38 week update

Well I thought today might have been the day but alas, it is not. My fluid levels are still low but good. I am at a 7 instead of 8 (still forgetting what measurement this is in). She is still kickin around and taking up a lot of space so the doc said she can finish her cooking and come on her own time. That is until next Sunday (Jan 8 – her due date), if she doesn’t come then I will be induced the following week sometime. We are going to talk about that at my next appt. (next Friday). So let me show you a belly pic and give you some of the stats. By the way I feel HUGE, really I don’t think it is possible to get any bigger. It is officially hard for me to do anything now.

How Far Along: 38 weeks, 5 days and we didn’t measure at this appt. It was so crazy at the doc this morning I think we forgot.
Heart Beat: 156bpm, same as last time.
Weight gain: 27 pounds - I gained 2 pounds!!! I am reaching that 30 mark….didn’t think I would but I am getting up there. Although she said that my 2 lbs that I gained pretty much all went to my swelling. My legs, ankles and feet are just not the same. I went to get a pedicure this week to be prepared…..gotta have pretty toes, hello! And the lady made a comment like OMG “your feet so big, big, you must have baby soon”. Sorry if that was offensive to some with the way that I said it but I am just repeating what she told me.
Movement: Yep, still feeling her move and have hiccups.
Sleep: Miserable now. My hips hurt and I just can’t get comfortable
Symptoms: Just the swelling and the hurting hips
Cravings: Nothing really
Best moment this week: Having her nursery almost complete. Jenna and my momma came over for 2 nights and we got it pretty much done. There are just a couple things that I have to do this weekend. It looks SO PRETTY! I can’t wait to post pics and show you.

Doc update from this morning

So, you will see below but we got to see her today and she is just soooo cute! I know I have told some of you how the last appointment went and how I almost passed out and vomited all at the same time and I thought it was because of the exam but I figured it out! It was because I was just lying on my back for too long. It is just cutting off too much circulation. Mid way through my ultrasound I had to turn on my side because I was starting to sweat and feel faint. Once on my side I am good to go and the exam this time wasn't that bad because I was not on my back for that long. So that is that, moving on. During the ultrasound my amniotic fluid was measured and the regular amount is anywhere from 5-25 (not sure what the measurement is) and I am measuring at an 8 so that will just be something that they watch in each appointment. I have to just make sure I feel her moving and if I don't I have to do kick counts to make sure she is not in distress. Everything else looks good and I can't wait to meet her!!! I have decided I would be totally good if I was done being prego now.

How Far Along: 37 weeks, 5 days and I am measuring 39 weeks. But according to the high tech ultrasound my due date is still on target
Heart Beat: 156bpm.
Weight gain: 25 pounds - I gained 3 pounds!!! With the ultrasound that we got today we did get to find out that she weighs 7lbs, 1oz right now. They said that she will gain about .5lbs per week so she can get up to 8lbs if I deliver on time. We will see how accurate it is. She is measuring in the 53 percentile so she is about average.
Movement: Yes, she is still figuring out how to have little dance parties in such a tight space. She does occasionally like to stick her bum out and make my belly all contorted. She also does like to be on the left side of my belly for the most part.
Sleep: Still the same, not getting much. I want to sleep on my back and tummy so bad!!!!
Symptoms: Nothing new really.
Cravings: I don't know if it is a craving but I can't wait for Christmas dinner.....yum!
Best moment this week: Seeing her in an ultrasound. She is SOOOOO CUTE! I got to see her little belly, big head, and chunky leg. She was hiding her face a little bit being shy but you could still see her eyes and nose. She was looking at us. Aunt Jenna got to come to the ultrasound today and see her little niece.

Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon

That is how big she is now. I am 37 weeks and miss molly is full term and taking up a lot of room. I am not too miserable yet but it is definately hard to do the little things like roll over in bed, get up from the sitting position, and my stomach skin has a constant light burn because everything is stretching so much. I can't complain though because I have had a pretty easy pregnancy. I am not gonna lie I think I will be a little sad when she comes out, only because right now she is all mine. I can feel her and talk to her whenever I want and I don't really have to share her. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait until she comes but I think I will miss being prego a little bit.

Anyway, my next appointment is this Friday and I will post the heartbeat, etc. but for now I will leave you with a belly pic.

They are HUGE

My feet that is. I have Shrek feet! I haven't had any problems with swelling at all, until now. I will tell you that this week has been a crazy week at work where I have been on my feet and lifting boxes, etc. getting ready for a big event but OMG I didn't think my feet could get this big. If I posted a picture it would freak you out so I will refrain, plus I need to get a pedicure. So I will show you a pic of Shrek. :)

Also, this week it finally happened for me - a stranger rubbed my belly. I was in an elevator and someone inevitably asks the questions of when I am due and what I am having. Well, this lady asked me what I was having so I told her and she let me know that I wasn't just having a little girl I was having a princess. I smiled and nodded and then she proceeded to get closer and closer to me and rub my belly. I am not talking about a quick pat on the belly, no, no, I am talking about a full on rub down of the belly, in the circular motion and all. Then she got her face really close to my belly and decided that she needed to have a conversation with Molly. It was weird. I didn't know what to do. It was just plain awkward.

36 weeks y'all

I went to my 36 week appointment on Monday and from here on out I will be going every week until she gets here. At this appointment we did an ultrasound to make sure she is head down which she is - thank goodness. Dr. D also started checking to see if I am dialated and I am, which makes it so REAL. She is coming guys!!!!! I am 1cm dialated right now. P.S. no one warned me about this appointment.........NOT FUN! And of course I had to give blood again! My favorite thing......

How Far Along: 36 weeks and I am big again measuring 38 weeks. Because of this I will get another ultrasound next week (a more high tech one, so we can figure out the weight). According to the bump.com she is the size of a honeydew melon.
Heart Beat: As of the appointment on Monday (yesterday) it was 146bpm.
Weight gain: 22 pounds - only gained one pound from 2 weeks ago
Movement: Yes, she is getting big for the space so some of her movements are a little painful
Sleep: Now Not getting much. It is almost to the point where things are just not ever comfortable.
Symptoms: Nothing new
Cravings: I still want candy or cookies all the time oh and right now I am all about the Blue Bell peppermint ice cream - so good!
Best moment this week: Finding out that she is head down and ready to go

Also, let me just say I have a new appreciation for pregnant women. This is hard work. It is fun and exciting but once your belly gets big it is just plain hard. It is hard to get up, hard get out of bed, you can forget about putting on your socks, hard to put on pants, the list could really go on and on. Danny has to help me constantly. I had an epic fail today parking my car. I was parking in a parking garage and parked as close to the wall as I could knowing that I had to get out. I am thinking I have plenty of room and I try and get out and low and behold I just cant suck in my belly to get through so I had to completely repark. I am sure the gentleman watching me doing this was laughing in his car. Real nice....

Letters to Molly

21st century letters that is, which means emails. Danny and I have created an email address for Molly so people can email her as she grows up. We hope to share funny stories with her, tell her how much we love her and tell her all about her family and friends. One day, when she is a teenager, we will give her access to her account so she can read all the emails. So, if you are interested in writing her please do. This is open to everyone. Please email:

molly.struzick@gmail.com

Thanks!

34 weeks and I believe she has dropped

How Far Along: 34 weeks and I am finally completely evened out. I am measuring 34 weeks.
Heart Beat: As of the appointment on Wednesday (yesterday) it was 156bpm. It took a little while to get a gppd reading because she was moving like crazy when we were listening to the heartbeat.
Weight gain: 21 pounds
Belly Button: Starting to stick out a little bit
Movement: She has constant dance parties in my belly.
Sleep: Now I am not falling asleep so fast. It has hard for me to sleep and I toss and turn all night now, not so fun.
Symptoms: Nothing new
Cravings: I am now always wanting candy or cookies or something.
Best moment this week: She started getting hiccups and it is so cute! She has them at least once a day. The first time I felt them was at 33 weeks in the middle of the night and they woke me up. In fact she has them right now as I am typing this post. :) I kind of love when she gets them because I think they are so cute. I am sure I will think differently when she is here and hating her hiccups but I will always remember them in my belly.

Thanksgiving weekend

.....was lovely! It was a nice, relaxing, fun, family filled weekend. Wednesday night I had to do what every other teenager was doing which was go see Twilight's Breaking Dawn. It was everything I hoped for. I don't know if you remember this post but I am a bit of a twi-hard fan. I am sad to say that I didn't fit into my team jacob/edward shirt but I will for the final movie. :) I got together with my other twi-hard friends and we enojyed some dinner and the movie.

Thursday, we had a fantastic smoked turkey with all the fixins. We got to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. Little miss Carla Ann joined us for Thanksgiving so naturally she was the life of the party. I can't wait until Molly comes and we have all these babies around. :) 2011 has been a great year for me and Danny, full of things for us to be thankful for. We went on a great vacation, were blessed to get pregnant, have a wonderfully supportive family, great friends and great jobs. God has truly good been good to us.


Friday, my heros came over. Jenna and Reece stayed over all day painting, sanding and painting. The nursery was painted a really pretty color a while ago but it wasn't quite right. I wanted the walls to be gray, a color you would think would not be a hard color to pick, but leave it to me to pick the wrong color. Well, the walls are now painted the right gray and her dresser from this post is now painted a teal color. Danny painted it white a couple weeks ago and then Jenna painted it teal and we roughed it up to create a shabby chic look (or at least that is what we were going for - I think we achieved it). Thank you guys for all your help!

Soon enough I will post how everything will come together for the big reveal. :)

My new beauty

Well, the time has come. I finally bought my "mom car". Danny and I have been looking at cars for over 6 months and we finally did it. For some reason when looking for cars the one thing that I wanted was the third row. Apparently, I think that once Molly comes my car will be so full that I need that third row. I know, it is weird, Danny tried to talk me out of it but I wasn't listening. We looked at a million different kinds of cars and settled on the Honda Pilot. I LOVE it and couldn't be happier. Although, when the time was getting closer to buy the car I was starting to get a little sentimental about the car that I have had since freshman year in college. I have nicknamed it lil zippy and I must admit I will miss that little car. It was a very reliable car. I could fit in any parking spot, which is pretty magical with Houston parkers. It was a little sad to let go but then once I got in my new car to drive home I think I might have forgotten about it. Here are some pics of the new love and the old love.

Molly's last shower

First off let me just start with the fact that not only do I work with such talented people but I am truly blessed to work with such great people. I genuinely love my job and the people that I work with. They are so excited about Molly's arrival that they threw a beautiful shower for her. There were gorgrous flowers in mason jars, a delicious food table, melt in your mouth pedifores, an amazing ice cream pink punch, and lots of presents! Just take a look.

32 weeks and I am seeing double

8 weeks left folks, kinda crazy when you put it like that. The bump.com still says baby Molly is the size of a squash, that is 3 weeks now. I did go to the doctor on Monday and have some new stats. Here’s the big ‘ol belly pic.

How Far Along: 32 weeks and as of Monday I am measuring 33.5 weeks so I am finally starting to even out.
Heart Beat: As of the appointment on Monday it was 162bpm and such a sweet sound.
Weight gain: 20 pounds
Belly Button: Super flat.
Movement: She moves a lot and has some strong kicks. I can tell that the space is getting a little cramped because she will be all the way over to my right side like almost to my back I feel like. I didn’t even know she could go that far over.
Sleep: Not a lot but I fall asleep fast. I pretty much beat Danny all the time now (he can basically fall asleep on command).
Symptoms: I am still having problems with my syatic nerve but unfortunately that is nothing new.
Cravings: Not anything new.
Best moment this week: Of course hearing her heartbeat but also celebrating Molly at her tea party. I think I am going to need to invest in a little tea set.

So, I did allude in a previous post that you would be seeing double well the wait is over. Below is what I was talking about.

OMG my first response was that I was massive. I knew this was happening but it was still rather large and in charge if you know what I mean. There are 4 of these double sided monstrosities located throughout the Galleria. I went last week with some co-workers to check it out and then went back with Danny because he wanted to see it. When I went back on Sunday someone decided that I needed some lip gloss. I was ok with it because it gave me some color but Jenn (the girl whose project this is) was not happy. At least I haven’t gotten a mustache or anything like that yet. :) Here are some of the fun pics that we took.


If you happen to stop by the Galleria and see one you have to take a pic and text/email it to me. :) It will be up until April but there will be some change outs in there so stay tuned. (I know, I know, it is like you are on the edge of your seat waiting for this but alas, it will be a couple months before I post about this again.)

P.S. if anyone wants to know more about the Pavilion for Women I would be happy to tell you about it. It is a lovely place and will be a great place to have a baby in March.

Molly's Tea Party

This past Saturday Molly was blessed enough to have another shower. It was so much fun. These three long time friends of mine were the hostesses. Erin, Katie and Nanda - thank you ladies so much. Everything was wonderful!

Now let's get started on all the details. Here is the invitation that went out that started the whole theme of the tea party.

Here you will find the delicious food table with fruit skewers, and mini sandwiches and this amazing shrimp thing. It was all SO GOOD! There were also all these gorgeous flower arrangements in these vintage tea cans.



Just look at this dessert, three different kinds, all in tea cups. There was strawberry shortcake, gingerbread with lemon pudding and then chocolate cake with cappuccino whip cream. They were all delish!


There was a "onsie station" where you decorated either tie-dye or plain white onsies. Such a cute idea and I can't wait for her to be hip and cool with personalized onsies. :) With a mom like me she is totally bound to be "hip and cool" , right?!? Do people even say those words together anymore......

Here are some of the ladies that were at the shower.



Then we moved onto the gifts. Everything was so great! Here are only some of the cute outfits that Molly got. She also got some great toys (i.e. she got these bath cows that have dirt spots on them and once in the water Molly has to wash them off and the dirt goes away - clever!) and some much needed necessities. Aunt Jenna also made this cute owl art for her room but I will show you that once I finalize the nursery and take you on a virtual tour. :) Also, take a look at this cute diaper cake that matches her nursery perfectly.


Now, before I could open each gift I had to answer a question that the hostesses tied to each gift. I thought it was a really cute idea so I have started another blog post with answers to some of those questions.

Once the shower was over my mom, sister and Katie came over to help me put everything away and get organized. When I got home Danny and his dad put the glider and ottoman in the nursery. I was so excited when my mom told me they bought it and it was on the way! Here is a little sneak peek.

I am far too blessed to have all these people want to help celebrate little Molly's arrival. I can't thank everyone enough!

31 weeks

Sorry this is a little late. FYI, I change weeks every Sunday. 9 weeks left and counting. She is still the size of a sqaush. Right now a lot of brain develoment is going on. We also went to our first lamaze class this past Monday. Let's just say it was interesting. We also went on the hospital tour on Saturday so we know what to do and where to go now. I have just updated items below that I have updates for. Everything else is the same. I look huge!


How Far Along: As of this past Sunday I am 31 weeks
Movement: OK, you might think I am crazy but you know when you do a really, really big strech you shake a little at the end. Well, I swear she does that in my belly because sometimes by belly will just spaz out. I don't know how well she can strech in there but she is doing something crazy. She has also decided that she likes the right side of my belly the best because she just likes to stay there and kick away.
Sleep: Not so much happening. I am now going to the bathroom 3 times a night.
Symptoms: I feel like I am starting with the waddle but I am trying not to
Cravings: I get full so much faster now and hungry more often, gotta have my snacks.
Best moment this week: I am going to go to the Galleria on Friday and I will do a post but you will be seeing double. :)

30 weeks

10 more weeks left. It will be here before I know it. I have started going to the doctor every other week now. I have 2 more of those apoointments and then I got every week. It is so crazy how fast this goes! Sorry about the pic, I look a little rough. It was a long day. :)

How Far Along: 30 weeks and as of Monday I am measuring 33 weeks.
Heart Beat: As of the appointment on Monday it was 151bpm. She has pretty much stayed in the 150's.
Size of baby: 15.2 to 16.7 inches and 2.5 to 3.8 pounds. She is the size of a squash according thebump.com.
Gender: A GIRL!!! Molly Grace
Maternity Clothes: Yes and lots of Danny's big tshirts! :)
Weight gain: 18 pounds
Belly Button: Super flat.
Movement: I can feel more than just kicks. I can feel most of her stretches and movements.
Sleep: Same, not much.
Symptoms: She is all up on my syatic nerve which is more than a little uncomfortable. It takes me a little bit to get going after I have been seated for a while.
Cravings: Not anything new.
Best moment this week: Just watching her poke at my belly.

Babymoon

This past weekend Danny and I took our last getaway before little Molly comes. We decided to go to the little German town of Fredericksburg and it was a lot of fun. I had never been there before so it was all new to me. We left Friday morning, got into town around 3pm and walked Main Street. We went in and out of all the cute shops soaking in the small town atmosphere. After that we got a wild hair and decided to drive out to Enchanted Rock. We didn't hike it but did go take a pic at the base. :)


After that it was time for dinner so we went back into town and ate some Mexican food then headed back to the B&B and watched the Rangers. Sad game but we were happy for Berkman. Check out how cute our bed and breakfast was. We stayed at the top of a barn.


Saturday morning we woke up, drank some coffee outside and then got some visitors. They stayed around until we left for the day.


We headed back up to Main Street for a fabulous breakfast which happened to be in the basement of an old hospital. Then of course more shopping and mid day we ended up at the Fredericksburg Brewery to watch the Ags. Unfortunately, the game did not turn out in our favor so we remedied it with some more shopping and relaxing back at the B&B with our new friends to greet us. I also got introduced to an animal I had never even heard of, a nutria??? Well it was basically a large rat but it hung around with the ducks. After we relaxed some we went to dinner at this great Italian restaurant called Pasta Bella. Then we were able to head out to Danny's Aunt and Uncle's house to hang out with them for a bit.





Sunday was a fabulous day. We got up early went to a little cafe to grab a bite to eat and then got an hour long massage. It was glorious and something I would love to do every morning. It was a great way to start the day. :) The sad part was that after it was over it was time to head back home. All in all it was a great weekend and it only got us more excited for Molly's debut.