Pregnancy, Week 30 - The he-he-hoos & the ah-ah-hee's of Pregnancy

Physical Symptoms: Sometimes I feel like I swallowed a watermelon.  Every once in a while my stomach gets completely hard and it is somewhat uncomfortable. I have been told this is Braxton Hicks.  I call it the introduction to the last weeks of pregnancy. It has arrived. Only a handful of weeks left!

Natalie is still pounding away inside of me. Sometimes I can physically see her roll around which causes a wave like pattern across my belly.  Sometimes she gets the hiccups. And sometimes she just likes to punch me like a punching bag. Its pretty cool and I love when Chris gets to see and feel her moving.

I am starting to get really exhausted by the end of the day. It takes a lot more effort to do anything. I start off in the morning really motivated to get things done and by the time I get home I just want to rest.

But my body in general, except for the occasional ache and pain that comes with a rapidly changing body, is holding up really well. I am really lucky.

Food Weirdness: Goodbye pepperoni's. You give me too much acid reflux right now.

Size of little (girl) bug: Summer Cantaloupe

Workout: Walking and fit breaks! Thankful my work provides those opportunities during the day. Looking forward to the upcoming time change so I can start walking at night.

Preparation: Chris and I completed our Birth Education Class at a local community hospital (hence the breathing references in the title).  We really enjoyed it. The instructor (who is also a nurse) was a great communicator and also kept it real. She didn't try to sugar coat anything but told us the hard truths with jest.  I appreciated that.

I really felt the class was not only educational but a great thing for Chris and I to take together.  It sparked some great discussions and allowed up to get on the same page with the birth plans. I also feel like our love and excitement for Natalie grew just by learning more about the process and watching some of the birth videos. I never expected it to be a bonding time for us but it was!

I also took a breastfeeding class and was very happy to be informed about the process and techniques. Hoping that will be an easy transition for us.

I recommend taking the classes.Very thankful we did.

Discovery: Did you know a babies stomach is only the size and capacity of a large marble at birth? So little!

Funny Moment: Last week I was in charge of coordinating a large meeting at work. During the presentation the power went out which caused the computer with the powerpoint to shut down. My boss asked if she should get another one of our co-workers to check it out and without thinking I'm like, "no, ill do it!" So here I am crawling on the floor in front of 120 people trying to boot up the power strip. When I came up from the floor the Vice Chancellor of Housing was chuckling. I then realized why my boss asked if she should get someone else to fix the issue. Having a 7+ month pregnant woman crawling on the floor in front of 120 people probably isn't the best thing. Whooops, embarrassing.

Feelings: A couple of friends had their babies over  the weekend and for some reason that made reality hit. Natalie is coming soon. I write this blog covering the prior week so I am actually already 31 weeks. So in reality I only have 9 more weeks to go! Everyday I wake up with intense nesting feelings, make all these plans to prepare the house but then come home too exhausted to execute. Hopefully weekends will be our time to really get prepared for Natalie's arrival! She will be here before we know it.

Week 31 pic

Pregnancy, Week 29 - The Best Gifts...

Physical Symptoms: Anyone remember the children's book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"? That is me right now. HUNGRY ALL THE TIME! Also, starting to have an achy back. My long commute to and from work does not help. Looking forward to taking some time off before Natalie is due because I think my commute will increasingly become unbearable.

Natalie is kicking and punching hard! Especially after a good meal. I had a doctor's appt last week and she is developing perfectly! Also, I have some great news. Earlier in pregnancy, I had slight placenta previa which would have prevented me from giving birth vaginally and could of caused bed rest closer to my due date. Last weeks ultrasound showed that the placenta had moved up so I am good to go!

Food Weirdness: Just need more of it!

Size of little (girl) bug: Small pineapple

Workout: Just walking a lot but feeling the need to get serious about some pre-natal yoga to help with my backaches.

Preparation: We put together the pack-n-play, stroller/carseat and I received the breast pump in the mail. Did you know that most insurance covers (or mostly covers) the cost of a breast pump? Such a blessing.

I now will start having doctors appointments every 2 weeks until the last month. Then I will have one every week.

Discovery: I have gained 25pds so far. I only find out my weight gain when I go to the doctor so I don't obsess about it. I could of never imagined seeing that number on the scale! Crazy!

Funny Moment: Chris and J went out to spend some dad/son time together last Saturday and I thought I would take a "little" time to put the pack-n-play together. Two hours later I finally had that sucker together.  Luckily the hard part is over because most of the difficulty was one-time assembly but geez! Of course it took Chris about 5 minutes to put the stroller together.

Feelings: During my pack-n-play assembly I received a package at the door from Richmond, VA. When I opened it I saw a picture of my girlfriends that live in Richmond (I lived there prior to CA) and a note saying they had gathered together to have a baby shower for me. Underneath the note were gifts from them. I was in complete shock and cried (happy tears) for ummm...a while because of their gifts but mostly because of their thoughtfulness and gift of friendship.  I have truly been blessed with amazing friends throughout my life. Some of these girls I haven't even seen in years. I have spoken a lot on this blog about the fear of being lonely and changing friendships/relationships due to a new baby. This surprise gift in the mail was more than just the gift of material things it was the assurance that my growing family is supported both near and far and there will always be someone there I can count on. I am one lucky girl to have found the friends I have in my life. So grateful. So humbled. So blessed!

Natalie at 29 weeks:

Stroller:

Forever Friends:

Pregnancy, Week 28 - Babymoon

Physical Symptoms: Now that I have figured out that I can't handle too much spicy food my acid reflux has went away.  The problem now is I have a large appetite but when I eat too much my belly feels so huge and uncomfortably full. So now I am learning to eat smaller meals and more snacks. It reminds me of how I ate during early pregnancy when I was trying to ward off nausea.

Food Weirdness: Snacking and small meals.

Size of little (girl) bug: Papaya

Workout: Walking. It is getting hot here in LA (sorry east coast) and it takes me FOREVER to cool down after walking outside.

Preparation: Chris and I were able to spend some time together this past weekend on our "babymoon". We made loose plans the whole weekend because in some ways we wanted to "fly by the seat of our pants" since it may be one of the last times we are able to. We ended up spending the day in Santa Barbara shopping at the stores, driving up to a small town called Cambria (by the coast) for the night and then driving up to San Francisco as our final destination. In San Francisco, we went to Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. We stayed the night in Berkeley where we had dinner with one of Chris' HS friends and girlfriend.  It was so much fun! The next morning we met up with my step-sister and had a wonderful brunch.  We had such a great time spending it with each other and with friends/family.  We are really thankful we could get away. It reminded us to keep our marriage a priority even in the busyness of this fast changing life.

Discovery: Natalie is head down. She is practicing for her escape.

Funny Moment: Our hotel room in Berkeley was so cute and chic but there was a drifter outside playing the saxaphone for hours.  He only knew a few songs so we heard "Somewhere over the Rainbow" probably 15 times before the night was over.  Hilarious and maddening at the same time.

Feelings: Came back very refreshed from our babymoon and ready to take on the next few months which are going to be busy with weddings, showers and other friends babies being born.  What a season of celebration!

A few pics from our babymoon:

A lovely dinner with my handsome husband at Madelines in Cambria

A rainy day on the coast of Cambria

Selfie in San Francisco

This guy was was so stinking cute (literally stinky too)

You know some ice cream was consumed here!

It's a trolley!

Hotel Lobby in Berkeley. So chic!

Pregnancy, Week 27 - Acid Reflux

Physical Symptoms: One of the less glamorous symptoms of pregnancy is acid reflux.  Little babe's nest has pushed around all my organs so my stomach, intestines, etc are basically in my ribs.  As you can imagine this disrupts the digestion process.  This week I have experienced lots of acid reflux. I mostly have reactions to spicy food which is so sad because I love spicy food.  On Monday I ate chips and salsa and regretted it even 24 hours later! Luckily, dairy doesn't seem to bother me, so I can continue downing buckets of ice cream.

Food Weirdness: Goodbye (for now) Spicy Foods :(

Size of little (girl) bug: Bunch of Bananas?!?! (umm okay...I'm starting to think comparing a baby to food is a bunch of bananas)

Workout: Walking at lunch and continuing to join in fit breaks at work. I have slacked off doing any extra workouts though.

Preparation: We received the first thing off our registry! The Pak 'n Play! Thanks Dad and Frances! Also, we have a babymoon coming up. Cant wait to report back about our adventure.  Grateful to be able to take a mini-vaca with Chris before Natalie arrives.

Discovery: Natalie's wrinkles are now starting to disappear and she will start packing on fat...as will I!

Funny Moment: Not really any funny pregnancy moments this week but Chris and I are currently watching Friends (maybe borderline obsessed) on Netflix which has provided much laughter. Whom-pow!

Feelings: Emotionally in a good spot this week and feeling more bonded to Natalie now that she is kicking me around. Maybe I'll call them "love taps."


End of Week 27 Picture: