28 wks (2ds)

(Note: though I am posting this on 28wks 4ds, I actually wrote this on 28wks 2ds)

Oh 28 weeks! There's argument about when the 3rd trimester starts - some say 27 wks, some say 28 wks, I think officially it's around 27.3 weeks - just like the 2nd trimester, but I'm going to say it started last week, just because I started my 2nd at 13 and not 14. Yay for consistency! To celebrate our 3rd trimester Jason and I have gotten serious about this baby being here in the next three months. We started our childbirth classes! Wednesday was our first one and it was pretty informative! We learned that to introduce our cats to Bebe we should bring 2 washcloths with us to the hospital and rub them on the baby before putting them in a plastic bag and have someone bring them back to our house at some point before we bring her home and let the cats each have one and to smell it and get used to this new scent that will be coming into our lives. Apparently I'm also releasing someone hormone scent they can smell that lets them know I'm pregnant - which would definitely explain the way Daisy Belle follows me around like I'm made of kitty treats. It will apparently get stronger as I get closer to delivering, meaning Daisy will be even more attached to me then. Interesting! Also learned about the 5-1-1 rule for when I start going into labor (don't go to the hospital until contractions are less than 5 minutes apart, lasting for at least 1 minute each, consistently for 1 hour). The other couples in our class are also super nice. There are 5 couples, so it's a nice, small class which I like. Of course, we completely failed the first pop quiz of lamaze. Since I registered on line I just had the barest information of the class. Someone from Winnie Palmer called me to collect my payments and gave me directions to the building, but that was it. So we get there... and all 4 other couples have like, 5 pillows. And we didn't. Apparently you were told to bring pillows when you aren't anti-social like me and call for your appointment as opposed to doing it on line. Oops? So when everyone did their floor exercises I sat on the couch and glared at Jason as he tried to fill in the blanks in my workbook with smartass answers. Fortunately this is a 4 week class, so I have a chance of redemption for next Wednesday!

I also had my 28wk Dr's appt yesterday and it was the last of my monthly appointments! From now on I will be going every other week - starting November 1. This week was also my dreaded Glucose Challenge Screening. I was fortunate enough to not be going to a Dr who requires you to fast. This would be more ideal if I wasn't spazzing out about what to eat before my appointment since, in my typical fashion, I of course looked up "what to eat before Glucose Challenge" and saw everyone saying "no bread, no fruit, no dairy, etc" and "high protein - eggs and ham" and "don't forget to eat because if your blood sugar is too low it will mess up your numbers!" Why is this bad? Because I HATE eggs and ham. I will not eat them in a box, I will not eat them with a fox. Mostly eggs. Everything about eggs makes me nauseous (this has always been the case. I have TRIED to like and eat eggs, but they just make me gag) - the smell, the taste, the sight, the idea of where they come from and what they are... all of it. I can only handle them in baking and in chinese food where I can't taste or smell them. Even with French Toast it has to be made right because if I can taste the eggs it ruins it for me. Anyways, ham isn't AS bad. But I still prefer bacon (which we didn't have) and just am not that big a fan of ham. So I wake up and I'm FREAKING out because I have NOTHING to eat. So I end up taking Jason's tavern ham lunch meat and frying a few slices in a pan and munching on that so I had something. It was gross. It was even worse because I had a cinnamon roll sitting in my fridge staring me in the face and mocking me. So we get to the Dr's and they give me THE Orange Drink. The one I have heard such horror stories about. The bane of pregnant women's existence. The evil one. I'm told I have 10 minutes to drink it, so I nod and steel myself... and gulp it all down in under a minute. I have to confess? It was not that bad. I was prepared to drink some syrupy sweet concoction that made me gag and vomit. It tasted exactly like flat orange soda. And while I'm not a huge fan of orange soda in general, I can tolerate it. So it was no big deal. After finishing it I couldn't eat or drink for an hour, so Jason and I chilled out. I got to see the Dr (my regular Dr was on vacation so I saw another Dr I've seen a couple times there who I really like) and she measured me (I'm measuring exactly 28 weeks!) and found Bebe's little heartbeat (147bpm). We talked a bit about Delayed Cord Clamping (which I'm very interested in, since we are not banking cord blood) and I was really happy to hear that she had done it several times and most Dr's in the practice didn't have any problem adhering to that wish (provided it is a normal childbirth with no complications that require immediate action and I haven't received pitocin, which I am wanting to avoid like the plague). After that successful appt I read my Kindle while Jason played on his iPhone until I was called back to have my blood drawn. I'll receive my results within the week! Wish me luck because I love my chocolate way way too much to be on any sort of GD diet!

And yet ANOTHER exciting development of week 28 is that Jason and I have FINALLY started painting the nursery!!! And by "Jason and I" I mean "Jason" is painting the nursery while I am watching and typing this up. Poor Jason's first ever painting project on his own has been complicated by the color/pattern that I want but he's doing a BEAUTIFUL job despite the stresses of leveling and painters tape. I am so excited for it!! I have an appointment scheduled for our crib/dresser combo to be delivered and set up Friday the 28th as well! Once all that is done I can begin my favorite part: DECORATING. I'm going to resist posting pictures of our Nursery progress until it's all done and then I'll do a big nursery reveal post with lots of pictures of the before, during and after process. So stay tuned!!

This week Bebe is almost 15" and weighs 2 1/4 lbs. - making her equal in weight to a Chinese Cabbage. As for me? I'm +16 lbs. from pre-pregnancy and weigh as much as a LOT of Chinese Cabbages. I know it's for an amazing reason, but it's really freaky to get on the scale sometimes since I'm not used to being happy to see my weight go up, and have (usually) been good about keeping a consistent weight. I still have jeans from High School, for example (actually, my "fat jeans" from my Junior year of High School I can still button even now. But, to be fair, these jeans have had 10 years to stretch out and become really baggy. My skinny jeans no longer fit). I'm trying not to think about it until after she is born, and then I can focus on it. But back to Bebe! She can BLINK now! Which isn't intentional, so much as it is reflexive, but it is still exciting. She also has EYELASHES and my fingers are crossed that she inherited them from her daddy (who has gorgeous, to die for, eyelashes). Her brain is continuing to develop billions of neurons (that she is hopefully also inheriting from her daddy) and her body is beginning to fill out as she puts on some baby fat to make her all cute and chubby. But not too chubby. Mommy doesn't want to push out a 10 lb. baby.