Our little girl is the size of a winter melon.  She’s ‘s reached full term!  She measures over 19 inches and weighs over 6 pounds.  I spent most of my time this week wrapping up my summer classes, working on some DIY things for the nursery, and visiting friends.  Dusty came home from his family trip and went back to his usual busy work schedule.

Weight Gain: I gained 2 pounds this past week for a total of 23 pounds over the past 8 1/2 months.  Those pounds are coming on fast though!

Maternity Clothes: Clothes are most definitely getting tighter and I’m trying to get as much use out of all of my maternity clothes as I can! I’m wearing all of maternity dresses, maxi dresses and maxi skirts with maternity tops.

Sleep: Sleep is an interesting thing.  Some nights I’m exhausted and have a great night while others I feel wide awake and stay up later than Dusty and then am up way too early the next but still very awake and alert. Our little bambino is getting me ready for those crazy sleep schedules that so many new moms talk about.

Food: I went to Whole Foods this past week to meet up a couple of girl friends and my cart was filled with cookies, banana bread, chips, guacamole, bananas, mangos, hamburgers, lentils, and a few other random assortment of foods if that tells you anything about my cravings.  I’m craving salty and sweet but easy is the key! It’s getting to the point where making an elaborate, nice dinner doesn’t sound nearly as much fun as something easy or just walking to one of our favorite Old Market dining spots.

Movement:  She’s still movin’ and groovin’. I’m feeling a lot of hiccups, which my books say are normal, she’s just getting to take those real breaths when she arrives.  You can tell she’s no longer doing flips but just adjusting and doing a little stretching here and there.

Belly Button:  We have an outie!  Starting to really miss my old belly button!

Mood: I’m feeling really good.  Dusty was gone for five days and I was most definitely missing him by the end.  As it gets closer to the baby’s arrival it’s fun to share all of the little things with Dusty and with him being gone I found myself wanting to call him just to tell him that she was moving or what was happening that day.

Sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning we lost our air conditioning.  Everyone keeps talking about how horrible it is to be pregnant in the summer because of the hot weather.  I haven’t felt that way just because we spent so much of it in Paris where it was cool and now that we’ve returned I spend most of my time indoors since I don’t work full-time in the summer but Tuesday I found out what it was like to be hot.  It really wasn’t bad in the apartment until I was getting ready to leave and at that point realized how horrible life could be with no air conditioning.  We spent the night with family until it was fixed the next day and I was happy to come home to a cool apartment!  Baby and I were very happy!!!

The only thing bringing me down this week is that I’m still getting over my summer cold.  I hope it disappears soon because this stuffy, runny noise and cough is getting a little old.

Pregnancy Symptoms: As I mentioned last week I’m feeling the aches and pains of carrying around our gorgeous little girl all day but I’ve been trying to do more stretching and light exercise which seems to be helping a lot.  I do have a little heartburn at times but that’s just when I eat too large of a meal so instead I’m sticking to small meals throughout the day.

Best Moment(s) This Week: One of the best moments this week (and every week now) is going to our doctor’s appointment.  I’m now dilated to 2 cm and we’re going in the right direction.  I’m hoping for a bigger jump at our next appointment but all is good with the bambino and I’m expecting that we have at least 2 more weeks before she arrives!

Other fun stuff that happened is that Dusty surprised me with two awesome gifts!  The first one was popcorn from Nuts on Clark.  They sell it at the Chicago airport so he picked me up some on his layover.  My favorite surprise was a baby gift for the nursery from a local artist, Amy Quinn, of Plaiderpiller, who sews beautiful stuffed animals and clothing.

Other highlights were having a couple of date nights with Dusty and getting together with friends.  No sitting around waiting for the baby arrive for us, we’re making all kinds of plans to do fun things these next couple of weeks!

Missing Anything: Being able to go shopping for clothes!  I went to the mall to exchange something for Dusty and I was dreaming about the day I would be able to wear all of my cute clothes again!

Looking Forward To: Showing everyone our maternity pictures! We got them back and they’re so beautiful!  I’m looking forward to being able to work out again and be more active!  This slow pace is really starting to get tiring!  I’m also looking forward to Omaha Fashion Week, one of my favorite times of the year.  And the #1 thing I’m looking forward to is meeting our little baby girl! I’ve just started to count the weeks instead of months.

Weekly Picture:  This week’s picture was taken near our apartment in the Old Market.  I’m wearing an H&M Maternity Dress.

***My weekly posts are written during the week and then posted the following week, after I’ve taken my weekly picture and I’ve had time to edit them.***

Our little bambino is the size of a honeydew melon (again) or head of romaine lettuce.  She’s still packing on the pounds and is growing at the rate of an ounce a day.  She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is about 18-19 inches long.  I’m excited to say that at the end of this week she’s considered full-term.

This week I spent a few days at school working but the remainder of the week at home preparing the house and the nursery as well as shopping for a few things I needed to decorate the nursery.  Dusty went with his Grandma to visit his Aunt and Mom (who’s already there visiting for a while) in Indianapolis.  I was a little sad not to be able to go but it’s getting a little close to our due date to be thinking about getting on an airplane so I spent the entire weekend doing a lot of cleaning, sewing and spending some time with friends and family, keeping myself busy.  

Gender & Name: It’s not a surprise that we’re having a little girl but everyone’s second questions is about the name.  We’ve started talking about names again.  We thought we had a name and we think we still might have a name but we’ve decided to do a little more thinking to see if we’ve chosen the right one so, because of our indecisiveness, we’re not making it official until we meet her.

Weight Gain: Not only is our little bambino gaining a lot of weight, so is mommy.  I gained 3 pounds this week.  I blame it on a weekend-filled with eating.

Maternity Clothes: Lots of maternity dresses, maxi dresses and maxi skirts with maternity tops.  The weather’s still cool (in the 80s) and it’s been lovely.  I don’t dread going outside or being in my car.

Sleep: I’m still having erratic sleeping patterns but can go back to sleep relatively fast.  I was never a huge pillow person but these past few months I’ve been adding more and more pillows slowly.  Now I’m up to four, one for my head, one for my back, one to prop up my belly and one between my legs to help with my back and belly as well.

Food: Not a lot of specific cravings this week but I sure have been hungry.  There was one night that Dusty took me on a walk and I wanted a root beer float.  This isn’t completely out of the ordinary because there have been times in the past (before I was pregnant) that I craved a root beer float but lately I’ve wanted chocolate ice cream so I guess I was ready for a switch.

My emails and books say that I might get heartburn right about now because of the way the baby is laying and pushing up against everything but I haven’t had any problems (which I feel grateful for).

Movement:  This week our little bambino has started to slow down a bit.  Towards the beginning of the week she was doing a lot of moving but as she continues to get bigger I can tell she’s snuggling up and can’t kick and punch like she did before.

Belly Button:  We have an outie!

Mood: I had another good week.  Every once in a while I feel stressed because I want to get so many things done during the day (and feel like I would if I wasn’t pregnant) but get worn out relatively easy.  I’m learning that I have to do a little of this and a little of that and then come back to it a few hours a later.  I went shopping earlier in the week and after three hours found myself in the car parked at one of the stores feeling so worn out that I decided it was time to cut my errands short and go home.

I was a little down towards the end of the week but that all has to do with me getting a bit of a summer cold.  Friday evening I started having a sore throat, which led to me barely sleeping that night.  By Saturday evening I was going through a lot of tissues and blowing my nose constantly.  I still have it but it’s a bit more manageable.  I hate summer colds under normal conditions but being pregnant and tired and not able to take any kind of real medicine makes it a little more difficult.  I hope this cold is gone very soon!

Pregnancy Symptoms: I most definitely feel some of the third trimester symptoms of pregnancy.  I didn’t realize how much pelvic pressure I’d have.  I know, over sharing a little much but our little bambino must really be getting ready for birth.  I no longer walk but waddle and I still have some back pain.

I’m getting better at knowing how to prevent it or feel less of its effects.  We learned at our baby class last weekend that sitting on a workout ball could help and it does, so any time I’m sewing or sitting I try to use the workout ball.  And then what also helps is to just not be in the same position for a long time.

Best Moment(s) This Week: Best moment(s) this week were going to our doctor’s appointment, they’re now weekly until we deliver our little bambino, attending book club, ordering prints for the nursery, and spending some time with friends and family this weekend.  There were so many wonderful things that happened this week!  I think that normally they might not make my best moments list but the closer I get to delivery the more the small things seem to really matter.

Exciting news, I’m officially 1 cm dilated and the baby’s heartbeat sounds good.  It’s a start and we’ll see this next week how things are progressing.

As it gets closer to my delivery and knowing how little I might get out of the house for a while little things like getting together with girlfriends is becoming a priority.  I had a great time laughing with everyone at Book Club and listening to everyone’s stories from the past month.  And then this weekend I met up with a friend for a pedicure and more girl talk.  I also was able to sit by the pool with a couple other friends and then to end the weekend I went to paint pottery with my mom, sister and her kids.

Missing Anything: This week I really missed Dusty.  He left early on Thursday to visit his family so I’ve spent a lot of the week by myself and miss him being around to talk to.

I’ve also been missing the ability to exercise like a normal person.  At book club there was a lot of discussion about exercising and eating healthy.  I was a little jealous that I wasn’t really able to participate much.  Exercising because of the baby and the healthy eating because it just doesn’t sound all that much fun when there’s ice cream calling my name across the street.  But in all seriousness, I bought pregnancy exercise videos, which I did quite a bit while I was in Paris, but haven’t gone back into since we’ve gotten back to the States.  Just today I decided to try and fit small amounts of exercise into my daily routine.  I think it’ll help with some of my soreness as well.  And so today I walked on the treadmill and did part of my pregnancy exercise video.  It was a nice feeling! I’ll be excited when I can really start exercising though and use something a little heavier than 3-pound weights!

Looking Forward To: I’m looking forward to saying that I’m full-term next week.  I’m also looking forward to my weekly doctor’s visits to see how I’m progressing.

Weekly Picture:  This week’s picture was taken at the Mastercraft building and was taken by Bridget, one of the interns at FlyWheel because Dusty was gone the last part of the week.  I’m wearing one of those black maternity dresses from Target that I’ve mentioned in previous posts and live in most of the time.  I have three different styles and wear them constantly.

***My weekly posts are written during the week and then posted the following week, after I’ve taken my weekly picture and I’ve had time to edit them.***

Our bambino isn’t so small anymore; she’s about 18 inches long and over 5 pounds.  She’s the size of a honeydew melon or coconut.   She doesn’t have much room to move around and is very snug in my womb although that doesn’t stop her from kicking and shoving.  My weekly emails tell us that her basic physical development is now complete and for the next few weeks she’s just putting on weight.

Weight Gain: I’ve gained another pound this week.

Maternity Clothes: I wore lots of t-shirts and gym shorts as well as maternity dresses at the beginning of the week and then this weekend it cooled down and was in the 80s (and 70s in the evening) so I got a chance to wear my maternity capris again.

Sleep: A friend of mine asked me how I was sleeping and my response was, “Well, last night I slept great but that was because I was so exhausted from a lack of sleep the two nights prior that I feel really rested today.”  I’d say that’s how things are going these days.  I’ll get a few not so good days of sleep and then one or two really good days of sleep.  I’m losing a lot of the energy that I normally had and by the end of the day I’m just exhausted from doing my daily routine.  I’m still having crazy dreams.

Food: This week I craved eggs and toast with peanut butter and jelly.  I blame this craving on a friend of mine who I visited while she was eating lunch one day.  I don’t know what it was about the scrambled eggs and toast but I went home and had breakfast for dinner.  And then ate it for breakfast the next day and for lunch later this week.  And of course, I’m still enjoying those lovely desserts.

Movement:  Even with the little room she has, she’s still finding space to move around.  She likes to snuggle her rear end up in my ribs and it makes it a little difficult to breath at times.  I gently maneuver her so she’s not so far up in my ribs and she seems content for a while before trying to snuggle up again.

Belly Button:  No going back, it’s an outie.  When I laugh it’s funny to see my outie shake and pop out even more.

Mood: I felt really good this week.  I think the key to my good mood is having an understanding husband.  Dusty’s been great and helped out a lot this weekend to get the nursery ready!  We now have a dresser and shelves installed!  I don’t want to make it sounds like everything’s perfect and smelling of roses though.  I do get tired a lot easier and so later in the evenings I’m most definitely a little more irritable then normal and at that point I know it’s time for bed.

Pregnancy Symptoms: Our little bambino likes to bury her head right into my bladder and I’m taking a lot of bathroom breaks.  I’m still having a lot of aches and pains in my back and have to make sure not to sit or lay in the same position for an extended amount of time to lessen the negative effects.  I don’t think I’ve had any contractions yet but I’m not sure if this is because I just don’t know what I’m supposed to feel or it they haven’t happened yet.  I have a feeling it’s the latter and that they’ll be coming soon.

Best Moment(s) This Week: Best moment(s) this week were going to our birthing class on Saturday and going to our car seat installation appointment.  So, maybe these weren’t the best moments of the week (the birthing class was a few hours too long for my liking) but they sure did make me feel so much more prepared for our little bambino’s arrival.

We now have a car seat installed and ready to go!  The appointment was great because it was one-on-one with us an expert so we arrived, got specific directions on our car and our car seat and then got to leave!  The birthing class wasn’t as easy.  We spent our entire Saturday learning all of the necessary information about going through labor and bringing our little girl home, and had to sit through a lot of information that was repeated over and over again.  We were told quite a few times “it just depends and you’ll have to ask your doctor.”  I know all of the information was necessary and very helpful so I’m glad we went to the class.  It does make me more comfortable with the idea of going into labor and there not being so many unknowns.

Missing Anything: This week I really miss sushi.  I told Dusty that might be one of my first meals after our little bambino is born.  I’m also missing a pain-free, ache-free body.  I really can’t complain too much about the aches and pains, I know friends who have had it way worse and for a much longer period of time but I am most definitely not all that comfortable.

Looking Forward To: I’m looking forward to my summer classes being over.  I’m done teaching in two weeks!  I’m also looking forward to being able to say next week that I’m due in just one month!!!  From that point I can start counting down the days and not the months or weeks.  And finally, I’m looking forward to our first weekly doctor’s appointment.  Our doctor will start “checking” to see how I’m progressing and when the little girl might be coming home.

Weekly Picture:  This week’s picture was taken at the Mastercraft building, where Dusty works.  I’m wearing an Old Navy maternity top and Gap maternity capris.

I have another funny picture for you this week.  As I said before, we try to make our weekly baby bump photography sessions fun.  This week I was trying to show Dusty how strong I’m going to be when I go into labor.  Ever since our Saturday birthing class we’ve been pumping ourselves up for the big day!

***My weekly posts are written during the week and then posted the following week, after I’ve taken my weekly picture and I’ve had time to edit them.***