Week 32

This post is mega late because I kept forgetting to take pictures!  Nevertheless…here we go!

How Far Along: 32 weeks

Size of Baby: Babycenter says: “By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You’re gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she’ll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.“

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I’ve gained about 30 pounds so far. Honestly I haven’t been paying as close attention to my weight as I did in the beginning of the pregnancy. And I’m OK with that!

Maternity Clothes: What exactly are non-maternity clothes? I don’t really remember… I was organizing the basement last week and I came across all my jeans and pants from before pregnancy. I got very anxious to get back into them and get my old, much smaller body back. In time…

Gender: A healthy, little boy!

Movement: There has been so much movement lately! I love it all. I think one of my favorite things is to see him move from one side of my belly to the other. I have discovered he likes being warm! If my belly is uncovered, he stops moving. When I cover it up, especially with a fleece blanket, he gets excited and starts rolling and tumbling all over! I have started noticing him kneading me more and more. He’ll put pressure on a part of my belly, then release it, then put more pressure on me. I have been comparing this to the feeling I get when Tyler kneads me.

Food Cravings: Nothing really. This changes from week to week. There hasn’t been any one thing that I have said to myself “I must get that now!” lately. Though this kid does like the sugar. Some days that’s all he wants me to eat! I have to tell him no a lot, but sometimes I can’t be strong and I end up caving!

What I Miss: My prepregnancy figure! I was looking at pictures from a few summers ago and saw how little I actually was. I miss that. I have a feeling I’ll get back to it at some point. Now, however, Peanut wants me to be as big as a house. Ha!

I also miss being able to bend down and get back up without it being a national feat! I have to straighten at my job (you know, make sure the store looks all pretty) and when I have to straighten the bottom shelves or get down on my hands and knees to reach something, I feel like I need a forklift to make my way vertical again!

Sleep: Honestly, all things considered, I’m sleeping great! Some nights (like last night) I am up every 1-2 hours to use the bathroom, other nights I get up once (around 2:30a) to go. It’s so strange how it varies from day to day! I also am still enjoying my pillow! I’m wondering if I’m going to like sleeping without it once I have Peanut. I’m sure my husband won’t miss it taking up our bed…

Symptoms: HEARTBURN! It’s not all the time. In fact, it’s not as much as I’m probably making it out to be, but it’s definitely there. I have found I get it much worse when I’m laying down. Last night a couple times I woke up to the feeling that I was choking a little. Not a pleasant sensation to be awakened by.

My other, very weird, symptom is itchiness!!! At certain points in the day, my legs and arms get very itchy, especially when I’m taking a hot bath. Part of it may be due to dry skin (I’m horrible at moisturizing) but another part of it might be “pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP)”. Apparently, it’s common to have itchy skin during pregnancy, especially in the last trimester. I’m going to mention it to my doctor on Wednesday and just double check it’s all normal. I’m sure it is, but still. You can never be too careful, especially now, right?

Best Moment This Week: Getting some things taken care of for the nursery! I had a few extra days off after our vacation to Florida, and I took full advantage of them. I put the sheets on the crib, hung curtains (which I have to exchange because I got the wrong length like a dummy), and put together a little bookshelf complete with canvas storage bins. I have decided our colors are baby blue and bright green apparently. The curtains and a few of the bins are a really pretty green and, as you may remember, the walls are blue.

We still have to hang the shelving in the closet, put the dresser in the room, and hang pictures and decorations on the walls, but I’d say the room is about 50-75% done. I am hoping to have it as complete as I can by the shower so people can see the room for themselves.

What I Am Looking Forward To: My doctor’s appointment on Wednesday. It’s really nothing special I don’t think, but it’s my first two week appointment. I’m officially on biweekly appointments for the next month and then, gasp, weekly appointments! I’m not gonna lie…I’m still really freaked out about giving birth. If I’m being really honest, I’d say I’m really freaking out about being a parent in general, but I’m not focusing on the after part as much right now. I keep having fears about my water breaking while standing in an aisle talking to customers at work. I know people go into labor every day, but I wish I could pinpoint when my labor was going to start. In a perfect world, right?

I did realize that starting in week 36, I would be visiting the doctors weekly and they would be checking me for progress. Hopefully they will be able to give me a little insight into how my body is coming along…and if that’s not the case, I don’t want to know about it, because those thoughts gave me a little comfort which is all I’m looking for right now!!

Any Fun Gifts/Purchases Received/Made: We got the call last week that the dresser was here! Jeff and his brother went and picked it up yesterday and it is beautiful! All we have to do is move it into place in the nursery. One more thing checked off the list!

I plan to do a full nursery post later in the year once we get it as decorated as possible. I don’t know why, but I’m really not that great at decorating. I’m a perfectionist and if I can’t see the end result clearly, it’s hard for me to see any part of the planning process. I’m getting better and have a much easier time with smaller spaces, but still. Just keep an eye out and I promise I’ll have a walk through posted at some point. Have a great week everybody!

A New Wash of Color

Every new parent-to-be has to ask themselves that controversial question:  how do we decorate the baby’s room?  Luckily, my husband knows what’s good for him is very supportive of my opinions and let me take the reins on this project.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I immediately decided I wanted to decorate the room in neutral colors in case we got pregnant a second time with the opposite sex.  I love greens and yellows and browns and, after a few weeks of searching, found the most adorable bedding set to accommodate these colors.

(source)

I had decided I wanted a light brown room to compliment the bedding, but Jeff took one look at the bedding and suggested, OK demanded, blue.  I fought him at first, but ultimately decided he was right.  After all, one of the cheapest things to change in a bedroom is wall color.

We went to Lowes and got tons of paint samples, then hung them on the wall at home and compared them to the bedding.  Jeff looked at me and said, “what about green?”  So I trekked back to Lowes on my lunch break one day and got scads of green samples.  The minute I put them up against each other, I decided blue was the way to go.  Who would have thunk?  (This picture was taken after I had weeded out about 15 other blue paint samples.)

Monday started a long stretch of four days off for me, so I headed back to Lowes bright and early armed with my color choice.  I picked up two gallons of “River Mist” and one gallon of “Cream in my Coffee” for the closet.  It needed a face lift.  I also grabbed a few other necessities (tape, rollers, disposable trays) and headed back to the house to get started.  I don’t know about you, but I hate prep work.  Why can’t I just decide I want to paint and the room be prepped for me?

Jeff had moved all the furniture and other closet “treasures” (read: things I need to dispose of, but still hold on to just in case) out for me the night before,

so all I had to do was remove face plates, tape edges, and put down the plastic tarp.

Well, that and protect my phone with a Ziploc bag.  It works, people!

Finally, I began!  Ugh, edging first…

Side note: pre-pregnancy clothes + 27 week pregnant girl = psuedo redneck with a beer belly.  Just sayin’.

I slapped on the first coat and took a break to let it dry a bit.

Phew!  This painting thing is hard work on a preggo girl in 80º weather!

I ended up letting the paint dry overnight, then finishing it up Tuesday morning.  Then I got to work on the closet.  I had to remove the old shelving and spackle the holes.

Wednesday morning, I painted the closet, deciding two things:  that I had blindly picked out almost the exact same color the closet already was (no paint samples required) and painting small closets is kind of tricky!  You have to maneuver just right.

Finally, this morning, I was finished.  All I had to do was remove the tape, replace the outlet covers, and vacuum.  I have to say, I think it turned out great!

Stitch agrees.  She likes having a new space to lay.  She keeps wandering into the empty room and meowing.  Maybe she just likes to hear herself talk?

Finally, I grabbed the ottoman we picked up from Babies R Us this past weekend and placed it in the room.  It’s kind of a weird color, almost like a brownish sage.  Luckily, in the room it looks more brown than green!  I’m very pleased with the color, both of the room and the ottoman.

Now all we have to do is get the baby furniture purchased and placed in the room.  It’s coming together, slowly but surely!