I’ve been in my 3^rd trimester for awhile but what amazes me is we only have about a month to go. NEED I SAY ANYMORE!?! Abby doesn’t have much room to maneuver now and her height has probably reached her max until she comes into this world. She is more than likely over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 ¼ pounds (the size of a honeydew melon). Abby is not practicing her gymnastics anymore because of this tight space so her somersault days have ended until she joins gymnastics. Basic physical development is now mostly complete so Abby’s job until she meets us in the next few weeks is to put on the weight and increase her fat!! Her fat percent should increase from roughly 15% today to up to 30% at delivery.

Starting late last weekend (Sunday, July 31, 2011) I have gotten so uncomfortable. My stomach has been getting hard as a rock from time to time. I try and drink water and take a warm (not hot) bath to help ease the uncomfortable feeling. Also, when I sit down Abby is all up in my rib cage and when I stand up I have lots of pressure when trying to walk. I hope this is just a little phase that will last a couple of days then go back to being just uncomfortable but not so, so uncomfortable. It even hurts getting out of a vehicle or bed at this point.

I am so tired even when I don’t do anything at all! I have just been exhausted! I’ve also found stretch marks this week on my hips. It is like 2 smaller marks on each side of my hip but it is still depressing! I haven’t gotten any on my stomach yet so I have started to put lots of tummy butter on my hips too! I hope they fade some once Abby comes but if not they will just be my baby girl’s love marks, which I can live with if I think of it that way!!

Bryan and I picked up the last few things we needed for Miss Abby this past weekend. I think we are overall ready for whenever she wants to make her arrival. I know we are probably forgetting something but will cross that bridge when we get there. I need more diapers for sure but not sure what size I’ll need and how much of each so we will have to pick those up at a later date.

I’ve been eating like crazy here recently. I am starving all the time. This is also depressing because I have already gained tons of weight and I know that my weight gain is just continuing to go up and up. I eat everything in sight because I am hungry all the time. I’ll just deal with the weight loss issue in a couple months after Abby comes and we have some time to get back up to speed with life. I’ve decided if I am hungry than screw it, I’ve got to eat!

Also to prepare for Miss Abby we ended up getting a new vehicle on Saturday, July 30, 2011. Our Jeep Liberty Diesel has been used to the max with just about 175,000 miles on it. We still have it and plan on keeping it until December 2011 or January 2012 so we have two commute vehicles. This way Bryan will have a vehicle to drive to work and Abby and I will have a vehicle for when we are at home. We still plan on driving the Jeep to work some days now too just to save miles on the new SUV. The Big Dodge truck does not need to be driving to Austin a couple of times a week – it is really a farm truck these days. We ended up buying a 2012 Kia Sorrento. It’s a mid-size SUV so we should have plenty of room as a family of three (plus 2 beagle babies)! The gas mileage is still pretty good (not great) but in the acceptable range for us. We are hoping it will average 25 MPG. We were looking at cars that got 30-40 MPG but wasn’t quite sure if it was enough room for all of us. Plus we have only driven trucks and SUV’s for so long we decided at this time we were going to stick with a SUV. A SUV is probably better for the country too! So far we are very pleased and hopefully it will live up to the MPG once we go through a couple of tanks of gas!

I had a doctor’s appointment with Doctor Laurette Smith on Tuesday, August 2, 2011. Long story short it didn’t go quite as planned. For starters, I have gained LOTS of weight (38 pounds). I know, it is very depressing knowing I still have weight to gain – I am huge and will probably gain about 40-45 pounds total. They don’t say anything to me at the doctor’s office but each time when I get on the scale and do the math I just want to cry!! They have never once mentioned my weight gain though. I pray I lose it after Abby’s birth. I had high blood pressure and she thinks I have a mild case of pre-eclampsia. I was told I couldn’t work anymore and I needed to go on moderate bed rest. However, working from home on my laptop she said was fine and thankfully my job is going to let me continue to work until Abby is born. FMLA until she arrives – I was so thankful and happy for this. However, I am now at home but work is keeping me super busy so the days have been flying! My blood pressure is still high but hopefully won’t climb anymore. I had to go for a sonogram to make sure Abby was okay and she was just fine. She was practicing her breathing techniques, had a heartbeat around 150 and they think she weighs 6.5 pounds or a smudge more already! As the statistics state above she is about a pound heavier than average—we will be having a big girl. I also had to go for blood work and everything came back okay for now. They have me going to the doctor every week, getting a sonogram every week, and probably some more blood work to keep track of how everything is going. If I get a headache, side pain, my face swells, or I feel dizzy I have to go straight to the doctor if during hours or to the hospital if after hours. Full blown pre-eclampsia can cause seizures so I pray I continue to just have a mild case. Basically, the only cure for pre-eclampsia is delivery (after I deliver everything should go back to normal) since it is the hormones and placenta causing the issue. They want to try and wait for me to deliver until 38 weeks so fingers crossed. Basically in about 3 weeks our little girl will probably be arriving! Every checkup is a little scary now – I can only hope they send me home each time!

On Friday, August 5, 2011 I had to go back to the doctor’s office to meet with the nurses. They checked my blood pressure, which was still high (132/93). They looked at my lab results and tried to locate the results of the last lab they are waiting for. Apparently, Lab Corp took my first name and my doctor’s last name and put that in the computer. So I was under Lorey Smith. The lab told us what they had done but said it makes the sample invalid. I told them I was not going back. Since the container should have my correct name on it they are going to test it and let the nurses know the results as soon as possible. What a pain! They got approval from Dr. Smith’s partner, because Dr. Smith is on vacation, to let me return home. I didn’t even imagine one option was going straight to the hospital to induce labor. Wow—what a shocker! I was so happy to be able to go home. My next appointment is on Tuesday, August 9, 2011. I have a checkup and sonogram scheduled. My goal is to come home after the appointment!!

Here are the week 35 pictures!