28 Weeks, 280 daily trips to the bathroom...

So, here we are again. I'm now 28 weeks and 5 days pregnant.I'm not sure why I always pick Wednesdays to update, maybe its subconsciously my least favorite workday.....it is, quite obviously, my least productive ;-) We'll go ahead and start off by telling you how I'm feeling. I feel hot. All the time. And I can't "feel" it, but I'm pretty sure I'm the smelly kid in class now too. Fantastic. At this point, I make at least 181,566 trips to the bathroom in a given day. I'm pretty sure I would get more done if I just moved my work space into the bathroom. I am in constant disbelief that I can get up, go to the restroom and it seems like just as I sit back down, I have to pee again. Its unreal. LUCKILY, I feel like most of those trips are sqeezed into my waking hours, as I have only had to get up in the middle of the night a handful of times (until now, because I just jinxed myself I'm sure) to make a bathroom run. Its funny (I use this term loosely) though, because Dan and I will be in bed at night watching TV and I will get up no fewer than 3 times in a given 1 hour show to go to the bathroom. He's asked me on more than one occasion "You're kidding me, right?" Yes Dan, I am just doing this as a big joke. I think its really funny to have to hurl my enormously disproportionate self over my wonderful full body pillow only to pray that my feet hit the ground before my face does, all the while trying to ensure that I am not crushing my little mini-me by inadvertently putting too much weight on my stomach. Hilarious! No. It's not a joke. At least not one that I am playing on my husband....although, I'm not yet convinced that my daughter doesnt have her mom's sick sense of humor and is inside me laughing hysterically at how many times mommy has to pee in the course of a day. I can't help but smile and hope that she enjoys good, dry humor as much as I do :)

Besides that, I am just feeling really tired a lot. I know its normal, but I guarantee the heat is not helping at all. Oddly enough, I don't feel like I've gotten a whole lot bigger (my scale is laughing at this comment right now....and yes, my scale reads my blog), but I'm just starting to feel bigger. I am noticing more and more that while in a sitting position, I am officially unable to reach things on the ground by bending forward....and often not by bending to the sides either. Basically, there is a lot of stuff on the ground by my desk that someone is probably going to need to pick up soon ;-) At home, I am trying to stay as active as I can. I still enjoy cooking a lot, mainly because I still enjoy eating a lot. That, and I know that after Mia gets here, my cooking days will probably be on hiatus for a little while, so I'm trying to get it out of my system now. I learned the hard way the other day, that I am no longer capable of taking on more than one task at a time, as my brain no longer has capacity for such things. It also no longer has the capacity to recall information that I was just given either. Its making it really fun for people I am communicating with on a regular basis. I'm sure they just are flashing back to when I used to drink.....as I pretty much did the same thing as far as repeating myself and asking the same questions over and over again ;-)

As far as Mia goes, she is still as active as ever. I can tell she's getting a lot bigger though because now instead of watching my stomach "pop" with her cute little jabs, it now physically relocates. She is all over the board and it's super entertaining to watch :) WEll.....for me at least. She's had the hiccups now a couple times and it is one of the weirdest/coolest things I've ever felt. She's just like a real person! Its so crazy. I'm growing a human inside of me.....God is pretty crazy awesome if you ask me :)

Well I think that pretty much sums everything up. I have another doctor's appointment this Friday. Shouldnt be anything too exciting, I mean as far as tests or anything. I did get the results of my tests back and I do not have gestational diabetes or anemia. I am also not carrying any sexually transmitted diseases....at least none that they have identified yet ;-) KIDDING MOM! I have still been having Braxton Hicks contractions on a regular basis. They seem to be a little more powerful than they used to be, but are still at unpredictable intervals and still not painful....just a lot more noticeable. I'm going to bring it up on Friday when I talk to my doctor, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.

Dan and I are taking a road trip to Austin this weekend! It will most likely be the last time we get to get away together, just the two of us, so I'm really looking forward to it :) I will definitely make sure to take tons of pictures with only landscape and no people....I know how fun those are for others to look at ;-)

Until next time......

Me and Mia at 28wks
and we decided that we're not the only ones going through this so......

Daddy at 28 wks :)

So I guess this is for real??

Hello again friends. I am now 27 weeks into this little adventure. You would think that given the length of time I have been working up to this point in my pregnancy, I would be more used to being pregnant. But, for some reason, this has hit me all of a sudden.....I'm PREGNANT. Like really pregnant. Like when I finally get settled on the couch and have the pillows arranged just the way I want and then look over to the coffee table only to realize the remote control is just out of reach, I consider actually just staring at the TV, that is not on, because the time and effort it is going to take me to get up and then re-situate just may not be worth it. Yes, THAT pregnant. You'll see in the picture that follows what I mean. I am sure that every pregnant woman feels like she can't possibly get more pregnant at some point, but I just thought that point would be around 36 weeks. Maybe it is for some women, it's not for me. I'm pretty sure that I have reached capacity. I even have a pain in my stomach just above my belly button that my doctor seems to think is just the feeling of my stomach stretching.....I'm convinced it's my stomach giving me an ultimatum: its me or the kid, but we're not both going to make it. Luckily, I have been able surprise myself in an aspect of stretching I never thought I would be familiar with. Let's hope it keeps up.

This week has been....different. On Monday I started feeling some Braxton Hicks contractions. I knew I had felt them before (not uncommon for someone even at my stage in pregnancy), but these seemed to be coming more often than before....like a lot more often. After a couple of days of lots of noticeable contractions at short intervals, I called the doctor on Wednesday, who had me come in immediately. I was very concerned with her sense of urgency, but comforted by the fact that I wasn't going to have to wait until today (Friday, my regularly scheduled Dr. appt) to find out if something was really wrong. When I got to the office she did a series of tests to make sure my body was not prepping for labor and that what I was feeling were ligitimately Braxton Hicks contractions and not the real deal. She also had me go in for another sono to check on the baby as well. Results from all of the tests came back and everything is perfectly fine. She informed me that chances are I am just one of "those" women who tend to have BH more often. She said there was nothing to worry about unless they became much closer together or painful, up to this point, they have been neither, although they have continued on a pretty consistent basis since. Once I knew everything was ok after the sono tech informed me that my cervix (sorry guys, but this is a no holds bard kind of blog) was long and closed, I could sit back and enjoy seeing my little girl and her perfectly proportionate (that's all I got from the tech) limbs. She weighs in at a whopping 2lbs now! I still have yet to figure out why her little 2 lb self has already cost me 24 lbs.....but i will take that up with her later ;-)

I went back to the doctor today for my regularly scheduled visit. Today was the glucose testing. I had to drink some orange crap that tasted like someone had made coolaid with only half the water required. I guess it could have been worse, but it wasn't good. I should get the results back from that test, which tests for Gestational diabetes and anemia, in a couple of days. The doctor said that if everything was good, she wouldnt call, if she calls, I will have to go through another series of tests that I hear is far less simple and involves an even grosser concoction - please pray for no phone call! Besides that, we now progressed to doctors appointments EVERY 2 WEEKS!!! WHAT?!?!  Only people who are REALLY pregnant have to go to the doctor every two weeks.....how could that possibly be me?! I just got pregnant like last week! I guess this means that this is not a drill. I am really going to pass a watermelon through a small opening in my body and I'm going to do that soon.

As far as my little princess goes, she is doing awesome! She moves around constantly still. Her little kicks are getting stronger and more agressive. I try not to take it personally though, as I'm pretty sure she's fighting it out with both the skin on my stomach as well as my bellybutton. In my opinion, they both had it coming ;-) The other night when we were laying in bed, Dan started talking to her. He was leaning in close to my right side and after hearing his voice, she mosied her way over to perch up right next to him. I love it, a Daddy's girl already :) It is so cool to think that she can already recognize our voices! I guess this means I should probably stop screaming obscinities to all the moron drivers who seem to follow me wherever I go.....we'll just go ahead and put that on the ole to-do list, right after teach Luci how to let herself out.

Well I guess that's about it for now. I really am starting to slow down a lot more. I need more sleep, and more help getting up from a sitting position. I know I still have a ways to go....but I am happy that the days between now and when I get to see my little girl are closer to 0 than they are 280. I will still say this has been a pretty incredible experience and as much as I complain, and sweat, and grunt and bitch that I have nothing to wear, I wouldn't trade a day for anything in the world.

Please continue to keep our little family in your prayers!

I have included 2 pics below.....I figured there might be a time that you guys don't want to see what's going on under my clothes, so I'm transitioning into that now ;-)

that's A LOT of belly - 27 Wks

this is me demonstrating that I can still wear my pre-pregnancy shirts ;-) that poor shirt is fighting for its life here :) 27Wks

Just add baby

I know that I mentioned a while ago in a post that I would eventually post pics of Mia's nursery. Well, we finally got the last piece of furniture this weekend!! We have been waiting on the hutch for our dresser since we got the other pieces in April....we tend to jump the gun on these things, so its not like we were in any danger of it not getting here before her big debut ;-)

Dan and I have really enjoyed putting her nursery together. Its been a real bonding experience to pick everything out and decorate together. I feel INCREDIBLY blessed to have a husband who is totally and 100% involved in every nursery-related decision that has been made so far :) and I mean EVERY decision. Being that we wanted Mia's room, which was intended as a "study" according to the floor plan, to look less office-y and more little-girl-room-y, we did what we could to change it up, without having to paint. I, personally, love it. It is my favorite room in our house in every way. I can tell it's Dan's favorite room too. Sometimes I catch him in there just staring into the crib, or just sitting in the glider looking up at her name :) He's going to be such an amazing Daddy....Mia is a very lucky little girl.


To quote Dan from earlier today "Mia needs to hurry up and get here so I can show her what we did!" :) I had to remind him, that it would be ok if she waited just a LITTLE bit longer.

I have attached some pics of the room, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

I know its kind of faint, but in pink and yellow letters 'AMELIA' is on the shelf above the door

I call this 'Mia's garden' and the frame above the flowers has baby pics of myself, Dan, Luci and a blank frame for our little angel once she gets here :)

her crib

Mia's Mural and the most comfy chair ever created.
*side note: the blanket draped over the back was handmade by Dan's Yia-Yia (Greek for Grandmother) for him when he was born. Its absolutely gorgeous!

our long awaited HUTCH!! and dresser. The knobs on the cabinets of the hutch are little yellow roses :)

View from the door when you walk in, it looks snug, but feels cozy ;-)

Dear Amelia.....

Today you are 25 weeks and 6 days into this little adventure. You could technically survive if you decided to make an early appearance, I however, would have a panic attack and die, so let's just hang in there for another couple or 14 weeks, what do ya say? At this point in time, your favorite things seem to be kicking and punching. You move almost constantly, and I'm sure to your annoyance, when you are not moving, I'm poking you to make sure you're still alive and well :) You seem to be very unlike your parents in that you have most of your energy at night. I can't tell you how many nights I have spent staring down and watching you maneuver your way around my stomach. Given the grace you lack, I fear you take after me already. It kind of feels like you will start to do something and then just fall to one side or the other. I am sorry.....that probably won't end at birth.

I'm writing this to you today to let you know that I'm ready for you. We don't have the rest of your furniture yet and don't have a swing or a bouncer, but what we do have is enough love to last you a lifetime. Me and your Daddy can't wait to meet you......but we will wait.....for at least another 14 weeks. This is VERY important! The love will still be here in 14 weeks....I promise. Only it will be multiplied by like a zillion! So brace yourself. You've got a lot of kisses coming your way little lady.

So, keep moving and in case you need any extra sustenance, there is plenty just to the rear....my rear. Feel free to take all you need.

I love you, Mia.

Love,
Mommy

25 Wks