27 weeks

I will start my 27th week of pregnancy tomorrow. That means the start of my third trimester. How crazy is that? I only have 13 weeks left. Not a whole lot has changed pregnancy wise since my last post. I did have my glucose test on Thursday which was definitely not fun but was not nearly as bad as I had expected. The nurse warned me that she tried to drink one of the nasty syrup-like orange drinks the other day because she gave up soda for lent and was not making it very well without the sugar and in her opinion it was "scusting" (I think she meant disgusting). I drank the drink and then was sent out for an hour to kill time until I could have the blood work done. I walked target for 40 minutes or so and then I started to feel a little woozy so I decided to go sit in my car and relax until I could go back to the lab. I am glad I actually got to go walk around instead of sitting still in the awkward waiting room of the lab office. I don't have the results yet which makes me thing they must not have been bad. I have another prenatal appointment on Wednesday afternoon and hopefully I will find out the actual results of the glucose test then. I am pretty sure this weeks appointment is my last appointment before they change to every two weeks instead of every four. The only new thing I have noticed with this past week of pregnancy is more round ligament pain. If I didn't know better I would think I did 100 sit ups this afternoon.

Tim and I leave for VA on Thursday morning. Tim has a very big test for graduation on Friday afternoon so that is the main reason we are heading south. We will be going to my parents Thursday night to drop the dogs off so they can keep them during Tim's test then heading back to Lynchburg for Tims test Friday. After his test we will make the journey two and a half hours or so back to my parents house. Saturday we will be going to a family friends house for a baby shower with some friends and family back home and then we will probably go to revival service at the church I grew up in. Sunday we will go to church again and then as soon as church is over we will drive the eight hours back to PA. I am hoping the long car rides won't be too hard on me seeing that I have had some issues with cramping up if I don't change positions often. Though the weekend is pretty well booked I am very excited to go home and see my family and friends.

The weather here in PA has been starting to change just a slight bit. The past few days we have been fluctuating between 40s to the 60s. I know thats a wide range but this bipolar state cannot decide what it wants to be; winter or spring.  As a matter of fact there is supposed to be snow Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I am glad we will be leaving for VA if it does snow. Today was particularly nice so Tim and I decided to go out and take some pictures. Tim had fun playing photographer and taking some pictures to document my current belly. Though the pictures look like it, I really do not have an outie belly button. It has changed shapes but is not popping out completely. Hopefully as the weather gets warmer we can get out more often and take more pictures!

bye-bye feet.

The past week has been pretty uneventful as far as baby goes. She is definitely growing and moving around quite a bit more than she had been. Tim has been able to feel her movements or watch them now several times. He always says, "I want to feel them when she starts kicking REALLY hard". I can't really imagine her kicking harder at times. Sometimes it feels like shes about to push right through my stomach so if she kicks/pushes much harder I may not like it very much.

I noticed a few days ago that I no longer have feet... I only have toes. I am afraid it won't be long and they will disappear as well. My "pregnancy allergy" has been kind of strange lately. The rash comes and goes and still remains on my legs alone. It has yet to cause much discomfort so I will live with it for now. Honestly, I am more concerned about the upcoming capri and short season and having this nasty looking rash on my legs... but then again; here in Butler, PA where it is still snowing on the 11th of March, I may not have to worry at all about showing off my lovely red rash. My current symptoms are frequent heartburn, slight lower back aches, leg and stomach cramping. I have had to learned that drinking lots of water and eating raw broccoli and other potassium sources helps alleviate the cramping some. If I sit or stand for too long my back aches so thats not a hard fix. Changing positions often makes it so I am a little more comfortable. As far as the heartburn, I honestly don't think there is much I can do. I lay on my left side, avoid acidic or other foods that are supposed to be heartburn triggers, eat foods to help calm heartburn, and even take antacids but sometimes none of the remedies work. To be honest, it is becoming something I am used to, therefore I just push through the discomfort and stop worrying about the things I can't change. In just a few months the heartburn, backaches, and cramping and hopefully rash will end. I think I can handle this.

I have to go for my glucose test next week. I am totally not looking forward to it but I just keep reminding myself one nasty drink and I will be done. I have my next prenatal appointment on March 23rd. I am pretty sure my appointments after that will be two weeks apart instead of four. That kind of scares me... I am realizing how close we are getting to having a brand new baby. I will start my 3rd trimester in just over a week. AHH! Tim and I start parenting basics classes on Monday. I know we can handle this and I am ready but a little extra preparation won't hurt right?

Tim and I will be leaving for VA on the 24th so that he can go to school to take his test for graduation. I am trying so hard to be supportive and helpful to him but I just don't know what I can do. He is stressed beyond belief but I have great faith in him and know he will do just fine. If you think of it say a prayer for him between now and the 25th (the day of his test). I am sure he would appreciate it. While we are in VA, we are going to make a quick pit stop to my parents house for the weekend. My mom and Mrs. Kim (close family friend) are planning a small baby shower for while we are there. I am super excited to not only see my friends and family but to start getting some more baby stuff.

I uploaded 25 week pictures the other day and yes I know, apparently I am huge, a beached whale, a hippopotamus, etc but at least it looks like pregnancy and not just chub. But... if we want to classify it as chub so I can have an excuse again to desire for the street sign down at Sandbridge that read "chub lane" we can do that.

25 week pictures.

Allergic to pregnancy?.?.?.

So today I had a doctors appointment. I thought this was supposed to be an appointment for glucose testing but apparently I was wrong and will be doing that in about two weeks. Oh happy happy joy joy! I get to drink a bunch of yucky sugary drink, wait and hour and have my blood tested to determine how I process sugar. At least I did not have to do it today seeing that I was already feeling a big woozy.  Instead of doing the glucose test I just had a normal prenatal visit. I first visited with the head nurse and went over 3rd trimester information. It's crazy to me that my third and last trimester is almost here. We discussed my options for birth, feeding the baby, and even delivery medications and procedures. I was pleased to see that she was ok with me not wanting an epidural and actually wrote it down for the records. I was weighed and measured once again this week.  According to my doctor I am caught up to exactly where I should be. For those that think I look huge for a pregnant woman at 24 weeks you are wrong. My doctor may have just been being nice but he sure did a good job of reassuring me that I am perfectly normal. He explained to me that thy typical womans stomach measurement matches the number of weeks she is pregnant. With that in mind I feel totally fine bout my sizeof 24.1cm. My doctor actually made a comment about how many may think I look bigger than should due to societies tendency to be obese. Too often we are used to seeing women who are overweight to begin with therefore their pregnancies don't always show as soon. He told me there is only so much room for baby girl to go and a belly means healthy growth and development. He also talked to me about her placement. From the feels of it he believed she was bend in half with her bum up under my right rib which would explain the slight rib pressure I have been having when I sit for a long period of time.  Her heart rate was perfectly normal at 152 beats per minute. Lastly, they checked out the rash/ skin issues I have been experiencing for the past month or so. My hands and neck have been excessively dry causing what appears to be hives at times and my legs are covered in this terrible looking rash. I am not sure if it was a cop-out for lack of other explanation or what but my doctor suggested the possibility of me actually being allergic to my own body. He said it can happen where a womans bodies basically react to the pregnancy hormones they produce causing skin allergies. This would only happen to me. His suggestion was to take one benadryl tablet every day and two every night until my next appointment and see if that helps if so the only solution will be a permanent benadryl dosage (addiction) until delivery. That just seems crazy to me. How can I possibly be allergic to pregnancy? I am allergic to my own baby?!?! Taking benadryl daily is not an option for me. I like being awake and there is no possible way I can work and still follow those instructions. The rash does not bother me too bad so I have decided to use my own judgment and go without the drugs unless the condition becomes worse or I experience any itching or pain as a result which I currently do not.

Thats the latest update. Maybe there will even be a picture update soon too. :)

Mexican Jumping Bean.

Mexican Jumping Beans... yuck! 

Our little girl is taking me back to my childhood. I remember getting these Mexican jumping beans as a kid and thinking they were so cool until the creature inside that made them jump about appeared. For those that do not know... Mexican jumping beans are little hard seed looking things that bounce about. The reason they bounce is not because the seed is living but because what is inside is. These nasty little worms jump and squirm about until they finally make a hole in the shell big enough to get out. It was a pretty traumatic experience to one day discover my jumping beans no longer jumped and there were bugs handing out of them. You might be wondering why does your unborn child make you think of Mexican jumping beans? The past week and a half I have gone from feeling flutters or popping pop corn in my stomach to straight up pushing and prodding from the inside of me. Yeah, I am comparing my unborn child to a Mexican jumping bean; don't judge me. Hopefully the reveal of what is inside won't be so traumatic and disappointing as it was for me as a child. Speaking of movement, as I sit here right now I can actually see my stomach move with each push or kick that she does. Most mornings when I wake I can tell what side of my stomach she is on because it literally looks and feels like she is leaning on me from the inside out. Such a strange feeling but I must admit I am pretty mesmerized by it. I catch myself stopping all I am doing to watch her move or try to feel it outside of my stomach.

Last night, Amos (our dog) laid his head on my stomach and began his usual whining at me to give him some attention. The more I ignored him, the louder he got. After about 5 minutes of whining the baby gave one really good kick/ punch. Amos pulled his head back and looked at my stomach in complete confusion. This pattern of resting his head on my stomach and whining, baby kicking/punching, and Amos watching my stomach in curiosity went on for about 5 more minutes. The louder he whined the more she moved. All I can say is my child either has some form of sick attraction to dog whining or absolutely detests it and has already began laying down the law as master.

Amos 

 The nursery has been coming together quite well. We have decided for sure that we should get a changing table so that we can use the dresser for table top space. We will need to order that soon. Since we are going with this antique theme, Tim and I have been able to enjoy some antique shopping. Tim purchased an old school chair the other day for her room. It has such character! I love that he is so willing to be involved and wants to have input on nursery decorating and such. My mom sent me several of her dresses from when she was a child and one of my grandfathers (yes, apparently it was acceptable for baby boys to wear dresses too)  to display in the room.

As far as symptoms for me, for the most part things are going well. I have heartburn issues but have learned to work around them or just tolerate them. I can tell baby girl is going through a growth spurt because my stomach muscles hurt quite bad. I have a feeling I will be expanding more pretty soon. I weighed myself last night and about fell off the scale in shock. I don't think I have seen those numbers since high school, maybe freshman year of college. To be completely honest, my body image is probably pretty screwed up. I lost a decent amount of weight after high school and had become quite proud of myself. To see the scales grow closer to those high school  numbers and think about the fact that the baby inside of me is only about 1lb has a tendency to bring me down. I am now 22 weeks 2 days and have gained a total of 14lbs. I have caught up to the weight gain that I should have for where I am during pregnancy. Though, this is healthy and average it feels pretty discouraging to see my feet and that number all on the same scale. I guess, this too will be worth it in the end.

21 week picture.

20 weeks 5 days!

HALF WAY THERE!

This past Sunday marked 20 weeks into this pregnancy. I am more than thrilled to be over half way there but at the same time I am just not sure I am ready for this whole being a parent thing. I started thinking about the first part of the pregnancy and cannot believe the second is already here. The first 20 weeks held lots of ups and downs. Weeks 1-5 don't really count because at that point I didn't even know that pregnancy was in my near future. Weeks 5-6 were nerve wrecking, down right frustrating, and filled with all ranges of emotions. I remember thinking, "seriously, what is wrong with my body?!?". I questioned why I had terrible heartburn or acid reflux all of a sudden. I was scared to death of the sight of a pregnancy test simply because I didn't want to be let down to see yet another negative but at the same time I wasn't quite sure I was ready for a positive. Week 7 was a week full of excitement. We had doctors appointments and exciting news to surprise all of our family with. Week 8 was filled with ups and downs of just trying to absorb the fact that things were changing and changing quickly. Weeks 9-16 were the worst weeks of this whole ordeal. I threw up non-stop. Every time I moved, I threw up. Ever time I breathed, I threw up. Every time I attempted to eat anything other than mashed potatoes I threw up. I lost almost 8 lbs by the end of the whole "morning sickness" ordeal and was feeling pretty crappy about how poorly I was taking care of my body and the growing sea-monkey (ask Tim calls her) inside of me. By week 10 I had started to gain a belly despite the drop in weight. My clothes no longer fit the way I liked and that alone was a bit depressing. Week 12 we heard our sea-monkeys heartbeat. Hearing the heartbeat brought much relief to our worried minds that there was actually something inside of me causing all of the misery. Weeks 13-18 carried a lot of stress and worry that all was going okay with baby. All too often people glorify pregnancy and fail to tell you the normal yet scary things that can happen to your body. Those things can make for a very irritable mommy and daddy-to-be if not properly prepared. Week 19 was the first week that brought a change of emotion and overall feeling for me about this pregnancy. We were able to see our baby move, breathe, and count her fingers and toes. We even got to find out that Tim was right and were are having a baby girl. At this point, I was beginning to feel much better physically despite the growing belly. I no longer had to worry about morning/ all day sickness and had pretty much figured out how to handle the heartburn. I started to not hate the things happening to my body and began to see them as a blessing in disguise. Week 20 has come and gone and here at sit 3 days shy of completing 21 weeks. I said just a few weeks ago that I hate being pregnant and do not understand women who love it. My mind might be changing a bit. Don't get me wrong it is still awkward and extremely strange to know and feel something moving within you but it might not be that bad now. Though, the majority of the past 20 weeks were pretty rocky and rough I am able to see a much more positive side of what is to come.

This week things got pretty exciting in the Weaver house. We have begun decorating! The bedding for our little girls room came and we spend a good portion of time getting it all into place. Now things are falling together. We have decided to go with an antique kind of theme for the room and based off of that I got two ideas. First, was to hang and old gazebo bird cage in the corner of the room. Pretty sure Tim thought I had lost my mind when I told him I wanted to go antique shopping for a bird cage but despite his skepticism he found one and brought it home to surprise me with last night. It's exactly what I had imagined and shh don't tell him but I think he likes it now. My second idea is to get an old wash board and stencil on her first initial on the top. It is hard to describe but if it happens I will take pictures to explain. Don't get your hopes up too much... I will take pictures prior to the initial being put on... I am not going to break that easily and give you a clue to her name.

Tim's picks (sorry for the color... still trying to figure out the camera)

It is fairly obvious that Tim is getting excited. He came home from work the other day and couldn't wait to surprise me with what he had bought while out shopping with his partner. He had found 3 pretty adorable outfits. My jealousy of his shopping may have grown a little so he took me out to the outlets the other night after work just so we could spend a few bucks getting sale items. Tomorrow and Saturday are going to be shopping days as well. We need to get shelves for the nursery, a new light cover for the ceiling light, and some paint and stain. 

My favorite

   

I think she might be a little spoiled rotten.

                                                                                                                       

                                  

I know I keep saying it but this time I'll try to keep my promise. I'll will post new belly pictures soon.