Baby P Weekly Update – 36 Weeks

Weeks pregnant: 36 weeks.

Baby size: According to the weekly emails, Leni is almost 6lbs and probably around 19 inches long.

Symptoms: Still horrible old Braxton Hicks contractions. I’ve had a couple that have hurt and felt like cramps, but nothing consistent. I can really notice how much I’m slowing down now – it really doesn’t help that I’ve had to work double my usual hours (9am-5pm) this week. I am exhausted and it was not a good idea to do that! But the week is almost over, and while tomorrow we have a huge video shoot to do, hopefully I can rest on Saturday. Monday is Memorial Day so no work for me thank goodness!

Baby bump: Feeling huge! Other than my life being so crazy, the sheer weight of this bump is wearing me out! Here is a pic of my crazy belly!!!

Movement: Lots and lots! She’s been doing this weird thing around my belly button lately. It’s so strange. Chris started doing it because I hated it (it tickled) and now she does it too – I can already see those two ganging up on me!!

Cravings: If I absolutely had to pinpoint something I couldn’t live without and love above all else (cravings-wise) it would be water. I cannot get enough water – especially if it’s icy cold! But really, I haven’t actually craved anything.

Maternity clothes: Still the same as always – most of the clothes I wear are not maternity at all. I can still wear my old dresses, tops and skirts. The only thing I can’t wear non-maternity is pants/jeans.

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): I’ve been eating very healthily this week. I hate how junk/fast food makes me feel, so I really haven’t wanted anything fried or nasty. Monday night I experienced Red Lobster for the first time, then Tuesday night I tried a new recipe – chili/lime/cilantro chicken burgers – and they were delicious! Chris was very apprehensive as he’d never had a chicken burger before but I assured him the chicken was organic with no hormones or anything weird and he ended up loving them! Last night we had a rushed dinner of angel hair pasta with a creamy red pepper marinara sauce, and tonight we’re having grilled hamburgers on wholewheat buns. Yum! My appetite has decreased somewhat now that I’m so heavily pregnant, so I’ve been snacking a lot less too. Still drinking my dark chocolate almond milk though!

Memory of the week: We FINALLY got the office turned into a spare room. I find myself praising God for a three bedroomed house, otherwise poor Mom would have to sleep in the lounge on the couch bed when she comes! Now she has a nice full sized bed, a big old dresser to unpack her clothes into, and lots of keepsakes from around the world on all the shelves – most of them South African to make her feel at home 🙂 We also have a big world map on the wall with pins for where all our family lives and for where we’ve been in the world. Can’t wait to add more pins as time goes on! Now all I have to do is pack my hospital bag (and Leni’s and Chris’) and we’ll be good to go!

Most excited about: Hopefully a time of rest this weekend. I’m praying for some nights where I actually experience deep sleep and some times where I can lay down and not do anything. Also, we finally got our glider and ottoman delivered (we were able to buy the one we wanted with the many generous Babies R Us gift cards that we got at our baby shower) and I can’t wait for Chris to put it together tonight and get it in the nursery! This is the one we ended up going for, since the crib and changing table are natural wood too:

Baby P Weekly Update – 35 Weeks

Weeks pregnant: 35 weeks.

Baby size: According to the weekly emails I get, Baby Leni is about 5 and a quarter lbs and approximately 18 or 19 inches long. I just don’t feel like my belly is big enough to carry such a large being!

Symptoms: Terrible Braxton Hicks contractions happening fairly often – at least 2 or 3 an hour now. I wouldn’t mind them so much if they didn’t make me feel like there is a huge weight on my chest making it harder to breath. Apparently the top of my uterus is now up under my ribcage so that would explain why. Another fun fact: my uterus is now 500-1000 times the volume that it was before I got pregnant – and I’ve been wondering why I’m so tired!!!

Baby bump: Obviously growing like crazy, and making it harder to bend over etc. Although I know it is big and I am heavily pregnant at this stage, I still look in the mirror and can’t quite believe that it is big enough to be carrying a baby of these proportions! The rest of my body hasn’t really changed or grown so it’s kind of a weird feeling – my belly on one hand is huge compared to what it used to be, but it doesn’t feel big enough to be carrying a baby!

Movement: Still loads of movement. It makes me gasp at random times during the day because she punches so hard. She definitely punches and elbows me more than kicks. It still amazes me how, without fail, she moves when her daddy is near or his hand is on my belly. For example this morning she hadn’t quite woken up yet (she sleeps when I do for the most part) and as soon as Chris woke up and said good morning to her, she started wriggling and squirming! He absolutely loves it 🙂

Cravings: Nope!

Maternity clothes: Absolutely! Here is a recent bump pic – my shirt is one that I purchased a few years ago at Urban Outfitters (non-maternity) and you can’t see them but I am wearing maternity jeans. Excuse the hair, I didn’t have time to dry it so it’s au naturel!

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): Doing pretty well still on the healthy eating. In the mornings with breakfast (or just after) I drink my Pure Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk which contains 50% more calcium than dairy milk, is only 120 calories per cup and is lactose, soy and gluten free. Not to mention, the stuff is delicious! I’ve been getting better at eating protein – trying to eat some form of meat with dinner etc. Snack-wise (because I love to snack) I’ve been eating these dried apple pieces that are covered in oats and yogurt, and Newtons Fruit Thins with blueberries. Still loving the Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt as my big indulgence, and I tried a new variety yesterday which my mom recommended – Lindt dark chocolate with chili! It was very good.

Memory of the week: I don’t think I mentioned it but last Tuesday I did my last vocal session in the studio as a pregnant woman. It was different…when you’re 7 or 8 months pregnant, singing takes a little more work than usual and I normally challenge myself to sing so that whoever is mixing has to do very little if any correction on my vocals in terms of flat/wrong notes. Now that I’m pregnant however, I am a lot less precise and alas, it took longer than usual! That was partly due to the incessant bathroom breaks and the constant Braxton Hicks contractions also! Either way, I love to be in the studio – it is honestly one of my favorite things to do! On another note, we had a lovely dinner with some friends of ours who are getting married in September. We took them to a Mediterranean restaurant in Asheville complete with a belly dancer and everything which was hilarious!

Most excited about: Getting the office turned into a bedroom *hopefully* this Saturday ready for my mom, dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, Mela in Asheville, with some good friends of ours – the Kemps, and the first ever Soldier’s Heart gig (a band that one of our besties, Chance Kuehn, is a part of). And that’s just this weekend! Who knows what next week holds!

Baby P Weekly Update – 34 Weeks

Weeks pregnant: This update is for last week – 34 weeks.

Baby size: She weighs about 4 and 3/4 pounds, and measures on average about 18-19 inches long. Babies born between 34 and 37 weeks that have no other health problems are generally as fine as babies who are born at full-term. If Leni was born now, chances are she would only have to spend a very short amount of time in the NICU. So, in a nutshell, I’m kind of ready for her to get here 🙂

Symptoms: I had the most AWFUL leg cramp ever the other morning!!! And I had horrible dizzy spells all morning too. Acid re-flux is still being a big pain in the butt.

Baby bump: Growing every day it feels like!

Movement: Tons! I’m at the stage where if I rest any object on my belly, I’d better be prepared for it to fall off because her kicks/punches are so strong!

Cravings: Nope!

Maternity clothes: Absolutely!

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): I’m up to almost 138lbs now in weight, the doctors are pleased. Initially they wanted me to get up to 147lbs by the end of my pregnancy but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen and I’d kind of like to avoid that at all costs! I’m supposed to be gaining a pound a week, and the baby will take half of that for her own body weight.

Memory of the week: It has been an incredibly busy week – I am so exhausted and I need to make sure that I start slowing down. That’s not something I’m good at, so I need all my friends and family to jump on board and force me to rest! I’ve been working on putting everything away from our baby shower and doing lots and lots of baby laundry. The nursery is shaping up very nicely – here is a pic of the stripes we put on the wall, and the mobile I made a couple months ago:

Most excited about: I can’t decide if I’m more excited about Leni being born, or more excited about my Mom coming! I think they are both equally wonderful 🙂

Baby P Weekly Update – 33 weeks

Weeks pregnant: This update is for last week – 33 weeks.

Baby size: By week 33, a baby’s respiratory system is almost completely matured. She can tell the difference between night and day. Apparently she weighs as much as a grown-up duck ha!

Symptoms: Still lots of pain and some bad acid reflux every now and then but otherwise, I’m feeling pretty good!

Baby bump: Still stretching and getting bigger! No sign of stretch marks yet though so that’s good news!

Movement: Still lots of movement – starting to hurt more and more as she gets bigger. Lots and lots of Braxton Hicks contractions – those are getting more uncomfortable as time goes by, and the only time I have to do the pregnant waddle when I’m walking is when I’m having a B.H. contraction.

Cravings: Nope!

Maternity clothes: Yep, although I still have some days where nothing I’m wearing is maternity – like at our baby shower.

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): I think I’m still doing okay, I have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday morning so we’ll see how much weight I’ve gained!!

Memory of the week: Our baby shower last Saturday – it was so amazing! I honestly have no idea how many people were there – of everyone dropping in and out it had to be at least 50 if not more. We had so many presents, everyone was incredibly generous. It felt like it took forever to open them all, and then once we got home it took me about an hour and a half to take everything out of the gift bags – not to mention the time it took the next day to put everything away! We have everything we need, and lots of extra goodies that are not necessities but are still a lot of fun and useful!

 

Most excited about: Packing my hospital bag and turning the office into a spare bedroom so that my Mom can live with us comfortably for a month. Once those two things are out of the way, we will officially be ready to have this baby!

Baby P Weekly Update – 32 Weeks

Weeks pregnant: This update is for last week – 32 weeks.

Baby size: In week 32, she probably weighed up around 4lbs and apparently in the next 7 weeks she’ll gain a third to half of her birth weight – we’re hoping for a little fatty 😉

Symptoms: The iron tablets for my anemia are working out well, and I’m still taking my prenatal vitamins on top of that. I need to go to Asheville and pick up my back support band that the doctor prescribed for me – hopefully that will help with the pain! 

Baby bump: Big. Just big. And it gets in the way a lot – I keep bumping into everything with it, including people. I accidentally touched someone’s butt with it a couple weeks ago…that was hilarious!

Movement: Tons of movement, some kicks and punches and scrapes are so hard that they hurt a little bit! The Braxton Hicks contractions have not slowed down at all and are very uncomfortable – made it horrendously difficult to sing at church on Sunday!! Thankfully they don’t last very long. Leni seems to be very picky about who she moves for (when they’re touching my belly) – the person she always puts on the best show for is her daddy! My sister in law tried for an entire evening to get her to move and as soon as Chris put his hand there, Eleni went crazy! He loves it 🙂

Cravings: Nope!

Maternity clothes: Yep!

Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy): Still eating lots of fruits and vegetables. My weight now is right at 135lbs – I was 112lbs halfway through my first trimester, so I feel like I’ve done pretty well. It’s still strange seeing those numbers because I’ve never even gotten into the ‘teens’ before, but apart from my belly, I can’t feel/see a whole lot of difference in my body so I feel like that might be a good thing? I don’t know. One thing I will try to do differently in my next pregnancy (a few years down the line, don’t worry!) is to exercise right from the start. I was too tired in my first trimester to start any kind of exercise regime/habit, but I wish I had just forced myself to do it because the longer I’ve waited, the more pain I’ve been in and apart from some stretching and prenatal yoga, it really is too late to start anything now!

Memory of the week: This past weekend/week was so SO lovely. On Friday afternoon we left to see Chris’ sister Amy, her husband Todd and her four most precious kids Andrew (Andrew-man), Ellie (Ellie-Jelly-Belly), Matalin (Moo) and Hannah (Ner) in Georgia. We were temporarily held back in Clayton as I (with my gloriously dumb pregnancy brain) locked our keys in the car at Chick Fil A and we had to get them out. The manager at Chick Fil A was absolutely incredible – he spent 30 minutes trying his best to break in with a slim-jim and then offered us free food and drinks while we waited for the cop to show up! The policeman got there before we could get anything though and he was very sweet also. Then while Todd and Chris went to a Jesus Culture event, Amy and I got pedicures and then went to a INCREDIBLE Mennonite restaurant in Royston where everything is homemade and delicious – most of all the cakes/pies! I was in heaven.

Hannah with her red velvet cupcake, Moo with her strawberry cupcake, Andrew stuffing his face into his wedding cupcake, and my slice of lemon meringue pie. Delicious!

 

Chris and I drove back home Saturday afternoon, and that evening went out for a lovely dinner at the Bourbon Barrel Beef & Ale in Hazelwood with our lovely English friends, Iain and Sarah, who are also expecting a baby (although she’s due in August)! Iain was actually the person who introduced Chris and I, so we have a lot to thank him for! I had the most delicious Rosemary Chicken Pasta dish with artichokes, a bacon jam and all  sorts of other yummies in a creamy marsala sauce and Chris got steak. We got creme brulees for dessert and those were so good too (yes, I ate VERY well this past weekend).

A recent bump pic at church with my English friend, Sarah.

After church on Sunday Chris and I packed up our things and headed to the Tennessee house for our last little getaway before Eleni arrives. Next time we go, she’ll be with us! For dinner we tried Five Guys Burgers for the first time and *shock horror* I even prefer it to Fuddruckers! That’s a big deal. We didn’t leave the house all day on Monday and just relaxed – I did a lot of sewing, Chris read and did photography – it was lovely. I sewed two more burp cloths and some baby play blocks that were a bit daunting at first but once I got the hang of it they were quite an easy little project!

Our little work station

Monday evening Chris insisted on taking me out for a ‘fancy’ dinner date – for which I’m very grateful, I wanted to stay at home and make spaghetti and never get out of my pjs, but I’m glad that he insisted! We tried The Melting Pot in Gatlinburg, TN, about 45 minutes from the house. It is a fondue restaurant which was so much fun! I was disappointed at first because we got the traditional Swiss cheese fondue to start with and it was GROSS! She poured a massive thing of white wine in there and the taste was vile! After that however, the meal was so delicious! For our main course I got the vegetarian fondue (with spinach/artichoke ravioli, mushroom sacchetti, huge portobello mushrooms, artichokes and asparagus) and Chris got the classic meat fondue (filet mignon, pork tenderloin, teriyaki steak, chicken and shrimp). We didn’t plan on it but we ended up sharing everything so we both got some meat and some veggies – perfect! The dessert was the main thing to brag about – we got just pure dark chocolate, and the dippers were incredible! Rice Krispie treats, graham cracker covered marshmellows, brownies, strawberries, banana, brownie covered marshmellows, cheesecake and pound cake. It never ceases to amaze me how Americans go all out with their portion sizes…we had SO much food!

I also HAVE TO link to this incredible time lapse that Chris did while we were hanging around of the views from the TN house – click here to feast your eyes on some STUNNING scenery!

Most excited about: Our baby shower this Saturday! We can’t wait to see everyone and hang out for a little while! Everyone is invited, so if you want to come it’s this Saturday (May 4) from 3-5pm (drop-in style) at Faith Community Church in Waynesville. Don’t feel like you have to bring a gift at all, just come hang out. If you do insist on bringing something, click here to see our registries page. The registries are more of a guideline for the kind of colors and styles we like – those of you who are moms and dads already know what we need way more than we do!