7 Months Down

This week I enter the third trimester! During the past month I have still felt pretty good. I am really only feeling discomfort when I sleep, but perhaps this is just to get me ready for lots of sleepless nights? Overall we are getting so excited for the baby! My sister tells me this excitement drastically increases each week, until at the last week when you’re just like, “I have to see my baby now!” We cannot wait and are excited for the Holidays to welcome him here.


During this month:
-Our baby has become some kind of extreme athlete inside the womb. He is seriously jumping or kicking 18 hours a day! When I’m sleeping or at work it’s the most intense because I’m not moving around, but when I’m at the gym or out doing errands the movement seems to rock him to sleep a bit more. It’s so fun to feel him moving all the time, but my bladder is going crazy!!

-I learned from my mother-in-law that Mitch was a 9lb. baby! He was super long and skinny (not much has changed huh honey?), but super heavy! Not to mention I also weighed 9 lbs. so we are getting slightly scared that I will be delivering a monster child. Which leads to my next point:

-We had another ultrasound and we learned that baby boy is measuring 1 week ahead in weight. I am happy and yet a little scared about this. If it means I can deliver early, then it’s great news. But if it means I’ll deliver at a normal time with a huge child, then it’s slightly frightening.

-Also, at this ultrasound got to see our baby’s face! The doctor said the skin still hasn’t tightened, so he still looks like somewhat of a blob, but I love it. We love him already! I think he is adorable.

- We are really looking forward to our birthing class that starts next month.

-We have purchased our car seat and crib. I have been “testing out” the car seat by lifting it up and down the stairs. Mitch thinks I should put our 10lb. dumbbell in it. Might be an accurate weight for our newborn!

-I created a detailed spreadsheet of things to purchase for a newborn. This list is a combination from my sister’s expertise, several other friend’s suggestions, and several website lists I’ve found. I feel my list is a little better than the websites though, because I can update the costs and change needed quantities, prioritize the importance of each item, and list notes for each thing. I keep hearing that you can never plan for everything with the baby, but I'd like to get as much ready as I can before he comes. Love planning and love Excel.

-I cannot stop reading about baby things—newborn care, gear, clothing, winter babies, doctor visits, etc. I think you become slightly obsessive about this when it’s your first time. Though I’ve always felt great taking care of my sister’s 4 kids and babysitting my friends’ kids, I suddenly feel like I know nothing. Help.

-My water intake has increased exponentially—even from last month’s camel status. I cannot stop drinking. Probably because the baby is doing aerobics in my stomach and needs replenishment.

-I have only gained 2 more lbs. and my doctor tells me I’m doing awesome on my protein diet. She was so proud of me because she says most pregnant women don’t listen to her (who wouldn’t?!). I’ve also kept working out at least 3 times a week and it feels really good (though I do get some stares at the gym; my stomach is almost hitting the screen on the elliptical!). I’m hoping I can keep my arms and legs in shape, to limit excessive weight gain to the stomach area. This area obviously has no hope!

-I’ve been getting Braxton-Hicks contractions—several times a week at night. It’s been helpful for me to learn how they feel and try to calm my body down through breathing.

-If the baby starts to kick too much, all I need to do is sway, shake my leg, jump, or rock in a chair and he calms down. Oddly, he also gets really calm when Mitch is hammering or drilling something, or if we are watching action movies! We watched The Bourne Identity last weekend—pretty loud—and he was really calm. He seemed to be loving it.

He is seriously going to be the most active newborn alive. I am a little scared about this, combined with the huge baby weight thing.