The Final Third

OK so today I'm OFFICIALLY in the third trimester.  None of this fake third trimester crap from four weeks ago.  28 weeks done, 12ish to go.  Here's a belly shot for all you wanters.  Don't mind my sweats.  I only get dressed about three times a week now and today isn't my (or your) day.  At least I'm wearing a clean outfit.  You are welcome. 

I'm still feeling really good overall though I swear I get bigger and more stretched out by the second. It's getting harder to maneuver myself out of bed or off the couch but I'm figuring it out.   I'm getting more and more tired and hot for sure, and of course here in Phoenix the hot part is only bound to get worse, but those I can manage.  It seems to be an every-other-day cycle.  I'll have tons of energy and do all kinds of things around the house and then the next day it's all I can do to move from bed to the couch to the fridge.  I'm working on not overdoing it the days where I have energy but I can tell I've got some nesting going on and just want to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS.

The hip pain is getting worse, and due to the hot factor, sleeping with my super sweet body pillow is becoming very toasty, which in turn makes the hip pain worse.  Half the nights I abandon all pillows, blankets and sheets and I'm sure will soon also abandon clothes just so I can bask in the air conditioning vent that sits directly over our bed.  Either that or, as I've mentioned to several people, buy a huge, body sized deep freezer and just move in for the next three months in an attempt to keep cool. 

As far as exercise goes I am still walking the dog for about thirty minutes at least once or twice a day.  I also got a Groupon this morning for ten yoga classes at the really nice studio down the street.  I'm going to try to do prenatal yoga once a week until the baby comes.  I think the stretching will do my hips and legs some good, plus I'm sure there are awesome mental benefits as well. 

I'm up about once or twice per night to pee depending on how much I had to drink before bed and the heartburn has made it appearance.  Luckily it's not constant.  I only get it when I eat something spicy, too acidic (like orange juice or tomato sauce) and I just discovered this morning, overly chocolaty.  I'm crying over the last one.  Of COURSE chocolate gives me heartburn.  Still no odd pregnancy cravings.  I love the foods I loved before and basically eat about the same stuff and the same portions.  I still don't have the results back from my glucose test, but I should hear today.  Hopefully we're all clear there and I can continue eating carbs three times a day and give birth to some sort of tortilla chip or slice of bread.  Like I said...still eating all the same stuff!

Still no real nursery progress. My designer friend graduates on Friday so hopefully I can get her to help me  out after that.  I did go through all the baby clothes a second time and set aside a box of stuff that is either overflow or things I'm not a huge fan of.  I'll wait and see what I get at my showers and sort through all of that too and then take inventory of what I have and need and then go from there.  If my mothers (mother, step-mother and mother-in-law) have anything to do with it I'll never have to buy clothes as long as he's alive!  I'm trying to keep everything sorted into sizes as it comes in so I'm not overwhelmed by the task later on when I'm huge-er and less likely to care as much.

Pretty soon we're taking a ten day trip to Utah for my shower there as well as my yearly girl's trip.  We're taking the dog which should prove fun and interesting.  We're driving which will also prove interesting and most likely uncomfortable for me, but the alternative of not having a car is no bueno. It will be nice to have so much time there and we'll hopefully be able to see everyone we want to before we have the baby and traveling becomes a bit more difficult.  I'm also hoping to take a week or so towards the middle or end of June and go stay with my Grandparents.  My doctor said no flying after the 15h of June but we can drive there.  My main goal is to get out of the heat and just lounge in their pool a lot.  Plus, seeing my Grandma is always a bonus. 

So there's the update.  My life is so very exciting. 

SUGAR!!!!

I'm officially 27 weeks and today was the start of my every three week appointments and the dreaded glucose test.  After consulting with the nurse last time as to the preferred flavor for the deliciousness, I went with orange.

Firstly, yesterday I sort of forgot I was having this test done today and literally ate NOTHING BUT CARBS (not joking.  Cereal and toast for breakfast, macaroni and cheese for lunch and a mid-afternoon snack) until 9pm when I remembered what I had to do and decided to have an egg, broccoli and cheese omlet for dinner.  I know, 9PM isn't really dinner time but that's what happened. 

I woke up this morning and brushed my teeth early so I could rid myself of the toothpasteness before downing the orange goo.  Having heard horror stories about the drink, I was delighted when I found it didn't actually taste that bad.  Sort of like orange soda that someone messed up the mix on and there wasn't nearly enough water.  I was able to gulp it down in about one minute. 

Naturally, as soon as I'd downed the bottle, my phone rang.  My OB's office was calling telling me she had to go deliver a baby and could they reschedule for this afternoon?  Normally?  No problem, but their office is thirty minutes from my house and I had sort of just downed the equivalent of ten bags of Halloween candy for breakfast.  I didn't particularly want to make the trip once just for a blood draw so I mentioned the glucose test and they were miraculously able to squeeze me in only an hour late when they assumed my doctor would be back.  So, I braved the rush hour traffic and made it to the office with six minutes to spare before the hour time limit on drawing my blood was up, did that whole thing then got to go find some breakfast to calm my FREAKING OUT blood sugar levels. 

All in all it worked out well because I would have been super duper jittery waiting to see my doctor, plus I also had to wait for the nurse after my visit so I could get my Rhogam shot (I am O Negative so that's always a literal pain in the butt). 

Everything is great.  This week I'm measuring a week ahead (if you're keeping track in the last three months I've been a week ahead, a week behind and now a week ahead again) and the mister's heartbeat was perfect.  He was also having a party thanks to the excess sugar so it took us a little while to nail down his location for a heartbeat but that seems to be the norm whenever I'm at the doctor's office.  Or maybe always?  Basically he's very active.  Super excited to see how that manifests in his real life.

I feel like I'm getting bigger every day and yesterday, as I was lying on the couch and attempted to get up, I experienced the oddness of my inner ab muscles poking through the separation in my outer ab muscles.  This is something no one had ever mentioned to me before.  I'm sure if I'd thought about it, it would have been like a "no duh" moment for me but not being prepared to see some forgotten inner muscles poking through like a strange worm was SO WEIRD.  Matt looked over at just the right moment and just said "What the hell?!"  My thoughts exactly.  My hips are still hurting a big though the last few days it's been less.  I'm not sure if I've found better sleeping positions or my body is just adjusting, but I'm grateful either way. 

Yesterday Arizona hit a record high for April of 105 and I was pretty sure I was going to die from the heat.  This does not bode well for the next three months. I'm not even THAT hot yet and it was seriously the most miserable day.  I think I'm going to go buy a deep freeze and plan to live in it until the baby is born.  I'm praying this was a freak heat wave and it cools back down until the end of June.  I doubt I'll get my way but here's hoping.

So, there you have it.  My little update.  I'm almost officially in my third trimester and while part of me is super excited, a lot of me is starting to panic just a little.  Or a lot.  Either way this little man appears to be coming for reals so I guess I'd better figure out how to be a parent or something!

Remember that one time? When I lost track of how far along I was and added a week? Yeah, that wasn't so funny.

Ugh.  I had a total pregnancy brain fart last week - thanks mostly to the stupid baby apps on my iPhone - and thought I was 26 weeks and about to hit 27.  Ha.  Very funny.  Take one week away, folks because I did the math this morning and I was 25 weeks and just hit 26.  I blame the apps because the second you're 25 weeks and 1 day, they start showing you all the 26 week stats on baby.  If I had thought about it for two minutes I would have figured it out, but thinking I was thisclose to seven months was just too tempting.

Big progress in the belly department in the last two weeks.  My stomach muscles decided they couldn't hack it anymore and boy howdy do I look pregnant now.  However, in the weight department, I think I'm hanging in there to reach my goal of no more than 15 pounds gained.  Apparently my pre-pregnancy BMI indicates I should gain between 11-20 pounds and I figured I'd aim in the middle.  I lost about 12 pounds in the first trimester and at my last appointment I was still down two pounds from my original weight....which basically means I've gained ten pounds.  Of course, according to my doctor's chart I haven't gained any.  I'm sure the next appointment will prove I've gained a few pounds but obviously at this point that's what I want to be doing.  The little man weighs almost two pounds now and when you add in fluid and placenta and all that crap I should be up a few pounds.  I am walking Watson at least once a day for about an hour, usually twice, unless I make Matt go because I'm too tired.  He's a speedy little walker and we have a routine of running around the park three or four times so I really think that consistent, daily exercise is helping me gain the right weight and not get big in the butt, thighs, arms, so on and so forth.  I feel pretty lucky that, at least so far, I haven't become swollen and super uncomfortable.  For those that care, here is a belly shot from Saturday which was two days shy of 26 weeks...so let's just call it 26 weeks, shall we?  Please note that my exercise clothes from this particular day are HAWT.  Specifically the basketball shorts.  Saddest part?  I don't think I changed out of them until it was time for pajamas.  Matt is a lucky, lucky man.

As far as fashion goes, almost all of the clothes that fit me pre-pregnancy still fit, with the exception of a couple of pairs of pants, mostly due to high waistlines.  I prefer long shirts no matter what so anything that doesn't button up (which, let's be honest, I haven't worn those in like, over a year thanks to casual work environments and my new found ability to wear pajamas or workout clothes ALL DAY.   Yay unemployment!) still fits due to the length.  I did have a girls shopping day when my Stepmom Lisa (LOVE HER!) was in town to see my sister's baby and she bought me some SUPER cute maternity clothes at Motherhood.  One dress in particular is amazeballs and I want to wear it all the time.  I did notice that wearing actual maternity clothes definitely makes me look even MORE pregnant, but that's ok.  It's kind of nice to have people be able to tell it's a baby bump and not just my poor eating habits. 

The baby moves all the time and is really getting into his acrobatics lately.  He's all over the place and it still feels totally and completely weird.  His movement is obvious from the outside most of the time now and I sometimes just sit and stare at my belly trying to figure out HOW this is a normal occurrence! 

We bought our crib this weekend at BuyBuyBaby.  They let me use a 20% off coupon I didn't think would apply to furniture so it was much cheaper than I expected, which is awesomesauce.  I seriously LOVE this crib and am so very excited to have it.  I think the majority of the nursery plan is together in my mind, I just need to figure out what to do with the walls.  This of course is the first thing I need to tackle so I wish I could just make up my mind already so I could get going.

Well, there's your update for the day.  One of my dearest friends had her baby this morning (at home!  She's so brave) and I get to go over and meet the little lady and then I'm making dinner for her family.  Somewhere in there I need to vacuum the floors and the couch because wow, does my puppy shed.  My life is a freaking party, people.

You Are Now Exiting the Second Trimester...sort of.

People who say pregnancy lasts for nine months are big fat liars. Know why?! Because I'm six months (24 weeks) pregnant and I have four months (16 weeks) until my due date. Fer rude. It's all in that "measuring from your last period" thing...and why it never occurred to me that 40 weeks is ten months I truly have no idea. What it comes down to is that pregnant lasts a looooooooong time.

That being said, I feel GREAT! I had an appointment this morning and things look good. Doc says she can't believe I'm 24 weeks and showing so little (another win for being tall and having cavernous hips). I tried to take a belly shot today but the shirt I'm wearing is pretty baggy and it's hard to see much, so I'll attempt another one latere in a more form fitting top. Our little man is now measuring about a week behind, which I thought would be bad until I remembered that gigantor babies run in Matt's family. Having him measure small is actually a good thing for my lady parts and my desire to avoid a C-section. We (ok mostly my doctor) are going to keep a close eye on the mister in my last month and we'll discuss inducing me if he's looking at all over 8 pounds. I'm not too keen on inducing labor, just because I'd like him to cook until he's good and ready to come out, but if that means he's going to break size records, he's coming out early to save his Mommy's sanity.

I only have two minor complaints about being pregnant and they are both linked to sleeping. First, sleeping exclusively on my sides is causing major hip pain. I read up on it and it's the elastin hormone that allows my hips to spread to make room for the baby...but it also allows them to compress due to the pressure of sleeping on them. Of course, as most of you know, it becomes more difficult to sleep on your stomach as the baby grows (though I'm still somewhat able to do that if I use a leg as a sort of kick-stand) and sleeping on your back is also discouraged due to the weight of the uterus squishing some major vein or artery. So basically I must sleep on my side...and sleeping on my side hurts, which means I don't sleep well. This leads to my next complaint of being tired. So you see I'm in a vicious circle here, which I'm sure is familiar to most, if not all women who have ever been pregnant. I have a list of life grievances to discuss with God someday and pregnant women not being able to sleep has officially been added to the list. Of course I absolutely acknowledge that this pregnany has been SUPER easy and, even if it weren't, I feel so unbelievably lucky and blessed to have what appears to be a very healthy little boy growing away I can take anything uncomfortable or annoying pregnancy wants to throw my way. Not that I'm sending out invitation or anything...

Project nursery has sort of started. I have one DIY project for our guest room I need to finish before I go full steam ahead but I've at least settled on a color scheme (navy, shades of orange, grey and white) and bought an awesome rug - found on eBay for a seriously awesome deal. I'm now in the process of narrowing down fabrics for bedding and curtains as well as wall art and light fixtures. I'll start posting little glimpses here and there as we get going. If you'd like to see my brain dump, you can find my nursery inspiration pins here on Pinterest.

I do want to say a word about Matt. He is, without a doubt, the best man in the world for me and both I and this little boy are SO lucky to have him. This may sound strange but just watching him take care of our puppy makes me realize what an amazing father he is going to be. I swear, any woman who wants to test out a man's fatherly instincts should get a baby dog. He is kind even when he's fuming mad and strict without being a douchebag. He takes time every day to play and cuddle and love on Watson. Then there's the way he takes care of me...words cannot express how good he is. I've had a couple of melt downs in the past week. One was over something pretty major and relevant but the other was so completely ridiculous and trivial it makes me laugh now. That sweet man of mine treated team both as the big deals I felt they were at the time. Having him there to help reassure and comfort me, as well as make sure I had everything I needed to feel better was amazing. Of course this isn't new behavior brought on by my state of gestation, but it meant so much to me to had him be so supportive and wonderful when I felt the world was out to get me, even though it wasn't. I've said it before. Marrying Matt was the single best decision I've ever made.

So there you have it. 24 weeks down. It's gone by really fast but I can't decide if I want the next 16 to hurry up or slow down!