Howdy everyone!
I’m literally the worst blogger on the planet. I’ve come to terms with it – No worries. I recognize that yes, the last time I did anything on this blog was shortly after THE TWINS WERE BORN… Eh hem… That being said, I did want to give a quick update on what’s going down with baby #3 these days.
So here I am at 29.5 weeks. It’s kind of amazing to me how quickly this pregnancy has flown by actually! Along with it being, for the most part, MUCH easier than my twin pregnancy (thank the sweet heavens), I just feel like we’ve been so freaking busy! I’ve had all these fun, ambitious ideas about things I could be doing along the way to celebrate this pregnancy a little more, but by the time I think about it long enough to take some action, the next week is here and suddenly the idea doesn’t work anymore! Sooooooo…. I have largely given up on the cutesy stuff. Good thing my little peanut is a little man, right? He probably won’t appreciate the extra pre-birth details anyway.
So I’ll back up. This pregnancy has pretty much gone as smoothly as I could have hoped for. However, I have had a few little things come up with this pregnancy that remind me of my twin pregnancy (yikes). First of all, I started having Braxton Hicks at 19 weeks. While there are lots of people that have this, it was an eery reminder of how early they started with the twins (actually, these started a few weeks earlier this time around).
Second of all, the contractions have been VERY STRONG for the past 3 or 4 weeks. They feel exactly the same as when I was booked in the hospital for the final time with the twins, and the scary thing is that I had NO CLUE I was in active labor last time, so it’s kept me on edge. I had contractions that were between 4-5 minutes apart for over an hour about 3 weeks ago, and ever since then, the contractions have begun to be more painful when they come. Luckily, I haven’t had an episode that involved such frequent contractions since then, but I have been instructed by my doctor to really take it easy until this baby comes at this point. I’m also on Progesterone again, and I’ll stay on it for another 6 weeks to help this baby’s chances of staying in there until he’s full term. Luckily, I don’t seem to be dilating at all yet, so I’m hoping that things will at least stay the same until it’s really time for this little guy to come (and that he’ll be healthy as can be – I’m looking forward to the FUN hospital experience)!
I find that my contractions intensify when I’m walking around for long periods of time, so if you’ve seen me at Walmart zipping around in one of those motorized scooters, that’s why (and yes… it’s totally embarrassing to do. I promise I’m not just on it for the joy ride haha). I’ve had to stop my exercise routine since I contract like CRAZY if I do any cardio whatsoever, and that really has been a bummer for me. I am doing this for the baby though, so even on my low days where I feel like I’m gross and enormous and useless, I bring it back to the fact that I’m almost to the end and that this little boy is going to have his best shot at coming at the right time.
I have to keep myself in check on the food choices I’m making this time around, because unlike my twin pregnancy – where everything in the world that was greasy or sweet or bad for me in general looked disgusting – I’m pretty much in love with the saltiest, fattiest, sweetest stuff that I can get my hands on these days. I say “no” often, but I also say “yes” a lot too. The Christmas season with all of its sweet delights has been a challenge – one I’ve largely lost unfortunately… But luckily, the junk is out of our house for the most part and the good stuff is back in. No more junk food until I can get some exercise in (so… after the baby comes I guess haha)! … Or maybe we’ll start after New Year’s… Haha
The twins are excited to meet their new baby, whom they speak of often. They climb onto my lap often and kiss and stroke my big belly over and over again while talking about “baby.” It’s pretty adorable! They’ve also already started practicing being big sisters with their new little baby dolls from Christmas, and any time they see another “baby” around, they make a point of going over and cooing over them. I have a feeling that when little man shows up, I’m going to have to watch him carefully – they might just try and take over mommy’s job! It’s amazing how they have just learned to be nurturing on their own. Now if they could just learn to be so sweet with each other all the time… we’d be set for life!
Overall, life is good. We’re taking it one day at a time and hoping that things continue to move smoothly, but we’re also planning in case baby boy decides to make an early appearance. The nerves are starting to kick in, but I’m also reminded daily of how lucky we are to be here with these 3 beautiful children. I wouldn’t have it any other way, no matter how crazy it is or will be in the coming days!