Saturday, March 31, 2012

week 35 day 2

I made it through the movie, "The Hunger Games" last night.  I didn't know if I could sit through a two hour movie, especially at night.  But I did it.  It was painful with Braxton-Hick contractions, back pain, and a little bit of stomach muscle pain, but it was worth it.  Oh, and my feet were swollen so much that I could barely get my shoes on.  But once I did, it was painful.  I've never had swollen feet like that before.

K loves to say prayers these days.  And she loves to say them by herself, especially kneeling at her bed.  Last night she started a prayer when Mike and I kneeled down with her and she suddenly stopped and looked at me.  I asked her if she wanted help and she said, "no," and continued on.  It was a long prayer and I'm not sure what she said other than "baby" but it was adorable.  This morning she's already said two prayers all by herself, remembering to end in "amen" which is great.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

week 34 picture


week 34 day 5

I've been dreading week 34.  My sister-in-law and my cousin both recently had their babies at 34 weeks and I was starting to feel like it was a trend.  You never know.  Besides, don't they say that things come in threes?

Anyway, we're almost out of week 34 which I'm excited about.  I'm not, however, so excited about the fact that the baby seems to have dropped already which is nice because he hasn't kicked my ribs in three days.  But it's bad because there's times he honestly feels like he's about to slip out.  I know, it's not possible.  But it feels possible.

Plus, all the great sleep I've been getting these past few weeks is now being ruined with how awkward it feels to have him so low.  Last night, I was pretty sure that if I looked down, I was going to see his little hand.  That's how low he feels.

I finally got a back/belly support brace and I feel like I'm back at week 20.  It feels great.  My back still hurts and my stomach muscle still hurts, but it's a lot less often.  I wear the brace almost all day and when I take it off (or K runs up and unvelcros it from my belly), I remember why I wear it - it hurts without it!

It's really hard to believe that in about 5 weeks we'll have another little baby.  Somedays I feel like having 2 kids will be no big deal and then other days, I can't believe I signed myself up for this.  In fact, most days I can't believe that most people have more than 1 kid.  How do you keep track of more than one kid?  Well, I guess I'm about to find out.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

week 33 day 7

Unfortunately, this cute new little tablet won't let me upload huge files/pictures which means I can't even seem to open them to make them smaller.  Well, I'm sure Mike will be able to figure it out.

I was planning to upload a current picture of how huge I am.  Okay, compared to most other ladies who are almost 34 weeks pregnant, I look tiny ... like 20 weeks tiny.  Which just makes me feel so bad for them.  I'm grateful for my small Asian frame.  But compared to my normal weight, I'm huge.  I've gained about 25% of my normal body weight, which, if you haven't been pregnant, I don't know if you've ever really gained 25% of your weight but it causes a lot of pain.  At least on this small body, it does.

 With only about 6 weeks left, I really didn't want to buy a back/belly support but now that I'm waking up in pain and it lasts through the entire day, Mike talked me into getting one.  I ordered it online so it's coming today and I couldn't be more happy about it.  Back in the day (last week) when I'd go to bed in so much pain and wake up like a new person, usually forgetting I was even pregnant, it was nice.  But for example, this morning, my muscles didn't allow me one minute to forget that I am pregnant.  My stomach muscle screamed that I was causing it pain.  Bummer.

On the upside, it's been nicer weather which has meant more exercise and outdoor time for Katie and I.  It has been fun to go on morning walks with her - reminds me of last summer when morning walks were essential to getting through the day.  However, these days she sings, points to every truck (she loves trucks), barks at cats (we taught her that), waves to all dogs and growls back at them (didn't teach her that), and says "hi" to people we pass.  It's crazy how much can change in 8 short months!

Friday, March 16, 2012

week 33 day 1

It's really hard to believe that we're due in seven weeks.  That doesn't seem like enough time.

The baby loves to move, especially when I'm holding K.  She seems to nudge him just enough to wake him up or bother him that he starts fighting back.

Nothing too new is happening in pregnancy.  My skin is still stretching, the baby is still growing, and the baby still moves quite a bit.  I woke up in a panic this morning because I hadn't really felt him move much in the past 12 hours but he's been moving quite a bit this afternoon so I'm not as stressed.

K loves to point out babies and runs up to my tummy every time she sees it, points, smiles, and says "baby!"  I think she understands better now that there is a baby although we think she's still going to point to my stomach in a few months and say "baby."  But maybe not.  She does seem to learn pretty fast.

I was holding a baby the other day and Mike and K came into the room.  K rushed over to me saying "baby baby" repeatedly and gave the baby a hug.  She just wanted to cuddle with the baby but I didn't want to make him sick so she had to leave.  I put the baby in his crib and even after he was no longer in the room, she'd run to his room and check on him.  If Mike or I would follow her, she'd put her finger up to her lips and say, "shhhh" as we would enter the room.  She absolutely loves babies.


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

week 31 day 6

I guess it's about time for an update, eh?


Ugh, right?

Here's what I looked like last pregnancy around the same time:

It looks like I'm growing at about the same rate which is great.  I had always heard that for the first one, you're smallest because nothing is stretched out yet.  But that doesn't seem to be true for me, which I'm really grateful for.

I've begun the crying-everyday-because-I'm-in-so-much-pain thing again.  Poor Mike, right?  In the evening when he's finally done working, he deals with K who has somehow learned to hit as a sign of her frustration, she runs up and down the hall whining, and then cries at the most random things.  As soon as she's in bed, then I break down and want to do the exact same things K just did, but for more of a pain reason than anything.  Eight more weeks, Mikey.  Then hopefully my body will feel better.

I currently am dealing with back pain and the stomach muscle pain that I experienced last pregnancy.  It's the muscle right on top of my stomach and at the very top of the roundness.  Last night I sneezed and I'm pretty sure a little piece of muscle tore.  That's the kind of pain I deal with everyday.

So far I've gained about 20 pounds which is great.  The nurse was surprised at 28 weeks that I hadn't gained any more weight since 24 weeks, but I wasn't surprised at all.  I gained a lot of weight in the beginning of the second trimester so I knew that I was either going to gain 30+ pounds this pregnancy or that I'd even out at some point.  And even out, I have.

I finally have given in to a couple of my cravings - I bought some mac & cheese at the store and have been devouring it like I haven't eaten in days.  Throughout the pregnancy, I've only made homemade mac & cheese but it's just not the same!  The last couple of weeks, I've also had a ton of sushi, homemade of course.  Which means it's super cheap and made exactly how I like it.  But I can't wait until after pregnancy when I can eat all the raw fish I want.  Mmmm.

I remember calling Mike last pregnancy in tears because I hadn't felt the baby move in a while.  He would tell me to relax, eat some sugar, and go lie down.  Within 15-20 minutes, I'd have a kicking baby.  This pregnancy, I've had no such fears because I swear this baby only sleeps a few hours a day.  He's constantly turning, moving his limbs, and taking jabs at me and K every time she kicks him.  He also loves to push on my bladder and I often find him in my ribs.

I still have full confidence that he is going to be my calm baby but he obviously isn't going to be a non-mover!  I'm guessing he's going to be very much like Mike - a complete wiggle worm but like Mike, almost every thing will probably just roll off his back like it's nothing.  I can't ever use the phrase with Mike, "wouldn't it make you upset if ..." because it would never make Mike upset, at least not enough upset for him to remember it a few hours later.  And so if this baby gets that trait, I'll be very happy about that.

Monday, I go in for my 32-week appointment.  It's really hard to believe we're less than two months away from having another baby.  April 29 or May 4 or May 7 is my guess for the baby's arrival.  Although I never publicly stated the date that K was going to be born on, I already knew (and refused to admit it because I didn't want it to come true).  I just knew Heavenly Father would think it was maybe a bit funny for K to have the birthday July 7 and I found it entirely unamusing for quite a few months.  And then I got over.  Just like I'm sure He knew I would.  So this time around, however, these dates are gut feelings and/but mostly just huge guesses.  If you want to play along, you may comment or I'll post a poll on the side and you can take a guess!