27 Weeks
We took an all day labor and delivery class. Kyle and I both thought the class was good. I was able to get a more accurate picture of what labor is going to be like and the first month with the baby. I feel a little more "prepared" for what is going to happen but am just going to see what happens when the day comes for Baby C to arrive. It was hard for me to watch the birthing videos because all I wanted to do was laugh. I know I will be in extreme pain and that I will not be in my finest moment and that "my stuff" will be for anyone to see but I cannot watch other women going through it. Their faces, the noises, I know they were not putting on a show but it was really hard for me to watch without cracking up. We did learn some breathing techniques and ways to cope with the contractions. I am not against getting an epidural at all but from taking the class it seems tricky to know when to get it. You don't want to get it too soon because if you stop progressing you can't walk around or get on a workout ball since your legs are numb and I feel like it I get it during the transition stage that might be too late because it makes it seems like pushing is next and once you push the baby comes pretty quickly. There are lots of things to think about but when that day comes we will just see what happens.
I am still stuffed up which makes it really hard to breathe at night. I have been snoring really loud but I can't help it since I can't breathe out of my nose. My tops of my feet and ankles are still really swollen. They don't really hurt but my shoes are tighter now and my ankles look really weird. Feeling the baby move is still one of my favorite things but it is not fun when Kyle decides to poke at my stomach when we are laying down to go to bed and the baby starts kicking so I can't sleep. O Kyle, your days of not being able to sleep will be here before he knows it :)
28 Weeks {Hello Third Trimester}
Hooray, we are officially in the third trimester now! It really has gone pretty fast to get here and it's hard to believe that June will be here before we know it. We had a doctors appointment on Friday and the babies heart rate was in the high 150s and they said everything was measuring good. In two weeks we go for another appointment and ultrasound. Since we had a "scare" with the fluid level I asked if we could do another ultrasound and they said doing one later in the pregnancy will help them to know that everything is on track :) I asked the doctor about my swelling feet, my nose bleeds I had the past few days, and if there was anything I could take to get being stuffed up. She said my swelling and nose bleeds were typical and nothing for me to worry about. I had made a list of things that needed to get done before the baby came (take a hospital tour, find a pediatrician, take a birthing class, do my FML, register) and all of those things are finished except I will need to add the baby to my insurance but I can't do that until they arrive.
Kyle and I are both excited for Baby Crofford to arrive!
29 Weeks
Itty bitty you have been moving around and mommy has been feeling you kick. I decided to go to a c- section class just in case that is the road we have to take in delivery. It was part of our birthing class we took so I figured it would not hurt to spend a couple hours of my time learning. I went solo (by choice) and was the only person there without someone, I looked like a single mom (at least I did not have my braces or I would have looked like a teen mom). The instructor accidentally skipped over me when we were introducing ourselves so I joked that she was segregating against single moms. It was really informative and I am really glad that I went. The more I learn about contractions and labor the more I feel like it is going to be a marathon of contractions for hours until the baby arrives. Aunt Sarah and I made a cake for march madness, one day you will know what this is and how much your daddy loves it. My ankles are still swelling and do not look like themselves. They do not hurt but are not really comfortable in my shoes.
Pinterest inspired March Madness cake
30 Weeks
Itty bitty we got to see you again. We had an ultrasound to measure the fluid and it was 12 which is in the normal range. We also got to see you hiccup, which was really cool! There are all kind of new things we experience when we see you on an ultrasound. It is pretty incredible all the things you can see. The ultrasound tech did point out a couple other things and neither Kyle and I could really tell what we were looking at :) The heart rate was 140 and your daddy is convinced now that you are a boy but we will find out soon enough. I also went to a breast feeding class that was part of our child birthing class and I got a lot of information out of it. Working at Children's there are also many resources here that can help me with breast feeding. Everyday I work at Children's I am thankful that I am not working at my other job. Working closer to home, having flexibility for doctor's appointments, more opportunities to grow, etc. I really do not take for granted the awesome opportunities that I have here.
This week I also took a quick trip to Lexington to see Ashley. I usually see Ashley and Leah when I go to Lexington but Leah was in Cali (I want to be in Cali). Lexington always feels like a home away from home and I love that I can go somewhere not far away to hang out with friends and recharge a little bit. We did a little shopping and had lunch, it was really laid back which was great for both of us. It was also Easter this weekend. I went to church at our regular place and then also went with my Mom to her church. My dad came to church too which was really nice. After church we went to the Crofford's for dinner. Dinner was delicious, as always, and it was great to be with everyone. I decided to spice it up and make this dessert, it did not turn out like the picture but it was still pretty good. I joked that we probably needed some ice cream to go with the dessert since it did not look the best, it will probably not be a dessert that makes it in the rotation again :) The dogs enjoyed a Easter egg hunt and then Caleb and Kendall also looked for eggs. Next year little one will get to join in the hunt!
Time is going by
really quickly. I am trying to have my same patient/laid back (most of the time) attitude about our little ones arrival. I don't want to become really anxious or mean about things not being done or not really feeling like "I'm ready".
Mommy and Daddy cannot wait to meet you little one :)
31 Weeks
Itty bitty your due date it
less than two months away!! Time is going by quickly and it is about to become more real very soon, not that it hasn't since I can feel you move but it is crazy to think that we will meet you soon. I have been very thankful that I did not get sick during my pregnancy but this week it happened. I made a birds eye freezer meal (like I have had before) and after I ate it I did not feel very good. I went out for a couple hours and on the way home I had to warn my friend that I might get sick in her car. I cannot remember the last time I had gotten sick but I had this feeling that it was going to happen. I luckily made it to my house and did not have the embarrassment of my friend seeing me get sick. I walked in the door and the smell of the meal was still lingering and that was enough to set me over the edge lol I instantly got sick and got sick a few more times after that. I felt better each time but I felt bad for our baby since it probably felt like a roller coaster in my belly. I did not get that much sleep that night but decided to go to work to see if I could make it. I left work a couple hours early and came home and slept. I think sleeping all day and night was what my body needed. Kyle was getting ready to start a 48hr shift so Connie brought over some Chicken Noodle soup which was great and my mom stayed the night to let Bentley out so I could sleep. I am
very thankful for our family and that they are willing to help us out. I think that the food is what made me sick but Kyle thinks I had a 24hr stomach bug. Either way I am staying away from those meals
forever and taking it easy (not eating things that could upset my stomach) so that my stomach can get back to normal.
Baby C you went to your first Reds game of the season but hopefully it won't be your last. We got free tickets from "Uncle" Petey which was great and it was really fun to be down at the ball park. I love going to Reds games and hope to get a few more in before you make your arrival :) You also experienced your first Ducks Unlimited Banquet but do not worry it will not be your last if Grandpa Jackson has anything to say about it.
Besides getting sick my ankles are still really
big, I'm not sure they can be classified as ankles anymore. The tops of my feet are also swelling so from my knees down I look like a hot mess. Now that the weather is getting warmer I am able to show the bump off. I am getting lots of compliments about how the baby is growing and how cute I look. It is also getting harder for me to bend down and I stretched the other day and it felt good after I did it but while I was doing it my body was wondering what was going on since I had not done it for so long :)
Kyle and I had a really good talk this week. One of the things that we talk a lot about is our time. My love language is quality time so when we don't see each other (for many different reasons) or the time we are spending together is watching tv not talking does not make me feel like I am important in his life (which is not what he intends). So it makes it hard for me to be okay when Kyle wants to go hang out with his friends late at night since I feel like I am always the one sitting at home. Our friends are in different places of their lives which also makes it hard. The majority of Kyle's friends are not married, not dating, and do not have kids (they are commitment free besides all working full time). While my friends are the complete opposite, they are mostly married, working full time, with at least one child. Kyle feel like he is punished for having friends that are always available and want to do stuff where my friends do not hang out all the time. I was really concerned that I was going to feel like a single parent with our little one. We both will be working full time but right now Kyle gets lots of opportunities to do stuff on the weekends or late at night and I did not want to feel like I was the one always home with the baby. Kyle and I had talked about how our lives were going to change when we found out about the baby but I guess since everything had been the same (and I forgot some of the important things Kyle had mentioned) I felt overwhelmed with being the only one taking care of our baby when I also would have things that I wanted to do. Kyle was really great as I cried (of course) and told him my concerns about this and being overwhelmed about the baby coming and not sure what to do. Kyle is SUPER excited to be a dad and knows that he will need to be home more and can't wait for our baby to get here. After our chit chat I felt a lot better about things. It is always good to know we are on the same page about things and though I am not the best at communicating how I feel (until it gets too much, I tend to hold it in) Kyle is always great about listening and hearing where I'm coming from. I always want us to feel like we are on the same team and that we can get through anything.
32 Weeks
This week I went to the doctor and the heart beat was 134. My mom and Connie came with me since Kyle has been working a lot. I mentioned to the doctor my swollen ankles and feet and she told me to quit wearing my ballet flats (since they have no support) and to get compression tights. I went to the store to get the tights and was not thrilled that they were in the same isle as depend diapers and canes. Sometime being pregnant makes me feel like an old women, I am forgetful, I pee all the time, and now I have tights that are supposed to be worn by my grandma. Even though my ankles and tops of my feet still swell the tights are working. Connie and Carrie also had some dress shoes and gym shoes for me to borrow which I'm very thankful for because my flat shoes were not fitting anymore and were very uncomfortable. We had a jam packed weekend with lots of fun events like leader appreciation dinner, an auction, wedding, and women's group. Being pregnant people feel free to discuss how I look at free range I feel. I get comments on how "they feel like I have been pregnant for so long" to "asking if I'm sure my due date is June since I don't look that big". I take everyones comments with a smile and so far no one has said anything too harsh or I feel really rude. I know people do not intent for their comments to be mean but sometimes that is how they are interpreted.
A really funny thing happened on Sunday when I was at my women's group. The meeting was at my friend Ashley's new house and she has only been there for six months or so. I sat down in her dining room chair and it
broke. One side caved in and luckily I was holding on to the edge of the chair so I did not fall down to the floor. We were all laughing so hard we were crying. I was joking that people are telling me how good I look and that they can't tell where all the weight is going but obviously the chair did not think it could support my pregnant self. I was really concerned that I had just broke a new piece of furniture in her house but Ashley told me they had it for like five years. We all had a really great laugh and I was glad that I did not ruin any new furniture :) This story will not be forgotten and I'm sure my face was priceless.
I am still feeling pretty big and bending down is not the same. I also find myself resting my arms on my shelf aka the bump a lot. It is also getting harder to get up from laying down but I will survive :)
34 Weeks
Since I am swelling more than a normal person at this stage of pregnancy the doctors want to monitor it so they are having me come every week to the doctor. They want to monitor it so it does not become pre eclampsia. I have a friend who works at the doctor and she mentioned to me that she thought that I said my due date was in June but it is really in May. I was surprised because after we got the ultrasound at 9 Weeks they told me my due date was June 4th but I guess they were going with my original due date of May 29th and since we had never talked about it again I just assumed June 4th was the correct date. So there will be no 33 Weeks to document because it is too confusing to go back and change all the weeks {I should have known I was going to have the weeks wrong, I'm so bad at math :)}Knowing my due date is a week earlier I think to some women would thrill them but to me it makes me nervous/anxious since I don't feel like I'm "ready" (which I am not sure if that will ever happen). We have alot of the showers in the next few weeks so after that I will probably feel better about the baby coming.
My old lady stockings are really helping the swelling in my feet and the shoes I have borrowed make it easier to walk since they give me more support and room than my other shoes. Something that is not so fun is that I have been farting a lot. It is really embarrassing and I hate that it is happening so often. I feel like I can't go anywhere without having to worry about letting one slip and of course they are always loud never the silent type. Something else new this week is that my hands have felt really type when I wake up and it is hard for me to close my fist. I'm not sure why this is happening but it is not really fun.
Itty bitty your "big brother" Bentley turned 4 (or 28) :)
