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!!!!!!!