28 Weeks

Woohoo! Third trimester here we come! I'm so close but still so far away. This week I am happy to say that I have been feeling pretty good, but I definitely understand what people have said about just wanting the baby out at the end of the pregnancy.

First off, this week I had another doctor's visit (I now go every 3 weeks instead of every 4), and I had to take my glucose tolerance test. I was a little worried about what it would be like and how it would turn out, but I am happy to say that it wasn't bad at all. My blood results came back normal, so I am not at risk for gestational diabetes. The baby had a good heartbeat (140), I had good blood pressure again, and I still have not gained any weight. I was a little surprised by this, but the doctor said he loves it when his patients don't gain weight. He said then when they have the baby they are pretty much right back at their starting weight. I'm good with that! So far I have gained about 13 pounds, and I only have 12 weeks left. Even if I somehow gain a pound a week I'll be able to lose a lot of that just from the birth, so I'm pretty stoked that I've been doing so well.

There aren't many new symptoms to report this week. I have noticed my lower back starting to get pretty sore when I leave work, and I am having a tough time eating much after 6 pm. Some days for dinner I either eat a tiny portion of what I've made or end up eating cereal, because I just can't stomach whatever I cooked. This may be part of why I'm not packing on the pounds. I am happy to say that my auras are going away, and the few that I've had were due to not eating enough. I basically brought them on myself. Otherwise I've been working hard to chug water all day and make sure I get a few snacks while I'm at work. The past two weeks I've also felt a little more rested, but I did get Labor Day and the day of my doctor's visit to sleep in. This week I don't have that luxury, so we'll see how I feel by Friday. Honestly, I'm pretty lucky that I've only had a few bothersome symptoms, especially when I'm reading "What to expect..." and the list of symptoms gets longer with each month. It feels good to look at that list and only see a few that I've actually experienced. So I guess I can handle some nighttime nausea, backaches, and constant trips to the bathroom.

Finally, I wanted to leave you with some bonus pictures for this week. First, I included a picture of two drawings that some girls in my class made. I thought you would like a kindergarten perspective of what the baby looks like. The other two are from when I tried on my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding, which is in 3 weeks. I almost panicked, because at this point the dress is getting dangerously close to not zipping all the way up. The problem is the band that runs right under my chest. Since I'm so short, that's where my belly starts to expand. So when the zipper gets up near the top, there isn't a whole lot of extra room. You can see in the picture how the band doesn't lay flat but starts to pucker and bend from the shape of my stomach. Luckily, the baby is very low, so if I grow a lot in the next few weeks it probably won't cause a problem in that area. Let's hope anyways! Enjoy!

26 Weeks- Part Two

Sorry it took awhile to post this, but it's been a busy week! If you read my last post you know all about all the medical drama I had over the past few weeks, so now I'll fill you in on my symptoms. Obviously, I have been exhausted. Being back at work has been really tough. When I get home I am totally run down, so I have been making up for it by sleeping 10+ hours a night on the weekends and sometimes even taking a nap after that! This is the first time in my life when I actually like taking naps. I also started another online class for my Master's, so this will wear me out even more. Luckily, the class doesn't look too bad, and once it's done I will be taking a break until the end of February to focus on getting ready for the baby, having the baby (of course!), and then getting used to being a mommy. I'm looking forward to that, for sure.

Other than being tired, I haven't been feeling too bad. I'm sleeping okay, but I have started having to get up more to go to the bathroom. I usually make it until 3:00 AM and then get up every 1-2 hours between then and when my alarm goes off. I was also having several charlie horses in my legs, but now that I've been doing more leg stretches and drinking more water that has gotten better. The baby doesn't really keep me up at night, but when I get back into bed he usually moves around a lot. Speaking of movement, he continues to move more and more each day. I can now feel him even when I'm standing up, although he moves the most when I'm sitting or lying down. His movements have gotten bigger and stronger, and I see my belly moving a lot. Sometimes I can even see my belly moving back and forth, which is pretty cool.

That's pretty much it as far as symptoms right now. I don't have any swelling or stretch marks as of right now, and my belly button is still an innie. I just keep watching as my body and belly change and grow and wondering what is ahead for me. When I write my next post I will officially be in the third trimester, so I'm ready for the home stretch!

26 Weeks- Part One

Well, the past two weeks have been so eventful that I thought I should break my post into two parts. I also still need to take one of my regular belly pictures so that will be in my next post. For this post I'll fill you in on the two doctor's appointments I had since my last post. That's right- two appointments! The first one was my typical check-up. There were several interesting things that happened at this one. First off, I didn't gain any weight in the 4 weeks since my previous appointment. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I could not believe that! Then they found that I had a possible bladder infection (sorry if that's a little gross), and they gave me antibiotics to take. Finally, when they listened for the baby's heart she had to try 4 times, because he kept moving. He is an active little guy! At my next appointment I have to take the glucose tolerance test, which won't be fun. I have to fast after midnight and then come in at 9 AM to drink this sugary drink. Then I have to sit around for an hour before they can take my blood and check my blood sugar. I'm going to be cranky and starving, and then I get to go back to work and face 16 kindergarteners. What a wonderful day that will be :/

Anyways, onto the other appointment I had. This one was not a planned appointment at all. I decided to call the doctor after work on Monday, because I had been getting a lot of auras after my regular check-up. An aura is something you get in your line of vision, usually before a migraine. It's basically a semi-circle of lightning bolt-like light that appears in front of me and slowly moves across my field of vision for 20 minutes or so before the migraine hits. Not everyone gets them, but I have been getting them for the past 5 years or so. When I first got them the doctor thought they were from hormones in my birth control, which made sense since I never got them before. They were coming about once a month at that point. Then I got an iud, which has less hormones, and I got them less often and had more of a regular headache afterwards instead of a migraine. Then when the iud was removed so we could get pregnant I rarely got them and sometimes didn't even get a headache afterwards. So, it does seem like the hormones had something to do with it. Anyways, for the past week or two I was getting an aura almost daily but with no headache. I was starting to get a little worried, so I called the nurse and was asked to come in after work. They originally thought I was developing preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced high blood pressure), because that can cause visual disturbances. When I got there, though, my blood pressure was low (90/60). They went ahead and did a regular check-up just to cover all the bases. When the doctor came in he said I definitely wasn't getting preeclampsia. He said I probably was getting the auras from either dehydration or fluctuations in my blood sugar (probably going too long in between meals or having to much sugar in between regular meals). This made total sense, because since I've started back at work I've had a hard time getting enough water and snacking regularly. It's hard to sit down, rest, and have a drink of water and a snack when you've got 16 5-year-olds constantly requiring your attention. So I left with a clean bill of health and a reminder to just get enough to eat and drink. That was a relief. Ever since then I've only had one aura, and I'm pretty sure it was because I was starving to death by the time I made dinner. Whoops.

As I said, there is a lot that's happened in two weeks. I'll post more soon, but in the meantime here is a different belly pic for those who don't mind seeing a big, bare belly. If you don't want to see my bare belly then stop reading right now. I wanted to show this view so you can see that my belly is starting to stick out from my hips more, because you can't tell much of a difference when I have a shirt on. You also get a nice shot of my sad looking belly button. It's pretty shallow, so we'll see how long it survives before I pop out.

*Warning- last chance to stop reading and avoid the bare belly!!!*