10 More Weeks

Well, we had our last appointment with our California doctor last week and I must say that it was a great appointment!

First off, I do not have gestational diabetes!!  This also means that I passed the one-hour glucose test, so I don't have to take the three-hour test!  Holla!  I was very, very happy with this news.  

Baby girl's heart beat was in the 150's.  Very good.

Since the doc has not measured my belly once during this pregnancy, I have been a little concerned on how this baby is growing.  The doc finally measured my belly and baby girl is growing right on track, 30 cm=30 weeks! Woo hoo!  (Still haven't gained a pound!  Whoop whoop!)

My blood pressure is good, but my heart rate has been a little faster here lately.  An increased heart beat is a pregnancy symptom, so I wasn't too nervous about this but the doctor still checked it out.  My heart rate was a bit increased, in the 80's, but the doc didn't seem too concerned by this.

I've had a bit of pelvic pressure this past month.  The doc told me just to keep an eye on it and make sure I'm drinking plenty of water.  This goes for our cross-country road trip.  Can you imagine how a very pregnant lady staying super hydrated is going to go with a five-day road trip?!!?  This should be wonderful.  

Yes, I am Pregnant.

 

29 weeks!!  Holla!!  :)

I ran into someone that I haven't seen since December today.  I had to tell her that I was pregnant and due in about 2.5 months.  She was shocked.  Talk about a confidence killer.  And please, do not tell me how awesome it is that I don't even look pregnant.  I am bigger.  My clothes don't fit.  So, when someone is shocked that I am actually pregnant because I don't look it, well, that just makes me feel fat.  I'm only pregnant a couple of more months and I should only get bigger, so I'm trying to not let it get to me.  But mad kudos to me for not gaining any weight, so far.  I am the bomb!  :)  

Third Tri

Baby girl had her first hiccups last week!  Joey had these all of the time while he was in the womb, and I didn't think baby girl was going to have them since I hadn't felt them yet.  However, I felt the little "tap, tap, tap, tap, taps" a few days ago!  

Not sure if I had shown this yet, but Bristol received her first tutu a  few months ago from our dear friend, Jackie!  I squealed with delight when I opened this package!  So pink.  So frilly.  So girly.  So not boy! 

I took my one-hour glucose test for gestational diabetes Friday.  I forgot how nasty that drink is!  Yuck!  I'm really hoping that I pass so A) I don't have gestational diabetes and B) I don't have to drink that drink again!  Hopefully, I get the results sometime this week.  I have my last appointment with my Cali doctor next week, so if I do have to take the three-hour test, I would like to take it before my check-up appointment so I can have the results.  Our trip to North Carolina is in just a couple of weeks, so I'm trying to get everything in order!

We are 28 and a half weeks today!  Welcome to the third trimester, baby!  And let me tell you, this trimester has come in with a bang!  I am so exhausted!  The 4-6 hours I might have been getting during the first two trimesters are doing nothing for me now!  I'm trying to take naps when Joey naps because I know when baby girl gets here, those mama naps will be non-existent.  I'm also getting a little hungrier, but then I take a couple of bites of food, and I'm stuffed!  (Now, if I can just keep that eating pattern after I have baby, I may just lose some of this weight I put on after I had Joey.)

I also already feel like I'm nesting.  Since we will be in North Carolina for the last few weeks of this pregnancy and birth, I'm in overdrive trying to get everything in order and cleaned and ready for our return.  When I return to my house here, I will have a toddler and a newborn, so I want to have things as easy as can be when I get back.  Hopefully, Michael will be returning to us not long after our return to Cali, so I want the house to look good for him, as well.  Luckily, I have a couple of more weeks, so I've been doing a little each day so it's not too overwhelming or I don't overdo it.  Just enough pressure to get my procrastinating self moving, but not enough pressure to stress me out!  :)

26 Weeks

Things are going well with baby girl!  I assume she's growing on schedule...the doc is not measuring my belly, so I guess baby's growing like she should be.  

She's moving around a lot!  I even saw my belly move the other day when she kicked/punched! 

She has moved from my sciatic nerve, thank God! 

 My heartburn has kicked it up a notch or ten!  I have heartburn almost every single night.  I have started to drink pickle juice to cure this.  I know, I know, to some of you, that sounds absolutely disgusting! I love pickles and the juice, so it doesn't bother me one bit.  My parents saw this thing on some doctor show about drinking a little bit of pickle juice to alleviate heartburn.  I forgot why this is supposed to work, but it has! 

I'm getting up 2-3 times a night to pee.  I've gotten a few leg cramps.  I'm having lots of vivid dreams and nightmares.  

I still have not gained any weight, but I'm expecting that to change here in the near future since my appetite is starting to increase!  However, I am still having to tell people that I am pregnant because they can't tell by looking at me.  

I have been having a few days of pelvic pressure, which I don't remember having with Joey.   I also think that baby girl is moving up towards my ribs because it is getting a little harder to breath.  I hope baby girl is not born with a third eye because I've had a few deli meat sandwiches. 

Belly Photo, Week 26!  Please do not tell me that the pointy part of my belly is Bristol.  It is not.  It is my muffin top that I have always had.  When I was not pregnant.  When I was at my heaviest.  When I was at my skinniest.  I've just always had that belly awning.  Bristol is just pushing that awning out further than it normally is, which is pretty annoying since no one knows I'm prego, meaning that they think that fat muffin is normally that large and in charge. This physical characteristic is what makes me not want to wear maternity shirts because maternity shirts are somewhat designed to show off the cute baby belly.  However, if you have a fat muffin hiding your baby belly, then those maternity shirts are just a big obnoxious sign to others that you have a fat muffin.

Oh, and you may have noticed I chopped all of my hair off.  I've been wanting to do this for years, but never had the guts.  However, Joey likes to pull my hair when he is mad and it would drive me bonkers!  Plus, I am hot here in So Cal, what the heck am I going to do in hot, humid NC while 9/10 months pregnant?!?!  I figured this was the time to chop it all off, especially since I'm taking prenatal vitamins.  My hair will grow like a weed! 

23 Weeks

We had baby girl's checkup last week.  She's doing well and growing!   

I'm feeling good.  Just tired because I don't sleep well now.  Baby has been lying on my Sciatic nerve so that has caused a lot of issues.  As my mom put it, baby girl is already a pain in the butt!  Ha ha!  Fortunately, for me, baby has moved a little because my butt/lower back does not hurt nearly as much as it was.  Only when I move certain ways.  I also got my first pregnancy leg cramp last night.  :(   And the heartburn is around daily now. 

I also have not gained or lost any weight this month!  Holla!  I'm just not as hungry this time around, which helps since I'm not supposed to gain a pound.  I think it also helps not having Michael here.  Michael is awesome at bringing me comfort food or joining me in my bad indulgences!  When your toddler goes to bed around 630, and you're craving ice cream at 8, oh freaking well!  You can't go get it because you can't leave the kid and you're certainly not going to wake him so you can have some frozen deliciousness!  I also don't prepare big meals much while Michael's gone.  When it's just you and a toddler eating, ease and convenience definitely win out most nights.  I feed Joey his food, and I may eat a sandwich or some soup.  I hate preparing a real meal and Joey won't touch it.  So frustrating!  Plus, I can never get through all of the leftovers before they go bad or I'm sick of them!

Oh, have I told you that we picked out a name for baby girl?  Bristol Healy.  Yes, they are both Alaskan places.  No, baby girl will not be born there.  No, we did not name her after Sarah Palin's daughter.  Yes, we really like the name Bristol.  No, she is not named after the NASCAR race track.  :) 

Butt and Belly

So, a common question that is asked of pregnant women is "how are you feeling?"  Obviously, the answer to this changes on a daily, or even hourly basis!  Most of the time, I feel pretty good, just tired.  I had some back issues last summer that eased up once I was told by the doc to stop exercising for a month.  However, that pain is back.  This time it is mainly in my right butt cheek and sometimes runs up into my lower back.  It mainly hurts when I sit Indian-style on the ground and then try to get up.  You're probably wondering why I even sit on the ground like that!  I now have to change Joey's diaper on the floor due to him thinking that he is either in the circus or the WWE wrestling circuit!   I don't think things are going to change with my independent toddler, so hopefully, the pain does not get any worse.  :/

Baby girl is also moving around lots!  Not painful moving, just letting me know she's there.  I still don't have a baby belly and I have to tell everyone that I am actually pregnant.  This seems to first surprise them as they look down at my belly and they usually then state that I only must be a few weeks pregnant.  When I tell them I am 5 1/2 months pregnant, they all do a triple take at my belly and stammer out "you don't look it at all!".  You'd think this comment would be a compliment, but it's not.  I know that my belly has started to push out...well, the baby belly has pushed out my fat rolls even more.  My clothes know that I've gotten a little rounder, but all of these people I meet think this is just how I look.  How the hell is that supposed to make me feel?  Whatever.  I'm in Southern California where everyone looks like Barbie and her friends.  That is just not my body type, no matter how much weight I lose.  So, to all of these people that make the comment "you don't look like you're 5 months pregnant", I just smile and go along my way even though in my mind I'm thinking about how much I would like to punch them in the throat.  

21 weeks, 5 days!

I See You

So, we got a call from my doctor that I needed to go back in for another ultrasound due to crappy pictures taken at the first ultrasound (I could have told you that!).  The doc stated that there was nothing to worry about, they just needed better pictures to verify everything is good with baby girl.  

I went in this last Friday for the super long ultrasound.  I was actually on the table, getting an ultrasound for an hour and a half!  They actually spent a good 45 minutes checking out baby's heart.  This kind of worried me because they were really focusing on her heart.  However, everything checked out perfectly by the ultrasound tech and perinatologist.  Michael thinks that they really got a good look at the heart due to me having a small hole in my heart.  They may have been checking to see if baby inherited this little issue, too.  Whatever the reason, we're all good!  :)

Oh, baby's heart rate was 145 bpm (good!) and she weighs 14 ounces (very good!).  I got home and looked in my "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book and it said that babies at 21 weeks weigh about 11 ounces.  You get it, girl!  

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure...

 Here's my knee and that little dot in the middle is my hand!

 Her head at one end and a leg at the other!

Her face!

Baby's spine

 Some legs!

 She's already practicing her kicks in there.

 Close up of her whole body.

Zoomed out of baby's body.