It has been a very, very busy week, but we are finally ready for baby to come. Here's a look at what we've been up to and how baby is doing.
A couple Sunday's ago I ran my "Full Term 10K" to celebrate making it to full term in this pregnancy while maintaining my health and running. But last Saturday was special in that I ran my last official race of the season and of this pregnancy. Every year my mom and I run the Santa Shuffle 5k to raise money for the Salvation Army. It's always been one of my favourite races over the years because it's the only outdoor winter run I ever agree to do (I'm a suck and run on treadmills and tracks in the winter because I hate the cold), and because it's just a lot of fun. We dress up in Santa hats, they serve hot chocolate and Christmas oranges by bonfires after the race, and even though it's not a competitive race you get really fun medals! This year my mom and I were able to raise $300 dollars for the run, and I was able to finish the race in just over 33 minutes thanks to my running buddy/brother-in-laws girlfriend, Connor! It was so much fun, it's all for a great cause, and I can't think of a better race to finish off the season. Of course I haven't stopped running entirely, but I'll get to that in a bit.
On Tuesday, my mom and I met at the gym to get in a solid workout. The plan was to run for about 30 minutes at a comfortable pace and then head down to the weight room. Minus one bathroom break part way through, I ran an extra couple minutes to round my run up to a 5k plus a quarter mile cool down walk, then we got in a really solid arm session before running some errands. Not too long after this I started to feel... well, different. Baby had dropped like a rock, and while I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks now this felt different. When I got home I decided to do some research (I'm telling you, this is what always gets me in trouble!), and realized that I was now showing 4 out of 8 symptoms of early labour. That's great! But I had a few really, really big commitments coming up this weekend that I couldn't afford to miss! So, I put myself on a self-prescribed bed rest for the rest of the week to prevent myself from inducing labour. It was so hard, mentally, to rest and not workout. I'm so squishy now and retaining water like nobodies business. I haven't felt so whale-like, fat, and ugly in years. My self-esteem and confidence have really been waining, feeling guilty for having "let myself go". Maybe I'm allowing myself to eat too many treats or I'm not working out enough or hard enough for the amount of food I'm consuming... Either way, I haven't been feeling good about they way I look (which I recognize as being exceptionally selfish, but I want to keep this real) and not working out to make sure I made it through the rest of the week was really hard.
Thursday was my check-up with the OBGYN, and I got to meet MORE new people! lol. My OB was away sick so I was seen by a different resident doctor than at my last appointment, followed by a brief conversation with one of the other supervising OBs. I have to say, my mom and I were both really impressed with the resident doctor we saw this time around. She was very knowledgable, confident, and personable. They didn't check me for dilation because apparently if you're not actually dilated it can be very painful/uncomfortable, so my team has decided to just let baby come when he's ready. But we got the results back from my GBS swab and they came back negative so at least that's one less thing to worry about. They were surprised I made it as far as I have in this pregnancy, but I'm basically a ticking time-bomb now and could go at any moment! Which is both exciting and terrifying all at once. My uterus is measuring very small though. You're usually supposed to measure the same number of centimetres to weeks of gestation in your pregnancy. That would mean I should have been about 37.5cm... and I was only coming in at 33. But because we've had so many fetal assessments to check on baby's development through ultrasound, they know he's growing and aren't concerned about my size. At this point, I think he's probably going to be 7.5lbs, but we'll see what happens!
The rest of the week I was busy seeing people, planning a very special event for Friday night, and getting my makeup kit together for a wedding I was going to do on Saturday morning. Throughout the week we were blessed by an outpouring of support, prayers, food, and gifts from our family and friends who have been so wonderful in these last few days before our journey with a little heart warrior, battling a congenital heart defect, begins. We could not ask for a better support system and wish there was a better way to express the depths of our love and gratitude beyond the words Thank You!
I know you're dying to know what I was busy planning for Friday, but I can't tell you right now. That special news I'll share when I can, but for now, just know that it was a huge success and epically awesome. AND it kept me out till 11:30pm! Which for me, feels like staying up all night to finish an essay for university at this point. lol. To top that, I had to get up at 4:30AM to leave to do makeup for my friends Mike and Ellea's wedding! I told her that I would be there, even if my water broke, I would stay and finish! I was so determined to be there. They were all so sweet and kept coming to check on me and see how I was doing throughout the morning. And I'm happy to report that I made it through the whole day without going into labour! After finishing up the makeup, I got home, napped for an hour, then got ready with Chris to go to the wedding. It was so beautiful, and I was just a mess! The pregnancy hormones hit me HARD. I was crying about everything thing! Her dad's speech when he gave Ellea away is what got me the most though. There was no off switch to the waterworks I was displaying. Chris just laughed at me and squeezed my hand... which made me cry more. lol!
Before the wedding Chris helped me take some pictures of the baby bump by our Christmas tree on our good camera and a few on my phone so they'd be easier to share. I definitely feel like I've exploded over the last couple weeks and am looking very round. Because I was small for most of the pregnancy I only ended up buying 3 maternity tops. I didn't get any maternity pants and didn't really see a point in buying a special dress for one special event that I wasn't even sure I'd be able to attend. But fortunately my favourite black cocktail dress is very flowy and fit like a dream over my ginormous belly. One thing I didn't account for however is the fact that it is a backless-dress that requires a stick on bra. Normally, not a problem for me as I am not the most endowed woman in the world and a little tape can hold me up no problem. My "almost ready to breastfeed" boobies are not quite as happy with tape. Of course I didn't realize this was going to be an issue until we started dancing at the reception and I got sweaty... Yeah, you can guess where this is going. Fortunately I am not ashamed to make bizarre requests of strangers and was able to borrow some duct tape from the serving staff at the wedding venue. That stuff fixes everything! Or at least it bought me a couple more songs on the dance floor. Apparently you get really hot and sweaty when you're pregnant... like really hot and sweaty. Made it home around mid-night... and then got up early for breakfast with one of my best friends before heading to Chris' volleyball game. lol. Needless to say, I'm pretty tired. But I can't begin to tell you how incredible this weekend has been. I told Chris this morning that it was the first time since finding out our baby has Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) that I was able to let loose and have fun. We truly have the greatest friends and I'm so glad we got to spend the weekend celebrating with them all. Baby Burns is going to have so many Aunts and Uncles! He's going to be one spoiled little man cub.
And now we wait! He could come any day now so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we get ready to start the scary part of this journey.
"Baby, all I want for Christmas is you" - Mariah Carey