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

3 Month Update + Our First Baby Room Buy

Little Blue Dresser’s Craigslist Ad

This weekend Michael and I made an hour trip to get a dresser that I fell in love with on Craigslist. Most people that witnessed me decorate our first home know that I am a Craigslist junkie. I try my hardest to always buy things cheap, but of good quality. I saw these dressers originally posted at $295, then $245 and finally at $195 I contacted them. I asked if they were willing to sell the dressers separately since we just wanted the short one to double as a changing table. The nice woman offered it to me for only $75, score!

The dresser was located a bit out of the way, about 55 miles. I was originally looking for a dresser to refinish but this one was the color I would have used anyway, so it was worth the trip to me. Unfortunately, our one hour drive to the destination turned into almost two hours one way because I accidentally punched the wrong city into the GPS, at least I got the street address right! Once we finally arrived the little blue dresser was waiting for us outside and it is the exact swatch of blue I had pulled at Home Depot a few weeks ago. It is newly refinished and heavy duty wood, no laminate or particle board here!

3 Month Update

This week also marks the last week of my first trimester! Which means I am out of the woods and am finally comfortable announcing the pregnancy to the world. So far I have only gotten sick in the morning one time, let’s hope it stays that way. I have felt pretty normal for the most part, after reading about so many pregnancy symptoms online I imagined myself crying hysterically while doing laundry or vomiting violently everyday. The worst I have had is taking naps and eating a lot, and I find both of those quite enjoyable.

Today I had an ultrasound done with a specialist in fetal medicine. My OB wanted to make sure that our baby’s heart was developing normally due to my medical history. This is done by looking at a little sac of fluid sitting on the back of baby’s neck; if more fluid than normal is present it may mean that the baby is developing with a heart defect or other abnormality such as Down Syndrome. Luckily, everything looks perfectly normal and our baby was squirming around happily the entire time. The ultrasound was pleasantly long so my friend Stephanie and I were able to watch the baby move for about 15 or 20 minutes total. Michael was on duty at work today so he was unable to come to my appointment. Luckily I’ve got a great support network of friends who are more than happy to accompany me. Here are some pics from today:

Baby Profile View

Baby Waving to the Camera

How far along? 12 weeks

How big is baby? Baby is the size of a plum

Total weight gain/loss: No loss here! +1 pound

Maternity clothes? No official maternity clothes, but I am sticking to empire waist and flowing tops to hide my stomach which looks more like a beer gut right now than a baby bump.

Sleep: Wake up at least three times a night, including a trip to the bathroom.

Best moment this week: Buying a bigger bra that is actually comfortable!

Movement: No feeling of movement, but I did see the little one swimming around in the ultrasound 🙂

Food cravings: Oranges

Food Aversions: No specific aversions, more of a general “nothing sounds good” attitude.

Gender: Had two dreams so far that it’s a boy.

Labor Signs: None

Pregnancy Symptoms: When I’m tired it hits me like a ton of bricks and I must nap. I’m also STARVING every two to three hours. I threw up for the first time on 6/8 and thankfully haven’t had that experience since. I have to pee a lot more than normal including every night which I’ve never done before.

Belly Button in or out: In!

What I miss: sushi and beer, two of my favorite things.

What I am looking forward to: Finding out the sex and decorating the nursery!

Upcoming appointments/events: 7/2, 14 week checkup

Weekly Wisdom: ALWAYS go pee before you leave the house, and bring snacks in your purse.

Milestones: First ultrasound at 10.5 weeks and everything looks great! Officially the owner of a “C” cup bra, woo!