Friday Letters

Dear World: Having, quite likely, the worst emotional pregnant day yet...it's bad.  Stay out of my way.

Dear Pierce: I was beginning to wonder if you had feet and legs, until today, I can feel the thumps of your feet or knees up around my ribs.  Thankfully, it's not the horror stories of pain!

Dear Mother: even though you rarely read my blog, thank you for being so compassionate today.  It's not a usual state of emotion, at least not to show your compassion, but I am SO appreciative of it

Dear Life: You're about to get CRAZY busy, we move in one week!  That same weekend, J is in his uncle's wedding, so we MUST get moved on Saturday since the wedding is Sunday.  The following weekend is the family baby shower, and by that point, we'll be ending childbirth classes and starting weekly Dr appointments.  Holy cow

Dear Self: Just maintain your current level of anxiety, do not get more anxious!!

Dear Husband: Thank you so much for putting up with my pregnant crazies.  You're amazing, and the best. 

31 Weeks

31 Weeks

Um...we're in single digit weeks now?!

Ha, not sure what that face is about!
I woke up that morning and asked J, "Where did this belly come from?!"

How far along are you? 

31 Weeks

Total weight gain: 

I'm not loving it, but not too much I'm told

How big is baby?:

What to Expect  still says a head of lettuce, but changed the length and weight! (19" 3.9lbs...that's one HUGE head of lettuce).  Apparently, Pierce should start gaining half a pound a week from here on out!  Holy big baby!

source

Maternity clothes: 

always...the closer it gets to my due date the less I want to spend any more money on anything new

Stretch marks?:  

So far, only on my hiney

I've been applying Palmers Cocoa Butter religiously...hoping that helps matters

Sleep?: 

It really just depends.  I toss and turn best I can until I fall asleep, usually wake up an hour or two later to pee, then I'm back to sleep for quite a while usually

Best moment this week?:

Relaxing on my 4 day weekend.  I think Pierce needed it as much as I did!

Movement?: 

J's getting to see and feel more of it, which is amazing to watch his reactions to his son's movement.  

Food cravings?:

nothing that I can think of, other than anything cold because of this heat!

Food aversions?:

Not too bad, kind of depends on the day, 

I've started not wanting meat on occasion...no bueno considering that's protein and iron

Labor signs?: 

NO!  Just Braxton-Hicks every day since Monday.  No pain with them, I just notice that my stomach is hard as a ROCK!

Belly button in or out?: 

Still in, but it's either going to end up flat or out by the end of this 9 weeks!

What I miss: 

sleeping WELL, and not being tired all of the time and congested...

I'm constantly congested

I'm starting to miss my pre-pregnancy body and walking without a waddle!

What I'm looking forward to: 

Moving next weekend!!  I can't physically move anything, but moving into our own space, setting up our apartment, Pierce's nursery, I'm stoked!

What I'm not looking forward to: 

Labor...we've taken 2 of 4 childbirth classes...last class caused a bit of anxiety.  Seriously, J looked at me and asked if I was about to cry.  They were talking about all of the IVs and urinary caths (neither of those caused the anxiety, had too many surgeries in my lifetime to worry about those), epidurals, shots in my hoohaa area, episiotomies, and enemas...Yeah, I started to freak out.

Milestone: 

J starting to see the movement!

Friday's Letters

Dear Pierce: I'm loving your crazy activity, it's really amusing to watch my belly wiggle from one side to the other.  However, could you politely refrain from using my bladder as your dance floor?  Kthanks

Dear Self: How did you miss J's paycheck in the budget?  Just skipped right over the fact that he was paid today.  It was written down in the calendar you used to make the budget, but you just skipped it completely. Oh, you also skipped the same paycheck in November's budget...now to figure out if you fix this or just let it be another happy accident.  I will say, it was really nice to realize there are NO bills coming out of this paycheck and we can save a HUGE portion of it...

Dear World: I am not a morning person, do not try to strike up a conversation with me before I have my coffee...I'm going to enjoy my next 9 weeks before Pierce becomes that person trying to "strike up a conversation" prior to coffee.  After my coffee, I'm a perfectly pleasant person...well, as pleasant as I get LOL

Dear Work: I'm SO glad to have a 4 day weekend from you, I need a break.  We have seen way too much of each other since I got pregnant and started saving every paid hour off I could get.  I'm glad I figured out that if I took off July 4th, I'd get paid to be off and had I worked it I would have only been paid time and a half and have to deal with the craziness I knew the day would bring.  So, I use one day of leave in conjunction with my off days and July 4th, and I get FOUR DAYS OFF!  Thank GOODNESS, I so need it

Dear Planner: You get more and more full every day, kinda scary.  And this planner isn't the one I keep my bill due dates in!  We're just getting busier and busier!

30 Weeks...REALLY?!

30 Weeks

10 weeks left?  Are you kidding?!  OMG

The shirt is starting to strain lol

How far along are you? 

30 Weeks

Total weight gain: 

I'm not loving it, but not too much I'm told

How big is baby?:

What to Expect says a head of lettuce (18" 3.2lbs...that's one HUGE head of lettuce)

source

source

Maternity clothes: 

always...the closer it gets to my due date the less I want to spend any more money on anything new

Stretch marks?:  

So far, only on my hiney

I've been applying Palmers Cocoa Butter religiously...hoping that helps matters

Ten more weeks to see lol

Sleep?: 

I slept 10 hours last night with one potty break...making up for the nights that I wake up 5 times to potty

Best moment this week?:

My baby shower!! 

Movement?: 

He's crazy active...I think he's going to be a break dancer out straight out of the womb!

Food cravings?:

It was Lucky Charms, after going through 2 boxes in 3 days I think I lost that craving!

mostly: COLD

ice, ice water mostly

I just want anything COLD

Food aversions?:

Not too bad, kind of depends on the day

Labor signs?: 

NO!  Stay put Baby!

Some Braxton-Hicks

Belly button in or out?: 

Still in, but I can see the bottom of it...which is a new thing in my life lol

What I miss: 

sleeping WELL, and not being tired all of the time and congested...

I'm constantly congested

Not feeling like a huge whale...a huge out of shape whale lol  I got winded walking through Target! HA

What I'm looking forward to: 

My first baby shower, Sunday!!  

What I'm not looking forward to: 

Our forecast this weekend...tomorrow 109, Saturday 106, Sunday 105

Milestone: 

J feeling Pierce's breakdancing yesterday morning

BABY SHOWER!

My wonderful friend, Emily, threw me a baby shower Sunday.  It was great!  I really felt loved, cared for, and blessed by the people that came and the wonderful gifts they gave!!
We all had a great time, talking, laughing, and eating!

Emily made cute, delicious cupcakes, and had quite the spread!  I stuffed my face!  LOL
Speaking of my face, I can't get over how much my face shape has changed since getting pregnant!  Nuts!  I hope it goes back to normal after Pierce is born!!

Anyway: Photo dump!

I insisted on helping her set up, my piggies became puffy!

The hostess and I!
I'm so much taller than she is, I have to squat lol

HA, not sure why I was giving her this face!!

The punch was YUM! The cupcakes were delicious, the diaper cake was inedible LOL, and the food was amazing!

Everything from the shower...blessed I tell you!!

After looking at all of Pierce's gifts, I decided I needed to organize his clothes.  So, I laid out all of his clothes in the floor and organized them by size.  Our boy does NOT need anything newborn, diapers or clothes, nothing0-3mo either!  I guess you could say I had a bit of a nesting spell!!
Here's some of the mess I made, but, if you could have seen it in person you'd see that it was stacks and stacks of clothes in size order!

This doesn't show ALL of it, there was a huge pile on the other side of the bed too!

So, I was amazed to find out just how blessed and loved Pierce, J, and I are!!

29 Weeks!

29 Weeks!

11 to go!  Oh dear!

He's starting to come up more than out, I think

How far along are you? 

29 Weeks

Total weight gain: 

I'm not loving it, but not too much I'm told

How big is baby?:

What to Expect says a butternut squash (17" 3.1 pounds)

source

source

Maternity clothes: 

always...the closer it gets to my due date the less I want to spend any more money on anything new

Stretch marks?:  

So far, only on my hiney

I've been applying Palmers Cocoa Butter religiously...hoping that helps matters

Ten more weeks to see lol

Sleep?: 

getting less and less easy to sleep through the night

More tossing and turning, which is growing increasingly difficult to do as the belly grows

I wake up at least once on a good night to use the bathroom...I'm sure I could help that if I'd stop drinking water a few hours before bed, but I love water and can't get enough of it

Best moment this week?:

His movement! 

Monday started this crazy movement, almost nonstop.  He seems to stop moving for a nap, for about 2 hours then starts back up. 

Movement?: 

see above lol

Food cravings?:

Last night I had a crazy craving for Lucky Charms!

source

I'm not ashamed to say that in less than 12 hours I ate the whole box...It was at least the smallest box lol

mostly: COLD

ice, ice water mostly

I just want anything COLD

Food aversions?:

Not too bad, kind of depends on the day

Labor signs?: 

NO!  Stay put Baby!

Some Braxton-Hicks

Belly button in or out?: 

Still in, but I can see the bottom of it...which is a new thing in my life lol

What I miss: 

sleeping WELL, and not being tired all of the time and congested...

I'm constantly congested

Not feeling like a huge whale...a huge out of shape whale lol  I got winded walking through Target! HA

What I'm looking forward to: 

My first baby shower, Sunday!!  

What I'm not looking forward to: 

Getting bigger lol

Any more kidney issues, I've started having some back discomfort again like I did a few days leading up to my last hospital visit 

Milestone: 

Passing my 3-hour glucose test...

after failing the one hour!

lol

Some good news!

Wednesday of last week I had to take my one hour glucose tolerance test that all pregnant women take around 28 weeks.  Drank the nasty fruit punch flavored hummingbird nectar and off we went to the Dr's office where my blood was drawn and we were sent on our merry way.  

All done, gulped it down in 3 minutes...gross

Friday morning the nurse called and said, "I have bad news" Oh boy.  I was NOT prepared for this.  Why?  I generally have LOW blood sugar and have to eat to maintain a good walking around/functioning blood sugar.  I don't eat many sweets, sure I have my days, but who doesn't.  Yes, I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to diabetes of any type.

"You failed your glucose test, only by 8 points.  But, you still have to come in for the 3 hour test on Monday.  Oh, and your iron is low, you'll need to pick some up and start taking that"  The iron thing isn't a huge deal, I mean, I made it 28 weeks without needing an iron supplement.  

Little did I know, and no one told me ahead of time, that you don't need to eat any sweets the day before, no extra sugar, nothing that turns into sugars in your body. 

So, what does that mean that I did to likely cause myself to bomb this one hour test?

You got it, I got home after working my usual shift 3-11pm, I came home and found that there was a small piece of chocolate/chocolate cake left for me.  YUM!  You guessed it, I gobbled it down.  

I had been instructed to fast after midnight, I could drink all the water I wanted, but no food.  Of course I enjoyed that cake!! 

Sunday I didn't eat any sweets, enjoyed my morning coffee, and watched my food intake the rest of the day.  Monday morning, I woke up at 715, roll out of bed and head to the Dr's office laptop in hand prepared to sit there for 3 full hours.  They called me back, took my blood prior to handing me another bottle of that liquid nectar and telling me to drink up.  And off I went to the lobby to sit.  Sit.  Sit.

Sit

Sit

Sit

And sit

I had my blood drawn at 845, 945, 1045, and 1145.  Exhausting, annoying, but thank God the nurse was a miracle worker and I did not feel the 1st, or 3rd stick, at all  No exaggeration.  The 2nd stung, and the 4th was uncomfortable.  

I got the phone call yesterday afternoon that.....

I PASSED!  No gestational diabetes for me!  I learned my lesson about fasting!  LOL!!

So, Pierce and I are good to go!  I go back to the doctor the middle of July, then start going every 2 weeks, and then, ACK we're on to weekly until Pierce makes his grand arrival!!