I won't sugarcoat it for ya...third trimesters aren't for the faint of heart. Today I am 36 weeks and 5 days and things are getting tricky.
I've asked many, many people throughout this journey to "tell me like it is" and it seems just about every human I've talked to said pregnancy is nothing but a joyous and happy time. AND IT IS. It's the happiest! But that's not exactly what I'm asking. I'm asking about the ins and outs of pregnancy. The nitty gritty stuff everyone glosses right over to gush about how excited they are for their sweet babies!
So I want to discuss that part.
Maybe I've just had a hard pregnancy. My doctor would tell you I am "painfully average" when it comes to pregnancies. I have normal aches and normal pains and a normal sized belly and a normal amount of weight gain and just normal everything. It just doesn't FEEL all that normal.
But let's get to that later. First let's start out with fun stuff! I had a few showers since we last talked! A family shower at Thanksgiving, a work one and a Waco one. Next weekend we have one in Temple, and that will be the last of them! I'm REALLY bad at remembering to take photos, but here are a few from each shower! (Photos from Waco shower coming as soon as I locate them...told y'all I was bad!)
My work shower was "pop" themed. Soda pop, cake pops, popcorn...SO cute. It was a "book shower" so we are all stocked up on baby books—which I am pretty excited about.
We were only in Denver for the first night. We had brunch, did a lot of walking, took a long nap (our flight out of Texas was at 7am that morning), and ate some awesome Grimaldi's pizza.
Here are a few pictures from Denver:
After one night in Denver we rented a car and drove to Boulder, which was so cute! We only spent a few hours there, though. We were basically just stopping through on our way to Estes Park. We ate lunch, shopped around a few places, checked out a few sights and were on our way to Estes Park.
Estes Park was incredible. The drive into Estes alone is enough to take your breath away. You're basically just scaling the side of a mountain for half an hour...the views are gorgeous. We spent two nights here, and I'm so glad that we did! In my opinion, this is where you come to get that true Colorado experience.
The view from our room was this frozen river. So cute.
We got as many pictures as we could, but both of our phones kept turning themselves off because it was so cold. Haha, definitely not something either of us had experienced before. Frozen iphones.
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That is actually a frozen lake Drew is standing on.
I was wearing a long sleeved tee, a vest, a sweater, two jackets, two pair of pants, wool socks and boots. Drew was wearing about the same. And we were STILL cold. These little adventures outside the car were all short lived.
The higher up you drive, the colder and snowier it gets!
This vacation was literally one trip to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory after another. They're on every corner up in the rockies...who'd have thought? So the fact that Drew and I love RMCF was dangerous. We spent all of our "walking around money" on caramels and caramel apples.
In Estes Park, frozen rivers and beautiful parks are literally everywhere. We found this one behind a little shopping center.
Casual pack of elk.
In Estes Park we spent most of our time up in the mountains driving around and doing as much hiking as I could. We LOVED it, and both agreed we'd love to come back in the summer to see the mountains in a different season. Other than exploring, we ate a lot of good food, I took a lot of hot baths, and that's about it. It was perfect. A little tougher physically than I thought it would be (I tend to think myself invincible—which gets me in trouble), but so worth it.
The VERY last morning, we got up early for the drive back to Denver and woke up to a winter wonderland.
Glad I took this screen shot when I woke up...proof of just how cold it was!
View out our front window.
Pregnancy makes me HOT, so we left a window SLIGHTLY ajar overnight and accidentally froze the pipes. Oopsie! Texans don't know anything!
Sweet Drew went straight outside to brave the freezing cold and de-snow the car.
The drive back down the mountains into Denver was stressful because everything was so snowy and iced over. And our little rental car wasn't exactly made for that kind of weather. But we made it to drop off the rental, to the airport and through security with plenty of time leftover before boarding! Unfortunately, that's where our luck ran out. The plane that was scheduled to pick us up had to emergency land in Vegas because of a mechanical issue (very comforting), so it was delayed three hours getting into Denver. Whomp whomp.
Luckily, we are pretty chill people. So we grabbed a frozen yogurt, I grabbed a book, and we settled in for a wait.
Somehow we lucked into the VERY front row on the plane home. Drew is big on leg room, so this was a win.
And it was a beautiful sunset.
If you're considering a "babymoon" I'd say go for it. Heck, pull a Drew and Kaylee and go for two. We know the little life we're getting ready to welcome into the world will be so precious, and I'm sure we'll never look back. But at the same time, celebrating this short but sweet season of "just the two of us" deserved to be celebrated one last time.
So what excitement has the third trimester brought me?
A lot of movement from baby girl, and we're talking big movements. The kind that actually make me squeal or jump because they hurt and catch me off guard.
Up until 36 weeks I have carried her extremely high. So high, in fact, that it has caused a lot of rib and middle back discomfort. Imagine a dull (but very constant) pain throughout your ribcage and right where your bra strap hooks, and that's what it's like. Sitting makes this worse, so the fact that I work at a desk has been making me crazy.
My ankles started swelling at 35 weeks, which is a really solid look for me. I can't reach my toes anymore, so Drew took me for a pedicure this weekend—which was heavenly. Thank you, Drew. My face is finally doing the thing where I look pregnant in the face. You know what I'm talking about, almost puffy like I'm retaining water in my cheeks and nose. I've added a photo for proof of this phenomenon.
People STILL tell me on a very regular basis (let's say, once a day) that I don't look big enough to be expecting a baby this month. I've been told this exact same thing since the week I started showing— "No way you're 25 weeks! I can barely tell you're even pregnant!" And every week since then, I've gotten a version of that exact same thing. I guess she's small! Either that, or I carry differently than most. I don't know exactly, but honestly, I'm glad. Better small than straight out...I can't take anymore back pain, y'all.
Lets talk about cravings because mine are WEIRD.
I crave nothing food-wise. Honestly.
I'd say I've actually redeveloped my aversion for coffee in the third trimester. I don't really want anything to do with it, except for maybe once in a while.
BUT the weird thing is that I crave laundry. I KNOW. Strange.
The smell of clean clothes literally makes me so happy. I've bought in-wash scent boosters and strong smelling dryer sheets to make the laundry smell even stronger on everything I wear. Our whole dang HOUSE smells like in-wash scent boosters. Drew has had enough. Today at Target I waned to buy Febreeze and a candle that literally both have the same smell as the in-wash scent boosters. He let me go for the Febreeze, but pumped the breaks at a candle. Fine.
Other than dreaming of the smell of clean laundry, I want to chew on ice. This has everything to do with my low iron, but it's definitely a strong craving. I just want to sit in a pile of warm towels with a cup of Chick Fil A ice. It would be a dream come true.
The last thing is that I love the smell of fake air conditioning. The smell your car makes when the a/c is on is my best friend.
So, I'm weird.
A new fun pregnancy side effect I developed today was that I completely lost use of my left leg via a hip strain. At first I thought it was sciatic nerve pain, but when I literally lost the ability to walk on my own, I knew something was up. Apparently since baby girl is starting to drop lower, every muscle and ligament in that region of my body is starting to loosen to prepare for the big day. And that makes me more susceptible to injuries. So, of course, I managed to injure myself.
Thank goodness for our friend Steve who is a Chiropractor and has been keeping my back in line for me. Otherwise, I'd be up a creek. Typically chiropractic work is scary to me, by the way. But the back pain got so intense that I was willing to try whatever, and I'm VERY glad I did. SO grateful for Steve!
Y'ALL it's tough!
The hospital bag is semi packed. I have clean clothes in it for me, baby and Drew. I also have toiletries and a few other small must haves all packed up, but it is nowhere near done. I still need a "going home outfit" for baby, some slippers and shower shoes for me, and plenty more. I honestly wish I had myself more together. It seems that 37 weeks snuck up on us. The nursery is not done. The baby laundry is not done. The house is still messy. I don't have a baby book or anything ready. I am kind of feeling like a mess.
Our Christmas card this year.
Drew's favorite baby gift so far.
We got maternity pictures back! I'll share at some point, I promise. But today is not the day.
Drew, or as I like to call him "8 mile", framing our art prints for the nursery.
A bunch of cute little bits from the nursery!
I know I'll get there. This is my first baby—so like all first babies usually are—I'm sure she'll be late. That gives me a few much-needed weeks to get everything ready for her and get everything at work ready for my absence.
That's just about all I have for you. I hope if you are having whatever you deem to be a "tough" pregnancy (even if your doc thinks you are painfully average), you can find comfort in the fact that you are not alone! Pregnancy is a blessing, but nobody said literally growing a tiny person would be easy, so shake off those feelings of "I should be more positive about pregnancy"! You are justified in being tired of constant, varying levels of "ouch". When even sitting perfectly still hurts, you are allowed to whine a little. :)
Hopefully you have someone as supportive as Drew has been to keep you sane! I swear without him I may have already pulled my hair out. He has been my safe place to "whine" about how much everything hurts. He has taken care of the laundry and the dishes when I'm so tired I literally just can't. And he has rubbed my back more times than I can count. He's been a great partner through all of this, and he's going to be a great dad.
I hope y'all had a happy new year's eve and day! 2017 is going to be a great year.
:)
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