39 weeks

 

As of last Thursday (6 days ago) I weighed 204 lbs which is 27 weight gained total so far.  

The baby's head is still down.  

My uterus is measuring 39 weeks at 38 weeks--one week ahead. 

There was no cervical change last Thursday. 

I have contractions some days and other days not. 

Rosie says I'll probably go late. 

I've been having some awful, queasy digestion issues--two to three days of it.  I stopped taking Protonix and I felt better and better with each day afterwards.  Now I'm taking either Protonix or Zantac if I really need it.  

The baby is still more often. 

I'm getting really hot at night.  I had the air down to 60 some nights and when it wasn't that low I had to strip naked so I could bear it.  

I'm starting to get some pressure in my butt with the contractions. 

I'm pooping a couple of times a day now and it's still soft.   I feel the urge if my stomach is acting up, but also with contractions which have been more frequent.  

When my stomach and digestion isn't at its best, I have the nastiest farts!!!  I think the farts and the pooping just go along with the awful stomach aches and queasiness I have sometimes.  

The baby's been having lots of hiccups these days.  They'd stopped for awhile but now they're back.  The hiccups are soft and really fast.  I feel that his hiccups are softer than Bunny's were towards the end and also softer than they were back in the middle of the pregnancy when he had them so often.  

I've been regularly doing perineum massages with primrose oil, inserting the primrose oil caplets near my cervix, and drinking raspberry leaf tea in preparation for this labor.  I've been doing this since about 36 weeks.  I'm also trying to remember to do certain exercises every day such as Kegels and some lunges that help prepare the lower part of my body for the labor it will be undergoing soon. 

Towards the end of this week, my contractions became more painful, stronger, and more frequent.  There were a couple of times where I was sure I would have to call Rosie because labor might be starting, but then they always subsided just as I was about to call.  They were worse at night (and still are) and also worse when I was/am working hard around the house.  When I wake up and get moving, though, they've calmed down.  My checkup on the 27th (one day into my 40th week), I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  Rosie says the contractions that were causing pain and pressure and were coming more regularly during this past week were dilating my cervix and preparing it for labor. 

Here's a comparison of Bunny's pregnancy at 39 weeks, and this baby's: 

 

And here's an adorable maternity shot my husband took of Bunny and I on the 26th: 

38 weeks

 

I'm super gassy this week. 

TMI, but my stools are really soft.  

There was no cervical change as of last Thursday's appointment but the perineum stretches Dave has been doing for me are working because Rosie says I'm much more relaxed down there. 

I weigh 202 as of last Thursday.  That's 25lbs more than my pre-pregnancy weight of 177 (which was 7lbs more than I weighed when I got pregnant with Bunny)

The baby is about 6.5 lbs and the head is down. 

My belly is measuring a week ahead--39 weeks. 

I'm feeling great so far this week.  I'm eating more variety and feeling less queasy, though it's still a struggle in the morning.  

I'm suddenly feeling SUPER hungry when I wake up in the morning.  

According to Dr. Jones, the relaxin in my system is really at work--what's most likely been causing the backaches that were coming in the evenings and were gone by morning.  

Very little nausea. 

Having a couple of very painful Braxton Hicks contractions during the night. 

I have a hard time getting out of bed without pain at night.  Getting up also causes contractions--usually the most painful ones come when I've been sleeping. 

My capri pants that I wore with Bunny's pregnancy are too tight.  I think this is because my belly is lower with this baby because I'm smaller and weigh much less with him than I did with Noelle...I weigh 25-30lbs less at the moment. 

My contractions are getting more painful and coming more frequently every day.  During the day it's usually when I'm active.  However, they come sometimes when I'm at rest too, and sometimes I'll get them regularly during the night. 

The baby seems to be active and then sleeping on alternating days.  

Refreshing a Happy Heinys One Size Pocket Diaper

With the new baby coming, it's been necessary to pull up all my old cloth diapers, reevaluate them, sort them, and either use them, fix them, or sell them.  This Happy Heinys is a diaper I originally intended to sell, but then I realized that I was sort of attached to it (and I like the way it always fit my daughter so snugly).  It's still in very usable condition after 2 years of heavy use.  It was one of the first diapers I got so it was used after every wash for awhile there and has some of the worst wear and tear of all my diapers.  But really, the only major problem it has is the Velcro and that is easily mended.  So, I decided to fix it rather than sew it. 

Then, of course, I thought I might as well take pictures of the process and make a tutorial, so here it is:

The Happy Heinys Refresher Tutorial :-D

For this project you will need:
1. a seam ripper
2. a sewing machine
3. White thread
4. Thread in the color of your diapers PUL

 Here is my Happy Heinys diaper in dire need of some new velcro.  The elastics are still good--probably because I always air dried my pocket diapers in my basement.  Both machine drying and excessive sunning can cause the rubber in the elastics to break down more quickly. 

 As you can see, all the velcro was badly worn and frayed.  Also, bits of fuzz were sticking to the flaps.  They were still closing, but not as strongly as they used to.

 Get your seam ripper out. 

 ...and start pulling out the stitches in the closure tabs.  I alternated pulling out stitches from the outside and the inside.  Be careful only to grab the stitching with the seam ripper and not any threads of the actual fabric. 

 This is what my closure tab looked like once I pulled the velcro out. 

 When you use a bumGenius refresher kit to refresh a bumGenius diaper, they don't include the front strip of velcro (the loops part) because it is a bit harder to replace.  If you want, you can keep this front strip in and continue to use it.  I, however, decided I was going to replace it. 

 First, you'll need to actually take apart the diaper at the top of the front panel.  Carefully rip out the stitching from one end of the panel to another. 

 The diaper was serged inside out and then top stitched so there are two rows of stitching to remove. 

 Once the top panel is opened, you can go ahead and rip the seams out of the front strip of velcro

 The Happy Heinys velcro strip was a little less than 1.5 inches wide.  I don't know if that was because it shrunk over time, or if their velcro really is a little thinner than 1.5 inches.  In any case, I used replacement velcro that was 1.5 inches wide. 

 In order to get the correct length for my strips of velcro, I simply used the old velcro as a guide.  You need 6 pieces of velcro all together:
2 pieces of the hook side of the velcro.
2 pieces of the loop side of the velcro to act as laundry tabs.
1 piece of the loop side of the velcro to allow the closure tabs to cross over for skinnier babies.
1 long strip of the loop side of the velcro for the front panel of the diaper.

 Opening the space in the front panel so that the PUL is separated from the microfleece, pin your strip of loop velcro down and begin sewing it to the front panel of the diaper.  Use the indentations and holes left by the old seams as a guide for where to place it. 

 Once the strip of velcro loops is attached to the front of the diaper, turn the diaper inside out so you can stitch the panel closed. 

 It is important that the PUL side of the diaper be on the bottom--touching your machine's feed dogs--as you sew the seam closed.  If the PUL is on the top, the shiny side will stick to your presser foot and cause difficulties sewing an even seam.  I actually did that at first because it had been so long that I'd sewn a diaper that I'd forgotten, and you can see in the picture below that it caused my seam to be a little bit uneven. 

 Once the seam has been sewn from the inside, turn the diaper right side out again. 

 Now, top stitch the diaper.  Up until this point, you have been using white thread.  Now, you need to change your top color to the color of the diaper--in my case red--to match the rest of the top stitching. 

 Once the front panel is put in and closed, you need to work on your Velcro.  Depending upon which side is on the top when sewing in these strips of velcro, you will have to switch your bobbin or your top thread to match either the microfleece or the PUL. 

 I started by stitching in the closure tabs first--the squares of velcro hooks.  For this, I needed white thread on the top and red thread in my bobbin.   When you sew velcro, it's good to use a very slight zig zag stitch to keep the velcro from unraveling with use.  Also, Happy Heinys velcro is sewn in by putting a seam all the way around the edge and then one straight through the middle of the velcro strip for extra reinforcement. 

Once the velcro hooks are sewn in, you'll want to take a laundry tab--a square of velcro loops, and sew it in right next to your velcro hooks.  Again, you need white thread on the top and red on the bottom. 

 When the diaper is closed, your crossover tab is on the right side.  Grab the strip of velcro loops for your crossover tab and stick it on the top of this side of the diaper, over where you just sewed

 Make sure you switch the bottom thread--the bobbin--back to white, or this will happen. 

 Sew in your cross over tab like so.

Now, repeat the steps for adding your closure velcro and laundry tab on the other side.  However, you won't need another strip of crossover velcro.  You only need that on the one side. 

 Now, your diaper is done and ready to go.  Forgive the sideways pictures.  I reoriented them in my photos on my computer, but blogspot chose to upload them on their side. 

 Here are some before and after shots:

PS--this tutorial can easily apply to any diaper with hook and loop (velcro or applix) closures that is made similarly to the Happy Heinys such as the Softbums diapers. 

37 weeks

Total Weight gain-21 lbs

Belly measuring on target.

The baby is head down and about 6lbs

I'm actually slowly starting to feel better.

Rosie agreed I don't have to test my sugar anymore!

Gum has been helping me to digest better and to calm the acid reflux that happens in the mornings.

Saturday I went yard sale shopping, did lots of cleaning and sewing, packed our hospital bags, and did laundry, dishes, and dinner.  Also, I wasn't hydrating like I should have been.  All this gave me lots of contractions--more than 5 an hour--that didn't go away when I rested.  So, I had to call Rosie.  She told me to drink a quart of water and to lie down on my left side.  Meanwhile, Bunny was certain that we were going to the hospital that evening to have the baby because of all the baby preparations and the phone call to Rosie that she overheard.  Thankfully, Dave had just gotten home because I couldn't have dealt with her otherwise.  She was literally bouncing off the walls, and on the bed where I was trying to rest (and the contractions were coming every few minutes at this point) and I just couldn't calm her down without exacerbating the situation.  Meanwhile, I'm sitting there thinking about how my grades weren't done, the curtains on the baby's closet weren't sewn, and I hadn't altered my friend's bridesmaid dress.  That, and the baby was still premature at 36 weeks and I didn't want to risk him coming early.  I told Bunny, "Honey, I don't think we're going to the hospital tonight."  She responded,
"Please, Mommy, PLEASE! I want to go NOW!"  (she had grabbed more stuff to throw into her "hospital" bag). 
"Baby, Don't take it up with me.  I don't decide when the baby comes.  You'll have to talk to God about that." 
She walked into the hall, and excitedly prayed that God would let us go to the hospital that night and then hollered, "He said yes, Mommy! God said yes!"  Later, after I'd followed Rosie's instructions and was down to only 4 contractions in the hour, I told Bunny that we weren't going to the hospital that night.  "But Mommy, God said yes!" she responded.  When Dave finally put her to bed (she'd continued to run around the house like an excited little jumping bean throughout the duration of the hour) she laid awake for about 1.5 hours.  She was quiet and good about it, but obviously too excited to sleep.  When we woke up the next morning, I told her I was sorry that the baby didn't come the night before but that he would come soon.  In church, as Dave and a friend walked the kids to Children's Church, she told the friend, "The baby didn't come last night."  The whole ordeal--though a bit scary--was really quite funny.  I remember how me and my siblings would go crazy when we thought it was time for my mom to go to the hospital.  I feel badly, now, contributing to that.  Bunny was a handful and she is only one child.  I am sure that 3-6 of us getting into a frenzy like that must have been a lot for my poor mom to handle as she went into labor each time!

My breathing is better.  There were a couple of days there where I felt that I didn't have room to breathe, but that went away. 

My maternity capris are tight. They weren't with Bunny and I was bigger with her, so all I can think is that this baby is lower. 

36 weeks

The baby's room is almost done. It's ready for him. 

Backaches continue in the evenings.

Contractions continue if I do lots of errands or housework. 

My digestion issues are on and off. Some days I can eat cookies and some days not. Whatever. 

A lot just stays the same. 

I'm having a more difficult time not waddling. I don't have to do it until my lower back starts hurting. Usually, the waddle starts at the end of the day, when I'm having a contraction, or if I've eaten too much and/or need to pee. 

Not sure how we're gonna get enough clothes for Asher, but we're trusting God. :-) At least he'll be born when it's hot. He can just hang around naked! 

Bunny is SO helpful and I'm often snappy with her. I hate that! 

Really achy at night