34 Weeks 5 Days

Here's a little collage of my ever growing belly. From 18 weeks until 32! I think it goes: 18.6, 19.6, 22.6, 23.6, 27.6, 29.6, and then 31.6.

I haven't done a more recent one because I usually only update on Wednesdays and I seem to be actually busy these days...doing what I have no idea.

At the doctor yesterday, they said everything is still looking perfect! Measuring right on and strong heartbeat as usual. It seems that the concensus from everyone these days it that this little one is a boy...I'm not quite sure what to believe right now. I'm also not wanting to say because I think if I'm wrong people will judge that. Stupid I know to feel that way, but even more stupid that people actually think moms have hurt feelings when their babies are born and not what they thought it was. I definitely have my days where I would love to have a boy because I think Nate would love to have a little him to teach hockey and baseball, but in the same thought I think about how wonderful it would be to have a girl to buy cute clothes for and would fit into all of the girls in our family.

We will see very shortly! I'll be 35/35 on Thursday, which means 35 Weeks and 35 days to go until our due date! I don't feel quite as strongly as I did about going way over due, but I'm still going strong working my regular hours (even picking some up) and I refuse to back down just because I'm pregnant!

32 Weeks 4 Days

We are getting SO close to getting to meet this little muffin! Everything has been coming together wonderfully and I really have no complaints. Nate and I have the nursery all together now and I couldn't be more proud with how it all turned out! Of course I had a little help from Auntie M and Jax, and Grandma B came and helped with some touch ups too.

Here is the story of how it all came together:

I believe it all started on Tuesday July 26th at the amazing paint party. There were a whole 3 people in attendance, but I made sure to get a party platter from Subway and have it be a catered event!

Jackie doing her meticulous job of trimming the ceiling. Thank God I got out of that task!

Auntie M helping out...the walls are gray I swear, but these pictures all make it look really blue!

On Wednesday we shampooed the carpet and after it was dry enough decided to put together the crib. We were going to do the rest of the furniture, but realized they were already put together so we would have to wait for some muscles to help Nate move it all upstairs. A few tears later, and I understood.

Beaner really wants to be just like Nate so he was trying to help put the crib together.

All done!

On Thursday Nate & his Dad moved all of the furniture up into the room. This was a pretty exciting day for me! The baby has a room!

Friday night Jackie & I put the mirrors above the changer...so cute!

Another project for Jax & I on the following Tuesday. We were supposed to get it done on Friday, but turns out you have to let the paint sit for 2 weeks! Well we let it set for just 1 and are going to cross our fingers that the decal sticks!

The finished product. It turned out SO much better than I ever could have imagined.

 

It looks even better now because we were surprised with an early shower gift from Grandma D and got the mattress and all the pads too!

I made Nate put up the shelves late Tuesday night so we could finally say room complete!

I can't believe how much the babies room has changed in just one week. I would have to give credit to the pre-planning and hours of googling Jackie and I did though. I love walking by the room and feeling like it came right out of a catalog. Nothing but the best for my muffin!



30 Weeks 2 Days

It has been awhile since we have done one of these, so I thought what the heck?! I'm also pretty board at the moment waiting for another Saturday night at the office. Coming up this week: nursery accomplishments!!

 

 

How far along? 30 Weeks and 2 Days
Weight gain/loss: According to the doctors I am up 23 lbs. They just don't know about what I gained before my first appointment...oops!
Maternity clothes? Yes please! I guess I pretty much live in yoga pants and cami's these days which are not maternity, but they might as well be.
Stretch marks? Not anymore than I already had, I just got some oil I ordered that is supposed to be the miracle worker so here's to not getting any?!
Sleep? Sweet, sweet insomnia has reared its ugly head again. Just the other night I woke up at 3:15am and was still up doing the dishes at 6am when Nate woke up wondering what in the world was going on!
Food cravings: Ice Cream...my favorite of the moment is Strawberry Shakes from McD's
Movement? Oh the little alien moves around every day. I do think that it moves a lot less than some people say theirs do...I'm hoping this means that I am correct in thinking that this baby is going to be calm...check back in a few weeks when I'm pulling my hair out from all of the screaming. I actually asked my doc about this at my last appointment and she thinks it probably has a lot to do with how active I am. Seeing as I'm not really the sit around all day type, I probably just don't notice as much movement as most.
Belly button in or out? Still in, but growing out. It is kind of weird...
What I miss? Being able to enjoy the outside heat more. I would love to lay out in the sun or I had to miss a Twins game the other day because the heat index was 115!
What I'm looking forward to: Getting my room all put together in the next week. I'm really happy we are still on track with everything over here!

 

It seems as though people stop caring about the fruit size of their babies by now because I can't seem to find one! On my ticker from my Bump group I believe I am a squash...even though it resembles a pumpkin. Here is a picture of a cabbage and a quarter, I suppose it is a descent comparison. The little one is now about 17 inches and 3 1/2 lbs give or take!

 

29 Weeks 6 Days

My Top Ten Reasons Being Pregnant in the Summer is Not That Bad

10. Sweating is normal for people to do in the heat; therefore, when I am doing something that requires a little extra work most people just can't get over how much I am glowing!

9. No one likes to get fat and be pale, at least in the summer you can get fat and be bronzed.

8. Cami's & Yoga pants no longer look like I just rolled out of bed. I look like I could have came from a relaxing stroll around the lake or a pre-natal yoga class.

7. The clothes are so much cuter in the summer...and cheaper. Until chaffing became an issue throwing on any old dress can work...also you don't need to buy a new winter jacket! $$$

6. The State Fair. Do I need to even explain? I have always been self conscious of the amount of food I could consume there. This year there is no one that will stop me from eating a corn dog, a hot dog, deep fried Snickers, and a batch of Martha's cookies during one trip.

5. I no longer have to worry about sucking in that extra 2lbs in my swim suit. Now I proudly let the extra 25lbs hang free...my abs have never been so hard in my life!

4. Having a baby in the fall is going to be wonderful. The gorgeous weather for beautiful walks, a little baby to dress up for Halloween, and maternity leave that covers all of the major holidays!

3. Summer Activities are way more pregnant lady friendly than winter. Trips to the beach, the cabin, local fairs, and outdoor concerts are way more appealing than tubing, skiing, or ice skating.

2. Flip- Flops, no matter how swollen my feet get these shoes will always fit me!

1. Ice Cream. I think I would feel a lot more guilty about my daily (sometimes twice daily) indulgence if it were cold outside. Instead people look at the pregnant lady and the 100 degree thermometer and just nod their heads in acceptance.

27 Weeks 1 Day

Here is my bump progress up until this point. It is SO funny to me how huge I thought I was in the beginning!

4 Days before my BFP (Big Effing Positive in blog terms) The night of my last cocktail at Spike and Rachel's wedding in Fargo, ND. I love how naive we are in this picture to the fact that our lives are forever changed and we have NO idea!

4.1 Weeks Pregnant



16.6 Weeks

17.6

18.6 Weeks

19.6 Weeks

20.6 Weeks

21.6 Weeks

22.6 Weeks

23.6 Weeks for both



24.3 Weeks

26.6 Weeks ( So two days ago...I went to the beach after this and tanned my bump the best I could!)

25 Weeks 5 Days

100 days until my due date! I can't believe that we are in double digits tomorrow...I feel like celebrating and yet at the same time I feel like screaming into a pillow! I also have graduated to an eggplant! It is quite the upgrade if you ask me...lol.

Also, I had to take a 3 hour Glucose Tolerence Test (GTT) today, after I failed the 1 hour one last Tuesday at my regular appointment.. They called with the results and said that I passed with flying colors. I was very happy to hear that, since I am so not ready to give up ice cream or start dieting yet. Let me enjoy three more months of all the horrible foods I won't be eating for a long time after the baby comes.

24 Weeks 2 Days

These weeks just seem to be cruising by. School is out for everyone in MN, and we have our last graduation party to attend tomorrow for Auntie S. I'm excited to wear one of my new maternity dresses and to have the little one be loved by its family. I tried to get Auntie M to feel some punches last night, but it seems that the baby gets  a little shy when others are around...that or it is just as lazy as me these days.

It does seem like some of the 1st Trimester symptoms have come back. I find myself getting more tired and have less motivation again. I also found myself in a major cleaning spree this morning that I can only attribute to nesting because if was way out of character for me...unfortunately the motivation has now passed.

On another note, I have decided to move forward with my med-free birth plan and am now in talks with a doula/hypnobabies teacher. She is the only hypnobabies instructor in the state of MN. I have decided to still read the hypnobirthing material, but from the research I have done I really feel like my calling is more towards the hypnobabies curriculum. I'm going to plan a phone date with her this week to move on with the process, and will update on that later.

Also this week the baby is still a papaya...boo for stunted growth! Except I did read somewhere that it was now the size of a standard letter, but really who wants to look at a piece of paper?! Have a great weekend!

23 Weeks 1 Day

Happy Friday! So far it has been an amazing one, filled with my favorite food: Subway and then an amazing massage in my OWN living room. I am really feeling like a princess today, and it is such a nice change of pace after last Friday. I figured I would re-tell my story one more time, since this has been a pretty "big" one for me in my pregnancy.

Here it goes:

Last Friday I met my mom at Costco to pick up a few things for the annual Memorial Party. We got all sorts of things: buns, water, fruit, etc..and after seeing all the goodness we decided to head over to a new restaurant, Burger Jones. It was really good food. I had a cheeseburger and a chocolate malt and ate way more than I should have probably, but it was really that good I just couldn't stop!

After lunch, we went to a few consignment stores to look for some maternity clothes and came up empty handed...weird I know! (I really am trying, I guess I'm just a snot about used things) I stopped and got kitty litter and went home. I still felt super full and just felt like I needed to vomit from all of the food. After an hour or so of being SO uncomfortable and Nate being SO sick of hearing me complain I decided I would let nature take its course and I puked. I thought, 'oh good now I can get on with the cleaning and stuff now that I feel better.'...boy was I wrong! It seems that all that did was open the flood gates. Within 10 minutes I was back in the bathroom purging whatever else was left in there. This went on for a couple hours before Nate finally convinced me to call my doctor. I really hate bothering people, and I hate it even more being a FTM (first time mom) thinking that I am over reacting to things...because Lord knows there are those ladies out there and I refuse to be one of them!

My doctor said I needed to head right into Labor & Delivery, which is where Nate sped to get me to as fast as he could. It was quite the bonding time for him and I. It was almost a trial run of being in labor with me vomiting in the truck while he tries to drive (in the rain of course) and rub my back to comfort me at the same time! The one nice thing about being pregnant I guess is even on a holiday weekend you don't have to wait in the waiting room, you just go straight to the delivery ward and they give you a room and wait on you hand and foot. The nurses were amazing, and I'm so happy that I will be delivering there too!

They hooked me up to an IV right away to start fluids, and started to monitor my uterus which was irritable and having some minor contractions (scary!!). Unfortunately, I didn't stop with the vomiting and pretty much felt miserable the whole time. Thankfully I had a nurse that really advocated for me and when the doctors wanted to keep me over night she fought for me to go home, which is what I knew I really needed. They gave me a prescription for more Zofran (anti-nausea med) and sent Nate and I on our way.

By Saturday I was feeling 100% better, not feeling good, but way better then I had. Nate was a wonderful doctor and had me on strict bed rest for the next day to make sure I would be okay for Sunday. Thank God for having wonderful family and friends! My mom, Nate's mom, and even Ernie pitched in to clean the house and finish the shopping while I was resting. It was really torture for me, but Nate made sure everyone knew to make sure I rested...which I did!

Sunday came and the party went well, I even stayed the whole time! At my check up on Tuesday they said that all of my levels were back to normal and I was up a pound so they were very happy seeing that they need to make sure the baby is gaining right now.



On another note...the baby is now a papaya...whatever in the world that is?!

22 Weeks 5 Days

How far along? 22 Weeks and 5 Days
Weight gain/loss: We will find out tomorrow seeing that I have to go in for a follow-up because of my Labor & Delivery visit on Friday.
Maternity clothes? Most of them
Stretch marks? Not anymore than I already had
Sleep? I've been really lazy the last few days, but I'm not sure if it's because of being sick or the 3rd Tri approaching. My sleep has been okay...usually get 5/6 hours a night
Food cravings: Dad made me a ham sandwich with butter a few weeks ago, and I'm still pretty sure it is the most amazing thing ever made!
Movement? Kicking the computer as we speak! I saw baby from the outside the other day...the little kicks or punches are so sweet. I should go turn on a light if I wasn't so lazy and take a video of it for Nate, who still has yet to feel the baby. G'ma B felt some punches 3 days ago!
Belly button in or out? Right where it belongs!
What I miss? Nothing right now. I'm really loving being pregnant, but ask me tomorrow because that can change quickly!
What I'm looking forward to: Nate finally taking more than 10 seconds to finally feel his baby!!

21 Weeks

I now have a banana muffin inside of me! The ultrasound went wonderful and we saw little one moving all over the place. I had given up caffeine around 5/6 weeks of the pregnancy, but at my NT scan I was disappointed that the baby was sleeping, so on my way to the doctors on Monday I stopped and got a can of Mt. Dew and a Snickers bar. I felt like such a bad Mom, but Mt. Dew had never been so wonderful. I think I maybe only had 1/3 of the can and 2 bites of the candy bar but the baby was going crazy for the whole ultrasound...and don't worry I finished the can of pop and Snickers bar. I wasn't about to let my one cheat day go to waste! Needless to say I think the baby was a little hungover Tuesday because there was minimal movement!

My little muffin passed all of the tests, no markers for downs were found and we are still measuring ahead but only by a day. Baby weighed 13 oz. which is pretty large for its gestation and is breech at the moment, but that is totally normal at this time.

This is my favorite picture from the u/s...I can't get over how much of Nate I see in the baby.

After the u/s we sat in the waiting room before the appointment with the doctor. I got tears in my eyes while looking at these new pictures and we were even surprised with a CD of 13 more pictures the tech gave us! I'm pretty sure people were staring at the crazy pregnant women, but since when have I ever cared.

20 Weeks 2 Days

Two more sleeps until we can see our little one again! Thursday was such a special day for me. It marks the half way point of my pregnancy. It was bittersweet when I would think about it, there were mixed emotions I was happy to be that much closer to meeting my child, I was sad about this pregnancy going by so fast, and I was stress because we really haven't started doing anything!


To be the very original lady I am...(laughing at myself)...here are what a lot of the ladies from my bump group have on there blogs, and I thought I would share my answers.


How far along? 20 weeks 2 days
Weight gain/loss: As of Wednesday there was zero gain from my 16 week appointment.
Maternity clothes? Some yes, mostly for work though
Stretch marks? Not anymore than I already had
Sleep? I'm pretty irregular. I seem to not need very much of it, and still suffer from insomnia, but not nearly as bad as it was in the 1st Trimester
Food cravings: I would love to blame my DQ addiction on baby, but I think it is more me giving into a craving that has been around WAY longer than my muffin.
Movement? Tons of movement and felt my first OUTSIDE kick on Monday at 19 weeks 4 days. I never had really tried to feel for it before, but I was having a lazy night and was listening to a Billy Currington song, "Country Boys Roll"...totally had tears in my eyes it  was a really great moment. Nate is still yet to feel, but he also is yet to try!
Gender: We may see Monday if the can of soda I'm allowing myself has the muffin showing off their goods!
Belly button in or out? Still in and Thank you Jesus, because I don't want to see what mine looks like out....it's really deep!
What I miss? Adult activity, like going out for drinks or going to concerts...these things just don't sound like as much fun anymore.
What I'm looking forward to: My anatomy scan on Monday!!!

The little muffin is now a Cantaloupe...that just sounds large to me!

19 Weeks 4 Days

Happy Mother-To-Be Day to me yesterday! It was a wonderful day in a few different ways. I was so honoured by the few cards, and texts I received from people who actually thought of me being a part of this special day now. Nate got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. It was actually pretty cute, we went to Target to pick up something for G-ma Gogo, and he snuck away from me and met me at the car. The whole time he was trying to hide them by circling the car away from me. There were some people in the parking lot that thought I was quite the lucky girl to have such a sweet heart for a husband. I'd have to say I agree!

Later on before lunch I was letting sister S and Gogo feel the little muffin, who was sticking its bootie out at us, Nate finally got to feel the babe. He was so cute how quickly he pulled away after being able to tell it was actually a limb of some sorts! The whole fam had a good laugh at his reaction and I think it actually may have "hit" him as too how extraordinary being pregnant is.

I hope all of you mothers and mothers to be enjoyed your special day! I know I did!

Also, 1 more week until we see our muffin again! C'mon Monday, you can't come fast enough!

19 Weeks 1 Day

Here we are, almost half way on the typical 40 week pregnancy. With my family I should probably be looking more at a 50 week scale. I wish there were more exciting things to report this week, but unfortunately its been one of the downer ones. I have been second guessing the little one's movement and have started to feel like I'm in some sort of a rut. Blah! I was asked if it was normal to be as big as I am for as far along as I am yesterday, so that was just the icing on the cake. My loving husband is always a great ear for me, but the never ending happy face I have to wear out in the world is getting old.

Don't get me wrong, being pregnant is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. I'm just anxious to see baby again, and for Nate to feel our little one. I think this week was hard because I was supposed to have an ultra sound on Tuesday but it got moved to a week from Monday...BOO!!

So I'm going to ask for some magic kicking dust to be sprinkled on me so my little muffin can show me they are REALLY in there. Thank God for my doppler! I don't know how I ever would get through a pregnancy without one.

Here's my fruit of the week: A Mango, I think this looks like an apple but then again I don't know if I've ever had a mango?!

18 Weeks 1 Day

One more week down, only 22 or so more to go. I can't seem to get over 20 weeks approaching so quickly. I'm almost at the top of the hill, over the hump as some may say. I've been feeling this little muffin quite a bit lately and am really excited for the people in my life to be able to share in this with me. It's funny by I notice it in the car a lot when I'm on the phone. I think that baby likes hearing my voice...maybe not, but it makes me feel good to think so!

On my message board that I am affiliated on of my "friends" said her doctor told her that outside movement isn't usually felt until around 24 weeks! This totally bummed me out because I really thought that the time was getting close. I'm sure the next 6 weeks will pass quick, and hopefully I'm further along and it will happen sooner. I did however get Nate to finally touch my "belly" two days ago. You could feel which side of my ute the baby was on and it was super hard. I don't think he was expecting to feel that!

As with all of the other weeks of pregnancy, my little muffin has now grown up to the status of a yam. Yep a sweet potato for week 18. I really can't stand them so when thinking of yams, I am choosing to think of the marshmellow topping.

17 Weeks

So here goes my lame attempt at starting a blog. No idea how these even work so bare with me.

Not sure if the little muffin growing inside me will ever see these words, but I will try to leave my bartending lingo at work and use my soon to be mama talk. Right now we are super excited to be expecting our first little one, with an expected due date of September 29th (also my golden birthday). I remember a day when I was 5 or 6 and talking about golden birthdays with my sister, M, and a few of our cousins. They all had WONDERFUL golden birthdays: 18, 20, and 22! How horrible of one did I have? I would be 29, probably married to with 4 kids to the quarterback of my high school football team, it would be no fun at all! Now here I am: married to a wonderful man and expecting our first babe on my GOLDEN birthday. I feel pretty spoiled to have such a wonderful gift in my future.