35 weeks

I'm 35 weeks today.  I've been a terrible blogger and commenter.  Life has been a bit crazy.

34 weeks

34 weeks u/s face picture

Last weekend was my shower in Houston.  My mom came over from Qatar so I got to see her and we even went shopping for things to get my dress made for my brother's wedding in June since I'll need a dress that I can nurse in.  The shower was great.  We got lots of great stuff and it was great to see people who I haven't seen in a while.  My BIL was even in town for job interviews because they are moving back after my SIL graduates from her doctoral program.  We are really looking forward to them living 4 hours away instead of 16.  I'll post shower pictures once I get them.

I had an ob appointment on Thursday.  The baby is looking fine but my belly is still measuring small (though I don't know by how much).  The dr was considering doing another growth u/s but she looked again at the growth u/s from 2 weeks ago where the baby was measuring ahead and decided not to worry.  They brought me back a little early for the appointment and I didn't know D was coming so he missed the whole thing.  We were walking out to the elevators and he came in.  I felt really stupid since he had drive from the other side of town and I had even switched the appointment so that he could come.  No update on gender; they didn't check this time.  We are pretty sure girl (and my mom went and bought girl clothes), but we aren't making guarantees until the baby is born.  We know the name that we are going to use for a girl.

I'm doing pretty well and not too uncomfortable other than just rib pain (the child seems to be hiding under my ribs).  The baby wiggles like crazy sometimes and my belly moves around.  I have about 5 weeks left (give or take two); we are preregistered at the hospital, the room is mostly ready (we still need cloth diapers but D's work is doing a shower for us next week so we'll see where we are after that).  I probably need to pack my hospital bag, but I'm not sure what I'm going to put in there and I feel like I'll need most of the stuff until I actually go to the hospital.

A friend of ours was in a motorcycle accident earlier this week.  He's out of ICU, but does have some internal bleeding and will be having surgery the end of next week.  Please keep him in your prayers.

Slings/carriers, hospital tour, baby shower pictures

I have a Moby and a Ergo on my registry, but I'm wondering if I should also get a ring sling.  Since I'll still be nannying, I'll definitely be wearing the baby a lot, especially for breastfeeding.  What carriers have you moms found best for breastfeeding?  Any ring sling recommendations?  Is it worthwhile to have all three carriers or if you had to pick two which would you go with?

We had our hospital tour this past weekend and it went pretty well.  They seem pretty reasonable and I don't think we'll have any major issues having our wishes followed.  I'm working on writing up my birth preferences and I'm going to take it to my next OB appointment on Tuesday and get her to sign off on them and send them to the hospital.  I'll post it once I'm done.

I'm doing the Hyp.nobabies Home Study Course to prepare for the birth.  I'm finishing up the readings for the fifth class, so I've got about a week before I start doing the maintenance portion.  D has read everything, but we haven't really done any of the practice together, which we need to start pretty soon since he can come anytime between 7 1/2 and 12 1/2 weeks from now since I'll be 30 weeks (craziness!) on Saturday.

I'm feeling pretty good except a bit of reflux sometimes and a little bit of discomfort when he wedges himself into certain positions.

My dad got back to Qat.ar so my mom posted some of the pictures from the baby shower.

Me and the cake

The beautiful and yummy carrot cake

D and I holding some of the onesies we got

The carseat (which we got for Christmas from MIL) that coordinates with the argyle onesie

Family Baby Shower and a couple odds and ends * Updated

Update: I went to see the ob and she checked me out and didn't see any reason for the pain other than he's got his back jammed way into my side.

Saturday was the family baby shower in Austin with my mom's family.  It was great to see everyone especially my grandparents.  In addition to my grandma, all of my aunts, two of my grown cousins, my future sister-in-law and D's best friend's wife were all there.  There were three kids there (in addition to my in-utero one), my cousin's daughter who is two years old, D's best friend's daughter who is seven months old (and actually they are expecting #2, she's four weeks or so), and my youngest cousin who is five months old.  We now have the pack and play (so he'll have somewhere to sleep), the bottles (just need the breast pump although we'll only be using them occasionally unless there's an issue), the stroller base (got the snap and go), the high chair/booster seat, one of the wool diaper covers, the bathtub, a bunch of washcloths and towels and a few receiving blankets.  I don't have pictures yet since we didn't bring our camera, but I should hopefully see some soon and I'll post them when I do.  I have another shower at the end of February that my MIL and mom are throwing.

I've been having some pain on my far right side for the last day or so.  It's in an area where he's been kicked so I'm assuming it's probably just some body part wedged in, but I have a call in to the ob to see what she says.  I'm 28 weeks and 2 days today and since Saturday, I've been getting quite uncomfortable.  I had to get a new bra earlier this week (thankfully the last one lasted from 16 weeks to about 28 weeks).

Also, does anyone have suggestions for secular resources for NFP?  I'm hoping to encourage my brother's fiancée to look into it after a talk we had this weekend, but they aren't religious at all so I want resources that focus on the medical/environmental side of the pill and how NFP works.