weekly Belly Picture - Week 28

How far along? 28 weeks

Total weight gain: 19 pounds

Body Changes? sore feet and sore back.

Sleep: Not good this week except over the weekend. I finally cut up on lost hours. Tossing and turning starting at 3-4am and using lots of pillows to get comfortable but it doesn't always help.

Best moment this week: Spending quality time with my hubby over the weekend. And presenting at an equine family therapy workshop.

Gender: GIRL :)

Food Cravings / Aversions: Craving ice cream, but trying to be healthier now since I just missed the cut off point on my glucose test and have to go back next wednesday for the 4 hour test to see if I have gestational diabetes or not.

What I miss: Good sleep and not having to pee so much.

Symptoms: Feeling good except that I'm getting bigger and it's harder to move around.

Lower and middle back pain.

Movement: yes and I love it! Some kicks are much more intense than others..I can only imagine what they are going to feel like in a month or two...wow.

What I am looking forward to: Getting away for a little break as we head to Atlanta next weekend.

Milestones: eating healthier and proposing my first three chapters before April.

Thought of the Week: I'm much more mindful of enjoying the peace, quiet and rest I am getting now before my little one arrives...

Nesting

Every day I notice that I am more and more pregnant. My belly is growing a lot and it's harder to move around. It's more and more clear to me that our baby girl will arrive soon! It's so exciting and this pregnancy has been an amazing experience so far. I feel really good over all but I am definitely starting to feel like I am getting into the third trimester and slowing down a bit. I am getting a little more tired and lazy, and at times I have no patience for things and get a bit cranky. One thing that has not slowed down, it's actually increased, is this urge to get as many projects and things done around the house. One of those projects is getting the nursery ready which is coming a long beautifully. But I definitely sense this nesting mode kicking in lately. I feel like I have to get so much done. I feel guilty when I don't work on my dissertation. I really want to get my three chapters done before April, maybe even having proposed already and starting IRB. The pressure is on. And the nursery is so much fun but I still have so much to do it feels like. And then there's all this other stuff around the house. Brad and I can spend all weekend doing things (right now we are organizing our newly furnished garage with St. Regis cabinets (sweet) and doing things in the yard, or other stuff. It's like the list never ends. I just want to get everything done and perfect before our little girl arrives because I know I will be soooo busy and won't have time for anything else anymore let alone sleep. Sigh. The weekends have been very low key lately. I am getting more tired and going out to bars doesn't seem fun to me at all anymore. Thankfully brad and I both can't get enough of our new house and love spending the weekends at home, cooking and watching movies or our tv shows. It's so peaceful and I'm so glad my husband is enjoying this time with me without feeling like he wants to go out. It's funny but I think Brad is in his own way of course going through the pregnancy with me. Very cool. Yesterday Brad put the crib together all by himself and it looks great. It definitely hit us after when we were done and just stared at it. It was like..wow this is really happening..and it's happening soon!

Today I hired a doula (Michelle) to help me during labor. Brad and I are meeting with her in the next week for her to walk us through the entire birthing process and step by step of what happens when you arrive to the hospital until you leave. After that we put together our birthing plan, which I will show to my doctor and see if he's ok with it. I feel really good about everything. I really like my doctor and I'm happy I have a doula that will help me go through labor, and especially to help me have a natural birth. She's very experienced and I'm happy to have her with us when we are in the hospital. It gives me a sense of security and safety. Now I have to continue my prenatal yoga classes, and in march brad and I will be taking Michelle's intensive birthing class to help prepare us for labor! I am trying to be as proactive as possible and so far I think it's all coming together :)

All in all, I just can't wait to meet my baby girl! Feeling her kick is the most incredible feeling, I can only imagine what it will be like when I see her for the first time! Bliss.

Weekly Belly Picture - Week 27

How far along? 27 weeks

Total weight gain: 18 pounds

Body Changes? belly growing. Nipples and aureolas getting bigger and darker.

Sleep: better. yoga, stretching and using pillows have helped my lower back... and my sleep.

Best moment this week: Finishing chapter 2 and putting our crib together :) AND hiring a great doula for my birth!

Gender: GIRL :)

Food Cravings / Aversions: Avocado and cereal.

What I miss: Having an alcoholic beverage while going out on a weekend night. Haven't had too many of those nights lately and the more I'm pregnant the less I feel like going out.

Symptoms: feeling signs of entering into the third trimester...feeling more tired and getting into nesting mode. I also feel a bit inpatient and cranky at times.

Movement: yes every day. usually when I'm laying down..early in the morning and late

at night. I hope that won't be her waking and active schedule when she's born ;)

What I am looking forward to: my next massage. I had one Friday and it was heaven. Hopefully next month again..

Milestones: eating more veggies...uugghh even my husband is on to me now!

Thought of the Week: Enjoying as much a sleep as possible before it all comes to an end..LOL

Weekly Belly Picture - Week 26

How far along? 26 weeks

Total weight gain: around 14 pounds

Body Changes? belly is bigger. slight red marks/stretch marks under breasts. darker aureolas. slight signs of pregnancy mask on forehead.

Sleep: very vivid and weird dreams. Sleeping well unless my back hurts.

Best moment this week: Finally getting our st. regis cabinets installed in our garage.

Gender: GIRL :)

Food Cravings / Aversions: healthy like fruit, avocados, salad and even started eating cooked fish again. Also still craving chocolate and sweets!

What I miss: not having back pain and moving around freely. Missing wine, baths, sushi, running, burrata cheese (without feeling guilty when I still eat it now haha) ..the usual things I've missed since day one of my pregnancy ;)

Symptoms: Lower back and sciatic nerve pain. Tired. Lazy. Not very active on weekends either. Staying home..dinner and a movie sounds good all the time.

Movement: Yes. Mornings and evenings she's pretty active.

What I am looking forward to: My doctor's appointment next weekend and meeting with my doula.

Milestones: chapter 3 dissertation

Thought of the Week: Loving our new house!!

Weekly Belly Picture - Week 25

How far along? 25 weeks

Total weight gain: not sure maybe 13 pounds

Body Changes? strong and healthy hair. hips widening.

Sleep: not well. lower back hurting making it very uncomfortable to sleep.

Best moment this week: Getting my hair colored after 7.5 months of no high lights. Feeling great!

Gender: GIRL :)

Food Cravings / Aversions: Avocado with salt and pepper. We made cup cakes too and I've

eating them every day. So yummy. Loving pasta but no unusual cravings or aversions.

What I miss: working out and sweating.

Symptoms: Lower back pain. Ligament pain getting better.

Movement: Yes. Usually every day. mornings for sure, quiet throughout day. Moving when I'm hungry or right after I've eaten.

What I am looking forward to: Finishing chapter 2 of my dissertation.

Milestones: Chapter 3

Thought of the Week: Can't get enough of the show breaking bad. We are so addicted, watching multiple episodes every night. The couch, tv and computer have become my good friends lately haha.

Name picking...

I never thought that picking a baby name would be this hard. We have gone through sooo many names (way more that we DON'T like) and have ended up with a small group of names that we actually like. From that small group of names over the past few months, one of us (my hubby and I) will after a few weeks begin to dislike one of the names from our small little group of names, which means the name gets tossed out of the group. This has happened many times so far. We both come to an agreement on liking a name (which is hard enough for us to agree on a name to begin with) but then suddenly it gets vetoed and the name is tossed. Usually it's after we say the name so many times that it gets old or not so special anymore, or tell other people, including our highly opinionated families, that the particular name then gets voted off. Maybe we are too influenced by others but it becomes difficult keeping baby name ideas a secret when practically everyone I talk to at this point in my pregnancy asks me if we thought about names yet and want to hear what we've come up with. Yes, I could say no we haven't, or yes but not really, or yes we've tossed around some names but nothing concrete...and that might silence the conversation of baby names. But the average person will still want to know what those names are that we've considered. Then we have friends and family (mostly family) sharing their ideas of names which is fun but doesn't make the process any easier.

For me it's really important that my first daughter has part of my deceased mother's name in her name. Brad is supportive of that and we are debating to name our daughter after my mother's middle name or at least use my mother's middle name as our daughters middle name. At the moment we only have two names that we really like. We also find it important to find a fitting middle name that will flow with the first and last name. It's been quite a challenge and we are not much further than we were a month or two ago but thankfully we still have four months to go ;)

baby girl..I promise we'll have a beautiful name for you soon and we hope you'll like it :)