Showered With Love

Baby showers are one of my favorite parties to go to...it's just so exciting to celebrate a new life. My nursery them is Winnie the Pooh so the shower theme was the same.

Friends joined the party to paint onsies, chat about babies, eat salad and dig into some yummy cake!

Thanks everyone who made it out, this shower was such a special treat for me (and Rowdy too).








The Winnie cake...















Onsies hang drying after being painted.















Morquecho family that came out for the shower.

Counting Down...

I saw our doctor yesterday for a regular check up. Let's see what the stats look like:

• I'm at 30 weeks now
• 21 lbs gained...probably 10 more to go
• Belly movements normal
• Pelvis pressure starting, hips are preparing for birth
• still craving sweets!
• feeling anxious about labor and hoping for no c-section
  

Doctor says everything is looking really good. She says the baby is about 3 lbs now and is looking to be a healthy size (6-8lbs). I mentioned that my pelvic bones were feeling like they were being pushed down, I assume by the baby. She said that's normal and to use my pregnancy belt when out and about, it helps to relieve the pain. It's true, if you're pregnant, get one of these belts. I'm still getting out 3-4 times a week to walk for 30 minutes and doing my prenatal Yoga stretching.

For now, I'm trying to enjoy the final stretch but I can't help thinking about getting to delivery day. That's my update for now, more later.

Baby Movements

Lately, my neck is getting cramped from always staring down at my growing belly. In the last week or so the baby's movements have been getting more entertaining. I was the phone at work today and I felt either a hand or foot slowly push out of my belly and move towards the center...it was so weird to watch! To watch your own skin stretch around like that and know that it wasn't you that did it but it was someone inside of you.

I'm not sure I'll ever get used to this. If I can ever capture it on video and I'll post that video but it's hard enough to try to get my husband to notice it when it happens. Because like all good things, they pass too quickly.

The Hiccups

This week starts my 27th week of pregnancy (I love the weekly updates from Babycenter to learn what the baby is doing at each stage). Hopefully, I have 13 weeks left to go but I guess Rowdy could decide to come early. The fun and nerve wracking part of this experience is that you have no control over any of it...it's all up to what the baby wants to do and or feels like. I learned this from the moment I found out I was pregnant, the baby made me hungry, sleepy, crave something and changed the way I looked. I no longer was in control of these basic things. I couldn't fight it either, I surrendered to being the host for this little creature.

Now that I'm at 27 weeks I've been feeling kicking and movements like the baby changing positions or moving around in the womb, which feels kind of like a fish swimming around a small bowl. The kicking is still a weird a feeling however just this last week I felt something new. A faint pulsing feeling, like a heartbeat but not as fast and a little stronger. It doesn't last long, maybe a few minutes. I couldn't figure it out until I read my book and got my update this week from Babycenter...Rowdy has started to get hiccups.

Awe...yes it's pretty cute our little baby has hiccups. It's a very weird feeling and sometimes kind of annoying (just being honest) but fortunately they go away pretty quickly. I do like that these hiccups are one more way of reminding me that Rowdy is growing up normally and doing all the things needed to prepare for living outside of of me. Cheers to that. Hic-Hic-Hooray!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

In a recent visit with my doctor, she warned me not to eat too many sweets over the holidays. This visit was December 18 and I was leaving shortly thereafter to visit the in-laws in Dallas. And Texas isn't the place to go when you want to eat low calorie if you know what I mean. And the holidays are all about eating cookies and Grandma's sweet rolls. So I agreed and tried to promise myself not to over do it. Why did I make this promise, because at about 26 weeks of pregancy you have to take a Glucose test to make sure you haven't developed diabetes, which some pregnant women do.

I tried to focus on eating fruits and other healthy foods but you know the more you think "don't eat sweets" the more you want to eat sweets! And it's been something I'm definitely craving...candy, cupcakes, chocolate...you name it, I want it.

Needless to say, this week I had to go in to take the blood test and I got the call back yesterday that said I'm all good. No diabetes. Phew! Lets eat cake!

Making Room

One of my first thoughts when I found out I was having a baby was how will we make room for this little one? Of course there were thoughts of how could I provide for the baby and parent the baby, but being a practical thinker my mind jumped to physical space. Sadly, I must admit that it was with a heavy heart that I had to say we'll take out our home office to make it a nursery. I love our home office and use it all the time. We just decorated it a year ago, so it felt very new. But times change.

We figured a perfect time to turn our home upside down would be the holidays. Out with the old and in with the new! This would also give me more time to enjoy our little work space. As the weeks passed I started to think maybe we could push it out to March since I'm not due until April but out of nowhere as the holidays approached, I found myself buying the furniture online, picking out decor and paint colors. This was funny because I had just read that at your 6mo of pregnancy you feel the need to nest. I scoffed at that and yet, here I was driving to build our little nest.

As soon as the furniture arrived, paint was selected, bought and applied. We did it. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be (maybe you should ask my husband who did all he heavy lifting). I love the room for the baby and somehow having this physical space for it symbolizes so much more.