28 weeks, 3 days…

Her kicks are getting more and more powerful it seems. Sometimes they’re normal, but sometimes it’s like she winds her arm up and then punches me really hard. It startles me more than anything, doesn’t really hurt – yet. For almost two weeks now I’ve been feeling like she’s got something under my right rib. I can’t sit normal; it feels like something is lodged in there. I’m assuming it’s her and not a broken bone since I don’t recall injuring myself ha, ha. She’s the most active usually after I eat, or when I’m at rest for long periods of time. Though sometimes she just doesn’t move at all. It’s pretty sporadic and it kind of worries me at times, because I thought after 28 weeks they were supposed to be moving every 10 minutes or so. Maybe her big legs have taken up a lot of space and she’s not able to do as many acrobatics as she’s supposed to be from now until the 34th week. It wouldn’t surprise me!

My tummy’s getting bigger and bigger. The most annoying thing this entire pregnancy? People (strangers, co-workers, family, etc) that tell me every single day: “You’re having a girl? Really, because you’re carrying it like a boy.” Seriously? This is an OLD WIVES’ TALE and has no medical credibility at all! Everyone says I look like I have a basketball or a bowling ball in my front and I don’t look pregnant from the back. Great compliment, I’ll take it, however I don’t want to hear anymore about how I’m carrying it! Someone said to me last week “your stomach is getting higher, it definitely looks more like a girl now.” WHAT?! I have no idea what that means! The comedy in this is just amazing. Yeah so I haven’t been a perfect angel when it comes to eating 100% healthy, but I do know that I’m doing a decent job at it. Maybe I’m carrying it all in my stomach because I haven’t gained as much anywhere else (well my legs, but that’s not noticeable to people). Or maybe I’m carrying it there because that’s how my mom carried me and genetics plays a role. Maybe I’m just carrying it there because of my body type too. There’s a 100 different reasons and none of them have to do with gender. Sorry for the vent, the lady at the gas station on the way to Pismo put me right over the edge with this nonsense!

My shower is in less than a month! Now we’re in a scramble to get the nursery done because I want my friends and family to see if when they’re here for the shower. If all goes as planned then this Thursday Salvation Army will pick up our donations to clear out the room. Then that night we’ll tape everything off and get it prepped for painting. Friday morning we’ll start with the lighter pink and also get the chair rail painted separately. Then we’ll move onto the chocolate brown. By Saturday we’ll have just some stripes left and the chair rail to hang. Hopefully Jeff and Chip will have some time to put the crib together as well. After that’s done, Jeff and I can spend the next couple of weekends putting the finishing touches on before Jenny arrives. I ordered the glider last week and it should arrive today. I’m assuming the dresser/changer will be coming in any day now too. We picked up the toy chest from my parents over the weekend. All we need is a book case, but we don’t need that for the shower. We probably won’t have time to go to Ikea until August unless we go the weekend of the 11th. When I think of things in terms of weekends it just makes the time fly by so fast. 2.5 months and she’ll be here. Our lives are going to change forever. It seems so final and so scary yet so incredibly exciting.

Eating is becoming more and more difficult. When I feel full, I feel miserable. But I love the taste of food so much, sometimes it’s hard to stop. And when I don’t stop and get beyond the point of no return I feel absolutely miserable! I feel like my food has nowhere to go, so it’s sitting in my chest and my throat. And sometimes after I eat the top of my tummy gets really really hard and feels like I’ve done some crunches. Not sure if those are BH contractions or my food trying to make its way down.

My fingers and feet are swelling on a normal basis now. I can’t wear my engagement ring anymore around my chubby fingers. Every day I think about how I can’t wait to lose the weight after the baby is born! Other changes…I’ve also noticed that my wrist is hurting a lot more now. Since I’ve always had problems with it, it doesn’t surprise me that it would flair up during pregnancy. Hopefully it doesn’t turn into full blown carpel tunnel like the book says happens to a lot of preggo women. I’m on a computer all day! My back is also getting more and more sore, but it’s still tolerable. It’s like I’m starting to see glimpses of how bad it will be in another month, it’s all pretty minimal now.

I do waddle more now when I walk. If I’m focusing I can try and walk pretty normal, but when I’m lazy, I just waddle side to side lol. I can feel the weight weighing down on my legs when I’m walking up stairs too. My knees are like “what’s going on!?” ha, ha.

I think that’s it for now!

26 weeks...

The baby is rockin’ and rollin’ in my tummy these days. The hard kicks and punches are coming on more and more every day. Last night when I was sleeping I felt a foot or a hand come right through and hit my hand off of my stomach. It’s really startling and most of the time cool, but sometimes it almost makes me not feel well because she’s just so active. Jeff’s able to feel her more now since the movement is so much stronger and it happens more frequently. This week she’s been kicking a lot near my right rib cage and she hasn’t quite hit bone yet, so I’m thankful for that. I do feel her in different places all day long, so I’m convinced she’s doing summersaults and having an absolute party in there. I have no idea how they move around so much and don’t get the umbilical cord wrapped around their neck!

I’m really showing now. The upper part of my stomach has really popped making my shape a lot more round and making it easier for people to tell that I’m pregnant and not just fat. I bought a few dresses last weekend and the shape of the dress really shows off my belly. I must say the best thing about being pregnant is that you don’t have to suck it in on days when you’re bloated. You can let it pop out for all to see and it doesn’t matter because you’re pregnant! I used to hate those days where I was so bloated I had to suck it in so no one could see my flab. Not any more! At least not for another few months!

So I think I’ve finally figured out my maternity leave. The company will give me 6 weeks of paid time off (combined with CA state disability). After that I’ll deplete my sick and vacation time (which should be around 4 weeks total) giving me the 2.5 months off that I wanted. If I need any more time, I can take it off unpaid. Not only do I NOT want unpaid time, but I do need to be back here for the end of the year/quarter. I took this job and have to pay my dues working on New Year’s Eve to close everything out. The only way I’d take it unpaid is if the doc pulls me out of work before my due date. I want anywhere from 8-10 weeks with the baby before I go back to work, so I guess I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it. Let me tell you, America does not make it easy for women to have children and be a career woman at the same time. Everyone says “yeah but we have FMLA” – FMLA is great – if you worry about your job protection – but it does nothing as far as paying you for time off. Yeah we’ll give you 3 months of UNPAID leave, no problem! It kills me how in other modern countries women get anywhere from 6 months to a year off – paid. I won’t whine about that anymore, but let’s just say that being a working mom is not easy from the get-go.

We got our first baby registry gift! Crazy considering I think only close friends and family knew we registered. It’s so cute – a 3 stage bathtub with a rainforest theme. From a co-worker in Ohio who just had twins a year ago. It surprised me when we pulled up to the house and there was this big Target box sitting on our door step and we’re like “what’s that?” Totally forgot we’re registered. So it was a nice surprise. Belle wasn’t too sure what the bathtub was, haha!

Speaking of Belle…with her being so sick for the past 2 weeks and work being so crazy I haven’t really had time to focus on anything else. I did pick up some green and pink paint chips and once the sun comes out (one of these days) I’m going to take them up to the nursery and sit with them in the natural light and pick what I want. I can’t wait to clean out that room and get it ready for the baby! It’s going to be such a great feeling to donate everything and start personalizing it for her! I think having the nursery done will make it more real. I’m hoping we’ll have it done by mid-July, but we’ll see.

Sounds like my shower invites will be going out soon…? That’s exciting. I can’t wait to see everyone! Almost everyone has been so supportive through this whole process and its crazy how when life changes, you really know who your true family and friends are. I feel like I could learn so much from my friends and family about being a great person. I’ve had so many people tell me that they would drop their lives to come stay and help with the baby if I needed them. I’ve never in my life felt so touched and felt so loved. And if it weren’t for my parents sometimes I would completely think everything is hopeless. Without them I don’t think we could have even had a baby because we wouldn’t have been able to afford it. Talk about another issue with America – the cost of good quality child care! You know the kind where your kid doesn’t get beat up and you can actually trust someone with your child.

This weekend I’m collecting my 24 hour urine sample and preparing for my glucose test. Good times! This morning I was thinking about it and wondering how I’ll manage to make it downstairs in the middle of the night to pull my urine jug out of the fridge, to go pee, then to put it back in and go back upstairs and be able to actually fall back asleep. Awesome.

And so begins my 26th week…