28 weeks

Welcome to the fastest pregnancy known to man.  In real time that means Welcome Third Trimester. 

Holy Moses.

This honestly is the fastest pregnancy.  How has the 3rd trimester creeped up on me like this?  I'm entering panic mode.  I have all the material things I need for the baby... clothes (well, I have enough girl clothes to get me through a week), blankets, diapers, car seat and boobs for feeding.  I do not have any sort of mental prep done for this third wee baby of ours.  I realize that there really isn't a way to prep for 3 kids 3 years and under but come ON. 

Holy Moses.

Ok.  Moving on.

I have sorted through newborn girl and boy clothes.  I have taken off the car seat cover to add to the clothes to wash.  I need to pull off the cover on the swing and the bouncer to wash.  I need to acquire some bed rails so I can kick Simon out of the crib and into the bunk bed/room he will now share with Dexter.  I need to wash/strip all the newborn cloth diapers I have. 

I have time.  I realize this BUT the holidays are going to whiz by and command all my time so once they are finally done and things settle down I will only have a month until baby arrives.  I would like to spend that month concentrating on the boys and preparing them rather than preparing for baby.  I can do that now and be done with it.

This week I have felt pretty good.  I have had a major shift in how I feel and have been very upbeat and chipper.  I have had a few comments on that actually... makes me realize how horrible I was.  I'm a little behind on sleep but that is due to my 3 year old and not to the baby.  I'm sleeping pretty good when I actually get to.

I started getting Braxton Hicks already.  I never got them this early with the boys.  I had forgotten all about them.  I was feeling a bit crampy and weird on Thursday and couldn't figure out why.  I chalked it up to the fact that I had carried around the two 1 year olds at the same time a couple times throughout the day and I know I'm not supposed to do that.  I took it easy that night and laid around and drank lots of water.  (Something I do not do enough of.)  Finally, around 8 at night it hit me.  Braxton Hicks.  I was having cramps but the rest of the "weird" was Braxton Hicks.  You would think after two full term pregnancies I would remember those things but I didn't.  They seem to come on when I over-do it so they are my alarm that I need to take it easy. 

Monday is my glucose test.  I'm not really looking forward to that but it's not THAT bad.  Ugh.  I'm trying to remember if you pee in the cup first and they take your blood second or if you get blood taken both times.  I can't remember.  Do you guys remember?  I guess it doesn't matter... if I pee in the cup though I will try to be really good about drinking water so that I don't get another lecture on not drinking enough.  Water is just... blah though.  I can't do it.  It doesn't sit well. 

I'm looking forward to getting measured though.  28 weeks marks when they start measuring me with the tape measurer to see if I'm on track or not.  This point in time is where we discovered Simon was measuring 3-6 weeks ahead of schedule and had to have another ultrasound done.  I don't want another ultrasound.  Ultrasounds just mean more of a chance to accidentally find out baby's sex.  I want that surprise at the end.

I ordered a book today on natural childbirth.  I want to do everything I can to try and stay in the mindset that I can do this.  I can get through the pain.  I am woman hear me roar.  I didn't get an epidural with Dexter until I was 10 cm dilated.  I dilated so fast that when they started I was a 7 and when they finished it was push time.  I was able to experience pain-free birth for the final step.  If I would have known that I would have gone naturally for Dexter. 

I'm rambling.  The point was I know what I am going to experience and I know that it is a good idea for me to do as much mental preparing as possible and find the things that work for me and teach Max what he needs to do to encourage me to get through it.  I will do this.

P.S.  I know my outfit is rocking in this weeks picture.  Remember, I have been without a washer for TWO WEEKS.  I'm down to the nitty gritty of laundry.

Book Review: Slow Dance in Purgatory 1 & 2

I have now read all of Amy Harmon's books and I can say that I am a big fan.  I like some better than others but they all have been good and worth reading.  They have been worth buying too since I have bought all of them.  Lucky for me her books are a deal at $2.99-$3.99 a piece.  I have gotten some on "sale" and others I didn't. 

I was hesitant to read these two books because, sadly, I do judge books by their covers and titles but as I have read everything else I felt I needed to read these as well.  I think Slow Dance In Purgatory was her first book?  Or maybe her first published book.  I have no idea.  Either way, they were very good.  Super easy reads.  I had them both polished off in 24 hours.  If you need a nice mind-getaway then any of her books are for you!

Slow Dance in Purgatory review here.
Prom Night in Purgatory review here.

27 weeks

A few days late.  This was a busy weekend and I can tell you that Cookie (and myself) are SO glad it is over. 

This was a normal week.  Honestly, being 3 days late has made me forget about what happened last week anyway. 

Here is what I know:

-I was tired.
-I was hungry.
-I had heartburn.
-I make lots of grunts and weird noises when trying to get off the floor or couch. 
-I can't see my feet.

Everyone asks me if this pregnancy feels any different than my previous two and I don't know how to answer that.  With my easy pregnancies, I don't have any symptoms really to compare but couldn't that also mean that this pregnancy is the same as the last two?  The only real difference is that I am much more hormonal (but this could be situational and not pregnancy related.  I carried Dexter low and I carried Simon high.  Dexter's heart rate was always around 150 while Simon's was lower around 130.  Everyone swore he was a girl and he wasn't.  So who is to say if we have a little fellow or a little lady floating around in there.  I'm guessing I'm more curious than any of you!  Max and I both would honestly be happy with either a boy or a girl but he is rooting for a girl and I am rooting for a boy.  He says that would take the pressure off #4 having to be a girl and I say we have all the boy stuff and there will be a break between #3 and #4 so better to have the 3 boys close in age.

Time will tell.

Book review: Making Faces by Amy Harmon

I finally let myself read this book after weeks of it burning a hole in my Kindle.  I love Amy Harmon and I love the books that she writes.  This book came out on October 20 so it is very new and sadly, means that there won't be another new one for a while.  *insert sad, sniffling face*

I enjoyed this book thoroughly.  It wasn't my favorite book of hers, maybe not even my 2nd favorite but still definitely good and worth reading.  I think my friends would like it a lot.  Making Faces is a very easy read and strums on those heartstrings for the romance and emotions involved. 

If you want the official book review from Amazon, look here.

26 weeks

This past week was pretty boring in terms of my pregnancy.  I didn't feel much different than the week before.  Baby is still such an active night baby.  I'm really dreading when I have to turn that around once s/he is out.  Although, s/he must be starting to be awake a bit more because there is an added time frame around 9am where baby is up moving for a wee little bit.  Then the rest of the day baby is silent and sleeping.  Come 9pm, give or take 10 minutes, baby is up and at it all night long.  Yikes.

I happily am still stretch mark free.  I know I will get them because they will come in the exact spots that they were for my previous pregnancies but lucky for me, they are not on my stomach.  My rear end looks like a road map at the end of pregnancy though... was that TMI for you?  I don't care. 

I suppose I can tell you that pregnancy does not do nice things for my eczema.  I don't have much of it but where I do have it is always badly inflamed during pregnancy.  Something about the hormones makes it flare up.  Unfortunately, my eczema is on my face and so I think it looks like I constantly have waxed off a Go-T.  You will not see this in my photos because I edit them out.  That's right, I am a liar.  I am a photo liar.  But, I figure, I do not need to see visual reminders of this particular symptom of my pregnancies.  It's bad enough I am telling you and now you will look for it every time you see me.  Don't do that.  My fragile ego won't be able to take it. 

I've been getting more sleep lately so that I helping with my exhaustion.  I thought it would be helping a lot more than it is so that really tells me I have been over-doing it.  Soon, things will calm down for me and I will be able to regularly get more sleep and take more breaks during the day.  Well, not during the week.  Ha, like small kids let you get a break.  My soundtrack of getting off the floor from playing with the kids is quite comical.  There is a lot of groaning, sighing and finally an "ahhh" when I am on 2 feet.  I think I will have to put a chair in the toy room so I don't have to sit on the floor anymore. 

25 weeks

Holy hell I look like crap this week.  I just want you to know I realize this and I'm not walking around in some dream-like state that I look like Gisele Bundchen.  Who I really don't like by the way.  I could look like that too if I had 8 zillion dollars and nannies and, you know, DNA like hers.  What a jerk.

This Friday marks the end of the most difficult week of daycare I have had yet.  This might also be why I look like crap.  The kids were very difficult and the more pregnant I get the less patience I have.  This is unfortunate for the children but the most unfortunate for me.  I feel like Cookie is going to come out in some permanent state of anxiety and stress because of how things have been lately.  This isn't true right?  What movie is that from... she was all worried the baby was going to come out wired for stress for life.  Oh yes, Knocked Up.  I'm not sure if that's true but it is how I feel.  I need a relax day.  A ME day.  A day with no pressure, no guilt, no work, no kids.

Well now I am just complaining.  I need to SNAP OUT OF IT.  Whining to myself over a blog so everyone can read it.  I am going out of my mind.

Baby is healthy and active as ever.  I feel hiccups now and Cookie has them all the time.  You can easily feel baby from the outside doing everything like rolling, twitching, hiccups and not just kicking.  I think it's fun and I feel baby from the inside too!

My doctor appointment went well.  Cookie's heartbeat was at 152 bpm and s/he was irritated at the pressure of the Doppler on my belly.  That is one thing about this baby, s/he doesn't like pressure at all on my stomach.  Even the maternity band on my pants can get this kid ticked off. 

I am experienced with pregnancy so I had no questions related to that but I did ask quite a few questions about water births since that is the route I am planning on taking this time.  I want to go all natural, "I am woman hear me roar" style.  This may be a crazy idea.  I don't know.  Ask me in roughly 105 days when my due date approaches.  My doc did tell me something kind of weird that I hadn't heard before.  I guess they do a "quick test" for HIV on your routine blood tests and my "quick test" came back positive. He tells me this is quite common for pregnancy.  They are, of course, required to do the real test which OBVIOUSLY came back negative.  I do not have HIV.  I hadn't heard of this though.  Have you? 

The scale wasn't being nice that day and told me a tale I would rather not hear.  Am I eating salad and crunch on carrots all day long?  No.  I am not.  Am I drinking water until the cows come home?  No.  BUT I am eating small meals throughout the day and not gorging myself and am getting a hell of a lot more exercise than I got the last 2 pregnancies.  I think I am doing better than those pregnancies but the weight gain is still climbing steadily at a rate that I am not fond of.  Hopefully I can stick to my goal of 15 lbs less than what I gained with the other two.  You will have to trust me.  I can stand to gain 15 lbs less than those pregnancies and still have enough to spare.  My body packs on the pounds when a child is brewing.

Ok.  I am rambling and making a fool of myself enough today.  I am going to bed.  It will probably be more like a coma.  Until next week....