Baby #3: 24 weeks

3.18.14: I'm six months pregnant today!



Viability day, baby. Such an awesome milestone. We are in no rush to meet you, sweet boy, but I can't believe you are big enough to have a fair shot outside of the womb should that happen. Baby #3 is apparently over a pound for weight and a foot for height. Adorableness. He's a strong little bugger who still seems incredibly active to me. Watching my belly jump from the outside will never get old. Pregnancy is freaking mind-blowing sometimes.

Summary of my week: a growth spurt in the belly. Another round of sickness in our house. A mom with a bad attitude most of the week. Oh, it's been a ball of fun around here and I'm already annoying myself as I write this post.

This week I was sick with a stomach bug that my eldest so lovingly gave to me. Therefore it was a pretty rough string of days since I also had strep a week before this. Being sick and pregnant is so freaking awful, and then caring for a child who is also sick? While juggling work demands and solo parenting a fair amount since Nate is working extra by teaching? The opposite of fun and it's safe to say my patience has been worn down to frightening lows. Cecelia also had the most horrid diapers I've ever witnessed last night and early this morning and so help me God, if she is getting a bug. Looks like more loads of laundry are in my future.

I didn't have an appetite at all last week, which was startling and new;) I couldn't drink my coffee, didn't even have lunch for a few days there---you would literally think I was near death compared to my appetite of weeks prior. Then when I would eat I would get that horribly FULL feeling really quickly. One night I even had a hard time taking a deep breath, and could only breathe fully if laying down. WTF? Am I 24 weeks or 38 weeks right now?? The breathing issues and lack of space in my stomach plus general fatigue really freaked me out a bit. I have a long time to go! I can't be feeling this awful this soon! I'll chalk it up to a weird few weeks and hope that I can get my pregnancy mo-jo back soon.

Sleep has been amazing though--both kids have been exhausted and have slept for nearly 12 hours a few times. Nate and I even got 10 hours in.a.row. one night and I've had to wake T and C up for daycare lately. Let it be known that my children never sleep past 6:30 am, but the past few days? Easily 7-7:30. Thank you, God. I know it will never last but we needed this! And I haven't been having any weird early-morning wake ups either. Out like a light and loving it. Keep it up, children!

Another change is that the skin on my belly is starting to feel tight and I have one of those hot spots that is incredibly painful to light touch. I remember this with Truman's pregnancy, not sure about CC's---but the sensitive skin spot is crazy painful and right above my belly button. Especially in the evenings and only laying down helps the pain. I've never had stretch marks before (knock on wood) and don't think it's starting now, but it's just some weird nerve sensation of a stretching belly, I guess. Very odd. Also: My belly button has totally popped this week. Earliest yet! Hello, inappropriate nipple-like outie. Will be sporting you for four more months, I suppose!

(clean the mirror, woman!)


Aside from not eating much and generally feeling miserable, baby boy somehow managed to have a huge growth spurt last week. His host might have been pathetic but my boy figured out a way to multiply in size over night it seems! I picked the kids up from Lori's one day in a light jacket, unzipped. Immediately Lori said, 'Wow! Look at that!' like she had forgotten I was even pregnant until that moment when my belly was sticking out. Nate and Truman also mentioned that I am looking very 'big', which of course is a relative/sensitive term. I realized that I'm still wearing a pair of regular pants to work and all of my regular yoga pants at home, so I can't be too big just yet. Bigger, yes. But not BIG, I guess.



(my beloved regular work pants (seriously 10 years old) and a bare belly, six months pregnant!)


I feel like the belly is incredibly round and I like it. I just can't imagine it getting *that* much bigger but history shows it will. I really did read back over those linked 38 and 39 week posts with Cecelia to be sure that yes, in fact my belly will get even larger. Duh. How is that for momnesia? Looks like I wasn't totally miserable even at the very end of pregnancy so that's reassuring. After looking at old belly pictures I have decided that I'm officially a lot bigger this time around than the others. I mean, here is a bare belly shot of me at 33 weeks with CC. Comparable to now, no?

(Third time around: bare belly at 13 weeks versus 24 weeks. Yep, big changes have already happened but even more to come.)


Comparison of pregnancies: here is my hilarious and cringe-worthy update from Truman's pregnancy at 24 weeks, and here I was with Cecelia. Mmmm, I forgot about how amazing mandarin oranges have been this week, much like with CC's pregnancy. Actually she and I both have been eating those oranges like there is no tomorrow recently;) Also: I bought not one but two Heath bars last week despite my lack of appetite. I have decided they are the most amazing things ever to touch my lips and want more more more. I guess my appetite is back, huh? Don't think I exercised once, really not feeling it this week.

Plus, I've decided that I only want to wear Nate's giant zip up sweatshirt from here on out. I'm totally over my fitted 'cute' sweatshirts and would actually prefer about 3 more of these babies. So comfy! I'm sick of my maternity clothes and sick of trying to wear regular clothes. Thus, I might not ever give this back to my husband. Sexy!



That was a lot of selfies for one post, huh? I got really into comparing belly shots this time, I do apologize.

Stranger comments: two separate people/patients have given me the old 'you are going to have your hands full' comment this week. The best part is that neither of them actually noticed I was pregnant, but it somehow came up in conversation related to how many children I have right now. I guess when I answer 'A four year old son, a daughter who will be two in May, and I'm due with a boy in July' it does sound a little wild. It's still pretty fun to shock people with a pregnancy announcement when, apparently, they cannot see my baby bump without me wearing a flashing sign that says, 'I'm pregs.' So I will gladly inform them if they ask me anything about my kids. The 'hands full' comments mean well, I'm sure ...and it just makes me want to say, 'Yep, we have a lot of fun in our family.' It will be crazy but it's going to be fun, too, darn it. Full hands full heart and all of that stuff. (Or clear eyes, full heart, can't lose for those FNL fans out there. Yes, that it what I'll say from now on: Clear eyes, full heart).

One more random/crazy fact: I have my 24 week appointment this Friday and then start with the every TWO week visits after that. Woah. Also Baby Center sent me an email saying something about 'only 16 weeks left.' Why does that sound a lot sooner than 4 months?