Week 27 Wrap Up

How far along? Finishing up 27 Weeks

Baby is the size of a: ... A head of cauliflower. I'm over taking pictures with the different food items. It's been a waste of money. Lame. 

Total weight gain/loss: I never remembered to weigh last Monday because it was a crazy busy day. So this week it's actually a gain of 1.2lbs over 2 weeks for a total loss of 10lbs from my starting weight. I knew I should have had more lasagna... 

Symptoms: Majorly nesting. Round Ligament pain. I was also really sleepy this week. Maybe just because I'm off of work and have been lazy, or maybe because I'm growing a human. Either way, I've been taking tons of naps and it's been glorious. I'm also experiencing what I can only figure to be the lovely Carpal Tunnel Syndrome... UGH. Earlier in the week my right thumb was hurting for no apparent reason (no injury or anything). Then later in the week it was the left. Last night my right thumb SCREAMED before bed and especially in the middle of the night. It hurt most of the day today and screamed a few times if I strained it too much. Maybe it's an actual thumb strain/sprain/whatever. Who knows... I'm wearing this snazzy brace in the mean time. Apparently sleeping in wrist braces is just part of the standard pregnancy fashion statement for many women. Joy. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but swelling has me taking them off after long days. 

Belly Button in or out? In, but shallow. It really hasn't changed much lately.

Sleep: Typical for having been in Atlanta. Glad to be back home. I'm definitely full out in the phase of waking up at least 3 times a night.

Food cravings: Nothing really jumped out at me. I got really tired of eating big meals though, especially breakfast. I am not a big breakfast person and usually don't eat until I've been up 2-3 hours so I have a hard time doing the whole big family breakfast thing. But it's the holidays and the holidays mean eating, so we ate... A lot. I do wish I'd had more servings of Momma's lasagna though... :(

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not overly. Sometimes chicken can still be iffy, but it's not bad. 

Miss anything? Wine. I don't even care if that sounds bad. JD had a glass of red wine one night and it smelled SO good... Even though I don't like reds! I told him he should have sworn off wine for 9 months as a show of support. He promptly raised his glass and said "I support you!"

Happy, Moody, or Emotional most of the time: Happy! It was Christmas week! There was lots to be happy about :) 

Workouts: ... If getting up to walk to the bathroom or walking up and down stairs (which aren't common in Valdosta) count as a workout then I worked out a lot... If they don't count then I worked out ZERO!

The Bump: 

Have you started to show yet?: Yup. I'm pretty sure I could delete this question, or really half of these questions from this point out...

Stretch marks? No new ones.

Maternity Clothes? I got several tops and two new pairs of jeans for Christmas :)

Gender: BOY! Circumcision care was a topic of discussion at the dinner table one night this week... 😳 Add that to the list of things I still don't know if I'm ready to handle!

Any Names Picked Out Yet: Charlie! Karen also decided on her name this week, so we finally have all of the grandparent names picked out. My parents will be Mimi and G Daddy. JD's parents will be Grandpa and Gigi. 

Labor Signs: Nothing really this week.

Movement: Enough to make me gasp out loud at dinner one night! I'm pretty sure I felt him completely roll over. I still feel 90% of his movement on my left side and very little in the middle or on the right. He's been head down in every scan we've had since 18 weeks so that's positive. 

Best moment this week: JD's family hosted a shower of sorts for us. Since its 500 miles round trip every time we come home we didn't really want to have to make too many extra trips up if it wasn't necessary. Everyone was already together for Christmas lunch, so we just played a few games and did gifts at the same time. Our moms chipped in and split the cost of our car seat/stroller. I'm so happy to have that out of the way! JDs cousin also made us a SUPER cute diaper tricycle! We have certainly already gotten a glimpse of just how loved Charlie is already :)

When we got home some nesting kicked in and I cleaned out and reorganized our bedroom closet. JD spent that hour and a half assembling the stroller, reading the instruction manual, telling me about every single feature on the stroller, and then giddily pushing a Cabbage Patch doll around the house going on and on about how in 3 months there would be a REAL baby in there! Needless to say, he's going to be an excellent daddy, and he's just a *little* bit excited :)

Looking forward to: Getting my gestational diabetes appointment out of the way this Wednesday. Our goal is also to finish the nursery and several projects around the house this week. It's the last week that JD will be home during the week before starting his new job, and I'll be home too, so we figure it's the perfect opportunity to knock out as much as we can. 

Week 26 Wrap Up

How far along? Finishing up 26 Weeks

Baby is the size of a: ... million different things. None of these sites seem to agree anymore! So for my picture purposes I have a head of lettuce, which I still think is too small. My dessert comparison list says baby's the weight of two rolls of Toll House cookie dough... hmmm... probably should have bought that instead. Yummy!

Total weight gain/loss:

Symptoms: Heartburn. Puffy fingers if I don't drink enough water. CRAZY dreams. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but swelling has me taking them off after long days. 

Belly Button in or out? In, but shallow. It really hasn't changed much lately.

Sleep: Better the last few days... surprisingly.  I broke down earlier in the week and was using some Unisom to help get through the night. I was having a really hard time sleeping due to the nasty cough I had, and I was sleeping in the recliner. All the coughing and recliner sleeping lead to a pulled abdominal muscle. Ugh. Then strangely, or I guess not so strangely based on the circumstances, I slept SO well from Thursday night on through the end of the week. It's been glorious. I haven't even been using my tons and tons of pillows.

Food cravings: Chips and Queso. A lot. Like I want some right now.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing in particular, but I have had a few random nauseous moments.

Miss anything? Sleeping on my belly. Normal sinus functioning. Not having heartburn ALL. THE. TIME.

Happy, Moody, or Emotional most of the time: Surprisingly the early part of this week I was really at peace and not stressing too much. Thursday I was down right giddy all afternoon. From Friday on I was pretty stressed and emotional. I even cried from the stress of car shopping. Too. Many. Feelings.

Workouts: Pretty standard. Thursday I missed workout since I was driving back from ATL, and Saturday we were careful not to aggravate my abs since I had the pulled muscle earlier in the week.

The Bump: Huge. 41 inches. WOAH.

Have you started to show yet?: Yup. A lady at the Ford dealership was able to confidently ask me how far along I was. I even told her I was glad she felt confident enough to ask and that it must mean I look pregnant and not fat. She said it was very clear that it was a pregnant belly and she wouldn't have asked otherwise :)

Stretch marks? No new ones, just the same two. Had a minor freak out when I thought I had stretch marks around my belly button, but then realized they were just marks from my towel after I got out of the shower.

Maternity Clothes? I bought some new non-maternity dresses this week that compliment the bump well but will still be super cute post baby. I don't want to spend too much on maternity stuff!

Gender: BOY! I bought a blue scarf to wear on Christmas because we are having our first "shower." It's really just JD's whole family going ahead and doing baby stuff too, but I still wanted to wear something blue :)

Any Names Picked Out Yet: Charlie

Labor Signs: Not labor signs, but I think I've had like 2 Braxton Hicks contractions. All of my weekly update emails says that it's normal to start feeling them here and there by this point. I mentioned it to my doctor and she says it's normal. I couldn't really explain it to her other than that it just "felt funny." I told her I was walking around the room at school and all of a sudden felt like I was flexing my abs, but I really wasn't, and then it was gone within less than a minute of when it came on. My belly just felt really tight and like he was pushing against me. Didn't hurt at all. Just felt.... funny.

Movement: Wiggle worm is back! His kicks are definitely getting bigger. He's good about giving me a good nudge whenever I'm worrying about him or stressed out. It's like he's reminding me that he's in there and he's doing ok :)

Best moment this week: I might do a post on this later, but I haven't decided yet. This week I went up to Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Egleston to have a fetal MRI. We had some reasons to need to take a better look at Charlie and get some further information and more opinions. Depending on what the results were our lives could have potentially changed in a very big way. The past few weeks have been very stressful for me as we waited for more information and answers. 

Side note *THANKFUL that God has blessed me with a man that is such a solid rock in my life to hold me together through the waiting* 

Long story short... Charlie is going to be absolutely FINE! We got the results that we needed/wanted and can move forward stress free. The results will be no more than a small notation in his health file. PRAISE GOD for happy, healthy babies :) 

I will say that I spent a LOT of time praying while I was at the hospital. I did pray selfishly that I would never have to walk back in the doors of that hospital again, but I also prayed for everyone that was currently, or would ever be, a patient in there. I am also SO thankful that there are wonderful places like CHOA and wonderful people that work there. My experience, as brief as it was, was nothing short of amazing. Thanks CHOA at Egleston. You were great!

Looking forward to: CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Week 25 Wrap Up

How far along? Finishing up 25 Weeks

Baby is the size of a: Rutebega, acorn squash, cauliflower, or length of a zucchini. I'm convinced none of those are right though since he's measuring so big already.

Total weight gain/loss: Down .4 this week for a total loss of 11.2lbs.

Symptoms: Sleeping has been awful. The worst of it has been the congestion though. WOAH sinuses. I'll take  sinusitis over the flu though. It's making its way through my class and group of friends so I'm trying to fight it off. I did have some pretty bad swelling of my hands earlier in the week, but that seems to have gotten better.

Wedding rings on or off? On, but swelling has me taking them off after long days. 

Belly Button in or out? In, but my surgery scar is poking out of it now!

Sleep:  Awful. I've finally found a pillow arangement that works. Bless that husband of mine. He's putting up with the Great Wall of Pillows like a champ. Unfortunately twice this week I woke up about 2:30 wide awake for either no reason at all or because of sinus problems. Both times it was impossible to go back to sleep so I just stayed up and decided to be productive. That lead to naps during the day, which lead to more bad sleeping at night. JD even videoed me napping at one point so that I/my mom could hear how labored my breathing was. Darn sinuses. Darn crap lugs. Darn. Darn. Darn.

Food cravings: Still citrus. I think my body must have known that this sinus attack was coming on and was gearing up with lots of vitamin C. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! 

Miss anything? Sleeping on my belly. Normal sinus functioning. 

Happy, Moody, or Emotional most of the time: This week I was puny. That's just the best word. I've felt like death warmed over since about Thursday afternoon and it hasn't been much fun at all. Thankfully my hormones were in check. I don't know if JD could have dealt with both ;)

Workouts:  I stayed home on Tuesday because I wasn't feeling well. Actually ended up at the doctor the next day because I was showing symptoms of preeclampsia. Fortunately all checked out well and I'm fine. Just normal crazy pregnancy stuff. Thursday and Saturday were good workouts. I'm SO much stronger than when I first started working out in July. Even with the growing belly I'm currently in the best shape of my life. To those that are skeptical of my workouts, know that every single thing that I do is and has been approved by my doctor. We check in with her at my appointments about what is and isn't ok to be doing. My trainer has experience working with pregnant women and knows what I can/can't and should/shouldn't be doing. We are constantly modifying my routines as my body grows and changes. Until my doctor tells me to stop doing what I'm doing I'm going to keep on keeping on.

The Bump: Huge. Too tired to go measure. 

Have you started to show yet?: Yup. This weekend I feel like he finally got nice a round like a basketball. He's all kinds of poking out there. One of our second graders looked at me this morning, smiled, and said "Mrs. Dillard! Your baby's growing!" Somehow you don't feel like a fat cow when the kids say it so sweetly :)

Stretch marks? No new ones, just the same two. 

Maternity Clothes? It's a good mix. Non maternity shirts are getting TIGHT. I bought a couple pairs of bigger jeans way early in the pregnancy, but continued to lose weight so they have been pretty huge all along. This weekend I put them on instead of my actual maternity jeans and they were tough to button! Made me rethink wearing buttons and zippers for a while!

Gender: BOY! 

Any Names Picked Out Yet: Charlie

Labor Signs: Yeah right

Movement: He's stressed me out this week. I know it's normal for him to be busier some days than others, but this week he's been a bit more sleepy. I don't like it. Last night I hadn't felt him in several hours and was trying to poke him into moving. Wouldn't you know it that as soon as JD started reading a book to him he woke right up! I guess daddy's voice was what he wanted to hear!

Best moment this week: Seeing my cousins that came to visit from Miami! They brought Charlie a pair of shoes and a little footprint kit/frame. TOO CUTE! We also did some major cleaning/organizing in the nursery which made me feel much better. Nesting is in full swing!

Looking forward to: Getting some of these doctor's appointments out of the way! 4 appointments in the next 4 weeks!

24 Week Wrap Up

Yeah. I spelled cantaloupe wrong. So what.

How far along? Finishing up 24 Weeks

Baby is the size of a: Cantaloupe

Total weight gain/loss: UP 1.8 for a total loss of 10.8. Charlie is CLEARLY a growing in there!! I'm hungry ALL. THE. TIME. Curious what the doctor will say about so much weight gain between appointments...

Symptoms: UGH heartburn. Majorly hungry. Sleeping like crap. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but swelling has me taking them off after long days. 

Belly Button in or out? In, but my surgery scar is poking out of it now!

Sleep:  Rough. My hips hurt sleeping on my side even with pillows so I'm only comfortable on my back... Which is a no no. Naps on the couch have been most comfortable so I'm seriously thinking I'll end up on the couch towards the end of the pregnancy. 

Food cravings: Back to citrus. Multiple Cuties a day and Tropicana No Pulp orange juice. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! 

Miss anything? Sleeping on my belly. Normal sinus functioning. 

Happy, Moody, or Emotional most of the time: In all honesty this week I've been a complete and total wreck emotionally. It was a really busy week filled with lots of stress at work, lots of stuff going on after school, and anxiety about dr appointments and health stuff. I'm pretty sure I cried more this week than the whole pregnancy combined. 

Workouts:  Thursday was one of those days when I just needed to put on my headphones as loud as I could and zone out on the elliptical, which is exactly what I did. Saturday's workout was great. 6 months preggers and busting out some serious stuff :)

The Bump: Huge. Too tired to go measure. 

Have you started to show yet?: According to people's comments- NO. UGH! Lots of people commented on my belly being tiny again for me to be 6 months. Someone actually said "Are you sure you're even pregnant??" Yes as a matter of fact. I'm quite sure. So sure in fact that I can tell you my son is 1lb 11oz and currently measuring in the 61st percentile meaning he's a little over average. Apparently if he continues at this rate he could be close to 9lbs when he's born, just like his momma (I was 8lbs 15oz. JD was only 6lbs 7?oz. Clearly our chunk is taking after me!). So yes. I'm sure I'm pregnant. Why don't you take your super stressful comments somewhere else? I realize you think you're paying me a compliment by talking about how "itty bitty" I am or how I'm just "all baby" but you're really just stressing me out. Stick with "OMG you look beautiful!" or something of the sort and steer clear of any comments referring to my size. Steer clear of size related comments to any pregnant ladies for that matter, big or small. You're just stressing us all out. *end soapbox*

Stretch marks? No new ones, just the same two. 

Maternity Clothes? Yup. Still loving it all!

Gender: BOY! 

Any Names Picked Out Yet: Charlie

Labor Signs: Yeah right

Movement: So this little wiggle worm moves all the time... Except when we needed him to! He was laying weird on Thursday when we had our ultrasound and the tech couldn't get great pictures. He absolutely wouldn't move. We pushed and nudged him. I got up and walked. I even broke down dancing in the room trying to get him to move! That little stinker wouldn't budge. He stayed perfectly still until I promised him a piece of chocolate if he cooperated. Sure enough he's motivated by sweets like his momma and he flipped right over ;)

Best moment this week: Finding out that Charlie's heart is in perfect condition. Praise God!

Looking forward to: Continuing to get stuff done in the nursery :)

 

Again... It's spelled wrong. Too tired to change it. Whatevs.

Week 23 Wrap Up

How far along? Finishing up 23 Weeks

Baby is the size of a: Very large grapefruit. I saw no grapefruits that matched the size requirements, so I went with two :) Fun fact, Charlie weighs about as much as a pack of Oreos!

Total weight gain/loss: Up 4.6lbs for a total loss of 12.6. WOAH. I GAINED ALMOST 5LBS in a WEEK?!? Granted I will say that last week was using a different scale since we were in Atlanta. However I think the weight gain has less to do with different scales and more to do with missing 4 workouts and eating all that yummy Thanksgiving food!!

Symptoms: Major sinus congestion and crud. UGH it's been miserable. The back and forth to Atlanta is usually rough on me anyways so it's just escalated at this point. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but swelling has me taking them off after long days

Belly Button in or out? In, but my surgery scar is poking out of it now!

Sleep:  Rough while in Atlanta. The beds at both of our parents' houses might as well be cement slabs compared to our bed in Valdosta. I was so glad to get back home to our own bed. 

Food cravings: Sweets, sweets, and more sweets. UGH I thought I was past the sweet craving. JD gave me some story about sugar having the same affects on your brain as cocaine. Hmmm....

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! 

Miss anything? Sleeping on my belly. Normal sinus functioning. 

Happy, Moody, or Emotional most of the time: Honestly a good mix of everything this week. It's the holidays though so it's always a stressful time of year. 

Workouts:  Nonexistent, and I could so feel it when I finally got back in the gym. It's amazing how quickly you can lose all your hard work!

The Bump: Huge. Too tired to go measure. 

Have you started to show yet?: Definitely. 

Stretch marks? No new ones, just the same two. 

Maternity Clothes? Yup. Still loving it all!

Gender: BOY! 

Any Names Picked Out Yet: Charlie

Labor Signs: Yeah right

Movement: My wiggle worm is still hanging out in the same spot on my left side. He's ventured towards the middle a few times but is steering clear of my right side. I love being able to feel him now, and it's even better when JD can too :)

Best moment this week: Spur of the moment plans for lunch with Rosalie. 3 hours with that girl was EXACTLY what I needed! Love and miss her dearly. I'm also excited because we moved the recliner out of the living room and into the nursery so we had room for our new Christmas tree. It's not the chair that will stay in the nursery, but it at least lets me see exactly what the furniture set up will be like in there. I love it!

Looking forward to: Seeing Charlie for an hour on Thursday when we have our level 2/fetal echocardiogram :)