Well here we are, only 15 weeks left to go until our due
date! 105 days to go, and feeling more and more excited every day. I will say
that lately there have been so many people that try to “scare” me and say
things like “Well you better get your sleep now!” or “Your life is about to be
so different.” And my personal LEAST favorite, “Well you’re going to find out
how tough it is soon.” Okay, I get it. Having a baby is hard and time consuming
and overwhelming and completely life altering… but I also knew that before
getting pregnant. I am mentally prepared for sleepless nights full of dirty
diapers and a crying baby. Possibly shedding tears myself on more than one
occasion. I am more than ready for the difficult period figuring out
breastfeeding, and juggling house work, and not to mention continuing to work
my part time job for Jonathan’s company while on maternity leave from my full
time job. I am now and always have been one of those people that puts my mind
to something, and I make it happen. And I do not foresee that changing after
having giving birth to my son.
I am not sure why people feel the need to make comments like
that constantly. I’m sure most have good intentions, but sometimes it just
comes off like they are down playing my ability to handle what is to come or like
I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into. I know every pregnant woman ever has
had to deal with these comments, but sometimes I just want to reply with, “Trust
me, I know, and it’s going to be the greatest thing I will ever do.” I am so
excited and ready to give up any selfish habit I have so I can take care of my
child to the best of my ability. To be able to still maintain my home. To be
able to get back into shape. To be able to juggle all of the demands a new
mother has. I am a 28 year old woman with every capability of doing this. I am
ready for all of the sacrifices. Giving up my “me time”, my tv shows, my
weekend naps, my fun girls nights. It’s all going to be worth it. Its not
forever, and because I know this, I am fully able to embrace what is to come.
Yes there will be hard days and times when I’ll be so behind on house chores. I
will feel so disconnected from my friends and the rest of the world I am sure.
But nothing compares to the great love and joy I am going to get to experience
with having and raising my child.
Now that I got that off my chest, here is a little update on
how things are going. I am feeling really good for the most part. My only real complaint
is still just my hands/fingers/wrists. Oh how I hope they regain feeling after
delivery. They are numb all of the time. They also hurt sometimes, and I am
pretty clumsy because of having no feeling and weakness in my grip. My back is
bothering me a little less, which I give credit to regular stretching for that
miracle. I am tired, but I also am not sleeping very well in the evenings
anymore. Tossing and turning for comfort, plus the moment I lay down, my nose
gets stuffed up on whichever side I lay. Kicking is much more frequent and
stronger now, Jonathan has been able to feel him a couple times. Which he
things is sooooo weird. And I am starting to have tree trunk ankles in the
evenings… haha! At least that’s what I am calling them. Just a little swelling
on the average day. But on days where I stand more than others and have a lot
more to do, they look pretty crazy. Most of my shoes are too tight for comfort.
The swelling does go down though with elevating them and overnight. At my 24
week appointment, blood pressure was normal, urine was good, heart beat was
strong, and yet again… weight gain is up (28lbs total so far). I do hope it
slows down these last 15 weeks, but I am not stressing it anymore. Because at
that appointment my Dr told me that I look fine, I don’t look like I am piling
on the pounds (looking at pictures I would have to disagree…talk about a round face, double
chin and HUGE nose). She also said with the carpel tunnel I’ve had since 12
weeks, and the swelling in my ankles/feet… I am clearly going to retain lots of
water all pregnancy, which some women do. And I should expect to lose a lot of
water weight following delivery. I am trusting her knowledge and giving myself
a much easier time, now that I can visibly see my ankles swelling to help wrap
my mind around some of the weight gain actually being fluid retention. We are
just chugging right along with the next appointment being on 4/9. They sent me
home with my fruit punch flavor glucose drink to do before coming next time so
we can test for gestational diabetes. I am nervous about it, but staying
hopeful that I will be lucky and pass. They will also check for anemia at that
time. Then following that appointment we will proceed forward with a checkup
every two weeks.
Home projects have slowed way down, but should be picking
back up soon. We are hoping to have the nursery done (painted, carpeted) and
ready for furniture in the next 3 weeks. At least that’s our goal. That way,
when we going on our babymoon to Charleston, our guy can go to town and get the
hall and living room done while we are away. That’s our hopes. And of course I
will share any progress when we start making some again. Our bedroom is done
though, and I think the carpet I picked out goes really well with the wall
color.
Last weekend, myself and a few others put on a baby shower for my long time best friend Jessica. She is due with baby girl number 2 in April and I was so excited to be able to be a part of making her baby shower special. I decided to take on the task of baking her cupcakes FROM SCRATCH! And they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. I made Vanilla Bean Cupcakes and Chocolate Cupcakes, some had Vanilla Bean Buttercream and others had StrawberryButtercream. I received a lot of praises for how yummy they turned out. Thankful for Cupcake Project for the awesome recipes I followed word for word.
This weekend is the St. Patrick’s Day race at Virginia
Motorsports Park, which Jonathan races at every year. He hasn’t gotten lucky
enough to win at this event or at this track yet for that matter, so keeping my
fingers crossed that the truck runs good and this year he will bring home a win
one day! Saturday will be the first race I attend of the just getting started
season. I’m not sure how many I’ll end up making it to later on in my
pregnancy, and once baby boy is here I doubt I’ll make it to any in the later
part of the season. So going to get out now while I still can and enjoy being
at the track. Hope you have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday!
