34 WEEKS (PINEAPPLE): Nov 20-26

Smile through that exhaustion Renee! I'm going to be glad we took these pictures one day :)

• Baby is the size of a pineapple this week... 
• Let's try that again. Baby weighs about 5.25 lb this week and measures probably around 18 inches if I had to guess. He's mainly continuing to build bulk!!
• Not much is changing with baby this week. His testicles will supposedly (likely) be descending into his scrotum. Fun. Sometimes I forget that I'm going to have to deal with a little baby penis when he comes out! Haha
• The vernix is building up on baby this week before starting to shed a few weeks from now in preparation for birth. 
• I had another case of the weird blurry vision caused by low blood pressure (or so they tell me). It was a little different this time, but started out the same, feeling like I had just stared into a bright light and was seeing spots. Eventually half my vision was taken over by these "spots", but it went away after about 15 minutes of me hydrating and laying down. The midwives don't seem concerned, and I felt fine, so I wasn't concerned either. Just David, my resident hypochondriac :)
• BH Contractions are still fairly regular, but I can tell they're BH and not labor contractions because 1) There is no rhyme or reason, 2) They will usually go away if I change position/hydrate, 3) They don't build up and ease off, they are sudden!
• As mentioned in last week's post, along with the contractions, I occasionally get cramping. Nothing major... and according to the midwives, nothing to be concerned about. Just a good excuse to stop what I'm doing and sit down, drink some water and put my feet up for a bit. DEAL! My body is telling me to slow down (unless I want baby to come sooner... No thank you).
• I have to keep on top of my All Bran or I pay for it later!
• As the ratio of baby to amniotic fluid grows, I can start picking out body parts better when he kicks/wiggles in my belly. Most often it is a foot sticking out the right side of my abdomen, or up near my ribs. I love how I can sort of estimate the size of his little footsies!
  One night I was also getting knees and shins/legs (distinctly) on the upper right, and elbows/hands on the bottom right. His bum is easy to distinguish because it's the giant mass that moves across/around the top of my uterus, usually leaning towards the left. Maybe it's not so obvious to others, but to me I can sometimes really envision how baby is positioned in there. Makes me feel more connected :)
• So this is pretty cool... David was able to hear baby's heartbeat THROUGH my abdomen. He placed his head on there, along baby's side/back where we knew his heart would be, and he could hear it! Baby was hiccuping at the same time, so that was fun to watch David get all annoyed every time he got booted due to a hiccup. 
• We had another baby shower, thrown by David's mom Shelley on Sunday! We were completely spoiled again, and I am now feeling so much more prepared for baby! We have almost everything crossed off the list of things to buy! Just have to keep our eyes open for some sales on more baby wipes! Now is the time to stock up. 

Nursery is coming together! Starting to feel like a nursery!

• We had another midwife appointment and prenatal class this past Monday. Our class was about pain management options during labour. Time to start creating a birth plan (A, B, and C...). We will meet with our doula in a couple weeks to discuss what we hope to get out of this experience, and what our goals are, etc. The midwife said again everything with myself and baby is perfect, but just to keep an eye on the low blood pressure and cramping. 
• My Weight: 142 lb (+19 lb from first appointment; up 1 lb from 32 weeks)
• My Blood Pressure: 107/65 (this is low, but even lower considering I had just gone up a flight of stairs)
• Belly Measurement: 34 cm (right on track)
• Baby Heart Rate: 150 BPM (we noticed audible variations in the rate this time due to baby moving around while Carol had the doppler on there!)
• Remember those long strong fingernails I was boasting about before? Well... the hormones have changed and they are now long and brittle :(
• I still find it hilarious when baby-K gets the hiccups. Someone told me it would get annoying. I mean... while it's inconvenient to have it going on while I'm trying to sleep, I can usually fall asleep when baby is active. I try to consider it comforting to know he's active in there instead of disruptive. 
• I think I'm starting to get a couple more stretch marks. It's like my marks from puberty on my hips are growing. That's okay... I am doing everything in my power to embrace this new body I have (and will have). David helps a lot with that...
• This is new... I've been noticing a slight burning/irritated sensation on my left side, just above my uterus, under my bra. It's like a strip. It feels like it's been burned and is irritated. One night I woke up with a STABBING pain. I thought something had been ripped off my ribs. I waited it out for 10 seconds, trying not to wake David, and then it subsided and I was able to go back to sleep. After that, though, The irritation is constant and even having my clothes touch the skin is painful. There is nothing visible to the naked eye. I did some research and googling and found that this can be caused by nerve damage due to muscle tearing around abdominals/rib cage. FUN! Nothing can be done to ease the pain either... Except getting the baby out! Let's hope it doesn't get too much worse... At this point, other than the random jolts, it's not SO painful or anything, but it's annoying... 
• At the end of this week, over the weekend, we went to Lions Bay for my parent's 30th anniversary celebration with the family. Had a great time, but do wish my stomach was bigger so I could have indulged a little greater in the amazing eats!
• Heartburn comes on now anytime I do... anything!

Thankful Thursday - 66

This week I'm thankful for...

1. Christmas is coming! This year I really wanted to set up Christmas decorations early so that I could thoroughly enjoy them on my time off. This year I also realized we do not have much in the way of decorations other than lights and ornaments... Therefore we need to get our tree! For now my pantry snowman and some lights in the living room will have to do :)

2. Nursery coming together. I am finally feeling mostly prepared if this baby decides to come early. We are getting our car seat installed next week, and then we are pretty much set I think!

3. Maternity/Anniversary Photos. I'm so glad we did this before we started our family together. It had been 4 years since we'd had professional photos taken, and a lot changes from 21-25... Next time we have family photos it will be a whole lot different all over again!

4. LAST dog agility trial. I decided last minute to register for one more dog agility trial. I really wasn't happy with how the last one went, and didn't want to go out on a "disappointing" note. This time we were in our home barn where we take classes, and we didn't really tell anyone we were running to keep spectators to a minimum. We put Sherlock away in his crate between runs, and tried some other tricks our instructor taught us. No perfect runs, as Sherlock still likes to run for the gates and tires quickly, but a great improvement from last time in his listening skills!
Everyone was so worried about me the whole day. Worried I was going to fall, maybe. I was the only (noticeably) pregnant lady running... apparently not many people run agility until they're 8 months pregnant... 

Starters Snooker

This was our first run of the day, at 2:30pm. He was full of beans as you can see, but I got him back on track to do some of the obstacles at least! Silly me though... I forgot to un-clip his collar and was my run was declared FEO (For exhibition only). Otherwise we would have had 23 points (out of a necessary 37 haha)

Starters Standard

This run was awesome in my opinion. He got all 12 weaves on his first try, mostly stuck with me except when he ran to the gate (stinker), but he came back! If we were a little quicker (8 seconds quicker) and he didn't decide to totally blow past the last jump (I was devastated, but saw it coming), we would have had a Q!! Very happy with this run over all. Great improvement from the last trial

Starters Gambler

We had a GREAT start on this one! He actually started with me, so that's a major positive! Then when he got distracted after our 4 point obstacle in the far back corner and started running, he actually (maybe reluctantly) came back. We ran out of time before getting our 20 necessary opening points, but I kept him on track towards the final gamble. And then he fell apart dodging the tunnel entrance to go visit his friends at the gate. (His friends are any human or dog in sight... So everyone). I wasn't expecting a Q, so I left this run feeling happy. 

Starters Jumpers

Oh this poor dog. He was so exhausted by this point in the day. I pulled off an unorthodox move at the beginning to keep myself between him and the gates (good move me!). It was 7:30pm before this run even started, and he'd been awake all day. You can see how slow he is! Haha. By the end, for the last 4 jumps he just decided he was done, "Bye mom! I'm done." So casually too... If he had hit those 4 jumps we would have had our Q. I could have pulled him back to complete them, but I was so pleased with how he'd done the rest of the day, and you know what... I was tired and done too. It wasn't worth the fight.

Bonus. 10 more days of work when this day is over. I haven't been feeling great (low blood pressure which causes light-headedness and blurred vision, so hopefully I can make it through the last 10 days. Full weeks have been super tough lately, but only two more!!! Also, I'll be training the new girl to cover for me, and I don't want to leave her high and dry!

33 WEEKS (HONEYDEW MELON): Nov 13-19

Ah! This black tank top is just not cutting it anymore! It keeps flipping out at the bottom!

• Baby is about 17-19 inches long, and will likely remain around this length (maybe gaining a few more inches) until he is born! He weighs in at about 4.5 lb too. Getting bigger!
• This week there is officially more baby in there than amniotic fluid. That means his movements are even more drastic and visible from the outside... Yup! I've noticed this! I wish I could capture the craziness of the movements on my phone. Haven't had any luck. 
• Baby can supposedly differentiate day and night-time by the light around them. I don't know how they can tell when it's Fall and I'm wearing a bazillion layers during the day! 
• Baby drinks up to 1 pint amniotic fluid every day!
• Baby-K's immune system is developing. Antibodies are passed from me to baby this week as it develops. Does this weaken my immune system? Break out the hand sanitizer!!
• I feel like baby completely flipped in my belly at the beginning of this week. Things just feel different. Different kinds of movements in different places. He used to be head down, with his back along my left side, butt up top, and knees/legs/feet kicking me on the right. Now almost all the big hard stuff (back, head, body) is on the right side and I can't tell where his feet are (down??). I hope he's not flipped to be head up, feet down. If that's the case there's still time and some space for him to flip back, but I'd rather him just stay down in good position... Kind of makes me nervous!
  *Update* Later on baby got hiccups, and I still am feeling hiccups below my belly button, down towards my left hip. That means baby is still head down. He is just kicking around like crazy, and may be flipping back and forth between my right and left side. 
• I am finding myself having a harder time sleeping (Insomnia). I do get a little physically uncomfortable at times, but that is not always the reason. My brain is very active. I wake up and start running over all sorts of scenarios. "What if my water breaks tomorrow? We're not ready yet!" "What if baby is breech?" "What if the cord is around his neck?" "Will I know if something isn't right in there? Some moms just say they just 'know' something is up." "Should we bring a hospital bag to Lions Bay on the 25th just in case?" "What are we going to do with Sherlock the day of?" "Remember that thing that happened 10 years ago... that was pretty stressful... let's re-live that!" "Remember that YouTube video David pulled up? That was scary... let's think about that for a while." "What if I'm too tired to train this new person at work?" What if I can't make it all the way to December 9 at work? I'm already having a hard time with these full weeks, and am getting increasingly stressed about work... at what point do I put my pride aside and take care of myself instead of the office?" Ah yes... brains... anxiety... fun.
• I'm clumsy. I keep walking into things or bumping people/furniture/walls with my belly. It's like it's its own entity now. 
• I am noticing more frequent mood swings. I don't necessarily fly from ecstatic to crying rapidly, however I do tend to feel upset and cry and then okay again within a couple minutes. Things just start getting overwhelming, and once I'm overwhelmed, the waterworks come on. Hormones... 
• Loving these alien movements on my belly! It is fun to freak people out by saying, "Hey, check this out," and pointing to my belly just in time for baby to sprawl or whatever he's doing in there. Baby gets hiccups now pretty much every day. Usually not for very long, but at least once or twice per day. Keep those lungs developing little guy!!
• Went out and purchased a nice nursing bra from Thyme Maternity using my 40% off coupon. I have two nursing bras at home I got off Amazon that are kind of boring. Just black and beige. I wanted one pretty bra too! I bought one in a bigger size I ever thought I'd be (YAY!). This is a big win for me. 
• 14 more work days at the end of this week!!!
• We got our maternity photos back from Damara Moe Photography this week! I did a post dedicated to the maternity photos, but here's some again! :)

These pictures were done on our 4th anniversary. Almost 5 years ago we had our Engagement photos taken by GC Photography. Boy have we ever grown up!!

THEN

NOW

THEN

NOW

As mentioned before, I put up my own post, but if you'd like to see which photos the photographer shared on her blog please visit her site! Damara Moe Photography.

• If I over-do it with exercise or stress or anything really, I start getting crampy and get much more frequent contractions. This past weekend there were many, and if I was standing, walking, leaning, anything-ing for too long I would start getting cramps until I sat down and relaxed for a minute. I do not want this baby to come early, especially since I still have 3 weeks of work left. I want to enjoy my time off before baby comes! Time to take it easy... 
• The contractions are Braxton Hicks. No pattern to them. They just kind of come out of nowhere, but are stronger than they have been. The cramping isn't always associated with a contraction, but it doesn't feel like indigestion... Feels like Day 3 or just prior to day 1 menstrual cramps. 

Somewhere in the next 5-9 weeks we'll have a baby... My goodness!

Maternity Photos!

On our 4th Anniversary, November 10, 2016, David and I had our maternity photos done at Fort Langley by Damara Moe Photography. I was 32.5 weeks pregnant at the time, although I must admit I don't look as huge in these photos as I was feeling!

It was a chilly afternoon/evening, but the lighting was absolutely perfect. It was great getting to know Damara, and David and I had a ton of fun. She managed to make us look like we actually like each other *winky face*. These photos turned out better than I ever thought. I actually really like some of the sillier "out-takes" too. Good to have some realism in your photos too instead of perfect catalogue smiles all the time!

I am only posting about a third of the photos we got... So hard to pick through! 
Well... here goes nothing!

My face is kind of silly in this one, but I actually really love it. I feel like Damara caught a candid moment between us here. 

We were totally cracking up here in real life. There was a giant train going by, so the noise drowned us out and we were just being totally goofy with each other making jokes and making each other laugh.

This one we did to replicate a photo taken 5 years earlier in this exact spot for our Engagement photos

More laughter!

I haven't ever seen myself from the back as a pregnant person. People have told me I don't look pregnant from the back... I guess they're right!

Beautiful yellow tree on Brae Island

Squinchin' it up!

More laughter?! Look how handsome David is :) I love that we can still make each other laugh, and that Damara was able to capture these moments.

I feel so much huger than this! (Mind you, this was just over a week ago ;))

Enter Sherlock! We had very low expectations for our photos with Sherlock because well... animals are unpredictable. We are super thrilled with how these photos turned out. He's a huge part of our family right now, so it wouldn't have been right to leave him out all together!

Haha! One of those outtakes that I love. His face in this photo will never not make me smile. We were trying to get him to kiss my belly, so this is him snatching a treat off my belly. He just looks like he's snuggling in very awkwardly.

He was such a ham. No camera awareness, but very well behaved considering he'd been in his crate in the car for the hour(s) leading up to this. 

Our family <3

He will always be our first baby

I don't know if you can tell in this shot, but Sherlock's face is priceless!

We can't wait to meet you little Baby-K!!