Third Trimester (Weeks 28-33)

Past updates (in case you missed them):

• Second Trimester (Weeks 25 – 27)
• Second Trimester (Weeks 21 – 24)
• Half Way There! (Weeks 14 – 20)
• Gender Reveal Party
• First Trimester Recap
• FINALLY.

28 Weeks

We’ve made it to the THIRD TRIMESTER!

This girl in my belly dances around like a wild woman all day. I LOVE IT. Unless it’s 3 AM and I’m trying to sleep, then not as much…

My baby showers are in the works, thanks to my very gracious family and friends, and we are constantly updating the registry with things we’ve forgotten. We’ve scheduled a 3D/4D Ultrasound for the 11th, and an all-day birthing class for the 18th.

Shit is getting real!

Our girl weighs about 2.25 lbs and measures about 15 inches long.  I’m definitely starting to feel a little top heavy these days, and still lathering on the lotion to try and prevent stretch marks.

29 Weeks

Hands down, the best part of this week was getting to see our baby girl via 3D/4D Ultrasound! Justin bought me a session at Becoming Mom as a Christmas gift, so he, my mom and I went on Saturday to see our sweet girl.

A friend from high school works there, and when I checked in, the man at the desk handed me a pink unicorn stuffed animal and said, “Your friend sent this.” I was like, Huh?? and looked at Justin, thinking he might have added it as part of the gift, but he looked just as confused as I was.  Sami had sent it! During our visit, the technician recorded the baby’s heartbeat and placed it inside the unicorn as a keepsake. Sami, if you’re reading, thank you so much!!!

In addition to the unicorn, we got 26 photos and a video as a result of our visit (which I promptly forwarded on to all our family members and a few friends!). Her hand and her knee were up by her face the entire time, and the technician kept poking my belly to get her to move them. She would oblige, for two seconds, and then bring them right back up. Stubborn girl!  

Overall, our experience at Becoming Mom was phenomenal, and our technician, Melissa, was so sweet and patient. I would absolutely recommend this company to any of my pregnant readers.

I am so obsessed with her little squishy nose and those cheeks!!! I can hardly believe that this precious face is a product of Justin and me. Reproduction is incredible. She’s so perfect, and now I’m even more anxious to meet her.

My first reaction was – “Where in the heck did she get those cheeks? Neither one of us had those cheeks as a kid!” Then my Aunt sent me this photo of me…

Turns out I had some cheeks too. Perhaps she looks like mama after all?  🙂 What do you think?!

I have noticed this week that my pregnancy brain is getting worse and worse. Not only am I stumbling over my words every day, but while I was filling out my paperwork at Becoming Mom I started writing down my Mom’s address – where I haven’t lived since 2014! What the heck!?

I also had a Braxton Hicks contraction during our ultrasound, which the technician pointed out. I had felt my belly tighten, but I honestly just thought it was nerves (because even though I was excited, I still have a lot of anxiety surrounding ultrasounds). Now, that I know what they feel like, I am pretty certain I have Braxton Hicks all the time.

30 Weeks

I’m feeling so incredibly blessed to have made it to 30 weeks! Honestly, part of me never thought we would make it this far, and here we are.

Several things to note this week!

• Baby Girl’s name has officially been announced on the blog! 🙂 Read about how we chose her name, the meaning behind it, and how we revealed to our families.
• Pizza = Heartburn. We ordered Jets pizza (our fav!) over the weekend as a treat, and it gave me the heartburn from HELL. It was horrible! I guess that’s just even more motivation to eat healthy. <insert eyeroll here.>
• On the flip side, I’m craving SO. MUCH. FRUIT.  I’ve bought navel oranges, blood oranges, strawberries, blueberries, honeydew melon, watermelon, pears and apples… and crushed everything!  Apples with Justin’s vanilla almond butter have been my jam for lunch.
• I have been getting leg cramps and charlie horses randomly in the middle of the night, and they range from mild to God-awful. One night this week I jumped out of bed with one (from a dead sleep!!) and I was instantly in tears trying to stretch out my calf.
• We took our all-day birthing class this weekend. I was not on board with a birthing class initially, but after talking with friends who said how informative it was, we thought what the heck. It was 9 am – 2 pm (supposed to be until 4 pm but we powered through!) and the instructor was incredible. She has 20+ years as a L&D nurse, and birthed 7 kids of her own, so you could say she knows a thing or two about childbirth. We were pumped full of information, but we also got a tour of the hospital so we know where to park, where to check in, and how we will be moving around throughout the process. Triage > Labor & Delivery > Postpartum/Mom & Baby. It definitely put our minds at ease, knowing where to go and what to expect on D-DAY!
• We have been nesting a ton lately! We have been going through and organizing what seems like every inch of our house, and getting rid of all unnecessary clutter. We’ve also made lots of progress on our nursery this week!
  
• On Sunday night, I was walking downstairs and either lost my footing, or tripped over my too-long pajama pants, and took quite a tumble down the stairs. Luckily I had nothing in my hands, and I slid on my butt all the way down. I tried to catch myself with my arms but couldn’t. Justin ran to me so fast, and screamed, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” as I am literally still falling. When I came to a halt, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh at what he said, or cry. I think I was just in shock.
  I made myself a little bowl of ice cream to sugar the baby up and get her to move. She did, thank God, so we tried not to worry.We had a 30-week OB appointment already scheduled for 10 AM the next morning, so it was perfect timing. Dr. Parobeck examined me and said baby and I were fine. In her 20-something years of practice, she had never seen fetal distress from a fall. “They’re pretty well padded in there,” she said. My butt and my arm are going to have some nasty bruises, but thankfully baby is just FINE!
• We are down to OB appointments every two weeks now, which is crazy! The end is near!

31 Weeks

I’ve probably already said this but I swear, every Thursday when I wake up, I feel significantly bigger. I don’t know if it’s just a mental thing or what, but this morning I woke up at officially 31 weeks pregnant and my belly felt a little bigger.  I stepped on the scale, and this mama is up exactly 20 lbs. since finding out we were expecting. While I know I’m totally on track with where I should be, it’s still hard not to freak out seeing the highest number you’ve ever seen on the scale.  I’ve been told by a few people that I’m all belly, and I really hope these kind folks aren’t lying to me! 😉

I’m also pretty certain that half of this weight gain went straight to my boobs…because they’re massive. And no, it is not as cool as you would think. I’m about two seconds away from swearing off regular bras completely, and wearing sports bras or nursing bras (you know, super stretchy kinds!) exclusively.

This week, my app says that baby MORGAN weighs approximately 3.2 lbs and measures 16 inches long. Her brain connections are developing rapidly and can already process information and pick up signals from all five senses. She stretches and moves around constantly, and gets the hiccups multiple times a day.  I am convinced that I will never grow tired of feeling this little wiggle worm move around in my belly. Even when she likes to party in the middle of the night and keep me awake with her kicks, punches, and hiccups, I seriously just love it so much!

Unfortunately, the end of week 31 took a turn for the worst when I came home from work on Monday with a vicious stomach bug. It was the most violent, disgusting illness I have ever experienced. Starting at 6 pm, I was getting up and running to the bathroom about every 20 minutes until 4:30 am. I got ZERO sleep – no exaggeration. I kept bawling my eyes out thinking I was hurting the baby with all the heaving, and worrying about the stomach cramps and if I had/could potentially put myself into labor.

Justin had done lots of Googling and kept assuring me that she was fine, but I called my doctor the next morning to make sure.  After I had finally stopped vomiting, my hands and face were tingly, which also was scaring me. This went on for hours, until probably 10 am when I finally ate something. The nurse said not to worry – I had simply depleted myself of all nutrients (including the prenatal vitamins I had taken!) and gave me strict instructions to stay in bed for 24-48 hours and push fluids.  She gave me a list of warning signs to watch for, and to call if I experienced any of them.

I ended up taking both Tuesday and Wednesday off of work to get myself healthy. I pumped myself full of water, Body Armor and Gatorade to replenish my electrolytes, and ate small, bland meals when I could. Thankfully today (Thursday) I am feeling much better as I enter week 32!

32 Weeks

Today, January 30th, 2020, not only marks 32 weeks with baby girl, but also the anniversary of the day we lost our first baby. It feels super weird to be sad about the baby(ies) we lost while also welcoming a healthy one.

I had a Dr. appointment this week and unfortunately had to attend without Justin, as he had a work obligation. I was totally nervous, not going to lie, but thankfully the appointment went well. Dr. Rinala said baby Morgan is healthy as ever, with a very strong heartbeat, even despite me being so sick last week. She explained that the baby takes what she needs from me, and while I might feel like crap, she’s fine. When she measured my belly, baby was moving around and we giggled as we watched my belly dance. She said baby will likely be doing somersaults for a couple more weeks, while she has the room, and at 36 weeks they’ll begin checking on her positioning as well as my cervix dilation and test for GBS (Group B Strep).

Last night, I woke up to contractions in my belly. Probably just Braxton Hicks – but man, they were intense and I was not prepared. My belly was super tight and I walked to the bathroom to pee, semi-freaking out. I reminded myself, a real contraction I wouldn’t be able to walk through like this so I’m sure everything is fine.  They persisted for about 30 seconds each for a few minutes and eventually stopped and I fell back asleep.  I think it’s safe to say my body is preparing for birth!

Check out how much my belly has grown!  #RIPbellybutton

It’s super hard to watch your body change so much so quickly, but I’m trying my best to also embrace it. There’s a chance this might be our last pregnancy, and I don’t want to take a single moment for granted.

33 Weeks

This week my friends showered Morgan & I with lots of love!!!

I wore this super cute dress from Target, and paired it with black tights and dressy brown boots, making it the perfect ensemble for the cold & snowy weather. Warning: dress runs big! I’m wearing an XS.

This week our sweet girl is as big as Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates! She estimates 17 inches in length and 4.25 lbs. based on my app, and I’m dying to know how accurate that actually is.  Her kicks and punches are definitely getting stronger, and sometimes catch me by surprise with a swift kick to the ribs. Her fetal immune system is developing this week and I sure hope hers is better than mine (I got Rudy’s haircut this week so I’ve been a congested mess once again!).  It is said that the amniotic fluid is approaching its maximum this week, but all I know is that I’m extremely thirsty, like all. the. time.  Every night I’ve been going to bed with a 32 oz. water bottle of ice water on my night stand, and by morning it is completely GONE. It seems that whenever I wake up to pee (you know, 4x a night) I’m also dying of thirst, and chug away. (There are certainly worse “problems” to have, I just found this symptom interesting.)

Extremely randomly, I was craving Captain Crunch this week and went through a whole box of “Oops! All Berries.” I’m also still craving all things fruit and chocolate, and having aversions to chicken again. I’m trying to incorporate more seafood for protein (and the DHA/Omega 3’s are said to aid in baby’s brain health!), but I would live solely on pasta and sourdough bread if I allowed myself that option.

Here’s to hoping the rest of the third trimester goes smoothly! We can’t wait to meet you, baby girl! ❤