My lovely weekly picture. While I have been blessed to find some fashionable maternity tops and bottoms... I am still starting to feel my size. This is the first weekly picture with my contacts. Of course, I had also taken a 2 hour nap right before this picture. I don't think I was fully awake. Plus, I think my face is starting to show the pregnancy. Not super attractive, but now is not the time for vanity. I am awfully proud of my weight gain. As of this morning I have gained 20 lbs. Not horrible. I hoped to stay at 25 or less for my total weight gain. We'll see how close I am to that limit. Pregnancy milestones: This week I learned the term "incontinence". It was in my book and I wasn't familiar with it. Why would I need to know that term? So Matthew kindly explained it to me. Then... I got to experience it! Lovely, I know. We were putting together the crib, I sneezed, and out squeezed the little bit of pee I had been holding. At least I was home and my bladder was almost empty. I have also been experiencing shortness of breath. Apparently the baby is pushing up against all my organs, including my lungs. Baby! Mommy needs air! I normally focus on my breathing and try to pull in as much air as I can with each breath. I had mentioned I had calf cramps previously. Well, they have moved to my feet. Matt and I were walking around Target and whammy! Foot cramp! Massive foot cramp! I dropped everything I was holding, crumpled to the ground, and had to try to coax my foot to loosen- not exactly easy with a big ole belly in the way. It did this multiple times throughout the store. One time, by the time I slipped my shoe off my pinky toe was curled stiffly around my ring toe (is that what it's called?). Not pleasant, but not horribly painful. At least I wasn't driving when all this happened, eh?
Baby circus: Baby has been super active! He will be a "squirmy wormy" (as his Aunt Jamie calls his cousin Waverly!). Every day he spends the majority of the day wiggling around. Often I see my belly move out of my peripheral vision. Quite big thumps going on down there! Daddy has also been able to feel and see baby moving around with more frequency. I saw an obvious knee shoot out of my belly the other night. A nice little triangle was sticking out of my belly, but it didn't feel any more uncomfortable than when Jackson is just doing a little roll. Funny how flexible my insides are! I have begun feeling little twitches lower on my abdomen than previously. Hopefully this means baby is settling down and preparing for birth. He consistently is bottom up/head down so hopefully he won't do any flips to go breach in the next few weeks. A lot of the time my middle feels tingly do to all the wiggles and kicks. Yesterday (2/7) it felt like he "twanged" one of my ribs. It felt like when you pull the string on a guitar or violin and let it twang back and forth. I figure Jack was moving one of his feet and it got caught on the rib but he kept pulling it until it let the rib go and the rib then twanged back to position. Thankfully, not painful... but also not comfortable.
Cravings/Aversions: I wanted Jello. Specifically blue jello. But, they don't make blue snack packs. Whenever I try to make jello it doesn't settle correctly. So, it was Black Cherry jello for me! Still good. Also have been eating more peach or strawberry yogurt and drinking hot chocolate. Yummy in this preggo tummy! I've continued to drink several glasses of juice a day. Thank the Lord I did not test positive for diabetes! What would I do without my juice? It satisfies my palate.
Preparing for baby: This week we set up the crib, changing table, chair, and bassinet/sleeper. I did a post previously on the crib and changing table. I love them and am so thankful I chose them! We just need to purchase the mattress and I can set up his little bed! I got a Fisher Price Rock N Roll Sleeper. I will use this for naps and for when Jack sleeps next to our bed. I have a few friends who have these and LOVE them. Our chair arrived on Monday. It came fully put together in the box. Normally this would be a good thing, but the box was bigger than our front door! Thankfully, the day it arrived Matthew was home. We took the chair out of the box and slid it through the front door. Good thing Matt is strong (all those army training workouts)! He was able to carry the chair upstairs with me just helping to balance it. It is a brown upholstered chair that swivels, glides, and reclines. A-mazing. It is super comfortable and will be perfect for rocking Jackson to sleep or nursing. Thanks to my sisters for all their advice on what kind of nursery chair to get! The chair is brown so it will transition well from boy to girl nursery themes. After babies, if the chair is still useable then we'll move it into the living room for extra seating. Matt has begun reading bedtime stories to Jackson. He has read some Dr. Seuss and some Francis. We are working out way through our children's books for now. I cannot wait to increase Jack's little library! It is so sweet to hear Matt reading to the baby. Hopefully baby will be well acquainted with Daddy's voice by the time he is born. I've also been experiencing a lot of contractions! Belly is preparing for baby to be born! The contractions are not painful and not even that uncomfortable. Just a tightening of my abdomen. I'll think I feel Jack settled on one side of my tummy and then realize the other side is just as firm! Contraction! Excited for the contractions to get closer together and more uncomfortable (as unbelievable as that sounds) so that Jackson will be on his way! Come on little baby! Almost time to be born!
Bugs: Getting a bug during pregnancy is extremely unpleasant. I have some kind of cold. It began a the sniffles, which I could tolerate. Then my throat was scratchy, but not horribly uncomfortable. Now my voice goes in and out, I have a slight cough, and I feel groggy. Are there any meds I can take? Not with confidence. Just drink lots of Vitamin C, lots of water, and lots of hot liquids. Hopefully this cold will pass soon.
So excited for baby to get here! While the next 8 weeks will be nice to monopolize the baby, I'm so excited for Matt to be able to hold him!
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