34 weeks Baby's the size of a butternut squash!

I have been a terrible picture taker this year and keep forgetting to grab my camera....oh well. But, I got to spend the weekend with my sister and brother in law. It was really nice. We ate yummy food, went to the movies, baked lots of Christmas Cookies, talked about babies, and just generally got to hang out and spend time together. It was really nice. She is currently pregnant too with TWINS! So our family is very blessed with all the little ones arriving next year. I am praying that she will be cleared to travel to make it to see her niece and smoother her with love and hugs :) 

 

How far along? 34.5 weeks

 Maternity clothes? yep and thankfully at work right now we are allowed to wear jean from now until we are done with a year end. Which I believe is Jan 12th. So I am living it up wearing more comfy pants. Seriously the little things in life I tell ya.
Stretch marks? no new ones YAY
Sleep? not really. I am lucky to get a 2-3 hour stretch in before I wake up hurting and then toss and turn for the rest of the night.

Best moment this week: Spending the weekend with my sister. Especially baking Christmas Cookies =)
Miss Anything? my craving for healthy foods and exercise, feeling like my "old self" and my Christmas Spirit Craziness that I usually am swimming in this time of year.
Movement: yep! She is most active at night, during the middle of the night and early morning. She is pretty quiet during the day. I hope this is not a sleep pattern we will need to be concerned with, LOL. 

Labor Signs:  Nope. But the baby is head down per the Dr. I feel a lot of pressure all the time too. We are hoping to make it through the holidays and then anxiously awaiting her arrival.
Belly Button in or out? in
Wedding rings on or off?  off recently due to all the swelling.
Happy or Moody most of the time: happy
Looking forward to: A quiet Christmas with the love of my life. My wonderful Husband Bryan who is the greatest blessing in my life. He is my everything and I can't wait to make so many magical Christmas memories with him and our daughter

33 Weeks Baby is the size of a Durian...BTW what the heck is a Durian

On Wed 12/12/12 little baby girl hit 33 weeks. Bryan and I went to a newborn 101 class on Thursday. It had some really good tips and then a bunch of things that luckily we both already knew. The instructor was nice, but she would get off topic easily. It was cute to see Bryan diaper the fake baby. I think he will do great when it comes to his own daughter. Looking around the class you could see a lot of beginners who really didn't have a clue. So it was nice to feel like we were pretty on top of the game.

Funny enough I was more nervous before the class about the actual birth and then somehow I came out of the class more freaked out about breast feeding and feeding in general more than anything. The nurse seemed to give some conflicting information about how often/how much a baby eats and the amount of oz etc that should be in their bottle. So now I am really nervous and concerned about that. So I need to find and read some more information to help calm down the fears and nerves that I am having.

Yep same shirt as the week before

How far along?33 Weeks
Total weight gain: 36lbs...gulp
Stretch marks? no news ones I lather on that palmers cocoa butter like there is no tomorrow! 
Sleep? I have good nights and bad nights. Mostly not the best. I do have a pregnancy pillow that helps once in a while, but it is massive and leaves little room for the hubby. Back pain and hip pain are common but I know I am not alone in this.

Best moment this week: Non baby related-secret santa at work was a lot of fun!
Miss Anything: Being able to get up from the couch/bed with out feeling like an old lady and being able to shop and run errands with out getting exhausted
Movement:She moves a lot still. But recently her movements have gotten to be uncomfortable and even painful at times. There is just a lot less room in there for her to do her thing. But, she does favor my right side and likes to hang out there. Ohh and it is weird I can feel her move big time and see her through my clothes, but when I try and lift up my shirt and get a better view she stops. I have heard from other it is because the skin in opaque and she can sense the light so when I pull my shirt back down then she goes to town again, LOL.

Food cravings:nothing really. There is a lot less room and it has made my appetite dwindle big time, but then I will go in spurts and be famished.
Labor Signs:  Not that I am aware of. 
Belly Button in or out? in
Wedding rings on or off?  off recently due to all the swelling.
Happy or Moody most of the time: moments of both.
Looking forward to: Spending some time with my sister before the baby gallagher arrives

32 Weeks Baby is the size of Squash

12/5/12 I hit 32 weeks. On Friday 12/7/ I had my 32 week Doctor visit. She said everything looked great and that I was measuring spot on. They basically get this measurement from taking a tape measure across the length of your belly. I have one more appointment left in December and then I "graduate" up to weekly visits and the oh so fun checking of me down below. Jealous....yeah I thought so!

I started feeling a lot of pressure down there too and some cramping as well. The cramping feel like menstrual cramps so at least it isn't an unknown feeling, but still not comfortable. The doctor said that this is very normal. Along with the oh so fun Braxton Hicks contractions that come and go. But the weirdest feeling is feeling very heavy and a pulling weight along with the intense pressure often it feels like she is going to "fall out" Again the Dr said this was normal and I have read many books that talk about this same thing too and call it "falling out". So that makes me feel a lot better.

View from of my belly.....me looking down

My view of my belly from the side

Pic Bryan took

Pic Bryan took

I got all "dolled" up to go to a friend's holiday party. I was amazed at how long I lasted. Bryan and I made it to her house and then also to a bash for his friends too. I don't believe we even made it to bed until it was close to 2am! I think this is an all time record for my pregnancy. As tired and exhausting as it was I was glad I went out. I am trying my best that I can still do things before the arrival of our sweet little one.

31 Weeks Baby is the size of a pineapple

I am so behind on posting..... So on 11/28 I was 31 weeks and the baby was the size of a pineapple. My dear husband when I told him this said does that mean you have to push out the prickly things too. Really Bryan Really?? LOL but just the comparison is crazy to think about.

30 weeks Baby Gallagher is a Cucumber

So last Wednesday 11/21 we hit 30 weeks. Wow that still seems weird to me because that means in just weeks our little girl will be here soon. Bryan keeps telling me that he is ready for her. I am mostly ready, but still have things I want to accomplish before she arrives. Also, there are only a few weeks left of just Bryan and I before we will always be a family of 3 and it would be nice to just soak that in as long as possible. Hoping to find some energy to spend quality and valuable time with my wonderful husband. Also, I am getting more and more nervous of the birth process and trying to just focus the end result, but lets be honest is does scare the shit out of me. So not really ready for that, but then again who is.

How far along?30 weeks

Total weight gain: Not sure right now last time I was hovering around 30. I am positive it is more :(. Sleep? Depends on the day. Some times I sleep really well and other times not at all. I have a natural back sleeper, but you are supposed to sleep on your sides, which is hard because my hips will start to go numb after a while.

Best moment this week: Not one moment, but just in general having an awesome and supportive husband!!! He has picked up the slack so much with all the household chores, dinners, shopping and all with out me ever asking. He is amazing and it means so much to me to have his support, love and affection. 

Ohhh wait just thought of a particular moment too. When Bryan told me the other night how beautiful I am and even more beautiful right now because I am carrying his baby and telling me I will be a wonderful mom. I really just melted! Hearing that just meant so much to me. 
Miss Anything? lunch meat!! I have been wanting a bologna and cheese sandwich with doritos crunched on them.  My ENERGY
Movement:She is getting much bigger and stronger. Her kicks can be subtle, but there are those big ones all the time and even if they are uncomfortable they make me smile knowing she is getting stronger and healthier every day. I can also feel/see when she flips over it is so cool.

Food cravings: lunch meat and sandwiches.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Being in the car for long periods of time is really difficult and makes me very queasy.

Gender: Sweet little Baby Girl
Labor Signs:  No
Symptoms: A general feeling of heaviness and I am getting slower by the day. It is harder to get up from the couch or off the floor. Things that I never thought twice about like cleaning, running errands/shopping and decorating take so much energy and have me burnt out. I get very frustrated with this. I want to be able to clean our house and cook my husband a nice dinner or even just go out on a date in the middle of the week with Bryan with out feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. I never thought I would take those things for granted. I know I am hard on myself, but it is hard to not miss these little things. Even the simplest of task are very daunting to me.
Belly Button in or out? in
Wedding rings on or off?  I can put them on, but they seem tight. So lately I haven't been wearing them since I dont want to risk it.

Baby Shower

So a few weeks ago my wonderful family and friends decided to throw me a baby shower in honor of our soon to arrive baby girl. It was beyond words. We had it at one of my favorite Italian restaurants Buca Di Beppo. There were so many family and friends who came to share in this special day and I never felt so loved and showered with generous blessings by so many wonderful women.

I would like to say a special thanks to my Mom, Eve, sisters; Mary Ellen, Carla, and Becky, Aunt June, Jenny and Mary Linder for all their hard work in making my shower such a special day. Everything was so beautiful from the invitations, venue/food, the delicious cake, the games, the wonderful and colorful centerpieces and diaper cake and the yummy and too adorable treat boxes. Every detail was just perfect and I am so grateful to have so many loving family and friends in my life.

Baby Gallagher is already loved and spoiled so much!

27 Weeks Baby is the size of Rutabaga! And Happy 1st Anniversary!

27 week work picture

First of all let me say I am so HAPPY and ELATED to make it to a 27 week post. With everything that happened in the prior week and the major possibility and fear of delivery at 26 weeks I am BEYOND grateful to make this post. HAPPY 27 WEEKS BABY GIRL WE LOVE YOU! And here's to many more happy weeks getting big and strong in my tummy!

On Wed. Baby Girl Gallagher turned 27 weeks. And coincidentally it was also Halloween :)  I had gotten this cute shirt of ETSY and was happy to be able to wear it proudly. This is as Halloween as it gets for me this year.

We are also celebrating our 1 year anniversary tomorrow, Nov. 5th! So much has changed in a year. Had anyone asked me if I thought I would be pregnant with a little one on the way last year I would have thought they were crazy, but I wouldn't change anything at all. We had planned a night out to celebrate at a murder mystery dinner on Friday. And through the fabulous-ness of groupon we got a good deal on it.

They put you at a "wedding style" table with a bunch of other guest and then your table became your team. I had been to a murder mystery dinner once before with my Mom and Sister for my birthday and I think that one was done better. This was fun, but it was way too big of a room with too many characters and people and was a bit chaotic. However, it was still fun. I was tired and sat mostly, but still enjoyed myself. And our table WON! We figured out who did it. Now to be fair the character of the murderer was actually one of the people sitting at our table and none of us really had any other clue of who it could be so we just guessed her luckily.

The rest of my weekend was spent resting and relaxing too. And I finally was able to get my haircut! It had been about 6months since I last had a haircut. I can't even tell you how much a haircut makes me feel good about myself. And then Bryan also treated me to get a pedicure it was really nice. We are planning on a nice anniversary dinner tomorrow too to round out the festivities. I am so happy and blessed to have a wonderful, loving, caring, handsome husband who makes me feel like the luckiest woman. He is my rock, my soulmate, my best friend and I love him more and more each and every day. Bryan I love you thank you for all that you do and all that you are!

And to re-quote a snippet of my vows to you....."You Bryan showed me the meaning of love and how to love fully and my heart has never been so full. I am proud to call you mine and remember I called dibs. For, I choose you, I pick you Bryan Gallagher to be my partner in life, love and my partner in crime. I promise to love, honor and cherish you through whatever life may bring us. And regardless of what obstacles we may face, we’ll face them together as husband and wife. I promise you this, and all of my love, from this day forward until the day that we met again in Heaven. I love you always and forever." 

 

Guest Blog from Bryan

A lot of people have been asking me and Megs what was going on.....well I am here to fill you in....I will try to keep it brief but informative....

The bottom line is we almost lost Megs and the baby last week. It was very very scary and heart-wrenching. On Monday last week, she couldn't move without serious stomach pain. Every time she even rolled over in bed she would wince with pain. She was also very nauseated and had a fever. By Tuesday, the condition worsened and the fever was spiking to 101. I took her to Beaumont emergency on Tuesday night and they checked everything over. They assumed it was the flu and told us to go home after about 6 hours.

Wednesday and Thursday, her condition worsened. Extreme pain in the stomach, Very sick to the stomach, but no vomiting. Extreme chills for a whole hour, to the point she was shaking so bad, the bed would literally shake. Then 2 hours later she would be sweating so bad, the mattress would be soaked. On Thursday morning when her temp hit 102.7, we made an emergency appointment with her OB. She saw Megan and immediately had her admitted to Beaumont. She didn't like the fever, the pain, or anything we were telling her. The OB wanted Megan monitored and wanted Infectious Disease doctors to look at her. (Thank God for this OB thinking that way and calling in Infectious Disease, This literally saved Megan's life)

We got checked in Thursday afternoon and they kept monitoring Megan and the baby....At this point, the baby had a good heartbeat and everything looked ok with the baby. Megan was still in extreme pain and still had the extreme chills and sweats. They drew a bunch of blood for both labs and for Infectious Disease to do cultures.

On Friday morning the cultures were coming back positive. Meaning there was a bacteria infection in Megan's blood. At this point we were very very scared as they were telling us there was a risk to the baby. They were afraid that the infection in Megan's blood had got into the uterus and infected the fluid around the baby. Normally with this kind of blood infection, it presents in urine or uterus. Since it wasn't showing in urine, they assumed it was in the uterus. IF the uterus was infected, they had no choice but to deliver the baby immediately. At 26 weeks, they felt the baby had a better chance of surviving outside the infected uterus than in....However, they weren't giving the baby much chance regardless.....Also, because of the infection in Megan's blood, they could not deliver c-section. They would have had to force a normal delivery. By cutting her open for c section, they would have risked the baby and Megan's life to infection. If we did not do anything and the uterus was infected, Megan would have gone septic and died, so we had no choice but to do the procedure and wait.

Lots of tears, lots of emotions.....We had to do a procedure called amniocentesis .Basically they insert a needle into Megans stomach, into the babies womb, and draw out some fluid to test. We had this procedure done at 4pm on Friday....Now we had to wait to see if our baby was going to make it. In the meantime, infectious disease did not like what they were seeing on the blood culture and started Megan on a broad range antibiotic. They did not know what infection they were fighting, but they knew they had to start fighting it immediately.

At 8pm Friday night, we got the call. The uterus was NOT infected. The baby could stay inside. Great news. We are so happy and it was the best news all week. We were so confident that Megan sent me home that night.......However, through the night, Megan's symptoms all came back harder than ever. I rushed back to the hospital to be by her side and wait for the antibiotics to do their job. During the day Saturday, they scheduled another ultrasound....our 4th while being here, but this time to look at the kidneys, liver, etc.

Sunday morning, the doctors come in and inform us they had found the source of the infection.....Salmonella......Now normally salmonella isnt all that dangerous....its a stomach issue, diarehaa, a few days it goes away, most people get it at least once in their life......However in 1-2% of the cases, the Salmonella gets into the blood stream and causes a very serious infection. This is what happened to Megan. When it gets in the blood, you usually have 3-4 days before it gets into the heart valves, the spinal fluid, and the brain etc. This causes the body to go septic, and when that happens and it goes too far, there is no turning back.

They feel the infection got into Megans blood on Monday. Had the OB not got infectious disease doctors involved, had not admitted Megan....Megan would have died. Thankfully the infectious disease docs put her on a antibiotic even though they did not know what they were treating...again, that saved her life.
The smallest decisions saved Megan and the baby.....Even though we didnt know it at the time, on Friday night, we came very very close to losing both Megan AND the baby. Another 12-24 hours without treatment would have sent Megan's body into full septic shock and she would have been gone.

Thankfully, she is home now. Antibiotics for the next 10 days. She is tired, and run down, but no fevers, no stomach pains, so we think they caught it just in time...barely. The docs dont feel there will be any risk to the baby, nor any damage caused by the ordeal. We still have a lot more tests and unknown answers so we have our fingers crossed that she is ok.

Well there it is, I am sure I have forgotten some, or skipped over something. Not on purpose, it was just a whirlwind weekend with a lot of emotional ups and downs....More downs than ups, but its over for now. Hopefully we are done with this for good and everyone remains healthy. We have a lot more doctor's and tests to still follow up with and Megan need to rest, heal and just focus on staying healthy. The big part is over, but there is still a lot more road to her recovery.

Bryan

25 weeks baby is the size of a cauliflower!

24.5 weeks feel HUGE and FRUMPY!!!

So in general I feel hugs and frump and well unattractive. Pregnancy does a lot to your body and I know some women glow and love it and look fabulous. I just don't feel that way. From my skin, to the weight and especially my hair. I am way over due for a hair cut and thankfully made an apt today. But COME ON HAIR GODS....where is all this super thick beautiful hair that they say you get when you are preggo??? I think that memo missed me. I feel like it is thinner than ever. What up with that? 

How far along?25 weeks 

Total weight gain: 24lbs YIKES...I hate admitting weight, but trying to keep it real for all those mamas. The Dr said I am right on track and healthy. I hope that it tappers off. I hear that most women gain between 40-50lbs. Weight is such an emotional issue for me especially after being so heavy for so long. So even though I understand gaining weight is healthy right now of course! It still doesn't change the fact that it is very hard for me to see that number on the scale and have my body gain EVERYWHERE!!! I wish it was just in a cute little baby bump, but yeah..um not so much for me with this pregnancy. I often battle with loving my body and have a love hate relationship with it and I am hoping that with time it will get better.
Maternity clothes? yep my normal wardrobe and me are on a break ;)
Stretch marks? no news ones, but still have those same ones from before...
Sleep? it has gotten very hard to sleep comfortably. You are supposed to sleep on your side when you are about 20 weeks and that is a super uncomfortable position for me and it hurts after a while. Just the weight from the baby in my stomach pulling at my sides over a period of time proves difficult and hurts.

Best moment this week: Having strangers stare at my belly and smile. Starting to decorate the nursery with my awesome hubby.
Miss Anything? being close to my family and friends!
Movement:She moves all the time. I can feel her flip around and also strong kicks!! She seems to get stronger every day. But, I think she has her dad's stubbornness because every time I try and get him to feel her she will stop. Like she is playing a little game.

Food cravings:breakfast food, BAGELS-specifically PANERA, anything pumpkin flavored and icecream.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Same stuff as last time. And adding to the list BUTTER and BBQ sauce. UGH so weird with all the smells.

Gender: GIRL GIRL GIRL GIRL GIRL WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT
Labor Signs:  No
Symptoms: swelling in my feet and calves. A lot of lower hip/butt/sciatic pain. Mostly in my left side. And what prego women doesn't want acne too. That had been a bummer.
Belly Button in or out? in
Wedding rings on or off?  on, they seem looser than usual at times, and other days my hands are swollen
Happy or Moody most of the time: moments of both.
Looking forward to: Taking some pics of the bump hopefully in the park where we took our wedding pictures soon before the leaves change.

Updated Ultrasound pis of Baby Gril

Original ultra sound 8 weeks. 2nd ultrasound 19 weeks

19 weeks Baby Girl Gallagher

So I have been a super busy and very exhausted mom to be. Please pardon the lack of updates. Today we are 25 weeks pregnant. I am nearing the end of the 2nd trimester already. Every week the realization hits me harder and harder. I am getting more and more excited for out little girl every day. And hope that she makes it full term and is a happy and healthy baby.

It is weird and natural at the same time for me to put her first over everything and everyone. Not that I didn't do that with Bryan of course, but this is different. Example every who knows me knows I love to shop and I love a discount. And not that I dont shop for Bryan and family and friends. But, it is sooo easy to look for yourself first. But now when I am out and about I think about her first and things that she needs or would like and those go first on my list. So I guess it is already starting to put her first above me and any of my wants.

Also, I have been battling a bad stomach bug. And every sick person's initial thought it about themselves of course and what you can do to make yourself feel better. Now not that I don't want to feel better for just me, but all my thoughts go to her. Is she OK can she feel that I am in pain and hurting? Is she getting enough nutrients and fluids since I can't hold anything down?  Again all my worries go to her and her needs. So I guess it begins already.......

NESTING

So there is this thing that pregnant women have been talking about for well forever. It is this funny little word called nesting. I just thought hmm OK sounds like a need to get some spring cleaning done, but amped up a bit. HAHA yeah I was wrong. Something just sort of kicks in and you have this NEED, URGE and POD-PERSON tendency to get everything done around the house and NOW.

The feeling was reaving up earlier this week at work and then hit full on crazy mode on Friday. Lets just say I went to not one or two, but four different craft stores this weekend to buy and make things for our soon to be little one's room. It started with this mobile that I saw on both Etsy and Pinterest, my other obsessions that I really wanted. However, the price was a bit crazy at $63 not including shipping. Not willing to spend that much and hoping I could pull it off I decided to run around like a crazy person buying things and maybe spending close to 4.5 hours making the mobile, but only costing me $10.  It actually looks so much cuter in person with better lighting. But I was proud of my accomplishment and plan to take better pics when I have her room done more.  I also made a cute little lamp shade covering and bought fleece to make her a blanket too, I didn't get to making the blanket. I could only handle sitting on the floor for so long.

INSPIRATION MOBILE $63

MY DUPLICATE $10.00

MY DUPLICATE $10.00

MY DUPLICATE $10.00

DIY LAMP

But ultimately this odd urge just took over to get everything in its place in her room. But that is sort of hard to do when I don't even have any furniture in there yet. Well, for the most part. We did find the exact same changing table we registered for at Once Upon a Child for half the price SCORE so I scooped that up on Sunday!! And I am hoping to nab a Glider too for $60 which to me is a steal. I am all about a good deal!!!

Thankfully with the help of my wonderful hubby we already tackled most of the house a month ago and cleaned out closets and had a big garage sale to make space. So glad that that part is done, phew. Hopefully my nesting urge will calm down a bit or at least I learn how to curb the crazy for Bryan's sanity. :)