20 Weeks of Bumps & Lessons!

 

As of this week I am officially 20 weeks along- GASP. That means I’m at the halfway mark (hopefully!)… These 20 weeks have been exhausting, exhilarating, scary and exciting. I know I will learn so much more in the next 20 weeks (and 20 years) but it’s crazy how much I’ve learned already. Here are 10 of the many lessons I’ve learned in the last 20 weeks:

 

1) You will be exhausted… ALL THE TIME! Everyone tells you that the first trimester is exhausting but that after that you will pep up- that’s a lie. Exactly halfway and I’m still exhausted all time. Last night I went to sleep at 7A!

 

2) Speaking of sleeping, it will get rougher and rougher to sleep the larger you get. Lots of big pillows help, but really you are going to toss and turn from side to side all night, and don’t even ask how many times a night I pee.

 

3) Every person you meet will have an opinion on what you look like. They will tell you how small you look, how big you look, ask how much weight you’ve gained. It’s all up for grabs!

 

4) And onto the subject of weight gain, it really sucks. I know there are some people who barely gain anything, and those are amazing and lovely people who I’m infinitely jealous of- I on the other hand am one of the more common group of people that gain a lot. 20 weeks and 20 pounds gained… I really do cry some days when I see the scale, or pounds.

 

5) You spend your entire life trying to have a fit stomach but once you have your hard baby bump it’s really amazing the bigger it gets! I can’t stop rubbing mine- there is a little tiny human growing in there! The bigger it gets the more excited I get… now it’s almost big enough I can try wearing a bikini again- after all once you have 15 pounds of just hard gut who cares what you look like half naked!

 

5) Maternity Clothes are not what they use to be… they also aren’t to be feared but are amazing. After I started my insane weight gain I just felt so horrible in my clothes that didn’t fit… but as soon as I switched into maternity clothes I all of a sudden felt better.

 

6.) Everyone loves a pregnant lady. Strangers will smile at you, friends will get excited to see you… it’s one of the few times in your life when you really could smile throughout your day!

 

7.) You will turn into a teenage boy! You will all of a sudden throw out everything lady-like that you ever learned. You no longer will be able to discreetly cross your legs. You will burp. You will fart. You will learn to live on tums!

 

8.) Pregnancy is disgusting. Your body is doing amazing and crazy things, sadly to make those things happen it will also do disgusting things! I can’t wait til I get to the point where I will start to pee myself every time I sneeze and I’m already dreading when I poop in the middle of giving birth. Oh the joys of Pregnancy.

 

9.) Everything you ever thought about food will change. Things you love will all of a sudden make you want to vomit. You will learn to love Bread. And sometimes in the middle of the night you will start to crave the oddest things like mashed potatoes and KFC gravy and won’t be able to sleep until you have some!

 

10.) Nothing can prepare you for pregnancy. Not any of those oh so helpful books, or blogs, or Pintrest pages. It’s all new, and your pregnancy will be drastically different from everyone else’s. Every day is a new day, and with it it brings new challenges and excitements! One day it’s horrible and you think you will never make it to the 10 month mark, and other days you will feel that baby kick or hiccup and think just how wonderful this all is! This really is the most amazing time of your life, even if you want to vomit and sleep through most of it.

 

 

   

Week 19...

Your Size: A Mango

Your Due Date: November 12th... 20 weeks left!

Maternity/Baby clothes? I’ve just ordered some new baby clothes today- so new pictures next week of the little cuties! But in the meantime I’ve been stocking up on our childhood favorites.

 

Baby Gear: This is a new category this week… I’m starting to need to nest and get the nursery ready! So far I’ve managed to hold off buying much, but did indulge in Belly Buds this week- Poppy got a sound system so he can listen to music.

 

 

Sleep: No… that’s all I can say about that this week!

This week’s adventure: We had a very interesting week… We had 2 doctor’s appointments this week. Our 20 week appointment- which everything looked amazing! Poppy is still growing like he’s supposed to and we got to hear his little heartbeat again…. The 2^nd appointment was 2 days later after I was in unbearable pain for the last 2 days. They ran a battery of tests and luckily everything is still going good, the doctor is worried it may be my appendix that is bothering me so we are monitoring that but so far the pain is getting less so most likely it’s just that Poppy was sticking his little foot into my internal organs and they were not happy about it!

 

Ruby is visiting for the next couple weeks and we have been enjoying a lot of cuddle time. Though we had a scare when she discovered on Monday that she can crawl under a bush and get under the house! Luckily she came back out when I screamed like a banshee!

 

 

The big thing that happened this week was that we went back to work on the 4^th Season of Revenge.

 

 

Miss anything? Hiatus time… only 4 days into working and I’m already exhausted!

Movement: Not feeling too much kicking but I do feel every time you move onto one of my organs.

Your favorite foods: Mashed Potatoes! I made a really good Shepard’s pie this week- YUMMY! I’ve been craving Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and KFC Gravy for about a week now… luckily we don’t have any KFC’s down here or I’d be out there every day!

Anything making you queasy or sick: It was a rough week again sadly.

Gender: Boy

Labor signs: Nope 

Symptoms: An exhaustion that seems to be staying put.

Belly button in or out?  Button in, but belly way out!

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or moody most of the time: More happy than anything this week

Looking forward to: My birthday in 2 weeks and another fun trip down to San Diego.

Advice to my soon-to-be baby:  Read. There is something magical about getting lost for a few hours in a make believe world, with magical realms where anything and everything can happen. When you are little you will love to be read to, and then love when you can read for yourself. But over the years sometimes that love diminishes. I hope that never happens for you. Both your Dad and I really love reading, and I hope that will be passed along to you because sometimes in life you really just need a happily ever after!

Week 18... From Los Olivos & Wine Country

Your Size: Sweet Potato! And according to the doctor you weight 8 ounces.

Your Due Date: November 12th

Maternity clothes? No new ones… but look at the cute baby outfit of the week!

 

Look at that cute little bum! This one was picked out by your Grandma Eberhardt.

 

Sleep: Trying all the pillow configurations but sadly still just tossing a turning all night. I get this horrible nerve pain in my legs now when I sleep so I have to take walks in the middle of the night to make them go away.

This week’s adventure: We went up to Los Olivos to spend Fathers Day with my parents. We ended up staying at this really awesome house right on a little pond in the middle of the countryside. Very peaceful, at night the only thing that you could hear were the sounds of the bullfrogs and crickets.

 

We also went Winetasting while we were there.... we hit up 4 wineries but my favorite by far was Sarloos & Sons, mainly because I got to participate in that one since it's also a cupcake flight to go with it!

 

Everyone got Wine and I got Cupcakes!!!

 

Grandpa & Dad celebrating Fathers Day... in almost matching outfits!

Wine tasting after our tour of Fess Parker

 

Fess Parker Winery Tour

 

 

Riverbend Winery



 

Miss anything? My energy. I know it’s supposed to come back during this trimester, and it does for a tiny bit but then I end up more exhausted than before.

Movement: A little bit of kicking this week but the exciting thing was that on Father’s Day we were able to listen to your heartbeat on this app that I have for my phone. You apparently wanted to say hi to your daddy.

Your favorite foods: Still eating tomatoes and fruit like crazy. But we had a really good dinner up in Los Olivos, so good we had left overs the next day even though we were on vacation!

Grandma Eberhardt & I before Dinner

 

Anything making you queasy or sick: We did have one bad day while up in Los Olivos but besides that we have been feeling much better.

Gender: Boy… we actually got to see the little penis for the first time this week!

Labor signs: No, but we finally signed up for our Childbirthing classes in September, looks like will be all ready for you to come in October if you decide to come early! 

Symptoms: An exhaustion that seems to be staying put.

Belly button in or out?  Button in, but belly out!

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or moody most of the time: Still pretty moody.

Looking forward to: Well I can tell you what I’m not looking forward to- Sadly we head back to work on next Tuesday!

Advice to my soon-to-be baby:  Plant a garden. I know it sounds silly but there is something to be said for having your own little patch of green, even if it’s just a pot in the city. It gives you something to care for every day, and will give you a sense of accomplishment when it blooms. It will also teach you a bit about failure, especially if you are anything like your mom it will take a bit for your plants to bloom.

 

10 little fingers and 10 little toes!

10 little toes on his toe feet!

 

This week Poppy has his 2^nd Trimester Screening… I call it the scary screening because it’s the 2^nd of his screenings that test and measures every part of his little body so that they can asses if he has any chromosome issues or birth defects. Luckily my little boy passed with flying colors- the doctor even told me that he didn’t know what I was doing exactly, but I needed to keep it up. Who knew a diet of cheese and fruit would lead to the healthiest of babies! I didn’t want to go alone and since Dan was supposed to have a meeting all morning my Mom happily volunteered to go with me, but halfway through the appointment Dan showed up. So it was a crowd watching the little screen on the wall. They measured each bone, listened to each chamber of the heart, checked the blood flow in and out of both his body and mine, checked my heart , showed us all 10 fingers and 10 toes and of course pointed out to us Poppy’s little tiny Penis (don’t worry Poppy I will not put that picture online!). As of now Poppy  is measuring exactly to the day that he is supposed to and weighs a whole 8 ounces. He’s still very very tiny but it was so great to watch him move and play in the ultrasound. The best part was watching him suck his thumb, you could see his jaw moving and all the little muscles in his face working away at that tiny thumb! It felt great to know that he’s perfectly healthy, and we are almost to the halfway point of actually getting to meet him!!!!

 

18 Weeks + 5 Days

 

 



Week 17...

Your Size: Onion... once again a not very pretty fruit!

Your Due Date: November 12th

Maternity clothes? No new ones… but look at the cute baby outfit of the week!

 

 

Sleep: I’ve ordered a gazillion pillows to help with the sleep… but I have also found the golden hour- I take a nap every day from 7A-9A, and it’s amazing!

This week’s adventure: This week we laid really low, and it was amazing. Over the weekend we planted our summer garden with lots of amazing veggies to help you grow this summer. We planted- 3 types of tomatoes, 2 types of peppers, rosemary, lavender, yellow squash, acorn squash, zucchini and strawberries.

 

Sadly this week we had a bit of a scare with one of the baby birds in the nest, he fell out of the nest and seemed to have been abandoned by the momma bird. Luckily this story has a happy ending, 3 days later the momma birdie came back and now the baby has finally gotten big enough to fly away.

 

Miss anything? HAWAII!

Movement: You also seemed to lay low this weekend with not too much movement, except when I went swimming and you seemed to start kicking up a storm again.

Your favorite foods: Tomatoes! We have been eating tomatoes like crazy this week.

 

Caprese Salad with Tomatoes, Basil & Burrata

 

 

Grilled Caprese Salad with Tomatoes, Basil & Mozarella... amazing- my own creation. It's like a grilled cheese without the bread... or like a pizza without the crust!

 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Actually nothing really made us sick this week, it was the first week where we didn’t get sick once! Exhausted, yes, but not sick.

Gender: Boy

Labor signs: No.

Symptoms: An exhaustion that seems to be staying put.

Belly button in or out?  Button in, but belly out!

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or moody most of the time: Still pretty moody.

Looking forward to: This weekend we are heading to Los Olivos with Grandma & Grandpa to celebrate Fathers Day… they get to go wine tasting but we get to go cupcake tasting!

Advice to my soon-to-be baby:  Always remember just how much your Mom and Dad love you! No matter how old you get you will always be our little boy.

   

Week 16... in Paradise!

Your Size: An Avocado. Truly one of life’s most amazing foods! Not only are you getting bigger but you are making Mommy's Tummy even Bigger!

 

Your Due Date: November 12th

Maternity clothes? No new ones, but I actually was able to buy a cute little non-maternity dress… though really this should say- Baby Clothes, because I sure have been buying lots… especially in Hawaii because they are just too cute not to!

Sleep: Still no… though we also didn’t adjust too well to the time change and were up every morning by 4A and asleep by 8P every night!

This week’s adventure: HAWAII! There are so many amazing things that you got to do this week-

Paddle Boarding!

 

Swimming in sacred pools beneath waterfalls!

 

Hiking to Black Sand Beaches…

 

and more waterfalls!

 

Plus Snorkeling...Swimming...And lots of pool time. It was really an amazing trip and amazing week.

 

Miss anything? No this week was pretty perfect!

Movement: You either really love or really hate to swim. Every time I got into the water to snorkel you would start kicking… Dan thinks it means that you were trying to swim with us.

Your favorite foods: We may have becoming obsessed with Virgin Pina Coladas… man are they yummy.

 

Anything making you queasy or sick: BOATS! We did have one pretty horrible boat ride to Molokini sadly… Plus the last couple of days their my morning sickness seemed to have come back with a vengeance.

Gender: Boy

Labor signs: No.

Symptoms: The return of the horrid morning/afternoon/evening sickness.

Belly button in or out?  Button in, but belly out!

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or moody most of the time: Still pretty moody.

Looking forward to: Coming back to Hawaii some day so we can take you snorkeling and show you all around this magical island!

Advice to my soon-to-be baby:  Appreciate each and every moment in life. On the plane ride home an older gentleman had a heart attack and died halfway through the flight. It made me realize just how special our life is and how we really need to live each and every moment to its fullest. You never know what can happen tomorrow, so you have to make sure you live each and every moment today. Because life and love really are precious.