28 Weeks Pregnant

Y'all, I am so sorry that I let myself fall behind on the pregnancy updates. I was so excited that I was actually documenting this one in the blog since I never did with any of the others. (Awful, I know!) 

I was 28 weeks yesterday! WE HAVE HIT THE 3RD TRIMESTER! Time seems to be flying! I literally had to double check what week I was in. (Thanks, 5th baby!) 

Baby Growth: Baby now measures about 14.8 inches long and weighs in at about 2 1/4 lbs. He/She can blink their eyes, which are now sporting lashes. Baby may be able to see light that filters into the womb. How neat! Also developing billions of neurons in the brain and adding more body fat in prep for life in the outside world. Baby chub! 

My Symptoms: Phew, do I have some crazy symptoms. Last week, I ended up having to call my doctor's office after experiencing painful contractions all morning. I would get super nauseous at the peak of each one and they just weren't letting up. Combined with just an overall crappy feeling, I knew something was up. Lo and behold, I ended up having an awful bladder infection. The doctor I saw said that nausea/vomiting is one of the first signs that gives it away in patients who are farther along. No wonder I was in so much pain! I am actually so grateful for those contractions because I would've never called my doctor otherwise.

Some days I'm really hungry and other days, my stomach just feels so full. On Friday, I really wanted a burrito from Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. I got sick all over the parking lot as soon as I was eating. I felt my stomach tighten just like it did last week, I couldn't breathe and then I just had to let it go. I gave the other guests pulling in quite a show. 

Weight: No idea.

Gender: This will be the last week I include this gender portion in these updates since we aren't finding out. Feel free to still throw guesses our way! 

Maternity Clothes: Definitely wearing maternity jeans, but am still mostly sporting yoga pants around the house or even when I run out for quick errands. It's just the most comfortable for me right now. I'm looking forward to this cooler weather sticking around because I love wearing big sweaters and scarves!

Movement: Holy moly is this child a mover and a shaker! My placenta is no longer anterior and I can feel everything! It's such an awesome feeling and by far, my favorite part of pregnancy. It's always the one thing I say that I miss after the baby is born. It's just so special! Baby had the hiccups the other day for the first time that I noticed and as I sit here typing right now, I just got a huge kick on my lower right side. 

Sleep: SLEEP? WHAT'S THAT?! With Luke being sick, we've been up all night. It's hard for him to get comfortable and his nose is so stuffed up no matter how many times we get all the gunk out. It causes him to cough and in turn, makes him so mad. Hopefully we're over all the sickness here soon. Thank goodness for SPARK & REHYDRATE!

He has been waking up SO early these days, too... just for the heck of it!

Cravings: I honestly don't really have too many cravings right now. Like I said, the other morning I wanted CFA, but other than that, I can't really think of anything. I do love my carbs though! 

What I Miss: Sleeping on my stomach. I kind of lay now with one half of my stomach on the bed, but it's totally not the same.

Not feeling tired. I know that's a crazy one seeing as how I have 4 children and one on the way, but hopefully with the sickness coming to an end, I'll be able to get a little more sleep and feel rested. 

Best Moments of the Week: Mallory's first cheer competition! Oh, it was so much fun watching my sweet girl out there light up the mat! She has so much confidence and I am just SO proud of her! I'll do a post more in-depth later on.

Thanksgiving was this past Thursday. It was wonderful, relaxing and Luke found a new favorite holiday! 

We also visited the Christmas Tree Farm yesterday afternoon and picked out a gorgeous tree! This is our first year having a live tree and we saw it fitting seeing as how it's our first Christmas in our new home. Can't wait to decorate!

Questions/Concerns: I have my glucose test coming up this week. I am praying that I pass again this pregnancy! 

Goals for the Week: Keep up with my workouts! I did a prenatal barre workout yesterday morning. OH MY GOODNESS, Y'ALL. My whole body was shaking! I know if I can get that done 3-4 times a week, I should have no problems getting back into shape after baby.

 Make sure I'm drinking tons of water and to stay on top of my supplements.

Belly Pictures:

Chloe's First School Field Trip: Clark's Farm

Earlier this month, Chloe had her first school field trip to Clark's Farm. It's a sweet little farm that hosts a fall festival each year and then they have Christmas trees during the holiday season. It's perfect for the 2-5 year old age range because it's small and they can literally just run around and have fun!

When we first got there, everyone gathered at the picnic tables to listen to the staff tell us about how a pumpkin grows. The kids got to take a peek inside and see the seeds.

Chloe's class was the first to paint pumpkins! Each child got to pick a small pumpkin from the patch and then paint them until their hearts content. 

I love the little art shirts they had for each of the kids to wear. They all looked so cute!

Afterwards, they gathered on the haystack to take a class picture. Aren't they just the sweetest?

Time to play! 

I want to make this one an annual picture so we can see how much she grows each year! I should've had Luke stand up so we could grab one of him, but he was content in the stroller just watching everything. Of course Jake and Mallory were at school, so we'd have to go on a weekend to have everyone there! 

It was a fun morning enjoying Chloe's first field trip and I look forward to many more! 

Jacob's 9th Birthday!

On September 23rd, we celebrated my biggest boy turning 9. JACOB IS NINE YEARS OLD! Doesn't that sound so old? I can't believe my biggest baby is already almost to his double digit years. Oh my goodness! 

His birthday fell on a Friday this year, so he woke up to a bunch of loud "HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!" from the girls and Josh & I gave him his birthday hugs. He had fun celebrating at school with cupcakes and as soon as he got home, it was time to open up some presents! 

Chloe so desperately wanted to get "him" a blind bag. (Notice I put the him in quotations...) She was so eager for him to open this up and kept saying, "I hope it's an Elsa!" 

It wasn't an Elsa, but what do you know? It was Anna! I love how excited he pretended to be! :) Chloe claimed it right away. I guess that's what happens when you're 3. If you're brother gets a princess for his birthday, you can call dibs! 

After the presents were done, it was time go outside to break open the pinata! We saw a Jake one at Wal-mart earlier that day and thought it would be fun for the kids! Everyone took turns taking a whack at Jake, even Luke!

Looks like Jake was the one to finally break him open! 

Then it was time to head back and in and sing Happy Birthday to end the night! 

We had such a fun day celebrating our oldest boy... who I still can't believe is 9 years old! Happy Birthday, Jacob! We love you more than you'll ever know! 

19 Weeks Pregnant!

I turned 19 weeks pregnant on Sunday, September 25th. 

Baby Growth: Baby now measures about 6 inches long, top to bottom, and weighs in at about 8.5 ounces. The brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, vision, hearing and touch. Some say that baby can now hear our voices! The arms and legs are now in proportion to each other and the rest of the body now.

My Symptoms: I have sadly run out of my sample bottles of Diclegis and woke up this morning vomiting again. It happened 4 times before I was able to go pick up my refill of Zofran. The Diclegis isn't covered by insurance and is WAY WAY expensive, so I'm crossing my fingers that this is the last bottle of Zofran that I will need this pregnancy!

Hormones are definitely in full swing. I seem to cry at everything these days. Luke turns 1 tomorrow and I cried talking to him this morning about it. 

I have been getting SO dizzy. There was one day where I seriously thought something might be really wrong. I couldn't move without feeling like I was going to fall over. 

I'll get random cramps here and there. Nothing too bad though! 

Weight: I stepped on our scale in the bathroom and it hasn't changed. So, it looks like I haven't gained any weight since my last weigh in. 

Gender: Chloe now thinks the baby is a boy... which is a big surprise to me. She's been the one saying that if the baby isn't a girl, she won't be a happy camper. (Obviously I know she'll be smitten either way!)

Maternity Clothes: YES! My parents bought me a few new tops and a pair of pants for my birthday coming up and it was greatly appreciated! I already wore one of the new shirts :)

Movement: I don't feel it as much as I'd like, but I know that's because my placenta is anterior. As baby starts to get bigger, it will become more and more consistent. I do love when I feel this sweet one move though! 

Sleep: The girls have been coming into our room so much lately and I don't have the energy to move them. So it's been a cramped bed. Between that and getting up to use the restroom, sleep is becoming a thing of the past. (Not that I've had much sleep this past year anyway!)

Cravings: The cravings are pretty much the same with the salads. They're just so good to me! I've been letting myself indulge in pumpkin spice lattes lately and I am counting down until it's time for my favorite... the EGGNOG LATTE! Not too much longer! 

What I Miss: I am still missing Disney World like crazy and am waiting to hear if Josh will be able to take a few days off in November. Oh how I'd love to get a trip down there before baby is born! 

Best Moments of the Week: I made a hair appointment for next weekend! Y'all, I haven't had my hair colored since July of last summer. So, well over a year. I'm think I'm due for it, what about you? I'm thinking I want to just stay darker with a few natural highlights all over to give it dimension. I've been getting some ideas on Pinterest. I just want to keep it simple so it's easy to keep up with!

Questions/Concerns: I need to bring up the dizziness to my midwife again when I see her next week. I'm hoping she'll be able to grab me a few more sample bottles of Diclegis to have on hand at home, too.

Goals for the Week: Keep up with my workouts! Make sure I'm drinking tons of water and to stay on top of my supplements.

Belly Pictures: Taken by Mallory this week :)

18 Weeks Pregnant!

 I turned 18 weeks pregnant on Sunday, September 18th. 

Baby Growth: Baby now measures about 5.5 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 7 ounces. The blood vessels are visible through the thin skin and his/her ears are in their final position, although they're still standing out from the head a bit. A protective cover of myelin is beginning to form around the nerves, a process that will continue for a year after baby is born. 

My Symptoms: I had some MAJOR braxton hicks/cramping the other night. It got to a point where I had to just lay on the couch for 2 hours. I drank some water and just waited for it to disappear. Eventually it went away, but phew. That wasn't expected at all. 

Other than that, I haven't had anything new happening symptom wise. The headaches are pretty much still gone, so that's a plus! 

Weight: I have no idea and frankly, I don't even want to know right now.

Gender: TEAM GREEN! :) I couldn't even give you a guess this week as it changes daily. Boy or girl, we just want a happy and healthy little baby!

Maternity Clothes: YES! There's no way I could wear regular pants unless it's yoga pants or sweats. I still need to go shopping for more tops, but I'm waiting until it stays cool or if I find a decent sale. 

Movement: It's getting more consistent finally! It's literally the best feeling in the world! I notice that I'm feeling it more when I'm sitting or laying down.

Sleep: Luke is teething more and is back to waking up twice a night, so I'm up a few times. It's not too bad though and I'm getting decent stretches in between. When I wake up in the mornings though, it takes me a bit to actually want to get out of bed. I don't know if that's the Diclegis or what.

Cravings: I'm still wanting the southwest salads a lot. All salads sound good to me. I have a caesar salad in the fridge that I'm now thinking of going to snack on. What does craving salads mean? Anything?

What I Miss: I'm trying to convince Josh that we need to take a trip to Disney World in November when the kids have a few days off of school. The Christmas decorations would already be up and the weather would be so perfect. I am missing Disney World something fierce and I really want to go back. 

I'm also starting to get a little sad that pregnancy is already almost halfway over. I am by no means one of those ladies who just LOVES being pregnant, but you know what I mean. 

Best Moments of the Week: The weather has been beautiful these past few days! Not necessarily all sunshine and rainbows because we had some rain, but the temperatures have been perfect! I am so ready for this cooler weather to stay. I can't wait to wear my over-sized sweaters, boots and scarves.

Questions/Concerns: I scheduled a labor/delivery tour because I've heard various statements about laboring in the tub at our hospital. Some have told me yes, others have told me no. I am really wanting to labor in the water as long as I can. I know I can't actually deliver in the tub, but it would be a nice option to have since I'm aiming for an all natural birth. The new rooms are supposed to be beautiful, so I'm anxious to get a peek at those as well.

Goals for the Week: Same as last week... Drink more water! Eat more veggies! Exercise as much as I can! 

Belly Pictures: Taken by Chloe Grace again!