Bumpdate - 27 Weeks

Well, it's Wednesday again.

Time to bumpdate.

The good news is that my cold FINALLY went away.  It stuck around for a solid week and a half.  That's 10 full days of phlegm and hacking.  FUN.  But thank god we're past that now and let's hope I'm not destined for 1 cold per trimester...I don't want to have to survive one more.

So, just like with the discrepancy about when the 2nd trimester starts there is the same discrepancy about when the 3rd trimester starts.

I SAY IT STARTS NOW.

But some books say it's not until next week.

Screw it, I'm going with the school of thought that says it's this week.

So, Yay, 3rd Trimester people!

How Far Along: 27 Weeks

Weight Gain: Up another pound FINALLY after stalling out for a full month, +16 total.  Wasn't the majority of the weight gain supposed to be in trimester 2?  I suppose I gained 10 lbs in the 2nd trimester which was twice as much as the first...I honestly thought I would gain more.

Maternity Clothes: I brought this one back into the mix because I just have to mention that maternity clothes, specifically dresses still do not fit me.  There is too much room in the bump area and my bump just doesn't fill it out.  By the time my bump is big enough for maternity dresses I will be ready to give birth.  This makes me sad because dresses are the most comfortable thing ever while you're pregnant but only a very specific type of non-maternity dress can be worn during pregnancy.  I'm down to like 5 in my rotation and ALWAYS looking for new ones, but having a lot of trouble.  I keep trying, keep buying maternity dresses, cheap, expensive, everything, looking for something and I have exactly 2 that I can wear and even they are a bit too big in the bump.  So, to maternity dress makers, MAKE SOME CLOTHES FOR SMALLER BUMPS PLEASE!  That being said I love maternity tank tops and wear them whenever I don't have a dress on.

What's Up With My Body:  Let's bullet point today shall we?

• Braxton Hicks contractions are evil and Mr. Braxton Hicks is the devil.  I hate these things with every fiber of my being.  They cause me so much stress that I don't know how I'm going to survive the next 13 weeks.  Here's the thing, I start to get them A LOT if I'm tired, if I'm dehydrated, if I'm on my feet too long and apparently for a million other reasons.  Midwives say don't worry about them unless you have more than 4 an hour or if they're painful and I SWEAR I'm having 4 an hour but when I sit down to count them, guess what happens?  Oh yes, they slow down, I've never counted more than 3.  And they don't hurt but holy hell it's uncomfortable when they're almost constant.  It's like walking around with your tummy constantly flexed.  And in a state of SHEER TERROR that this is the beginning of labor

If you couldn't guess my husband is out of town again, I seem to only stress about preterm labor when he's gone.  This is his last trip for the duration of the pregnancy THANK GOD and you just know I'll never have a day of Braxton Hicks again.

• I've started having crazy dreams again.  I had a bunch in the beginning and then they seemed to go away during the 2nd trimester but now as we hit the 3rd they seem to be returning.  I keep having anxiety dreams, birth dreams, and the latest and greatest SPIRIT SMOKE BABY DREAMS.  Are you guys watching the new season of Game of Thrones?  If you are then you know the crazy red haired lady who gives birth to the smoke monster?  Well, I birthed something similar to that, except it was blue and it was a baby, not a full grown man, AND IT WASN'T EVIL.  But I birthed a spirit smoke baby and had to push it back in because the baby wasn't ready to be born yet...and you know...it was a smoke baby but after I pushed it back in I started having all these cramps, I woke up to discover I HAD TO PEE, oh yes, pushing my spirit baby back in was just my body's way of saying WAKE UP AND PEE.

• My stomach muscles are totally weird.  I have a post for you tomorrow all about the diastasis recti complete with PICTURES!

• Normal symptoms have all but disappeared, I had one afternoon of heartburn and one day of constipation...no swelling, no headaches, no back pain...still doing good physically, waiting for it all to go to shit.

Emotions: I'm ready to be done with this pregnancy.  Not because I hate being pregnant, I don't mind it at all and I kind of love the bump.  But the stress of worrying constantly is taking it's toll, and I'm ready to be done.  I hate that I can't let go and quit worrying as I'm not a worrier by nature but the miscarriage took it's toll and I'm always waiting for the next thing to go wrong.  I'm tired.  Very very tired of worrying.

Movement: Baby seems to enjoy spicy food and baths/showers.  If I eat anything spicy I get a lot of somersaults and kicks and when I sit in the bath baby has her own little dance party in there.  We like baths.

Bumpdate: I figured out where and how baby is growing.  Baby is growing up and sideways, not so much out.  I can feel baby kicks just an inch or so below my boobs, though not in my ribs or lungs yet and i can feel baby WAY out to the sides, like so far out there I had no idea my uterus could even BE out there.  You guys know the old wives tale about girls growing wide and boys growing out right?  Well, if that's true this is a girl.  And honestly...I officially think this is a girl.

Rockin more non-maternity wear.  This is J. Crew.

Bumpdate - 19 weeks

Thank you all for your comments yesterday.  I was amazed and pleasantly surprised at how many of you felt the same way and I'm so glad I didn't keep my mouth shut!

Now, on to the bumpdate, 19 weeks already!!!!

How far along: 19 weeks, 1 more week and we're halfway!!!

Weight Gain:  Another pound, up 9 lbs total.

Maternity Clothes:  This is probably the last time I will write about maternity clothes, cause here's the deal...I'm dabbling, and I think that's as far as I'm gonna go for awhile.  My wardrobe is some maternity and some regular and I think it will stay a mix of the two until I'm like HUGE.

Food Cravings:  The milk craving continues.  I'm slightly grossed out each and every time I pour a glass of milk, but it just hits the spot so nicely and I assume this is because baby needs it so I'm just going with it, I'll worry about cutting out dairy again AFTER baby is born.

Movement: Baby kicks!!!!  First official baby kick was 18w3d and I feel them every day now after I eat breakfast when I'm sitting quietly at my computer.  It's WEIRD and that's all I have to say about it.

What's Up with My Body: I think I popped?  I woke up one day and suddenly THE PRESSURE HAD LIFTED and I was SO much more comfortable.  As I was changing my shirt that morning my husband looks at me with no shirt on and goes "Whoa, you look really pregnant."  Amusingly and INAPPROPRIATELY he decided the sex from the night before after a long hiatus had helped lift the uterus.  He is literally taking credit for making me more comfortable...with sex.  I can only imagine if we have to get labor going via sex, birthing the baby will be nothing compared to DOM getting labor started!

Other than the pure and utter relief I feel on the lower half of my abdomen the symptoms have been pretty nonexistent this week.  I've started napping again but I assume this is because baby is growing!

Sleep: When the bump popped, sleeping changed.  So far I've been sleeping really well, other than the peeing 2-3 times a night but no matter how many times I get up to pee I am still able to easily fall back asleep.

But now the bump sticks out just enough for me to be uncomfortable and want/need some support for it.  I think it's time for a pregnancy pillow.  Also, you know how everyone gets told to not sleep on their back or their stomach at this point in pregnancy, well I haven't adhered or worried about this at all because I believe my body will tell me when it's no longer a good idea.  Luckily I'm a side sleeper anyway, but sometimes I like to be half on my stomach...kind of like this picture but with my hips a little flatter against the mattress with a pillow under the knee:

source

But sure enough, one night I started dreaming that I was a firefighter, snaking a hose through this building and I kept bumping my belly into things and it kind of hurt.  I woke up and wouldn't you know it, same hurt in my belly because I was ON my belly, I had apparently flipped over a little too far onto my stomach.  So, from that moment on I've had to prop up the belly a bit so I don't roll all the way over onto it because it's super uncomfortable.  As to my back, I still sleep on my back sometimes with no problems.
It's rare anyway, so if I wake up and I find I'm on my back...oh well.  This falls under the same rules as a bunch of these that I refuse to follow.  I'm pretty sure 100 years ago (maybe even 50?) they didn't tell pregnant ladies they could only sleep in one position and since the population continued to boom regardless of what they told/tell pregnant women they can and cannot do I'm just gonna assume my body knows best and continue to not worry about my sleeping position.

Gender:  I'm stuck on girl, but if I talk about the baby I say 'he'...confused much?

Best Moment of the Week: This was a huge week for me.  Bump popped, baby moved AND I had my first random person acknowledge that I was pregnant and not just fat.  At the beginning of Italiano yesterday the teacher comes in and we all have to share our names and when she got to me she asked my name and then asked WHEN'S THE BABY DUE?  So, finally at 18w6d I looked pregnant enough for someone to make a comment.  AWESOME.

Bumpdate:

And one more photo for good measure... of me in a regular non maternity dress:

For Posterity Sake

I have to write down the dream I had last night.

I promise my 13 week Bumpdate is coming tomorrow, the hubs is out of town and I CANNOT take a picture of myself to save my life.

So, the dream.  I hadn't had a pregnancy dream in awhile, so before I went to bed I thought to myself, I hope I have another pregnancy dream otherwise I'm calling my midwives so we can try to find the heartbeat on the Doppler again.  The lack of pregnant dreams after the baby died in my first pregnancy still haunts me and I still see it as a sign of miscarriage.

But sure enough, I had a pregnancy dream.

But not just a pregnancy dream, a BIRTH dream.

Here's what went down.

I went into labor at like 7:30pm in the middle of a snow/ice storm.  Clearly we weren't in San Francisco and clearly this wasn't August but nevertheless, giving birth in a snow storm in a tiny apt.

Must have been NYC.

So, it's 7:30 then suddenly it's 12:30am, the midwives haven't shown up because of the storm and I'm already crowning and the baby is about to arrive (with no pain mind you).

Then I feel the burning of crowning, the "ring of fire" and out pops a chubby little dark haired baby into Dom's arms.

AND IT WAS A GIRL.

I've been convinced this whole pregnancy that I'm having a boy, so I kept saying, no we were having a boy! over and over, but then my mom appeared and put her in a girl outfit and so OBVIOUSLY it wasn't a boy.

Since my midwives hadn't shown up and the last bit where I pushed her out had been painful I kept asking Dom to check me and see if I had torn and needed stitches, he refused!  Said he wasn't comfortable looking at me down there in that sort of way, even though he'd just watched me push a baby out. And I was like, OH OK I totally understand but kept worrying about needing stitches.

It was a pleasant dream, the birth was peaceful, but WEIRD.

And btw, our baby girl had dark eyes to go with her dark hair.  I'm pretty sure this is actually NOT possible.  I have green eyes, Dom has blue/gray eyes and there is nary a brown eyed blood relative on either side of our families for at least a generation or two, possibly much farther back.

We're at 13 weeks, anyone else having birth dreams already???