Bumpdate: 31 to 34 Weeks

How far along? 34 weeks. Only 6 to go! From the photo above, you can see I’ve gotten to the point where I’m often too tired to fix my hair in the mornings. 

Weight gain: Right at 20 pounds and I don’t want to talk about it!

Cravings: Ice cream (hence the weight gain), peanut butter, fresh fruit, Fage Greek yogurt – but only the kind where you mix the fruit in separately. 

Anything making me nauseas/queasy? Not at all!

Stretch marks: Not yet. Still applying Bio Oil and Belly Butter at least twice daily. 

Belly button: Still in but just barely. And if I’ve just eaten anything, it’s only 3/4 in. 

I had to throw in this photo, also at 34 weeks, because my belly looks enormous. I wore this to work and one of my coworkers asked if I was sure I wasn’t having twins! Even Riley was staring at me like he didn’t know what to think of my giant bump.

Wedding rings: On but barely. I will cry when I can’t wear them anymore and I know that day is coming. 

Maternity clothes: Yes. Aside from a few long tunics, Pikos, and flowy dresses, I am wearing exclusively maternity clothes. Piko tunics have been a life saver and I did order a few last things from Pink Blush a couple weeks ago to see me through to the end. 

Sleep: Hit or miss still. I need about three restroom breaks at night and am just uncomfortable. Corey says the worst part of me being pregnant has been seeing me become so uncomfortable in the last few weeks. Bless his heart. 

Exercise: Walking and that is pretty much it. 

33 weeks

Movement: Yes! And it is finally noticeable from the outside. She is still most active at night. You can also see the movement from the outside. Every night her bottom goes straight up on my lower right side and you can see her moving and shifting positions. It is pretty cute. 

Gender: Girl! This was confirmed once again during an ultrasound. More about that below. 

Symptoms: Exhaustion, bigger boobs, low back pain, some hip pain and swelling if I’ve been standing too long, crazy emotions. I literally burst out crying over my omelet at The Flying Biscuit when I tried to tell Corey how one of my students shared that Santa doesn’t come to their house. 

Best moment this month: The Holidays! Also, seeing Baby Girl on an ultrasound. We’d planned to do a 3D one at Christmas since my practice only does them at 10 and 20 weeks. We ended up not going but had to have an unexpected one at the doctor’s office. All was ok and it was sweet to see her one more time on the inside. 

32 weeks 

Worst moment this month: At my 30 week checkup, Baby was measuring small. I was seeing one of the less informative doctors at my practice. He went back and looked at my blood work, sugar test results, weight gain, previous measurements, etc. and then said we would remeasure at my next appointment and might need to do a growth scan to check her. Then, he was off. Looking back at it now, I think he was just telling me the plan and not trying to worry me but it felt like he was telling me something was wrong with the way my baby was growing. Corey couldn’t be at that appointment because he was traveling for work and I was the last appointment of the day. I think I sat in the parking lot and cried for almost an hour. I called my mom, who is a nurse, and she said they would have checked right away if they had been concerned and my dad said our family just had small babies. Then, I just cried harder because I felt like they weren’t taking me seriously enough. Then I called Corey, who was out of town literally about to walk into a meeting with a huge prospective client. And I cried harder from guilt for crying to him and worrying him before his meeting. Then, we went for my follow-up appointment and saw a different doctor and he was not concerned in the slightest but did still let us do the growth scan anyway to put our minds at ease so we could see her one last time before her arrival.

31 weeks 

Looking forward to: Baby showers and our mini babymoon that we will be enjoying when this publishes.

A few thoughts: I am so grateful that I have had a fairly easy pregnancy. I’m a little uncomfortable now but both baby girl and I are healthy and happy. It’s hard to believe our lives are about to change forever in just six short weeks. It is really surreal to be at this point, especially when less than a year ago we were warned about fertility challenges. Up until about 20 weeks, I never really let myself imagine being this far along. Now, we have a name and an almost finished nursery. Freshly washed baby clothes n Dreft and will be completing our hospital pre-registration this coming weekend. We just have a few more necessities to pick up like diapers, a monitor, a swing, and most importantly a car seat. We’ll wait until after my showers at the end of the month and then get what’s left. We are so very excited!