34 weeks and updates

At 34 weeks, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs. In fact, baby will recognize frequently sung tunes after birth and probably find them soothing. Less cute news: he now urinates about one pint per day. 
His fat layers – which he'll need to regulate his body temperature once he's born – are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

My current pregnancy symptoms:
*Swelling: my feet, ankles, and hands are starting to swell some by the end of the day. I've reached the point where I've had to take off my wedding ring.
*Frequent urination: this baby is sitting right on my bladder. When I'm sitting down, I usually don't notice it, but once I stand up, that's when it hits me...and it hits me hard...I must get to the bathroom immediately!
*Nerve pain: the last couple of weeks I've started having this sharp, shooting pain, just off the bottom of my tail bone at the top of my butt. It's uncomfortable for the most part during the day, but when I move a certain way it's that take-your-breath-away type pain. Any pressure by standing on that leg makes the pain worse. I'm just hoping it's something that goes away when baby comes :)
*Contractions: I'm still having quite a few contractions throughout the day, which can get rather uncomfortable at times.
*Baby is continuing to move like crazy! He remains head down and his butt is right in the middle of my right side. It's making my belly look a little distorted because I always feel like he's pushing that little butt right out, making my stomach bulge on that side. I'm not really sure when he sleeps. The twins always slept with me at night, but this little guy seems to move almost all the time. I'm hoping all this moving around now will wear him out once he gets here and he'll sleep really well :)  But, I'm guessing that's not going to be the case :)
*Acid Reflux:  I'm continuing to take Zantac twice a day around the clock just to keep it under control.


*last week, at 33 weeks, I had another ultrasound and dr. visit. Everything on the ultrasound looked good, baby is continuing to grow! Which is a good thing, however it's starting to worry me just a bit. He's moved up into the 90th percentile and is measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule. He was weighing 5lbs. 14oz. already!  I asked if she though I might go early with his size or just have a huge baby?!?  Of course it's hard to tell, but she really feels confident that my uterus will not go into labor early, given my past history... because I was able to hold 2 good sized babies in for 37 weeks, she really thinks my uterus will hold this guy in too and he'll stay comfortable for a while.

*I now will be starting appts. every two weeks. No ultrasound this next time, but I will be starting my Non-Stress Tests as well as visiting with the dr.  Apparently Sanford is very "over the top" with how they monitor their IVF patients. From this point on I am supposed to be doing NSTs twice weekly to measure baby's growth and movement. However, since we know baby is growing so well and given the fact that I live an hour from Sioux Falls, my dr. is comfortable with once weekly NSTs.

*The baby's room is STILL no where near being done and it's sending me into panic mode. Finding storage for everything that is in that room has been a bit challenging. The closet is still full. The huge desk is in there and we have a rather large gun cabinet in there that still needs a home. (Cody keeps asking if there'll be enough room in there to be able to just keep the gun cabinet where it's at...umm yeah, NO!)  We are hopefully going to get the room painted next weekend and then start putting together the furniture.

*I took Kenley back into the dr. to see if we couldn't figure something else out that's going on with her butt-rash.  I'm telling you, this isn't your typical diaper rash and she's had it now for 3 months. The dr. finally did a culture of it and sent it to the lab. The lab results came back showing several types of bacterial overgrowth as well as some yeast growth. We have since been trying an antibacterial topical cream, an anti-fungal cream, as well as an oral antibiotic. I would like to say we're seeing some improvement .

*I believe we have finally ridden Kenley girl of her darn pacifier. My final straw was when our daycare provider told me that Kenley really hasn't been using her paci at her house during nap time anymore. So I thought to myself...well she really doesn't go to bed with it anymore at home either. So, the only times she's having it is when she's in the car or wanting it just around the house. She was playing me like a fiddle! If she didn't need it anymore to sleep with, then it was definitely time to go!  So we just literally stopped giving it to her. We didn't make a big production out of it, we just removed any pacifiers from sight and it was never an issue!  I couldn't believe it. As much as I felt she was addicted to it, she never seemed to have an issue with not having one anymore. Geez, I wish I would have known that sooner :)   There are times however where it would still be easier to just pop that thing into her mouth. You know, the times where she just whines and moans and won't give it up. Or in the car when she's crying and I know it would make her quiet just to have that thing in her mouth. I think it's been more of a challenge for me than her :)

*Two weekends ago we headed down to Des Moines to celebrate my niece Khloe's 2nd birthday!  We enjoyed: her birthday party..cake..presents..playtime..playing at the park..shopping..eating out..ordering pizza in..naptimes..late nights..laughter..warm weather..and good company! I love it there :)

*This last weekend we headed back to Des Moines to celebrate Easter down there. My sister attends an absolutely phenomenal church. It would be worth the drive just to attend church on Sundays and to be a part of their Easter service is like no other!!  We also enjoyed an Easter egg hunt..lunch at Wakonda Country Club..a visit with the Easter bunny..more shopping..more eating out..more laughter..and one, year and a half old little girl, who has developed a new "not-so-precious-attitude", requiring the efforts of every adult just to get us all through the weekend. (We love you Kenley girl, but you sure are a tough one right now :)