33 Weeks - A Durian Fruit OR A Squash

October 30, 2014

Photo Thoughts: This week's fruit was a Durian Fruit, and I have no idea where one would find such a fruit in Houston.  Plus, I think this is a smelly fruit, and I just don't want to deal with that anyways. So I figured that a squash was close enough in size (and in season!), so I went with that.  Oh, and that's an ice pack I'm holding on my head in the last photo.  More on that later.  

How I'm Feeling: Same. Good. No complaints from me.  Well, no pregnancy related complaints anyways. 

Baby/Bump: Baby is pretty busy in there this week- he's opening and closing his eyes, trying to coordinate breathing with sucking/swallowing (which might explain the hiccups I felt last week), and his bones are hardening (which also might explain why his little kicks and jabs are getting a lot more uncomfortable).  

Symptoms: My back still gets very sore by the end of the day, especially if I have been on my feet a lot.  It's nothing unbearable, but it's definitely not fun. Even though I've been getting pretty bored at my job recently, I am SO glad to have a job like this during pregnancy where I sit at a desk most of the day.  I can't imagine how much more pain I would be having if I was teaching this year and constantly on my feet and on the move.  

Weight: Forgot to weigh in this week. Womp.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: I'm still really into OJ in the mornings, and I'm also really into peanut butter now. An English Muffin with PB is my go-to breakfast these days.  

What I'm Missing: I've been doing totally fine sleeping on my side, but sometimes I do just wish I could lie down on my stomach... even just for a little bit.  I catch myself sometimes walking into our bedroom and having the urge to just kind of throw myself onto the bed stomach first... but I can't, obviously. Soon enough.  

Sleep: Still good! Although I did wake up one night this week with the worst charlie horse cramp in my calf.  I sat straight up in bed and woke David up with all my thrashing about trying to get the cramp to stop.  Those things hurt so badly, and I was sore for the next couple days because of it. Supposedly leg cramps can be pretty common at this point in pregnancy though.  

Exercise: I'm still going to my prenatal Pilates/Barre class a couple times a week, and I'm also trying to do some of the videos from Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred 2-3 times a week.  I definitely have to modify the moves, but I love that the workouts are short and that I can do them at home.  

Movement: Lots!  And I can definitely tell that he is getting stronger with those kicks and jabs. I love feeling him move around in there- it's so crazy! But sometimes it is just SO much, that I'm like "calm down in there!"  It can get pretty uncomfortable sometimes. One day this week, I was on the freeway on my way home from work, and he was kicking me so hard, that I almost thought I was going to have to pull over since I was moving around so much to try and get him some more space in hopes of getting him to stop kicking me. Tiny ninja!  
Boy or Girl: Baby boy... I'm about to be outnumbered in our household. 

Highlights of the Week: 

-I picked out some paint samples for the nursery this week, and narrowed it down to my two favorites.  I bought samples of these two, and will try them out on one of the walls this weekend. Nursery progress- finally!  The lighting in this photo is awful- right below a yellow lamp- but I am deciding between the following two colors: right two color samples, second from the top on each.  

-Not exactly a highlight. A low light, in fact.  But worth mentioning here I guess.  This week baby boy got to experience surgery with me.  Long story, which I might write more about later, but the short version is I had my second and third basal cell skin cancers removed by MOH's surgery.  All three cancers have been on my scalp/in my hair line (the first one was about four years ago).  Luckily it wasn't super painful or invasive or anything, but it definitely wasn't fun.  And I was definitely upset about it, and quite honestly a little disappointed in myself.  Baby was just fine throughout the entire thing of course, although I did nearly pass out (that would have been a first for me), when they reclined me back in the chair for the procedure.  I guess I am officially at that point where laying on my back can make me nauseous and dizzy from the weight of the uterus pressing on a major artery.  But everything ended up going well, and I will go back in two weeks to get my stitches removed and have a final check.  I can only hope that this is the last time I have to deal with this AND I REALLY hope that my son will never have skin problems like his mom.  

32 Weeks - A Squash (Pumpkin)

October 23, 2014

Photo Thoughts:  A pumpkin is a squash, right?  I'm still having fun going through all these baby shower gifts- these baby chucks are a current favorite. I can't believe I will have my very own tiny human to wear these soon!

How I'm Feeling: In general? Good- can't complain too much.  But I am definitely starting to feel the effects of this protruding belly and that changing center of gravity putting stress on my body.  My back is pretty achy by the end of each day. 

Baby/Bump:

-Bub is starting to get cramped in there with less and less room to move around.  Babies are often in the head down position at this point, which was confirmed by my OB this week. 

-The bump is doing it's thing.. growing.  I'm not really sure what else there is to say about that...

Symptoms: It is definitely getting harder to be on my feet for extended periods of times.  Luckily, at work I am sitting at a desk the majority of the day.  So it's really in the evenings when I'm cooking or on the weekends when I'm doing lots of cleaning (ha!), errands, etc. that I start to feel the discomfort.  Sometimes on the weekends, I definitely think I overdo it with lots of bending over to move or clean things, laundry, and getting all the other things done I don't do during the week.  It's pretty obvious when I overdo it, because I pretty quickly get a bad backache and my stomach gets super tight and feels like it's in knots or that the baby is all balled up.  The baby usually kicks a lot after this, like he is mad at me or something.  Rightfully so, I guess. But if I lay down and drink some water, I usually feel better pretty quickly. 

Weight: +0.5 from last week. +23 pounds total.  I can deal with that. 

What I'm Anticipating: I got the invitation for my Houston baby shower in the mail this week!  I am so excited, and can't wait to see a lot of friends and old co-workers that I haven't seen in quite a while.

What I'm Stressing About/Worries: Same. Old. Thing. The ever-growing To Do List, and the never really progressing rate at which things are being crossed of that list.  I finally cracked down on myself this weekend and made myself clear out the nursery. During the move and unpacking process, the poor little nursery had basically become the dumping grounds/catch all for things that I hadn't found a home for yet or for things that I wanted to get rid of.  When people would ask me how the nursery was progressing I would send them these pictures saying things like "look how pretty the crib that I picked out is" (that giant box shoved behind the front door. And, "get a load of this pinworthy nursery!" I always thought I would be one of those moms who LOVED designing and creating the perfect little nursery, but it turns out I'm just not.  And sometimes I feel kind of guilty and down on myself about it, but hopefully something will come together eventually.  

But after this weekend, the nursery looks like this. Ready for baby, right? :-) 

Oh, and I still can't believe I have a closet full of baby things!  More organization is still needed here, but it's so fun to see all these baby things together in his closet.  

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: I'm big into Orange Juice in the mornings now. So good.  I was never really a huge juice person in general, but OJ is a must in the mornings now. 

Sleep: After just a week, I've already abandoned the body pillow.  It was just bugging me more than anything, and I would wake up to find myself sleeping on my side with my back TO the pillow.  Obviously it just wasn't doing anything for me.  So I'm back to just hugging a regular-sized pillow on my side night, and I am perfectly happy- and well-rested.  David's glad there's no longer the equivalent of a third person in the bed anymore. 

Exercise: I am really enjoying the prenatal pilates/barre class I found!  It's a really good workout (half the class is cardio), and the stretching feels so great, too. I usually do that twice a week, and TRY to go to Zumba on Wednesdays and/or Saturdays, but that's just not happening as much (or as easily) as I would like it to.  It was so easy when I could just walk to the gym for that class. 

Movement: I felt baby hiccups for the first time this week AND I even managed to get a video of it! It was the strangest feeling. I swore I wouldn't share bare belly pictures on my blog, but I just have to share this little hiccup video. 

Boy or Girl: XY

Highlights of the Week:

-I had a great 32 week OB appointment.  It's fun going every two weeks now, and I really like my doctor.  I am SO glad I was kind of forced to switch doctors and practices.  This week I asked her if she could tell his position/orientation, since I never really seem to be able to identify that on my own.  She said he is head down (!!!) with his back along my left side.  That explains all the kicks I've been feeling on my upper right side, since that must be where his little feet are. 

-The neighborhood mom's group that I joined had a fun little "Moms' Night Out" dinner this Friday.  I was nervous to go since I didn't know anyone, and kind of felt like a mom imposter, since I'm not technically a mom just yet.  But I was so glad I went.  There were about 8 girls there, and they were all so nice.  We tried a new restaurant in the neighborhood, and enjoyed some great food, drinks (lemonade for me), and had fun just being around a group of females my age.  I'm really glad I went, and I'm hoping maybe there will be one more before the baby comes!