Pregnancy: 28 Weeks (aka 18 years)

Hello third trimester! Goodbye being able to see my feet, tie my own shoes, breathe while walking up the stairs, and other pre-pregnancy things I took for granted!

Last week I drank the sugar goop that proves that pregnant women can, in fact, ingest 50 grams of sugar in 2 minutes or less. Result? I passed my glucose test! I was also told my iron levels were really impressive. Not bragging or anything... but I'm pretty awesome.

Time is still dragging. Slow. Like molasses. On a winter day. Not an Oklahoma winter day, but a winter day somewhere else that actually experiences winter. And the molasses is frozen solid. And everyone told it that it wouldn't be so slow, and it believed everyone because it hasn't be pregnant in almost 7 years so had forgotten everything. Yes, the molasses is thinking ALL THAT.

Okay, stop whining! As much as I complain about pregnancy, there really are things that I LOVE about it.

1) Knowing there will be a baby at the end!

2) Feeling her move and kick. Sometimes it's annoying... like when my bladder has 0.5 ounces of fluid in it and she thinks it's taking up too much space, so she kicks me until I go to the bathroom! But most of the time feeling her move is incredible and amazing and beautiful.

3) Talking about it! I love sharing my experiences (obviously) with others (I'm self-centered like that).

4) My skin. It isn't super glowy or anything, but seriously, pregnancy hormones are so much nicer to my face than my normal hormones. I have less acne during pregnancy than usual. Once the baby is here I'll go back to having the complexion of a 13 year old.

5) Blaming bad eating habits on the baby. My friends all know that really it's not the baby's fault, but the stranger at Braums has no idea, so I just order my ice cream and say, "You know, for the baby," and they nod like it's totally normal and understandable. HA, amateurs!

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Today's Date: 9/29/17

How many weeks: 28 weeks (and 1 day...)

Trimester: 3rd

How big is the baby?: About the size of a large eggplant, around 2.25 lbs and between 14.5 and 15 inches long. WHOA!

Gender: Girl!
Name: Still no idea!

Weight gain: 23 pounds. Y'all.

Food cravings: Nothing specific, just all the sugar.

Food aversions: None. Good grief. Donuts do give me heartburn... but I still want them. 

Diet: Same. Evenings are still the hardest part of the day...

Breakfast: Coffee (with coconut oil, milk, honey, and vanilla extract).

Mid-morning snack: Granola bar or (sometimes and...) banana

Lunch: chicken, rice, sweet potato, and veggies (bell peppers, onion, broccoli). I top it off with cheese. Or whatever is leftover from dinner the night before.. because I haven't been grocery shopping in a while...

Afternoon snack: Protein bar and an apple.

Dinner: Protein source, like chicken, tuna, steak, eggs... and carbs. All the carbs.

Evening snack: Decaf coffee or green tea... Sometimes cereal. Graham crackers. Fruit smiles. Whatever I have in the pantry.

Exercise: I haven't been to my gym in three weeks... not because I can't or don't want to, but other things just keep coming up. I'm still working out solo at home... it STINKS. But I can't NOT workout, so I just work with what I have and do what I can. I miss throwing around a barbell...

Aches and pains: Lower back, butt, and pelvic pain. My doctor said that I can still workout but to cut out anything that causes pressure or pain, so far that means running (I can still jog a teeny bit in spurts) and lunges, of all things. No more situps, but I can still plank and do some core stuff.

Heartburn continues to get worse! My feet are swelling more and more, fun.

Maternity clothes: Yes, lots. And my husbands t-shirts. Not very flattering, but comfy. I even bough some maternity underwear... that's a real thing. You're welcome for sharing.

Favorite moment this week: Hitting the 3rd trimester! 12 weeks or less to go!

Looking forward to: I think since we're halfway through our fall semester and I'm in the last trimester, pregnancy will go by faster (fingers crossed). I have several baby showers coming up, too. I think once we start getting "stuff" for baby girl, things will get real. So far we've done nothing to prepare... we have the onesie I bought for my husband when I told him the news, and the crib my sister gave me that still hasn't been put together. Gah where are we going to put all this baby's stuff!? Looking forward to getting organized!

Pregnancy: 26 Weeks

Life is getting crazier, schedules busier, etc. My daughter is TWELVE today! That blows my mind! Pretty sure yesterday she was 3... not sure how this time warp thing happened!

Christmas 2009, Age 4

NOW. 

I'm just a couple weeks shy of the 3rd trimester! Even though things have been busier, time is not going by ANY FASTER. Goodness, pregnancy feels like it lasts a lifetime. I remember after I had my shoulder surgery last November and complaining that 6 weeks felt like an eternity... HA.

I've been having the CRAZIEST dreams. I've always had weird dreams, but pregnancy has really upped my dream game. A couple weeks ago I dreamed that we had a neighbor who raised demon cats and one of them was attacking me so, obviously, I had to kill it. I won't give you the details, but seriously, it was pretty graphic. The next day, Ali text her daddy saying she wanted a kitten for her birthday. LOL Sorry, but no!

A few days ago I dreamed that there were miniature skeletons growing (yes, GROWING, like plants) underneath our picnic table. Once they were fully grown they would attack me (I had tiny bite marks all over my arms). I had to dismember them to make them stop... I blame this morbid dream on the fact that I bought a small plastic skeleton for Jordan a few days ago because his favorite Halloween book is "The Bones of Fred McFee." I was concerned that he would have nightmares about skeletons... He didn't. Lucky him.

I've had dreams about the baby, too. Not normal dreams, but at least not as far fetched and insane as demon cats or miniature ninja skeletons. In one dream, I had the baby and then we went home... and forgot her at the hospital. I had to go back the next day and beg them to let me have my baby... "I'm not a bad mom, I promise, I just forgot to take her home!" And then, when they did let me take her home, we didn't have a car seat so she had to ride in my lap.

In another dream, we had scheduled a c-section for 10:59 in the morning (I wonder if that time is significant?), and I refused to go to the hospital because we hadn't picked out a name yet and no one could convince me that we could name her AFTER she was born. "No, we can't, it's illegal to have a baby without a name."

One of my most comical dreams involved our church. It was flooded with water, but our preacher continued preaching (in his wet suit) while the bus minister played the drums and one of our teens jammed on the electric guitar. Meanwhile... we, the church members, were taking turns diving for the antique Civil War cannon that lay at the bottom of our flooded sanctuary. I think there was a bit about an underwater piano concert, too, but I can't remember the whole thing...

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Today's Date: 9/14/17

How many weeks: 26 weeks

Trimester: 2nd

How big is the baby?: About the length of a scallion (14 inches long and about 1 2/3 pounds)

Gender: Girl!

Weight gain: 21 pounds. I really thought about not including this anymore, but surely there are other pregnant women out there who eat decent AND exercise AND STILL gain a ton of pregnancy weight.. so even though it's embarrassing and I hate admitting it... I'm going to keep including it. For now! lol

Food cravings: Green tea (but I recently re-read the book "Me Before You" AND I'm also re-reading Harry Potter book 7... and they're both British so.. I think the hot tea has more to do with that than pregnancy...)

Food aversions: None. 

Diet: Same. Evenings are still the hardest part of the day, but drinking decaf coffee (or a lovely mug o' tea) helps. 

Breakfast: Coffee (with coconut oil, milk, honey, and vanilla extract).

Mid-morning snack: Granola bar or (sometimes and...) banana

Lunch: chicken, rice, sweet potato, and veggies (bell peppers, onion, broccoli). I top it off with cheese.

Afternoon snack: Protein bar and an apple.

Dinner: Protein source, like chicken, tuna, steak, eggs... and carbs.

Evening snack: Decaf coffee or green tea... Sometimes I cave and have cereal. My downfall.

Exercise: Hanging in there! Because life is just getting all kinds of crazy, I've had to skip the gym and just workout at home quite a bit lately. I realllllly wish I owned a kettle bell and a med-ball. I'm so tired of using my 25# dumbell for everything! It would also be nice to own a row machine... and a barbell... a girl can dream...

Basically my workouts are the same movements over and over again, just different quantities or length of time. Air squats, burpees, pushups, tricep dips, lunges, single arm snatches, occasionally double unders but I can't do very many before my bladder complains.

Aches and pains: My tailbone is ridiculous, I swear. Sitting hurts, standing up hurts, walking hurts, etc. Still having pelvic pain but this has gotten better since I quit running. BUT THAT MAKES ME SAD. 

Also my normal other stuff, like hips and knees. Heartburn has gotten considerably worse!

Maternity clothes: I need more but I hate spending money on stuff I'll only wear for a short time! I have one pair of maternity jeans that I wear at LEAST once a week, sometimes 2 or 3 times. Basically I live in dresses. I'd LOVE to splurge on some maternity workout clothes... but I'm pretty cheap so I doubt I will! I've just been wearing big tshirts and XL shorts... but even those aren't comfortable!

Favorite moment this week: We had a great time on the farm with my dad a couple weekends ago. One of my sisters came down one day, too, and I loved getting to spend time with her and her family.

Looking forward to: Ali's birthday weekend! (It will probably end up being a lot of work, she's having a sleepover with her friends). Festivities include a scavenger hunt and then movie under the stars. Popcorn, candy, soda, cupcakes, chips, pizza, s'mores... they may never go to bed! But it sure will be fun!

For fun, here's TWO pictures for you today: One of me 6 months pregnant with Jordan, and today. I think you'll also enjoy seeing what my husband looked like back in the day!!!!! LOL

Pregnancy: 24 Weeks

24 weeks down, about 15 weeks to go! That still feels like a LONG TIME to wait! But, with fall just around the corner, I think (pray!) that the next few months fly by! I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR. I love cooler mornings and falling leaves... I love Halloween decorations and trick-or-treating... I love Thanksgiving dinners and getting together with family... I love the Christmas season and decorating the tree... AHHHH How could anyone not love September through December!? Best time of the YEAR! Plus I'll have several breaks OFF WORK. I have 8 seminars to put on this semester and 1 four-day conference to attend... I am going to be (already am) SWAMPED over the next few months! With all this stuff going on, I'm sure time will go by much quicker and before we know it, baby girl will be here!

One last thing: NO, WE HAVE NOT PICKED A NAME! And don't expect one anytime soon; it's so much pressure! 

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Today's Date: 9/1/17 (y'all, for real, I typed out 8/32/17 at first...)

How many weeks: 24 weeks (+1 day...)

Trimester: 2nd

How big is the baby?: About the length of an ear of corn... approximately a foot long and weighing in at over a pound!

Gender: Girl!

Weight gain: 18 lbs. That's all I'm saying.

Food cravings: One day last week... I wanted salad. That was weird. Now I'm back to normal, so no cravings.

Food aversions: In the evenings now I want to EAT and I am SO hungry, but nothing sounds good. It's weird. Nothing makes me sick or turn my head, it's just that sometimes nothing sounds very appetizing. It's a foreign thing for me to experience...

Diet: I have done a lot better the past couple of weeks. My daytime meals are basically the same, but in the evenings I've stopped eating the entire pantry. Most nights, between 8-10 when I would normally consume 600 extra calories in cereal or ice cream (you think I'm kidding?), I've started drinking decaf coffee instead. It usually keeps me from overeating right before bed and ruining the whole day. 

Breakfast: Coffee (with coconut oil, milk, honey, and vanilla extract).

Mid-morning snack: Granola bar or banana

Lunch: chicken, rice, sweet potato, and cooked veggies (bell peppers, onion, broccoli). I top it off with cheese.

Afternoon snack: Protein bar and an apple.

Dinner: Protein source, like chicken, tuna, steak, eggs... Carbs, usually white bread. Not the greatest but it's better than ice cream, right?

Evening snack: Decaf coffee, prepared just like my morning coffee. If I'm still hungry afterwards I might have a package of fruit smiles (but I throw the purple ones in the trash! Yuck!) or crackers, mayyyyybe peanut butter ;)

Exercise: Hanging in there! Going to the gym 3-4 times a week, modifying when necessary. This week I did Fran at RX! It was slower than my fastest time, but faster than my slowest ever time, so I'm calling it a win! Trying to focus more on strength these past couple of weeks because of some odd pains I've been having when I do a lot of cardio... see below...

Aches and pains: Pelvic pain. Yes, for real. Also butt/lower back pain. These both get worse when I do anything jarring, like running or jumping (even if I go slow... sometimes even walking hurts!). This has been realllly difficult to cope with because I love workouts that incorporate a lot of running, but last weekend I almost had to stop during the workout because of the pain in my pelvic bone. Google (a reliable source, I've heard) says it isn't uncommon. Well for me it is! I didn't have this issue with Jordan! I was also a lazy sloth with him, too, so maybe that has something to do with it. I'll ask my doc at the next appointment. 

Also my normal other stuff, like hips and knees. Heartburn has gotten worse, but not terrible.

Maternity clothes: I ordered more! I can still wear my stretchy skinny jeans, but they're getting too tight in the LEGS AND BUTT.

Favorite moment this week: Feeling her squirm and kick, I'd forgotten how magical it feels to carry around another human being inside of me 24/7. You just can't ever forget about being pregnant. I'll be in the middle of a meeting at work, or working out at the gym, or eating lunch... and there she is, kicking and making her presence known!

Looking forward to: Going to the farm this weekend! I haven't visited my parents in a while (work work work), so we're packing up to go down and spend a couple of days. Few things beat drinking a cup of coffee while sitting on their front porch with my mom. It is so peaceful.

I definitely have a noticeable BUMP now!
My butt is doing a heck of job trying to keep up...