Week 37

 Little Foot is officially considered "full term"! At thirty-seven weeks the lungs are fully developed, organs are ready to go and if he/she was born today would be overall in good shape. My body is starting to get ready for labor with BH (Braxton Hicks) contractions that come at no particular time, but happen at least 5-15 times a day. These just feel like a tightening of my stomach, no pain, just can be a little uncomfortable at times and my stomach feels rock hard. At first I had no idea what these were, I thought it was just the baby moving up top and making it really hard, but I guess those are actual practice contractions. Too bad everything I've read says that real contractions are nothing like this...one can hope! I'm also still feeling what they call "pelvic lightning" which happens when I'm walking around. This feeling is a short, lightning type pain that comes from the pelvic area and is due to baby's head trying to get comfortable and hitting nerves down there. It goes away just as quickly as it comes, but man when it happens I have to stop and take a short breath and sometimes even pick up my belly with my hands to see if it helps.

This week my mom and I went to the park with Lexi to walk laps. This is the first consistent week we've been able to go and do it and my body definitely felt a little tired but not bad. We're walking two miles a day so nothing extreme (but I do feel that pelvic lightning during my walks which sometimes makes me want to stop every once and a while).

Saturday night Jorge and I had a date night and went out to eat at Macaroni Grill (only our second time ever being there, not really a favorite place). It's always nice getting out just the two of us. I'm going to try and get as many little date nights in before baby comes!

Sunday we spent the day at the Pet Expo with Ceci, Gustavo, Zoe, and Gustavito. It's our annual trip we make to go and see all the different dog breeds and sometimes buy new products that people come up with for pets. Zoe loved all of the dogs, wasn't afraid of them at all! It's a great Expo where we get to learn about new breeds that we've never heard of before, and how we're going to pick our next dog when the house is ready! I thought I was being smart by wearing thick comfortable socks with boots since we would be doing a lot of walking...nope, wrong again. I really should have worn tennis shoes because I was so tired/sore the next two days! No more of that...looking good is OUT, comfort is IN for the next few weeks (or months, let's be honest).

We had our thirty-seven week check up appointment with Simona (our midwife) on Monday and everything is looking good to go! Baby's head is still down, my blood pressure is normal, GBS bacteria test came back negative (so I don't have to worry about taking antibiotics during labor), urine is normal with proteins/sugars, measuring a little big she said (but still normal range), and we did a little test run in the birthing suite. She showed us how during labor I would be getting in/out of the tub, positions I would be in while inside of the tub, what would happen after cord is cut and all that good stuff. Doing the run through made it seem so real and close that reminds me this can happen any day now! Little Foot will be here in no time!

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Week 36

Oh my gosh I can't believe we've made it this far so quickly!

This week for work I trained someone to help in the office and take over some of the job duties I had. I never really understood how hard it is to train someone when the lingo is completely new and they're not used to doing the same type of work. Just teaching her how to open the programs we use everyday, and how to create invoices/estimates was much harder that I thought it was going to be. We'll see how it works out though. I know that since we can remotely connect with our computer here at home Jorge and I can still be able to help out and do some work from home during our spare time, after all a newborn sleeps like 18 hours a day right? We'll play it by ear once Little Foot comes!

This week was Easter and it was a very nice and relaxing day. After 10 am mass we went out to eat with Jorge's family at BJ's, and I ate WAY TOO MUCH, but it was delicious. Afterwards we went back home and changed into our comfortable clothes and did absolutely nothing. I loved relaxing and having nothing in our schedule.

This week all I was thinking about was making it one more week so we can deliver at the birth center. It is one of the requirements that we have to be at least 37 weeks to deliver there (since the lungs are fully developed at that point) so that was my main thought this week. I know it's not as common for first time pregnant women to go into labor early and everyone's telling me I'll go past our due date, there's always the possibility so I'm just waiting to make it to that mark!

Til next week!

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Week 35

Only five more weeks until Little Foot's guess date! I really feel blessed that this pregnancy has gone as smooth as it has. I'm one of the very few women (so I've heard) that have been this lucky and thinks the past thirty-five weeks have flown by!

I think this is the first week that I seriously thought the baby can rip through my skin because it was stretching out so much! I had to put my hand over my belly to try and hold it in. Then, I started thinking all of these crazy possibilities...what if it could break or rip the amniotic sac. (Next few sentences may be a little TMI, just letting you know). So here's my crazy pregnant woman thoughts...What if the baby was strong enough to rip the sac and I had no idea? What if the mucus plug was still there and I didn't feel anything leaking because it was blocking any fluid coming out? Is that even possible? Yeah...those are my crazy thoughts.

Jorge took a few days off this week which was nice because he was able to see how much I still need to do to feel comfortable before baby arrives. I love how he gets me. He's been awesome this whole pregnancy, I'm grateful for him 100%!

Nothing more to think of this week, next week is Easter so I'll be updating about that!

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Week 34

Thirty-four is my lucky number, and week 34 was definitely another great week!

I spent the week working from home and it went a little smoother than it did last week. We're learning what works and what doesn't as far as making sure everything can run efficiently in the next few months. There are still a few kinks to work out, but that's okay we still have some time.

This week sleeping was definitely more of an issue more than any other week. One night I woke up exactly every three hours. Not sure if it's just a way of my body preparing me for when baby arrives (or my subconscious) but either way it was a new symptom. I'll wake up due to heartburn and reach for the tums, prop my pillow up a bit, and take a small sip of water. Or I'll wake up having to pee immediately! It's now come to the point where I lay on one side, use both hands to prop myself up so I can get out of bed. I'm sure this is amusing to Jorge, but at least it's not the worst of symptoms that can occur. Still thankful this is all I'm feeling as far as symptoms goes, hoping it continues this way til Little Foot makes his/her arrival.

Jorge and I attended a wedding on Friday night in Redlands for one of my best friends. Vanessa was a co-worker when I worked at Frisco's and will always be a great part of my life. Thankful we've been able to keep in touch for special events like this. She was such beautiful bride! I can't wait for them to start a family of their own so Little Foot will have some playmates! (hint hint) ;)

34 Weeks Pregnant with Little Foot at Vanessa & Dylan's wedding

Vanessa & Dylan

Saturday was Devo's birthday and we went out with some of our girlfriends to celebrate. We met up with Ani, Pyka, Elisa, and Brittany for dinner at CPK and then followed it with some bowling (Judy met up with us there). Before we left to bowling both my mom and Jorge didn't think I was able to bowl, I honestly hadn't thought about it much but didn't think it would be an issue. I told them I would stop if I felt anything uncomfortable and take it easy. But I was fine! I didn't take the long approach like a pro and stood at the line like a newbie before rolling the ball down the aisle and I felt perfectly fine the whole time. It was funny because we kept the bumpers up from the previous party that was at our lane so I didn't do too bad. Overall it was a great night, I really enjoy bowling and should really go more often.

I think that's it for this week. Next week we are down to only five weeks left (which is a little scary to think about since we only have to be 37 weeks to deliver at the Natural Birth Center). It's exciting!!

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Week 33

 This past week was a great week! First things first, it was my first FULL week working from home. I really thought this would be a little more relaxed, but I was definitely wrong. Jorge's parents (and younger brother) went out of town for a week because Bryan was in his cousin's quincinera. Due to that, I was doing much more to try and keep everything organized in the office (at home). Not only that, we had an earthquake on Friday night so there were a few emergency calls from customers who needed a repair for underground pipes! For my first week at home I was expecting more time to try and wash baby clothes and put things away, but I didn't feel like I had much time during the day and only made time a few nights this week. But, it still got done, so I'm not complaining.

Sunday was the baby shower for Little Foot hosted by my Mom and Devo. It was beautiful! They had an Owl, rustic theme for the shower and all of the decorations were very cute. I'm so thankful for them and all of the time they put into making our shower fun for us as well as all of our guests. I'd also like to thank all of our friends who helped with set-up and cleaning up for the shower. We didn't ask for the help, but all of you were so great and did it because you're amazing, so thank you very much! Little Foot is extremely blessed with all of the great gifts he or she received, and I'm so excited to put these clothes on him/her in just a few weeks!

Monday we had a Midwife appointment and everything is still looking good. They got the results to the last blood test that was checking for my iron levels, and they came back in the normal range which means I'm no longer anemic. I do need to keep taking the liquid iron to keep those levels up though, but it's not that bad. I only gained 1 pound since my last appointment (two weeks ago) so I'm staying on track to only gaining 27-35 lbs. overall. Baby's heartbeat was strong, I'm measuring right on track, and baby is still in position (head down). Next appointment they are going to do the GBS test, which tests for bacteria. If it's present then I believe they just have antibiotics available at the time of the birth.

Til next week!

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Baby Shower pictures

Guesses of gender and birthday from our guests

Signature mat of well wishes