33 weeks - Cole

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along : 33 weeks. Less than 50 days left!!! I'm kinda glad; I've been really feeling pregnant lately! Although I feel like there's so much to get done in 7 weeks!

Size of Baby :  ~4+" long & ~17+ lb. My apps tell me that he's almost as long as he'll be at birth, but still needs to almost double in weight. Yikes!

Total Weight Gain : ~ 20 lbs. I'm supposed to be gaining a weekly pound at this point, which would put me just past the 25 I was aiming for, but I'm not going to quibble over a couple pounds. Plus, they say the weight gain slows as due date nears, so I might end up right on target anyway.

Maternity Clothes :  100%. My over-belly bottoms aren't covering my belly all the way anymore. My under-belly bottoms and underwear are folding at the waist band b/c my belly goes straight out. I'm running low on shirts that cover the whole thing; it's going to be scandalous by the end of summer! ;-D

Best Moment This Week : Getting pre-registered at the hospital yesterday was nice. I love my ducks in a row, and that's a huge one to have taken care of. Also, I found out that in the 2 1/2 years since we were there to have Ash, they've made some slight changes - and I'm happy about all of them. They're working towards a "baby friendly" status, so things I had on my birth plan (delayed cord clamping, keeping baby with me as much as possible, etc) have become standard practice. They've closed down the nursery and come to your room to do assessments, bath, etc. And they let you have an hour for bonding before they come to do these things. I'm happy about that, and will have to sit down with my birth plan and make a couple changes since some of the things I had on there as exceptions don't need to be treated as such. Yay! I'm a rule follower at heart, so bucking the system is hard for me. I'm relieved that the new standards line up so much with my desires for labor and postpartum care.

Gender : It's a boy! We're having small group at our house tonight, so I'm hoping to get some manly assistance in getting the bed out of the nursery and into the basement. We also picked up a glider from some friends in small group, which means we can move the cozier one from Ash's room into Cole's room. That's the one I'll be spending hours in over the next year, so comfort is key. Ash's is JUST for bedtime stories. Also, Josh has a 4 day weekend coming up (July 4th), so I can probably talk him into putting the crib together then. I kinda "forgot" about finishing the roman shade for the room for a while, so I did a little more work on those this week and should be ready to hang by next weekend too. It's all coming together :)

Movement : Generally Cole stays with his feet in the upper right. One evening this week he had switched and was kicking me in the upper left. Suddenly he started moving like crazy ALL OVER my belly, and I couldn't figure out what he was doing till he finally settled back into his favorite position. All that movement at once was him trying to reposition himself. Funny boy :)

Also, when I sleep at night, he tends to settle into the side I'm lying on. This is mostly fine except that when I wake, my ribs hurt from his feet being wedged in there. And I always roll to the other side when I wake, which causes him to freak out a little bit before he settles back into the new side.

Food Craving :  Sweets. Chocolate. I've been bad again this week, with a milkshake, cookie dough, ice cream and LOTS of iced tea. But the fruit is all in season, so I'm trying to temper that craving with fresh melon, cherries, pears, etc most days. Also I've been craving chicken. Ash and I ate through an entire rotisserie chicken by ourselves in just over 2 days, after we'd already had grilled chicken earlier in the week and Chick-fil-A twice, and we took out half another chicken today for lunch! I'm pretty sure Cole is having growth spurts every few days, and this could explain the sudden need for more calories (I've been ravenous lately) and especially protein.

What I Miss Most : Being able to move at speed. We ran errands on Wednesday, and it took almost twice as long as I'd planned b/c my hip was hurting and I could only move at a snail's pace. Two toddlers and a sore pregnant lady are a slow group! (Unless you call the boys race cars, and suddenly they're off! That's my new trick for when I need them to travel at an adult pace.)

Sleep : same. I'm waking 1-2 times a night to pee, and 1-2 more to roll over. I tried to sleep with just a couple pillows instead of the pregnancy pillow this week, but in the wee hours the second night I gave up and put my pregnancy cocoon back in bed. It really is the most comfy way to sleep. Sometimes when I'm lounging on the couch downstairs, I miss it :) Sometimes when I'm comfy in my cocoon, I miss my husband. It will be nice to finally be done with it in a couple months.

What I Am Looking Forward To : Saturday morning, we're getting together with Mark & Melissa & fam to do our (postponed) mutual photo shoot at Garden of the Gods. I've picked out coordinating (not matching) outfits for us to wear, and I'm excited to use my camera. I forget to pull it out for the day-to-day stuff a lot, so it'll be nice to actually use it. Though I have a feeling it'll be getting a LOT of use in a couple months, eh? I'm slightly nervous about the shoot too just b/c I got my haircut today. I got bored/brave and asked for bangs, but I haven't had time to get used to them yet and can't decide how I like them. But like them or not, they'll be in tomorrow's pics!

Saturday night, Josh & I have a babysitter booked and reservations at the Melting Pot to celebrate our tenth anniversary. I can't wait! I know I'm going to have to take extra Zantac and might regret it afterwards anyway, but we LOVE the Melting Pot! I'm looking forward to the laid back, slow eating & atmosphere. Each course is "my favorite", so it's gonna be fun.

Belly Button : Getting pretty close to all the way out. You can see part of the scar that is usually the very inside of my belly button. Unfortunately for symmetry obsessed Nelly, it is NOT popping symmetrically. Aaaaah! :-D

Symptoms : Pretty much the same, but everything is getting worse. Indulging in my cravings despite the threat of reflux has caused a couple days of max dose Zantac & Tums. If moving slowly was an Olympic sport, I'd be winning the gold! Exhaustion has set back in full force. I am eating tiny portions all day long to try to keep up with Cole's caloric needs and the increase in my hunger with such a tiny stomach. Aching is just a way of life now. The lightheadedness hits anytime I exert myself or go too long w/o food. 

Newer symptoms include very loose & consequently very sore hips (especially the left), sore boobs (hello collostrum!), and overheating when I exercise. 

The overheating, lightheadedness, and hips have convinced me to give up some of my favorite exercise classes in favor of some aqua classes at the gym. I'll go to my favorite Body Pump class on Monday one last time, then I'll be taking classes like "Aqua Athletics", "Gentle Aqua", and "Aqua Zumba".

Compared to last time : Pretty much the same. This week I've felt particularly "pregnant", aching and struggling. But objectively the symptoms all line up.

I wore the same shirt on purpose for a closer comparison :)