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

Ramblings Before The 4 Month Mark

Something happened mid-week; my belly started popping out! Before now I felt like I had a bloated mid-section and felt generally discouraged about how I looked. Now, it finally feels like I’m getting a real pregnant belly! And it’s only gonna get bigger from here. I officially can’t fit into any of my denim or khaki shorts. I have one pair of denim shorts that are equivalent to a size 8/10 that I can still wear (I’m usually a 6) but who knows how long that will last. I tried using a rubberband to ghetto rig my other shorts to fit by looping the band around the button and through the button hole but I was pretty sure it would either snap in half or the button would rip off because of the strain, and it would probably happen in the middle of a store and then my pants would fall to my ankles. But that’s just another one of my irrational fears, similar to the fear that when I hop off of a counter (which I often sit on) my tailbone will catch the counter’s edge and my entire spine will rip out of my body. I secretly hope I instilled that extremely irrational fear into you too just now.

Some of you may be wondering why I don’t just go out and buy some maternity shorts or a belly band instead of trying to MacGyver some bottoms that will fit. I’ve had this mindset that I want to avoid maternity stores as long as possible and I also can’t get over the idea of spending money on clothes that I will wear so temporarily. For now I plan on wearing a lot of dresses, and come fall I am ecstatic about having the excuse to wear spandex leggings with way too big sweaters over top. I’m sure once people begin noticing that my single pair of denim shorts are beginning to develop holes, I’ll buy a belly band. 

I’ve had more energy lately which has resulted in me going to sleep in the 10 o’clock hour, an hour which these eyes haven’t seen for a long, long time. At the beginning of pregnancy I was often asleep by 9pm, and when Michael was on duty I would crawl into bed at 8pm because he wasn’t there to judge me. There have been more nights lately where I lie awake for one or two hours at a time for no apparent reason. I’ve also been awoken by extreme hunger pangs a few times but that only happens if I eat dinner too early (which I just realized I did today and I will be woken up tonight). When this happens I sometimes fight the hunger until I fall back asleep or I’ll reluctantly make the trek downstairs to eat cereal. There was one time where I actually ate a subway sandwich and some chips (in bed, I’ll be honest) but I justify it because I was awake for almost three hours and ended up watching TV and doing other really productive things.

This week I started on an art piece for the baby’s room which falls in line perfectly with the color scheme. I plan to hang it above the blue dresser where it will really pop. The picture below is still in progress, I obviously have to finish the body and I am going to add a backdrop of color too.

If you didn’t guess the lovely model for this painting is none other than our pup, Maddie! I used a photo that I took of her while she was begging. This is my first painting of an animal and it took some trial and error to develop the different colors in her fur. I’ve seen these sort of pop art style pet portraits before and it’s a look I really admire.

Just two more weeks until we find out the baby’s gender. Michael and I did have a conversation last night, and we both think it’s a girl. We’ll see! We are off to Annapolis tomorrow and so looking forward to our friend’s wedding, seeing old friends, and of course crab dip! Miss Maddie is coming along with us so it should be an exciting trip.

xoxo