28 Weeks

28 Weeks today! Finally in the third trimester! I can hardly wait for my little man to arrive! Only 7 more weeks until we are at full term. But we have 12 more weeks until due date. I wouldn't mind little man coming early because a) I just want to snuggle him! and b) smaller baby= easier delivery, possibly? But... I would still love having an April baby. Of course, if he goes late then that will give us some more time to rearrange health insurance and finances. So really, whenever little man comes I will be thrilled!

This week baby is about 16 inches long from crown to feet and weighs about 2.5 lbs. It's so strange to imagine him all bunched up in my little tummy! While my tummy may feel large to me, I know it still is rather small. I hope it stays that way! I have a friend who has an almost 7 month baby boy who is still in 3 mos. clothes! I definitely wouldn't mind it if Jackson stayed small for a good long while! It has been so tempting to buy preemie and newborn clothes... but I figure we can always buy more clothes later if he's small.

Preparing for baby: We have begun to prepare much more for baby. I had planned on rearranging our home to clear out the nursery ever since Christmas. That hasn't happened yet. I've made small strides in that direction. This weekend I hope to officially clear out the nursery and have all the other furniture around the house moved to where it will be from now on. Then we can move all the baby things we have already into the nursery and await the nursery furniture! The crib and changing table are ordered! So excited to get those! Hopefully it won't be too much of a pain to put them together! The glider/recliner will be ordered soon. Hopefully it isn't difficult to get up the stairs, but the delivery man is supposed to set it up for us and all. The curtains for the nursery are out of stock... so I keep checking daily for them to come back in so I can order them asap! This is a brand new line of bedding so I don't anticipate it not being reordered. I have also begun pre-nesting. I don't think I'm nesting quite yet, but I have started cooking more dinners and cleaning the house. I also discovered some new diapers for when Jackson grows out of the newborn sizes! I still plan to buy Bumgenius brand, but the new Freetime style. No stuffing of inserts and faster drying? Sound good to me! Thankfully, I had only ordered 3 one-size diapers so far so I still had most of those to buy.

Preggo facts: I've been getting less sleep recently. I wake up to pee a couple times a night on average and I have a harder time getting comfortable. I've been trying to not take naps after work and going to bed when I'm very very tired. This seems to help. I conk out and only half wake up when I have to go to the bathroom. Baby has been much more active recently so that doesn't help sleep when I'm not thoroughly exhausted. I guess exhaustion will soon become the new normal! During the night I've continued to get charley horses in my calves. Sometimes I feel them starting and can stop them before they get too strong. But sometimes it is so painful! I force myself to stand up straight, which helps the pain subside more quickly. Still not pleasant- I usually have to limp around work the next day. I have officially embraced the naked toenails look. Interestingly enough, if I cut the nail super short I don't mind the look. It starts looking uglier the longer I let the nail get. Lesson learned! But, I can no longer comfortably bend over to paint my toes. I can reach them... but the effort it takes to do each nail with a rest in between just isn't worth it. Baby likes to dance on my bladder. During the work day I have to pee about 10 times an hour! It's annoying because I'll get up and go... come back... and about 5 minutes later have to go again! I wish I could just hold it all for the entire hour and then go all at once... but I run the risk of baby cannon balling onto my bladder. Not a pleasant thought. My computer chair at work is uber uncomfortable also. Since my torso is so short there's not a lot of room for baby to move around, especially when I'm hunched over a desk all day. I put an upside down trash can under my desk and put my feet on it and lean my chair back. This helps stretch me out a little. Unfortunately, nothing can help my poor back. At least it isn't too sore yet. I know it'll just get worse here on out though. Thankfully, I haven't had any (or if there is some then it's minor since I can't tell) foot or hand swelling. I was anticipating those ballooning. Maybe it will still, but I think being pregnant in the winter months has helped keep that at a minimum. I went to the gym with Matt and did the shortened version of my normal workout. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical, some leg machines, some arms with free weights, and lots of stretching. Matthew was not finished with his routine so I hopped on the exercise bike for another 20 minutes. Yes, I felt accomplished!

Milestones: On Jan. 8 I felt the outline of Jackson's little foot kicking! It wasn't like the entire foot stuck out of my tummy, but I felt him kicking pretty hard. So I put my hand flat against my belly and felt the entire oval shape bulge out quickly. So adorable! I've also begun having baby dreams! In one he was all curled up in my belly like normal. Then he just crawled out (not sure how this happened) and Matt and I could hold him and play with him! He was walking around and all... so it was like he was a one-year-old. After a bit he crawled back in to bake a little longer in mommy's tummy. Kinda strange, but it seemed so normal in the dream! Not gonna lie, he was adorable! Starting feeling Braxton Hicks contractions. They are very minor and not uncomfortable. Last night they were pretty consistent. Just tightened and relaxed mid-section. Wish active labor was like these. I can only imagine how much stronger they will be, plus baby will be much larger then!

Cravings and Aversions: No new aversions. I thought that I might be over my Mexican aversion since I was "craving" it before... but when I actually was prepared to buy the ingredients the aversion crept back with full force! Just glad I didn't actually start making it! Cravings this week include donuts and rice krispies treats cereal. I am so thankful I'm going back to Michigan at the end of this month. I want me some Olga's and Golden Wok! Thankfully, my mom likes both of those places enough to go with me!

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Have you ever seen Dawn of the Dead? I do not recommend it. It's a typical zombie movie. I don't care for zombie movies, really, but I watch them (fairly often) because Matthew really enjoys them. Anyways, in Dawn of the Dead there's a zombie baby. Yeah, strange. So the zombie baby is like moving all around inside the mommy's tummy. Since it's a zombie baby, it's all jerky etc. Matthew imagines that scene when I talk about seeing the baby rippling across my belly! Last night baby was particularly active so I drew Matt's attention. He saw one little bulge and was disgusted! While he knows our baby is not a zombie baby, he imagines that baby is trying to break out of there! I think it's fun to watch baby swimming around, but Matthew still doesn't. Sigh. He'll be very happy once baby is here and squirming around, but isn't particularly interested in seeing any squirms prior to that!