Pregnancy Weeks 26 + 27: Chiropractor and Ultrasound Pictures

I can't believe I am almost into the third trimester. I feel like this pregnancy is flying by. I also have an intense urge to get the nursery set up, but I have to wait until E is fully transitioned into her big girl bed. We recently took the front off of her crib and attached the toddler bed rail.

She's rolled out a couple of time, but she puts herself right back into bed. She mostly enjoys the freedom. Soon, we will take off the rail and let her get used to the bed with a completely open side. Then, we are going to switch her to a regular big girl bed. She talks about her "big gull bet" at the time, so hopefully it will be a smooth transition.

Belly Updates

I feel like my 26-week belly comparisons were about the same. However, I look smaller in my 27-week comparison photo. I actually think my 27-week belly looks smaller than my 26-week belly with this pregnancy. Maybe baby girl changed position? 

I started seeing a chiropractor since my back pain has gotten out of control. Sneezing or coughing takes me down to my knees from the sudden sharp pain. The chiropractor said my left SI joint is absurdly inflamed, so that explains that. I am really hopeful that he can help me reduce or get rid of this pain.

Baby Update

I had another ultrasound at 26+3 because my midwife was concerned about the excessive contractions I am having. She got to see them in person and wanted to check to make sure they weren't doing too much to my cervix. She said my cervix is shorter than when they saw me around 20 weeks, but it is still a good length. She wants me to come back next week (two weeks from the ultrasound) to check again. 

To try and reduce the frequency of the BH contractions, she has asked me to not vacuum or grocery shop. I am also supposed to limit how much I pick up E. Transitioning her to a toddler bed has helped in that regard since I don't have to pick her up to put her in bed. She also recommended trying magnesium phosphate to reduce the BH contractions for my own comfort. They don't hurt, they're just annoying. 

The ultrasound tech snagged some great photos for me. Baby girl is still very much a girl. The tech grabbed a 3D image for me as well. I'm not sure why she did it, but I'm not complaining :) I got to see my baby's sweet little face. I know the 3D ultrasounds freak out some people, but I love it. I was 26+3 when I went in and baby girl measured spot on at 26+3. She weighed 2.2 pounds. 

Pregnancy Week 32: New Sono Pic of Baby Girl's Face!

This week baby girl is approximately 19 inches long and about 3.9 pounds. This is supposedly the size of a head of lettuce. I don't know about you, but I've never personally seen a 19 inch head of lettuce.

8 weeks	32 weeks

And here is the sono pic from 31w4d (plus a labeled version for the sonogram-impaired)!

It was so awesome seeing her little face! She's still a girl—no little boy dongle showed up last second ;) (I'm weirdly paranoid about this happening haha). The doctor also got a really amazing view of her heart. I could see all 4 chambers and the doctor said everything was working perfectly. I'm used to seeing her organs (they just show up like black holes on a sonogram), but her bladder looked huge, so I asked the doc about it. Apparently baby girl needed to pee pee hahaha.

I also got to see her little lips moving! She was sucking her amniotic fluid (practice for when she is on the outside!); it was incredible to watch. 

She's head down and facing the side/back, which the doctor said is an excellent position should she decide to stay that way until delivery. Her new favorite game is to place her little hands on my hip bones and push like she is doing a handstand. At least that is what it feels like :)

I really, really like the doctor I saw. I've seen him twice now and both times he was awesome. 

In belated-holiday related news, one of my friends had this ornament made for me:

It is pretty much hilarious. And awesome. Hawesome.

The baby shower is in two weeks time. Hopefully I can lock in on a venue location today. I've been researching, but I'm having a hard time finding places that aren't meant for weddings (i.e. 150-300 people). There are too many people coming to be able to do it at the house, but I doubt it will exceed 40 (we've invited 55 or so, about 20 have RSVP'd). Hopefully I didn't forget to invite anyone (woohoo, pregnancy brain), but shoot me a facebook message if you think I did.

Update: Location is set for the baby shower! If you haven't done so already, please RSVP :)

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We are registered at Babies "R" Us (#54941451) and Burlington Baby Depot (#34080180). They can be found by searching for either my or Josh's name.

Pregnancy Week 18: Progress and 4D Ultrasound Pictures

This is probably the busiest week I've had in a long time. There is still a lot of unpacking to do, but I think I will focus on what we have completed so far:

1. Kitchen is 100% unpacked
2. Office is set up (even though I'm going to get new desk to match the rest of the furniture in the coming week, oh well)
3. Living room is set up and unpacked (we have discovered we will need an area rug though to combat wheeled coffee table on hardwood floor slipperiness)
4. Guest bath is unpacked
5. Bedroom is set up, but closet and bathroom still need to be unpacked
6. Back porch is set up with table and chairs

Major things that still need to happen:

1. Hang up pictures
2. Put away clothes
3. Unpack main bathroom (need to get cabinet/storage organizer first)
4. Construct new guest bed frame (once it arrives)

Then I can focus on setting up a baby registry, especially since I know we are having a girl!!!

By far the most common question Josh and I have both gotten since the gender reveal is "Have you thought about names yet?"

Yes, yes we have, but we are not sharing. I have heard too many stories of people sharing their super important opinions about baby names.

Perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I think people are far less likely to say rude things about our name choice once the child is born versus when she is still in utero. 

Now on to the pictures! First up are my progress pictures. You will have to excuse the boxes upon boxes upon boxes. Things just got put any old where when we first moved in (also, lolz tampax box).

8 Weeks	18 Weeks

I definitely look different now, but not like I'm pregnant. Oh well. I'll "pop" eventually.

Here is a picture from last night of Nona being cuddly. Since about week 8 of the pregnancy she has become obsessed with snuggling with my stomach and trying to burrow her face in it.

Nona is still adjusting to the new house. She's still skittish if Josh or I make a sudden loud noise, but she is getting more comfortable with her new surroundings.

And now for the 4D ultrasound pictures (to clarify, the pictures are actually 3D, but they came from my 4D ultrasound). These first three are good shots of baby's feet and toes. The last one she is trying to make a grab for her foot :)

There next two are good shots of her hands. The first one I posted in the last blog update. The second one her hand closest to the front is blurry since she moves so dang much, but you can see her other hand pretty clear :)

Here you can see her little toesies and hands. She has her momma's long toes ;)

She's being camera shy in this one, hiding her little face behind her hand:

Here she is in the process of sucking her thumb <3 She's moving really fast, so her face is blurred, but you can easily see what she is doing :)

And here is the traditional 2D shot again :)

This week baby girl is approximately 5.5 inches long, weighs about 5 ounces, and is roughly the size of a sweet potato. <3

Pregnancy Week 15 and 16 + New Ultrasound Pictures

Sixteen weeks already, almost half way! I'm still not looking very pregnant. My 15 week pictures started to look like I was getting a little bump, but it appears to have vanished in my 16 week pictures. That's kind of how it has been going this last week. I go to bed with a little bump and I wake up with a flat stomach. The mysteriously disappearing, reappearing bump.

I am starting to look different though! My waist line is not nearly as defined, my abdominal muscles are less prominant, and I've got a little poke in my lower belly.

Here are the progress pics (sorry for the messy room in the 15 week pics, I was in my brother's room since I was visiting family).

8 Weeks	15 Weeks

And here is 8 weeks compared to 16 weeks (this morning!):

8 Weeks	16 Weeks

Grow baby, grow!

And here is what I looked like in clothes at 15 weeks 5 days:

So not all that different in clothes, but we're making progress. Not sure where all this dang weight I've gained has gone to, but whatever. Baby is looking good, so I'm happy. 

And now for some ultrasound pictures! My Aunt Jane is the best, so I got to get another sneaky peek at the baby :) This ultrasound was done at 15 weeks 5 days.

Here is the baby. Its head is on the left and it's on its back. Look at its little upturned nosey!

Here is the baby giving you all the bird (not very nice, baby!). Its head is on the right now and its hand is above its face.

This one doesn't look like much, but if you look to the upper left hand corner you will see a little foot! Sorry baby, you have my creepy long toes (you can't tell that in this picture - baby moved around too much - but I got to see it in person).

Here you can see a really good view of its spine. 

So far, everything is looking pretty good! Baby has a good looking heart and heart beat, a spine, two legs, two feet, two arms, and two little hands! I also got to see all its tiny ribs!

The baby was incredibly active (as per usual) and we had to chase it around for while to get most of these images. When we listened to the heart beat on the doppler there was tons of clunking and clicking, which indicates the baby is moving. As you can see in the ultrasound pics, its head starts on one side and ends up switching to the other.

At 16 weeks, the baby is about 4-5 inches long, which is roughly the size of an avacado according to my pregnancy app. However, it only weighs 3-5 ounces. At the ultrasound, the heart rate was 138 beat per minute :)