39 Weeks!! Still Pregnant.

The time to meet our little girl is almost here!  Not only did I finish my 39th week of pregnancy, but I also finished my last week of work in the office.  I plan on working from home to the extent possible until I go into labor, but no more trips into the office, no more work clothes, etc.  Hellooooo yoga pants and laptops in bed!

Excuse the odd lumpiness in the front.  These were non-maternity pants.  I made it!!

How Big is Baby?: She's the size of a watermelon . . . and incidentally, that's not what a pregnant woman wants to think about while on the verge of giving birth!

Total weight gain/loss: Unknown, since I haven't weighed myself since the last week's post!  I'm assuming I haven't gained anything, but who knows if that's a safe assumption.

Next Appointment: Monday, December 24.  My OB plans on doing an internal exam, so Merry Christmas to me, I guess!  Having your cervix poked at is really the gift that keeps on giving.

Maternity clothes? Nope.  I WIN!!!  I'm done with having to really be dressed for any events and finished out without a maternity wardrobe!

Sleep: So patchy.  Some days I sleep through the night without so much as rolling over.  Some days I am up a couple of times.  Some days I sleep for a full night PLUS take a long nap.  Other nights, I have insomnia.  I can't wait until I'm actually being woken up by a gorgeous baby and not just being uncomfortable.

Movement: Always.  She is my little wiggle worm.

Food cravings: Spicy food.  But for selfish reasons (the OWT about spicy food inducing labor), not so much because I like spicy food.

Food aversions: None.

Gender: A beautiful little girl.

Belly Button in or out: In.  Pregnancy win #2.

What I miss:  Still miss getting a full night's sleep and being able to roll over on my own.

What I am looking forward to:  Meeting my angel-faced baby girl.

Contractions: Ugh.  They come semi regularly, but who knows if they have changed my cervix at all.  I'll find out tomorrow!

Milestones: Baby Bak is able to flex her limbs now.  She's almost ready to sell tickets to the baby gun show.  Her brain is still developing and she's getting smarter every day.  Since I'm positive she's already brilliant, I'm scared about just how smart this little one will be.

38 Weeks. And Yes, I'm Still Pregnant

I didn't realize I skipped last week.  Whoops!  Since I last posted, I am officially full term.  That means Baby Baklava could be here any day now and would be considered fully grown and not need NICU time.

This was another big week for our family, as on Tuesday, I was officially sworn in to the California bar.  I guess I'm a real attorney now, no asterisk needed in my official firm emails.  Spyro took a picture of me after the ceremony to commemorate my bump and the big occasion.

How Big is Baby?: Our pumpkin is the size of a pumpkin!

Total weight gain/loss: Up to -2 from pre-pregnancy.  I've really started packing on the pounds the last couple of weeks (up about 5 lbs or so), so while there's no total gain, I'm hoping my OB doesn't throw a bitch fit.

Next Appointment: Monday, December 17.  At my last appointment, I got the news that I'm GBS negative, so if I go into labor at home, I don't have to rush into the hospital to get the antibiotics and can try to labor at home in the tub or however I'm most comfortable . . . at least until I waddle screaming into L&D, demanding an epidural!

Maternity clothes? Still holding steady.  Very happy I didn't have to invest in a new wardrobe!

Sleep: This has been rough!  I have wanted more sleep than ever, but it's obviously hard when I'm still working and plan to work until the bitter end.  I also found out that sleep (or at least lack thereof) can negatively affect blood pressure, so I've been trying to get lots of sleep every night to make sure I have the best possible health outcomes. 

Movement: Yep.  My little bruiser has some strong, rough rolls and jabs and is possibly practicing planking in there.  She cracked me up last week when we put her Glo Worm on my tummy and played its music and she started kicking the crap out of the Glo Worm, right in the face.

Food cravings: Last night I sent Spyro to the grocery store to get me the makings for a banana split . . . to be made on top of a donut.  They were out of donuts, but I still ate the hell out of that banana split.  'Nuff said.

Food aversions: The other day, I was almost in tears because nothing sounded good for dinner, not even normal favorites.  That's how my aversions work, I guess.  Most of the time I'm fine eating whatever we're going to have, but there are some days when the idea of food sounds terrible and I can't even really taste or enjoy it.

Gender: A beautiful little girl.

Belly Button in or out: Still in, thankfully!

What I miss:  Full night's sleep, not peeing what feels like every few seconds, being able to roll over on my own.

What I am looking forward to:  Finishing up the nursery!  Since we have 12 days until my EDD, I think Spyro is cutting it way too close and making me anxious!!

Contractions: Are now my mortal enemy.  I woke up at 2am on Saturday morning to use the bathroom and afterward was having what felt like constant contractions.  I tried laying on either side and they didn't abate.  I drank some water, and that didn't work.  After two hours, I finally took a book into the nursery and sat in the glider and just tried to relax.  I didn't get into bed until about 6am, and then had rough, sporadic sleep until almost 8am when I had to get up so we could go to our baby CPR class.  I had intermittent contractions during class, but not enough to qualify as labor.  I had contractions at home while I tried to nap, but they were tapering off.  Finally around 7pm, after waking up from my second nap of the day, the contractions had stopped.  Nothing so far today, but that was a ROUGH day.  Spyro joked with me that I was already ready for the epidural and he wasn't too far off.

Milestones: Baby Bak is pretty much fully developed.  She's starting to shed the vernix (the white, protective coating on a fetus's skin) and is almost ready to take her first poop . . . which her daddy will be cleaning up!

36 Weeks: The Final Countdown

Where is the time going?!  I can't believe that in four weeks, I should be meeting Baby Baklava!  This kid is already the light of our lives.  Today, we had the good fortune of going to a friend's house to pick up a ton of baby clothes that her five month old daughter has outgrown.  It was the first time we've had the chance to meet baby Hazel and she totally charmed both of us.  She is a complete sweetheart.  We met her right after her nap, and she was smiling and happy and didn't even mind me holding her.  Spyro and I were talking about how absolutely precious she is on our drive home and he turned to me and said, "I'm screwed."  He finally came to the realization we've all had about him with our little girl: he's going to be so head over heels in love with her that he's going to dote on her all the time.  Love him so much, and the idea of him being such a big teddy bear with our little girl is the sweetest image in my mind.

I feel like baby girl is DEFINITELY growing!

How Big is Baby?: The size of a honeydew melon.  But sweeter.

Total weight gain/loss: Up to -5 from pre-pregnancy. Since my eating habits haven't really changed, I can only assume that it's our little girl chunking up in there.

Next Appointment: Monday, December 3.  I'm now to the appointment each week stage.  My blood pressure came down enough at my prior appointment that my doctor said he would not put me on medication, but it's still elevated.  I've heard that's normal in late pregnancy, but I still don't want it to be too high!  At my "36 week" appointment (which was 35w3d), I got the GBS test, which wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated.

Maternity clothes? Not really.  In the beginning of pregnancy, I bought three maternity dresses for work.  I wear them occasionally, mixed in with my other work dresses and skirts.  I'm going to make it through pregnancy without really wearing maternity clothes!!  I consider that a win, because the money I'm not spending on clothes is being spent directly on baby girl's room.

Sleep: UGH.  Man, I love sleep.  I am definitely a sleeper, and I always have been from a young age.  This has been the worst part of pregnancy because my sleep is so interrupted.  I miss having a full night of sleep, but I guess this is the body's way of preparing me.  But still, I'll be so thankful when I can flip from side to side--or better yet, sleep on my stomach again!

Movement: Yep.  Right now she's kicking and moving away because the laptop is on my lap and resting on my belly and she HATES it.  Always has.  The movements are different now.  I can feel her in vastly different places in my belly, which reminds me how big she's getting.  It's been some sharp kicks, but also some rough-feeling rolling and other types of movement.

Food cravings: This past week, I just wanted a big, juicy burger with good bacon on it. 

Food aversions: Nope, not really.  Baby Bak and I love food!

Gender: A beautiful little girl.

Belly Button in or out: Still in, thankfully!

What I miss:  A full night's sleep, wearing jeans (since pre-pregnancy jeans are far too uncomfortable to wear at this stage, but I don't want to order any at this point).

What I am looking forward to:  Finishing up the nursery!  It should be done in the next week and then I'll be able to post some pictures.

Contractions: I'm adding this one because that's been the most recent development for me.  They're nothing timeable and nothing that is out of the ordinary, but they have been awesome. :/  Basically, walking through Target anymore involves me sucking wind and pausing a couple of times to let a contraction pass.  I've found that the pain is fairly quickly alleviated if I do a set of sort of weird squats while leaning up against the couch or another piece of furniture or stable item of similar height.

Milestones: Baby Bak is closer to being able to breathe on her own.  Her liver and kidneys, as well as her circulation and immune systems are basically set.  She's almost ready to be seen by the world.

Week 34: A Baby Walks Into a Bar

Lots of big news for our family this week! First, I found out on Friday that I passed the California bar exam! Definitely a big deal, and Baby Baklava was with me the whole time. I found out I was pregnant on my last day of law school. I started studying for the bar exam around 9 weeks pregnant and took the bar exam between my 17th-18th week. Studying for the exam while pregnant was daunting because my only pregnancy symptom was extreme fatigue. Luckily we made it through and Baby Bak will be with me when I get sworn in in a couple of weeks.

More good news: I dragged my sick, tired butt out in the rain to the UCLA/SC football game and for only the second time since I started college in 1999, UCLA WON! I am starting to think Baby Baklava is a good luck charm of the highest order. Love this little girl and can't wait to meet her in a few short weeks!

Week 34: Looking fabulous, I hope!

How Big is Baby?: The size of a butternut squash. But obviously, much cuter!

Total weight gain/loss: Back down to -7 from the start of pregnancy. Pregnancy = best diet ever???

Next Appointment: Wednesday, November 21. I had my last appointment on Thursday and Baby Bak looked great. She was estimated to be 4 lbs 10 oz, which is right on track for a 34 week old baby. And FINALLY she realized that laying transverse at her size isn't too comfortable and she got head down. That was such a relief! The only negative was that for the first time this pregnancy, my blood pressure was high (135/70 or 140/70--I forget which). Since I'm usually around 110/70, the doctor wanted me to come back just to have my BP checked. My guess is that my BP was kind of high because I was so worried about her positioning and my fear of a c-section. Hoping it's back to normal on Wednesday.

Maternity clothes? Still resisting. Still hoping to make it to the end with the small assortment of maternity work dresses and just my normal clothes. My casual wardrobe still sucks, but since I don't go anywhere on the weekend anyway, yoga pants and t-shirts for everyone!

Sleep: Sleep started to suck the other day, mostly because I'm experiencing the delight of post-nasal drip. I apparently kept my husband awake the other night because I was snoring like a wildebeest. Sexy. And I wake up with the worst sore throat. 

Movement: Tons. Especially after I drink orange juice. I need to keep better track of what I eat that makes her go apeshit because those are the times that I love the most. 

Food cravings: Still burritos. Kind of. 

Food aversions: It's not that there are any foods that gross me out. Mostly food doesn't sound really good to me, and I just force myself to eat something.

Gender: A beautiful little girl.

Belly Button in or out: Still in, thankfully!

What I miss: Sleep, being healthy.

What I am looking forward to: Thanksgiving! Hopefully food will sound good again by then. Also, my first baby shower, which is tomorrow!

Milestones: Baby Bak can recognize and react to simple songs if I'm singing them. That's such a blessing to me because I sing to her all the time. I'm glad she will start to learn my voice! She is also urinating about a pint a day. So basically, I'm glad I'm not the only one peeing all the time!!

Week 33

Ugh, what is it about my life that I can't get myself together to post *one* blog post a week? Maybe it's work? Or, you know, coming up on the end of exhausting pregnancy!


In my last post, I talked about our failed elective ultrasound. The tech had us come back two weeks later and she was still being a pain in the butt, but this guy knew how to handle a difficult baby girl.

Meet Baby Baklava (at least, how she looked 3 weeks ago):

Forewarning: sorry for the weird me-shaped shadows at the bottom. We got these big 8x10s and I don't have a scanner, so the easiest way for me to share is to take a picture of the picture.

Look at this angel face! Those lips! I might be biased in saying she looks like a mini me, but I think she does.

Just hanging out in the ute, cuddling the umbilical cord and showing off her delicious little cheeks.

This picture was one of my favorites. Usually, Baby Baklava has an arm or hand over her face. The tech would have me flip from side-to-side, which was typically enough to get her to move her hand, at least for a bit--and then he'd get about 30 seconds to one minute of clear face for pictures. Towards the end, she caught on to us, and this is what we got in response. She put BOTH feet up, in addition to the arm all the way across her face. Our little monkey is a flexible little girl and a funny girl too, because she had all of us cracking up.

How Big is Baby?: The size of a durien, which is kind of sad to think about because durien are so stinky and gross, but my baby girl will never be stinky and gross! And yes, I am blocking out the thought of blowout diapers, meconium diapers, etc.

Total weight gain/loss: -5 from the start of pregnancy. This actually represents some weight gain! I had gotten down to -7 or so, then over the past two weeks, gained back 2 lbs. I'd like to think it's just Baby Baklava packing on those pounds so I'll have a delightfully chubby baby girl.

Next Appointment: November 15. I will be almost 34 weeks. I'm now at the stage where I'm going every two weeks! Since I got an A+ on my GD test* (*graded according to me), I only have regular appointments and no extra interventions.

Maternity clothes? Kind of. My normal work dresses have been forgiving enough for me to just grow into with pregnancy. So, I have a couple of maternity work dresses, but the majority of my work clothes are regular ones. Pants are drama. I have one pair of work pants that are oddly high-waisted, so they fit over my bump and are relatively comfortable. Otherwise, only yoga pants or jeggings (non-maternity). Since I'm so close to the end, I don't want to buy maternity pants, but I may have to suck it up and buy maybe one or two pairs because I can't get away with maxi dresses during the late fall and early winter!

Sleep: Sleep is getting better. I still have to wake up constantly just to flip from side-to-side, but I'm getting better at doing it without waking up too much or for too long.

Movement: My favorite part about pregnancy. She's always moving around, rolling around, and occasionally pulling some weird stretching move that feels like she's trying to bust out of my stomach around my belly button area.

Food cravings: I still want burritos almost all the time. And I normally don't eat flour tortillas, but I *have* to have a burrito. It can't be a taco, even if the only difference is the shell. With the cooler weather, I've been wanting hearty, homemade soups too. This weekend I'm going to make chili and baked potato soup, two things I've been wanting for weeks.

Food aversions: Nothing. Baby girl is HUNGRY.

Gender: A beautiful little girl.

Belly Button in or out: Still in, thankfully!

What I miss: Being able to sleep like a log, cocktails/happy hour. 

What I am looking forward to: The ultrasound we're having on Thursday to check her growth. Can't wait to find out if she's a little chunkster!

Milestones: Baby Baklava is now keeping her eyes open when she's awake. We are so excited to know if she will have brown eyes like her mama and mama's mama, hazel green eyes like daddy, or blue eyes like yiayia. She's also starting to coordinate her breathing with sucking or swallowing, which means that she will hopefully breastfeed like a champ and if not a chunkster now, might become a chunkster in the future. 

If you've made it through all this, here are some pictures of me over the last four weeks of pregnancy. 

Week 30 (L) and Week 31 (R)

Week 32 (L) and Week 33 (R)

28 Weeks

Just about 12 weeks until we meet our little girl. I can't even wrap my head around that!

We had our elective ultrasound on Saturday and that was the biggest bust in the history of the world. I swear, I know she's my daughter not because I'm pregnant with her, but because she is a difficult little girl already! I drank OJ which is usually her favorite, and then went for the ultrasound. In typical Baby Baklava fashion, she was facing the wrong way and still in the transverse/oblique position she had been in at the doctor's office on Thursday. It was basically impossible to see her face and she wasn't moving out of that position. They had me leave to eat breakfast, and I walked around a bit to see if that would get her to turn. Went back. She was then facing in a better position, but all mashed into my uterus, so the pictures looked sort of distorted. No good pictures came of it, although we got a decent look at her in live action. Trust me when I tell you that she is beautiful. I cried looking at that precious little face because I can't wait until the day that I get to hold her and show her to the world.

That said, thank goodness I anticipated having a baby diva in there because my package allows me to come back at no charge for a repeat ultrasound. I'll be going back in 2 weeks and hopefully then she'll be in a better position and in a better mood.

How Big is Baby?: The size of an eggplant, or as she will learn one day in Greek school, melitzana.

Total weight gain/loss: -2 or -3 from the start of pregnancy. Of course, I already have extra fluff to spare, so this is all fine with me! And, fine with the OB and my normally growing baby.

Next Appointment: Not until November 1. At that point, I'll be almost 32 weeks. After that appointment, I go back every 2 weeks! It's all going to fly by!

Maternity clothes? Not quite yet. At this point, I'm almost glad that I wore body conscious clothing before because there's plenty of room for my tummy. Some of my dresses are getting a bit short in the front due to the extra space taken up, but nothing too indecent! But still saying no to pants because of the rubber band needs.

Sleep: Sleep is great if/when I can stay on one hip. If I have to roll over, it's Game Over. I basically have to wake up in order to flip. I was trying to figure out why my first instinct was to roll with my belly toward the mattress (which then required me to get on all fours) instead of belly over the top...until last night when I realized that I don't have enough momentum to physically push myself over when I try to move from hip to hip with my belly up!

Movement: All the time. After I drink orange juice/eat fruit, after I eat a meal, if I sit forward too much, or if the music is turned up. She goes nuts then. Otherwise she'll just give me the occasional kick (or flurry of kicks).

Food cravings: Back to eating a reasonable amount/not eating the world. Thank goodness. My cravings are influenced by things people talk about. I go from wanting a twice baked potato to New York-style pizza to donuts to a breakfast burrito in the snap of a finger. In fact, I think I had all those cravings in one 20 minute period a couple of days ago.

Food aversions: Nothing. Baby girl is HUNGRY.

Gender: A beautiful little girl.

Belly Button in or out: Still in, thankfully!

What I miss: Being able to sleep like a log.

What I am looking forward to:Finishing her nursery! We still have so much work to do and sometimes I feel like we'll never finish it before she gets here.

Milestones: Baby Baklava's lungs are almost all the way mature. She is starting to put on some baby fat so instead of looking like a wrinkly alien, she will look like a baby.

27 Weeks - 66% Down!

It's fitting that I'm making my return to blogging about this pregnancy as I hit third trimester yesterday. I've been so regretful that I haven't kept up with my posts, but the bar exam and post-bar travel and moving got in the way. I'm now all settled into my job, my apartment, and ready to tackle the last third of pregnancy, so it's the perfect way to come back!

I'm a little sad because I thought I had already announced the sex of Baby Baklava. Spyro and I are so excited to say that we are having a beautiful baby GIRL! At least, we think so! They were 90% sure at the anatomy scan and sadly, I'm a lame ass mom who has had no prenatal care in the meantime. I have an appointment on Thursday where they will be able to tell for sure, but I'm just attached to the idea of her being a girl in the meantime.

How Big is Baby?: The size of a rutabaga. It's really unfortunate that rutabagas are pretty unattractive, because I'm sure our little girl is much, much cuter.

Total weight gain/loss: As of my last appointment, I was still down a couple of pounds. Of course, that was at 16 weeks, which was a LOOOONG time ago. As of right now, I have no idea.

Next Appointment: Thursday, October 4. Can't wait to see Baby Baklava again, to make sure she's OK, and 

Maternity clothes? Not quite yet. I am, however, to the point where I can't really button my pants comfortably anymore. So, I'm rubber banding. My pre-pregnancy dresses pretty much fit still, but some are a bit shorter in the front than they were before. I figure that in another month or so, I will be in maternity clothes.

Sleep: I still love my sleep! I think that the quality of my sleep has decreased though because I cannot lay in one position all night. When not pregnant, you can roll over with no problems. With me, I basically wake up for little chunks of time just to be able to roll over without squishing and hurting my belly. Last night I went to bed at 9pm and woke up at 9am. 

Movement: This is probably the biggest change since I last posted. When we were on our vacation, I felt her definitively kick for the first time. Last week was when I started feeling her all the time. She is always moving and kicking and rolling. I think I have a Riverdancer in there!

Food cravings: For a while, it was Taco Bell. Now, it's not that I crave particular foods, so much as that I want to eat all.the.time. For about a month or so, I wasn't eating very much and got full fairly quickly. In the last week is when I wanted to eat the world. I just hope she's having a growth spurt! 

Food aversions: Water is really gross to me now. I have to put citrus flavoring in the water to make myself be able to stomach it.

Gender: A beautiful little girl.

Belly Button in or out: In, but it's getting dicey now. I still think I will be able to keep an innie by the end, but my belly button is awfully shallow now.

What I miss: Social drinking. There are so many firm events planned like happy hours or wine and cheese events that seem pointless for me. Not only can I not drink, but I'm not particularly tempted to stand up at parties for long periods of time either.

What I am looking forward to: Seeing her sweet face on an ultrasound on Thursday.

Milestones: Baby Baklava is officially at viability. If she is born, she has an excellent chance of being healthy and OK (with some NICU time). She also has taste buds, which means she can taste and enjoy the things that I eat. So now when I want a Sausage McMuffin or a spring roll or a donut, I'll just tell Spyro it's for his little girl.