Thirty-Eight Weeks.

My sweet baby girl,

Time is getting closer! Family has officially put my on watch-every-move-she-makes-she-might-go-into-labor mode, and while it's a little bit frustrating to make sure I don't breath too heavily, or look like I'm in pain at any time, I know they're all super excited for your arrival and want to help as much as they can. Texts are coming daily from various family members asking how we're feeling. Daddy and Grammy ask every day if I've had any contractions yet, and how I'm feeling. I have to make sure I post regularly to Facebook so that people know I'm not in labor yet. I still haven't quite decided if I'm going to post anything when I go to the hospital - I'm kind of hoping it's at night so that we don't really have to tell anyone, but I know you run the show, not me. 

Each morning I wake up and wonder if today will be your birth day, or at least the day my labor started. You seem to be quite comfortable in there though. I'm definitely ready to meet you. It's not that I'm sick of being pregnant, or I'm so uncomfortable I'd do anything to get you out, I'm just excited to start this new chapter of our lives. I wouldn't endanger you by asking for an induction just because I want to meet you, and if I was told I'd need to be pregnant for another month, then I would be perfectly content with that. I'm just so EXCITED! Sure, Daddy and I might be trying some things to get things a-movin' but I will appreciate every day I can, and be as prepared as I can for you.

I had a midwife appointment on Monday, and she did an internal exam. I don't think she expected any progress at all, but you proved her wrong - I'm already 1 cm dilated. She did say the cervix is pretty thick though. I know that's not much, but you're lower than she expected. She warned me that the exam might be really uncomfortable because you might be up so high, but then said "oh, she's right here" pretty quickly. Everyone I told was really excited, and I am too! I know that doesn't mean a lot, but it's nice to know that things are moving in the right direction, especially since I don't think I've had any Braxton-Hicks contractions at all. Every once in a while, I get a quick gas pain like feeling, or my belly gets rock hard, but then it goes away pretty quickly. I'm not sure if they're considered contractions, but that's the only labor symptoms I've had, I think.

My fingers are a bit swollen, rings have been put away. I think it's just the combined warm weather & being pregnant. If I was this pregnant in the winter, I don't think that I'd have a problem with my rings. I've also retired my jeans. Yoga pants are way more comfortable anyway. I think my thighs have gotten wider during pregnancy, and I'm not sure if that's going to be a permanent change or not. We'll see.

My last day of work was this past Friday, so now my official title is stay-at-home-mom in waiting. Has a nice ring to it, don't ya think? So far this week I've done laundry, meet with two pediatricians, wrote my birth wishes, packed what I can, and wrote a list of the rest of the things I need to pack for the hospital. There's not much more I can before you come baby girl! I'd like to bake some banana bread or muffins or something to take to the hospital for the nurses/doctors/midwives, but if I don't do that then it's quite alright. I really need to do some yoga, too. I've been doing my pelvic rocks and squats with no problem, but I've been seriously slacking on my yoga. I should take some walks too since it's so nice out.

Oh, the midwife also said that you weigh about seven pounds, so an average size baby. I was a little worried that you'd be a big baby since I was showing so early, but she said she definitely doesn't think you're going to be massive, which is music to my ears. Great Grandma Crane said she thought I've dropped even more, so she thinks you'll be here quite shortly. The pediatrician Daddy and I met with yesterday said that baby will be quiet 7-10 days before you're born, and now that I think about it, you've been pretty quiet today and yesterday. Hopefully that's a good sign? Although you've spent your time in there being quite stubborn when I try to get someone to feel you moving around, so maybe you'll just be stubborn and either come when no one expects it or come late after everyone's predictions.

Sleeping has gotten pretty rough, but now that I'm home during the day, I can sleep in. My hips are the worst. I guess the pressure of my belly makes them out of wack or puts more pressure on them so each time I wake up to pee, which is at least 5 times a night, my hips really hurt, both of them! That's my only complaint this week I think. Heartburn as pretty much stopped for the most part, it's never been too terrible. Back pain is minimal and tolerable. The worst is going to your uncle's volleyball games where I have to sit on the bleachers, but that should be over now. They lost in an intense game last night, and I was going to fully credit them if I went into labor, but I guess that's not happening today.

Guess that's really it this week. Just playing the waiting game now. I did ask the midwife how far past my due date they'd let me go and she said 10 days, which doesn't seem that long, but we'll see how that all goes. I would love, love, love if you came by your due date. This weekend looks pretty good, and next week looks awesome too! But I know it's all up to you, and I won't force you out baby girl! Everyone is just getting quite excited to meet you!

Love always,

Mommy


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P.S. if you want to make sure I haven't gone into labor yet and would like to follow me on twitter, there's a link on the right to follow me!

Twenty-Two Weeks.

Dearest baby,

My belly is growing each day, I think! I don't know if it was the shirt I wore or what last week, but I felt like my belly grew out of nowhere! I also just walked past my full-length mirror after walking on the treadmill (in my sports bra) and had to do a double take at myself because I couldn't believe my belly was that big! You finally weigh about a pound, and are about a foot in length. My weekly emails say that your skin is changing now from transparent to opaque, although you still need to put on a lot of fat! You're getting more newborn-like each week now, with your eyebrows and eyes, your pancreas is developing further, too. You're developing tooth buds under your gums, but your irises don't have any pigment yet. But unless there's some weird gene thing, you should have blue eyes. Both your daddy and I have blue eyes, in fact, Daddy's entire family has blue eyes! Your grammy (my mom) has green eyes, but your uncle, your grandpa and I all have blue eyes.

We had another doctor's appointment this week, got to hear your heartbeat (150 beats/minute), but it was a very quick visit. Your daddy and I don't ask too many questions. I'm waiting for the childbirth classes to ask most of my questions since I don't have just one doctor that I know will deliver you. I have 13 doctors and whoever is on call when you decide to come will be delivering you. So I'm going to be asking a lot of hospital policy questions during our childbirth classes. Our next appointment is February 13th, and your daddy actually isn't coming to that one! I'm a little nervous because it'll be the first one he hasn't been to, but  he has an appointment on February 14th, so I want to make sure he goes to that one. I think your Grammy will come with me to the appointment. After our appointment this week we went to try to get new ultrasound pictures, since we lost the first ones. To our surprise, they took us back and did a quick ultrasound! You didn't cooperate very well, I think you're stubborn like Mommy and Daddy, but we did get a couple pretty good pictures! Then last night I got a text from Krissy, the cousin whose house we lost the pictures at and they found the pictures! So now we have extra pictures of you! And we got to see you again!

You're definitely moving around a lot more now. I feel you multiple times during the day and I love it. Each time it puts a smile on my face, and I pause whatever I'm doing to just appreciate the blessing that God has given me in you. Each night when we lay down to go to sleep, Daddy puts his hand on my belly and waits for you to kick. I know you love him already, he can always feel you moving. I can finally feel you on the outside, too, and I've even caught a few peeks of my belly moving when you move. I can't really differentiate between kicks and moves, but it's stronger all the time. And more frequent. When we were playing Monopoly on Saturday night at your Grandma's house I felt like you were up in my ribs! I felt like I was squashing you by sitting for so long. I had to stand up once we got home for a while, but once I woke up on Sunday, it was gone. I'm sure that feeling is going to be more frequent and get worse, but that's okay.

Speaking of monopoly, we've been playing monopoly with your uncle a ton and we played for the first time with your daddy's family Saturday night. Anyways, we play Disney Monopoly, because your mommy's a weirdo like that, and I always try to get your daddy to sing a song from whatever movie he lands on just so I can have him trained to watch Disney movies with you! He actually knows most of them!

I had a dream about you last night. I don't remember much, except that you were a girl with chubby cheeks and you had your daddy's dimples! I kept giving you kisses and I was SO in love with you. You weren't a newborn, but just a few weeks/month old and you were happy and lovable and so adorable!

I'm getting a lot better with exercising; I'm making a habit of it usually 3-4 days a week. 2 days I try to jog a little bit and walk a longer distance, then the other day or 2, I just try to walk for 20 minutes, about a mile or so before I get ready for work. My food is okay, weekends are usually bad, and I'm caving to more cravings more frequently now. I still try to drink my smoothie daily, especially during the week so that I make sure I get some fruits and veggies to you! My weight gain is about +13 pounds or so, which is right on track. I haven't had any cravings for much of anything, specific or strange. I know I'm eating too many cookies, and I'm trying to limit that, but they're so tasty!

I still don't have any stretch marks (or should I say new stretch marks - I have them from when I gained weight in HS/college), and all my weight gain has definitely be all belly. No cramps, not a ton of moodiness, sleeping has been pretty good, I can't complain about much. One thing I have noticed is that the hair on my stomach is darker now! I've been blonde my whole life, in fact my leg hair is still blonde! So it's kind of weird to have dark stomach hair. Also, my belly button is like a giant black hole with my stomach stretching. I don't know if it's because I was overweight before, but my belly button doesn't seem to be turning inside out at all. Oh well.

We also finished our registry, I think, and I'm hoping to write a post on that soon. I've been obsessing over making sure that I have everything that I need, even though my shower is probably going to be very small, and I'll probably only get about 1/3 of the stuff I registered for.

Keep growing little one!

Love,

Mommy

Eighteen & Nineteen Week Update.

Dear little one,

Please don't be mad at your mommy that I didn't get a chance to write you a letter over the holidays, that doesn't mean that you come second, it means that the holidays are my favorite time of the year, and I kept thinking about how amazingly different it's going to be next Christmas with you! I could tear up just thinking about it! I'm so very excited to meet you. I get more excited every day! 

Ultrasound! Check out those long legs!

You weigh about 8 ounces now, a whole half pound! That's what the ultrasound tech said anyways. Your length is about 6.5 inches now! From the ultrasound picture you look like you have your daddy's long legs! You were quite cooperative during the ultrasound, except for the part were you completely flipped around and the tech had to find you again. Everything looks perfect on your, all your fingers and toes, your stomach and bladder, brain size and head size all looks good! You're measuring a few days behind, but that's no big deal. It was amazing to see you on the screen and know that you're really in there and there's only one of you! I told your uncle that since there's only one does he think you're a boy or girl and he said he had to think about it, but once he decides he'd be willing to bet on it. We'll see how that turns out. I'm still calling you a she and looking at girl names. Even though we didn't find the sex out at the ultrasound when she was looking at the "goods" I didn't see any boy parts and the tech said it was pretty obvious if you were a boy or girl, so even though we aren't 100%, your daddy and I are pretty sure you're a she. 

Your daddy was a little upset with the ultrasound tech though, she didn't let him come in the room with me while they were doing measurements. I got to see all your parts, she was measuring your brain, bladder, skin thickness, bone size, everything, and your daddy only got to come in at the end for a few minutes when we got the pictures. He was really upset that he didn't get to see you like I did, and he called the hospital and complained about it and they said they were sorry. 

18 Weeks!

You're moving around like a crazy person, too! We had our last doctor's appointment on December 21st and although I didn't love the doctor we got to hear your heartbeat again! The nurse asked if I had been feeling you move around yet and I said no, but she said there's plenty of time. The next day you started moving around! I've felt you every single day since then, too! It never fails to put a smile on my face! I love just knowing that your in there and moving around and growing, can't wait until I get to hold you in my arms. But when I first felt you moving I didn't pay attention to it at first, I was sitting with your Grammy and Pappy, and your daddy. I didn't want to blurt it out because I knew your daddy would want to be the first one to know so I kept it to myself. I got two little flicks and kind of whispered to your daddy and he got all excited, and even put his iPhone down! He put his hand right on my belly because he wanted to feel you, too. But he still hasn't felt you yet, you're too quick. I haven't been able to feel you when I put my hand on my belly either. I only feel you when I sit down though, I haven't felt you while I've been standing up yet.

Present from Disney World from Grammy and Pappy.

Your mommy hasn't been very good over the holidays, eating wise. Or exercising. I was sick, so exercising was out of the question considering I couldn't breath, and holidays are always bad for eating. I need to get back on track though with the eating and the exercising though. No excuses why I can't walk every day. It's only going to get harder as I get bigger. I've been gaining a little too much weight too. It's really hard to find a balance between gaining weight for you and gaining too much weight. You're all worth it though, I just have to be a good role model for you and show you that being healthy is so important! But looks aren't everything.

Your daddy's Christmas present to me so I can
get my fruits and veggies in every day! 

Other than a growing belly, I feel good. I'm tired, but I'm always tired and I know it's going to get worse once you join us, but that's okay. I'll get used to it. I've been sleeping pretty good with my body pillow. Pregnancy brain is still full fledged, but it makes your daddy laugh. You were making my hair curly, but now it's getting dry and long. I'm thinking that I'll chop it once your born, it'll be easier to take care of then! My dry eyelids aren't too bad either, a lot better than they were, and I still have acne, so I guess you're taking all my good looks! I know I definitely look pregnant, strangers are starting to look at my belly, granted with it being winter, I wear a jacket and you can't tell as much, but I got lots of compliments at Christmas. I love being pregnant, I really do, it's such a blessed experience, and it's worth all the nausea, all the hormonal imbalances (which your daddy is standing quite well I might add), because every little kick or flutter I feel makes me realize that it's all worth it!

19 weeks!

I'm talking to you and singing to you all the time. I try to have music on all the time so that I'll sing along. I can't complain about any other symptoms, no pain anywhere, no cramping, no dizziness. I'm still sleeping pretty good. I'm really starting to read about labor and making my wish list for it. Your daddy is going to be my labor coach and we have a ton to learn! I need to sign up for our childbirth classes pretty soon, and I'm going to order some books to read soon. I'm even going to start on a scrapbook with all the letters to you and my belly pictures each week. I hope you'll really appreciate it. I really truly love pregnancy! Thank you for giving me this experience, little one!

Keep growing and stay in there, it's freezing out here!

Love,

Mommy.

Sixteen Weeks.

Four months. That's how long I've been pregnant. Craziness! I can't believe that I'm closer to halfway than not. Half of me wants time to fly, and the other half just wants to enjoy the time that Mr. Skinny and I have as a family of two before we become a family of three.

How Baby's Growing:


Honestly, different sources say the baby is anywhere from 3 inches to nearly 5 inches, with the fruit of the week ranging from a lemon to an avocado. So take your pick. Baby is growing, with his/her bones turning from cartilage to bone, so kicking should be felt in the next few weeks. I haven't felt anything yet, but I'm hoping I'll feel it soon. My mom said that it took her forever to feel my brother and I moving. She actually started lying to people when they'd ask her because she couldn't believe she didn't feel it yet. I'm not worried yet. Fine details are developing as well, lines where the fingers and palm bend, and s/he has enough muscles to form a tightly clenched fist.

I've also read that the baby's eyelashes are growing and most of the development this week is inside the baby. His/her heart is pumping blood and the umbilical cord is completely developed. I don't know about you, but I didn't know it took so long for the umbilical cord to be developed. I kind of thought it developed almost immediately.

Source

Momma's Thoughts:

I wish we could have an ultrasound now! I want to see what my baby is doing, how s/he's moving! Some news though, the ultrasound I thought we'd be having next Wednesday? Yeah, most likely not happening. I called our insurance yesterday to find out if they help cover the cost of a breast pump and/or childbirth classes (coupon for $30 off the pump and no help for the classes where we want to take them), but I was transferred to a maternity counselor and let me tell you, she was the nicest person I've talked to in the health field since finding out I was pregnant! She totally understood why I didn't want the flu shot and just suggested I keep some anti-bacterial gel in my car/in my purse and wash my hands frequently. No judgement. Asked how I was feeling and how I was handling my pre-natal vitamin. When I told her that the vitamin's fine, I just cut in in half since it's a little big, she suggested I asked for a smaller vitamin. I didn't even think of that! Simply genius.

But she said that since we don't have a time for our ultrasound, then it probably isn't scheduled for next Wednesday. As disappointed as I am, I'm glad that I talked to her and she told us so that we have time to prepare before going to the appointment. I'm hoping I can make an ultrasound appointment as soon as I turn 20 weeks. I don't want to wait too long! I want to see what this little guy/girl looks like! I'm still trying to figure out how to convince Mr. Skinny that we don't need to find out. But now I have more time to figure that scheme out!

How I'm Changing:

Finally my weight leveled out a bit and I only gained 0.4 last week, bringing my gain up to 5.8 pounds. I'm hoping to have another small gain this week since my eating has been a bit healthier. I'm getting more comfortable in my "new" body, and I'm embracing the pregnant curves. I actually feel pregnant and feel like I look pregnant. I've even gotten a couple up and down glances from strangers, trying to figure out if I'm pregnant I'm sure. I definitely feel I've crossed over into the looking pregnant part of my pregnancy, and I don't just look fat all the time.

I got a couple good nights of sleep, and a couple nights of not so good sleep. It all balances out since I have 2 days each week where I don't work and can sleep late if I need to make up some sleep.

Like that bra in the background? It's new, it's a 36DD.
Awesome.

My acne is getting better, I suppose, but my dry eyelids have good and bad days. I think the dry, cold weather doesn't help either, but I have a loooong winter ahead of me. Oh well, I'll deal. What else can I do?

Oh, I had one last (hopefully) vomit session. Saturday morning Mr. Skinny tickled me, I coughed and my body took that as a sign that I need up dispose of the nothing that was in my stomach. I tried to control myself, and Mr. Skinny tried to help, but it didn't work. Oh well, at least it wasn't popcorn. Or ground beef. Blarg!

I also haven't felt baby move, I don't think, but I'm not worried about that yet. My mom said she actually started lying to people because it took her forever to feel my brother and I move. When I talked to the lady from our health insurance, she told me some tips and assured me that there's nothing to worry about, I still have time.


What I'm Eating:


Not too much has changed since last week. Healthy appetite is back, with a good balance of unhealthiness, like the fettuccine alfredo I made last night. But it was oh, so good. Mmm. Doesn't help that my parents brought a ton of stuff back from Disney and we're slowly eating through that.

I'm also getting a little frustrated with the things I can't eat. And the things that I don't know if I can eat or not. Like shrimp. It's Christmas and for Christmas Eve, we're at Mr. Skinny's parent's house, which is fine, but dinner consists of sandwiches (no lunch meat for me) and shrimp (questionable). Awesome. And once I make the mistake of telling Mr. Skinny what I "shouldn't" eat, he remembers it and tries to be helpful with reminding me what I shouldn't eat. I always said I was going to eat perfectly when I was pregnant, but once you're actually there, it's super hard.

How I'm Moving:


I actually moved! Once. For 30 minutes. On the treadmill. While watching Kourtney and Kim Take New York. It's my trash TV. Don't hate. Remember how I miss running? Well, I ran for probably a total of 5 minutes, split into 2 sessions. I didn't push myself and stopped when my shins started bothering me. I didn't look at the clock so I'm not sure how long I went, but the fact is I RAN! And I felt great! I was a little more tired than normal (duh, I am pregnant and haven't run is MONTHS), but I hope I can really keep this up. NO excuses. I'm home Monday and Wednesday, have a DVR full of junk to watch and I have a treadmill. Please keep hounding me on this!

Other Random Tidbits:


We took our Christmas pictures last weekend. I had a vision in my head of just taking a picture from our shins down with a pair of baby shoes in the middle, but when I went to look for shoes, I couldn't find ANY unisex shoes. So I found a onsie instead and took these shots.

The bottom one was closest to my original vision, but I thought it looked weird without our faces, so just the other two got on our Christmas card. And I sent them all out today! Go me! Granted, this is the first year that we just did a picture card and not personalized cards and I do feel a little bad about that. This might be the first of many years of that though. Thoughts?

Tell me:


What do you think about picture cards vs. personalized hand written cards?
What have you heard about shrimp during pregnancy? Do you think you followed/would follow all the "rules" during pregnancy?

We Have a Heartbeat!

I mentioned it in my 13 week update, but we had a doctor's appointment on Monday! I knew we were going to be able to hear the heartbeat and Mr. Skinny and I were super excited for that. It was a pretty short appointment, I actually lost weight since the last time I went in for my first appointment. The nurse practitioner was really nice, and wasn't even pushy when I declined the flu shot. She made sure I knew it was recommended, and asked why I didn't want to get it, but once I told her that I've never gotten a flu shot before she immediately backed off. I'm not sure why that is, but I was pretty happy with that. 

She had no problem finding the baby's heartbeat and even commented that the baby wasn't shy at all. She let us listen to it for a minute and Mr. Skinny and I couldn't stop looking at each other and smiling. The nurse practitioner actually asked if we had something to record it with, and I'm so glad that we did, I can't stop listening to this video!

It's nearly constantly on repeat any time I feel like I need a reminder that I'm actually growing a human in my body. Such an incredible sound! I actually asked my parents to listen to it (they're both severely hard of hearing), but I didn't know if I put my phone up to their hearing aid if they would be able to listen to it, and they were! I was a little surprised, but really happy that I offered for them to listen to it. So now we'll just have to count down the days until our next appointment where we can hopefully see the baby on screen!

In other news, I did finally announce it on Facebook, and I just made the cut off for my church's newsletters. Everyone seemed to be pretty excited on FB, and I know this is completely selfish, but I had nearly 50 "likes" and 25 comments of congratulations. I know it's silly, but it makes me feel special, like people actually care. My sister-in-law announced it on her FB, and then my mother-in-law did, too. I'm so glad that everyone knows now and I don't have to worry about someone leaking and finding out. I have to say, it went better than I expected it would.

I think I'll do a Thanksgiving post tomorrow with what I'm thankful for this year, but I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Tell me:


Do you put things on Facebook just so you feel special when people like them?
I'm not gonna lie, I delete statuses sometimes if no one likes them.