Happy Ever After Starts Here: 35 Weeks!

How far along? 35 Weeks and 5 days!

Total weight gain: 23 lbs!

Maternity Clothes? Of course

Stretch Marks? Nope!

Sleep? AWFUL.

Best moment this week: seeing baby girl on ultrasound! She's so low now I wasn't able to see her face, but I was able to see from about her nose down and guess what- baby girl already has a little double chin! so cute!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Miss anything? my sleep, being able to put my shoes on, being able to walk up the stairs without my legs feeling like I just ran a marathon... the list goes on and on :P

Movement? Like crazy this week. It's getting very painful which makes me sad!

Food cravings? Nothing crazy this week!

Anything making you queasy or sick? Contractions!! More on that in a minute.

Have you started to show yet? haha, funny one! People have started to say that I've dropped though!
Gender: Girl!

Symptoms: exhaustion, contractions, lower uterine pain. yuck!

Happy or moody most of the time? this week has been a mixed bag of emotions for me.

Labour Signs: YES! I really didn't think I would be answering yes to that question so soon.

Belly Button in or out? Out

Looking forward to: Getting all the last minute preparations done before Stella arrives (hopefully!!!!)!

Now for the labour story:

This weekend Paul and I went back to my parents house as we had a few things we needed to do back home. Lily needed to go to the vet, I won a photo shoot a couple months ago so we had that booked for this weekend in hopes of getting a few 'big belly' shots, we had Paul's family Christmas party as well! Quite a busy weekend.

A preview from our shoot this weekend!

Anyways we never ended up going to the Christmas party as the weather was awful and I hadn't been feeling well since Friday. I had a bad headache (which I never get) and just felt 'off'. We ended up leaving my parents house early on Sunday since I really wasn't feeling great. About 45 minutes into our trip the contractions started. There are no words to describe that feeling. I was so terrified! I instantly started crying and saying that it was too early. Paul was really great through it all, considering he was driving on the highway just after a snow storm! In the next hour it took us to arrive home I had 8 contractions. We dropped the dog off and went strait to the hospital.

I was hooked up right away to monitors for baby and my contractions. It was nice to see that baby's heartbeat was doing well. I had always wondered if babies can move around in labour. I now know the answer- YES! She was kicking and punching and moving all over. It was SO uncomfortable. About an hour after getting to the hospital I threw up. It was awful. The nurse came rushing in just as it started which was just about the last thing I wanted, it's awful enough when you're on your own, let alone with two other people in the room! Anyways, once that was done with the Dr came in to check my cervix- 1 cm dilated but still long! Good news. I had to wait two hours and she would check me again.

In the mean time they wanted to give me morphine and gravol, but I asked for Tylenol instead of morphine since I go crazy on morphine. The contractions started to slow and get a little less painful thankfully. When the Dr came back in two hours she said that things were looking like they would be fine and did I want to go home or stay. I wanted to go to the comfort of my home and we did shortly after. They thought I was getting sick and that's what brought this labour on. The next day I didn't feel sick but was still having contractions off and on (and I still am)!
I went to see my OB the next day and he checked me again, still 1 cm but my cervix is soft. He said I can still make it to 40 weeks but this may be a sign she will be making her grand entrance a bit sooner than that. He said I will likely have contractions now until I go into real labour and to come back when they're 10-15 mins apart (if I'm still preterm). He checked my fluid with an ultrasound and said I have a good amount and that baby is quite long! Her head is way down and bum is right up at the top of my uterus! Taking after daddy I guess :P
I am feeling well now, still uncomfortable and not able to do nearly as much as I used to. I'm so overwhelmed with all of the things I have left to do. My hospital bags aren't even packed. This whole scare really made us realize how soon she is coming and that really it could be any day!
I plan on using the rest of this week to fill my freezer with food and pack my hospital bags!