31-33 Weeks

Troy hasn't stopped taking pregnancy pictures of me I just haven't posted them the last few weeks. I think you can definitely see a difference between the 31 week pic and the 33 week pic below. I feel so much bigger lately. I really "popped" out last week I think. It's hard to believe there are only 7 weeks to go (I'm hoping for more like 5ish).

I feel overall pretty good. I'm definitely more tired the last couple of weeks and have started taking naps probably 2-3 afternoons a week. This little one is still having tons of hiccups and loves to throw some pretty big punches and kicks. My biggest complaint is the heartburn I've been having. Tums have really become my good friend :) I still get out of breath very easily and can't eat huge meals in one sitting but I'm thrilled that I get to experience this later stage of pregnancy out of the hospital. At this point with Luke I was only pregnant about a week and a half more and had been in the hospital for about a week.

The other big change is that this sweet little girl (love saying that!) has moved positions. She is now vertical with her head down rather than diagonal like she was last week. I have been hoping for this for quite a while now because diagonal wasn't so great for me; however, now that she's vertical I have to sit up very straight because her bottom is right under my rib cage but overall it is definitely more comfortable.

Picture Update

Some pictures from last weekend--the balloon bouquet for the gender reveal; a family shot and a girls shot from my baby shower (that my sweet friend Ashley had for me) and a couple from Grandma J's birthday celebration.

Monsters

So Luke is going through a monster phase. He loves to chase and be chased by them. He yells and screams and growls at them. He talks constantly about them. However, when the lights go out at night he is scared by them. Since Friday night he has called me up to his room about 45 minutes after he goes bed. Every night he has been crying by the time I get up there. He tells me he has had a bad dream about scary monsters. We sit in the rocking chair and I tell him the monsters aren't truly real and all the monsters he knows (from books, tv, and pretending) are good, fun and friendly. That seems to help for that moment. He gets back in bed and I rub his back and sing "Frere Jacques" and then Luke has no more bad dreams for the rest of the night.

I feel so bad for Luke. I can still remember some of the bad dreams I had as a child and I hope that he grows out of this phase quickly. Maybe we need to buy some monster-be-gone spray (aka water in a spray bottle with a bit of creative decorating by mom).

Gender Reveal

Okay if you do not want to know what the gender of this baby is then please don't watch the video. If you do want to know well then enjoy the show. At the beginning of the video you'll see my mom and then later Troy's parents along with my sister.

30+ Weeks

These pics were taken on Tuesday night--I was 30 weeks and 2 days pregnant. Yeah, there's definitely a baby in there. I get constant kicks, punches and wielding limbs to remind me which I love. So here's the rest of my list of preggo tidbits for now:

*I love that this baby moves so much but man oh man sometimes I just feel like a punching bag.

*I don't remember being this uncomfortable with Luke at this point (keep in mind that he was born at 34 weeks so the last 6 weeks of this one are all new territory for me).

*Leg cramps are not my friends. I'm really trying to be proactive and drink tons of water, stretch and walk more but I am still occasionally having cramps in the middle of the night. It scares Troy half to death when I sit bolt upright in pain. Hopefully I don't have 10 more weeks of cramps.

*I think I'm starting to get tired again. I find that between 3 and 4 I can hardly keep my eyes open. I know I should probably take a short nap while Luke does but I also think that I don't sleep as well when I do. And on top of not sleeping great anyways I don't want to add another reason for less sleep at night.

*Can I just say that getting out of breath from walking up the stairs is really annoying?!?! It drives me crazy especially when I've already been upstairs once and realize I forgot something. Having everything all squished up to your lungs isn't too great. Eating has also become more challenging because I don't have as much room in my tummy.

*Forgetting something isn't too uncommon these days either. I am usually very good about remembering things but definitely not right.

*My clumsiness factor has also greatly increased the last few weeks. Almost anything I touch has a 50-50 chance of being dropped. Thankfully I haven't broken anything yet. My balance is also off and I have to be more careful on the stairs.

Okay, so that just sounded like all I did was complain. Please don't interpret that as me not enjoying pregnancy because I do love being pregnant. Writing about it all helps me feel better though and everything I listed above is normal for being in your 3rd trimester. I am very anxious to meet this little one and adjust to being a family of four.

Oh, our final decision is to try to do a VBAC. Troy and I are both a bit nervous about this but know it is the right decision for me and the baby. We had our last appointment with my former OB on Tuesday and she took the news much better than we thought. We also had an ultrasound then and the tech estimated the baby to be 3 1/2 pounds and I only gained 1 pound the last 3 weeks which puts me at 18 pounds total. My first appointment with my midwife is this coming Wednesday. I am anxious to talk to her more and start creating the ideal plan for the birth of this baby.

Other Weekend Pics

Troy also took some other good pics of his and Luke's weekend together. Enjoy :)

Not sure how Troy took this while driving but I like it nonetheless.

Who doesn't love to play in the rain?!?

Luke will regret letting Dad take this one--definitely blackmail worthy!

On the Farm

Over the weekend while I was at my scrapbook retreat Troy took Luke to Topeka to visit Grandma and Grandpa. On Saturday afternoon while they went to the K-State game Troy and Luke went to Grandma's family farm. Luke loves to go to the farm and see the cows and chickens. This time though not only did he do that but he also got to ride in the tractor and the combine. Troy took video during each ride and I'll hopefully get that posted here soon but in the mean time here are a few pictures. Troy said Arlo, Neil and Marcene enjoyed having Luke there as much as Luke enjoyed his rides.