11th Visit to an Obgyne

I just got home from my first weekly visit to my doc. Everything looks good! Baby is moving normal, heartbeat is at the usual 150 bpm and my bp and weight is just right. I was so scared that she will do a cervix exam and see if I am already dialated. But I guess not on this visit, she said next time! Yay, my doc was also preggo and she is due a day earlier than me, but she has huge frame, you can't really tell that she is preggo, she just looked chubby which is nice! But me? JJ said I looked like I have a back pack worn in the front, it really is weird looking. Baby is a lot heavier, and I think he is dropping down a little bit. You'd be surprised to see how hard my tummy can get if he decides to get naughty inside :) I can feel a little bit of kick here and there, but no more somersaults just because he is already snag inside. On the good side, I don't have swelling on my legs, arms and fingers and face, just yet. I can still perfectly wear my rings, which is goooood :)

Tomorrow, the little one is considered full term at 37 weeks! Yeahooo! That means, just in case he decides to come early, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though my due date is still three weeks away. But I think we kinda agree that he should just wait until the day he is supposed to come. Because for one, Jen (Momma's good friend) is going to host a baby shower for her this Saturday (Sept. 5th). It's going to be very exciting, I hope. I am so glad that she insisted that we should do this, even if I told her that visiting me at the hospital would be enough for me. Well, I guess it would be nice to spend some time with good friends before baby comes.

I still have a lot of cleaning that needs to be done as well. I know I am running out of time, but I am hoping I could do at least a few important stuff. The nursery room is actually 98% ready now. The wall appliques are up. The only thing that we could not put at this time was the musical mobile. The crib mount does not fit on the crib that we have. We looked at mounting it on the wall but JJ don't like the idea of putting holes on the wall for something that we only use for 5-6 months. Plus the upper arm is not long enough for a wall mounting configuration. So at this point, I don't know what's JJ's plan is.

I have also semi packed my hospital bag. I included some changing clothes for JJ. LO's stuff are ready but I am not sure yet if I have to wash the bag that I am going to use as a diaper bag or not. I should probably will but will see.

Most of all, we have already picked a name for LO. But, we won't be telling anyone until he is here, yay!. So hang on tight!

Watching Journey Live in Concert at Schottenstein Center

Omgosh! I still have the Journey fever in me up until now. What can I say, I'm such a huge fan of their songs, AND most especially now that Arnel P. was the lead vocals. I can't thank JJ enough for getting the tickets. He never miss to surprise me with things that really matter's to me and it always melts my heart knowing thoughtful he can be. Actually, I've been dying to see them in concert. They were at Cincinnati last year of September but we missed it. JJ did not liked the idea of driving down their and going back home tired and sleepy. So when I saw their schedules for this year and found out they will come here in Columbus, I got soooo excited only to be told that its going to be dangerous at 36 weeks of my pregnancy. I still wanted to insist but at the same time, what if something happens, you know I don't want to make a scene out there. So, I accepted it....I will never be able to see Journey live...I just have to content myself watching them at freakin' youtube.

BUT, yeahoooo! yeah....we made it! Getting in and out of the Arena was super fast, it was painless. There was never any chaos like pushing and shoving in even if the place is considered to be a little bit smaller than Nationwide Arena. So how was it??? OMGosh! It was super cool, I love how much energy Arnel P puts into the group. He was jumping here and there, and tossing and flipping' the microphone. He makes the concert so alive. His voice is soooo amazing, I could play their songs over and over and I won't get tired of listening to it. Yeah, that's how crazy I am....Journey, I'm forever yours...Faithfully! Yihahhh!

10th visit with an Obgyne

On this visit, i had to do the Group B strep culture test which is normally, harmless to healthy adults but it can be dangerous to baby during birth. It was a quick test which I have to do myself using a swab to the vaginal and rectal area. If not treated this can cause serious complications, such as pneumonia, meningitis, or a blood infection to the baby.

I am weighing at 135 lbs. by now, blood pressure is perfectly fine and baby's heart rate is maintained at 150 bpm. My obgyne guessed that baby will be 7-8 lbs. if he comes around 40 weeks. That surprised me a bit! I've always thought the little one will only be about 6-7 lbs. We'll as long as he is healthy, I surely hope I can deliver him normally without any complications.

See you next friday!

Way to go!

Wohooo for me! I am so proud of myself this morning, I had a few to-do list in preparation for the big day. It may sound to be a so-so task but for me its a big deal that I can finally check it off from my to-do task:

Maternity Pre-registration (check!)
I had this form from one of my obgyne check-up like a month ago? I am supposed to fill it up and mail it to the hospital that I am planning on delivering the baby at. However, there were some informations in there that only JJ knows and every time I asked him to do it, he'll just say tomorrow! (Oh! What can I say - great procrastinator!) So finally, he did it the other morning and I meant to mail it the same day but there is 1 information about the insurance card that I needed him to clarify off.
Finally just minutes ago, I realized that instead of mailing this, I can actually pre-register online. It was very quick and I felt so much better that I can take that off of my chest! Wheww...breathhh!

Express Labor and Birth Class (checked!)
We actually attended a class offered by our obgyne clinic last Aug. 9th but we felt like its not enough. The class was only focused on Childbirth. It was really short and not much information. The class was supposed to be a 9am-1pm class but we finished at exactly 11am. So it was really short and not much of information, not worth the $75 fee!
Anyhow, I checked if the delivery hospital is currently offering a Childbirth Education Class. JJ wanted me to call today and enroll on Express Labor and Birth Class. The discription goes like this:
"This 7-hour class provides the basics of labor and birth preparation. Instruction focuses on essential information for mother and her birth partner including what to expect during labor and birth, techniques for coping with labor discomforts, medications and anesthetics, and medical interventions. Breathing, relaxation and comfort strategies are discussed and written instructions are provided for at-home practice. A guided tour of the maternity areas is included."
So, I just got off the phone and we are enrolled! We just have to wait for the mail that will come out tomorrow. It has all the information, on where to go, including parking and what to bring during the class.

Maternity Tours (partially checked!)
JJ and I did an online maternity tour last night. The place was very high tech and high touched! I am very pleased that this is where we choose to welcome our baby at. But, on the day of the Express Labor and Birth Class that we enrolled at, we are supposed to have a tour as well. (Thumbs up!)

Make a money transfer (check!)
Right, I just did it sister. It should get there in few.

Nursery Room Preparation (partially checked!)
Well, its almost done. There used to be an old dresser and a huge tv at the baby's room. The dresser has old mails for JJ. I pre-sorted it but waited for him to decide which one needs to be shredded, kept and tossed. Finally, he did it the other night and then last night we moved the old dresser to our room. Now, we need to figure out where to put that old tv. And then, we can move the crib to the right place and then we can put the wall appliques and the musical mobile.

Journey Concert
Yeah, don't ridicule us pls? I know it sounds unsafe to be in a huge crowd at my 36th week pregnancy but I am hoping that we will be fine. I've been to concerts before and the crowd is not really that bad. I actually was already over into this fascination of being able to see Arnel P. live in concert but JJ surprised me with 2 tickets. According to him, he used to think that by this time, I won't be able to walk a good distance anymore but thank God, I am still in perfect condition as of these days. I am so super excited here....you just never know!

9th Visit to a Midwife

I had my bi-weekly visit to a midwife again yesterday at 3:15p. It was very quick. Everything was pretty much normal. Gained just enough weight and blood pressure was 116/68. Baby's heartbeat has been the same for the last 3 visits, its 150bpm! Wow, he's been maintaining it really good! The midwife measured my belly and confirmed that the baby's head is still on the right track. We also discussed about the 2 leg cramp incident I had that occurred in early mornings, practically when I am not even up yet. She said that it was normal for me getting it on the third trimester and the only thing I can do is to massage it, maybe do some stretching, drink a lot of fluids and maybe go for a walk. About the faster heartbeat that I have experienced a few times, also in the mornings, usually after breakfast, she told me there is nothing to worry about unless my diastolic goes higher than 80 and lastly, she addressed about my itchy belly.

First of all she is not concern about PUPPP since I don't have rashes and no itchiness anywhere in my body except just the belly itself. She thought that it might just be because my skin is expanding and the skin is stretching too much. I can just continue moisturizing it or I can get myself any Aveeno products that are good for itchy skin, or I can use benadryl.

However just to be safe, she wanted to order a blood test just to make sure I have no problem in my liver called intrahepatic cholestasis. This happens when bile salts accumulate under a skin, causing a generalized itchiness. If cholestasis is diagnosed they will try to do extra monitoring or worst case scenario I will have to deliver the baby before the due date, scared!

Well, I hope not that is not the case. I have a suspecion on what triggered this itchy belly thingy. But I won't tell you in detail, LOL! It's just something to do with me being dumb at taking care of my laundry.


Next visit will be 2 weeks from now and then I am on to my weekly monitoring. I am getting there!

We got Chicco Key Fit 30 Travel System

Finally we received the car seat and stroller that we ordered from Buy Buy Baby. We had it special ordered since the store don't have the color that we wanted which is the fuego. We wanted it to match the CRV. We were so happy when we got the call, we drove to pick it up right away and JJ assembled it. It wasn't really that light compared to others but we liked it because it has good reviews for safety and it wasn't that expensive. We never heard of this brand before until we saw it being recommended from Consumer Reports and we've been seeing random parents who uses this a lot lately, so I guess it is becoming more popular? The stroller is very easy to fold and putting the car seat in and out of the vehicle was painless. Most of all, it wasn't that expensive. I think we will be happy with out choice.