27-30 Week Update //
As soon as I hit the third trimester, things have gotten a little more difficult…
Without a really “visible pregnancy” (aka 90% of strangers still wouldn’t be able to tell that I am pregnant) it feels pretty silly every time I struggle to stand up or get winded walking up a flight of stairs. But as my belly grows at its own slow pace, baby girl is growing right on track. According to my app she is already 15.7 inches long and around 3lbs; from 30 weeks on she will gain half a pound a week. She starts a little dance routine every time I stop moving and has taken over all the extra room inside me. I imagine my lungs and stomach are fighting for space in there, since breathing gets more difficult with each passing week and I can barely finish a meal. (P.s. do pregnant women really have an appetite big enough to “eat for two?” I’m eating less than I did pre-pregnancy- teach me your ways!) Sitting for extended periods has become pretty uncomfortable. Well, so has standing, laying down, walking… but I digress. The heartburn is fairly constant, charlie horses have me leaping out of bed in the middle of the night, I get dizzy spells at least once a day, my skin is itchy, my belly button is so stretched I’m afraid it’ll rip, and and and and….. Okay that’s it. Those are all of my complaints. I just had to put them out there. Because honestly I have been SO lucky to have an easy pregnancy that it feels like its not my place to complain, but I want to keep these blog posts real & sometimes I’m not the happiest pregnant lady on the block. 🙂
Suddenly she has started to kick me all. the. time. And it kind of freaks me out. It feels more like an alien rummaging inside me rather than the magic everyone talks about. But I’m learning to view them as little reminders that everything is okay. Every time she bounces on my pelvis or pushes back into my ribs, I feel like she is saying “all is good in here, mom! Still growing!”
I have to say that even with all these little things making my day to day life increasingly difficult, I can’t help but feel grateful. Each discomfort I experience genuinely feels like a gift. They let me know my body is working and that we are growing together. These are symptoms that other mothers have experienced for years and years, and there’s something comforting in that sense of solidarity. I remind myself that I get to do this; there are so many women who won’t ever experience pregnancy though they may so desperately want to. Sam and I have been entrusted with this sweet little life and man are we going to love her fiercely.
So here we are at week 30. 10 weeks, and just over two months left. One of my favorite moments of this pregnancy happened at the beginning of this week: Sam and I spent an afternoon on the couch binging a season of The Office. We watched my alien-inhabited belly swaying back and forth, with the occasional jolt that still makes me jump up and say “Whoa!” Sam pressed his hand into my left side and a few seconds later there was a big thud in that exact spot. He tried it again, and the thud was bigger. She was responding! We just looked at each other and laughed with awe and a little bit of fear. Every milestone makes her seem like more and more of a little person in there. (A couple days later I was playing The Beach Boys on my phone, and she started kicking like crazy. She has good taste already 😉 Our goal is to constantly play Oldies and hopefully avoid the whole baby music thing. Are we crazy to think we can win that battle? Probably.)
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Once again I haven’t been great with taking “real” photos, but in the past three weeks the belly has been groooowwwing! These were all taken post-workout in the evening because thats when my stomach is biggest haha!
And finally let me leave you with my gushy mama moment of the day: LOOK AT THAT CUTIE BATOOTIE CHUNKY BABY FACE WITH HER ITTY BITTY HAND AND LITTLE BUTTON NOSE. We can’t wait to meet you little bean!!! <3
