37 weeks

There are only 3 more weekends left till our family of 3 grows to a family of 4. Where is all the time going?!? I feel like we just found out not too long ago that we were expecting and slowly anticipating our first doctor’s appointment to make sure everything was ok. And here we are, rounding out the bases and headed into home!

My MusicMan is cute. I’ve started having braxton hicks contractions a little more frequently than normal and if I stop to take a breather from them, his first question to me is “are you going into labor?”

I had to laugh this past weekend after he had asked me that question twice in one weekend and asked him if he was expecting me too. His comment back was so awesome, “Well yeah, we’re in the home stretch. It’s officially baby watch time.” His excitement is so awesome and how he’s excited for Ethan to be a big brother is one that I don’t think I can place words around that would do it justice. This baby is something new for both of them. A new adventure of uncharted territory for both of them and I love how they have bonded over it.

Yes, my MusicMan has this whole “dad” thing down with Ethan, but he’s never cared for an infant on the same level as a parent. Being an uncle to allot of kids has it’s perks – you love – you spoil – you give the kiddo back to the parents – you’re done. No diapers to change. No late nights pacing the hallways “shushing” and praying the kiddo can be rocked back to sleep. No wonderings if they got enough of a nap that day. I’m excited to see Ethan and my MusicMan learn first hand about the new kiddo on their own levels. Taking those moments and sharing the bonding experience over the new life that will come into our family. To say I can’t wait to see both their faces when they meet our little squirrel is a complete understatement.

I recently took a trip down memory lane and looked at photos from Ethan’s birth. First, GEEZE I DIDN’T TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! I didn’t even recognize myself at times in the photos. An extra 75 lbs (in the just the last 20 weeks of pregnancy) showed me how unhealthy I had gotten. I’m so thankful that I worked out and ate well during this pregnancy. I feel great, other than feeling tired too quickly if I over do it some days. But I can walk 3 miles without needing to stop, with Ethan I could barely make it one lap around a track…. OUCH! My only other struggle this week has been getting comfortable in bed to sleep. I’m sure my MusicMan is ready for the pillow fort I’ve built to sleep in to come down soon.

With that, I am excited to see how labor and delivery goes. Looking back I remember the troubles I had and the long labor, but I’m hoping this brings a new and different experience. We will see!

At our doctor’s appointment this week everything went well (nice strong heartbeat) and we are officially on weekly appointments to see the doctor (which is just another sign that we are in the home stretch)!

36 weeks

There are only 4 weeks to go! Oh my! The nursery is done, pictures are hung (well, almost all of them), the few things we have left over from when Ethan was a baby has been washed, folded and put away. I’ve packed the hospital bag and it resides in my car for that moment when “it’s time”.

This weekend our neighbors are throwing us (well Ethan) a “Big Brother Shower” which I can’t wait for. I love the idea of including Ethan in our excitement of him becoming a big brother. I still remember when he was 4 and would ask me if we could go to the local grocery store and pick up a sibling. While that broke me heart at the time, because I never knew that he would ever have that chance at have a sibling;  I knew from that moment what a wonderful big brother he would be. Ethan even attended a sibling class on how to be the best big brother he can be and had so much fun doing it.

The baby has been super active, wiggling around like a little squirrel and while I’m still impressed that I am able to still put my sneakers on and pick up items that might fall to floor; however, it is getting tougher to do those things.

The end of each day has brought on new challenges that I’m currently trying to work through. My work chair isn’t all that comfortable anymore, so I’m try to get up when I can and move around. If I don’t, I get nerve pain and it’s not pretty. Also towards the end of the day, the baby moves further down into my pelvis and it makes things like walking feel strange and forget even trying to cross my legs. The best solution I’ve found for this is to lay in the bed in a half way propped up position. The good news it only happens at the end of the day, so the bulk of my day is groovy and I cruise right on along.

There has been no weight gain this week, although I did up my calories a little. I was finding that right around 8:30 – 9pm I had baby hunger. You know what I’m talking about. That feeling where you feel like you could eat a horse, but you know in your head, you’re not that hungry… So I eat a banana with some natural creamy peanut butter on it. YUM. NOM. NOM. NOM. It gets me through the night without weird cravings.

The last (and) new weekly baby bump development is a rather interesting one. Being shorter in stature I sit rather close to the steering wheel of my SUV. I can’t help it. I have to reach the pedals. Yet this week I found myself trying to inch the seat back just a little because my belly was hitting the steering wheel and made driving rather interesting. So we will see if the seat has to get moved back again before the baby comes…

Our next doctor’s appointment is Tuesday and I think at this appointment they will start checking for dilation and we will see our doctor each week until the baby comes! Stay tuned. We are getting close!

34 weeks + 6 days

We had our doctor’s appointment yesterday and everything went well. The baby is head down and we got to not only hear the baby’s heart beat, but hear the baby have the hiccups. I also gave blood so they could test my iron levels and got a shot. I personally feel like a pin cushion at the moment. But I know this is a must for baby.

We have our next appointment in two weeks and from that point we will be on baby watch going to our weekly appointments. I feel like there is so much to do and time is running out that I’m starting to feel the pressure of it all.

We got an dresser from my parents that our best guess is over 40 years old. We loved the well loved white wash, but there are some stains on it that we thought we could wipe down and get rid of. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, so now we need to lightly sand it and throw a coat of paint on it. And since the dresser isn’t ready, we can’t hang things on the wall or put the few things we have away… I’m hoping we can knock the dresser off our list this weekend. Other things we need to do is pack our “it’s time to go to the hospital” bag!

And somehow find time to make sure I get Muppet to his sibling class this weekend and go help my MusicMan with some of his other projects this weekend… whew… I’m tired and need a nap already!

I know we will all get it done, it’s just trying to squeeze it all in so we don’t feel like we are still doing things right before the baby is born.

I’ve been really good with my eating and walking; in 2 weeks I only gained a pound. However as it gets closer to the due date, I am finding it hard to bend over and pick up anything that might fall on the floor. I can still tie my sneakers, it’s just not pretty. I’m excited to see how this labor and delivery will differ than with my first pregnancy. But time (5+ weeks) will tell.

Here is praying this next week brings a few more things we can cross off our list!

33 weeks + 6 days

I can’t even fathom that on Saturday I will be 34 weeks along. Only 6 more weeks till we get to meet our little squirrel. Only 6 more weeks till my Muppet moves from only child status to big brother. Only 6 more weeks to feel this little one move and wiggle around in my tummy. Only 6 more weeks till our family of three moves to “table for four, please.” And only 6 more weeks till we know if we are having a little girl (Elise) or a little boy (Oliver).

Until then, I still enjoy listening to people give their thoughts and “feelings” on what we are having. A woman recently walked into my office looking for another place of business and I walked around with her to help her find it. While we were walking she said, “you know you are having a boy, right?”

I explained we didn’t know what we were having and was leaving it a surprise. She commented back with, “Oh wow, no one does that anymore, but you are still having a boy. Just remember me when you have that little boy.” I laughed and told her I surely would.

Yet as I talked to my Dad tonight, he looked at me and said, “you know you’re having a girl.” We recently did a Facebook poll and asked people if they were on Team Elise or Team Oliver and it was pretty much split right down the middle with Team Elise only having 2 or 3 more votes than Team Oliver. However, in just 6 short weeks we will find out who was right. In 6 short weeks we will be investing in bows or ties for the baby’s Easter outfit.

This week has been interesting. I can tell my body is going through the motions of getting ready to have the baby. I’ve felt my lower abdomen contract for a few seconds and then ease up when I get up and walk around. The baby has moved farther up into my rib cage and it loves to kick, giving me a jolt (and me sometimes making weird faces that have people asking if I’m ok). This also makes it hard to sit allot at work because I feel like I’m squishing the baby and it becomes uncomfortable (which again requires another walk around the office). I will say having this feeling come now with only 6 weeks left is amazing! I felt this way with my Muppet at 6 months and it was around 34 or 35 weeks that I developed PUPPS and spent the rest of my pregnancy in complete itching misery. Luckily, you can only get PUPPS once! So there will be no more itching!

I’ve been very good with my nutrition this week. I slacked off on a lunch or two this week, but it was worth it and I’ve only gained one pound in the last 2 weeks. I know that’s below normal, but over all I’ve gained 30lbs total for the whole pregnancy so far. Which makes me very happy considering I gained 75 lbs with my Muppet. What I weigh now is what I weighed when I came home from the hospital with my first. There has been a huge difference in my energy and attitude when I think back between the two pregnancies.

Our next doctor’s appointment is this coming Tuesday! Stay tunes for the next update.

 

32 weeks + 5 days

 Time is flying! Somewhere I missed another weekly blog post, but we have been really busy trying to get our house and family ready for our little squirrel.

I have to give props to my hubby, in the last two weeks he’s moved furniture around, cleaned out the room that will be the nursery, painted the room and moved the most important pieces of furniture into the nursery (crib, changing table and glider). We’ve also gone through some of Muppet’s old stuff I was saving for whenever I did have another child. However, I soon learned that not everything is good almost 10 years later.

The elastic in the crib sheets are shot, bath towels and burp cloths have more stains on them then I remember or are just falling apart. But the good news is now I have a better idea of what we really need and it makes easy when I’m ready to go shopping.

I would post photos of the nursery, but we are waiting on one piece of furniture coming from my parents; it’s an old dresser from my dad’s childhood and I personally can’t wait to get it in the room and start putting baby things into it. Once the room is complete I promise to take photos.

This past Thursday we had our doctor’s appointment and everything is looking great. The doctor said that he expects the baby to be roughly 7 lbs (which is great news because he thought my Muppet would be roughly 8 lbs – and he was almost right). Total for the whole pregnancy, I’ve gained 30 lbs. Not to bad. My workouts have been a little far and few between these past few weeks. My energy levels are a little low at night and with the doctor not allowing me to run or lift weights over my head – it’s been interesting. But I am still able to walk 3 miles on my Saturdays and tie my own shoes! I would put all that in a win category compared to my last pregnancy.

Over all I have been very pleased with how different this pregnancy has been compared to my pregnancy with Muppet. There have been some interesting side effects with this one that I didn’t have with my first, like nerve pain and vertigo, but overall it’s been an amazing experience. 🙂

Our next appointment is in 2 weeks ( 34 weeks!) Time is flying by!

30 weeks + 4 days

I know I have been lax in my postings these past few weeks. We’ve have a crazy few days here that when rolled into the holidays made for time slipping by me.

A few weeks ago I pulled a muscle near or in my ribs. Now, I wish I could say I did it doing something cool like sprinting or lifting weights… I did it from sneezing. Yes. You read that right. Sneezing. Sexy right? Apparently you can even crack your ribs if you sneeze hard enough. With the baby pushing the rib cage up and out my little muscles got over strained from my very violent sneeze. The doctor has asked me to stop running and lifting weights above my head. His fear is that if I keep up those activities then the muscle will just get strained more and cause more pain and discomfort. The best way I describe it is like having stitches (runners, you know what I’m taking about – that slow cramp in your side when you try to run harder than your body is ready for?). If I sit too long in one place it causes the muscle to slowly cramp up and it’s more than painful. And just when I think the muscle is better – I sneeze again and I’m back to square one. UGH!

Needless to say running has been replaced with 3 mile walks and I haven’t even tried working out to my Nike Training Club because most of the moves make that particular muscle hurt. These last 2.5 months will be interesting trying to get some sort of work out in.

I also took a small break from eating clean. With the holiday and a death in the family, it was too much trying to plan out meals and work around what other people make that I just went with the flow for the last 2-3 weeks. However, now that my Muppet is back in school, family has left and we can start to get back into our routines, I plan to get back to eating right.

My struggles these past few weeks (and more so days) has been getting sick. I got a cold that seems to be hanging around these past few days. I also got some acid reflux from it (which is awful – I’ve never really had that before – so it’s new and not really all that exciting).

The baby is on track growth wise. We are now officially up to our every 2 week appointments (which is exciting). And we are finally getting around to getting the nursery ready (I know, we’re behind).

We did do a fun poll on Facebook recently. Since we don’t know what we are having we’ve asked people what they think we are having. And since we’ve picked a boy’s name and girl’s name, we’ve asked people – are you on Team Oliver (boy) or Team Elise (girl). It’s been fun reading what people think. 🙂 What team are you on?

25 weeks +6 days

Well after a nice long holiday and spending time with family, our little family is finding its way back into our normal every day groove. My Muppet got his mid-progress report with all high “A’s” and we can’t be any more proud of him. He took on allot this year and both the MusicMan and I were concerned that it maybe too much and his school work would suffer. However, being in all the extra stuff inside and outside of school has proven us wrong.

Not to mention that it melts my heart when he thanks God for the baby and asks that it’s kept safe. Again, he is going to be an amazing older brother to this kiddo. There is no doubt in my mind. At times I find myself grinning from ear to ear with the idea of how will I capture that moment that Muppet will hold and/or see our little squirrel for the first time.

Now you might be wondering why I don’t call the baby, peanut, or munchkin. Why squirrel? Well for one with the age difference and (obvious) height difference between my 9 year old and this kiddo I like to think of them as my Moose and Squirrel (yeah I’m old, it’s a Bullwinkle reference). I love the idea that these two might just one day take these nicknames on for each other. I can see a little kid running through our house yelling (in their little kid voice) “mmmmoooose”. I know I’m crazy.

Speaking of our little squirrel. This week our kiddo is roughly 13 inches long and weighs in around 1.75 pounds. My belly is growing and I’m finding that while I used to be able to wear some of my looser pre-pregnancy clothes still (however a little tighter around the belly) that clothing option will soon leave the table unless I’m okay with stretching out my clothes.

This week durning the break was hard to get in a workout, but I got back on track when we got home and I’ve run 3 times this week (which has felt amazing). I can’t wait to start training for my half marathon after the baby comes. I miss running my uber long distances.

I’ve been eating right (with the exception of the break – I may or may not have eaten an entire pumpkin pie over the course of 2 days). I have noticed a little loss in my muscle definition in my arms, which was upsetting for about a day or two until I focused on the fact that my body is slowly storing up fat in the preparation of being able to feed this baby.

I’ve also gone back to the dark side of nappin
g. I can’t help it. I need my little one to two hour naps to help make it through the weekend and start the work week off feeling refreshed (can we say third trimester is right around the corner)

Our next doctor’s appointment is about 2.5 weeks away! Time is flying!

 

24 weeks + 6 days… It’s a …..

This week we crossed the 24 week mark and got to go and see our little squirrel via sonogram! It was amazing to see the baby move and feel it at the same time. This kiddo loves to put their hands in front of their face and hide from the camera. The heart is beating strong and just makes my heart pitter patter thinking that in a little over 15 weeks we will be meeting our little one for the first time.

24 weeks and it’s a…

The doctor took measurements and told us that our squirrel is a little over a foot tall and weighs in around 1.5 pounds! Also, our little one is a…..

NOT TELLING, because we asked the doctor not to tell us! That’s right we want to be surprised the day the baby is born. The nursery will be a nice neutral grey and yellow and we’ve already picked out a girl’s name and a boy’s name that I will share in a later post.

This week has been rough getting workouts in with the holiday (and why this post is a little later than normal). I did manage to squeeze in 3 workouts; so while it wasn’t as much as I wanted it was better than nothing. My eating habits went on hold during the holiday and I will be back on track come Sunday when we are home.

Our next appointment is right before Christmas and then we will go from monthly visits to every two weeks (which means things are moving right along!)

23 weeks + 5 days

23 weeks and still working out! 

It’s week 23 and our little squirrel is the size is of a papaya; roughly more than 11 inches long and now weights over a pound. It always amazes me to read about each week of the baby’s development, but I think what I love most is my Muppet’s excitement over watching the week by week videos on the development. Each Saturday he is eager to watch them and reminds me when we forget to watch one. He truly will be an amazing older brother. I think it’s safe to say that he has loved this baby since the moment we told him he would be a brother. His love for this child is so unconditional that he doesn’t even care if it’s a boy or a girl; only that the baby is healthy.

We are currently trying to make room for baby in the house by converting some walk-in attic space into a finished off storage room with AC. This way we can store somethings that are being stored in what will be the nursery now. Once that is done and we move stuff around from room to “attic/storage” we can start to work on that room and get it ready for baby. I would love to have the nursery done by Feb 1st, but if we can get it done earlier, the better. Our attire storage should be finished sometime this week (fingers crossed).

My MusicMan and I are also very excited about next week and our upcoming sonogram. Any chance we get to see the baby makes our hearts melt. I’m also wondering which way the baby is facing now. The strong little kicks have moved more inward and I wonder if the baby’s back is facing the belly? But we will see.

Nothing much has changed this week. I’ve stayed on track with eating right (I only left caution the wind 2 days this week) but kept on pace to workout 5 days this week (2 of those days were HIIT runs). I am wondering how much longer I will be able to run, while nothing hurts when I run, the bladder lets me know that something is bouncing up and down on it.

Our next doctor’s appointment is Monday and I will let you all know how it goes!

22weeks + 4 days

22 weeks! The bump grew!

Well, what can say… the belly is growing. This week the baby is the size of a small squash; roughly 8 inches in length and weighing in at a pound! I’m always amazing by how much this kiddo grows with each week.

This week I’ve worked out 6 days out of the week and after each workout I felt amazing! The only discomfort I’ve had is some lower back pain from sitting at my desk at work. I’ve tried some stretches, but still at the end of the day the dull ache is still there. I’m afraid that I might have to modify some exercises to help with the lower back pain, but I’m keeping track of my workouts, location of aches and what kind of ache it is; this way I can tell if doing push-up or running is causing the pain or if it’s just from the belly growing.

We had our doctor’s appointment this week and it was great! We got the hear the baby’s heartbeat again (which is so incredibly strong)! For the first time this kiddo hasn’t kicked while the doctor was using his doppler, but I can feel kicks almost all day long from time to time. Sometimes they even tickle too and I can’t help but let out a giggle. In fact my MusicMan got a little laugh out of me while we were in church because I let out a small giggle and he knew right away what was going on and reach over to place his hand on my belly.

The only disappointment I had with this appointment was the weight gain. In four weeks I gained 10lbs. That’s allot, but I’m trying not to let get me down. My body knows what it needs to do to grow this kiddo and it will do it! We will see how the weight gain goes for the next few weeks.

I will say the one thing I’ve noticed between this pregnancy and when I was pregnant with my son is right around this time I found it very unfordable to bend over or sit down. Yet, with this pregnancy I am able to bend over and still do straight leg kicks without feeling uncomfortable! Eating right and working out is totally worth just that!

Our next appointment is in two weeks where we will do the glucose test and have a sonogram done. I personally can’t wait to see our little one’s face again and make sure everything is growing the way it should. 🙂