Size of the Baby: In the 17-inch range and somewhere around 3.5 pounds, i.e. the size of a pineapple! (Mmm, pineapple.) The internet says she might be starting to crowd my lungs, and I think that’s at least partially true although what really feels crowded is my stomach. I get hungry a lot, but then feel full after about 5 bites.
Weight gain/loss: 19-20 pounds. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and expect them to show me at about 22 pounds total gain. With 9 weeks to go, I’m actually pretty happy with my overall gain. Not bad at all. And for the moment, I’m still “all belly,” as they say.
Maternity clothes: No one makes a pair of khaki maternity pants that actually look nice on me. I’ve given up.
Sleep: Boo. This week I’ve been waking up every couple hours because either 1) I have to pee or 2) the arm and shoulder on whatever side I’m sleeping on have gone completely numb. I try to avoid drinking too much after dinner in hopes of making it through the night, but I’m thirsty a lot so my plan usually fails. I also am remembering a ton of my dreams, even the lousy ones. Last night I dreamed that a tsunami destroyed our house (although on the plus side, we were safe), and then after waking up and going back to bed, I dreamed that Jose decided he didn’t want to be married to me anymore. THAT was a fun one.
(Random photo of baby room Ikea bookcase construction a week or two ago)
Movement: Pretty much constant. I’m not sure she ever sleeps! Every once in a while, she’ll hit something that actually feels uncomfortable so I just poke back and she shifts again. The internet says she’s probably putting in longer stretches of sleep and that I might notice a pattern to when she’s most active, but I can’t say I have. Hmm. She does seem most active in terms of how strong her movements are in the evenings, but I feel her moving around pretty much all day.
Food cravings: This week it’s been chocolate. Did you know they make dark chocolate raspberry M&M’s? They are quite tasty and it’s taken a lot of willpower to not devour the entire bag in one sitting.
Best moment this week? Jose took a quick trip to DC for work last week. He was only gone two nights, but when I talked to him each night I put the phone up to my stomach and he said “hi baby!” She moved both times in response. I’m so excited for our little girl to arrive so Jose can really meet her. He is going to be such an awesome dad.
What I miss: Not dropping things all the time. I thought the whole pregnancy clumsiness thing was a myth, but maybe not. In the last week, I’ve spilled my coffee at work and dropped so many things (pens, notebooks, my phone) I can’t even count them all.
I also miss spring weather. Because it’s officially hot. And I do not like it.
What I’m looking forward to: We’re heading to Corpus Christi this weekend where Jose’s mom is throwing us a shower! I’m excited for that and excited to see all the family. We haven’t been down there since New Year’s, and when we last saw his mom in March I didn’t have a belly yet, so I’m expecting lots of oohs and aahs which will be fun and funny.
Milestones: She can process information from all five senses now. She can hear voices and music instead of just vibrations too, which explains why she always reacts when Jose talks to her. And most importantly, her lungs are developing more and more each day.
(A few dolls from when I was little, now waiting for a new little girl! The faux cabbage patch doll was made by my grandmother, and the Raggedy Ann dolls were made by an old neighbor.)
In other news, we ordered a crib over the weekend! Exciting! I had put together a fairly large spreadsheet of crib options and it had gotten kind of overwhelming so in the end, I just picked one that 1) looked nice, 2) got good reviews and 3) was very reasonably priced. It’s a Walmart brand so we had it shipped to the store for free. It won’t be in until next week, but it’ll be nice to add another piece of furniture to the baby room, which currently contains a single Ikea bookcase, a few books, some old dolls…and nothing else.
Last week I came across the exciting news that Joann’s (my favorite store of late) is having a baby nursery contest. All you have to do is shoot a video showing off all the crafts and decor you made and the prize is a $500 gift card. But alas, the contest deadline is June 30. There’s no way our nursery will be done by the end of the month. Sad face. A $500 gift card (because obviously I would win, right?) would be pretty sweet.
That’s a pretty darned good homemade cabbage patch kid. Man, I remember that craze, my mom still talks about how hard it was to get me one for Christmas – then she had my not-Christian uncle dress up as Santa to come bring it to a family party. My memory is fuzzy, but knowing this uncle as an adult now, still makes me laugh at the whole darned thing 🙂 Good times.
I’m so excited for you! Pregnancy dreams can be so wildly vivid. It’s entertaining, but tiring too.
For some reason it makes me laugh that you had a baby crib spreadsheet. 🙂 Those Ikea bookshelves are nice. We had one but it was so huge that we didn’t bring it with us when we moved, and now David has it. Hope you had a fun baby shower with Jose’s family!
It’s funny, because for the most part I have not been excited about making spreadsheets to compare stuff. I just want someone to tell me what I need. But for the crib, I had stronger opinions on what I wanted (what it looked like, what it was made of, etc) so it was easier to make a list!