Baby length: 16.7 inches
Baby weight: 3.75 lbs. - the weight of a squash
Bump size: 40.75 inches
Weight: +27 pounds (+2 lbs. from last week)
Cravings: Not too much, maybe some chips and dip?
What if I told you that in the middle of this week's "photo shoot," I started crying?
What if I told you I had absolutely no explanation for my tears other than the fact that I was so tired that I didn't feel like I could even smile for a picture and then when I saw the photo after it was taken, I felt like I looked fat and ugly.
So I started crying. Luckily, the ridiculousness of the tears then caused me to laugh at myself therefore leading to the picture with this smile.
It was a busy week for mom-to-be and Baby R! Lots of excitement for both of us.
After a week of annoying back pain, I had a prenatal massage on Friday, thanks to my SIL and BIL Traci & Russ who got me a gift card for my birthday. I walked into the appointment feeling pretty miserable and I walked out feeling like a million bucks!
It was amazing and did wonders for my back! So I've decided I need to get one massage a week for the remaining seven weeks of pregnancy. Now if only I had a million bucks maybe I could make this happen.
Then on Saturday I had my first baby shower which was held at my dad and Jill's house. My step-mom Jill, sister Betsy and aunt Marlene hosted the shower and it was such a special day! The food was delicious, decorations were super cute and I truly felt showered in both love and gifts for the baby. Now I get to do it all over again this Saturday. How lucky am I?
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| Some of the cute decorations from the shower |
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| Sneak peak of some of the maternity pictures taken by Julie D Photography |
The baby is still doing acrobatics in my belly. Perhaps an Olympic gymnast in the making? I still feel lots of movements many times throughout the day. Some of these movements put pressure on my bladder causing me to get the sudden sensation that I'm going to pee my pants.
Luckily it only lasts for a second and as we all know, I'm not stranger to this feeling. The good news is, it hasn't caused me to pee my pants...yet. But I think as time goes on, it probably will. I look forward to that.
Maternity Lessons
A few more comments this week:
"Wow. Maternity shirts these days don't really leave much up to the imagination." - speaking about the tank top I had on in the picture above.
"I think your belly grew over the weekend."
"I think your belly grew since Friday."
"Wow. you look bigger since the last time I saw you" (which was Friday).
Yes, three people said almost the exact same thing to me at work on Monday after not seeing me for two days over the weekend. Note to self - perhaps polka dots are not the best pattern selection for women who are eight months pregnant.
But my favorite comments of the week were:
"I just need to give you a hug. I'm not sure if it's the summer sun or what but you are glowing and look fantastic."
"You are the most beautiful pregnant woman ever."
So what if I paid both of them $100 to say these nice things to me. It was totally worth it to hear those sweet words.
We had our first birthing class. It was good and I think we both learned a lot - even about information I wasn't quite prepared to hear. You see, up until this point, I had been avoiding reading anything about the subject of labor or delivery out of fear and denial. But there is absolutely no dancing around this issue in a birthing class.
And as it turns out, these babies don't just suddenly appear in your lap one day like they do in my dreams. And the stork does not actually exist. You actually have to do work - really hard, painful work - to get these babies out. Who knew?
We learned a little bit about labor and delivery this week, with more to come in the next few weeks, including watching videos of two births. Not going to lie. It terrifies me.
Symptoms
Breaking news...I now have cankles. Seriously, I do. I wish I were joking. I didn't notice them until the massage therapist pointed it out during my massage on Friday. And she was right. There is absolutely no separation between my calves and my ankles anymore. They just sort of flow into one another and right down to my fat, swollen feet.
And my toes, which have always looked like little sausages anyway, are even more swollen now. It is not a good look for me. The good news is, it's actually getting harder to see my feet anyway so it's easy to ignore them. Ignorance really can be bliss.
I also have severely dry, chapped lips. I"m not sure if this is even a pregnancy symptom or not but I'm blaming it on the pregnancy anyway. I have been putting on chapstick no less than six times a day and my lips still burn like they are on fire all the time.
On a positive note, because they are burning and sore, my lips have a bright pink tint to them which makes me look like I'm wearing lip gloss all the time so that's kind of nice.
I'm still feeling a little bit more emotional than usual (see comment above about crying during this week's photo shoot). While driving to work this week, the song Hungry Eyes came on the radio and I started tearing up.
The series of thoughts in my head upon hearing the song that ultimately led to the tears were as follows: Hungry Eyes reminded me of the movie Dirty Dancing which then reminded me of Patrick Swayze which then reminded me that he is dead which then caused me to start getting emotional.
Don't get me wrong - the untimely death of Patrick Swayze is sad. But the non-pregnant Emily would not cry about this. Especially three years after he died and definitely not to the song Hungry Eyes. It's not even a sad (or good) song.
Weight Gain
So I've gained 27 pounds, two pounds since last week. It's actually getting harder to see the scale with my big belly so maybe I should just stop getting on it. What do you think? Sounds good to me.
I had to get a new license this week (actually, was supposed to do it on my birthday and didn't realize it so I've been driving around with an expired license for the last month - opps!). Just what ever pregnant woman wants - a four year reminder of how much weight they gained during their pregnancy.
I wasn't sure how to respond when the guy at the BMV looked at me and said, "is your weight the same as what was on your last license?" So I paused awkwardly while I contemplated in my head what I used to weight 27 pounds ago and before I could answer he interrupted my thoughts with, "or at least close to the same amount?"
"Sure," I answered. When he came around from behind the counter to take my new picture, he noticed my big belly and jokingly said, "Mam, were you lying about not gaining any weight." It was funny and he was my friend until he proceeded to take the ugliest picture of me possible, from below my face so that the camera looks up at my double chin and is zoomed ridiculously close to my face.
Thanks a lot for that, guy. I also had to get my picture taken at school today for my ID tag. The lady who took it said it was "beautiful." I'm sure she was lying.
Gender Prediction
So I've talked a lot about the fact that I, and almost everyone else in the world, think I'm having a boy. And someone asked me if this is what I want. I truly have no preference about the sex of our baby.
Let's be honest. They are both scary in different ways. Boys are too daring and do dumb, adventurous things like play with fire and pee on each other. While girls, especially teenage girls, are moody, dramatic and super sensitive and can be somewhat mean to their parents for no reason at all (I speak from experience. Sorry, mom and dad).
All I want is a healthy baby.
That being said, I still think it's boy.
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