Pregnancy Update: 32 Weeks

I'm officially eight weeks away from my due date. Eight weeks sounds SO long to me. But in days, I only have 51 more to go and that sounds really close. So for my sanity, we're counting down in days now.

32 Weeks

Usually I'm loving this part of the pregnancy, but this third one is a ringer. Everything hurts and I feel like I can never breathe. Sleeping is hard to come by, which was never a problem in past pregnancies, I battle continuous sinus headaches, and I have constant heartburn that is now also bringing back the nausea. If heartburn means your baby will have lots of hair, I'm going to give birth to a monkey.

I tried to take a prenatal vitamin a couple days ago and it made me so sick, I've sworn them off permanently. Seriously so sick that I drove to my moms so she could possibly watch the kids while I went back to the doctors, even though I was there earlier that day. It was TERRIBLE. Luckily, the distraction of driving and talking to my mom helped calm things down and I didn't have to go in.

I am loving the rolling and kicking of this baby. He's still as active as ever and really responds to touch. If I press on my belly I can usually always expect a kick in return. If I lay on my side, he always is kicking the side of my belly that is resting on the bed. When I fold my arms on top of my belly at church he likes to give me a good jolt, like "get off me mom!" Even the doctor laughed because when she was finding his heartbeat, he gave the wand a good kick. Those small things make all the pains worth it.

At my last appointment I had gained four pounds this last month, and I'm measuring 31cm, which is a week behind. But, of course, the doctors just chalk it up to my being tall and say I could be hiding a huge baby. Who knows these days. I'm always flipping between worrying my baby is too small and not getting enough nutrition, or worrying he'll be huge.

I've been organizing and re-organizing the baby's room and the rest of the house, but I still have some more to do and what I have done still doesn't feel quite right or very clean. I'm going to spend the month of November really getting down to the nitty-gritty.

Remember that crib fiasco with the missing screws? Well amazingly, the company that runs the app that I bought the crib off of sent me a message saying I never should have had to deal with such a debacle, and had someone bring me a gift for my troubles.

I was so surprised, and pleased. It wasn't Varage Sale's fault and yet they somehow noticed the issue without my saying anything, and made up for what happened! It was the sweetest thing! And now I have a cute little pot full of baby supplies. Amazing.

After seeing how the kids interacted with my friend's newborns (twins), I was a little worried. Ammon was pretty rough with their heads. So we had a family home evening about all the changes coming and also had the kids practice holding babies.

Ammon wasn't quite sure what "support the head" meant at first. But with some help, he caught on.

Of course, practicing with plastic babies is quite different than the real thing, and I'm not sure how much they actually got out of the lesson, or will retain, but it was adorable. And I think they understood a little bit better some of the changes that will be happening.

As for the changes happening already - I've still been attending exercise class, but I don't know how much longer I'll last considering Zumba just kills my pelvic ligaments so it's hard to do any of the moves, and the Boot Camp class leaves me worn out and sick for the next two days. I REALLY don't want to give up the boot camp class because I love it so much, so I'm supposed to modify even more than I already do, but I find it hard to remember that when I get in the groove and the familiar "push through the pain" drive comes back. But if I can't slow down I won't be able to go at all. My doctor says my blood pressure is probably dropping too low from my heart rate going to high which is why I've been getting sick afterwards. What a drag. My mom says I need a reality check and to accept that I'm pregnant.

I just hate that jello-leg feeling that I always get at the end and I notice that exercising helps keep it at bay. When I go too long without working out, it creeps in real fast.

However, safety for the baby comes first, and if I can't modify enough these next couple of weeks I'll just have to stick to yoga, walking, and lighter cardio workouts at home. Considering how sick I am of all my videos already, I think I'll just turn into a couch potato.

Tappana Times: Curly Fries and Goodbyes

September was busy with summer ending and school starting. Before school started, the ward had a final father/daughter camp out. So while Brigham and Lydia went to the wild, Ammon and I partied it up at Arby's.

Ammon was unsure of Arbys - what with no play place and all - but the curly fries won him over and he constantly tells me how much he likes curly fries and wants to go back to Arby's on a date again.

We said our final goodbye to Uncle Kenny when we took him to the airport for his mission.

My heart broke watching him walk off alone to security. So young and so far away. But he's doing great!

We made it to the second to last Maple Valley Farmer's Market at the elementary school, walking together. As I was catching up to my family, my heart filled with joy at these three. They are my world.

At the market we were admiring the flowers, and the sweet little man who ran the booth came around and gave Lydia a bouquet for free! It made her day, my day, and the nice man said it made his day as well to see her smile. We didn't buy anything, but perusing the booths, free flowers, playing on the playground, and walking together made it a pretty satisfying time.

We said goodbye to Kenny, the farmer's market, and our TV.

All of our electronics seem to be hitting the dust, and for awhile we could get the top half of the picture to come back by hitting the side of the tv. But, it finally had enough beatings and we could no longer get the full screen to appear. My kids were still desperate enough for their tv time that they would watch the tv like this anyway.

We ended up getting a small, older tv that someone was giving away to replace this one. It's definitely not quality, but it works just fine for us for now and the price was right.

Now to replace Brigham's cellphone.


With school starting, Lydia had her yearly picture taken and we recently just got them back.

Yep, she's my little shining star. Love this girl!

28 Weeks...(a couple weeks ago)

I've been meaning to update this when I was actually 28 weeks, but since I'm actually 30 weeks in a couple days, I'm running behind. Time is just getting away from me...which is ironic because I swear this pregnancy is taking FOREVER.

Here I am at 28 weeks. Don't let camera angles deceive you. While I don't have a huge belly, those maternity pants I have on are so tight that I joke that I don't need compression sleeves to prevent varicose veins. That storing up fat on your hips, butt, and thighs is no joke for me while pregnant. I grow at the same rate in back, as I do in front.

It really gets to me at times, and I feel like complaining constantly because I'm so frustrated, especially because I've been working out really hard and trying to stay fit, healthy, and active.

As for actual weight gain, my doctor says I've gained 20 lbs (I'm pretty sure it's actually 25) and that shes's not concerned...she just doesn't know how I pack it on at the end. I wanted to stick between 25 and 30 lbs weight gain, but I can tell you now if I've already gained 20, that's not going to happen. I told my doctor that I was irritated about it all and she thought my concern was "cute" and just said that since I'm tall I have leeway for extra poundage and that she's not irritated at all, otherwise she'd let me know. Then she bugged me about getting a flu shot.

I've been trying to remind myself what a miracle my body is doing, how my hormones are kicking in to help make a baby, and that it doesn't really matter what size I am and to stop comparing myself to those moms that just get a basketball under their shirts that magically disappears after nine months. I swore I wouldn't complain about weight gain this pregnancy, that I would just be happy that I am pregnant, but I've been letting vanity and sheer frustration get me down. Not to mention worry about what each pound means I have to do AFTER I give birth. It's torture losing that baby weight.

I know that's a lot of complaining, and really it's not so bad, I''m not blimping up like a balloon or anything, I just am not meeting my somewhat unrealistic expectations. I'm more at a place of acceptance and excitement for this little boy, I just wanted to document some of these frustrations that I have because when I go back and read about my past pregnancies, I find myself wishing I had wrote more about feelings like this so I can compare, remember, and see where I'm at.

Other updates:

Heartburn: It's out of control. I try to make myself remember to only eat small amounts, otherwise I'm SO uncomfortable, but now that I can eat most things that's hard to do. Especially since I'm hungry all the time. I know diet is the weak link with my 20 lbs too. I need to eat more often, and smaller meals. As the day goes on, my heartburn goes up with lovely bloating and gas. Blech.

This baby is SO low! I swear I just want to take a stick and poke this kid up higher. When he kicks, it literally feels like he's kicking me in the butt. Move up kid!

Lydia and Ammon act a little more excited, I think because we often talk about having a brother, so they have come to accept what is coming. However, while on Ammon's preschool field trip, a baby girl was crying and Ammon stared at her in horror with an expression that could only say, "What is wrong with her?!" Boy he has no idea what's coming. I actually find it hilarious. I'm excited for them to learn and grow by adding another person to our family.

Nesting has been in force for awhile. We went to set up our old crib, but Ammon destroyed it beyond repair and now it's only good for firewood. So we bought a crib off of VarageSale (basically on online community garage sale site) and that was a hassle. Without realizing it, they didn't give us all the screws to put the crib together, and without instructions it was like putting together a puzzle that you don't know what the final picture looks like, while also missing pieces. One frustrating night! Once I finally figured it out, we were able to match screws at the hardware store to finally complete the crib. I was NOT happy with the people that sold it to us. I thought they should give us some money back, or at least the cost of the screws we had to buy, but I guess that's the risk you take when you buy something used.

We pulled in all the other baby stuff from the garage, and now we have so much space out there!...and no room in the house anymore. I forgot how much crap you need for a baby and how much room they take. We've been busy cleaning, de-junking, and organizing to make room for baby stuff.

That's about it for the updates, besides also passing the glucose/anemic tests. They said no news is good news and I haven't heard anything since the blood draw so I'm assuming I'm good. Ten weeks left to go!