34 Weeks...The Good, The Bad, The U.G.L.Y.

So, I've made it to 34 weeks. Probably only 4 more weeks to go, or 5 if she decides to wait until her eviction date. We'll be meeting our baby girl before we know it!!


The Good: I feel pretty good still! Wow! I could not say this at 34 weeks pregnant with Graham. So, Baby Quad's being rather kind to mommy. :) I personally think I feel better simply because the boys are older and sleeping better at night and the varicose veins are not nearly as painful as they were during my last pregnancy. This is actually the first pregnancy since Patrick that I've not had another child still waking during the night!! Not that I'm sleeping like a log or anything, but at least I'm not getting up with one of the boys. I've also managed to have a perfectly uneventful pregnancy thus far- what a blessing!! Hopefully I will have a perfectly uneventful, smooth delivery and of a beautiful, healthy baby. Oh, another good- I'm pretty sure she's head down now!! Yay!! Her hiccups are felt low now, the stronger kicks are up near my ribs and I can definitely tell that she goes back and forth from having her head engaged then not engaged. My doctor said this is very typical of third, fourth, etc. babies. Something to do with the fact that the penthouse (aka my uterus!) has been nice and stretched by it's previous occupants and that my ligaments are very stretched out, as well. They say she'll probably fully engage later when she really runs out of room, or it could even be as late as when labor actually begins! I'm still guessing that she'll come about the same time her brothers have come- right at 38 weeks. I've had the lovely signs of cervical changes lately, just like with the boys, and there's been an uptick in Braxton Hicks. But, I guess you never know!


The Bad: Well, not too many bad things to report. I'm not sleeping well, but that's to be expected. It's hard to get comfortable and once I'm in a position it takes so much effort to roll over that I fully wake up. And, speaking of waking up, baby girl is still waking me up at night! I guess my constant movement during the day rocks her to sleep so she's bright eyed and bushy tailed all night long while I'm still. The varicose veins are definitely the worst looking they've been with any of my pregnancies and they're definitely painful. But, it's pretty much to be expected so I just deal with them. Over all I'm very fortunate at his point. I could be feeling a lot worse!


Now, for some updated belly pics. She's certainly growing!! And, so are other parts of my body- just ask Patrick. This morning Patrick walked in while I was getting dressed and gave me a very confused, puzzled look. He then asked why my mo-mo's were so big now (mo-mo is momma milk/boobies in our house!) I told him they were bigger because they had baby sister's momma milk in them. He then got very serious and told me that baby sister really needed to drink her momma milk. I explained to him that while baby sister is in my belly she eats whatever I eat- that we share. And, once she's out of my belly she will drink momma milk. Still confused, he looked at me and touched my belly as told me that baby sister was REALLY big now and that she was almost all the way up to my mouth. Yeah, I feel like she's that big,too, Patrick!! He then got very serious again and asked if she was going to hurt my mouth when she came out of it. I assured him that she would not hurt my mouth when she came out and that I would be ok. I'm still avoiding telling him where babies actually come out!! We'll deal with that one when he's a little older! But, he was very quick to tell me (this is not the first time he's said this) that he DOES NOT want to go back inside my belly to live when baby sister comes out! Too funny!! I assured him that no one was going back inside my belly. It's a one-way ticket out!!! :)

31 Weeks

32 Weeks

33.5 Weeks

33.5 Weeks

Is it just me or does she look a little

lopsided in this pic?!?

Now, for the U.G.L.Y. These pictures are for me to remember just how yucky my right leg was during pregnancy and also for all of those people out there that have told me how horrible their varicose veins are, only to find to out they simply have little spider veins that are totally painless and in my opinion, not that unsightly!! Get ready, it's pretty gross...

My right leg looks like this all the way

up to my groin area.

Nice looking shin, huh?

And I wonder why perfect strangers stare at my leg!

My right foot. The varicose veins are even in the arch

of my foot now. Not fun! This makes for painful walking.

But, I figure ugly, painful varicose veins are a pretty small price to pay. It could certainly be A LOT worse! Or, I could not be fortunate enough to even be pregnant for the fourth time. I will, however, get these guys taken care of this fall after she's born. They gotten to the point that even the vascular surgeon says they've got to go. And, I do have prescription compression hose. They just aren't very effective for the location of some of my problem areas so I choose not to wear them.