Weeks 23-28

*read our journey here*

Weeks 22 through 28

Thankful For:  Fall!  Cooler weather – thank God!  I’m not as active as I once was (leading up to pregnancy), so it’s nice to get some long walks in with neighbors and the family!  Also, thankful for my healthy baby girl and this pregnancy which is proving to be much different than Henry’s.

Emotions:  Definitely always at a high as I’m so thankful for what is ahead of us.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… having a family is all we ever wanted and the topic of conversation even on our first date.  If there’s one thing we pretty much see 100% eye-to-eye on it’s family and raising Henry.  We can’t wait to add Olive to the mix.  I know I always touch on the past, mainly because it brings a great sense of joy and thankfulness to reflect back on… but there were years of our marriage when we 100% doubted our life as parents and now here we are, about to bring our second child into this world.  It’s a pretty special thing and with that – there’s always emotions and a few tears along the way.

Nesting:  I finally have the nesting bug!  Figured out why it took so long (read under symptoms), but now that I’m on some meds, supplements and adjusted my diet – I’m feeling 100% better and have a little more energy back!

So, two weekends ago, I got this itch to do a home improvement project.   We’re  replacing the carpet in the bedrooms upstairs with hardwoods.  It’s been one of the biggest regrets when we moved in and we know it will add value to our home when we go to sell it.  The carpet that we put in is so cheap and completely matted down and unraveling.  Putting hardwoods down is supposed to “fix” this creak that runs through Henry, Olive’s and the guest room sub-floors.  The creak is so bad that our plan was to address the problem come fall and now here we are.  Hopefully my sleepless nights of sleep stalking Henry and Olive won’t include the creaking floors startling them.

I had last weekend off and we did so much all over the house.  My hubby’s been great and super helpful.  I think he had the itch more than me to “nest”.

Symptoms:  I should start this off by saying, that I’m incredibly grateful to be pregnant.  I know far too many women who are fighting so hard… and I never want to come off ungrateful.  That’s one of the biggest reasons, I stay pretty positive and try not to complain – all about perspective.  Buttttttt, to be honest.  This pregnancy has been harder than the last.

I’m sure there’s so many reasons and I know all 2nd time moms go through this… you’re chasing a active-strong-willed toddler around, running a business and a team during our busiest year to date (thankful, yes – exhausted, totally!) and approaching my 34th birthday (old!)… I’m no spring chicken.  All of those that I listed are amazing little blessings, but they also knock me dead at times.

A few things we learned over the last two weeks… I’ve been so tired the entire pregnancy.  I can’t explain this exhaustion.  I could sleep all.day.long.  Come to find out, I’m anemic.  I know this is super common in pregnancy, so we just added in an additional Iron supplement and changed my diet.

I’ve also been extremely out of breath, have occasional panic attacks, get dizzy when I stand up and heart palpitations… I knew something wasn’t right as these symptoms have increased over time.  In the morning, when I get out of bed, there are times when I come close to passing out… this is all caused from suddenly rising from a reclining position.  How dramatic does that sound, right?!  Come to find out, I have extremely low blood pressure.  My doc has me on some meds, I’ve been directed to sleep on my left side to increase blood flow to the heart, increase my water intake and try not to get up too quickly… because, even though I drink close to a gallon of water a day (always have), I’m still dehydrated.

My platelet count is also on the lower side.

I found all of this out during my glucose test.  Similar situation happened during my pregnancy with Henry.  I had the drink, which I didn’t mind.  Then immediately started having hot flashes and shortness of breath.  Ended up passing out and vomiting right there in the office.  I was supposed to get some shots, but we decided to postpone those, lol.

I can totally deal with all of the above.  I’ve been a trooper and rarely complain.  However, the spider veins that I’ve been blessed with… DIE!  They freak me out!  Mama’s do these go away after pregnancy?  My doc said, no, but I’m holding out hope.  They cover my entire left leg from the knee down.

At the end of my visit – my doctor laughed and said… “girl pregnancies literally suck the life out of you”.

Doctor Visits:  Down to the every-two-week visits. 🙂 Next one is this Thursday.

Baby Position:  Baby is head down!  Doc said that the baby normally doesn’t transition until 32 weeks and she was head down at 27 weeks.  Also, she’s low.

Sleep:  Last night I drank 64oz of water between 9:30pm and when I woke up.  The amount of water I drink (because of how thirsty I am) is unreal.  Therefore, I’m up between 5-7 times in the middle of the night to use the bathroom… I’m also up every hour to guzzle water, check social media, sleep stalk my son and think about how my life is about to change with two.  Sleep is just overrated, as I know it is for most females with or without kiddos.

Nursery:  Very thankful to be teaming up with some amazing companies to collaborate on this nursery!  Can’t thank Joss & Main, Pottery Barn Kids, Horchow, Shop Candelabra and ANE Wall Decor enough!  I’ve received almost everything other than the wallpaper – once the artistry work is complete, it will be in production for about 2-3 weeks before we receive… and then up it goes!

Workouts:  This pregnancy has been harder to get workouts in.  I’ve also been exhausted.  I try to walk daily (but probably only get 3 good walks in a week) and do Body Pump Class.  Getting Henry in his carseat is probably the biggest workout.

How is Henry:  Henry.  Sweet Henry.  We’re going through what I think is the worst of the terrible two’s… from my understanding, the terrible three’s are even worse.   It’s forced John and I to come together as one and really streamline our parenting so that we’re disciplining in similar ways.  I’m the softy.  Henry’s so sweet and loving, but he’s definitely stubborn and strong-willed.  The good days outweigh the bad, but man are the bad days hard on me and this big belly.  The good news is that we’ve checked the boxes of my biggest goals with him before the baby arrives: 100% potty trained, done with paci and on a good bedtime sleep schedule (as most of you know, we struggled with sleep for the past year).

Henry’s getting excited for his baby sister and he visits her nursery often.  Today he jumped from the rocker arm into her crib (yikes!).

When others have touched my belly (like his YiaYia), he freaked out and cried… “that’s my baby sister in my mommy’s belly”.  Protective big brother.

Tonight he said, “I just want to hold baby sister and then put her down on the carpet”.  lol.

Looking Forward To:  Getting the nursery done, washing clothes, packing the hospital bag.  Celebrating the holidays and Henry’s birthday! 🙂 My dear friend is throwing me a sprinkle in exactly one month and I couldn’t be more excited for that.

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