Baby P Weekly Update – 23 Weeks

Weeks Pregnant: 23

Baby size: About the length of a spring onion (with the green part and all) and weighing just over a pound. One website I found said at 23 weeks the baby is the length and weight of a Harry Potter book ha!

Symptoms: My body is really not used to carrying all this extra weight on my front so if I have walked around for a while, or bent down to pick something up too often (this usually happens when doing housework – how convenient!) my lower back and hips start hurting a lot. It’s not muscle pain, more bone. The doctor may recommend me to a chiropractor as I just feel like everything needs a good click back into place. Other than that, in the last two or three weeks the tingling on my left hip when I lie down has really subsided thank goodness!

Baby bump: My belly feels like it gets bigger everyday! People in public are definitely starting to notice but luckily I haven’t had any creepy stroking yet!

Movement: All the time – it is so constant. Luckily it doesn’t seem to be when I’m sleeping, just early in the morning until my bed time.

Cravings: Still no real cravings, although now I won’t drink water unless it’s either very cold or has lots of ice in it. This is weird because I have always been baffled by how much ice Americans use – now I’m grateful!

Maternity clothes: Pretty much only wearing maternity bottoms now – no normal jeans/skirts/leggings for me! The only non-maternity pair of pants I can still get away with are a pair of brown slacks for work (I can’t do the top button up though!). Still not wearing any maternity shirts.

Maternity jeans and regular shirt!

 

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): I feel like I’ve struck a good balance between eating healthily and still not depriving myself if I want something. It’s a comfort to know that my weight gain is on track (not too little, not too much) so I think I’m doing alright with my eating habits.

Memory of the week: This is not as much about Leni as it is about Chris and I – we are just enjoying our time together before she gets here. This weekend we were in Atlanta, GA visiting some friends and the NF church there and we went to the aquarium (my favorite!) on Saturday. We’re planning a trip to Charleston, SC in April sometime as well – one last hurrah before our lives change forever! One thing I’m so grateful for is a husband that is as excited as I am about having a baby, and he has been fully involved in every single aspect of this pregnancy – from doctor’s appointments to nursery decor to consignment events. Single men take note – this is what women want!

Hiking one beautiful morning with my lovely husband.

A dolphin show at GA Aquarium!

Most excited about: Right now I’m most excited about clearing out the spare room for it’s magical transformation into a gorgeous nursery! I think we are going to try to paint the walls next weekend, and I am starting some of my DIY decorations too. Stay tuned for a post once its all finished!

Baby P Weekly Update – 22 Weeks

Weeks Pregnant: 22 (well, this post is about week 22, but I’m actually 23 weeks as of today)

Baby is the size of: A large grapefruit. 11 inches and probably weighs just over a pound.

Symptoms: This week I’ve felt good! Apart from having a nasty cold, I’ve not really had any other symptoms – just a big old belly!

Baby bump: Without a doubt, I have a baby bump. This thing is starting to get in the way!

Movement: All the time. Everyday she moves more frequently.

Cravings: Nothing this week! Just eating everything.

Maternity clothes: Chris’ grandmother gave us some money so I was able to buy a pair of maternity jeans  by Heidi Klum and a pair of maternity pyjamas that I can wear at the hospital and to nurse in also. I have to tell you about my amazing deal – other preggo mamas you may appreciate this – at Motherhood Maternity online, they are doing buy one, get one free on all clearance items! Which means that my jeans were completely free. Happy lady right here – I love a good bargain!

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): This week I didn’t do so well with the healthy eating, mainly because our nieces and nephew were here from Georgia so we all tend to pig out on junk food together! I was trying to put on a little weight before my doctor’s appointment too and it worked. I am on track with my weight gain – 125lbs now and apparently that’s exactly where they want me to be (I was 112lbs in my first trimester)!

Memory of the week: Other than the memories I mentioned in this post from a few days ago, today we went for a check up appointment at my doctor’s office and instead of the doctor finding Eleni’s heartbeat, she put the jelly-stuff on my tummy and gave Chris the little machine and got him to find it! It was so precious, he found it straight away and it was probably one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen.

Most excited about: My jeans and pjs arriving in the mail from Motherhood Maternity! Can’t wait.

All about [baby] fashion

Here are some baby girl brands that I love right now:

Absorba:

 Floral Creeper

Dot Creeper

 Two Piece Short Set

Just One You by Carter’s:

Baby Girls 3 Pack Assorted Bodysuit Set – Orange

Newborn Girls’ Bootie/Hair Set

Girls’ 3 Piece Set – Blue/Grey

Girls’ Crochet Booties

Cherokee:

Bodysuit and Skirt Set – Blue/White

Girls’ Short Sleeve Dress – Orange

Circo:

Girls’ Star Bodysuit – Blue

Girls’ Romper, Multi Floral

Girls’ Short Sleeve Dress – Coral

Mud Pie:

Newborn Rosette Mary Janes, Multi

Unisex-Baby Safari Elephant Sleeper

Girls Safari Giraffe Racerback Dress

Princess Seersucker Bubble

 

All of these brands are pretty affordable online and they are so cute! Eleni is going to be one well-dressed baby!

 

 

Some recent memories

We have had a good few weeks, with Baby Leni kicking and punching incessantly! Unfortunately I have been sick (flu/cold symptoms) for going on 8 days now so looking forward to getting better. Here are a few highlights from recent times:

• Chris and I got to go and have Valentine’s Day Dinner! Believe it or not in the [going on] 5 years that we have been together, we have never been able to go to a nice restaurant for dinner on Valentine’s Day. We went to one of our favorite Indian restaurants in Asheville, Mela, and had a wonderful time. And yes, I did break out the high heels – I haven’t stopped wearing them just because I have a belly! 

• This Friday despite feeling pretty yucky, myself, Chris, his mom Karen and his sister Amy we so grateful to be given guest passes to the presale for a huge children/baby consignment event in Asheville. So we went on Friday evening and it was HUGE! With over 2,000 consignors there was a lot to take in. Chris’ mom had generously set aside some money for some nursery furniture so we got a beautiful changing table in excellent condition at a great price. Chris’ sister bought us a lovely baby bath, and some other bits. Chris was happy because he got a hiking pack that he can carry Eleni in up and down the mountains!

 

• My grandparents on my Dad’s side bought us the stroller/carseat combo from our registry and it arrived on Saturday! We were so excited and I love it! It’s an Evenflo Featherlite – very lightweight but still sturdy and safe, so I can lift it in and out of the car but still feel like it’s not going to fall apart on the first bump in the road. Thanks Nana and Pappou!

• Then, my Nana sent me a photo of my profile as a child that looks very similar to what we can see of Eleni’s profile in the ultrasound pics – so cute!

• The last memory I can’t help but share is spending such lovely time with Chris’ sister, her husband, and her four children who came down from Georgia for the weekend. It was so much fun to see them interact with their new cousin for the first time as they got to feel her kicking around on their hands – I love them all so dearly!

 

Baby P Weekly Update – 21 Weeks

Weeks Pregnant: 21 (we think, still not 100% sure!)

Baby is the size of: A spaghetti squash apparently! She weighs approx. 14oz as we were told at our last ultrasound.

Symptoms: My hip hasn’t bothered me as much lately so that’s a huge blessing! My chin has completely broken out, but looks like it’s clearing up now – where’s this fabulous pregnancy skin everybody raved about?!

Baby bump: I am honestly ALL belly. The rest of me hasn’t changed a bit. I looked at pre-preggo photos of myself to compare with  and I seriously look the same, just with a big ol’ bump at the front! People who don’t know me are starting to notice that I’m pregnant now which is quite sweet.

Movement: Well, this baby is her daddy’s daughter make no mistake about that. H-Y-P-E-R. I love feeling her move around, and especially love that others are able to feel it from the outside. In fact, if I’m lying still enough you can see it from the outside too!

Stretch marks: Still no stretch marks.

Cravings: My favorite preggo snack of all time is Lindt Dark Chocolate with ‘a touch of sea salt’. I don’t feel super guilty about it since I need the extra calories and it’s dark chocolate which is healthier for you.

Maternity clothes: I found some dark skinnies!!! Well, they’re not super dark, and they’re not super skinny either but they’ll do for now. Either way, I can finally wear jeans without being ridiculously uncomfortable and that is a great feeling!

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): I feel like I’m on track with eating healthily (except when we go to Kylie and Chance’s house and eat pizza two times in one week – SO BAD). I’m not really drinking any sodas, not eating a whole lot of sweets (apart from the dark choccie) and I’ve never particularly liked fast food or anything fried so I feel good!

Memory of the week: We finally got to hear Baby Leni’s heartbeat! It’s been really funny, usually that’s the first connection you have with the baby but I guess all the people we’ve seen assumed we had done it before! So when we had our wonderful experience at the college, we got to hear her pumping away in there – it was precious. Also, it has been the biggest blessing to consistently receive hand-me-down clothes from friends – so much fun to look through all the little onesies! Chris and I honestly haven’t bought a single thing for Eleni yet which is a huge blessing.

Most excited about: This weekend Chris’ sister and her four kids are coming in from Georgia for the weekend and Chris, his mom, his sister and I have been given guest passes to a pre-sale event at the Wee Trade Consignment Sale in Asheville this weekend. Chris’ mom has very generously set aside some money to buy us nursery furniture so that is what we will be searching for tomorrow! So excited!

Our most recent ultrasound pics!

This morning was so much fun – I signed up to be a preggo volunteer at a local college so they could practice their ultrasound skills on me! I learnt so much about our little baby and how to recognize different things on the ultrasound machine. Today was also the first time that Chris and I have heard the heartbeat – for some reason our doctor didn’t do that (I think she may have thought we had heard it earlier on in the pregnancy). That was pretty special. It was kind of funny because I didn’t expect to think a heartbeat is cute, but hers was adorable! Another plus was being able to get a view clear enough to see her little mouth opening and closing and during this ultrasound she was super active so we got to see her moving and twisting a lot!

Here are some pics from this morning:

Eleni was resting the back of her hand on her cheek and looks positively ladylike!

 

 

Another cute shot of her profile – what a pretty baby!

This is a seriously creepy photo – every family needs at least one, right? The big black circles are her eyes and I think she looks like one of those freaky dolls in a horror movie!

I love this photo of her foot! It measured 3cm long. (By the way, she weighs 14oz!)

 

Not sure if she was pointing at something in particular or just giving us a ‘cool’ greeting, but I love this little photo!

 

Baby P Weekly Update – 20 Weeks

The different doctors that I see keep changing my due date! So I’m estimated to be 20 weeks this week, but it is very hard to get an exact answer. Eleni is expected to arrive sometime between June 15 and June 21 so we shall see!

Weeks Pregnant: 20

Baby is the size of: A banana in length – about 10 inches from head to heel. Getting bigger every week!

Symptoms: I am just so unbelievably exhausted, but I’m not sure it’s from the pregnancy as much as I’m just doing too much – we lead extremely busy lives so I am just going to have to cut back on a few things. Too much physical activity is getting very painful for me, my right hip and lower back absolutely kill me if I have bent down or walked too much. I hate being such a pansy! I think my doctor is going to refer me to a chiropractor though, so that should help.

Baby bump: I’ll let the picture speak for itself. This was a few days ago, and I already feel like it’s bigger. The rest of me is still not looking pregnant at all, definitely not from behind anyways!

Movement: SO much movement! She is beating me up all day long now, and I absolutely love it.

Stretch marks: None!

Cravings: Not really, although I did want a hot brownie and some vanilla ice cream the other night. Not sure if it was a craving though – it wasn’t an overwhelming ‘need’, I just really wanted one!

Maternity clothes: I’m wearing the maternity clothes that I have, but again my regular shirts still fit nicely. The one thing I’m hoping that we can afford in the very near future is a pair of maternity skinny jeans in dark denim. Without this belly I usually live in dark skinnies, and it’s getting less and less comfortable to use the hairtie trick so I’m more or less living in leggings and long shirts/dresses, but really missing my jeans! My work pants are also getting uncomfortable.

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): I’ve been really healthy this week. Having said that, I had a complete ‘preggo fail’ moment last night – I completely forgot to eat dinner! I had some people round and we had dessert but beforehand I was so busy making the dessert that I forgot about dinner and Chris was out so he couldn’t remind me! I only remembered when I was just drifting off to sleep. Hopefully today will be better. Chris says the baby is sucking all my brains out and that’s not insulting because its just the truth!

Memory of the week: So many memories this week! We found out that Baby P is a girl (her name is Eleni Joy Pruett), and Chris and my bestie Kylie got to feel her kick from the outside too! That was a magical moment, and we all loved every minute of it. Another really nice thing has been receiving more presents from our registry – so much fun! This week Chris’ grandparents bought us the high chair that we wanted and it is even more gorgeous in real life! It’s solid wood and very sturdy so it should last for all the kiddies and not just this one!

Baby P is a……GIRL!!!

We finally know – Baby P is officially a little girl! We couldn’t be happier.

After an hour in the waiting room, we were finally taken back to a very fancy ultrasound room complete with a couch for Chris to sit on and a big flat screen TV so that we could see everything clearly!

When we first tried to find out the gender, Baby P’s legs were totally crossed – not budging one bit! So we moved on and were able to look at the beautifully beating heart, the brain, kidneys, stomach, bladder…all those good things. Everything is healthy and growing as it should be according to the doctor. What a relief! Every time we checked one part out, we’d go back to see if the legs were still crossed and sure enough, they always were. Finally, we were done making sure the organs were good and it came time for a lot of jiggling around! The doctor was pressing and shaking – funnily enough it didn’t hurt! It was very important that we could find out on that particular day as Mom, Dad and my siblings were all up late at night in South Africa waiting for the results and I didn’t want their late night to be for nothing! At last Baby P loosened up for about 5 seconds, enough to see that “IT’S A GIRL!” and then proceeded to cover herself back up with her hands. Hilarious.

We got some wonderful, very clear pictures (although these ones are phone pictures of the actual pictures, so not as good as they could be!) and in the one below, she is holding up her hand! When she got that shot, the doctor looked at my hands and then looked at Chris’ and said “She definitely has her daddy’s hands!” – I think Chris melted a little on the inside, it was precious!

More than anything, we are just so pleased and so relieved that everything is healthy and growing at the right pace. Judging by her long fingers and big feet she is probably going to be tall and skinny like her daddy! I wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂