Week 28 - Measuring big & Kindergarten!

I had my 28 week appt the other day with the birthing center. Baby's heart sounded awesome and strong on the doppler. He was wiggling all over the place. She said "You're right, he is very active!" Right after she said that he kicked really hard right where she had the doppler, ha ha. She said we actually do not need to repeat the 24 hour urine test because I have no symptoms of pre-eclampsia. So that's good news, I'm not a fan of doing that test, ha ha. Total pain. I have an even harder time than normal going back to sleep at night after having to collect urine and put it in a container and then in chilled foam cooler, ha ha. We got my new blood sugar monitor calibrated and so far everything is looking good. I am on day 2 of 14. So glad I opted to not drink that nasty glucose drink! I had a hard time getting enough blood for a sample yesterday morning but my mom said to just run my fingers under warm water first, my hands were too cold. I also did some blood work at the birthing center to check for anemia. Can't believe I am already almost 30 weeks! She said I measured 3 cm bigger than my gestational age, ha ha. I was never measured with the twins because they said it was pointless and wouldn't be accurate, so it was interesting to be measured on Monday. My sister said she also measured big with her daughter. Some people in the family are wondering if my due date is a little off, which it could be since my cycles were so whacky after the miscarriage in November, but I'm guessing it is just because I don't have a large rib cage. My belly has nowhere to go but forward, ha ha. I guess we'll know if it was way off if he comes weeks earlier than planned, ha ha. That is one thing I miss about having an induction date, you're able to plan a little bit. But I am so grateful to be able to experience an all natural birth this time! 

Christian is over 15+ inches long and over 2.25 lbs. I have a feeling he is bigger than all the online articles and books say though. I can feel him moving all the way at the top of my torso now just below my breasts, so my uterus has definitely grown! I used to feel him mostly a couple of inches above my belly button, now it is everywhere! He bounced my cup of ice water up off of my belly the other night while Blake and I were watching Manifest, ha ha. So excited to meet this little guy! His brain triples in size this last trimester, so cool. I hope he is chubbing up in there! I have been craving bananas, grapes, and cream of rice cereal lately. And drinking tons and tons of water! I am trying hard to get all my protein daily and need to try to increase my veggie intake some more. I can't seem to do my usual steamed veggies lately, they bloat me up something terrible all of the sudden and it is so painful. Sticking to raw carrots and celery for now,  along with some canned veggies like green beans. 

The twins are getting more and more excited for baby to get here. We all are! They're also starting to get impatient, ha ha. They feel like Christmas time and his due date are a hundred years away. But I told them I promise he'll be here soon, only Halloween and Thanksgiving to go! I got the baby's/school room more cleaned out last week, so we can start bringing in the crib and stuff now 🥳 I hope this school/baby room combo goes well. I am so excited! The twins LOVED starting Kindergarten last week and are so excited for our new books and activities this year. They're also excited to learn to read. Can't believe my babies are big enough to be in Kindergarten! What happened?!? They're the cutest, sweetest, most hilarious, and fun kiddos around! We decided to take the twins to Build A Bear yesterday for our beginning of the year field trip. Claire picked an owl (the pink high heels she got to go on it KILL me!), and Camo picked Stitch. So very him, he loves those movies and crazy Stitch. They also got to pick an animal for Christian for a Christmas present. They picked a cute little brown bear. Cam chose a soccer ball wristlet for it and Claire an Easter egg wristlet. We just need to wrap it now ❤ The sweet girl working the animal fluff machine let the twins each pick a heart to put in the bear for the baby. Thought that was so sweet since it is their Christmas present to him. They were super adorable making their wishes and rubbing the hearts on the animals and whatnot. Claire would close her eyes so tight and cute, and Cam would say the funniest stuff. They also enjoyed riding some rides at the mall for the first time and using an escalator for the first time. Last night Claire told me, "I am SOO tired from such a fun day!" Made my day. Me too baby girl, me too. I slept good last night, lol. That's a first!!

Cuteness of the week: the twins are marveling at my growing belly, and I often crack them up when I bend over and try to reach things or fit places. The other day Claire said, "Mommy, when the baby comes out and your tummy goes down, will you be able to reach the lamp?!" 🥳 They have a cardboard play house from my Grandma that sits between the back slider and the sofa, and my lamp we use nightly was behind it. I could no longer fit between the slider and house to reach the lamp, so I had to move the house everytime and it just cracked her up. So, I finally moved the lamp 🤣

Have a great week everyone! Ps...auto correct on phones now a days drives me nuts and is so weird sometimes! Sorry for all the spelling and grammar errors in my blog posts, most not done by me but I just don't care to fix them all 🤣 I try to stay off my phone as much as possible since emfs/phone radiation does not agree with me at all. 

Week 27 - Open eyes & insomnia

I can't believe we are getting so close to 30 weeks!! I will be 28 weeks this weekend. Thanks to Cam for taking my belly pic today, they're getting pretty good at it, ha ha. As you can see, my baby bump is definitely growing! I have gained almost 30 lbs so far 😳 Maybe because I started off much thinner this pregnancy? Maybe because my morning sickness quit at 10 weeks and didn't last til 5.5 months like with the twins, so I have actually been able to eat? Who knows. But, I've been drinking lots of red raspberry leaf tea to tone my uterus and make labor easier, and also have still been drinking nettle tea and dandelion root tea. So I'm hoping that'll help with keeping the pregnancy bloat/water retention at bay somewhat. We are so super excited to welcome this little guy in December! Still can't believe this is happening. For both of our bodies to just suddenly start working properly after 14 years is insane, ha ha. And a total miracle!

At 27 weeks, the baby's eyes can now fully open and close. Even though their eye sight is poor, they still respond to and are sensitive to light. I wonder what color those pretty little peepers are gonna be?! He also weighs over 2.25 lbs now and is over 15 inches long! He has remained an active, crazy little man, who likes to have dance parties late at night and at 5 or 6am 🤣 He's just prepping me for all the sleep I'm going to not get once he's here I suppose, ha ha. We are still working on getting the baby stuff cleaned off and set up in his room. Having that nasty cold set is back a couple weeks. I'm excited to see it all come together!

As of tomorrow I'll officially be in the 3rd  trimester! I have been having major sleep issues,  pregnancy insomnia is real! I have been trying to not nap to see if that'd help, have been using magnesium lotion in my back, belly, feet and legs before bed, and using a safe homeopathic for sleeplessness. It has been helping but I still have some bad nights. Luckily, the twins are the BEST kiddos ever and let me snooze on the couch when I need to. I have an appt with the birthing center on Monday, I'll let you know how that goes. We need to calibrate my blood sugar monitor at their office, as well as do some blood work. I am so glad I'm not drinking that super gross, sugar filled glucola drink this time around! I also have a very fuzzy face now, ha ha. I got mama bear face fuzz with the twins too. It is kinda long, cracks me up 🤣😬

Cuteness of the week: Christian was kicking and flopping around pretty good yesterday morning while I was in bed, so Cam asked if he could put his stuffed Nemo on my belly. I said sure! Cam could barely breathe because he was laughing so hard. The baby was bopping and flopping Nemo all over the place. It looked like a fish outta water 🤣 He was so hysterical he fell back backwards onto the bed. When Blake got out of the shower I told him what happened. He was wondering what all the commotion was about, ha ha. Wish I could share the video clip but it is too large of a file. Plus, of course once I started videoing the baby calmed down a lot. Figures, ha ha. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Weeks 25 & 26 - A nasty cold

We all caught a nasty severe sinus infection and bronchitis last week, bleh! So, once again I am slacking on posting, ha ha. I caved and finally went to urgent care and was prescribed a prescription for the bronchitis. My poor belly was so sore from all the hacking. I absolutely hate to take stuff while pregnant, and antibiotics trash my gut (PRAYING HARD this doesn't re-ignite a severe yeast rash flare up!! 😬), but I was so miserable and sick and had to do something. Me and the kiddos are still sick but recovering, and Blake is back to work after missing a few days. Luckily he didn't catch the bronchitis, likely would have not been good news for his lungs since he is still recovering from severe pneumonia in May. We will all be super happy to be over this nasty bug and back to normal because the twins are very excited to start home school kindergarten! It has been one thing after another the last couple months so we haven't started yet, but that's ok! I'll post pictures when we start. This year is going to be awesome, The Good and The Beautiful kindergarten program is so adorable! I have a feeling the kids are gonna just love it and be super successful. 

Besides this nasty cold, I am so happy to say that seeing the chiropractor weekly and recently getting a pregnancy massage helped my lower back and severe tailbone pain a ton! After I am fully well from this bug I am going to resume my appointments. I am shocked at what a difference weekly, and sometimes 2xs weekly, adjustments have made for me. I have been able to sleep some better because I am not in pain 24/7, can also play with the kids more, and do more house chores. This little guy will be here in 3 months and I've got lottts to do, so I am thrilled that my back has improved. We still need to clean off the crib and changing table so we can bring them in the house and assemble them in the baby's room. They're a tad dusty from being in storage. Ok, extremely dusty, because of our crazy AZ dust storms/haboobs. Yes, that's a real thing and word. They're nuts! 

Baby boy is growing well and getting more and more active. He continues to keep me awake at night sometimes and wakes me up early in the morning now too, ha ha. The kids have loved to feel him punch and kick, and Daddy finally felt him good too. I may have already mentioned that though. The baby is gaining approx 1/2 per week now, his nervous system is becoming more advanced, has a cute little head of probably brown colored hair, and I believe he has started to get the hiccups, ha ha. He weighs over 2 pounds now, is over 14 inches long from head to toe, and looks just as he will at birth (facial feature wise) minus the major clubbing up he still has to do over the next 3 months. We are all so very excited for him to arrive and we look forward to this Christmas being the most exciting one yet!

I signed up for Hypnobabies! I am so excited to start this online course and look forward to the benefits it is going to provide me during my all-natural and unmedicated birth! I'll post more on Hypnobabies later. Hoping all continues to goes well so that a natural birth at the birthing center is possible. I see the Birthing Center in a couple weeks for my 28 week appt. We will be doing some blood work then, and will also be calibrating my blood sugar monitor that I got. I have elected to not drink those absolutely disgusting and unhealthy glucose drinks this time around and opted for monitoring my blood sugar for 2 weeks instead. Realllly wish my obgyn would have stated this was a possibility with the twins! I feel like those drinks are going to cause diabetes themselves. Gag. I also haven't eaten sugar for 2 years now, so my midwife didn't want to shock my system or make me ill with the glucose drink or  jelly bean options. So, I'll let you know how that goes! 

Last night the twins were asking me what color was the baby's favorite because Claire was Ted to draw him a picture. I replied that I had no idea and we'd have to wait and see once he was here and old enough to show or tell us. Cameron didn't think that answer was good enough so he walks over to my belly and yells, "Christian, what's your favorite color?!?" It was so funny and adorable. I thought it was cute that he thought he would actually get an answer, he he. Cam is quite the character and probably by biggest belly fan. They both constantly rub it and lovingly talk to the baby, but this morning Cam asked if he could take a picture with my "big soft bare belly" because he "loves the sweet little baby so much!" 😭🥰 I thought these pictures were so sweet ❤ He has always been such a loving and affectionate little guy. 

Have a great week and weekend everyone, hope you enjoyed your Labor Day!