Womb in Bloom: 31 Weeks

My goodness!! That weekend FLEW by and that means another week of pregnancy down!! With Edmonton done, that means one more thing off the list of whats happening before baby comes! Eight weeks left! While I was in no way anticipating Edmonton being over, it does signify time moving forward! I cannot believe this whole thing is coming closer and closer.

Size Comparison: So I hear the baby is the size of a romaine lettuce heart, but I also read baby is the size of a coconut. So maybe she’s as long as a romaine lettuce heart but as heavy as a coconut? Guys, I really wish I knew more about her :/ But these weird comparisons are all I have to go on!

Appointments: I have a prenatal on Friday, so I’m anticipating that. I have a few questions I want to ask, and some anxiety I need to get a handle on. Hopefully they can help with a few things, anyway. I’m looking forward to the appointment, because this was my last one that I would have to wait a month for! Smaller stretches from here on out!

How am I feeling emotionally: I think my mental health isn’t quite acing it recently. I didn’t realize that I was having a drop that way until recently. I haven’t seen my baby girl in an ultrasound for ten weeks, and while I know thats completely normal, and that I was totally spoiled in the beginning stretch of my pregnancy, seeing her so often, I’ve found myself in fear that something has changed, and we’ll miss it. I have no reason to actually think anything is wrong, but I do waste some time wondering. I don’t even know what I’m specifically worried that we’d “miss,” but I’m worried. Sigh. I’ve been entering a contest for the last few weeks to win a free 3D ultrasound. I had in 15 entries before they made the draw. There were only about 110 entries total. I was so hopeful, but of course, I didn’t win. That felt weirdly like a bigger hit than it should have been. I was kind of counting on that being my chance to see her again :/ But frankly, now, at 31 weeks, its likely to be a bit too late anyway. With Ro, I believe we had a 3D scan around 32 weeks and could barely see anything. So sadly, I think my chance to see my beautiful little miss has passed. Until she’s born, anyway. I’m bummed, and a little worried, but it’ll be ok. If you remember, the last time we had an ultrasound was around 21.5 weeks, and the printer was down. We finally went and asked for the pictures the other day. The tech and receptionist gushed and said they missed us so much. ❤ I miss them too. And seeing my baby. Here are the best pictures from the batch they gave us.

First is that glorious profile shot!

If you can see it, this is her little nose and mouth.

And a strong little leg!

Sigh. She is SO beautiful!

How am I feeling physically: Honestly, I feel good considering how far in I am. Sore and tired, but thats to be expected. Dare I say, I feel “normal?” I think I feel how I’m supposed to, anyway. My feet and legs get quite tired after a lot of walking, I have a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions when I move around too much (or at all.) I sleep hard but wake up to pee a lot. All the normal stuff. Nothing too crazy just yet. 

Wish Lish/Purchases: The most EXCITING purchase in the recent past is our new-to-us stroller!! I was dreaming of getting a nicer double stroller, but the ones that are SO nice are also SO expensive. Even if I had the money to fork over and buy a one new, I just couldn’t imagine doing it. (No burn on those who do, though! A good stroller counts for a LOT!) I’ve been watching Kijiji closely for a while now and I saw the exact stroller I was dreaming of! It was out of our budget, but it was the closest I had seen! I messaged the seller and poured over a very careful message that said I didn’t want to low-ball her, and I knew how expensive those strollers were, but if she decided to drop her price, I asked that she’d contact me first, please, before posting it online with a lower price. She responded how I secretly hoped she would, by giving me her lowest price, which we took! We are now the embarrassingly excited owners of a City Select double stroller!! Woot! I can’t wait to push my little ones around in a stroller that doesn’t feel like a shopping cart!! Still remaining on our wish list are some small things. I’m hoping to get my hands on a few soft, cloth headbands, with the twist in front, or something like that. Just soft little headbands. Also, a liner type thing to stretch over her car seat to make it a bit softer. I have a SUPER bright one that I don’t love, and my other grey one is beat up and threadbare. Lastly, I am in the market for a beater old garage fridge!! It seems like a dumb thing to include in the wish list of baby things, but I’m thinking ahead to the baby party and I need a fridge to store things in! We’ve needed a second fridge for quite a while, but we will need it for this summer! If anyone has an old second fridge they’re thinking of getting rid of, please get rid of it over here at our house! Or if you know of someone selling one for super cheap on garage sale day this weekend, please tip me off! That would make the baby party prep SO much easier than having to ask people to store stuff for us, and then running all over town to gather it all up on the day of. 

Pictures: Bumpity bumpity bump bump bump…

These were just taken freshly today by my girl, Cher. So they’re totally current! As is my cute shirt from H&M!

How are the kids feeling: Rowan (singing): My God is so BIG! He’s so STRONG and so MIGHTY! There’s nothing my God cannot do! Foooooor… (runs over to me and pokes my belly) YOU! 😭 Amen to that, Rowan! He’s totally right!

Getting to know the baby: I feel less and less like I know anything about her. I just want to confirm all of my suspicions with the real her when she’s born and here with us. I know that, often when I’m relaxed, she is relaxed. She slept through the drive home from Edmonton, just like I almost did. She only really got peppy once we tried to wake ourselves up with more upbeat music. Maybe she’ll be just like me. 

The BEST part of being pregnant: This weekend, I had a lot of fun ducking into a bunch of maternity stores and seeing what I could find. I think what I’m enjoying about being pregnant these days is that I’m somewhat “seasoned” at it, and things that might’ve bugged me in the past don’t bug me at all anymore. More so they make me laugh. In one Thyme Maternity location this weekend, I had an employee ask me how much longer I had left in my pregnancy. “Two months” I told her. She bugged her eyes out a bit and commented that I was already quite large. I wasn’t offended, and offered my usual “Oh, I know, but I’ve done this a few times before” answer, and we had a brief conversation about how a body remembers, and blah blah blah. I moved on and kept shopping. But thinking about it after the fact, I may have been pretty choked had someone said that to me in my first pregnancy. Also, from a totally shallow standpoint, I don’t look full term yet. Not at all. I do feel big, because my belly is big, as it should be. But not at all “full term” big yet. Nope. Just you wait until the end!! I had a good laugh with Jerilee later, realized juuust how off color her comment was, and how, as an employee at a maternity store, she should probably have known better than to comment on my size. But hey! At least she just said it to me! Hopefully she learns before she genuinely offends someone!!

Favourite thing: My favorite things is probably my U pillow. I own this beast of a pillow that is the shape of a long “U.” I’d take a picture, but I’ll admit that its yellowed a little and looks kinda nasty, and I’m embarrassed, lol! The bottom of the U works as my normal head pillow, and the sides run down around me. Its basically the length of a full body pillow on each side of me. The U pillow and I have a love/hate relationship because it is SO comfy and helps my body SO much. It makes rolling over so much easier because I don’t have to haul a pillow with me to arrange in between my legs, because there just happens to be one there already! I do not love how hot it gets in my pillow, and I also feel kind of isolated in it, haha! It sounds stupid, but its true. Its kind of limiting. But the fact that I get SO much more sleep when I use it cancels out the cons easily. I love that stinking thing! I highly recommend it!

Being that baby day is starting to feel like its actually going to come, and that the time crunch is on, I’ve begun the fun job of gathering a few things together for Bambina’s party! Mostly just decor so far. While I’ve tried to be as relaxed about the whole thing as possible, and keep it as simple as possible, I’m realizing that I at least need a ballpark idea of how many people are interested in coming! Not even committed, but interested. I know summer is a hard time to nail down schedules, and I know asking people to come out on a Saturday might be tricky, BUT I literally have no idea if we’ll have ten guests or a hundred guests. No clue. And I need to know a bit more specifically than that! I know some of you prefer to be quiet participants and don’t want me to know you read, and that is 100% your business! BUT! If you want to come, I need to know! Today, I’ll begin work on (and hopefully finish up) a Facebook event for her party. That way, you can know the dates and I can give you all my address without literally putting it out on the public blog. I don’t want to just add my entire friends list, so if you are even considering coming, PLEASE reach out to me somehow!! Like the post, comment here or on fb, message me, whatever you’d like to do! I need to start getting things together and some of them require rough numbers! Help me! And please help me celebrate my daughter when she comes. She is one anticipated little monkey and I just can’t wait for everyone else who loves her and is eagerly awaiting her arrival to come snuggle her at her party!!! PLEASE reach out, even if you’re just curious!