I’m pretty sure I said it multiple times last on last week’s series post, but this all feels quite surreal. I haven’t been 19 weeks pregnant in a long time, and it feels pretty unreal. And amazing. I’m SO thankful to be carrying another pregnancy so far in. Hopefully it will continue on much further, and ideally we won’t have say goodbye to her the day we meet. I am pleased to say that, thanks to the technology of my fetal doppler, I KNOW that Bambina is alive and wiggling TODAY! Praise God! I even took a video of it this time. That novelty will NEVER wear off.
Size Comparison: I like today’s comparison a lot! Apparently Bambina is roughly the size of a gameboy!! I was never cool enough to actually have a gameboy, but I am obviously familiar with them, and I think its a cute comparison. Perhaps, more accurately, we should say she’s the same size as a gamegirl. That makes more sense. More seriously though, she’s apparently roughly 6″ long, from head to butt, and at our ultrasound on Thursday, she weighed about 8 oz!! Half a pound of baby already! Or, a cup, if you want to go the way of volume.
Appointments: We had an ultrasound last week where we FINALLY got pictures of her little face and profile! If you missed that post, that’s a bummer, and you should check it out. She’s lovely! She was very wiggly, which is already refreshing and reassuring to see. Our tech always measures her little head, and even when we were just seeing the very top of her head, she was looking back and forth the entire time. Busy little girly in there. I LOVED that ultrasound. One of the best ones, for sure. We also were able to confirm her gender! Our tech is SO careful not to say too much, even with gender, so she told us “There’s a little bump, but no mountain!” Lol!
How am I feeling emotionally: Honestly, as things continue on, I’m feeling better and better in this area. All hope is not lost, but all grief is not lost either. More often than not, I feel hopeful and excited and like this might actually happen! We might actually get to bring this little one home, in a car seat, to her eager siblings. None of this suspicious white box in a velvet bag business. I want to hold her, and I think I might actually get to! But there is the other side – the other extreme – where its hard to go there completely, not knowing how I’ll ever stand up again if we lost her, too. Its hard to have one emotion without the other, but in the moments where I’m just happy and excited, I never want it to end. They are SUCH good moments.
How am I feeling physically: I am kind of surprised to say that I have had slight relief from my pelvic pain. It is NOT all gone by any means, and maybe I’m just following the rules better than I ever have, but I’m so happy to not be in excruciating pain day in and day out. I sleep a specific way, sit a specific way, stand a specific way, and I can’t ever push it. I depend on my soak in the evening, and even if its a late night, we never skip it. If and when I do go out and about, I’ve swallowed my pride and embraced that stupid looking belt, because I pay dearly when I don’t use it. And its paying off. As for other physical feelings, I’m completely off diclectin and would say I’m about 95% nausea-free! I still have one plugged ear but in just the last week, I’ve become super congested and snotty, though I’m not sick. Yay for pregnancy congestion! So at least I can now piece together the congestion and the plugged ear, and know that likely one will clear with the other, whenever that is.
Wish Lish/Purchases: If you read this weekend, you know Brady took me away for a night where we finally bit the bullet and did some baby shopping. We bought her a few shirts, jeggings, a hat, a pair of shoes, and a sleeper or two. It felt SO good to scratch that itch, finally!! This shirt is my favorite one we have for her so far!
I don’t know why I love it so much but I dooooo!!
On a separate note, though, a friend gave me a BEAUTIFUL gift yesterday.
If you haven’t heard of this before, its called a harmony ball necklace. Or sometimes its called an angel caller. It has a few different titles. The ball in the pendant has this beautiful soft little chiming bell in it, and its such a long necklace that the ball hangs right on your tummy. You wouldn’t hear the bell yourself unless maaaybe you had mad hearing skills and were listening for it. Its a pretty little soft song for the baby. And I LOVE that!!! This friend was gifted the necklace, wore it through her pregnancies, and passed it along to me just yesterday. I am so touched, and VERY excited to wear it and play music for my baby in the womb already. What an incredible gift! And for the record, the pictures don’t do the colors justice. Its many different shades of purple, not blue like it appears. You guys know how much I like purple 😉
Pictures: My ever-lovely friend, Cher, popped by this morning to take pictures of my belly, so they’d be as fresh as possible!
Things usually start out pretty weird, but we got it together eventually 😂
We convinced her to eat breakfast with us first, and she snapped some awesome pictures of Brady and the kids.
Brady is home for just another day or two before he is SLAMMED busy for several weeks. We are cherishing these home days. ❤
How are the kids feeling: The kids are so happy 🙂 They seem SO in the know, and SO aware, and then randomly someone will ask if Bambina is coming home tomorrow 🤔 I really, really hope not!! Its a good reminder that they’re still little, and somewhat ignorant of whats actually going on. But they talk about the basics a lot. Who will get to feed her, who will play with her on the floor, and the thing they argue about the most – who will get (yes, GET) to throw away her diapers. Lol! They really like our new diaper pail, so I think thats where that comes from 😉 Weirdos.
Getting to know the baby: I’m quite certain these days that I can, in fact, feel the baby move. Its incredibly refreshing when it happens. With that being said, I can tell you the baby likes her active time in the evening, for sure. Also when my bladder is full, she is MUCH more active. I get that she’s tighter in there in that moment, but seriously, its only going to get more so, girly. Save your kicks. And while I’ve only worn the harmony ball necklace once, she perked up and poked around a lot while I was wearing it, so I’ve decided she’s musical. Or, at the very least, she likes music. I think she’ll fit in pretty well around here.
The BEST part of being pregnant: The BEST part of this last week, without question, is Brady feeling Bambina move!!! 😭 You KNOW its real when someone else can feel it. Its not in your head when someone else can vouch for it. Its easy to question baby movement and wonder if its maybe just gas, or indigestion, or whatever else. I don’t know about you, but my bowels don’t reach out and poke me. Its definitely a different feeling as she’s getting stronger. The moment Brady felt it, he KNEW it. Its a feeling that isn’t easy to forget, and it was irrefutable. Baby MOVES. On the outside, even! FINALLY!
Favourite thing: Brady and I had the luxury of spending a night in a hotel this weekend, and while it was SUCH a treat, and was very comfy and warm, I really really missed my pillow! So often, hotel pillows are the pits, but this hotel had really nice pillows! However, they don’t even touch our pillows level of awesomeness. Brady and I use the cooling pillows from Costco, and they are truly magical. While I don’t like memory foam on my mattress, I do love it in my pillow. The cooling aspect of the pillow is lovely, but to me, the weight and texture of it outweighs the novelty of temperature. We’ve probably already had these pillows for way too long (because I hear pillows get icky on the inside after a while) but the shape of our pillows has not changed. They are just as wonderful as they were when they were brand new! Folks, hear me. Cooling Costco pillows. Look into these. And you will never lose, because if you hate them (unlikely) you can bring them back! Because Costco.
Its been an exciting week, seeing baby girl again, feeling her move more, having Brady feel her move, and actually having a pretty sizeable belly to show her off with! There is not question now whether I look pregnant or not! I feel like I didn’t until just recently, and now BOOM! There she is! And I love that! Keep growing, little girl!