26 Week Update

Back in action with the chalkboard!  Wow 26 weeks, crazy. The 3rd trimester is right around the corner!

How Far Along: 26 weeks
Total Weight Gain: 7 lbs according to my home scale…I feel like it is more though due to vacation weight. Usually when I go on a week long vacation I am up a few pounds, but I guess the main difference here is that I wasn’t drinking on vacation – so maybe I escaped a few pounds there.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

 Stretch Marks: Nope
Sleep: The time change from Ireland to home has been tough – last 2 nights I have woken up at 1:30 am, then once each hour until I decide to get up at 5:30 am.  I hope things start to regulate soon because by 2pm I am a zombie.

Best Moment This Week: Coming home to see our dog Winnie.  Vacation was tons of fun, but I missed our furbaby a lot. We also finished painting the trim in the babies room so I was able to begin to move things back into that room.

 Miss Anything: not really

Movement: There was a big pick up in movement while we were on vacation.  Lucky wasn’t moving all day, but at certain points she was really shaking it in there.  There were a few kicks that I was like “ow” she is surely getting strong!

 Anything Making You Queasy or Sick: Nope, although seeing an traditional Irish breakfast right now may make me vomit.

Gender: GIRL! 

Labor Signs: Nope.  Last night I did have some cramps later in the day that I am not sure where they were coming from.  I am thinking it is because my body is out of whack from traveling and just needed some rest.
Symptoms: I definitely feel more pregnant when I sleep, when I roll from one side to the other I am more conscious of my belly.  I have been lucky with no heartburn or swelling so far.

Belly Button In or Out: In, but Brian says it is “getting bigger” not sure exactly what he means by that.

Wedding Rings On or Off: On 

Feeling: I was happy that we didn’t have any health issues while in Ireland.  I was pretty uncomfortable on the flights, but walking around all day while we were there was no problem. 

Exercise: We went for a short run once while in Ireland.  Other than that we walked around a lot during the day, so I feel like I got my fill of exercise.  I went for a run with Winnie on Sunday when we were  home and that went pretty well. 

Looking Forward To:  The crib coming this Friday!  The place we bought it from does delivery and set up in one so Brian is off the hook for crib assembly.  I am excited to see it set up in the room because then I can start to hang some decorations. 

Next Appointment: September 3rd

25 Week Update/Babymoon

We got back from our babymoon last night and we had a wonderful time visiting Ireland.  We spent about 7 days in Ireland and visited Dublin, Kilkenny, Killarney, Dingle and Galway.  It was really beautiful there and the people were extremely friendly.  All in all it was a great trip!

While we were there I took my 25 week bump picture, and what better place to take it than the Guinness factory!

 I wasn't too concerned about traveling overseas while pregnant because I hadn't had any complications.  Things went well while we were there - no sickness, I wasn't too tired, etc the only part that wasn't great was the flights - I didn't like sitting in one place for that long without a lot of room to move around.  The only downfall was that I couldn't drink!  I did steal several sips of Brian's beers though!

The best part about traveling while pregnant is wearing maternity pants!  Ha. Normally halfway through a trip my pants begin to get tight...but not this time!

Here are some more fun pictures of our trip!

 Me at a pretty garden in Dublin

 

Brian and I in front of Temple Bar

 

Brian and I at a garden in Kilkenny

 

Ruins in Kells

 

We stayed at a farm B&B one night outside of Kilkenny and I made friends with a little piglet!

 

There are a lot of castles in Ireland!  Here we are at the castle in Cahir

 

Mmmm Fish & Chips!

 

Brian enjoying a cappuccino in Killarney

 

Me by the beautiful countryside outside of Dingle

 

Brian's attempt at a maternity shoot ;)

 

The Cliffs of Moher

 

Nursery in Progress!

We started working on the nursery this past weekend.  We have lived in our house for a little over 2 years and this room has been a guest room during that time, but we always intended it to be a nursery one day!

The below picture shows the brownish/beige color the room used to be and the grey color we are painting it!  

 The ceiling fan has been in place since the we bought the house - the old owner's daughter used this room, and luckily we are having a girl so the fan stays!  It is pastel colors and has two butterflies hanging down.  

 This is the dresser we bought, we will put the changing pad on top of it.

 Winnie being a helper!  (not really, she mostly just steals paper towels then runs off)

 One of my favorite things about our house is that it has plantation shutters in most of the rooms.

 I love the soft gray color we chose.  We will be adding yellow accents like pillows to make the color pop.  Aside from the fan it will be a gender neutral room, since we aren't very "girlyish."

 

We ordered the crib and rocker which should be coming in a few weeks, once we are done painting (we still have to go over the baseboards) we can roll out the rug and start to put some items away. 

I hope to put some shelves in the closet.  More pictures to come as the nursery continues to develop! 

 

24 Week Update

Woohoo Viability Week! Awesome milestone. 

Special Note: Next week Brian and I will be on our baby moon so expect at least a week delay before seeing the 25 and 26 week updates.  I will have to remember to take a bump picture on vacation.

How Far Along: 24 weeks
Total Weight Gain: 6 lbs according to my monthly OB visit

Maternity Clothes: Yes

 Stretch Marks: Nope
Sleep: I have been sleeping fine until about 4:30 am ever morning, then I get up to pee and most times I get back to sleep, but sometimes (like this morning) I have trouble getting back to sleep.

Best Moment This Week: Painting Lucky’s room and buying a crib!  It was the tax free holiday in MA this weekend so we took advantage of that by buying a crib. I am hoping to do a “Nursery” post this week to show you the progress!

 Miss Anything: not really

Movement: Movement has definitely picked up.  I feel her every day multiple times a day.  Some of the kicks catch me by surprise and kind of hurt!  The best way I can describe the feeling is that it is like your heart randomly beating a really big beat, and you have no control over when it happens.

Food Cravings: Ice cream & Lemonade!  It has been those two the whole time!

 Anything Making You Queasy or Sick: Nope.

Gender: GIRL! 

Labor Signs: Nope
Symptoms: Waking up to pee.  I have been lucky to not have any heartburn recently.  My Charlie horses seem to have gone away since I have made more of an effort to eat bananas like my OB suggested.  What else has a lot of potassium?  I only like bananas when they are at a specific point of ripeness – can’t be just yellow, they need some brown spots, but not too rotten. 

Belly Button In or Out: In 

Wedding Rings On or Off: On 

Feeling: Really great.  One of my friends asked me over the weekend if I like being pregnant.  And, well, yes I actually do!  Part of that is because I have been fortunate to have a very easy pregnancy so far with no sickness or complications and partly that is because I appreciate being pregnant so much. 

Exercise: Still trucking!  The weather has been awesome lately – in the morning it has been about 65 and low humidity.  I think I went on 3 runs this past week and did 2 days of weights/squats.

Looking Forward To: Baby moon next week! We are headed to my “homeland” for vacation – Ireland (it isn’t really my homeland, but I am of Irish decent, so it sort of is).  We booked this trip a while ago – thinking it would either be a baby moon or a “consolation” trip if IVF didn’t work out.  Fortunately, baby moon it is!  We are starting in Dublin then making our way to Kilkenny, Killarney, Dingle, Galway and then flying back out of Dublin.  We are renting a car so it will be nice to see the countryside and visit some castles.

Next Appointment: September 3rd

Labor Planning

I am a planner.  Always have been.  I think it is the accountant in me!  So when I became pregnant (well not right after) I started to think about labor. 

 I am one of those people who wants to know everything about it instead of not knowing what to expect.  For me, I get more confidence from knowing what goes on.  The main problem I have found so far is that it seems so hard to get a good explanation or description of what labor pain is really like.  The books say it is different for everyone, but I just wish I could know how bad it will be. 

Right now I am reading a book I borrowed from the library called "Easy Labor" (sounds kind of silly doesn't it).  How can labor be "easy"?  

Well it doesn't exactly say that labor will be easy, but it covers all the possible ways to relieve labor pain - from epidurals all the way to non medicated techniques. I like how the book doesn't say "you should try to go med free or doctor's say you should get an epidural" rather it gives you options all the way from fully medicated to no medication.  I like how it lays out each possibility so that you are aware of what is available. 

I am interested to hear from other moms or pregnant women to see how they approached/are approaching labor.  I know things may not always go how we anticipate: you may have had every intention to go med free but then had to have an emergency c-section, or maybe had to be induced and the pitocin made your contractions far too painful to go med free. 

Right now I am in the learning phase regarding labor.  I am trying to gather all the stories, info that I can so that I feel I have many tools in my tool belt to face it head on!  

In the early stages of my "labor planning" I am hoping to go med free for as long as possible.  This may be a few centimeters, all the way, or none at all depending on how things go down.  I like the idea of being able to walk around and change positions during labor to hopefully help things progress.  I recently ordered this book that will hopefully give me some additional "tools."

If anyone has read it please let me know how you liked it! Or any other books you might suggest. 

23 Week Update

Wow grapefruit week!  Crazy!  I don't really feel like I have a baby the size of a grapefruit in me though. Brian made me have a huge goofy smile in this pic!

How Far Along: 23 weeks
Total Weight Gain: 5lbs on my home scale, we will see what it is tomorrow at the doctors appointment

Maternity Clothes: Yes

 Stretch Marks: Nope
Sleep: Not too bad this week, I only had to go downstairs to watch tv once!

Best Moment This Week: Brian feeling Lucky kick from the outside!  Now he wants me to let him know when I feel her kicking if he is around so he can feel her too.

 Miss Anything: not really

Movement: Certain days I feel a lot of movement and then the next day I feel hardly anything for the whole day!

Food Cravings: Not too much, nothing I would say I HAVE to have.

 Anything Making You Queasy or Sick: Nope. Still not unusually hungry either.

Gender: GIRL! 

Labor Signs: Nope
Symptoms: Waking up to pee, I have been getting Charlie horses in my half muscle right when I wake up in the morning, I will check with the doctor about these this week.

Belly Button In or Out: In 

Wedding Rings On or Off: On 

Feeling: I am feeling really good.  They say the 2^nd trimester is when people feel the best and that is definitely the case for me.  I am wondering if they will schedule my glucose test when I am at the doctors tomorrow. 

Exercise: Now that the weather doesn’t seem to be super hot, I am able to go out for more runs.  Lately it is sort of a run/walk combo – run, walk up hill, run, get some cramps, stop.  So it isn’t the best quality of runs, but at least I am still chugging along!

Looking Forward To: Painting the nursery next weekend!  We have been on a roll ordering things: chair, dresser, mirror, rug and hopefully crib next weekend.  I can’t wait to see it starting to come together, I have been saving ideas for a nursery for years and now I am excited to have it all come together.  I will post some pictures of our progress this week in a blog post. 

Next Appointment: August 6^th (aka tomorrow!)