Twenty-Seven Weeks

Guess who's officially in the THIRD TRIMESTER?! Final stretch, here I come!

Question: If you saw this chick running on a treadmill next to you at the gym, would you think she was pregnant or just a little chunky in the gut? {Because that's why I'm dressed this way today-- I was just at the gym. It's really not warm enough outside for a tank top just yet:)}


I'm pretty sure there's no denying it now, right?


And because I love collages and repetition, here is the final product for my second trimester. I cannot believe the difference in the last 4 weeks. Geesh! Baby has been growing up a storm.

So many thoughts going through my mind lately, as I cross over to the third and final trimester. First and foremost, I'm overwhelmed by the pure happiness I feel on most days. I adore feeling my little man jab my internal organs; I cherish these moments preparing for his arrival; I am overcome with excitement and anticipation for my baby boy to snuggle with me in my arms. Pregnancy has treated me kindly and I am incredibly grateful for this entire experience thus far.

I had a conversation with Kristal once, about how the reality of pregnancy is hard to grasp sometimes and we wondered if it would take until delivery to totally understand it. We were saying how we thought it'd feel 'real' after the first doctor's appointment and although it was amazing, it didn't fully hit me then. So I figured once I made it into the second trimester, then I'd really wrap my head around the pregnancy--but nope, still very surreal. Perhaps feeling movement would do it, or starting to officially show would make me feel more pregnant...but both of those things didn't really make me feel like a mommy-to-be as much as I thought. The next big milestone, our Big 20 week ultrasound, was a sure fire way to comprehend the baby growing inside me and I just knew that after that day I'd feel pregnant. Again, definitely one of the best days in my entire life and I have to admit that finding out the sex and therefore deciding on a name absolutely helped me conceptualize my baby boy a little bit better. But I don't think it REALLY hit me until the past few weeks and I have no idea why. I've just felt a strong connection with baby and the love I already have for my son chokes me up sometimes. Maybe it's the raging hormones, or the fact that when I logged into The Bump the other day I saw this ticker time line and it gave me a visual I couldn't ignore:
First of all, the 'third trimester' link was a shock to see. Secondly, the 27 week green bar is awfully close to the end of the journey, don't you think? Only 92 more days? Craziness, I tell you.

Other thoughts on my mind: I can't sit with my typical bad posture anymore because my innards poke up into my ribcage now. I'm pretty sure it's my giant uterus nudging the rest of my organs aside as it grows, but what a strange feeling! Maybe shorter torso'd girls feel internally cramped earlier than 27 weeks but I'm just now getting that symptom. Also, I'm totally neurotic about getting stretch marks. My tummy is feeling a little more taut and every little itch I get makes me yank up my shirt and inspect for stretchies. I don't have any yet, and I keep telling myself that my mom never got any, but let's just say I've been slathering on the lotion religiously...just in case.

Also, I had a dream that the baby decided to come out extremely early....as in, 8 weeks early. In my dream, Nate and I were trying to take a 'family picture' of me with my pregnant belly when all of a sudden I dropped out our child from my ute. He was, of course, absolutely gorgeous, and fully dressed looking like a 4 month old or something. Nate and I were so excited but we both kind of looked at each other like, 'Are we supposed to put him back in to bake a little bit longer? He can't be fully cooked yet, can he?' So perhaps my subconscious is a little nervous about mister man making an early appearance into this world or something, right? I know I can't control when I go into labor but obviously I want baby to stay in there as long as he can to get fully incubated and stuff...I'm sure by the end I will laugh at this statement but right now I just want him to stay put for the long haul. No dropping out of my ute anytime soon, okay buddy?

Other baby news? I received the most beautiful invitation for my first baby shower! If this isn't a 'Julia' invitation then I don't know what is. My friend Maggie made the invites without any input from me---this is all her magic---and you should totally check out her Etsy shop, The Paper Perfectionist. She is incredibly talented and creative and nailed this girl's style like none other. I mean the colors? Exactly my nursery colors:



The pennant banner? My favorite thing ever, since I made one for Hannah's shower and will be making one for the nursery in due time.

And the tiny baby in the buggy? I used a very similar icon on my canvas print for baby boy. It is just too cute, you guys.

And don't get too excited over the 'H' up there. Maggie asked if we would release the rights to his first initial but we knew people would just try to guess if they knew the letter. So she stuck with the letter of our last name. Just a few more months, people.

I can't believe this shower is just a month away. It's going to be so much fun! Hannah is hosting it at her house...yes the one with the brand spanking new baby:) She'll have some help though and it's sure to be a blast. I wasn't really sure if I'd have another baby shower besides this one but apparently my mother-in-law wants to throw one for me up here in good ol' WI and Nate's PT classmates want to throw me one, too. Isn't that so cute? I'm one lucky lady. For reals.

So that's me in week 27: crossing the third tri threshold with an extraordinary amount of happiness, growing a real pregnant belly, still running three times a week (still slow as heck but I haven't urinated on myself yet!), and getting really excited about baby showers. And just trying to soak in the moment without getting too far ahead of myself....isn't it hard sometimes?