39 week pregnancy update

I never never thought I would be 39 weeks pregnant, still updating you on my pregnancy, and still not holding my baby girl in my arms! Have you ever heard the saying, “Be careful what you wish for!”. Well that saying is definitely for me right now, I’ve prayed so many times and so has my family for a healthy full term baby. It definitely looks like I’m going to get that! I had my cerclage taken out exactly 1 week ago and even the DR told me, go walk around, and you’ll probably go into labor in the next couple days. My 39 week DR appointment is now tomorrow and he swore that I wouldn’t even make it to that point. My mom even took all last week off because we thought for sure as soon as the cerclage got taken out, it would cause me to dilate and baby girl would be on her way. Well we couldn’t be more wrong! Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy and grateful to have carried full term but at the same time I’m so anxious and ready to meet her. Every day I wake up all I can think of is, “OMG I’m still pregnant!!”. Every little pain or cramp gets me excited, all I can think of is “Oooh this is it”! But no nothing! I can’t call my husband, I can’t call my mom, because every time I call anybody they think I’m calling to let them know I’m in labor. And then don’t get me started with the phone calls and text messages everyday asking me if I’m in labor. That’s almost more frustrating then anything else with this pregnancy, I’m getting so tired of people asking me how I’m feeling. I just want to be like don’t worry I will let you know when I go into labor, if anything all this asking is just making things worse and giving me more anxiety. I’m trying so hard to not stress about still being pregnant, I know that when baby girl decides to make her grand entrance it will be perfect and it will all work out! She will come on her own time when she’s nice and ready.

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When I look at all my 38-39 week pregnancy pictures I can definitely tell how tired I am

Lets get back to having my cerclage removed….holy moly it hurt like a b*tch!!! I had read other woman’s blogs who were also high risk and some woman said it didn’t hurt while others did say it was painful. Well I was in the group that thought it was painful! It probably didn’t help that the DR couldn’t find the 2nd tie and so he had to reinsert the speculum and “search” around. When you are 9 months pregnant you are already so sore in that area and so to have the DR messing around up there is just pure torture. I had my husband go with me for moral support and boy am I glad that I did! I was squeezing my husbands hand as tears rolled down my cheeks. There was just so much pressure and it felt like the worlds longest pap smear. When the DR was finally done I had a little bit of bleeding but mainly felt so exhausted, the DR told me to go walk around to get things “started” but I literally was so tired and needed to go lay down. I swear that little procedure took so much out of me physically. It’s funny because I was reading some peoples stories and they talked about how they started dilating hours after the procedure and went into labor that night, so in my mind I was thinking that was going to be me too! I felt like I was going to stand up and right away start dilating from all the weight haha! Well that definitely didn’t happen! My husband even called me later that day asking if I went for a walk and if I felt like labor was starting. A big fat NOPE!! I just had a really bad headache and wanted to sleep! That night my mom even made sure to have both her cell phone and house phone next to her bed just in case I called them! Well this little girl has a mind of her own and is waiting for us all to be caught off guard!

That weekend we took the kiddos on the Polar Express train ride. The train is about 45 minutes away from my house which makes it about an 1hr and a 1/2 from the hospital. I definitely was nervous driving all the way but I felt fine before we left. If I had the slightest bit of cramping I would have stayed home or had someone else take the kiddos. The other couples we were going with joked that I was going to go into labor on the train ride so the whole time I was like please don’t let my water break or anything happen! We had never done the polar express ride before so we had no idea what exactly to expect, all I know is that it’s pretty pricey. For my family of 4 to go it was around $200! As soon as we saw Santa though it clearly became worth the money! Seeing the kids faces as we pulled up to Santa’s workshop and then getting to see Santa as he made his rounds on the train was so magical. Seeing Christmas through your child’s eye truly is the best thing in the world! Especially Kaiden my little 2 year old, he was beyond excited, there’s no Santa fear with him at all. A couple days prior we had even told him he needs to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas so as soon as he saw Santa he was sure to tell him, “I want a firetruck”! He kept repeating himself and it was the cutest thing ever, reminded us of Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”. We will definitely be going again when baby girl is about the same age as Kaiden was this time. It’s something you have to at least experience once.

Waiting outside the train (it was so cold)

Our train ticket

Haha little “Ralphie”

OMG I look so prego in this picture

Waving to Santa in his workshop, Kaiden was so excited to see Santa

On Dec 19th we celebrated Christmas with my husbands family. Never did I think baby girl would not be here to celebrate this holiday with us. My due date per my 1st ultrasound is tomorrow, I definitely didn’t think I would be still pregnant on my due date! I didn’t even have anything planned on what I was going to wear because I didn’t think I was going to have to dress a ginormous belly bump! Months ago I even bought baby girl her Christmas dress and based the other 2 kiddos outfits off of her dress and now she’s not even here to wear it. That’s what I get for being so prepared! I kept the tags and receipt so it makes me just want to return it. Overall, Christmas with the Johnsons was very nice. My mother in law bought baby girl a snow globe that said 2015 on it, we joked that what if she wasn’t even born until 2016!

My cute little niece and daughter, they love wearing matching dresses

Daddy and Kaiden

So grateful for my family!

The sis n law and I

There was so many things I wanted to do in the month of December but everything was getting postponed because I wanted to do it with baby girl. So when it became 1 week before Christmas we knew we couldn’t wait any longer for certain things. We went to Costco and picked out our tree and came home and decorated it that night, I wanted to decorate it as a family of 5 but oh well we’ll have to wait until next year.

Kirra pretty much decorates the whole tree nowadays, I just sit back and supervise, it’s really nice

Don’t get me wrong I love all those fancy trees you see in magazines but at the same time my kiddos absolutely love decorating the tree. I’m sure it’s a memory that will last forever and they really look forward to it every year. So if that means plastic and mismatched ornaments then that’s the tree were gonna have.

What baby girl looks like this week:

According to baby center:

Your baby’s full term this week and waiting to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it’s likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, about the size of a mini-watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

Best moment this week:

Knowing that I can’t be pregnant forever and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Also just feeling so grateful for being able to carry to term this time. I don’t know what it is about the holidays but it really just makes you so thankful for all the blessings you have in your life!

Movement:

Her movement is even fewer than it was before and it’s starting to stress me out! In the beginning you worry about miscarriage, 2nd trimester you worry about delivering early, and then at the end of your pregnancy you worry about still born. The worry never ends, I feel like it’s always something. Now is the time I definitely wish I had that Doppler but I have to keep telling myself to stay positive and that still births are very rare. When I do push on my belly though she will move a little bit, its just not big movements like I’m used to.

Labor signs:

I lost my mucous plug last week and I feel extremely sore down there but nothing is going on.

Looking forward to:

Meeting my baby girl and not being uncomfortable anymore. It hurts so bad to bend over, laying down in bed is such a chore, and I have to pee non stop. All I wanted was to experience what it feels like to be full term, be uncomfortable, and begging to get this baby outta me! Well I definitely got that and am so ready to get this show on the road!!!

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40 weeks!! The day before I delivered~ my very last belly bump pic!

On Dec 20th I started contracting sporadically at 10am, since it was a Sunday, and my hubby was off from work he thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk/hike at Mission Trails right by our house. Holy Moly that was such a good workout, I was so out of breath, and kept contracting the whole time as we walked. We walked for about an hour and I felt like I wasn’t even going to be able to make it back. When I finally waddled home I literally felt like I couldn’t walk, I was extremely sore, and hurt so bad. The contractions still continued to come and go sporadically, but when they did come they definitely hurt. I tried to time them but it was so all over the place it wasn’t worth it. I told my husband I felt like something was going on but I wasn’t sure if this was going to be another “trick” or not. I contracted all day and then we finally went to bed around 10pm, as I laid down I told my husband the contractions were starting to subside, and I was feeling better! I was kinda bummed, another day gone by with no baby!! Or so I thought….birth story to come next!

ASPCA kids: Rescue Readers #momsmeet #studiofun

I don’t know about you guys but my kiddos just absolutely love to read or be read to, so when I was contacted by Moms Meet to review the children’s book series, ASPCA kids: Rescue Readers by Studio Fun, a Readers Digest company, I was all for it. When our package arrived, the kids were so excited!! Kirra especially, she is all about reading books right now about animals and their adventures, and these aren’t just any animals, each of these stories are inspired by real-life animals who were rescued fostered to new loving families. I just knew these books would be a great addition to Kirra’s collection and they definitely didn’t disappoint. Now obviously Kaiden isn’t reading at a level 2 reading level yet but there was still plenty of photographs of the actual pet that inspired the story that he was able to still follow along as well.

How cute are these illustrations?

I have grown up with dogs and cats all my life and so I definitely want to pass down to them the importance of caring, protecting, and always loving our animals. We currently have a little teacup Yorkie and our kids always take turns feeding and walking her. It’s really important to teach our children that animals need love and a good family too, their not creatures that can just be thrown out on the streets as soon as you decide you no longer want to care for them.

Not only are these books super fun for the kiddos to read but when you purchase these books they also help support ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), this is the first animal welfare organization in the US and the nations leading voice for animals. ASPCA’s mission is to help prevent the cruelty of animals in the US. Who doesn’t love helping a good charity? Especially with Christmas coming up, these would make a great gift, plus give back to all the sweet animals in need. All 4 of these books can be bought anywhere books are sold, there available in paperback, hardcover, and even e-books or you can buy them straight from the website StudioFun. They retail for $3.99 each or you can buy all 4 for $15.96 and then 4-5% of the purchase price will go directly to ASPCA. If you have any little ones aged 3-7 on your Christmas list this year, then I would definitely recommend these books.

Follow Studio Fun International on Facebook for all the latest updates!

I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms Meet program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of this product.

36 week update and a Happy Thanksgiving!

I remember from the moment I found out I was pregnant wondering if I would have a new baby for Thanksgiving 2015, well Thanksgiving has come and gone, and still no baby! I’m seriously through the moon ecstatic that I have made it to 36 weeks (36+2) to be exact and my baby girl is still happily growing away in my belly. Kirra was born at exactly 36 weeks so I was so curious to see if we would have our little girl by now or not. I saw my Doctor the day before Thanksgiving, everything still looked great, and he still had no desire at all to take my cerclage out ( a part of me is so ready to get this show on the road but I know I need to wait at least another week). But I just can’t help it, now that I know physically everything is going to be fine with her, I’m so ready and anxious to meet her. I just can’t wait to see what she looks like!! The good thing about being 9 months pregnant though during the Holidays, is you get an excuse to not cook, and boy was that amazing!!! The Holidays are so much less stressful when your not baking and cooking all morning, plus rushing around trying to get yourself and your kids ready so you can be somewhere at a specific time. I was designated to bring the apple cider and pies this year, so a quick trip to Costco was all I needed to get the show on the road (piece of cake or pie in this matter)! Thanksgiving came and went, we are all so grateful for this little girl and how far she has come along, I pigged out a ton, and didn’t have to worry at all about the yearly Thanksgiving muffin top from stuffing myself to the max. All is well!! It was so weird to think though that this would be our last Holiday as a family of 4 though, baby girl will be here for Christmas for sure!

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Luv this little baby bump!

My wonderful sister n laws

Don’t let this smile fool you, he was throwing a fit, and the only reason he’s so happy now is because my mother in law is standing there bribing him with a sucker! Lol!

My love and I!

This was about 1 hr before we had to leave, he had to get a bath for sure before we left! He’s such a boy, this is all he wants to do all day every day!

What baby girl looks like this week:

According to Babycenter

Baby girl is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. (This makes me so nervous!! I’m scared since she will be my biggest baby yet, that I won’t be able to deliver her vaginally and/or she’s going to get stuck in the birth canal) She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long (about the size of a head of romaine lettuce). She’s shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement. At the end of this week, your baby will be considered “early term.” (Full-term is 39 to 40 weeks. Babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term, 41 weeks is late term, and those born after 42 are post-term.)

Maternity clothes? I never thought I would be that girl that wears her husbands clothes but OMG there so comfortable and I don’t even care about being fashionable at this point!! I wear his sweats to bed every night and now that it’s so chilly at night, his sweatshirts have become my favorite as well. I’m not going to waste money on buying new maternity clothes when who knows how much longer I even have. So for now, I squeeze into my last pair of maternity jeans that barely fit or my 2 pairs of black leggings and then I probably have a handful of t-shirts that I put into rotation.

Stretch Marks? Unfortunately I did get some on both sides of my abdomen, even with putting my belly butter on daily and sometimes at night as well, I think it was inevitable with how big my stomach has gotten. With practically a 50lb weight gain I don’t think my skin could have held up much longer. So for now I have 4 reddish/purple lines on my left side and then 2 smaller ones on my right hip. I’m just really hoping I don’t get any on the front of my stomach by my belly button, my sides I can live with, it’s just the front that matters most to me. And then hopefully after baby is born with weight loss and lots of scar cream and oils the stretch marks will lighten over time.

Best Moment this week? Making it to 36 weeks!! Honestly I don’t think there are words to describe the relief I feel. I wish I would have known at 22 weeks when I was in Triage contracting all night long that everything was going to be ok. I remember crying that night begging GOD not to take my baby from me. I feel like there was so much stress from 20-30 weeks that could have been greatly reduced had I known things were going to work out. I know everything happens for a reason though and this pregnancy has made me take nothing for granted, pregnancy truly is a miracle!! I appreciate this baby girl and all my kiddos for that matter so much more now!

Movement? Her movement has definitely started to slow down, she’s usually more active in the morning when I first wake up and then at night when I lay down to go to bed. It’s not so much kicking like she used to do it’s more of a little roll her and there. It really freaks me out though, I’m so glad I have my doctors appointment tomorrow because even though I do feel her move here and there I just want to make sure her heart rate is still nice and strong. It’s just another part of being a mother, you worry about everything, and fear the worst at times. Now is when I need to have one of those hand held portable dopplers, I told my husband I should get one, and he said, “No, you’re just going to obsess over her heart rate then”! Maybe he’s right!

Food Cravings? Nothing specific anymore but I feel like I can literally eat a whole house, I’m so hungry all the time, it’s ridiculous! I definitely out eat my husband all the time now!

Labor signs? I’m definitely going to be mentioning this to my doctor tomorrow but this is the 2nd night now where I have woken up to light contractions, it feels as if I’m starting my period, which I know is a symptom of labor, but after about 3-4 hours they slowly start to die down. Either way though, they have happened both times around 1am and then I’m laying there all night trying to fall back asleep yet in pain and my mind is racing wondering if this is going to be it or not. It’s funny because when I feel fine, I’m just like Ok lets get this show on the road, but then as soon as I start to have any cramping I get scared and I’m like never mind, I’m not ready to have this baby yet! Haha! I’m going to talk to my doctor though because I’m still supposed to have my cerclage in for another week, and with me contracting already 2 nights now, is it a good idea to still keep it in? I know most women get their cerclages taken out at 37 weeks so maybe instead of waiting until 38 weeks like originally planned we should take it out tomorrow before I start tearing my cervix. Getting my cerclage taken out though is a whole nother topic of conversation though, all I can imagine is him taking out my cerclage and me dilating from a 1-10 in like 15 minutes. I’m so curious if her weight is just going to send me into labor right away!

Belly button in or out? My belly button has basically gone flat now but it still hasn’t poked out yet, and it’s been this way for about 3 weeks now. I don’t know if it’s going to though, or if it will just stay like that!

Looking forward to? My 37 week checkup. Finding out what were going to do with the cerclage situation. Meeting baby girl here soon. And then this weekend we are taking the kiddos on a polar express train ride, I hope I don’t have this baby right before though because I really want to take the kids and see their faces when we ride to “Santa’s workshop”.

35 week update & Baby Shower

This week was full of highs and lows, on a positive note I feel like 35 weeks is such a huge milestone for me to reach! I don’t wish to have this baby at 35 weeks but if for some reason I happened to go into labor there is a chance she wouldn’t have to go to the NICU and that makes me really excited!! On a negative note I have been so uncomfortable all week literally felt like I wasn’t going to make it to my baby shower, I thought for sure I was going to be delivering this baby before hand. I’ve still had “construction” going on in my house all week so that is just stressing me out, I’m so over having this guy in my house sawing and drilling away, all I want to do is relax on my couch and take a nap but instead I have to worry about keeping Kaiden out of his way and not to mention when someone is in your house working and your just laying on the couch it literally makes you feel lazy and if their judging you. I don’t know, I’m probably being so paranoid and being 8 months pregnant, I’m sure people understand. But anyways I took Kaiden to his eye appointment on Wednesday, he ended up falling asleep on the couch so I had to carry him in all the way from the street and up the stairs, by the time I got inside I was so out of breath and had the worst side pain ever. It was on the right side of my abdomen, directly under my belly, and it hurt so bad I could barely walk. I’ve had this pain before usually after walking very far or if I get up to quickly but this time it wouldn’t go away. And then to top it off the carpet cleaning company was coming in 1 hour and I still had a disaster of a mess to clean in the living room and all bedrooms. I just wanted to cry, the stress of everything, and now this pain was just almost to much for me to bear alone. I really contemplated calling my husband to come home from work and tell him that I just couldn’t deal with the construction, carpet cleaners, and taking care of the kids all while feeling this way. But then I had to stop and remind myself that my husband is just as busy and stressed at work and that I really needed to get a hold of myself and get this handled. So I would pick up a couple toys and then sit back down for about 5 minutes waiting for the throbbing to subside and then repeat, it took forever but I finally got it all done. When you research the pain online or even in my “What to Expect when your Expecting” book it talks a lot about ligament pain but then there’s also “Placental Abruption”! I know, I know, this is totally the NICU nurse in me, but since the pain wasn’t going away and literally was lasting all day, all I could think was “OMG what if something is seriously wrong?!” Placental abruption usually occurs in the last trimester of pregnancy and it’s classic signs and symptoms are abdominal pain, uterine tenderness, back pain (all 3 symptoms I have), vaginal bleeding, and then contractions (luckily I didn’t have either of those). Here I am sitting here self diagnosing myself yet at the same time telling myself to get a grip I just pulled a ligament while doing something I shouldn’t have in the first place. This pain lasted all day and then I even woke up in the middle of the night with it, I told myself if in the morning it was still happening that I would call the doctor but by the morning the pain was gone but instead I just felt really crappy. My stomach just felt so tight and heavy all day, I almost felt like maybe I was getting sick, and I just wanted to sleep all day. So definitely wasn’t having the greatest 2 days right before my shower, I told my husband that I felt like this baby was going to be coming soon. But by Friday morning I started feeling back to my normal self and then Sunday was the shower and I felt great!

If you don’t know my about my previous pregnancy I went into labor right after my baby shower, so as you can imagine I was a little nervous that would happen again. So this time around I wanted to start my day off with absolutely no stress involved. I laid around in bed until I felt ready to get up and then myself and my favorite two boys headed off to a yummy breakfast, I stuffed myself with pancakes, eggs, and bacon and then it was time to go back home and start getting ready. My husband took Kaiden to my daughters softball game, so it was nice and quiet and relaxing for me to get ready.

On the way to my Baby Shower, I was so excited, I feel like the day of your shower is seriously one of the best days ever!

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I chose a Baby Sprinkle theme, I wanted something very girlie with pastel colors, yet very simple and nothing to fancy. Because this is my 3rd baby I didn’t want a huge big deal made out of things, I have all of the big stuff from Kaiden and then I have 2 year old triplet nieces so I’m not lacking anything when it comes to the clothing department. At first I wasn’t even going to have a shower but my mom quickly reminded me that every baby deserves to be celebrated!

My sister in law is so talented when it comes to chalkboard prints, I can’t even write on a chalkboard period without it looking like a Kindergartener let alone different types of fonts and a picture.

This was right when you walked in the door, it was the party favors and sign in book

Pink and red starbursts in little mason jars

A little book for the guests to sign in. I personally love the idea of getting a children’s book and having all the guests write a sweet little message inside. I still have Kaidens book from his baby shower and I just think it’s something you’ll forever cherish and read to the kids when their little as well.

How cute is this little drink station? I absolutely loved the little clouds attached to the straws!

For dessert they did an ice cream bar, there was tons of yummy ice cream toppings and then cookies and donuts all covered in frosting!

I just absolutely loved these little clouds and raindrops! Such a cute idea!

I only had about 20 people at the Sprinkle but you should have seen the gift table! I seriously should have taken a picture, I couldn’t believe how many gifts people brought, not to mention I couldn’t imagine how much stuff I would have gotten had this been a normal shower where I invited everyone we knew. All in all though it was a great shower, I am so thankful for my mom, mother n law, and my sisters for throwing such a great shower, I truly am so grateful for everything! After all was said and done and after gift cards I was able to purchase everything else that I needed off the registry so we are now ready to start setting up for this little missy and just wait for her to make her appearance. I got so many cute clothes too(this baby is going to be so stylin), and then we even got the most important thing we needed too which was the double stroller.

Here’s what baby girl looks like this week…

This week, according to BabyCenter, baby girl weighs around 5 1/4 pounds (about the size of a honeydew melon). Because it’s so snug in my womb, she isn’t likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she will spend the next few weeks putting on weight. (just don’t get to big please, mommy is scared!)

Weight Gain: 181 lbs (a total of 46lbs this pregnancy) I definitely think I will be hitting the 50lb weight gain this pregnancy. But in all honesty I’m not stressed about it! What can you do? I would way rather have a healthy and term baby then be worrying about how much weight I’ve gained!

Movement: Still lots of rolling from side to side, you can definitely tell she’s running out of space in there but every now and then I’ll get some jabs. The coolest thing is watching my belly move from her, it’s so crazy to see how my belly literally jumps up and down from her crazy kicks!

Best moment this week: My baby shower and waking up the next morning still pregnant!

What I’m looking forward to: Another doctors appt. this week, making it to 36 weeks, and the best part of all…setting up all the baby stuff and washing all her adorable clothes!!

Kaiden and his new glasses

Kaiden is going to be getting glasses and that just makes me so sad!! I’ve been dreading this eye exam appointment for multiple reasons and was really hoping after today’s visit we wouldn’t have to keep coming every 6 months to follow up. But boy was I wrong! Originally since Kaiden was born premature we were followed by an ophthalmologist every 6 months to make sure he didn’t develop ROP (retinopathy of prematurity), it’s a disease that affects the retina of the eye. Well during these eye exams we ruled out ROP but now they’ve noticed a bilateral astigmatism, esotropia (cross eyed), and hypermetropia (far sighted), because of this Kaiden will have to wear glasses until maybe he reaches his mid-teens. I instantly had to fight back tears at the appointment, (no offense to anyone) but all I could think about was my child is going to be the “4 eyed dork” in elementary school or whatever new names kids tease children who wear glasses with these days. No parent wants this for their child! Yes, there are way worse things that your child could get diagnosed with, but setting that all aside, no parent wants anything to be wrong with their child and that’s the bottom line. If Kaiden was almost an adult then the idea of glasses wouldn’t be so bad, but he’s only 2 years old, my poor baby is going to need glasses and that makes me so upset. I personally think my son is the cutest thing ever and now I worry glasses will make him look funny or that people will think something is wrong with him. Call me superficial or whatever you want but you would feel the exact same way! Or maybe people are going to think it’s my fault he now has to wear glasses! From the moment you conceive your child you follow all the “rules” of what to eat, what not to eat, and what activities to avoid as to give your child the best outcome, so when anything is wrong with your child you instantly wonder what you could have done differently. I asked the doctor if any of these issues had to do with prematurity but he said No and that most likely it was hereditary. But even that doesn’t make sense to me because both my husband and I have no vision problems. I also talked to the doctor about different exercises I could do with Kaiden or if there’s things I should be avoiding but he stated the only thing I can do is just make sure Kaiden wears his glasses. I left the appointment not only disappointed but also feeling so defeated, how is their literally nothing I can do? And how in the heck am I supposed to get a 2 year old to wear glasses 24/7? This just seems like the biggest fight ever! After talking to my husband we questioned getting a second opinion but do I really want to torture my child again with another eye dilation? I wanted to cry just holding him down while they put eye drops in his eyes; he screamed how much it hurt. It just broke my heart! As soon as she was done he didn’t want to go near her again and just kept crying that he didn’t want anyone poking his eyes anymore. Maybe it was a mix of the pregnancy hormones but I just felt so awful he had to experience this. With anything in life though, you always wish you could take your child’s place. I remember when Kaiden was first born and they took him down to the NICU, I just wished I could take his spot, and take away all his pain. No one wants their child to feel any pain; you don’t want them poked and prodded, or even to get their feelings hurt. If anyone has any advice for me on their toddler wearing glasses whether it’s a certain brand to get or tricks to get them to wear them, please do share, I need all the help I can get right now.

1 month update: Kaiden has now had the glasses for about a month now and let me tell you it’s been no easy task! I cried the first couple days and was very upset every time I looked at my sweet boy with his glasses on but I have slowly started to accept this outcome. Don’t get me wrong it still bothers me and makes me sad but I know I have to do what’s best for him. The other day at a birthday party a little boy came up to Kaiden and said, “You look funny with those glasses on”. Thank God Kaiden is still so little that he has no idea what the kid meant by his comment at all but it honestly made me want to cry and bothered me all day. This is exactly what I don’t want for Kaiden! I don’t want kids to make fun of him in school, he’s the sweetest boy, and I don’t want his feelings to be hurt and that innocence gone. You can relate this to so many things when it comes to our children, we want them to stay little and innocent forever and this little moment gave me a glimpse into what his elementary years would be like. Kaiden probably only wears his glasses about 50% of the time, it’s really been a struggle to get this strong willed 2 year old to wear glasses. We usually end up bribing him with something (a treat, TV time, etc.) and then he’ll forget he’s even wearing them for a little bit but it’s still not consistent all day. So any tips or tricks you guys may have would be greatly appreciated! I went with the Mira flex brand of glasses, they are awesome, and highly recommended for toddlers. I knew if we got a normal frame and lens they would be ruined in no time. These glasses are completely flexible, he pulls at the frames all the time and they won’t break. The lenses are shatter proof and scratch resistant, he’s actually even popped one of the lenses out before and we were able to just push it back in. If you are looking for glasses for your young child I highly highly recommend these glasses, you can visit their site MiraFlex for a store locator; I have found them very readily available in many locations in San Diego so hopefully you won’t have trouble finding them as well. There also reasonably priced, I worried that since we were getting this “special” toddler resistant frame and lenses set that they would be so expensive but that wasn’t the case at all, all I had to do was pay a $25 co pay and we were on our way! Adult glasses are definitely way more expensive. Like I had previously mentioned, if anyone has any advice, tips, tricks on how to get him to wear his glasses more please do share, I need all the help I can get!

33 week update

OMG it’s been 7 weeks since I last did an update on my baby bump, so much for being more consistent and keeping everyone in the loop! My whole attitude of pregnancy has definitely changed since then and I’m in a much better place, rightfully so! I feel like from 20 weeks until 30 weeks I was a complete mess and was terrified out of my mind of something going wrong. I now feel like I can breathe and I’m not as worried now if I were to go into pre term labor, I know she will be ok, Yes she’ll still be in the NICU but it’ll only be a couple weeks and it won’t be as critical as before. I still definitely don’t want to go into labor anytime soon, I hope she behaves for the next 3 weeks, and we get to experience the whole birthing process the “normal” way. I’ve said it before, I really want my husband to get to hold his baby right after delivery and not have her taken from us, I want her staying in our room, and then when we go home after 2-3 days I want to bring her home with us!

My baby bump this week!

Sorry for the bad picture quality, that’s my problem, and why I’m not a good blogger…I either forget to ask someone to take pics of me or my hubby is always busy working & when he gets home from work its to late, so then I end up having to take horrible selfies with bad lighting and the pics always look the same. I really need to get better at this whole picture taking thing!

What my sweet girl looks like this week:

This week, according to BabyCenter, baby girl weighs a little over 4 pounds and has passed the 17-inch mark (about the size of a pineapple). She’s rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her skull aren’t fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don’t entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as her brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Today we had an ultrasound and this picture is accurate of how she looked like in utero. She has been head down for quite some time now, when we did an ultrasound at 29 weeks she was already in this position. Not to mention I had a feeling she was head down because whenever she gets the hiccups they feel like they are so low “down there”. My belly is extra hard above my belly button and in ultrasound it showed that’s her back and then her butt is on the right, and then her lil feet are curled up right there occasionally kicking me right below my right rib. And let me tell you it just feels wonderful! Haha! Actually I’d rather have her kick me there then on my belly button. I don’t know why but when they kick your belly button it feels so weird, it hurts more then the other areas, and almost makes you feel kinda quesy in a way. The Doctor estimated her to be about 4-4.5 pounds already, I personally feel like she’s a little bigger because the pressure not only on my cerclage but also my pelvic bone is pretty intense. I seriously feel like my pelvic bone is so bruised. I literally want to cry sometimes when I have to roll over from side to side when lying down because the pain is so bad. It’s crazy to think I still have at least another month to go of her getting bigger and pushing even more on my pelvic bone, the next month is going to be very intense and definitely will test my tolerance level. I started crying last night because the pain just got the best of me. I don’t want to complain though because honestly I am so blessed to still be pregnant and I would rather suffer and go through pain then have to have her experience any pain herself.

Best Moment this week: Seeing baby girl on ultrasound and seeing that everything still looks great! Can’t believe I’ve made it this far! I also washed some newborn clothes so that was exciting, I definitely want to start nesting now and getting ready for her arrival. I have received so many hand me downs that so far that’s all that I have washed, the doctor is predicting her birth weight to be about 8-8.5lbs so I don’t want to wash anything newborn yet. Not gonna lie, I know that’s a normal birth weight but it freaks me out, I’ve never delivered anything bigger then 5.3lbs.

Movement: She is still my wild little girl especially from 9-10:30pm but I feel like her jabs are now turning more into rolls then anything else. You can definitely tell she’s starting to run outta room in there!

Maternity clothes: I went from having 4 pairs of maternity pants and shorts to now only having 2 of each and I’m starting to outgrow all my shirts, there becoming to short. But I don’t want to buy anything maternity as I’m in the home stretch and not sure exactly how much longer I’ll last. So looks like I will literally be wearing the same couple outfits over and over again.

Labor signs: I was really crampy and kinda uncomfortable Halloween night but I think it was because I was running around all day and the stress of getting the kids dressed and out of the door on time was just a little bit more excitement then I needed. But other then that I’m just having the normal uncomfortable pregnancy pains. I mentioned the cerclage and pelvic bone pain plus I’m also having a “burning” sensation right below my breasts and through the middle of my belly. I knew it wasn’t anything to be worried about but the doctor informed me it’s my nerves stretching! So that’s just great, haha! I literally feel like my belly can’t stretch anymore and then burning pain really is so unbearable at times and there’s nothing at all you can do about it.

Coming Up: My baby shower is in 2 weeks so I’m getting really excited for that! My laundry area is currently under construction so that means everything is now piled into the corner of my dining room, as soon as that gets complete I will have a new hall closet (more space for organization) and then I will be getting all my baby stuff outta storage so we can start setting up for baby girls arrival!!

26 week update

26 week baby bump update

My baby bump this week:

What my sweet girl looks like:

This week according to “What to Expect When Your Expecting” my sweet girl should weight about 2lbs and measures in at 9+ inches long. Another momentous development this week is that her eyes should be beginning to open now but it’s still too early to be able to tell what color eyes she will have. (Hopefully blue just like her brother and sister).

I had to do my glucose tolerant test this week and even though it’s my 3^rd time I still dread it every time! I really like sweets but this drink is just way to much for me! Especially when you have to drink it on an empty stomach, I can just feel it sitting in my stomach and all I want to do is drink some water or eat some food with substance and absorb all that sugar floating around. The hardest part for me is the fact that you have to drink the 240ml bottle in no more than 5 minutes, I’ve never been one to “chug” a drink so for me it’s hard to drink that much when I’m not eating anything, it almost makes me want to throw up because it’s to much at one time. I do feel the drink has gotten better though, when I did it for the first time when I was pregnant with Kirra I drank the orange flavored one and I swear it was way sugary then, I remember almost feeling like I was going to pass out. Or maybe the lemon lime flavored drink is just way better, maybe that’s the secret. So with the glucose test you drink the drink and then have to wait for 1 hour, no eating or drinking anything, and then they draw your blood. Based on those levels they can determine if you have developed diabetes during your pregnancy or not. For those of you on your 1^stpregnancy you will do this test somewhere between 24-28 wks. unless you’re at risk for gestational diabetes (family history or overweight) but your doctor will let you know exactly when to do it, if your results come back elevated this means that your body isn’t producing enough insulin to process the excess glucose in your body, and so then you have to repeat the test but this time it’s 3 hours long. The drink is much stronger and you will have your blood drawn every hour for 3 hours after drinking the sugary drink. If you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes during your pregnancy it’s not critical to baby as long as you keep your blood sugar levels controlled, if not controlled you’re at risk for delivering a too-large infant which can complicate delivery and then your infant will have low blood sugar levels after delivery and most likely require some time in the NICU.

This week my husband and I also had a wedding to attend to and boy was it so HOT!!! I already feel like my body is a furnace so I wasn’t looking forward to an outside wedding when it was 90 degrees outside. Never the less I did it with the aid of lots of water and frequent sitting down in the shade. My biggest challenge might have been finding something to wear. I really didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a maternity dress that I wouldn’t be wearing again so I went through my whole closet trying to make something work. All of my dresses either wouldn’t go over my boobs now or my belly made the dresses way to short in the front, luckily I had an old bridesmaid dress that was a babydoll style and it actually fit perfect so I got lucky there, it was either that or a maxi dress which would have made me even hotter then I already was. I had a good time at the wedding and baby girl cooperated with no stomach cramps but I was also very cautious, normally I’d be out on the dance floor but not this time around, I’ll have to wait to get my groove on after baby is born!

Best moment this week: Having another week down in the books!! Every day that passes I am so grateful for the growth and development my baby girl is getting. I also set a date for my baby sprinkle, since I delivered last time literally the night after my baby shower this time I wanted to wait until baby girl was safe to deliver just in case it happened again. So we will be doing my sprinkle when I’m 35 weeks, hopefully I’ll still be pregnant, fingers crossed!!

Movement: Some days this little girl is a wild animal and some days she’s completely quiet! Daddy has gotten to feel her move like crazy though and he absolutely loves feeling her little kicks and rolls. I wish for 1 day he could experience what it feels like to have a baby kicking inside of you, I feel like it’s something you can’t fully explain, you just have to experience it for yourself to know. She also got hiccups for the 1^sttime last night, so that was really cute!

Labor signs: This week I have felt really good, the occasional heartburn or gas pains but no Braxton hicks this week!

Coming up: I now start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks for observation so I’m curious to see how these appointments are going to go. I should be going out on disability here soon and my doctor will be doing cervical checks here as well.