28 Weeks Pregnant: 3rd Trimester!

Welcome to the THIRD TRIMESTER!!!

I am nesting like crazy. Last night we went to Aldi after our midwife appointment, got home around 6:00, ate dinner, and then I CLEANED. I was still scrubbing the bathtub to death at 10:30 PM.

I have so much to catch you up on that I feel like it’s been a month since last week’s blog.

Norah should be about 15 inches long from head to toe and weigh about 2 ½ pounds. She can partially open and blink her eyes, and she experiences REM sleep. I’m feeling increasingly more connected to her every time she moves. It’s still hard for me to figure out what position she is in, though. I can tell if something is a kick or a punch, but I don’t know which, and I can tell when something feels like an elbow or knee, but I can’t tell the difference between those, either. Sometimes I can tell where her head is, but not often.

I had a midwife appointment yesterday, which is why I waited to do the blog. I’m measuring right at 28 weeks, so it seems as though Norah had a growth spurt (I was measuring a week behind at the last appointment)! I also weighed more than I thought: 131.5 pounds. As you know, a week ago I weighed 128.5, according to the Wii Fit. The heartbeat was very loud this time! Amy first felt around to figure out what position the baby was in. She couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed to her like Norah’s head was down and her back was along my left side. Knowing that, she was able to optimally position the Doppler. It sounded like little submarine blips instead of swishes. The heart rate was around 150, with some variability since she was moving around, which is a good thing.

I mentioned to Amy our plans to travel to Pennsylvania this June, which I am now realizing I had not yet mentioned to you! I have either interned or taught at a music camp up there almost every summer since I was old enough – so probably nine or ten years. I was going to forego it this time, but it starts about a week later than I thought, so after some consideration I decided to go for it. We could really use the money. Besides, they are in the process of hiring Travis to do some art/writing classes as well, so it will really be worth making the trip. We plan to drive up and stay at my mom’s house, and she is happy to baby-sit while we are gone from 7:30 to 12:30 each day for the three week duration of the program.

Anyway, we brought this up to Amy, and she seemed a little bit concerned. The camp begins on June 13^th, and there is a possibility that Norah could make her appearance as late as May 29^th or thereabouts. She suggested that at 36 weeks I begin taking a hormone balancing supplement called 5-W (or W-5? I’m trying to Google it and I’m getting nothing…). The way she explained it is that it will not induce labor, but it brings your hormones to optimal levels for the labor process to begin on its own when your body is ready. Travis and I haven’t really discussed it yet, but I think I’m on board with that plan. Amy said they usually give it to mothers who have a history of going late, and they’ve had good outcomes with it.

My next appointment will be at 32 weeks, and after that I will go in every two weeks! I think after 36 weeks I will be going every week. I can’t believe we’re already that close. I can’t wait to meet our daughter!

The Bradley class is going really well, and I’m enjoying it a lot. This week we talked a lot about comfort measures, both for the rest of pregnancy and for labor. She gave us some really helpful advice for all kinds of pregnancy ailments, including lower back pain, which is becoming my biggest complaint. I think it’s a common one. I’m excited to try some of her suggestions. They mostly involve Travis using a sheet or a long piece of fabric to pull on my feet or pull up on my belly, etc. It’s kind of hard to explain – I guess you had to be there. J Travis drew little pictures of everything so we would remember what to do.

Mary said that next week’s class will be mostly geared toward the husbands to teach them how to be good labor coaches. I’m looking forward to that!!!

Aargh! I need to hurry this up or I won’t be able to finish before my lessons!

Valentine’s Day: we made cheese fondue! It was amazing. We went to The Fresh Market (we NEVER EVER shop there), which was a fun trip…Travis likes their free coffee samples. J Anyway, that’s one of the few places you can find Emmenthaler and Gruiere (I probably spelled both of those wrong) cheeses. And they’re expensive, but fondue is pretty much a once-a-year treat for us, so we splurged. Yum!

Then I made a surprise dessert for Travis:

Heart-shaped brownies with raspberry puree. Oh. Heaven. Travis found this amazing brownie recipe maybe a year ago, and it’s all we’ve used since. They’re very rich and dark and dense. If you want the recipe, Google Alton Brown Brownie Recipe. The puree was just raspberries and a little bit of sugar (it said super fine, so I just used confectioner’s) blended until smooth. You can strain out the seeds if you want. Oh, by the way, I always bake the brownies in a larger pan than the recipe calls for. Otherwise I think they’re too thick.

Ok, here we go:

Making Room for Norah

This week I tackled the coat closet;

(Before) (After)

And our bedroom closet.

(Before) (After)

It's not amazing, but you can walk into it now!!!

I also got a lot done on Norah’s closet, which I’m so excited about! It’s coming together really fast! I’m not showing you till I’m done, though!

Last, but certainly not least, we had two baby showers this past weekend! They were both amazing, and we so appreciate everyone taking time out of their weekend to have fun with us and shower us with gifts for baby Norah! Here are some pictures from Saturday’s shower, which was at my sister Laurie’s house.

My mom knitted these! There is a matching hoodie, too!

Travis had to guess the flavor of baby food!

The other shower was on Sunday with another expectant couple from our church. It was themed “The Baby G Shower” because both babies have “G” last names! It was super fun, and we had lots of yummy food! Sadly, I don’t have any pictures from that one…maybe someone will email me a few? J

I wanted to tell you about some of the stuff we got, but the list would be way too long! We got literally everything we registered for except for maybe two or three things, which we can buy with gift cards, and we got some super cute outfits, and a few handmade things which we love…the list goes on! We are so grateful! We even got a couple of great cloth diapers, as well as gift cards towards the ones we plan to order. Oh, I can’t wait to do that! I’m ordering a batch as soon as GoGreen Pocket Diapers restocks their diapers in a week or two.

Ok, I could just keep rambling on and on, but I have to go!!! I hope you are having a great week!