Third Trimester

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Not Quite Perfect Storm

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We had a rare hurricane headed our way recently, which caused a small bit of worry. Hurricanes aren’t a normal thing around here, and we mostly just worry about flooding and power outages (neither of which are really a problem at our house fortunately), but with the added stress of being pregnant, we worried slightly more. Or got excited - there was a bit of joking that the hurricane might send me into labor. Not that it would have been ideal, but when you get towards the end any thought of it being over can be exciting.

It didn’t happen though, and mostly the hurricane was nothing. Hardly any rain and it wasn’t really windy except for ONE single gust that caused some damage to our patio.

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Almost There

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Summer’s coming to an end, which also means so is our time as a family of four. Both things that make me think about last minute things we should cross off our bucket list.

One last trip to get ice cream, for example. So on a recent weekend I thought we’d go to an easy place down the road with a large parking lot and plenty of seating. However, the kids found out where we were going, and both objected - they may be little, but they’ve got opinions. They’ll apparently only go to ice cream shops that offer chocolate dip. To be fair, I agree with them, so we headed off to a further ice cream shop (that happens to have the most annoying parking situation) to get our black raspberry soft serve with chocolate dip on the top!

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Belly Art

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A few years and pregnancies ago, a friend gifted me a copy of The Belly Art Project book - signed and personalized, no less! It’s full of super cool pictures of women with their pregnant bellies painted with all sorts of creative ideas. It’s super cute, and something I always wanted to do, but a few things were holding me back.

First, I wasn’t sure who would do it. Could I paint my own belly? Talk a friend into it? And then if I did, I wasn’t sure what I should paint. So many of the ones in the book are either super personalized or very clever, and I was having a hard time coming up with something that wouldn’t be completely random.

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Someone's Not Behaving

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Apparently this baby was listening when I mentioned that I was feeling pretty good this pregnancy, and again when I jokingly called this baby my favorite and easiest child. I should have learned from E & G by now, because they love to prove me wrong, and apparently baby does too.

At my last appointment I mentioned two things to the midwife which made her pause and make a face - I was feeling extremely nauseous again, and baby’s movements had changed. I think she actually said “uh oh” before seeing if her hunch was right.

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The End is (Not so) Near

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So the good news is that I’m recovered from my cold and feeling much better. Iron has kicked in, so I’m not living in a fog anymore either. The bad news is that I’m just done. I never understood needing to go on maternity leave early, but I think I might need to this time. I’m big and slow, yes, but mentally I’m just at the end of what I’m able to do. My feet have also reached that point - I can’t stand for very long before they start hurting either.

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Let's Do an Update

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So here’s what I’ve learned about iron infusions (which I’m still in the middle of - not done yet!). They’re amazing and have given me a lot of energy back. I can actually stay awake for most of the day now, which I couldn’t say before them. They’re also super weird, and do things like make my limbs heavy and feel odd as the iron flows through my body - and yes you can feel it. My arm was getting uncomfortably heavy and feeling a lot of pressure when the nurse was inserting the iron one day, and she flushed the IV with saline and I could feel the iron leaving my arm.

The iron also sucks all the water from your body, dehydrating you like crazy. (Which is also what the baby is doing). Knowing this, I drank about 60oz of water before my appointment, and still needed to drink another 60oz after until I finally felt hydrated again. It’s a lot of water.

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Anyone Else Taste Metal?

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I’m going to purposely look at this update as a good thing. Yes, I’ll be in the hospital five times in the next two weeks, but I’m thinking about how thankful I am that my doctors realized something was wrong, and had a solution to fix it. I’m thankful that I’m going to start to hopefully feel a lot better in the next few weeks, and get some energy back!

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Sugar Sugar

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Anyone who’s been around for my previous pregnancies knows my history with the glucose tests - as in I’ve never passed the 1 hour test and have had to take the 3 hour test each pregnancy (which I passed for both E and G!)

So this time I talked to one of the doctors about my history and whether jumping to the 3 hour test would make sense. She agreed, and so it was scheduled during a time I needed labs drawn anyway. So that’s how I found myself enjoying my day off in the lab of the local hospital.

Getting Closer

I’ve mentioned that I’m being monitored like crazy during this pregnancy. I’m really appreciative of it, and I love my medical team, so I’ve managed to not be too anxious or worried, which is great.

Baby has been doing wonderful, and lately I’ve been feeling pretty good too. I mean I’ve been super sick, but that has nothing to do with being pregnant. All my pregnancy symptoms have really mellowed lately, so I’ve officially reached the “forgetting I’m pregnant” stage again. It’s weird to be so pregnant and feel that way, but it happened last time at the end too. Something about the baby changing position or dropping I think.

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Where We Are

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My mind is all over the place lately with lists of things to do, thoughts about the upcoming holiday and baby coming, things to do with E… I’m as frazzled as you’d think haha. So here is a random brain dump of what’s going on with us lately.

E had his 18 month check up the other day. Everything looked great, the doctor was super happy, and this little munchkin gained TWO inches in the past three months!! He gained a pound, which is right on track, but the doctor was super excited for his growth spurt! No wonder he can touch the ground on his little car now. I’ve updated this post with percentiles, etc.

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By the Numbers

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I’m actually doing okay this week, physically at least. Mentally I’m all over the place. Both with worrying about E (even though I know he’s fine) and new baby (who’s going to be uber monitored so I also shouldn’t be worried), but I really feel like I could use a relaxing vacation or something right now (never going to happen).

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Third Trimester

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It’s time to get BIG!

Seriously though. They say that everything happens quicker in subsequent pregnancies because your body remembers this time around, but whoa is it true. It’s like my body just said “oh remember what it felt like to be 9 months pregnant? Let’s jump there NOW!”

So I’m feeling very big, and slow, and out of breath. I can’t breathe very well and doing almost anything leaves me panting. Who would have thought sitting on the couch would be so hard? My clothes are already uncomfortable, and it’s already impossible for me to find a position to sleep or sit in that feels good.

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I Don't Think I Can

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Week 28... the week that broke me. 

Some women are really good at being pregnant.  Some love it.  A coworker of mine has 4 children and confessed she had thought about being a surrogate she loved it so much.  All I can think about is, "WHY DIDN'T I HIRE A SURROGATE!?"  I'm obviously not one of those women who love this.  I hate it, it's horrible, and this week I've officially reached my breaking point.  

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Third Trimester: In Like a Lion

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...out like a lamb?

A girl can hope, right?  Either way, I'm missing my second trimester easiness.  Suddenly the heartburn is here every day and will. not. go. away.  Things are sore and painful (omg so painful!), and I swear I'm getting bigger every day!  One day my jacket still zips fine, and two days later it's too small!   One day I can easily get my shoes on, and the next my belly seems to be getting in the way.