February 2018 Bumpdate

How is it that we only have like 3 +/- weeks left?!? It absolutely blows my mind that we will be meeting our little girl literally any day now. The road to parenthood as been a long and hard one for us (In case you missed it, I also posted the first installment in our infertility / IVF journey that you can read HERE) and it’s so crazy to believe that we will actually have a sweet daughter very very soon. It’s still something that is a bit abstract to me, to think that we’ve created this tiny human that will soon change our lives forever. But my goodness, we can’t wait to meet her.

This past month has gone by both quickly and slowly. We had our maternity photos done with my lovely friend Karisa of Petite Modern Life/Wander Design + Photography and I just LOVE how they turned out! She is seriously talented and made my massively pregnant self look so good <3 We’ve also made a TON of progress on the nursery – almost done, just artwork to put up and some storage to put together! It’s seriously adorable and by far the most complete room in our new house haha. We also took a little Babymoon weekend away to our favorite boutique hotel on the water for a little bit of R&R before baby girl makes her arrival. It was really nice to have that special time with Nate before she gets here!

Due Date: March 23rd, 2018 <3

How Far Along: 37 weeks! :O

How I’m Feeling: Soooo tired. Haha. I’m really trying to conserve my energy and only doing things that are absolutely necessary to prepare for baby girl’s arrival (thus the lack of posts on this blog) but even with just doing the bare essentials, I just have zero left in me by the end of the day! Nate has been such a lifesaver by doing things for me, or making dinner when he gets home after a long day of work himself. I don’t know what I would do without him! I also feel a lot of pelvic pressure and stretching as she moves around in there, which ranges from mildly inconvenient to almost painful. Man. The end of pregnancy is no joke! Literally so uncomfortable most of the time. Good thing she’s worth it! haha 😉

Cravings/Aversions: Any and all liquids – milk, juice, lemonade, tea, coffee, ice water, you name it, I want it! It’s pretty easy to stay hydrated when all the liquids in the world sound good! I find my body craving even more protein as I finish growing this human and gearing up to give birth. And then of course any and all sweet things are still my jam. Mmmm, jam. 😀

Sleep: Sleep is still elusive. It’s gotten slightly better and I only find myself getting up 2-3 times a night instead of like 12, but my sleep quality is still poor, I’m always uncomfortable, and I wake up like every 2 hours or less to readjust. Ah well. Just a few more weeks and then I won’t be sleeping because I’ll have an adorable baby to tend to!

Weight Gain: I’ve kind of lost track, but I think my total is up close to 30lbs. My body decided to save all the weight gain for the end, I guess. Hah. And OMG the swelling – my poor fingers and feet are so tight an uncomfortable.

Gender: We posted a gender reveal a while back, and we are having a GIRL!

Name: We have decided on one, but we aren’t telling the internet at large yet 😛 I’m in love with her name – it’s beautiful and feminine, but not too girly, and unique without being weird. <3

How Big Is Baby: She’s around 19 inches and close to 6 lbs, or the size of a papaya or romaine lettuce if you want a fruit and vegetable size haha. So crazy to think she’s just about full grown and is just packing on the weight now. Gah!

Bump: Ohhh, this bump of mine. So big, so round, so tight. Bending over is virtually impossible unless I do the splits hah. My OB says she’s head down and I think she’s dropped a bit, so I feel like I look even bigger. Loving the last few weeks though of having her on the inside – I can tell when she’s sticking her feet out, or where her little bum is and it’s just so cute and cool to be able to picture her all curled up and ready to meet the world!

Baby’s Movement: Her movement schedule has shifted a bit – now she’s most active between like 5-9pm and man, does she move. Lots of feet kicking, shifting, bum wiggling, and more. I love prodding my belly and feeling her react and tracing the outline of her little feet as they press into me. Luckily she’s still been pretty non-active at night, so hopefully she keeps that trend going once she’s on the outside!

Fave Baby Purchase/Gift So Far: People were so insanely generous at my baby shower at the beginning of this month! Baby girl is stocked with adorable outfits, cozy blankets, and more stuffed llamas than she’ll know what to do with 🙂 All the tiny clothes and shoes and swaddles are so cute! And my sister-in-law handmade an awesome crochet blanket of the boardgame Settlers of Catan map and it’s so cool. People are too kind and this girl is already so spoiled!!

What I’m Excited For: To hold her in my arms. I’ve spent so long dreaming about this moment, and it’s so amazing and miraculous that that moment will soon be here. I just want to take her in my arms and hold her close, smell that newborn smell and look into her eyes. And I’m so excited to see Nate become a daddy – he’s seriously the best, most amazing, thoughtful, loving, caring man in the world and I know that our little girl is gonna have him wrapped around her finger. <3

What I’m Nervous/Anxious About: Giving birth. Hah. Now that it’s down to go-time, I’m starting to freak a little about the process. It’s a total unknown for me (seeing as I haven’t given birth before), so it’s hard to know what it will really be like, what will happen, how it will go down, etc. I just want a healthy baby girl and a healthy mama! So I’m trying to trust God and let go of control because I know things will never go according to my plans anyway! Hah!

The next time I post, it’ll likely be baby girl’s birth story! Eep! Please pray for me and for her, friends!