ( I weighed around 9 pounds and neither was Farmboy (he weighed around 8 pounds). So like I said, I never figured a 6 or 7 pound baby was going to be coming out of me. With that said....

1. Lil Hoff's head is in the 70th percentile (When I say percentile  50% is average of course)
2. Lil Hoff's abdomen is in the 90th percentile
3. Lil Hoff's femur is in the 60th percentile (poor fella, so what we have is my body with Farmboy's head)
4. He weighs 6 lbs and 3 oz. (which as I stated in the last post, he has the potential of growing 1/2 pound a week until delivery.)
5. While Lil Hoff is laying the correct way to be delivered he is not facing up,so while he still has time to turn if he doesn't, then I will have what is called back labor which means when he comes he will be pushing on my pelvis as he comes through and all my contractions will be in my lower back, which the doctor informed me is very painful.

What is going on with me....

1. The doctor's appointment did not help me at all with the anxiety I am feeling. I have not been to an appointment yet when he has not used the word big. So after this appointment Farmboy is on flying high as he got to see our son, and he is healthy, and everything is good. I left the appointment crying. I was hoping the doctor would tell me that it was mostly fluid inside me and that the baby was average and everything was perfect for an easy deliver and I got no comfort at all. My crying mixed with Farmboy's excitement left a less than desirable afternoon together. Farmboy didn't understand why I wasn't happy that our son was healthy and I couldn't get Farmboy to understand that when the doctor used the terms "big and painful" in the same appointment, that it leaves me feeling worried and scared. As I told Farmboy, no woman gets pregnant hoping to have the worlds biggest baby.

2. I don't know if I have grown enough that people are now really realizing that I am pregnant or if my clothes are getting so tight that there is no question, but this has been the week of strangers asking about me being pregnant.

3. We had our first baby shower this week. It was VERY nice, but will be a different post.

4. We also had our second baby shower this week. 

5. I have slept better this week, but have been very, very exhausted.

6. In one night I had two massive leg cramps that hurt very badly.

7. I don't know if it is allergies or being pregnant, but I guess I have started snoring really loudly at night. It is effecting Farmboy's sleep, so on average of about once a night he wakes me up to tell me that I am snoring then he goes back to sleep, I on the other hand just get mad, cause now I am awake and have to try to get back to sleep and as when I was snoring, obviously I was asleep as well. Farmboy might not be sleeping in my bed much longer. :) 

7. The doctor did not say anything about possible going into delivery early, so I was a little bummed about that as well. I have my next appointment in 2 weeks, then I will start to move to weekly appointments. It is getting closer......

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Coming to an End

I know I left you guys hanging at the end of my last vacation post, but on the final day of our vacation we went to the John Deere Manufacturing Plant in Waterloo, IA. This is where they make their 7000, 8000, and 9000 series tractors. Pictures are not allowed inside the factory, so I really have nothing to demonstrate. 

These are three tractors that they had sitting out in front of the factory. I do have to say I was very surprised by how interesting it was. This factory itself is 48 acres under one roof. We got to ride around on a trailer pulled by a lawnmower as a tour guide explained everything. I really couldn't hear him with all the noise inside the factory, but just seeing all the parts and tractors getting pieced together was amazing. We did get to see a body of a tractor get painted and see a new tractor roll off the line. They said that every tractor they make is already sold. They keep no inventory there at all and all the parts you see laying around will be used within 32 hours. 

As we were on our way to the factory Farmboy got distracted by this.....

There is a trucking company right next to the John Deere Factory and behind this trucking company sat all these tractors just waiting to find a good home to be sent too. 

After the John Deere Factory tour we headed home going highway all the way so Farmboy could see fields being harvested. We arrived home Wednesday night around 8:30 and after picking up our dogs we got a good night sleep. 

Thursday we traveled to the lake and went to Target and Lowe's and got supplies to start working on the nursery. I also got my Pumpkin Spice Latte (my first one of the season) I heart my some Pumpkin Spice Latte. We needed to get curtains, a new fixture, shelves and some other small items to start getting Lil Hoff's room ready for him. We then came home and worked hard in the nursery all afternoon and into the evening. 

Farmboy always likes these Honey Do lists :) The next several days I took it easy as Farmboy went back to work, it seems he has his own honey do list for the farm. So while our vacation was not very interesting it was time away just the two of us before Lil Hoff comes.

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Lil Hoff Update Week 33

This is how we finished out our vacation. My very good friend, Amy has started taking pictures and I asked her to take some maternity pictures of me and then couple pictures of Farmboy and I . She did an amazing job! So luckily even though with vacation this week, we totally forgot to take my weekly pregnancy shot, my friend was there to pick up my slack! I just need to tell her that I'm using this picture, ha!

What is going on with Lil Hoff....
1. He is gaining about a 1/2 pound a week now, so he is up to about 4 1/2 lbs.
2. He is also growing as much as a inch a week so he could be up to 20 inches long.
3. He is running out of room inside me, so when he moves now I am really starting to feel it. There is less fluid to provide cushion between him and me.
4. He is also getting daily doses of antibodies from me that will definitely come in handy when he comes into the the world.
5. Lil Hoff is sooo active, he is always rolling around and moving and kicking. He also gets hiccups on a nightly basis.

What is going on with me......

1. This week has been rough, I'm not sure if is the lack of sleep from sleeping in motel rooms or walking so much through the day and I'm not use to that, but I  have felt pregnant all week.I think I have been good to not really complain about being pregnant (although I have been told that I've been hormonal) but I just have not been comfortable all week. My stomach is so tight that it hurts, I am always tired, and my feet are swelling up. I have been dreading going to bed (cause I know I won't sleep) and dreading waking up (cause I know I'm going to be tired and uncomfortable) it is a vicious cycle.

2. I am also getting heartburn every morning about 3:30 in the morning, which wakes me up and then I take my morning potty break and try to get comfortable again to go back to sleep.

3. It also hit me this week that a baby is considered full term at week 37 so in 4 weeks I could be having this baby, and we don't have the nursery done yet, we don't have a name, and I'm not sure I am ready for all this yet.

4. I have also been getting an increasing number of braxton hicks contractions.Which your stomach gets so tight you can't even breathe and you are just hoping that Lil Hoff will move or something to bring relief back.

I'm sorry this has been a lot of complaining. I'm sure next week will be better. Thank you for bearing with me as I get through this and I now it will be worth it in the end. :)

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Lil Hoff Update Week 32

 

 Here we are at week 32. Only 8 more weeks to go!

Here is what is going on with Lil Hoff.....

1. He is tipping the scales at 4 pounds and topping out at just about 19 inches. 
 2. Lil Hoff is getting ready to make his big debut, by practicing what he needs to do to survive outside the womb, he is swallowing and breathing, kicking and sucking.
3. He has been able to suck his thumb for a while now.
 4. And his skin is finally opaque as more fat accumulates under his skin. It starting to look like mine!

Here is what is going on with me...

 1. This week was pretty slow. We are gearing up for vacation next week so I have been trying to finish things up at work.
2. I can not get the over the fact that this is happening, that in about 2 months I will be meeting my baby boy.
3. And it's freaking me out!
4. We are still trying to decide on a name. We are wanting to keep it a secret until Lil Hoff makes his arrival, but we just can't seem to agree on anything.
5. We officially started on the nursery this week. Pics to come when finished.....

Like I said, it was a pretty slow week...

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