32 Weeks- OUCH!

Well I'm gonna have to say that this was one of the toughest weeks of my pregnancy. Not hormonally, emotionally, or carrying around this belly, but something totally unrelated. I got an infection. A painful one. Baby girl is fine and well. She is really kicking me like none other, and this is the first week I have been experiencing full-on, unmistakable Braxton Hicks. Previously, I would get maybe 1-2 per day in the evenings if I was dehydrated. A big cold glass of ice water later, I wouldn't feel them again. Well the last 2 days, I feel them in the morning, afternoon, and at night. Probably around 8-10 per day. My uterus is really warming up for the real thing, I guess ;)

Ok, so for the 411 on my infection, I had a pilonidal cyst. Feel free to look into that as much as you want, because it's pretty gross and painful. After 4 days of antibiotics to stop it from getting worse, and being in [excruciating] pain, I had to go to a surgeon and get it LANCED! I couldn't sit, lay on my back [or stomach, duh] and walked like I had something up my butt. I guess this was my precursor for labor because I'll tell you, I have never experienced pain like this! I guess I also need to add that I'm a BIG baby and have never gone to the hospital for anything, broken any bones, no stitches, nothing. Well, since the procedure to drain it, I feel much better and can move and sit and sleep. I still have a 1/2 inch incision that will take weeks to heal, but not in a lot of pain. My only wish right now is that I will be completely healed before going into labor. Please, 8 POUND BABY JESUS!! And lemme just tell you, if your husband still finds you attractive after this, it's true love. I'm still hoping mine does.

What I should be doing this week:

I need to write my birth plan.

Most of the information will be pretty simple, but It's very exciting talking about this with hubs and making decisions together for our delivery. Originally, I wasn't too sold on the idea of writing one. I thought, I'm not a hippy who is going to want to have some sort of drawn out process for everything and restrictions on everything that the hospital staff can offer me, etc. But after childbirth classes, I realize how much useful and simple information can be included on there so that you simply don't have to worry about it when the time comes. In addition to that, it gives me CONTROL. Anyone who knows me knows that I love that. I am not a control freak. I am not a control freak. I am not a control freak. Okay, you get it.

Here's a few things I'm gonna include:

Daddy gets to help with baby's first bath.

Daddy gets to cut cord.

Mommy gets baby immediately after cleaning off, before Vitamin K shot and eye cream.

Mommy gets to breastfeed as soon as mommy/baby procedures are complete.

Baby cannot have pacifier, formula or bottle.

In the event of a c-section, baby remains with only Daddy during mommy's recovery.

(There is a lot more information that will be on there, but those are some of the little things I can think of now.)

I need to pack my hospital bag.

I need to buy a diaper bag and pack it.

I need to figure out how the car seat works and get it in the car in the next few weeks.

I was supposed to have my maternity pics this week, but I had to push them back to next week for some recovery time. I'm just not as mobile/flexible right now as I could be due to my incision. I'm really excited though for them! It's Labor Day weekend and it really crept up on us. We usually don't do anything, but when my OB asked us what we were doing for Labor Day, I thought he was talking about MY labor day LOL! :) I was totally confused. So that tells you what party animals we are going to be this weekend. My goal is not to spend too much time out of the house (I know, hermit) because it's supposed to get up to 107.

Here's a good ol cell phone shot of 32 weeks.