10 Weeks to Go! (30 weeks)

How far along? 30 weeks 

Baby size: A head of cabbage! About 15.7 inches long and weighing 3 lbs. She is getting so big!

Total weight gain/loss: 25 lbs.
Maternity clothes? Loving my maternity clothes!
Stretch marks? just the oh so subtle start on my sides
Sleep: depends on the night... sometimes I sleep well, sometimes I can't sleep so I watch lifetime.

Highlights/Best moments this week: This week has been super busy for us. I am not sure exactly what we did this week (haha) I just know we barely had time to see each other. I had an appointment on Tuesday and baby girl was breech, I am learning her different positions now and she flips around a lot. I will be adding more pelvic rocks into my day to encourage her to get into the right position by 34 weeks!
Miss Anything? skinny jeans :P
Movement: I love learning what each body part feels like. It is still hard but I am starting to know when she kicks or punches and if her head is up or down. I love all her little movements
Food cravings: I have been eating a lot of beef lately... I love me some mexican
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!

Have you started to show yet: yes, definitely.... I feel like a spider sometimes, is that weird?
Gender : It's a GIRL!!

Symptoms: I don't think there were any new ones this week
Belly Button in or out? Slowly starting to poke out, but it really depends on how baby girl is laying.
Wedding rings on or off? off and around my neck.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!
Looking forward to:  Still don't have paint on the walls and with the hurricane coming it might be a while. We are going to a parenting seminar next week which will be fun (I can't believe we are actually parents) We should be getting our maternity pics back soon so I will be able to share a few (they turned out really cute).

Project Nursery (29 Weeks)

How far along? 29 weeks 

Baby size: A Butternut Squash! About 15 inches long and weighing 2.5 lbs.

Total weight gain/loss: 24 lbs.
Maternity clothes? Loving my maternity clothes!
Stretch marks? just the oh so subtle start on my sides
Sleep: I have actually been sleeping pretty well lately, even getting up to send hubby off to work

Highlights/Best moments this week: We celebrated our 2 year anniversary with dinner and a surprise massage, which was much needed since my back and shoulders have been so tense! I love my hubby! I also found out that my glucose screening was perfect! As were my iron levels so hooray for healthy dieting paying off (When I first found out I was pregnant the OB on base told me I would be very high risk for gestational diabetes... then again they also had told me I would have trouble conceiving without help. Healthy diet changes everything...END RANT)
Miss Anything? I miss being able to be lazy when I have to pee and holding it a really long time, now I have to go when I have to go :P
Movement: Baby Girl doesn't really "kick" she mostly rolls and squirms and stretches and turns and sometimes does a crazy shimmy thing. For the most part she is a pretty gentle baby :-) and my ribs are thankful.
Food cravings: uhhh... just the usual
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!

Have you started to show yet: yes, definitely 
Gender : It's a GIRL!!

Symptoms: I experienced a rather embarrassing symptom this week and it has to do with "what I miss" and that is all I am going to say haha
Belly Button in or out? It depends on where baby girl is. Sometimes she pushes against it and half of it pops out, it also pops out when I breathe deeply or sing.
Wedding rings on or off? off and around my neck.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!
Looking forward to:  Maternity shoot with Artdrea Photography (tomorrow), finally painting the nursery, and getting things set up for when Baby Girl gets here. 

Project Nursery 

This week we finally bought paint for the Nursery, which will be in our bedroom. So that gives us double the challenge to make everything flow together. I will be updating you on Project Nursery in the coming weeks with some before and after photos...and some a long the way. I am so excited to be in the nesting stage finally!

Step 1 Buy Supplies: We received a Home Depot gift card from my Granny for our anniversary and it was just enough to buy the paint. We have had a big color splotch on our wall for about a month or so and decided that we like it. We chose Behr Sterling as our wall color and as of now we are thinking we will do purple and yellow accents.  I had never bought paint before...at least that I could remember and who knew that once you finally pick a color, you still have so many choices flat, eggshell, gloss all sorts of things. Here are the supplies we got and we also have a drop cloth ;-)

The Homestretch! (28 Weeks)

How far along? 28 weeks 

Baby size: An eggplant! About 14.8 inches long and weighing 2.25 lbs.

Total weight gain/loss: So I guessed 15 lbs last week...not quite accurate. I have gained a whopping total of 23lbs... 11 of which I gained in the last month! My midwives didn't seem concerned, so I am not going to be concerned.
Maternity clothes?This week Shelby (Baby Jack's mama) gave me a huge bag of her old maternity clothes, so now I can have some more style in my wardrobe. It's so nice to have so many other pregnant/new mama friends!
Stretch marks? my college stretch marks seem to have grown by a tiny amount, but nothing drastic.
Sleep: Sleep is poop this week! My belly is getting big enough that I cant find a comfortable position, then baby girl starts squirming and then I am awake again... I even got up an watched a lifetime movie one night. I also remembered this little herbal tincture from Wish Gardens that helps sleepy nights so that helped one night.

Highlights/Best moments this week: I switched this to include highlights, because I can never only pick one best moment... This week we finished our last Bradley class, talked more about placenta encapsulation, and a possible Doula. We paid off the Birth Center yippee! We had an appointment with our favorite midwives and I had my glucose test (which I was thankful to finally have something sugary haha).
Miss Anything? I am just hoping that I don't have gestational diabetes, so that I don't have to be so strict on my sugar intake.
Movement: I feel everything and I love it. I have been learning to tell the by the kicks and buldges how she is positioned. Its actually pretty hard, but i think it will get easier now that I have an idea of what I am looking for. 
Food cravings: This week I didn't allow myself to give in to sweets, so I haven't been craving them as much. My midwife suggested I learn to make a cookie that is full of good stuff like a chocolate substitute called carob....definitely checking that out!
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!

Have you started to show yet: yes, definitely 
Gender : It's a GIRL!!

Symptoms: Comfort is getting more difficult
Belly Button in or out?I am beginning to wonder if it will actually pop out or just disappear. It just keeps getting more and more shallow
Wedding rings on or off? off and around my neck.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!
Looking forward to: 2 year anniversary with my hubby (Oct. 16), Maternity shoot with Artdrea Photography, finally painting the nursery, and getting things set up for when Baby Girl gets here.

The Start of My Cloth Diaper Stash (27 Weeks)

 This picture didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but you can see the belly progress 

How far along? 27 weeks 

Baby size: A Rutabaga! About 14.5 inches long and weighing a little over 2 lbs.

Total weight gain/loss: I don't actually weigh myself each week...I think its unhealthy. I will know for sure next week, but I am guessing about 15lbs.
Maternity clothes? I was going to buy some maternity leggings to wear with my fall/winter boots, but they cost so much money so I bought normal leggings in the biggest size and they seem to work. I also bought a belly band so I can wear my normal pants unbuttoned and it holds them up...pretty convenient. It also supports my growing belly nicely.
Stretch marks? No stretch marks yet
Sleep: I have been sleeping and not moving once I am barricaded in my pillows, but then I wake up so sore.

Best moment this week: Well new movements are always my highlights with baby girl! My favorite part of this week though was realizing how blessed I am to have my husband. After dinner last night I had to leave pretty quickly because I lead a small group at youth. I asked Hubby if he would put away the leftovers for me and when I got home the WHOLE kitchen had been cleaned, wiped counters, clean dishes and all! I love him! I can't wait for him to be a daddy!
Miss Anything? I would like to have some pumpkin bread with a chai tea latte, but the sugar in the two would be insane to give the baby.
Movement: Oh she is moving in there alright! She is getting big enough that I can feel even the smaller movements. I swear she was tickling me last night. I can feel her turning over from time to time as well. Its so crazy! I imagine Eve was probably a little creeped out the first time she was pregnant... if you didn't know what was happening you would think you had a fish in there.
Food cravings: still sweets but not as much this week.
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!

Have you started to show yet:  Yes, and I know I look ridiculous to everyone at Zumba class, dancing around with this big belly!
Gender : It's a GIRL!!

Symptoms: Same ole same ole, the belly is starting to get heavier though
Belly Button in or out? still in, its getting pretty hard up top though
Wedding rings on or off? off and around my neck.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!
Looking forward to: Buying or getting more fluff (cloth diapers), and nesting :-) 

 The Start of My Cloth Diaper Stash

I thought I would share with you guys the cloth diapers that I have so far. I haven't actually bought any of my own but I got these from the baby shower and I love playing with them and practicing on my Raggedy Anne doll! I will also explain a little about them because I have realized that many people know little or nothing about cloth diapers.

PreFolds: We are thinking we will probably use prefolds mostly to begin with. Based on my research they fit newborns the best and prevent blowouts and such. Prefolds are what our grandma's used on our parents and they fastened them with diaper pins, luckily today we can skip the pins and use a nifty thing called a snappie (see below). You basically fold the cloth and fasten it around baby (super easy) this is the absorbent part of the diaper. Then step two is you cover it with a water proof cover. When it is dirty you toss the prefold in your diaper pail and you can reuse your cover.

I have 12 unbleached prefolds and 2 Thirsties duo wrap covers

Fitteds: A fitted diaper functions similar to a prefold, it's just easier. It has elastic that fits around the waist and legs, similar to a disposable diaper, and snaps for convenience. You still need a diaper cover to waterproof it.

I have 1 kissaluv's fitted diaper

All-In-One Pocket Diapers: Pockets are the revolution of the modern cloth diaper world. They contain a pocket that you can stuff with just about anything, usually the soaker pad inserts that they come with, but you can also stuff with a prefold if you have one handy. The pocket diaper is used very similar to a disposable you snap it on and then when it is dirty who throw the whole thing in your diaper pail and simply replace it with a new one. The pockets I have are One Size so that one diaper should last from 9lbs until potty training.

I have two bum genius one size, all-in-one pocket diapers

Baby Shower (26 weeks)

How far along? 26 weeks 

Baby size: The length of a hot house cucumber ! About 14 inches long and weighing about 2 lbs.

Total weight gain/loss: I am guessing about 13-14lbs!
Maternity clothes? Yes! 
Stretch marks? Still no sign of them, but I did discover some varicose veins this week.
Sleep: I am sleeping pretty well, but once I am up its hard to fall back asleep

Best moment this week: We had our first Baby Shower ( I will talk more about that later) this week and it was such a huge blessing. Now I just like to sit around playing with all the baby stuff and thinking about when baby girl will be here. 
Miss Anything? Just cookies, but I am not really missing them because I just keep eating them.
Movement: This week while listening to James McDonald preach I felt my first elbow (or some body part) scrape across my tummy. It was really cool! Baby girl is getting big enough that I can feel little bones pressing against me :-)
Food cravings: Sweets, I better watch out though...my glucose screening is soon.
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!

Have you started to show yet: It's so strange not to see my feet!
Gender : It's a GIRL!!

Symptoms:  I had a dizzy spell this week, my lungs are still fighting my uterus for their space, other than that, nothing too strange. I did have a cold this week and I got to try some fun natural remedies to cure it.
Belly Button in or out? still in, but it feels so weird
Wedding rings on or off? off and around my neck.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!
Looking forward to: Paying off the Birth Center, painting/decorating for Baby Girl, washing little clothes, maternity pictures and celebrating 2 years with my wonderful Hubby!

The kind ladies of Bearwallow Baptist Church threw us a Baby Shower on Sunday, September 23, 2012. We are so grateful for all their generosity! Here are a few pictures from the special day!

 This is the gift table, by the time everyone arrived there were gifts stacked behind the table too. Baby girl sure is loved!

Diaper Cake made by Mrs. Roberta Pope

Left: Auntie Cassidy, Grammy, Mama, Great Granny. Photo by Connie Sinclair

Right: Mama and Grammy, Photo by Anita Bowen

Left: Mama and Connie, Right: Mama and Autumn, who is expecting twins! Both photos by Connie Sinclair

A Panthers Fan in the Making! (25 Weeks)

How far along? 25 weeks 

Baby size: A Cauliflower ! About 13.5 inches and 1.5 lbs.

Total weight gain/loss: 11.6lbs I haven't checked this week so I am leaving it as that!
Maternity clothes? Yes!
Stretch marks? not yet, but I hear they are coming soon.
Sleep: back to being pretty good this week
Best moment this week: This week it has been really special to notice more movements. There was one night that I was lathering on my coconut oil and I just loved admiring baby girl's kicks and turns and she loved me giving her a little massage.
Miss Anything? missing my chai tea lattes again, luckily Tatiana made me some yummy chai cookies this week!
Movement: lots of movement :-)
Food cravings: still wanting cookies, but hubby is doing a good job of holding me accountable.
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!

Have you started to show yet: bump is still growing!!
Gender : It's a GIRL!!

Symptoms:  indigestion has set in...blagh
Belly Button in or out? still in.
Wedding rings on or off? off and around my neck.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!
Looking forward to: Seeing all my friends and family in North Carolina and having a great vacation time.

Tonight we are watching the only Panthers game that we will get on our TVs up here in NOVA (until they play the Redskins). Sporting Hubby's Jersey with my bump. Baby girl doesn't know it yet, but she is a Panthers fan by default, since her daddy deemed them our family team :-)

You Mean Cookies Aren't Part of a Pregnancy Diet?

You hear people talk about how wonderful it is when you are pregnant because you can eat whatever you want. People will say "go ahead, have another brownie, you are eating for two". Well those people LIE! I thought pregnancy was going to be an endless supply of chocolate cake, pies and cookies and midnight runs to taco bell. While I have had my fair share of cookies the past 2 weeks (since that has been my craving), for the most part, if I am eating food that will actually build a healthy baby, there is no room for all those empty calories. A pregnant woman is only supposed to eat about 300 more calories a day in the first trimester...that is an apple with some peanut butter! And it doesn't increase too much by the end.

I am so thankful for my midwives who have really done a good job at encouraging me to eat right and exercise. Since I am taking the natural route it really is important to be reminded that a healthy pregnancy creates a healthy birth. I have learned that a "weight loss diet", which I was on prior to pregnancy, is not the same as a "healthy diet". There are still some things that they have in common, for instance white sugar and flour are always BAD! And processed meats aren't recommended in either. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I could eat real eggs again (even the yolk!) and honey or truvia was better than splenda, real butter is superior to margarine or reduced fat and best of all WHOLE MILK! I love milk and 1% is just blue water in my opinion so it's wonderful to be drinking the real stuff! *Of all the things i mentioned above organic is ideal, because it has less hormones and chemicals. I try to think REAL, RAW foods ( I sometimes cheat and have an oreo ;-). It has actually been kind of fun to learn to read labels and see what is in my food and I get a little excited when I find a new organic food I like at Wegmans.

I thought it might be fun to share with you guys what I actually eat (or try to eat) each day. Both my Midwives and our Bradley class recommend the Brewer diet. This pregnancy diet is a high protein diet, since protein is essential in growing a strong and healthy baby. Protein also helps with morning sickness and helps prevent high blood pressure.

Each day I have...

• 80-100g of protein! (its really fun to see how much protein is in things, like a daily challenge)

• 1 quart of milk ( Raw is my favorite, but i settle for Organic whole milk)

• 2 eggs 

• 1-2 servings of meat (I use organic beef or chicken, tuna, shrimp etc.)

• 1-2 servings of green leafy vegetables (I fail in this category most days. I try to sneak them in...smoothies etc.)

• 2-3 servings of whole wheat

• 1 piece of citrus fruit

• 3 pats of real butter ( I even made my own once)

•  LOTS of Water ( I shoot for at least 2 liters)

• other fruits and veggies

• baked potato 3 times a week ( I eat maybe twice)

• Salt to taste 

• Pregnancy tea (I try to drink at least a cup a day, but I need to increase that now to around 2)

So if I actually fill myself on all those good foods, I have no room for all the junk foods, which really aren't good for me or the baby!

In addition to eating healthy I also take several supplements.

•  Rainbow Light 1 a day prenatal vitamins
• Nordic Natural's Cod Liver Oil ( I like this brand because now that I have reflux, I only taste lemon and no fishy taste)
• P8 Probiotics
• Vitamin C
• I recently bought Keifer (which I think is a milky probiotic) to put in my smoothies

 Why is it important to have a healthy prenatal diet? According to our Midwives the following are complications caused by a poor prenatal diet:

1. Preeclampsia/Toxemia (high blood pressure)
2. Abruption of the placenta
3. Infarcted, small, calified placenta
4. Poorly implanted placenta
5. Placenta to firmly planted
6. Maternal infection
7. Hyperemesis gravidarum (extreme vomiting/dehydration during pregnancy)
8. Maternal Death
9. Hyperactivity and learning diabilities
10. Mental retardation and behavior disorders
11. Cerebal Palsy 
12. Minor neurological disorders
13. Epilepsy 
14. Low birth weight
15. Infant infection
16. Congenital anatomic defects
17. Hyperkinesis
18. Perinatal death, still births, infant deaths
19. Spontaneous abortion (sudden miscarriage)

Resources:
The Brewer Pregnancy Diet (in more detail)
Bradley Method Nutrition