Baby #3: 28 weeks

4.15.14: Twenty-Eight weeks

(note the perplexed, adorable children)


Fancy camera is going to come out for the rest of this pregnancy, mark my words:



I'm feeling pretty good for the third trimester! Still having some occasional back pain if I do too much, still totally exhausted some days, still with variable amounts of patience for pretty much everything. Nate's extra hours at work have been getting to me lately, and combine a lot of solo parenting with pregnancy and a daughter who is ridiculously emotional/tough right now? Recipe for disaster. I'm trying to be kind to myself and force some 'mommy time' whenever I can. And I'm a little scared about how mentally sane I will be by the end of this pregnancy...but yet again, I'm hoping that consistently warmer weather will help us all not to kill each other. But it snowed yesterday, so there's that. No comment.

Still sleeping well for the most part, a little more tossing and turning to get comfortable since I really like to lay slightly on my stomach. I officially can't really do that anymore;) Sometimes I will wake up totally ready to start the day at 5 am and other days I am DRAGGING at 7 am. And night time is the same: some days I am exhausted by 8 pm and other days I can stay up until midnight without a problem. No naps this week, so I don't know why my sleep varies so much. Still have not woken up just to pee in the middle of the night yet. I'd say that is a pretty big accomplishment at this point! I can tell that I'm stopping more often during my work days to pee at random Starbucks/McDonalds/gas stations now compared to before in this pregnancy. This is when working in home care gets really interesting and really annoying/tiring. Twelve-ish more weeks, man. Then twelve weeks off. YES.

I should really force myself to 'officially' exercise more and eat less often but I just don't have a ton of will power this third time around. Maybe because I know my relative inactivity and dietary indulgence will be short-lived, temporary, and not the norm for the rest of my life I can embrace it and enjoy it. The fatigue from being a mom of two kids, nearly 33 years old, working part time, solo parenting more than ever, and juggling all.the.balls---it's no joke. So no, I will not kill myself to do an exercise DVD when I just want to lay on the couch and veg after a loooooooong day go-go-going with my kids all day. And yes, if I want a chocolate Jo-Jo cookie after dinner I will have one or two. And cereal before bed. I'm all about the 'treats' for myself these days.

Speaking of treating myself, I just realized that I barely even think about alcohol anymore. It only took five+ months of being pregnant to dry out! Ha. That might change with warmer weather when a cold beer is perfection.

Also, lots of time spent on nursery projects this week. Separate posts in the works, but the crib is finished and assembled (!!), I bought some amazing prints for the walls, bought two stuffed animals, and a wooden peg family of five on Etsy. There are at least 10 other items in my Etsy cart at the moment---although I love DIY additions to nurseries, this time around I kind of want to buy all of the handmade things other people have made;) I also had Nate hang a top-secret name/wood project (DIY by me this time) and I finished painting a few other random projects. Big nursery week, for sure.

Picture break!

I love this girl sometimes. She seems like such a big girl and yet, she's still my baby for now. Cecelia loves to say 'baby' and butcher his actual name while she pats my belly and kisses it. Too much cuteness.




Watching Frozen for the first time with my boy! His sister allowed us a solid 5 minute stretch with the movie before I had to entertain her with other things, but it was a fun moment while it lasted.


Solo parenting Saturday, including Truman's swimming lessons. Good times. Pale children. Tired mommy.



As much as I love pregnancy and soak it in often, I am also getting excited to be 'not pregnant' anymore--back in my own, active body, and no longer feeling a bit out of sorts when I look in the mirror. I love my bump and marvel at the changes---our bodies know how to make to grow a human being. Isn't that amazing? But thinking about joining the gym this fall and carving out some solid 'sweaty treadmill time' with three (!) kids in the gym childcare center a few times per week. YES. Until then, cheers to walking the dog and chasing my kids being activity enough. I miss running and sweating during a great workout but not enough to actually do it right now;)

Baby boy is still quite active and it's almost painful at times. I swear his movements wake me up more at night than anything else. Kid just doesn't stop. I think he especially likes to jab various body parts into my belly button, and I can almost make out little elbows/feet at times now. So weird!! I'm getting spoiled and if I stop to think, 'Hmm, he hasn't moved in the last hour or so,' I get very impatient and want him to move right away to reassure me. And luckily, he usually does as soon as I poke him! I swear he must be my most active baby so far and I love it. I have my 28 week appointment this Friday, where I will take the glucose test, and after that I start going in every 2 weeks. Crazy talk. How is it time already?

I just cannot wait to see his little face, smell him, cuddle him, nurse him, introduce him to his siblings. See Nate as a dad to TWO boys. Adjust to life with a newborn again. Baby's birthday seems like forever away but scary-soon, too. I.Cannot.Wait. My nerves about labor and delivery and the transition to three kids pale in comparison to my excitement for it all. It's going to be a wild ride but oh, so very worth it. I'm frequently overwhelmed with gratitude for this pregnancy in case you can't tell. I really do love it so much.

Let's now overanalyze various bump pictures, shall we?

Yesterday morning I took my usual weekly selfies for this post. I noted that my bump looked really small but didn't think much of it. As the work day went on I started feeling bigger, my stomach felt totally stretched/tight, and by the time I got home I *had* to take more pictures to compare. Sure enough---my bump in the evening was much higher than the morning. I think baby boy shifted upwards into my boobs somehow, maybe from sitting in my car/with my patients for a lot of the day? Very odd. I guess it's normal for him to move around and change the shape of my bump but I've never noticed it like this before, especially not in the third trimester!





Here is my 28 week post with Truman. I was still running 3 miles, 3 days per week back then? How? Wow. I nearly pee myself with a brisk walk these days and have zero motivation to be a runner while pregnant. I was also excited to find our Pediatrician and still love the guy. In fact, we finally have Truman's 4 year appointment today. Crazy to think it's been that long since we first met the doc.

Here is my 28 week post with Cecelia. I was busy painting our entire house and getting through my first pregnancy cold. Ha. Pretty sure I've been a lot more sick this time around than ever before, probably because of those two little kids we have to give us such interesting germs!

Best moment of last week was definitely Erin's gender reveal. It was seriously so much fun to be a part of their big moment, I can't even explain the emotions on my end! I've hoped for her third baby to be a girl for a long time...maybe years? Knowing that OF COURSE a healthy baby boy for #3 would also be wonderful. But especially since having Cecelia, I so wanted Erin to get the experience of a daughter. And now they will! And being the first to know baby is a GIRL was such an honor, and taking their pictures in our back yard as they found out? Priceless. I have never cried at my own gender reveals but this time? Yup. Too emotional to contain it!

(they closed their eyes while I placed the correctly colored cookie in their hands, after I peeked at their sealed US picture before this. I was shaking so badly right here, I have no idea how this is not blurry)


Erin is just a bit excited. And airborne. And Dave was so CERTAIN he only makes boys. What a moment!!








Later that evening, at the official reveal for Erin's friends and family: Andrea, Erin and myself. They are both 19ish weeks here and I'm 27ish weeks. Team Green, Team Pink (!!), and Team Blue.


Something about sharing our third/final pregnancies together makes me extra emotional. What a journey we've all been on together since we first met as newlyweds! Pregnancy and growing a family are a trip, man.

I'll end this post with these two goons. Can't believe we get another little human full of personality like these guys!