27 and 28 Weeks

I have noticed a huge difference in my body these past 2 weeks!  I didn't have a huge shift from trimester 1 to trimester 2- my nausea went away around week 10 and I slowly started feeling normal again.  My belly was slowly getting bigger, but I think some people just though I was fat (awesome feeling btw.. not).
Anyway, the noticeable shift from second to third trimester happened almost to-the-day.  I woke up at about 27 weeks and 4 days to WOAH, hello body changes.  Here are some things I am feeling now!

• Round ligament pain and the whole "relaxin" thing is out of control.  I seriously feel like my pelvis is broken!  Definitely not contractions, just this feeling that my hips are being ripped apart (I have had hip issues in the past so I think that makes it worse).  It mostly happens at night, or when I have been out running around all day.  When I get out of bed to pee at night, I feel like I am about to fall over!  But, sleep always makes it much better.  Been doing some stretches that have helped, too.  I think my body is finally feeling the extra weight it has to support-I carry it all in front and can definitely tell!
• Braxton Hicks!  A few weeks ago random people and the OB were asking me if I had had any and to watch for them- I always responded with "Um, I don't know?", which told me I probably hadn't had any.  They just started, too.  Nothing to write home about-maybe 1 or 2 every other night and they last maybe 20 seconds.
• I know I said this at 26 weeks but her movements!  So fun.  I used to have to lie on my back to see them, now I can see her moving while I am sitting, standing, laying down.  It's so much fun (did I already say that?).  My OB taught me how to feel and figure out how she is positioned (I'm a dummy and I just cannot tell), so we do that every once in a while.  Passing kick counts with flying colors and kicking me in the boobs still.  The dog pounced at my belly once and she kicked him back.  So cute!
• When she asks what I craved while I was pregnant (doesn't every kid do that?), it will most definitely be fruit.  I eat so much that the doctor said I could cut down a bit if I wanted to (I think I was eating 6-8 servings of fruit every day)!  I haven't been the best about vegetables (even though I really love them), so we've been changing our diet a little bit.
• We finally finished the wainscoting in the nursery, so we have just a bookshelf to build and some decorating to do!
• None of my clothes fit.  Like, we've got maybe 6 outfits going for us.  I refuse to buy anything else it is dirt cheap.  My uniform consists of leggings, a tank top, and a cardigan.  Every. Day.
• We have everything we need for the hospital now, but we have 2 more trips before the end of August (and need our luggage), so bags are not packed yet.
• We attempted maternity pics.  We might have a handful that are acceptable for use, but I cried the whole way home because I look HUGE in them.  So glad we used our own camera and didn't pay someone to do them.  Note to self- even real pregnant people don't look like the "pregnant" models in magazines!
• We have all of our baby showers this month!  Can't wait.  Showers are so much fun!  I'm going to do a post on our cloth diapers soon before we possibly get any at our showers so you can see what we purchased an how we afforded them.

As different as the third trimester feels, I just love it all.  I can't wait to meet my little girl and love her like crazy!

26 Weeks

Not much difference from last week.  This is by far my most favorite point in our pregnancy so far.  Here are the few things that stand out!

1. Her kicks are so much harder now!!  I thought they were noticeable before, but they are getting stronger and stronger!  We do our kick counts, and she is all over the place, all day long!  We can see her from the outside with almost every kick and punch.  She responds much more noticeably to sounds now, too.  The other day we were in church and I guess I was leaning over too much- she kicked my stomach so hard that she kicked my boob.  It was great!  My favorite thing still is to feel her flip over and squirm around.  I think it's because I imagine her thinking that she wants to be more comfortable in a different position and it gives her a little personality.
2. We took a birthing class Saturday at the hospital we are delivering at and had a blast.  I will post about it later.  But, I cannot imagine going into this birth having not taken it!  Also enrolled in their breastfeeding class and realized-uh-we have a lot of preparing to do in the next few weeks!
3. I had an OB appointment and I have gained 25 pounds!  I almost died.  She said I was doing great and right on track, keep doing what I'm doing.  What?  Weird to hear that for sure!  As long as we both are healthy, I don't care.  I can work on it later =).  Everything is measuring right on track!  I go back at 28 weeks for my glucose test, RhoGAM shot (lucky me!), and another prenatal appointment.  We have officially graduated to appointments every 2 weeks.  I can't believe how blessed we are to be here.
4. We had our 3d ultrasound after our prenatal appointment and it was so amazing.  It was more stressful than I had anticipated for sure.  Our little Lady was facing my back and snuggling in to take a nap, so it took some coaxing to get  her to turn for a picture.  So, our ultrasound was an hour of the tech trying to get her to flip and me worrying that we had wasted our $180.  We got some great video in 2d of her "breathing", her heart beating, and her just kicking away.  Here are some of the pictures we got- she has my nose for sure!  Going to be a beauty, cannot wait to kiss her!

Kisses!

 Absolutely adore her.  It is hard to believe this is real.  Feeling so lucky to be this girl's Momma.

25 Weeks

How far along:  25 weeks, 6 Days (ya, squeeze this in before I switch over weeks!)

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  I don’t even want to know.  I have an OB appointment Thursday, so I guess we will see then.  I feel like I have been eating pretty healthy, except for the occasional treat-but nothing out of the ordinary.  I eat a ton of fruit!  But, I am obviously growing a child in there, so it is hard to guess.

Maternity Clothes:  We have reached a whole new stage on this one.  Clothes that fit my bump before are starting to-well-not fit!  I always thought I would be the kind pregnant lady that always dressed so cute and wore cute maternity clothes.  And, while I think it is so fun to dress up the bump (I love it!), I hate spending money on maternity clothes.  I don’t mind if it’s something I can wear with leggings post baby (and I mean after that weird still-pregnant-looking stage), but I would so much rather buy the baby things with that cash.  I was going through my closet the other day and was looking at my pre-pregnancy summer clothes and thought, “I fit in this at one point in my life??”  Crazy.

Emotions:  Um, yeah I threw a fit the other night and literally ran away from Daniel in the living room and threw myself on the bed and cried.. because Daniel wasn’t hanging something right in the nursery.  What. The. Heck.  He was so sweet, too (God, I love him!).  He came in and asked-in the most tender voice ever-what was wrong that day because I wasn’t being myself.  We solved the issue.  Emotions back to normal.

Stretch Marks:  I have two tiny ones by my belly button!  I don’t mind- not like I ever showed my belly anyway!  Daniel doesn’t see them, but I think I do.  I have been pretty meticulous about the cocoa butter, so I have only had one instance of itching and it went away as soon as I used my belly butter.

Sleep:  Yuck.  I regained a lot of energy once I hit Tri 2, but it’s starting to fade again.  I try and get a nap in when I can, but I have been nesting so hard that it rarely happens.  I flip flop a lot during the night and of course have to pee a lot, so I feel like the Lord is preparing me for the sleep pattern I will have when the baby comes (love every bit of this!).  And, I don’t want to wake up Daniel so I don’t flush until morning.  Is that sick or what?  I have clogged the toilet once or twice because of it… and have sadly gotten out of the habit of flushing all the time now.  I disgust myself.  Really, how my husband loves me is a mystery to me!

Best moment of the week: Finishing her crib bedding. It makes everything so real-I can just imagine her in there, sleeping in her jammies.  We have made a lot of progress on the nursery over the last week or so, and it makes me so excited.  I want to spend time in that room.  I want to make memories in that room.  I want to use that room!  It makes me so happy to be in there, from the amount of sunlight it gets to the colors and décor.  I love it!  We still have a lot to do.  I will blog about the nursery more… soon.

Movement:  Wow!  Lots.  My OB visits are off because of our vacation in May and by the time I see them Thursday it will have been 6 weeks, so I need to ask about kick counts.  But, I freaked out a few weeks ago because I totally forgot I was pregnant (which actually happens ALL the time.  I wake up and feel my belly to make sure I still am!) and threw myself onto my bed, belly first.  Um, not okay.  I cried for a little bit and told Daniel that I crushed her.  I knew it.  I had crushed her and killed her.  She was moving the next couple of days, but it just felt “deeper” if that makes sense, like not right under my skin like before.  So, of course, they didn’t feel as hard.  But, sure enough, 4 or 5 days later it went back to normal.  We have noticed more patterns in her movement, like moving when she hears music, or her Daddy, or when I am moving- she almost immediately flips over if I lay on my back.  We can see it from the outside of my belly, which is so fun!  She wakes me up kicking and, one night, I didn’t get any sleep from 3 am on because she woke me up and was kicking that hard until morning.  Thanks, girl.  I was so tired that day, but it was the best feeling in the world.  Just knowing I get to have this baby, that she is part of me and part of the person I love most in this world, and that she is all ours brings tears to my eyes!  I enjoy pregnancy so much more than I ever could have imagined-and I imagined I would love it.

Food Cravings:  I really wanted some spicy hummus this week.  It’s so yummy.  We sweet sis-in-law and I had some awesome middle eastern food at the farmers market downtown the other weekend and had the. Best. Hummus ever… so I think that’s what did me in. I crave cheese a lot.  And I eat it. 

Gender:  Girl.  Yippee!

Labor Signs:  I don’t think so.  It is definitely hard to decipher what twinges are having not been this pregnant before.  I don’t know what it’s like to not have trouble conceiving a baby, or not to lose a baby before having a relatively successful pregnancy so far-I just know what has happened to us, and both of those things did.  So, for us, that means little things that are “ok” during this point in pregnancy just cause us anxiety that something will happen, and we don’t enjoy them!  Just trying to keep her cookin’ for a few more months and nesting in the meantime =)

Belly button: In, but it’s coming out!  SO weird.  And my stupid piercing scar is just disgusting.  Thank you 14-year-old-self.

What I miss:  Subs, still.  I am sorry, but I love hoagies.  Otherwise, I miss nothing.  I am looking forward to getting my normal body back (as much as I can), but I know I will miss feeling her kick in my belly, and I don’t want to rush any point of my pregnancy.  I can’t wait to meet my girl, but I love every bit of where she is now =)