3rd Trimester!!!

I can't believe I am already in my third trimester. Time is flying by. Pete and I did the tour of the maternity wing of the hospital yesterday and it is quite nice. Private rooms for everyone with your own bathroom and shower. They are like hotel rooms. It was recently remodeled so everything is so clean and new looking. Our names were even pulled from the raffle and we won a baby cd featuring songs from composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. I will have to give it a listen, as I do like the occasional classic instrumental music.

Had my doctors visit yesterday as well, and now those visits are going to get closer and closer together. Everything was perfect. I met with Dr. Murphy again and he is my favorite. He is an older guy and he does this sort of humming thing while he works. It is so awesome and it always makes me smile and feel more at ease. He really seems like he cares too, which I like. There are a couple of the doctors I see that don't seem as invested, like they just need to move on to the next patient. So I have my fingers crossed that he will be the one that delivers me, but my luck it will be the one girl that I don't like so much. She is very callused and cold. Not something you want in a person who is going to be around for the happiest moment of your life.

Baby's heart was strong and her growth was right on target. We called her our little Baby Bear because Dr. Murphy said she was not too big and not too small, she was just right. Now that she is moving more and more and you can actually see it, I'm going to try and get some video footage. It is so cool, but it seriously seems like my belly should be in the latest sci fi movie.

Megan and Amy are throwing my shower this weekend with my girls (and Josh), which I am so looking forward to. After that I will definitely be posting pictures that will be more than just my silhouetted self with a giant belly almost popping through my tank top. Pretty soon I am going to have to find a new tank top to wear for those pictures. The current one is really being put to work.

Pete told me that I look more pregnant when I wear maternity shirts than I do when I am wearing just a regular t-shirt or sweatshirt. I'm just glad I can still wear the regular stuff even if it is mostly just to sleep in. Most importantly though, I'm so glad that I am able to wear my jeans with the hairband to hold the button. I don't know how long that will work, but I am hoping when that fails maybe those Bella Bands will work cause I so don't want to buy maternity jeans.

Pregnancy Eating Anxiety

So I find myself getting a slight bought of anxiety based on what foods I am eating or not eating, if I am getting enough protein, or fiber, or vegetables, am I drinking enough water, am I consuming too much sugar or carbs or chocolate, did I remember to take my prenatals or my iron, or my calcium today???????? It is really starting to drive me crazy. Since every pregnancy article, book, or magazine you look at reiterates that eating healthy and drinking plenty of water is of the utmost importance for your growing baby, it makes you feel so guilty if you have a piece of chocolate or some bacon with your breakfast. I truly feel the anxiety it makes you experience has got to be way worse for the baby than anything else. As if we don't have enough issues to be scared, anxious, and unsure about.

Is it okay that since it was just Halloween I have a mini 3 Musketeers or mini Twix during the day? Is it okay if I forgot to take one of my three vitamins today? Is it okay that I don't have vegetables in my every day diet? How much is all of this really going to affect baby? Do they really even know that? I don't drink, I wouldn't smoke even if I wasn't pregnant, I do eat and drink every day, multiple times, and though I have missed a few days with my vitamins I have been quite good about taking them regularly. Is that enough?

Doctor says her heartbeat is strong, she is growing at a perfect rate for how far along I am, and she kicks and moves all the time. So I have decided that based on the fact that she seems to be perfectly healthy I am just going to continue to do what I am doing and not worry about it anymore. Babies are like parasites anyway, they just suck all the nutrients they need from you. I don't know if any other moms get anxiety from the eating thing, but because I am such a worrier, I do and I just had to get it off my chest.

28 Weeks/Visit Back Home

Well I am back home now from my amazing trip up north to see family and friends. I still can't believe that 28 weeks have already gone by and I'm now in my third trimester! Crazy. Pete said he could definitely tell that my belly got bigger in the week I was gone. Baby had her first experience on a plane and she seemed to really notice when the plane was taking off and landing. I hope that it didn't bother her little ears.

The shower was so much fun. Very informal and just a bunch of friends and family. She got quite the mass of cute things, one of which was a five foot tall stuffed giraffe!

I so wanted to take her on the plane with me, however, she will have to wait to come down with the grandparents when they drive down in March. Hope they have a sunroof! I haven't taken pictures of some of the other amazing gifts yet, but I will definitely be posting some pictures soon. This baby is so extremely loved and she isn't even born yet. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out. It was so good to be together with everyone.

27 Weeks

Sorry I have fallen behind on my updates. I was in Vancouver visiting friends and family so I didn't have time to work on my blog. I hit the 27 week mark last week. I also had my glucose screening done and thankfully I do not have gestational diabetes! I am however anemic, so I have to start taking my iron supplements again. They told me early on that that would probably happen since I was going into pregnancy and usually around this time the body is producing so much more blood that it is very common to become anemic. No problem though. I am used to the supplements and fortunately since my nausea is gone taking pills isn't a problem anymore.

I'm loving the size of my belly right now. It is like the perfect budda size for everyone to rub for good luck! Fortunately I haven't had strangers come up and rub it, that could be weird, but it doesn't bother me when friends and family do it. I think it is good for Baby.

Ultrasound

Since I couldn't get my editing program to save the ultrasound video I made, I instead saved a couple freeze frames from it of my favorite pictures. These were taken back at 18 weeks.

This one is my favorite of Baby's little hand and the top of her head, which is the portion to the right. I'm just amazed at how something so little can have such a perfect little hand.

This one is of her laying on her side with her little feet and legs curled up to her chest. It is like she is using the placenta as her bed. Her head is to the right, then you can see her bent knees and her little feet. She is just too cute.

I had another ultrasound recently, but I have to have Pete scan the images for me at work, so those will be coming later. Now that she is getting bigger you can't really see her whole body in one ultrasound picture, that is why I love those when she is little, so I can see all of my little bean.

26 Weeks

26 weeks along now, and this is the week I have to go in for my glucose tolerance test. Not looking forward to drinking a giant glass of nasty sugar water that has been described as drinking flat orange soda. Mmmm...so excited. The northern gang left on Monday and baby has been so crazy active ever since. My stomach looks like something out of a science fiction movie. It is so cool to watch. Of course she would start with the crazy movement after the company leaves. At least I will be up there for a visit in a week, so hopefully she will keep it up.

Now that all of our visitors have come and gone, Pete and I can really start on putting the nursery together. I am so excited. Nikki's mom got us a magic spinning lantern with little teddy bears on it, which will be so cute in the nursery.

First project is going to be to put together the crib. Right now it is sitting in a giant box in the garage, so that should be a fun project. I can't wait until it is finished.

25 Weeks

Last week I hit 25 weeks, which now puts me into my sixth month. That is so crazy. I'm a little late on getting my post up because I had four of my favorite people from up north visiting last week. Both Nikki and Shawnee got a little baby kick on their hands, which is always exciting. She always seems to stop kicking as soon as someone puts their hand on my belly. She is a little punk that way, just like her daddy. My belly continues to grow, and according to the books my uterus is the size of a soccer ball, which seems about right.

I had my first real experience with acid reflux the other night. Man is that unbelievably more painful than I ever would have expected. It woke me up in the middle of the night and after realizing I wasn't having a heart attack, a panic attack, or some life threatening issue, I figured it out that it must be acid reflux. So I propped myself up a bit and eventually it faded away. I couldn't believe that some stomach acid in your esophagus could feel like that. It is like your chest is going to implode. Glad it was pretty short lived though. Hopefully that won't be a regular occurrence during the last four months.