Monitors

Yesterday I went to my first monitors appointment. Before going I had no idea what it meant and after going I still don't know what they are checking. I have to go every Tuesday until baby arrives so hopefully I'll figure it out one of these times. Our first time was a little chaotic for me and I ended up being in a bad, hormonal mood the rest of the evening! But I'm 37 weeks pregnant so I figure at this point anything could set me off. So sorry people!
The monitors consist of being hooked up to two things, one monitors the baby's heart beat and I thought the other one checked contractions but I didn't understand very well. I am supposed to lay down for 20-25 minutes and there is a print out coming out of the machine and you can hear the heart beat the whole time. The heart beat is cool because unlike in America I've only heard hers twice the whole pregnancy and maybe for about 5 seconds each time so now I am getting 25 minutes. Very cool but it changes a lot so it freaked me out a little.
After about 30 minutes the nurse finally arrives back in the room and said baby is sleeping and looks pissed so I have to continue more time. To make a long story short I was making the nurse mad with my sleeping baby. Pablo had to buy me candy to try and wake her up with sugar and I ended up laying there for an hour and 15 minutes at least. Keep in mind that I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS BEING MONITORED AND WHY MY BABY HAS TO BE AWAKE. So with a nurse that is pissy and not telling me anything I'm thinking my baby is abnormal, dying, who knows what.
Finally my doctor says we have enough data and I have to go out and wait to see her. After waiting even more I finally go in a see her and she tells me everything looks good, weighs me, takes my blood pressure and I'm out, nothing more nothing less! I think I backed everything up with my sleeping baby and everyone was behind and stressed so I didn't get much information.  So I must wait until next Tuesday I guess and hopefully it will be a little less stressful.

Hooked up

Kit Kat time to get baby on a sugar high

Family Visit

Last weekend the Spanish family came to Madrid for a visit. The last time they will see the bump and hang out before we welcome baby into the world. Mari Carmen brought us a ton of food for the freezer and some new baby clothes. We showed off the baby room and all the new changes in the house, plus the new car.
Saturday we spent the day in the Sierra de Madrid visiting Cercedilla, a town Pepo went to for summer camp when he was 9. We went back to see if it brought back memories and it did! We also went to El Escorial that has a huge monastery. We had lunch at El Vaqueria where you get to cook your own meat on a mini bbq. It was a long day but nice. Sunday we brought them to our neighborhood German bar to watch the Madrid-Barca soccer game. Luckily, Madrid didn't win and ended up in a tie so there wasn't any chaos in the neighborhood!

We think we found the place he spent the summer

Lunch!

The family after lunch

El Escorial

El Escorial

King Philip's seat with views of El Escorial

Super woman!

34 Weeks

It is October and I'm officially 34 weeks! My belly is continuing to grow and it's scaring me how big it just keeps getting.
I think we are in nesting mode and made good progress this last weekend organizing the baby room and our house. It is a slow process but little by little it is getting there. We hung a collage of our belly photos on the wall above the dresser/changing table. Then when baby is born we will change some out for pictures of her and us three and hopefully we can get one of us 5! (the big brothers of course!). My mom is bringing the wall stickers I randomly just bought when she comes so hopefully that will make the nursery cute. The room is super small but I think it is cute and hopefully will work out.
Right now I'm feeling good during the day but at night I get tired and my lower back and hips kill. I think baby had a growth spurt last week because she wasn't moving much and I was exhausted but this week she has picked up the movements and now I have some body part sticking out my right side.
Getting up out of bed or lying on the couch is a struggle and I feel like a whale. Also turning from side to side at night is also hard and a pain. My hips are killing me.
I've been keeping busy with my classes, limited schedule until the end of October. I am just doing class for my regulars and not taking any new students. Plus I'm lucky to be editing these last two months so that has worked out really well.
The weather has finally cooled down here and I'm able to wear the rest of my maternity clothes. There was a month or more, after we came back, that I only had three skirts and two dresses to wear. Now I can wear my jeans, leggings and sweaters! I think I kind of like just pulling up my jeans and not having any zippers or buttons. Maybe I'll wear these forever! haha. 
I'm a little overwhelmed by the weight gain in this last month. I am currently craving chocolate and sweets, which I have not craved before or ever had a big sweet tooth. I had a week of nutella obsession, which is never good! I like to think the huge baby I'm creating is guilty for most of the weight gain but the way I've been eating lately it is just not true. OOOPS!
We had a doctor appointment this week and everything looks good with baby and me so that is great. They said she weighs around 6 pounds already! That chocolate is fattening her up. Now the only appointments left are called monitors. I'm not really sure what that means but I go to the hospital now and they hook me up to monitors and make sure everything is ok....I'm guessing. While we are at the hospital we will hopefully take a tour so we can see what we have to look forward to while popping this baby out! It is coming to an end so quickly yet looking back I feel like I've been prego forever!

One wall decorated!

34 Weeks

The naked belly