34 weeks

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I figured it was time for another update; it's been too long. I had a huge mental list of all the things I was going to write about, but now as I sit down with the computer, all the thoughts drain out of me! Hopefully once I start writing, things will just "come" to me...

I suppose I can start writing about the baby. I'm now in the middle of my 34th week... which basically means that I'm 2 1/2 weeks away from being 'full term' and I have some 40-odd days until my 'due date.' Did you know only 2-5% of babies are born on their due date? So I keep telling myself that I have approximately two more weeks to go than I do because I know a lot of first time moms go over their due date by as much as two weeks. The baby will come when s/he is good and ready, right? :]

At my last appointment, my midwife gave me a new prescription for some anti-nausea medication to try. We figured that maybe it would help for me to take it consistently rather than just taking it when I thought I needed it [I was just trying to conserve what I had leftover from what I was given in Kenya!]. She gave me a prescription for 90 pills to test it out, but when I got to the Target pharmacy, they informed me that my insurance would only let me have 20 at a time. They said I would have to come back every three days or so to refill. Okay, I can deal with that. So when I went back in a few days later to refill the medication, they told me that apparently I could only have 20 pills every 30 days, per my insurance. My insurance had to send in some paperwork to be filled out by my midwife... which was filled out and faxed to them over a week ago. And here I am, still without the medication and as nauseous as ever! The pharmacist gave me 8 pills to 'tide me over until we got it figured out' last week... I think they felt bad for me... but when you have to take the medication every 4 hours, 8 pills doesn't last very long! I'm hoping and praying that they will get it all figured out soon. It didn't necessarily take away the nausea completely for me, but it at least took the edge off of it for me so that it was more tolerable.

I started feeling Braxtion Hicks contrations last week, too! I was SO curious about "what they felt like" and wondered if I would know when I was having one... well, my curiosity has been fulfilled and they can definitely just go away now! I guess it's good that my body is preparing itself for the 'real deal' but these have not been fun, especially with the back pain I've been having lately... in all honesty, I've never had pain like this in my back before! Rolling over in bed or even being touched made me cry. I like to think that I have somewhat of a high tolerance for pain, so this was really freaking me out... I could barely 'go' [in bathroom terms] because my back just ached so bad. How was I gonna push a baby out?! Thankfully, the pain started decreasing last night... and it's not as bad now as it was earlier this week, but it's definitely still there and I'm a little slow goin'.

I have an appointment today with my midwife... I'll probably post a short update again after that :] But for now... here's the most recent belly picture! I think it has even popped a little bit more since this picture was taken last week.

[33w2d]

Jake has been absolutely fantastic with taking care of me... he's so helpful, and I'm so thankful to have him! He is very encouraging and supportive and I appreciate him so much.

I had my 24th birthday on Sunday. It was a decent day, besides not feeling well. We slept in... didn't go to church because I wasn't feeling well... I went dress shopping for my brother in law's wedding in June, stopped at the library and found some books to read, went to Dunn Bro's coffee and got a Vanilla Iced Nirvana [my new favorite coffee!!], watched a movie, and went to Applebee's in the evening with Jake, Andy and Katie for 1/2 priced appetizers. It was a relaxing day and we didn't really "do" anything, but that was definitely okay with me. I like low-key things anyways.

This year we aren't traveling anywhere far for Christmas... we're spending Christmas Eve with my parents and then Christmas day at my grandparent's house. We also plan to go visit Joe, Jake's dad, who is in a rehab center recovering from a surgery that he had a few weeks ago. He's doing well, but I'm sure he is beyond bored!

During the not-so-often occasions when I've been feeling well enough, between the back pain, contractions and nausea, I've been trying to do some Christmas baking... so far I've managed to finish a big batch of Oreo truffles, oreo cookies dipped in chocolate, peanut butter cups, and some fudge... except the fudge hasn't really hardened yet, so I'm afraid it's beyond repair. I think I'm going to see if I can 'fix' it somehow...

I'm not really sure what else to write about... we have definitely been staying busy, though. I'll update again later after my appointment, or sometime this week.