31 Week Update- Fall Semester is Here!

The fall semester is under way at UNLV and it has been a crazy few weeks. I am glad the students are back but sad that parking will now suck again. It also means that my work load will finally be changing and I am beyond excited for that. I got a new position back in April but have yet to see a change in my workload because we needed to get our new advisors trained and ready to meet with students. We are finally there and I couldn't be more ready for the transition. I will go from a full time advising caseload of nearly 700 students to a half time load closer to 300 students. This will free me up to actually use half my time for the leadership programs I currently coordinate (yes, that was on top of the full time 700 student caseload and teaching BUS 103). For the last year I have been stretched to the max and am really excited to be able to give these programs the attention and time they deserve...until I go on maternity leave. :)

I am not teaching BUS 103 this year because I will miss part of the semester for obvious reasons. My friend, Tiffany, is teaching my Honors section this fall and I am very grateful she was able to step in. My class is in great hands!  The other cool development is that Marco is teaching a regular section of BUS 103 this fall! He can now add UNLV Part Time Instructor to his repertoire, too. I have been busy helping both of them get their sections ready so even though I am not teaching, it kind of still feels like I am. I will be guest lecturing throughout the semester in different sections as well. 

My mom's birthday was this week. We took her out to dinner at Brio and surprised her with tickets to see Wicked at the Smith Center next week. She was excited! On her actual birthday, she came to our house for dinner. Gianna got her grandma a birthday present, too. :)

We went for our doctors appointment this week and met with a new nurse practitioner. We'll meet with her for our next appointment, too then we go back to my OB. She was very nice and Gianna was measuring 31 weeks, right in track. She was also head down, which was exciting!

The next day we went for our third 3D ultrasound hoping to get a full look at Gianna's face. We got some better pictures this time but also found out she flipped again and was breech. She still has plenty of time to flip and stay head down. With how much moving she's been doing lately I am not surprised that it keeps changing.

I think she looks like a little Tufano, but we'll see when she comes out. :)

Our maternity pictures are in and they came out great! We placed our order and I can't wait for them to come in. I will post them here when we get them. My baby shower is this coming weekend and I am SO excited! My mom and mother-in-law are hosting it and I am really excited to see everyone. We have also been making progress on Gianna's nursery. Marco, Billy (thank you), and I did some more painting over the weekend. It's really coming along. We are still waiting on the wood floor- maybe this week? Probably next week. Maybe in December...

How far along? 31 weeks
Total weight gain:
Maternity clothes? Yes but still some regular dresses and tops.

Stretch marks? Nope.
Sleep: What is that?
Best moment of the week: Seeing Gianna better on the 3D ultrasound.

Miss anything: Sleep.

Movement: She is nocturnal. :) 
Food cravings: Still liking orange juice
Anything making you queasy or sick: Just the "inside kicking".
Gender: Girl!

Symptoms: My lower back has been bothering me. The epsom salt baths and my belt help a lot. Welcome back first trimester tiredness. I did not miss you. 
Belly button in or out: In- still kind of flat.

Wedding rings on or off: On 

Labor Signs: Nope

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy
Looking forward to: Childbirth classes. My baby shower this weekend! Ordering the last few items for Gianna's nursery. The stupid wood.

30 Week Update, Starting the Nursery and 3D Ultrasound #2

How is it even possible that I am already 30 weeks...seven and a half months pregnant? It doesn't seem possible. This was an exciting week because the nursery finally got started. We are still waiting for the wood floor but were able to start on the rest of the room. We had crown moulding, a chair rail and bead board installed and it looks amazing. I'm really happy with it. We started paining this weekend and the main wall color is up. Next we'll paint the mouldings and the bead board. Then we'll have everything done and ready for the floor and baseboards, and it will be move in time. I have been staring at her beautiful nursery furniture, which has been just sitting disassembled in the loft, for months. I can not wait to put her crib together and get all the furniture in her room.

The wood floor is the bane of my existence at this point. The newest installment of the Wood Floor Saga is that the store we bought the wood from (Lumber Liquidators) was closed by the City of Henderson because somehow the store got severely damaged. When we called we were told that some palates fell over and crashed through a wall in their showroom, taking down their computers, phones, etc. WHAT?! So the City shut the store down until it was all fixed. They hope to reopen after the weekend. Seriously....you can't make this shit up.  In the mean time, we had been told to expect delivery of the wood around 8/22. Four delivery trucks had come in but they had no way of even knowing if our wood was on one of them because their computers were down. So our wood could just be sitting in a truck in North Las Vegas (probably getting warped in this heat because that would just be the cherry on top) or it could not be here at all. We are now going on 10 weeks late on this delivery...

So, I am trying to be patient. Oh, who am I kidding. I lost my patience like 8 weeks ago. I know there is "plenty of time" to get it done before she gets here, but when a company tells you something takes 4 weeks and it's now been almost 14 weeks, that is a tad ridiculous and I have just about had it. They are seriously impeding my nesting.  I can say that this is exactly why I don't wait until the last minute and why we ordered it so early...because shit happens. :)

We went for our 3D rescan at Miracle in Progress and Gianna was no longer breech! I was really excited. She slept through nearly the whole ultrasound with one or both of her hands (or the cord, or my placenta) over parts of her face so we didn't get a clear shot. It was better than the first time, though. Marco and I may go back one more time, later in the day when she is more active, and try again. Here are a few of the pics of our beautiful girl!

 

 

I was feeling nostalgic hitting 30 weeks, so here is a little look back on the first 3/4 bump milestones. Wow, this baby grows fast! I am carrying her like a basketball. She's all in front and sometimes she's lower and sometimes she's in the middle, but she's not usually very high.

How far along? 30 weeks
Total weight gain: I decided at this point I will only weigh in at the doctor's office- I am seeing numbers that have never appeared on a scale for me before...  :) 
Maternity clothes? Yes but still some regular dresses and tops

Stretch marks? Nope.
Sleep: It was better this week. The body pillow helps. 
Best moment of the week: Getting the nursery started!!! 3D ultrasound #2

Miss anything: Having energy. Every movement takes so much more energy. I've been super tired at the end of the day.

Movement: Her kick counts are super fast. We usually get 10 kicks within 2-3 minutes (if it takes that long). Her current record is 17 seconds.
Food cravings: I really needed a smoothie this week. My wonderful husband drove around until we found a smoothie place. We got our smoothies then saw that the smoothie place was right next to a pizza place. Then I needed a slice of pepperoni. Then I was happy. 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Just the "inside kicking".
Gender: Girl!

Symptoms: 
Belly button in or out: Still in.

Wedding rings on or off: On 

Labor Signs: Nope

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy but have noticed my mood sway a little. I've read that the third trimester is just an ugly version of the first trimester. The first wasn't  bad so I am hoping for more smooth sailing. So far so good though. :) 
Looking forward to: Getting the wood floor. My baby shower in a few weeks!

29 Week Update!

This has been a jam packed week in maternity land. The week started out with getting my maternity belt and it has been a good investment. I am more comfortable sitting, driving, sleeping, etc. By the end of the day I want to rip it off but after a few hours I am glad to have it back on. We have also started epsom salt baths in the evenings and it has helped ease my back muscles. I think another prenatal massage is in my near future!

We are delivering at Summerlin Hospital and we went for our Birthplace Tour on Tuesday. This place is awesome! The private rooms (they are all private there) are huge and you labor and deliver in the same room, then afterwards are moved to a postpartum room. Everyone was really friendly. Of course, being the type-A person I am, I came prepared with my three pages of typed out questions (with a copy for Marco). There were like ten pregnant women on this tour and only two of them were not first timers. There were one or two others who asked a question, but for the most part I was the only one. I didn't ask every question on my sheet because the nurse answered some of them in the tour, but I for sure ended up being "that person" on the tour who had 50 million questions anyway. How do people not ask questions, especially if you haven't gone through it before?! I didn't even care. I asked my questions because in reality I don't care if those other moms have to listen to me or not, I care about knowing what is going to happen and what to expect. So there. LOL!

That night when we got home I had this sharp pain in the upper left part of my abdomen. It went away but then felt like it was bruised in that area. It was weird and it really hurt. I went to bed and when I got up it was still sore. At work, it bothered me the whole day. It was sharp a few times an hour and sore the whole day. By 5pm I was completely uncomfortable and starting to worry that it may have something to do with hernia #2. I know Gianna isn't that high yet so I knew it wasn't her kicking me. I called the nurse line and because I have the hernia she recommended we go to Labor and Delivery to get checked out. Good thing we got a tour the night before and knew where to go. So we spent Wednesday evening there and they monitored the baby and I. No pre-term labor, so we were instructed to follow up with my OB on Friday at our regular appointment.

We left the hospital and grabbed some dinner super fast because my 3 hour glucose tolerance test was the next morning and I wasn't supposed to eat within 12 hours of taking it. Thursday morning from 8am-12pm I made friends with the Quest Diagnostics lady and sat there for my four blood draws. It was incredibly boring, especially because they made me just sit in the waiting room but overall not too bad. I was starving by the end of it. The drink was worse this time, too but at least it was cold. It tasted like flat Sprite with three times as much syrup as normal. I got a little dizzy the first hour so maybe it was a good thing they made me sit there.

We had our 29 week appointment on Friday and everything is on track. Gianna's heartbeat was nice and strong in the mid-130's. She is measuring right on track. We started our kick counts and you are supposed to count 10 kicks/rolls/flutters within an hour. This little girl is super active in the evening and I got my 10 kicks in one minute. The mornings are another story. She is not a morning person (just like mommy and daddy). My doctor said she wants me to count the kicks once a day, at the same time every day. So we are going to continue to do the count in the evening. Also, the results of my 3 hour glucose test came back and I do NOT have gestational diabetes. Hooray!!!  We are far enough along now to be going to the doctor every two weeks. Crazy!

How far along? 29 weeks
Total weight gain: About 25lbs

Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? No. I officially have the line now. :) 
Sleep: Still on and off. I slept through the night once in the last week- as in I didn't get out of bed to pee. I still wake up any time I need to roll over.

Best moment of the week: Finding out I don't have gestational diabetes. Our hospital tour.  :) 
Miss anything: Nothing specific but I know I am going to want a drink when this little one comes out.

Movement: All the time. :) I can't wait to see her wiggle in person.
Food cravings: Orange juice. 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Just the "inside kicking".
Gender: Girl!

Symptoms: Lower back pain, heavy belly, overall uncomfortableness- same as last week with a sprinkle of sciatic nerve pain for good measure.
Belly button in or out: Still considered an innie.

Wedding rings on or off: On 

Labor Signs: Nope

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy.
Looking forward to: Maternity pics with Carrie Terrones! Our 3D ultrasound next weekend- Round #2. The wood floor should be in (fingers crossed) and the nursery is being started this week!