Bye Bye week 33, Hello week 34...

This past week was week 33. Once again, blogging just hasn't been fit into my schedule very easily, so Saturday mornings seem to work best. There have been several things happen this past week that I have to write about and not forget. First, Dreams! I had the funniest dream the other night about an old man in a wheel-chair chasing me down the side of the highway. Then, apparently some wild cats came out of bushes and chased me too.... THEN, I turned into an elephant ( maybe because I feel like one now...lol) and ended up fighting with a bull from the rodeo, when I woke up the bull was winning. :/ Chris woke up and started rubbing my back asking me if I was ok, which made me realize that I must have been making quite the noises. Silly dreams have happened before, but this one was the funniest so far. The last one was early on and the baby turned into an ant and I lost her outside in the grass during a rain storm. So strange!!!

Besides dreams, I have also finally had a very strange craving.. for me anyway. Typically with this pregnancy I have been sick or avoiding certain foods because they make me sick. But, since the meds are still really helping, I have been able to eat more variety and not get sick. This week, we had gone out to a movie and then we were going to meet some friends for dinner. When we got out of the movie, Chris asked where I wanted to eat and I said, " I don't care, but for some reason I really want shrimp." If you know me and Chris at all... we do not eat seafood... ever! In fact, I have never in my entire life ordered something with shrimp. The closest I have gotten to eating shrimp with my food is at Shoguns when they throw a couple at you during their cooking presentations! :) So, this was a first, and we ended up going to Outback where I could get a small steak, with some shrimp. And it was SO good. Other than that, I still crave the fruits like crazy, and I really love pineapple. But, since this gestational diabetes monitoring, I have to limit myself of fruits so often.

I went to the doctor Thursday, and she mentioned the everything looked good. Zoe is measuring right at 33-34 weeks. She was kicking all around, already head way down, butt up, and legs and arms to the side. I asked the doctor about safe things to take for this dang allergy mess going on, and thankfully she said I could take plain Benadryll. I tried it one night, but I couldn't sleep even more than I normally can't. So, just the humidifier for now. She gave some tips on sleeping, but really just said it's not easy at this last stretch. I am doing the weekly visits now, so I get to hear her heartbeat more often. Here are some stats for week 33/beginning 34 :

Baby Weight: She weighs almost 5 pounds now. ( a little over 4 1/2 pounds). She is around 19-20 inches long!

Mommy's Weight: I have gained a total of between 12-15 pounds so far... it fluctuates back and forth. This last week I gained 2 pounds. The doctor said to expect the weight to begin coming on!

Mommy's body changes: Besides the growing belly and the aching that goes with it, things are about the same. No major swelling yet, just some frequent hip/ lower belly aches. Heartburn is always an issue, but my heartburn medicine is wonderful! Morning and Night Sickness are still around, but only occasionally does the medicine not work. The doctor just keeps reminding me that it means my hormones are still kicking strong for the baby development. ( I like her positive outlook on this! ha!) I don't have stretch marks or the dark line on my stomach yet, but I still have a lot of growing to do in the next weeks to come. The Gestational Diabetes has been tough on me, just keeping up with blood sugar count, having to plan foods right, and still balancing working over 8 hours a day. My body is just tired when I get home each evening.

Nursery plans: Zoe's room is coming along. I am doing it very slowly! She has a crib, and a shelf in there right now. We are still in the process of getting the rocker/glider/chair, and the changing dresser. My mom is giving us a dresser and we are doing to stain it to match the other dark wood furniture in her room. This will be great for storage and for her changing station. Then, I bought several cute baskets and other organizational things to help me get it all sorted. Because it's a smaller room, I want it all organized! Her colors are turning out to be wonderful! I have always loved blacks, tans, creams, darker pinks and teals, etc.... so the room is looking fun. I thought I might be doing a really soft pastel color theme, but my natural urges to go towards the other colors have came out more than I thought. :) She will have a variety of colors in there. Basically, Chris and I are just trying to buy the necessities that we didn't get at our shower. I bought some more wash clothes, a breast pump, and still looking for swaddlers/sleepers, etc. We want to save up to get her the monitor we like, and a few other things from our registry. These will all be bought slowly, but surely.

"Zoe, I am so ready for you to get here. You kick me a lot, which I like, and you seem to have the hiccups a lot, too! In my classroom the other day, I let all of the kids watch you have the hiccups. I tightened my belly so they could see the big bumps that you were making by your hiccup episode. They were laughing pretty hard at it! I am also beginning to get more emotional and a little scared about the arrival. I want you here, and I want you healthy. I am just ready to see that everything is ok, because it's hard when you are in there and I can't really do anything but hope that I am being as healthy as possible for you. Anyway, I cried at church the other day when your daddy was singing a new worship song he wrote. I just thought about how wonderful he is going to be as a daddy, and how lucky that you get to hear him sing... he's really good... and I hope you get some of that talent. Poor mommy can't sing nearly as well, but I can teach you other stuff! :) Love, Mommy"