33wks (6ds)... barely

Guys it was Thanksgiving. You have to cut me some slack. I know I say this all the time, but this week really has been non stop. Aren't the holidays always? You will probably be lucky if I post at all around Christmas. Anyways, I started Week 33 on Thanksgiving day. The day before I'd cooked and cleaned and bemoaned the poor abused state of my back. And Thanksgiving day had Jason and our two little furbabies traveling down to Sunrise with my Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins for Thanksgiving dinner 1 (T1, from now on) and my Sweet Potato Casserole for Thanksgiving dinner 2 (T2). After dropping off the girls at Jason's house and unloading our luggage we zipped over to my Mom's house where 16 of us gathered around to say what we were thankful for and eat Turkey shaped cakepops from my sister (okay, so there was actual turkey and other yummy things there as well, but cakepops, c'mon). After enjoying T1 and socializing a bit - not to mention coercing Bebe to finally move for her future Great Grandma's and her Aunt Lilly - Jason and I bid adieu and headed back over to his parents' for T2 where 12 of us gathered around to nosh on turkey and my sweet potatoes and other amazing dishes. Jason's aunt even made me an AMAZING Chocolate Truffle Pie (that I swear tastes JUST like eating a Lindt truffle) for my birthday (which isn't until the 5th of December, but we celebrated then!). All in all? It was a super successful Turkey day and Bebe and I were satiated and content!

The next morning Jason and I got up early and headed over to my mom's to get ready for my family's 3rd annual Thanksgiving Weekend Key West Vacation! My mom, Stepdad, sisters, brother-in-law, sister's boyfriend, Jason and I (that's 10 of us) all head down to Key West to relax and enjoy. If by relaxing you mean bar crawling across Key West, which I do. Well, they bar crawled, I snacked. Cheese fries, ice cream, key lime pie, and lots of water. LOTS of water. Before we left we joked that they'd get me a wheel chair for all the walking and somehow get to the front of the line. I nixed the wheel chair idea. I'm pregnant, not an invalid. However I DID end up getting to the front of every line I went into. Bathroom line, that is. Something about an 8 months pregnant lady with a hand on her back and a pained look on her face spurns the charity of half drunk bar patrons so that even the bartenders and waitresses let me go before them. But I survived, mostly! And made every day 7am to 7pm, which is when my energy evaporated and Jason would take me home so I could curl up in bed in exhaustion and moderate pain. Of course, two days of non stop walking and I didn't swell up once. Stop at a local restaurant/bar in Islamorada and our incompatent waiter leaves us sitting in the sweltering sun for an hour and only refilled our drinks once (when I flagged him down) before we got our food and I couldn't even get my feet in my sandals they were so badly swollen. It was awful and took a whole 24 hours before I finally felt normal again.

After the keys Jason went back to O-Town but I stayed with my mom in Sunrise for a few days. We set up Christmas on Monday. And by "we" set up Christmas I mean "my mom" set up Christmas while I occasionally wandered around and poked at things. Then I met up with one of my good friends from Middle School and her adorable daughter! We spent about 4 hours catching up and she gave me some amazing pregnancy advice (and a dvd!). It was so so so great catching up with long lost friends and it almost felt like it hadn't been nearly a decade since we'd hung out. On Tuesday I went with my mom and stepdad to get my mom a (as my sisters put it) "ballin'" new car and then decorated the Christmas tree when my sisters arrived (along with hot cocoa and snippets of the VS fashion show). This morning mom and I made our way up to Orlando where we immediately started organizing Bebe's nursery and figuring out where to put blankets and toys and things! I still have so much to wash, but I can do that on my own. Tomorrow we're going shopping for more essentials too! Clearly you all can see why I have neglected this until the last possible hour, yes? I knew you'd understand.

So how has this week treated me? So glad you asked. Bebe is definitely definitely DEFINITELY head down. The constant pressure on my bladder? Check. The flutters of little fists against my hip area? Check. The sudden sharp stabbing pain in my lower pelvis? God check, check, triple check. As I type this she is flailing around and making it so uncomfortable to sit up straight. Of course the pain in my lower back makes it uncomfortable to slouch. And the Acid Reflux makes it uncomfortable to lay down. Win, win, win! Last night I made the mistake of eating garlic rolls. Let me tell you. They taste so so much better when they're in your stomach as opposed to your esophagus. But even despite all of the discomfort and Bebe's single minded determination to make me as uncomfortable as possible, I still am loving being pregnant. I love feeling her move (even when it hurts) and I love knowing that she is active and well and full of personality even as a fetus. When she's out of me I know I'm going to miss this.

Appropriately for this week spent in the Keys, Bebe is about 4.25 lbs. which makes her the size of a pineapple! She's also about 17.25 inches long as well, which makes it slightly more reasonable as to why she is kicking and punching everything she can reach. I would too if I was 17.25" and stuck in my stomach. The waxy vernix coating is thickening and she's now lost almost all of her lanugo (that fine, downy hair) as she's putting on baby fat to round herself out. Her bones are also hardening more, although the plates in her skull won't fuse together so that they can overlap in order to pass through the birth canal (this is why babies sometimes have a conehead appearance after they're born). Fun fact: your skull doesn't actually fully fuse until early adulthood so that they can grow along with your brain through infancy and childhood. And, whew, I cannot believe I actually finished this!

32 wks (4ds)

This was a busy busy week!! And, I won't lie, I could have written this Thursday but I have had like no motivation to do anything except sleep lately. Even now I'm staring at the computer screen trying to think of words to type because pregnancy has turned my brain to mush. But there's so much to talk about!! Like my fantastic BABY SHOWER that I had last weekend!!! My sisters hosted (with a lot of help from my fabulous mother) and it was absolutely perfect. It was Nursery Rhyme themed and all the food and decorations (that my sister drew free handed) reflected that. A bunch of family and friends came and it was just a wonderful day. Bebe was SO SPOILED! She seriously got so many amazing things through everyone's generosity and I could be any more grateful. Other important events this week was our 32 week Doctor's visit on Wednesday. Once again Bebe is hitting all those textbook markers that make me and my Dr very happy and I was given the All Clear to go home for Thanksgiving and to Key West for my family vacation! Wednesday was also our Basic Infant Care class and I came home with a pile of notes to page through while Jason tried to stay awake in it. Then on Friday my sister, Kali, came down and we were joined by my other sister, Kirsty, on Saturday. Their purpose? To help me prepare for my Maternity pictures that the weather FINALLY allowed me to have taken yesterday!!! Let me just start by saying that Lindsay (@ You Are The Roots) is amazing, and she's been around to document all of Jason's and my big events (engagement and wedding, now pregnancy!), so this event was no exception. Kirsty helped me pull my look together and came up with some cute ideas, Kali did my hair and make up, and away we went up to the adorable town of Mount Dora to find a little park with a beautiful lake and some gorgeous trees. The entire shoot was super easy going and fun, like it always is with Lindsay, and even though I've only seen one preview from the set I am SO EXCITED since it's gorgeous!!

So busy week leads to an EXHAUSTED Katie. And not just because it's been Go-Go-Go. Friday night I couldn't sleep and only got about 4 hours of it, and then Saturday night the same thing. I ended up falling asleep on the couch at 2am and waking up at quarter to 6am to get ready. Of course as soon as Jason and I got home I ate a bit and then passed out for another 4 hours. It's frustrating because everyone tells you when you're pregnant to sleep when you can, but when you just CAN'T sleep it makes you so angry at all the advise you get to sleep! I'd LOVE to sleep more, because that's pretty much all I want to do. But between my back hurting, my acid reflux, my restless legs, my insomnia, my gigantic stomach, and my need to pee every couple hours? Sleep is just sitting off in the corner laughing at me and telling me that this is practice for when Bebe gets here. Everything just feels like it's in overdrive lately, including my Reflux and aches and pains (back, ribs, hips, etc). But most of all? Pregnancy Brain. I am so overly ADD right now, noticeable by the fact that I started this entry last night. I really hope I don't just decide to flop down on a bed in Key West and sleep my entire vacation away, but oh my goodness does that sound like the best idea ever right now.

Bebe! Bebe is fantastic. I swear she's an octopus and all my ultrasounds missed her 4 other appendages. In the car on the way to my photo shoot I swear she was playing a game and trying to see how many internal organs she could assault at the same time. The answer: all of them. The best news with her is that, according to the Dr, he believes she is now HEAD DOWN! YAY! This is awesome for birth, but now she's taken to using my bladder as a pillow and that is much less exciting. She also gets the hiccups ALL. THE. TIME. And she really really hates them, because after a minute of them she starts flailing about, kicking whatever she can, and doesn't calm down until they stop. Fortunately they don't seem to last long. She's also still growing, somehow, because it doesn't feel like there's much room in there. She's almost 17" at this point, and about 4 lbs - which makes her as big as a large jicama (image included because, lol if I know what a jicama is). She's going to be gaining about 1/3 to 1/2 of her birthweight in the next 7 weeks, and her skin is starting to smooth out those wrinkles as the weight I'm gaining (I'm +19 lbs. total this week) goes towards fattening her up. She now has toenails and fingernails too! And apparently she is now supposed to have real hair but, lol, she's had plenty of hair since well before 29 weeks so I can't even begin to imagine how much hair she'll actually have when she's born. Yeti child.

Preview from my Maternity shoot! (© Hearts & Crafts photography)


A couple seconds of hiccups, and Bebe reacting to them

Kirsty's adorable decorations. Jack & Jill going up the hill and all the characters from Hey Diddle Diddle! (There was also a Humpty umpty on a wall with the Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars and a Mother Goose elsewhere on the walls)

Spread of food. "This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef" sandwich platters, "Three Blind Mice" cheese and fruit platter, "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" pumpkin bread, "Humpty Dumpty" deviled eggs, etc.

The dessert table

The rhyme that inspired the cake!

Kirsty made amazing sheep cake pops as party favors! Mary's Little Lamb and the Baa Baa Black Sheep

Me in my chair of honor!

My grandma - Bebe's Great Grandma! - and I

My mom and I

My dad and I

My sisters and I

31 wks

What is missing from this title? The amount of days past my weekly update, that's what. Mostly-on-time post! GO ME. If I finish this in the next half hour, at least. But it's really important I do this tonight because I won't have any time this weekend. Why won't I have time? Because it's my BABY SHOWER! My mom and 2 of my sisters are driving to my house tomorrow and they're going to Nursery-Rhyme-ify it for my Mother Goose themes shower. I'm so excited I can't even stand it!! It's been a pretty slow week though, after the excitement of the past few weeks. Jason and I finished our Preparation for Childbirth series of classes this week, and I'm excited that two other couples from our class will be in our Basic Infant Care class this coming Wednesday. Aside from that though I haven't been very exciting. I've shuffled my way through laundry and have excitedly answered the door for the UPS man to drop off awesome packages that I'll include pictures of at the end! Not all the packages were for Bebe though. The dress I ordered for my shower came in and actually fit! As well as the gifts I ordered to send to my final Secret Stork (I have 3, I know, I may have gone overboard. But! That means 3 Secret Stork gifts, and she's received some seriously cute stuff). But probably my most favorite package of all? Notice anything different in my weekly belly photo? How about the phone that I am taking the picture with is WHITE? Yes. Yes it's true. After 3 years of waiting I have finally received my white iPhone. And she is beautiful and amazing and I am playing with it and terrified that I am going to drop it whenever I pick it up. Also, talking to Siri is my new hobby. And now I finally have a phone where my wallpaper can be Bebe!!

And let's talk about Bebe. At 31 weeks I am now in my 8th month (what what what whaaaat?) and Bebe is around 3.3 lbs and roughly the weight of a squash. She's a little over 16" long as well, but about to hit a growth spurt (yay...) to plump out more. She can now turn her head side to side, which is weird because I thought she could do that already, but I guess not! Apparently at this time babies are very active which OH MY GOD is so true. I feel like she is moving all the time these days (unless I am around other people, then she's sleeping, apparently), and her favorite thing to do is ball up all the way over on my right side so it bulges out weirdly and it hurts me to move. Thanks sweetheart. Bebe also doesn't seem to understand that mommy's ribs serve a purpose and that the purpose isn't Bebe's personal jungle gym. I'm pretty sure she's still in a Transverse Lie position based on where I'm feeling her move, but my Dr said he won't be concerned until 36 weeks. That gives her 5 weeks to move and I am praying she does. Yes, because it will not make a c-section necessary, but also because she's making me really really uncomfortable in this position! Especially right after I eat. There's no room for my stomach, my lungs, my ribs and my baby. Right now the score is - Bebe: 1,435, Mommy's Organs: 0.

Travel highchair that clips on to tables, Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether and a stuffed giraffe from Bebe's Aunt Amanda!

Hooded towel and matching mitt with a sage trim, a bath sponge, and a bunch of squirty bath toys from my 2nd Secret Stork!

A soft striped blanket and a bronze Bunny Bank from my 1st Secret Stork! (since I never posted a pic of this on here)

30 wks (3ds)

30 weeks. This means I can officially enter a reasonable weekly countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7... Oh my God how did it get this close? Even though when I break it down it still seems like so far away. I get the feeling I'll get to week 39 and it'll still seem like so close yet so far. Probably more so now because I'm definitely feeling being in the 3rd trimester and my energy is slowing down like whooaaa. I just feel very tired most of the time, and finding the motivation to go about the day is getting difficult when compared with my increasing desire to curly up on the couch with a blanket and my bowl of leftover Halloween candy. The other day I expended my decreasing energy reservoir to make chicken piccata and when faced with a kitchen full of dishes from the endeavor I wanted to cry and ended up going "I'll sit down until I feel less exhausted and then do them and go to bed," which I kept saying for hours as I mindlessly watched FoodNetwork reruns and nodded off on the couch until 3am when I finally had enough energy to force myself to get up and do it. Though yesterday I managed 6 hours at Epcot Food & Wine! I collapsed onto the couch as soon as I got home and today I feel like a zombie, but I'm super proud that I still manage to walk Epcot. Even if it took 6 hours to walk all of Epcot once. We did get to hang out with our friends and their ADORABLE baby, who made Jason's day when she fell asleep on him while he was holding her and let him carry her around the park until we left. It was totally worth the inability to move his arm later that night, since it was all he talked about for hours.

Aside from Epcot, which was clearly the week's highlight, Jason and I picked a pediatrician! I feel so much better now that I can cross that off my list. We both really liked her and felt very comfortable when we interviewed her, so I think Bebe will like her too. At least, like her when she isn't being given shots by her. Our Childbirth class was also really informative this past week too and we learned about possible labor interventions and our instructor answered tons of questions I had. Even Jason left the class and said he liked it, which he hasn't yet. He likely liked it more because it involved playing with forceps and epidural tubes and not giving me a massage and coaching me on breathing. Tuesday was also my 30 week Doctor's appointment! It went excellently. Blood pressure is good, Bebe's heartbeat is good (140s), urine is negative, weight gain is good (+18 lbs), and baby bump is measuring right on track. I'm so happy that everything is looking good and textbook, since I'm still harboring a deep seeded paranoia that something is bound to go wrong since it's been so easy after the terror of trimester 1. Positive thoughts though!! And I have a lot to be positive about. Like Wednesday is my last of my 4 week Preparation for Birth classes and we're all bringing in food for a pre "birth"day party. And then Friday my mom and sisters come up to get ready for my shower. AND SATURDAY IS MY BABY SHOWER!!! I'm so excited!!! I've been looking forward to this for months!

And, after months of waiting for this, I will be able to spend the next few months waiting for Bebe. Because Bebe only has 2 1/2 more months until she's here!! At 30 weeks she is almost 16" long and weighs as much as a head of cabbage (not to be confused with Chinese Cabbage from a few weeks ago. Regular cabbage is apparently heavier), which is about 3 lbs. She's surrounded by a pint and a half of amniotic fluid that I'm keeping up with by drinking water all the time. Seriously, it's probably a good thing that I don't like soda and most juice because all I WANT to drink is plain water. But the fluid volume will decrease as she gets bigger and displaces it. Her eyesight is also developing, but it won't be very good for a while and even after she's born it'll be about 20/400. If she gets my eyes it will revert to that prescription pretty fast though. Sorry Bebe.