End of pregnancy only a few months late :)

So it's June and I've had a baby for about 3 months now :) although my blog world wouldn't know it because I went MIA around mid February! Let me recap the end of pregnancy, and birth will follow in it's own post.

Around 32 weeks I started to swell pretty significantly. I seemed to be following in my moms footsteps as she got fairly swollen both of her pregnancies as well, although not as early as I did. My BP started to creep up around the 32 week mark as well, so I monitored it closely at home as well as at my biweekly visits at that point. Mark was still traveling quite a bit being based in Newark, NJ still. I started to get pretty worried about him actually being home or close enough to home come birth time! Many many hours were spent strategizing with  him, my "backups", and in my head about all the different scenarios that could play out!

Luke's nursery was pretty much complete around 34 weeks, and we were just buying the last odds and ends we needed, like pack n play and a few smaller items. I actually had everything pretty much completed around that time, so I started re-washing previously washed baby clothes just to keep busy! Bags were packed, plans were made, work had started to wind down with my replacement taking over. Around 34 weeks I started feeling pretty uncomfortable daily, sleeping was non existent, and I was pretty crabby most of the time! I felt like Luke was HUGE and every movement started to hurt! I would get frustrated and want him to stop moving, but in the same breath WISH he was moving so I knew he was alright! :)

Mark got his schedule for the month of March, it had him off the week before I was due, and going back to work a day or two before my due date. We had decided that if I hadn't given birth by my due date he definitely wasn't going back to work! It wasn't worth the high possibility that he would miss it at that point! My swelling was still getting worse and my BP was kind of all over the map. I hadn't tested + for any proteins yet to indicate pre-e, but I was watching myself pretty closely mainly due to my severe swelling. I had to buy special support hose from a store filled with elderly people getting fitted for them as well! They helped, but were incredibly uncomfortable and ridiculously hard to get on with a giant belly!

Lovely swollen feet with trendy support hose! 

36 weeks came and I decided to just start working from home mostly. I was getting exhausted just walking short distances, and driving was uncomfortable due to the lack of room. We had my 36 week appointment which had an US to see Luke's position and size, that was so exciting! We got to see a profile shot in 3D and see his face! I seriously melted... he was so adorable! From the looks of the US he seemed to look like me with chubby cheeks! He was estimated at around 6 1/2 lbs, so if he was full term it seemed he could be 8 lbs or larger! That freaked me out a bit! My brother was almost 9 lbs though so I knew it wasn't out of the question. Everything on the US looked great, he was in position, and I learned I was dilated to 1cm! I was pretty excited about that 1cm... even though from all my reading I knew it really didn't mean much.

37 weeks and looking huge! 

37 weeks didn't come with much change, I went to my weekly appointment, same swelling issues and elevated BP. My OB didn't seem to concerned at the time though. Same with 38 weeks, I was waddling around, panicking about Mark being home for the birth, and just trying to pass the time! I was 38 weeks on a Saturday, and I actually never made it to my weekly 38 week appointment which was scheduled for that coming Wednesday, because Luke decided it was time for his arrival!

around 38 weeks 

I got my hair done right at 38 weeks to last through maternity leave, smart decision! 

It was a very chaotic and crazy arrival he made into this world. Birth story coming up!