Three Months Old

First time rolling over from her tummy

Aubrey will officially be three months old tomorrow. She is really blossoming into an active baby these days. She now loves tummy time and sometimes prefers to lie on her stomach and gets upset if she accidentally rolls onto her back. When she was smaller she absolutely loathed being on her stomach since she could barely hold up her head, poor thing. Tummy time really does feel like you are torturing your child in the beginning! Now she kicks her little legs and smiles until eventually rolling herself over onto her back.

Getting updated on current events while watching The Today Show

She is becoming a very vocal kid. Michael and I joke that she got the talking gene from her Uncle Stephen and Grandpa Randy. She has a surprisingly loud voice and blabbers to any person (or stuffed animal) that will listen. She even likes to talk while eating, we’ll have to work on the “no talking with your mouth full” thing later on.

Sorry the above video is huge!  I couldn’t figure out how to resize it. I know I talked about how Aubrey was a scream machine for the first few weeks of life and mentioned how us learning more about her needs and wants was the first step in making our baby happy. Well, I can’t believe I neglected to talk about the other piece of our happy baby puzzle: ACID REFLUX MEDS! Aubrey has always been an overachiever in the spit-up department. This girl would go through three outfits a day and I cursed at burp cloths for being so nonabsorbent thinking “who the F designs these pieces of crap!?”, “how is this tiny burp cloth supposed to catch all of this puke? Imposible!” After awhile I just accepted the fact that my child was a big spitter upper, always had multiple burp cloths in reach,  got used to changing both of our outfits a few times a day, and even washing the puke out of Aubrey’s hair almost every morning, it became normal. Then one day home girl decided to not just spit up anymore, but vomit. And not just any vomit, PROJECTILE VOMIT. The best kind right? She started shooting puke three feet away from herself. If she was laying on her back puke would shoot out like a volcano. She did it three times in one day and I decided to call the doctor. The office wanted us to come in that evening after I shared our puke stories; she was diagnosed with acid reflux and started on meds immediately. Lo and behold I had a non-puking baby after that, she didn’t scream at my boob in anger anymore (because she wasn’t in pain), and I realized that burp cloths really can work as long as you have a baby with normal bodily functions. Her medication did seem to not be working as well in the last couple weeks so I took her in the other day to get a weight check and new dosage amount. The little nugget gained one whole pound in three weeks! An average weight gain is about 1/2 an ounce per day, which would have equaled a gain of 10 ounces in 20 days but she went above and beyond and gained 16 ounces instead. Her doctor was pretty surprised. Unfortunately they didn’t measure her length because I’m pretty sure she has stretched out a whole lot more too.

Lately I have been getting more and more anxious about dreaded sleep training. Technically you are “supposed” to begin at 4 to 6 months, but I decided to get Aubrey accustomed to her crib a bit earlier. She has been sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed for the last month. Before that she slept in our bed almost every night, definitely not ideal, but I’ll admit I like having her there to snuggle. Now she sleeps in her bassinet until her first very early feed around 4:30 or 5:30 which is technically morning meaning cuddle time is a go. It’s been really hard to break myself of the selfish want to hold her all the time. In the beginning she wanted to be held 24/7 but now she is perfectly capable of sleeping or hanging out solo. It’s been surprisingly hard to allow this, I have to actively tell  force myself to put her down for her nap, after all she gets a better sleep when she’s not in my arms. Back to this crib situation though, the past few nights we have put her to sleep in her crib for bedtime, she has gone down surprisingly easy and fallen asleep in there by herself. She then wakes up hungry at 10 or 11 and I feed her and put her to sleep in her bassinet beside our bed. This might sound like a funny routine but there is some logic, and also some laziness behind it. I want her to slowly get used to her crib and as she starts sleeping for longer stretches, she’ll stay in her crib for a longer time period gradually. She can fall asleep on her own but cannot put herself back to sleep yet which is why I transition her to the bassinet once she naturally wakes up for her first nighttime feed. I would like to keep my sanity and can’t yet wrap my head around having to go to her room twenty times a night because her paci fell out. So until she masters putting herself back to sleep, the bassinet is our friend. She learned by herself how to fall asleep on her own, without the assistance of me rocking, singing, or nursing her to sleep so I’m hoping she can learn how to soothe herself back to sleep too. There is no way I could ever allow her to cry it out until she falls asleep. We seriously have the loudest screamer and crier of all time, and she works herself up so hard she is dripping sweat, I just can’t. I have seriously read about people who allow their kids to cry it out until they throw up. That is the weirdest fucking thing I have ever heard and can’t imagine doing that to Aubrey.

I am so looking forward to April! There are a lot of great things this month, my sister and dad’s birthday, springtime, Navy Birthday Ball, and my mom is visiting! She gets here in just over a week and I’m so excited to have her hang out with her granddaughter who she hasn’t seen since she was about 4 days old. We have been chatting on face time a lot so hopefully Aubrey will recognize her voice at least.

I bought a storage tote this week and put all of the newborn and some of the 0-3 month clothes in it that Aubrey doesn’t fit into anymore. I also had her try on her newborn Christmas beanie and it’s super tight! I remember there was so much extra fabric hanging off her head as a newborn, now I can’t even pull it all the way down her little head. Still looks cute though, even with a mismatched shirt! Until next time, thanks for reading!
xoxo

The Hiatus is Over!

Hi friends! I’ve spent a long time away and have received requests to pick up blogging again, so let’s all celebrate my triumphant return! Seriously though, let’s really celebrate that I have finally have developed a schedule for myself and baby A that allows me to get things done. A is 9.5 weeks old today and our days have become filled with more smiles and a whole lot less tears. Warning: the following is a raw account of my personal experience with a newborn, if you just want to see pictures, feel free to scroll past the text.

The first six weeks or so of having Aubrey home was pretty hard. I thought I knew being a Mom was hard work, but I had no idea. I think the most overwhelming part was having the expectation of myself (and therefore thinking others shared this expectation of me) that I would instantly know what to do as a parent and be great at it. WRONG. It took just over six weeks to start getting the hang of things. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I had her diapers on backwards and fed her pizza, it took six weeks to understand what she needed from me and when. I went back and forth as to whether I should write about how things have really been or sugarcoat life with a newborn and just post cute pictures. Then I realized the reason I had the expectation that things would come naturally for me and that the love for your child is so deep that every day is filled with unicorns and rainbows, is because that is the message I had perceived from the edited accounts of motherhood I had read before. Sure, the occasional “being a mom is hard work” was thrown around, but that statement was basically brushed aside by pictures of beaming moms with their beautiful newborns, and the idea that a mother’s love would conquer all. In reality, sometimes your baby is upset and nothing you try will cease the blood curdling screams that cannot possibly be coming from a mere mortal, let alone a 7 pound infant. And guess what? You feel frustrated, really frustrated. Then, you feel guilty for feeling frustration towards the baby that you should only ever feel endless love for. The first couple weeks were basically a battle between frustration, and then guilt. It was really hard not knowing what to do and having a baby who really does have the loudest baby scream of all time.  In those weeks, I wish that I had known it is okay to feel frustration, and other moms feel it too! And that’s why I decided to share my real accounts in parenthood, and not just countless photos of my baby girl.

I really think Michael and I lost at least 40% of our hearing ability in her first month of life. Hearing other babies get mad sounds like a tiny kitten crying. I even googled, “baby is always angry when awake” for the hope that there might be a miraculous cure to end her crying or perhaps an online tutorial outlining what my specific baby wanted. I found no answers. After six weeks and lots of trial and error, we finally started to understand what Aubrey wanted and when, and now that she trusts her needs to always be taken care of, her tiny cries rarely turn to screams. It’s all about getting to know your baby and that takes time and practice! We can run errands together and she’ll happily look around the store from her stroller or baby carrier, and I can shop without the nagging anxious thought that a baby meltdown could happen any second.

Aubrey tagging along on our trip to Costco

These days, we actually have a nap schedule (thanks to the handy chart found here)! Naps mean I can get things done such as: write blog posts, shower, eat meals, etc. A two month old baby is much less difficult and much more fun. Little A’s personality is really starting to come through. She has become very vocal and really likes “talking” to her toys, especially her new Minnie Mouse courtesy of her Grandpa Nacho. After looking back at her newborn photos today it’s amazing how much she has changed already. At 9 weeks she is 10 pounds, 6 ounces and 24 inches long (that’s 6 inches longer than birth!). She smiles A LOT, it really is the best thing to wake up to, especially after a poor nights sleep. I’ll be sure to make more posts now that things have calmed down over here; posts complete with spit-up stories and cute photos, always.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo

She’s Here!

          

Aubrey Noël Head joined us on December 30th, 2013! Right at midnight on the 30th I woke from sleep and after lying awake for about five seconds I felt a tiny gush, jumped out of bed, and my water broke as my feet hit the floor. Luckily, Michael awoke easily when I loudly whispered his name, he’s typically a hard sleeper. Sometimes you’ll even think he is awake but realize he’s not when he responds with a some sort of jumbled sentence that makes no sense. He jumped out of bed as quickly as I had and exclaimed, “Let’s do this!”. For a minute though we both stood dumbfounded and contemplated how I could make it to the bathroom and not get our area rug wet; sprinting across did the trick! Maddie was less than amused with the midnight wakeup call and watched from her doggie bed as we excitedly grabbed extra items for the hospital bag. I was able to take a shower before heading to the hospital since it’s only a ten minute drive and my doctor said I had an hour or two before I needed to head in. Around 2am we pulled into the main entrance of the hospital and I waddled halfway across the parking lot before realizing the lights were off and we should have used the ER entrance. As I turned to go back to the car my water broke again and I was instantly freezing as my soaking wet pants were hit with twenty degree air.
Once in the hospital I was actually able to be in a private room immediately versus having to experience early labor in triage, which has about six beds in a room. I was having contractions that were fairly painful and was thinking “this isn’t so bad”; Michael and I even slept for a few hours. My doctor didn’t come in until 7:30am and told me I wasn’t in active labor and would be started on Pitocin to jumpstart progress. I was started on 2 milliunits per (I think) minute, and I was told 20 milliunits was the highest the dosage would be turned up to. Every thirty minutes my dosage was increased by two, and the pain was increased by ten. I have no recollection of time, dosage, or who was in and out of my room really because my eyes were so tightly shut from the agony. On a pain scale from 1-10, at about a 6 I asked if I could have something to “take the edge off” and was given a dose of Stadol which is basically a painkiller that makes you feel shitfaced. I was the dizzy equivalent of drinking 4 jack and cokes and even threw up like a real-live drunkard. The good part about Stadol is it makes you pass out like a drunk, the bad part about Stadol is it does not take the edge off the pain. In fact, I don’t think it’s even possible to take the edge off of contraction pain. Instead, during a contraction I would attempt to “breathe through it” like my nurse said to do and squeeze the shit out of my hospital bed rail until passing out for 4 to 5 minutes until the next one. I would fall into such a deep sleep for these few minutes that I even remember dreaming.

By noon I was in the worst pain of my life and it was officially time to wave my white flag. I asked  begged for an epidural but apparently anesthesiologists need lunch breaks too so I had to wait about half an hour before he even stepped foot in my room. During this time I was still in a drunken stupor from the Stadol and was positive that all the nurses were lying to me and no anesthesiologist would be coming to my aid EVER. You better believe I let everyone know this too. One of my worst fears about getting an epidural was the part where they stick a giant needle into your back. While in labor though, this needle sounded absolutely blissful and I couldn’t wait for them to stab it into me. The worst part of getting it is just how long the process takes, they have to do so much prep work while in the meantime you’re told to sit as still as you possibly can while experiencing what feels like the jaws of life slowly separating  your entire pelvis into two parts. My body would shake pretty violently through the pain of each contraction so it took most of my strength to keep completely still during the process. I was eight centimeters dilated once the medicine started pumping into me. I could still feel pain in the form of pressure in my right butt cheek, which actually came in handy when it was time to push because I was still aware when a contraction was coming while being relatively pain free. The epidural allowed me to wake up in a sense, and for the first time in hours I was able to open my eyes and talk to Michael. He seemed ecstatic to have someone to talk to, he had been sitting in a corner for nearly twelve hours at this point and passed the time by watching YouTube videos by himself. By 3pm it was time to push and I did a few practice runs with my nurse. I actually had to stop because the baby was coming out so quickly and the doctor had to be called. With the doctor, I pushed through about six contractions or roughly twenty minutes before Aubrey was born at 3:34pm. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 18.5 inches long.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve in the hospital the next day complete with sushi, champagne, and apple cider. I always said I would have a sushi boat brought to the hospital and it totally happened. Little Aubrey was even kind enough to keep us awake until about 1:30am so we didn’t miss the ball dropping!

My favorite thing about Aubrey when she was born was her hair! I hoped our baby would be born with hair and she is so cute with her wild little mane.

    

During our hospital stay a photographer popped in and snapped some shots of our baby girl.

The first thing people seem to notice about her is how long her fingers are. No doubt she got these elongated appendages from me. I get made fun of sometimes too but I’m pretty sure people are just jealous that my pointer finger is approximately 20% more accurate than that of the average person.

We’ve been home for two weeks now and luckily had a lot of help from family and Michael has taken leave from work too. Now that I am not pregnant coffee is my best friend again and I am so thankful for it. Michael has been a huge help, he changes diapers like a champ and loves cuddling with his little girl. He has even mastered playing xbox while somehow keeping baby Aubrey happy as a little clam.

The other day I was looking so forward to climbing into bed and getting a long night’s rest and then realized that luxury won’t be available to me for a long time. In fact, I have been working on this blog post for three days and am currently typing with my left hand and holding Aubrey in my right arm. With that being said though, I didn’t know I could be this happy and it makes the small sacrifices so worth it.
xoxo

9 Months Pregnant

First off, does everyone know that women get to live in pregnancy land for 10 months? TEN. 40 weeks. I am 36 weeks or 9 months pregnant now, you’d think I’d be done! But no, everything I knew about pregnancy before this was false advertising. I’ve come to the point where I don’t want to be pregnant anymore; I really want this munchkin out of me. Earlier in pregnancy I wondered what causes women to hit this point, pregnancy wasn’t so bad really. I got to trade up for bigger boobs, people let me use “employee only” restrooms and held doors open for me and Michael brings home special presents like root beer! But something has happened in the last week and a half. Suddenly it’s really hard to lift myself out of bed, I more have to roll off kinda like an elephant seal rolling back into the ocean. My energy is suddenly lower, I’m not first trimester kinda tired where I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat; but my body definitely tells me when I need to take a rest. I can usually only last about twenty minutes standing before my feet start aching really bad; I like to fight through it for as long as possible which probably isn’t the best thing to do but I don’t like the feeling of having to stop because I physically cannot do something. Stubborn much? Thanks Mom.

I regret eating so much protein these past 36 weeks because apparently there is a tiny meat head living in my womb, I imagine her doing crossfit in there and kickboxing because that’s seriously what it feels like. She is probably putting on her tiny sweatband right now so she can ninja kick me in the ribs. Her movement seems like it is constant (which is absolutely a good thing), when she is awake she is usually moving around for about 90 minutes at a time before taking a rest. Sometimes her tiny foot gets lodged behind my ribcage so that I can’t bend over. Because of this for the first time the other day I actually had to ask Michael to put on my shoes for me. I get pretty bad back and shoulder aches from time to time and they got so bad two weeks ago that I got myself a pregnancy massage. To accommodate a pregnant belly you have to lay down on this big pad that has a cutout for belly and boobs. Each boob cutout was about as big as a freaking cantaloupe with the center cleavage divider like 5 inches wide making for a generally uncomfortable experience. The face cutout was oddly small, too, usually my face fits nicely on a massage table! I left with lines on my face, smushed tarantula looking eyelashes and a still sore shoulder. Sad day!

Michael and I took advantage of this holiday weekend by doing major home organization and hitting up Black Friday sales (online of course) for some baby gear. We seem to have the essentials in place enough so that if she arrived today we could definitely manage but I still feel like there is so much to do; I’ve had a ton of anxiety lately and Michael keeps reassuring me that we have the staples we need and everything will be fine. I know that even if we had 100% of the items we registered for, I would still feel like something is missing, maybe it’s the actual baby? The room is about 95% done and should be complete by the weekend so I can take pictures to post.

In 6 days I will be 37 weeks, full-term and able to safely deliver a baby whenever the heck I want, or she wants I guess. I asked my doctor if the fact that our girl has been consistently two weeks ahead of schedule size-wise will make an earlier delivery likely and he laughed at me and said no. Awesome. I usually don’t even ask questions and the one time I do the asshole laughs at all of them, if he delivers my baby he’s in for a real treat. People have asked if I like my doctor, there are actually four doctors at the practice I go to and any of them can deliver the baby. I have been seeing each of them throughout the pregnancy and I’d be happiest with 2 out of the 4. One of those is the first doctor I saw and had brought a female friend with me to the appointment. He asked if she was my lesbian lover and I had left my husband after getting pregnant. I appreciate that kind of humor and I think he would be the perfect fit. I once had a little tumor removed from my collarbone and the doctor who removed it exclaimed “It’s a boy!” when he finally got it out. Again, much appreciated! I’d rather have it lighthearted than super serious, assuming everything is going fairly smoothly of course.

I’ve been thinking of chopping off my hair for faster blow-drying after the baby is born. Thoughts?!

How far along? 36 weeks
How big is baby?  Honeydew melon, 6 pounds and 18.5 inches
Miss Anything? A normal size body, not peeing all throughout the night
Sleep: Good night’s rest maybe once a week. Usually I sleep for a few hours and then am wide awake for about two hours before falling back to sleep.
Movement: Crazy movement that you can see from a distance as my stomach morphs into shapes that it shouldn’t be.
Food cravings: Dairy! Mainly in the form of hot chocolate and whipped cream
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: Last week I had braxton hicks for one entire day, like 8-10 an hour. That’s about it.
Symptoms: Backache, sore feet, “hangry” spells.
Belly Button in or out? I don’t even know what the hell my belly button is supposed to look like anymore.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Sometimes I have the urge to punch people in the face
Looking forward to:  LABOR AND DELIVERY
Upcoming appointments/events: Tomorrow, 36 week checkup

Entering the Home Stretch

I can’t figure out if my belly looks like it dropped in this picture or its the stripes of my shirt throwing off the visual.

As of today, the maximum amount of time I have left carrying this little baby is ten weeks, and I hit full-term in just six weeks. I already feel like those are such small windows of time, but I think they will go even more quickly because the holidays will be in full swing as of tomorrow! Pregnancy is still going fairly smoothly. I have trouble sleeping sometimes because my back or hips ache and I have to constantly flip to my other side. But there are other nights where there is no pain at all, either way I still get up about four times to use the bathroom. My back hurts the most when I sit on our couch, I think because it’s too soft and doesn’t provide enough support for me. I often ended up sitting on the floor. That is until I found this super awesome wearable heat pad.  I warm up the included pack in the microwave and it makes my back feel so much better! I had my glucose test last week and no gestational diabetes here! I was a little nervous. The stretch marks have come in full force, I guess there really is no escaping them. I have two patches of multiple marks on either side of my lower belly, they seem to be low enough to be hidden by my pantline.  Either way I keep hydrating with my oils and creams so hopefully they wont become really severe.  With my preparation time dwindling, my to-do list this weekend involves getting my hospital bag together. I made this list of things I think I may want/need:

chapstick

warm robe

slippers

(3) warm socks

(3) undies

My coming home outfit

premie size baby outfit

newborn size baby outfit

baby beanie

Nikon camera & bag

extra batteries + charger

(2) phone chargers

pads

face wash

face lotion

shampoo, conditioner

hairbrush & hair bands

body soap

lotion

toothbrush

toothpaste

makeup remover wipes

makeup bag with essentials

Any input on things I might be missing? 

This past weekend Michael and I put some more decorative touches on the nursery. It looks done, but I am honest enough with myself to know that no room is ever done being decorated in my house! I have a lot of ideas I’ve been toying with in my head; for now I’ll call it functionally finished and ready for occupancy.

I am thinking about removing the slender door that you can see next to the hippo. Behind that door are some deep built in shelves. I think they would look great exposed with colored baskets for organizing blankies, clothes, books, anything really! I’d also like to get this breathable crib liner.

I also want to put some small book ledges above the glider for easy access to bedtime stories. I love these from Ikea, I have seen them used a lot for books in kid’s rooms although they are made for spices. We just need to make the hour long trip to Ikea to pick some up. Luckily there are some amazing taco trucks that operate right across from Ikea that make the trip totally worthwhile.

We spent all day Saturday making the star baby mobile together. The majority of time was spent painting multiple coats of paint and glitter on each star. After that, the assembly was fairly quick. We used a wooden embroidery hoop (two pieces) and wooden stars from Michaels. Each star is hung with a stretchy jewelry cord instead of fishing line. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to get the kinks out of fishing line since the stars are fairly light and the line wouldn’t really stretch out straight. I plan on tying purple tulle all the way around the embroidery hoop, I got too anxious to hang it up but I think it would look better with full tulle coverage.

Here is a little closeup of the Maddie portrait I talked about months ago. I finished it a long time ago and never posted a picture of it! I love the colors, it’s one of my favorite things in the room.

Here are my stats for this week:

How far along? 31 weeks
How big is baby?  A coconut! 16-18 inches long, weighing in at over 3 pounds
Miss Anything? The ability to zip up sweaters/jackets. Wearing normal clothes.
Sleep: Hit or miss, having to drink water throughout the night or I feel like I’m dying of thirst
Movement: Super strong kicks and punches, she seems to be on a regular sleep/wake schedule
Food cravings: Fresh fruit and yogurt (mixed together)
Anything making you queasy or sick: The smell of garlicky tomato sauce when washing the dishes from dinner.
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: Had my first non-exercise induced Braxton Hicks, kinda freaked me out
Symptoms: Severe heartburn
Belly Button in or out? I miss my old belly button. This one is looking really strained, it’s also lopsided.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Happy! Really giggly still, don’t know if I’ll ever be the same…
Looking forward to:  Still awaiting baby’s best friend to be born! Her due date is tomorrow.
Upcoming appointments/events: 32 week checkup next week

Nursery Sneak Peek

I’ve put so much thought on the design of this nursery. From color schemes and art work to more ambitious projects like ruffled crib skirts and baby mobiles, Pinterest has been faithfully by my side providing endless DIY ideas. Some of these I’ve wisely chosen not to go ahead with, not saying I didn’t think about making a ruffled crib skirt myself while constantly thinking about the $140 option that kept rearing its ugly, over-priced head on every nursery decor site I clicked. $140 for a crib skirt, seriously? This may be my first biological child but I am well aware that kids like to employ a cruel and unusual punishment in the form of a poo filled diaper flung across a room which inevitably leaves a spatter of that poo on everything in its path. I’ve even heard stories from my own friends who as babies smeared their own feces all over themselves, their crib and sheets. Pretty sure I would never pick up my dog’s turd with a wad of $100 bills nor will I let my baby smear their poo on the $140 crib skirt I was stupid enough to buy. Enough about poo for today, back to really cute nursery things! By the way, I haven’t even bought a crib skirt yet.

We are not quite finished with the nursery, but one side of it is at least presentable! Minus the fact that the little dresser still needs a changing pad to reach its full functionality potential, you can get a good idea of the direction this little girl’s nursery is headed.

The glider still has a tag on it being that we had just moved it into the room about ten minutes before I took this picture. But, honestly I still haven’t taken the tag off and it’s been like a week. I chose grey for the paint color because I wanted a nice neutral and I might be obsessed with grey overall. The dresser I found on Craigslist, which I posted about here, it was perfect because it was the exact hue of blue I wanted to include in the nursery regardless of if the baby was a boy or girl. We originally didn’t want a lot of pink in the nursery but I’m happy with the pops of pink the art work and some accessories have brought in. That will be the extent of that color though. Michael and I agree that we don’t want our girl drowning in a sea of pale pink that every “girl” baby item is made of. I’m sure you are wondering why the glider has been strategically placed in front of a door. Luckily that is the entry to our attic which we rarely need to access, and the glider is very easy to slide across the carpet if we need to get to the third floor. The real doorway to the nursery is the one to the right of the dresser. The rest of the nursery will be revealed as soon as we have a crib mattress and sheets! That along with a few more accessories and wall art, the space will be ready for move-in day whenever baby wants.

I am officially 7 months along or 28 weeks. I am really excited to be getting closer to my due date but my excitement was abruptly deflated last night when I discovered three tiny stretch marks. I’m still thankful to my Mama Mio tummy oil because I’m positive without it my stomach would be absolutely covered with jagged, red lines. I’m not sure when these marks popped up, I barely noticed them because they are on the bottom part of my belly which is hard to see; sad but so true. They are fairly small so I’m hoping with my continued oil and cream routine their size and overall number will stay minimal. I’m also kicking myself because I knew I hadn’t been staying as hydrated as I should be these past couple weeks. I’m back on track though and peeing five times a night to prove it.

How far along? 28 weeks
How big is baby? Eggplant; roughly 2.5 pounds, measures about 13.6 to 14.8 inches
Miss Anything? Being able to lay on my stomach or flat on my back
Sleep: Sleeping pretty well, just getting up a bunch of times to pee but easily falling back to sleep.
Movement: All the time
Food cravings: Not much of an appetite lately, the only thing that sounds really good is root beer, as usual.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing so far this week.
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: None this week
Symptoms: Really bad acid reflux, lower back pain
Belly Button in or out? Still in but stretched real tight!
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Happy. Still getting the uncontrollable giggles.
Looking forward to:  Baby’s BFF who may be born any day now!
Upcoming appointments/events: Glucose test next week, 9/22: 30 week (Holy cow!!) checkup

Hello Third Trimester

Don’t mind the smudges all over my mirror selfie

Depending on what pregnancy/baby info site you refer to, the third trimester starts between 26-29 weeks. I’m not entirely sure if 27 weeks is  the magic number but let’s just go ahead and say I’m officially done with my second trimester! I just had a small panic attack realizing that “full-term” is only 10 weeks away. The baby room is almost done, we are going to pick up the ultra comfy glider we picked out from Babies-R-Us today! My parents graciously purchased it for us and we are so thankful to get it. That means all the big furniture pieces will be in place by tonight. We just need the add on items now: mattress, crib sheets, changing pad and cover, oh and a TON more clothes, specifically onesies.

The number on the scale is reading 22 pounds higher than normal these days, so I’m pretty sure I’ll end up gaining the max 35 pounds for this pregnancy. I’m not terribly worried about it. I try to focus on the way I look and how I feel rather than the number, while keeping myself in check. I eat pretty much how I normally would with the added bowl of cereal here and there. I always want cereal these days, I think I’ve bought three boxes in the past month and I’m the only person that eats it in our house. (Confession: I just had a bowl five minutes ago.) It was a bit of a struggle to be okay with the number consistently rising on the scale and this chart really helped me purge the thought that I’m solely gaining body fat.

In other news, the nerve pain in my back is gone! I woke up one day and it was magically gone. I can walk, jog, squat, actually move at a normal pace, and SLEEP!  I’m convinced the baby shifted her position and it alleviated pressure from the nerve. I don’t know if medically that’s really how it works, but in my mind, it’s exactly what happened!  I even walked 3 miles yesterday almost 100% pain free if it weren’t from the weird nagging cramp I kept getting in my butt cheek! Don’t ask why, I have no idea. I was still happy as a clam that I could walk normally! Now that it’s taken care of, I love my snoogle. It’s like a big nest and really does keep me comfy all night long now. It also prevents me from lying on my back which is a big no-no after 20 weeks of pregnancy due to the weight of the uterus cutting off blood flow. Do I even need to say that Maddie loves “her” snoogle just as much now as she did on day one?

My next doctor appointment isn’t for a few weeks (the 30 week mark) but after that one I will have a checkup every two weeks. I had a dream last night that I gave birth to a 9lb. 4oz. baby on December 12th, which is full term so that’s great, but that baby weight! I hope that part doesn’t come true. An early baby would be nice though, so that all of our family can meet her when they fly in for Christmas.  She has been kicking up a storm lately, it’s really weird to see my entire stomach move involuntarily. She wakes me up at night and sometimes I lay there for about an hour because she is consistently kicking. I even got kicked in the kidney awhile back and it hurt like hell. I didn’t even know that was possible, but it totally is. Maddie really likes to use my stomach as a pillow and I am waiting patiently for the day she gets kicked in the face. Is that mean? I just want to see her reaction!

How far along? 27 weeks
How big is baby? Rutabaga, possibly my favorite veggie comparison yet.
Miss Anything? I really miss sleeping through the night and not lying awake in pain.
Movement: Strong kicks! I can see my entire belly moving and last night I felt the first distinct jab from the outside. It actually felt like a body part touched my hand through my belly and it really freaked me out.
Food cravings: Root Beer (still!), cereal
Anything making you queasy or sick: If I sit down after I’ve eaten breakfast the lack of room in my abdomen makes me feel like all my food is coming up. It’s terrible.
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: Got my first braxton hicks yesterday on my long walk.
Symptoms: Peeing 3 to 4 times a night, swollen abdomen (ha!), acid reflux super bad
Belly Button in or out? Still in
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Currently feeling very sleepy; I rarely have to nap these days but this might just be the day.
Looking forward to:  Picking up the glider tonight! And getting really anxious to meet this baby.

25 Weeks

Snoogle Maternity Pillow being enjoyed by Maddie

Since my last post I invested in a Snoogle pillow which is basically an oversized body pillow with weird curves on it that are supposed to make you sleep easier in a pregnant body. I thought my side sleeping with a heavy belly is what has been causing my back and hip pain. Apparently, I was wrong. I’ve been informed that my nagging “hip” pain, that is really in my love handle area on my back is actually due to my sciatic nerve. And boy does it suck. Not only has my walk evolved into something similar to that of Lieutenant Dan, my jog is non-existent. Because the dull pain is always there, sometimes I forget about it and attempt a jog, usually going after Maddie, and immediately get a shooting pain that stops me in my tracks and forces me to grasp my lower back with such drama that I should probably be cast in an AARP commercial. Luckily, my good friend Bekah is the one who alerted me that my pain is not from sleeping in a weird position and is because of this big nerve that runs down your back to your toes. The only way to ease the pain is to do physical therapy, which in my case will be provided by Youtube videos of stretches specific to sciatica. I’m hoping I find a bit of relief soon because this is seriously disrupting my sleep and general ability to get around comfortably and not at a snail’s pace. Also, it makes my butt numb.

On the positive side of happenings, my Mom was nice enough to get me an early birthday present in the form of fall maternity clothes, yay! I was most excited to order the coveted Gap Maternity Jean. I had heard great things about them but couldn’t pull the trigger with the $70 price tag, I’m more of a $40 and below kinda girl when it comes to jean purchasing. I have tried on countless pairs of maternity jeans and 9 out of 10 leave you with a crotch that either looks ten times it’s normal size with a convenient “v” wrinkle showcasing its hugeness or an equally flattering camel toe. Couple this with your new mile long and double wide ass cheeks. Up until now I had been rocking my Old Navy skinnies which were comfortable and provided me with a normal looking tush. The only complaint I had was the full tummy panel was too tight and the demi-panel (that I have) cuts my belly in a weird spot that makes me look like I’m carrying a cone head baby. Fast forward to me receiving my Gap jeans in the mail (eek!), I ordered my pre-pregnancy size and they fit perfectly! Normal butt + normal crotch + non-pointy belly = success!

Gap Jeans + Old Navy Maternity Top

I had an ultrasound this morning (officially my last with the specialist!) and our baby has continued on with her beastly growth pattern. According to a few baby websites a fetus at 25 weeks should weigh about 1.5 pounds. Our girl weighs over 2 pounds which is the supposed normal weight (according to babycenter.com) of a fetus between 27-28 weeks. Our friends like to theorize that it’s because I eat so many eggs. Basically our baby is protein loading and pumping iron in there. Seriously though, Michael decided to stop the excessive trips to the grocery store and bought me two 18-packs of eggs recently, I only have three left.
That’s all the ultra exciting news over here! I had better get to my school work and I’ll leave you with some updated stats. I switched up the questionnaire a bit just because I liked the wording better, but its basically the same. Enjoy!

How far along? 25 weeks, 3 days
How big is baby? Just over 2 pounds, about 14 inches long. According to the fruit/veggie comparison she’s a cauliflower.
Miss Anything? I really miss sleeping through the night and not lying awake in pain.
Movement: She is moving all the time, her kicks are strong enough to startle me and get uncomfortable sometimes. Especially the rib shots.
Food cravings: Root Beer, mint chocolate chip ice cream
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: Sciatic nerve pain, inability to hold down burps and trouble breathing because she is starting to crowd my abdomen.
Belly Button in or out? Still in
Wedding rings on or off? On, but a little tighter than normal.
Mood: Happy! Sometimes too happy; uncontrollable giggling and laughing so hard I cry.
Looking forward to:  Our baby girl’s friend (she just doesn’t know it yet) being born in the next month to six weeks!

The Best and the Worst

Amongst family and friends it’s been no secret that my pregnancy has been fairly easy. No morning sickness, mood swings, tearful outbursts or acne. I am really thankful to have avoided these common side effects while creating a human, so when I do experience discomfort I try not to be a drama queen about it. Too bad for you the non-complaining stops NOW.  I feel like I have to fill you in on something I am experiencing that I really didn’t expect from pregnancy: SHIN SPLINTS. They are killer. They popped up about two weeks ago and I’ve been googling remedies ever since. I knew from my past experience with exercise induced shin splints that a potassium boost usually helps. My body reminded me of that last week when I went to bed with shin pain, was rudely awakened by a viscous Charley Horse, and in the morning I was craving…raw salmon? Turning to trusty google taught me that raw salmon has about the same amount of potassium as a banana per 100 grams, about 360mg. Since raw salmon is a no-go for me and to get the most potassium bang for the buck, I made an awesome white bean (561mg per 100 g) dip and pretty much devoured the entirety of it. My shin splints and leg cramps went away for a good 4 or 5 days! Awesome! Not awesome is they’re back now because I don’t eat white bean dip everyday. I guess I’ll have to start force feeding myself bananas all the time, does it still count if they’re in the form of banana bread with chocolate chips?

Now that we’ve got all the complaining out of the way, let’s talk about the BEST of this best and worst post. Now that I’m six months along I wanted to share some of my favorite things for me and baby I’ve found so far.

IN LOVE with the Britax B-Agile Stroller in Peacock

Best for Baby
Last week I put a stroller/carseat combination on our registry…. for the third time. I swear this is finally the one! I really don’t think I’ll change it again because this stroller is so awesome. I originally had the Chicco Cortina + KeyFit carseat, but then after falling in love with the easy maneuverability and lightweight frame, I switched to the Mamas and Papas Sola stroller paired with a Graco carseat. I made that switch without Michael having the opportunity to test-drive the stroller, but dragged him to Babies ‘R Us this past weekend to hopefully seal the deal. Instead of him falling deeply in love with the bright purple Sola stroller as I did, he wasn’t so impressed with the $399 price tag coupled with the fact that we’d have to get an adapter just so the Graco carseat, which wasn’t our first choice, would fit (the Sola stroller only has an adapter for Graco seats and two other international brands). Luckily I spotted a stroller that had a similar styling as the purple Sola and was almost just as lightweight! The Britax B-Agile paired with a B-Safe infant carseat of the same brand. After pushing all the wrong buttons and lifting levers for about 15 clueless minutes, we finally figured out just how easy it is to click the matching carseat in and out, and also how to use the one-handed folding feature on the stroller. I was sold on the fold, Michael was sold on the convenience. To make the travel system even more of a match made in heaven, I found the stroller in turquoise on Amazon! My favorite color + gender neutrality for a possible baby boy in the future. Success!

Best for Me
Recently I had to go without my beloved Mama Mio Tummy Rub Oil for a couple days and it made me realize just how much I cherish that tiny bottle of goodness. Seriously, it’s become like a drug. I didn’t realize how addicted I’ve become to it until I was forced to be without it since I forgot to order a new bottle until it was too late. Luckily I have Amazon Prime so I only had to suffer while using another oil for two days, but my skin was so itchy during those 48 hours! Nothing keeps my skin as hydrated as Mama Mio. I am six months into pregnancy now and do not have any signs of stretch marks. *Crossing fingers* my skin remains scar free, but I am feeling really confident that my combination of tummy oil + Palmer’s stretch mark cream is getting the job done. Although the oil is a bit pricey at $35 for 4oz, a little goes a long way. I just bought my second bottle of oil last week at 23 weeks pregnant and $70 to avoid dreaded stretch marks is well worth it for me!

Best for Everyone
Something that has kept Michael and I on an even-keel throughout my pregnancy so far is being equally involved in sharing decisions and feelings about the baby and everything that comes along with adding a new member to our family. It might sound obvious to some to have a partner involved in each aspect but sometimes it’s easy to assume that your fellow parent to be will have the same views or feelings as you and that’s not always the case. I encourage Michael to let me know if he feels overwhelmed or a little freaked out and let him know that I feel that way sometimes too! It’s not a bad thing to feel uncertain about taking on a task that you have never dealt with before and cannot truly be 100% prepared for. On his end, he has been really great about listening to my pros and cons for every stroller, swing, and carseat on the market and also being sensitive when I’m feeling really useless due to my inability to lift things over 20 pounds. We’ve been learning together and it’s been working great for us so far. 

Baby Bump Stats 

How far along? 6 months! Last month of second trimester!
How big is baby? I officially am carrying a cantaloupe, that is scary. 10.5-to-11.8-inches, weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces
Total weight gain/loss: +16 pounds, I might stealthily delete this question from all future posts!
Maternity clothes? A bunch of new sweaters are coming in the mail! I’ve been successful at wearing loose, flowy summer tops but sweaters are a different story. Unless I want to look like a stuffed sausage with half my belly hanging out, maternity sweaters are the way to go!
Best moment this week: Crossing off a bunch of home projects off our before-baby-gets-here-list.
Movement: She’s been kicking the crap out of me this entire post writing session, I’ve jumped in surprise/pain 5+ times.
Food cravings: Root beer! We went to two stores the other day and they didn’t have my beloved Mug root beer, Michael was nice enough to pull off at a gas station to get me some.
Food Aversions: None
Gender: GIRL
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: Shin splints, hip aches, back aches at night again.
Belly Button in or out: Innie
What I miss: Sleeping in any position I want, being able to take deep breaths while sitting down.
What I am looking forward to: Christmas! When all of our family will fly across the country to be with us! So stoked!
Upcoming appointments/events: 9/19- Ultrasound, 9/24- 26 week checkup

I like to KICK!

22.5 week belly + I need a new phone cover

For those of you that don’t know, today’s post title is meant to be read in the voice of SNL character Sally O’Malley (Molly Shannon). If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click this, even if you do know what I’m talking about still watch the video because you know you want to. My belly is slowly looking more pregnant and less like I just scarfed down a burrito and a few tall cans. This reminds me that Oktoberfest is out and let me tell you that I am really, really sad about missing out on fall beers! I made Michael promise to stockpile some of my favorites so I can have them come January, no shame. Back to the belly! I have been faithfully slathering it with a combination of Mama Mio tummy oil and Palmer’s Stretch Mark Cream. So far, so good! I am almost certain that I don’t have stretch marks yet because of keeping my belly constantly hydrated, I know this because areas that haven’t got the royal stretch mark treatment have started getting the dreaded purplish-red indentations (mainly the boobs), I really didn’t think they would grow so much!

During the past few weeks, kicks from the baby have been getting stronger and stronger. I started feeling light flutters around 16 weeks and now the feelings are undeniable. Earlier this week I was lying down and actually saw my belly button bounce up and down from the baby’s movement; I quickly told Michael to put his hand on my belly and he was finally able to feel his first kick! He was ecstatic.

On Tuesday I had an appointment with my OB and I was really excited because they measured my belly for the first time. I’ve been waiting for them to do that, I think it’s cool because I always see them do it on TV shows combined with the fact that I’m just a nerd. Today I had another ultrasound with the baby specialist as I call him.  At my last ultrasound we did an anatomy scan and baby was fairly uncooperative. I was told during my next echocardiogram appointment they would try again to get the profile view of the face that was still needed. Well, guess who hid their face again? Everything else went well and looked “normal”, so I thought this would be my last ultrasound. But, my doctor wants to schedule just one more to track growth and heart development given my out of the ordinary medical history. At the ultrasound 4 weeks ago our girl was in the 70th percentile and this time she is in the 80th. She is estimated to weigh about 1 pound 4 ounces as of today. After each ultrasound the tech puts up a graph showing the baby’s growth progress so far, and the estimated continuation of growth. The tech left that screen up while she went to get the doctor so I was able to google a grams to pounds conversion and estimate what the baby will be if she is delivered at 40 weeks; 7 pounds, 11 ounces. Not too bad! I was a little worried because she is a bit bigger than normal, but I still feel safe in the 7 pound zone, the thought of a baby 8 pounds or over starts to make me nervous. I myself was 8 pounds, 6 ounces but I was also nearly two weeks late. Let’s hope our little girl comes a bit early!

I start my fall semester next Thursday so this weekend equals getting all my school supplies organized, it’s seriously a lot. When I was a kid my favorite new supply to buy was crayons so imagine how excited I am to buy new sets of colored pencils, sketch books, and paints for my color theory class? I’ll give you a hint, SUPER EXCITED! I had better cut it off here since Maddie is laying on my lap, subtly (not really) groaning and sighing because it’s her dinner time!
xoxo
Baby Bump Stats – I added an extra question, confession of the week because it’s just totally necessary. 

How far along? 22.5 weeks
How big is baby? 1lb, 4oz. About 11.5 inches long–a PAPAYA!
Total weight gain/loss: +12 pounds
Maternity clothes? A few pieces, my favorite is my pair of leggings. I also bought a bunch of long tees (non-maternity) from Target that I looove.
Sleep: Tossing and turning all night to find a comfortable position. I dread laying down at night because it makes my back hurt so much.
Best moment this week: Michael feeling his first kick
Movement: So much movement! It’s the best feeling.
Food cravings: Pumpkin beers, FAIL.
Food Aversions: I was going to heat up some leftover spanish rice but one whiff of it made me feel sick.
Gender: GIRL
Labor Signs: None
Pregnancy Symptoms: Serious backaches at night, making it really difficult to sleep. There is no comfortable position for me.
Belly Button in or out: In, not even close to being out (thank you lord!)
What I miss: Fall beers: pumpkin beers, specifically Pumpking and oatmeal stouts 😦
What I am looking forward to: My friend’s baby shower next week! We’re both having girls about 8 weeks apart.
Upcoming appointments/events: 9/4 with my cardiologist
Confession of the week: I got out of bed last night at 4am to eat Raisin Bran, and then watched QVC christmas sales until 5:30am.