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Week 26
Milestones: Baby is weighing about 2lbs now! He is 9" curled up, but 14" stretched out. The lungs are working hard on developping blood vessels and air sacs, and the brain is continuing to develop a lot. My Journal: Wow... this week it hit me all of a sudden it seems, and I feel so very pregnant! Everything from the physical side of things to the emotional/hormonal, to everything around me. It's like this has been slowly sinking in for the past 6 months and now the realization of what being pregnant really means has sunk in. Some of it has been exciting (like having lots of people I know telling me I'm really popping out now) and some of it has been scary (planning for the birth experience and wondering about making the right choices). One of the strange sensations is how much I've gotten used to being pregnant. It's been so long now that it just feels like part of my routine. Saying "hello there!" to my little guy every time I feel little kicks (which I do throughout the day and especially at night), making those extra trips to the bathroom, sorting through baby things, thinking about what he will look like - these are all regular parts of my day now and it's starting to be hard to remember what it's like not being pregnant! It's amazing to think of the journey that took us here, how hard we worked to get here, and that now it's just about enjoying the experience... During this week, I hit the "6 month" mark, and I'm considering today the start of my 3rd trimester (because counting by my LMP date, I would already be 3rd trimester, and also since I know I'm only going to 39 weeks total). It's very weird to think that I'm in the 3rd trimester already and have just 3 months (or less!) to go... I still remember eagerly looking forward to hitting that 2nd trimester so I could breathe a huge sigh of relief at the baby having made it that far. Reaching 6 months is also a bit of a milestone as well: At 3 months, the baby had survived past the point of high risk of miscarriage. Now at 6 months, he has survived past the point of serious risk if I were to go into labour very very early. Which is not to say he should just pop out anytime (I'd like him to hang in there until the 29th of December!), but if he were to be born anytime soon, he would actually have an extremely good chance of survival (one source I consulted said there's an 80-90% survival rate at 26 weeks). Of course, I know that there are no guarentees, and I admit I still worry sometimes about whether or not this dream will really come true and just want to have that baby in my arms so I know he made it through everything safely, but it's still becoming more and more of a relief each day as we continue to pass these major milestones on the way to delivering this healthy baby! Lots of little plans and preparations are going on still! I've booked our prenatal classes for November - We were going to take the "refresher" course, but then found out that it only covers labour and delivery (which we're not so concerned about since it's likely we won't be going through that) and not infant characteristics and care (which I feel it's really important information for Paul to have as a first time Daddy-of-a-newborn). But it's not too much more time, we just have to go for two weekend days instead of one, and I think it's well worth it. I also booked our family portraits - I am getting our Christmas ones done really early this year because I want to have as little as possible to do during December (and have Christmas cards out before then)! So in mid-November, we're sitting for the family Christmas portrait, then at the end of November we'll do Harmony's birthday portrait. I also want to do a pregnancy portrait, I think that would be really special to have. So I booked it for the week before Christmas - I'll be 38 weeks pregnant, so hopefully Avery will hang in there until then! He could come as early as December 14th though (37 weeks) and still be considered term/"on time", so I am planning on having absolutely everything ready by then. As for his room, we are clearing out more and more each week. This past week, we moved my computer desk and computer downstairs to the basement office, so that was a huge step in getting the room ready! Now I only have a few more little things to clear out before we can go ahead and touch up the paint. Avery's little cross-stitch bear is coming along nicely, so that will surely be done by the time he arrives. I'd like to frame it for his wall (and actually re-frame Harmony's for her wall too) and also find some other little art pieces we can add to his room (maybe I'll ask Harmony to paint a little something for the new baby, since I'd like to involve her as the big sister!). There was also another very spontaneous "preparation" that happened this week. This one requires a bit of background info: I've always been a singer and loved to sing, so of course I sang to Harmony all the time, including when she was a baby. Sometimes I would get tired of the same old songs and would just compose songs on the spot. Well one day when she was very small, I found myself singing what became Harmony's "morning song" - just a cheerful little piece (to the tune of another song) to help us get our mornings started. It became her cue that the day was starting, that it was morning and we could get up and play. I clearly remember so many different occassions of singing her that song and how she would react differently at different stages of her development - from rolling in my direction as a young infant, to sitting up in her crib as an older infant, to pulling herself up on her crib railing and jumping up and down to the rhythym of the song when she was much older! I have sang that song so many times over the past 5 and a half years I couldn't even guess at the number, and even now I'll sing it to get my big Grade One girl up-and-at-'em when she needs to get ready on a school morning! So on Sunday morning (a morning when I typically sing lots in the shower since I have more time!), I was singing Harmony's song and thinking of how I could change it for Avery - there's one line that goes "Aren't you lucky to be a little girl?" so I can't really recycle that well this time around. I realized I would really like Avery to have his own song anyways, so I just starting working on composing one, and surprisingly, one just came out easily! So after my shower, I asked Harmony to hurry and get mommy a marker so I could scribble down the song. If you'd like to read the song, you can find it here. Test Results/Ultrasounds/Appointments: Nothing this week, but I will be going for my Glucose test tomorrow, to see if I have gestational diabetes. I have to admit that even though I passed this test when I was pregnant with Harmony, I am a little more worried this time around, especially given that I started this pregnancy out carrying quite a few extra pounds compard to when I got pregnant with Harmony. There's also a history of both diabetes and gestational diabetes in the family, so I do have an increased chance of having it to being with. However, I'm trying to stay positive about it, since I've been working really hard to eat healthy foods and maintain a healthy weight gain (which so far I think I've somehow managed to accomplish!), and I don't seem to have any indications that I may have GD. Fingers crossed that my test comes back just fine (because who would want to miss all those Christmas sweets?!). Physical: Even in the past week, I've noticed huge differences in my body! It's like I had a big "jump" forward that's made me truly realize that the 3rd trimester is officially here. My body seems to "know" that it's time to start getting ready for this baby too - I've started leaking a little colostrum and my breasts are back to being as sensitive as they were in the first trimester (ouch!). For some reason I've also been a little bit more nauseous lately, so maybe there's been a hormonal adjustment as well? There's also a lot of "making room" going on for the body parts close at hand to the uterus - I've even noticed a difference in my lung capacity (especially after climbing stairs or singing). Then there's that belly! I think Avery must've had a growth spurt, because I certainly did too. There's a few pairs of pants that don't fit anymore, like my non-maternity jean overalls (I tried to pin the sides together because buttoning it up all the way was uncomfortable, but I just ended up popping the pin, oops). Even others have noticed the difference - as Dee-Dee has said, I'm really "showing my shape". Ironically, a short time after I'd been insisting to her that I was still doing just fine with clothes and still had a few things that fit, I bent down to get something off the bottom shelf at the grocery store and ripped the seam of my comfy brown maternity skirt (see 22 week belly pic) - how embarassing! But thankfully, Paul got out his pliers and fixed the clasp of my favourite maternity jean overalls (see 26 week belly pic picture above!) so those and my maternity jeans are the two pairs of pants that I alternate between. This big belly seems to be having an affect on other areas of my body - especially my sense of balance. I had yet another embarassing moment when I fell over trying to reach a renegade sock while doing laundry - luckily I was squatting at the time and didn't have far to fall. Driving has become more of a challenge, and even getting into the driver's seat without hitting my belly on the wheel on the way down requires a little more acrobatic effort than it used to. Over the weekend, I had a funny sensation in my hips, it was almost like they were "unlocking" or things have shifted their weight differently or... something! It's hard to pinpoint what happened, but each hip was really sore for a couple days and made it hard to walk. Since then I've been a little more comfortable though, although I have to say I'm officially waddling now, I just can't help it. When Paul and I go shopping at the mall, his pace seems really quick (I used to be able to keep up no problem) and yet when I take Dee-Dee shopping, her pace seems so comfortable now (I used to take care to slow down for her). In terms of keeping up with Harmony, well, I hear myself calling out "Wait for mommy!" more and more these days... I found this great Chicken Soup story online that describes how I feel: Click here (but get out the tissues first, I still can't read it without getting all teary-eyed). As I've mentioned to a few people, I feel like I'm "waddling into the 3rd trimester"... I may not be graceful, but I truly am embracing these changes in my body and trying to enjoy them. Weight Gain/Food: Well, I'm up between a 12-14lb gain now, and worried I won't be able to stay under my 20lb total gain (even Avery has to gain those 6lbs extra all to himself!). But even if aiming for a less-than-average total weight gain has helped me achieve an average weight gain (instead of the way above average gain I had with Harmony), then I'll be satisfied. Either way, I'll be keeping these healthy habits even after the pregnancy to get back down to what I was (ideally, I'd like to lose the weight from this pregnancy and my pregnancy with sienna so that next summer I'm the same weight as I was when I got married, and then maybe work towards getting a little closer to my pre-Harmony weight!). As for food, I've been craving chocolate milk like crazy!!! I could easily drink 3 glasses of milk these days, and usually one of them is chocolate milk. And the usual "comfort foods" are sneaking into my diet now that the colder weather is here. Nothing like hot chocolate and a Tim's donut on a cold Fall day. Emotional: Oh dear, I've been very emotional this week! One day while I was busy booking all our appointments and classes, I was looking at the calendar thinking about how fast it was going and seeing the weeks ahead made me feel like it was coming so soon! Well, a commercial came on with a really nice song, so that was all it took to just push me right over the edge into tears! I couldn't figure out why I was crying so much, but I just couldn't stop being all sniffly until I went upstairs to splash my face with cold water and cool down. Then the day arrived when I found that I could no longer sit on the hallway stairs and rest my foot on the opposite knee to tie up my shoes! I'd been able to just a couple days before then, but then all of a sudden, I couldn't lift my leg the same way and pull it up, and it wouldn't stay there if I tried to drag it up and force it there. So I just burst into tears over it, and then Harmony was super sweet and goes "I can tie your shoes for you, Mom!!!", so then I was just happy-crying over how caring she was and how big she was getting that she could tie her shoes and even tie my shoes, etc! I just felt so silly, but I think she understands that preggie Mommy is a little different than Mom usual is and does silly things like crying over shoe-tying sometimes!
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