Important Pregnancy Milestones

During my first two pregnancies, I blogged religiously on a weekly or almost weekly basis. I also marked all of the relatively arbitrary milestones (Halfway! X months to go! 35 weeks/35 days). This time that is obviously not the case. But that doesn't mean I'm not marking the pregnancy.

So here are my top 10 list of pregnancy milestone.

1. Belly button pops out (the turkey's done! No picture of this)

2. Under-belly shirt cleavage (when even maternity shirts stop being long enough to cover the belly and skin peeks out underneath. Sexy!)

3. First time someone says "Wow, you are really pregnant!" Or "Any day now?" No, 4 weeks, thank you very much.

4. Give up on tying your shoes (thank goodness for my spring babies and slip-on shoes)

5. Start grunting every time you roll over in bed. The rolling happens less and less, but the grunting becomes more frequent.

6. Rings stop fitting (my tightest wedding band barely fits and sometimes gets stuck, but I'm lucky that most of my rings do).

7. Weight gain slows (because your stomach is so smushed that there is no room to eat more than a few bites. Apparently I am not there yet...).

8. Random tears- could be at a sad story on the news, or a touching commercial, or nothing at all. (Let me tell you how much Stephen LOVES this symptom!). Lately it's been happening when the boys are sweetly playing together, or they snuggle with me, or the say something very sweet....because I love them so much and I am so excited to have another child......and also a little terrified and overwhelmed...and that makes me cry too!

9. Start counting your lasts before the baby. For example, last trip to the hairdresser and last time getting a mani/pedi. The trick with these two is to make them close enough to the baby's arrival that you look good at  the birth and for a few weeks afterwards, but not so close that the baby comes too early and you've got serious roots showing. It's superficial, but it's also my best chance for being in pictures for the next few years.

And the moment I am most excited for, but still weeks away from:

10. The moment you feel "ready." Bags are packed, car seat is installed, nursery is set up. Check back on that in about 3 weeks...

31 weeks

Sunday is 2 months to Baby 3g's due date. Since Chase was one day late and Brice was born on his due date, I'm going to assume Baby 3 will come a day before his due date....

In other words, less than 9 weeks, until the baby arrives.

And 4 weeks until we return to our improved house (fingers crossed!)!

How big is baby: According to babycenter.com, 3.3lbs (weight of 4 navel oranges) and over 16 inches long from head to heel.

Weight Gain: +20lbs? According to the doctor's scale.

Sleep: It would be better if Brice decided to go to sleep before 10pm...or if he didn't stay awake from 3:45-5:45am on Wednesday night.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: Nothing weird. I'm eating more salty things this pregnancy, although still getting my share of sweets.

Exercise: Mueller and I ran 2 miles on Sunday. I'm trying to walk more to/from work and during the day, but it's still so, so cold.

Symptoms: Just feeling giant.

Movement: Baby has been moving a lot. Part of him (his butt, I think) sticks out on the upper right side of my belly, and that's where I feel the most movement.

What's different this time: Is it wrong to say not much...?

What I'm looking forward to: My birthday next week! And sleeping this weekend.

Best moment of the week: Seeing Baby 3 last week at my doctor's appointment. And spending time with the family this past weekend. Just hanging out with the boys is fun. Oh, and Chase's great report from his teachers during our conference yesterday.

The belly: Giant, but apparently not much bigger than with Brice.

 

(For comparison, 31 weeks with Brice: http://dclamonts.blogspot.com/2012/03/31-weeks.html)

Baby 3g and 24 weeks!

I've pretty clearly neglected pregnancy posts for this poor 3rd child and I guess that is to be expected, so here, at viability day, is an update on the pregnancy and on how we're doing at 24 weeks.

We found out that I was pregnant in late August (before the backyard renovation) and it was quite a happy surprise! Morning sickness began a little before 6 weeks and was crippling for weeks. I was nauseous all day and throwing up when I didn't eat enough (or sometimes when I did). It was awful. The government shutdown came at a great time because I was able to just lay in bed all day every day and I didn't have to commute or try to contribute at work. It was so bad that I didn't update the blog like I said I would and that only requires sitting at a computer. The nausea was so bad that I got a prescription for Zofran- an anti-nausea medicine. Unfortunately it was not the miracle drug I was hoping for- it took off the gagging edge, but I still felt awful. My symptoms finally let up around 14 weeks, but then I had headaches almost every day. It was a tough couple of months!

At about 14 weeks, I had a procedure to keep me from going into preterm labor. I'd had the procedure during my last two pregnancies, but this time I was in terrible pain when the anesthesia wore off. I was throwing up and writhing in pain so they undid the procedure. I had to go see a high-risk doctor, who did the procedure again (although a little differently) and who put me on bedrest for 4 days. Luckily the second time was the charm and I've been pretty much fine since then, but it was a rough couple of weeks with a lot of doctors' appointments.

Luckily pregnancy things calmed down after that, because sadly my Grandpa Kurt passed away the day before the second procedure and we went to NY for the wake and funeral to say goodbye to him. We will miss him and I'm so sad that he will not know this baby.

About 2 weeks before Christmas, I had my 20 week ultrasound and we found out that baby 3g is a BOY! We had a feeling that he was a boy and this confirmed it. Chase was pretty upset that he wasn't a she, but Chase assured us (and his teacher) that we would have another baby and it would be a girl. HA!

Okay, so now for a weekly update. Sans belly shot because I am recovering from the stomach flu and am still in my pajamas.

How far along? 24 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 13lbs....but I just had the stomach flu. I have gained more and need to start exercising again, but every time I try, there's an ice storm or it's freezing or some other excuse reason.

Bump showing? Very much.

Maternity clothes? Yes...Kristin sent me a big box of maternity clothes (including mine that I had sent her) this week and I feel like I have so many options now!

Sleep: Pretty good.

Best moment of the week: A get together with family and friends last weekend.

Miss anything? Crystal Light Iced Tea. Wine, but only during social events

Movement: Yes, he is moving and kicking all over the place.

Cravings: Cheese

Anything making you queasy? Um, I just had the stomach flu so pretty much everything.

Gender: BOY!

Mood: Pretty good-- I'm anxious about everything we need to do for our kitchen renovation (more on that later), but things seem to be falling into place. I'm ready to get into a more normal routine now that the holidays are over too.

Looking forward to: Ultrasound and doctor's appointment next Wednesday

Thankful!

Three very important things for us to be thankful for this Thanksgiving....

...these two happy, health, and sweet little cuties...

....and this teeny, tiny one joining us in May 2014.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!