36 Weeks!

How far along: 36 weeks! 9 months!

Gender: Little GIRL!

Weight gain: About 26 lbs total.

Maternity clothes: Uh, yeah. 

Stretch marks: Nothing yet!

Belly button in or out: Still kinda sitting where it was last month, half in, half out. Hasn't popped completely out yet but I feel like it could happen any day. 

Wedding rings on or off: On, but should probably come off. My hands swell up a lot at night, to the point where it's almost painful to bend my fingers. I can still get them on and off though, when I shower or do dishes, so I haven't taken them off permanently yet. 

Sleep: Up just about every hour. The burning in my hips wakes me up all night long. 

Symptoms: Really bad heartburn, still. My ankles and feet have started swelling. Baby girl has started to drop so I've been feeling lots of pelvic pain. My moods have gone way downhill (ask Ken, haha) cause I'm just so uncomfortable all the time.  

Best moment this week: I finally got all of her laundry done and put away and her nursery is coming together! 

Miss anything: Lunchmeat. The first thing I want after I give birth is a Jimmy John's sandwich. Spicy food. 

Movement: She's crazy in there! I've read that by now, movement should start to slow since they run out of room; not my kid! She goes nuts in there, mostly at night and in the morning. She does this thing I call "starfishing" where it feels like she's shooting all four of her limbs out at once, because I feel her everywhere. She's still head down, so her feet are right in my ribs and it hurts. She also likes to punch my butthole from the inside. I swear that's what she's doing, and it's so uncomfortable. I don't mind any of it though, really. Her movements put my mind at ease and I know she's strong and healthy!

Cravings: Sweets, still. Lots of chocolate. And Hot Fries. I will down a whole bag of Hot Fries in one sitting, and regret it an hour later when I have killer heartburn. Confession: I'm eating Hot Fries right now, lol.

Looking forward to: Maternity pictures! I'm hoping to get them done soon, as I'm down to just a few weeks to go! And her being here! Physically, I'm so ready but mentally I'm not so sure. I just really want to hold her and see what she looks like!

I'm down to weekly appointments now, and the cervical checks have started. I got my first one this past Monday, and everything is still closed up tight. Zero centimeters dialated, but my cervix is thinning, so I suppose that's a start. I got my Strep B test this past Monday as well, which was super fun. I felt very violated after that doctor's appointment. 

Hopefully I'll have a 40 week update coming next month! Keep cooking baby girl!

32 Weeks!

How far along: 32 weeks! 

Gender: Little GIRL!

Weight gain: Still sitting at about 18 lbs.

Maternity clothes: Yup. And I barely fit into those anymore. 

Stretch marks: Nope! I've been lucky!

Belly button in or out: Know how I said I didn't think it was gonna pop out? Well, I'm eating my words. It's just about all the way out. And good thing I took out my belly rings, cause omg, the scars from them are sooooo stretched out. You can kinda see evidence of this in the above pictures.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on. No swelling!

Sleep: I haven't gotten a full night of sleep for a couple weeks. I'm awake just about every hour, either to pee or to switch positions. The hip pain will wake me up if my bladder doesn't and I have to flip over to the other side (which is a task in itself) until I wake up from the pain on that side and have to flip back over. 

Symptoms: Still really bad heartburn. I just keep a jumbo size bottle of Tums in my purse at all times. The hip pain and I'm getting really bad pain in my lower back (sciatica). 

Best moment this week: I started doing baby girl's laundry and got her crib bedding all washed and put in her crib! Ken and I also put together her swing and bouncer. Exciting! We also got 3D pics of her done on Saturday, so we actually got an idea of what she looks like!

I think she looks like me. ;)

Miss anything: Spicy food, sandwiches, an occasional beer. Whenever Ken has a beer, I'll take a teeny sip just to taste it and get sad cause I can't have any more. :( A full night of sleep, the ability to go longer than half an hour without peeing. 

Movement: She's crazy. We found out at the ultrasound that she is head down, so all the wedging under my ribs are her feet. She likes to SSTTRREETTCCCHHHH out and I feel her everywhere. Her kicks are starting to get painful. I've had two or three that I've had an audible reaction to. And she still has two months to go! I'm in trouble. 

Cravings: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. I made brownies at 9 pm the other night, haha. I'm eating one as I type this. 

Looking forward to: Getting her nursery put together! That will need to happen soon... I've got her crib put together and all the diapers from the shower all organized, and gotten some blankets washed, so it's coming along. :) 

We did our hospital tour last Monday, which made everything so real. The rooms at St. Rose are amazing! They're completely private and have pull out beds for dads and private bathrooms and are huuuggeeeeeee. They totally promote immediate skin to skin, so when baby comes out, she goes directly on your chest and stays there (unless you're against it and want her washed before the skin to skin) until she can regulate her body temperature. I really like that as I wanted to do that anyway. They are also super pro breastfeeding, so I'm hoping with their help, I'll be able to get the hang of it quickly. They made me feel really comfortable and I'm looking forward to giving birth there! 

I also had my baby shower, thanks to Nolen, Missy and my mom and it was AMAZING! I'll try to put together a separate post for that soon. :)

Gender Reveal Party

So I'm super late in posting this, as it happened MONTHS ago, but better late than never. We decided to not find out the gender of the baby and to have a party so we could find out with our families. We went for a scan and had the technician put the gender in a sealed envelope. We gave the envelope to my sister who gave it to a girl that worked at Party City and told her to put the appropriate color of confetti in a big black balloon. We took the balloon to Ken's grandparent's house, where our families we gathered and popped it to see what baby was! It was so much fun to include everyone in the special moment. None of us knew so it was a really fun surprise for everyone!

My sister, with her super creative skills, put everything together and made all the decorations. 

Old Wives Tale board. Pointed to boy!

Adorable onesie Nolen hand made! 

Everyone picked a side and wore either a pink or blue clothespin to show their pick. 

Ken and I were team boy, even though my gut told me it was a girl. 

Clearly, Anthony and Missy were team boy.

I don't know if Ken's grandpa was hoping for twins or just couldn't decide. 

We all had some yummy cupcakes and played a couple games. We had everyone put baby name suggestions in a jar and Nolen read them outloud.  

Soon, it was time to pop the balloon!

We got everyone in the living room and got ready!

Ken's face!! Haha, he wanted a boy so bad.

It's a GIRL!!

Everyone was very excited! 

Here's a short video of the balloon popping. I can't seem to get the full length one off my phone.

Everyone is super excited a baby girl is on the way! Ken wanted a boy, and was a little disappointed at first, but he got over it really fast and is so excited to have a daughter on the way. And I know she'll have him wrapped around her finger in no time at all. ;)