Week 27

Advice Request:

-Foam or Coil crib mattress?  I have read about a lot of mattresses lately and was leaning toward foam, but I don’t know.  Please share your thoughts/experiences.

How I am feeling: 

Hello third trimester!  It is hard to believe that 6 months have passed and in just 3 months our little baby girl will be here!  I am still feeling really good!  I think I need to come up with a more clever or interesting answer for this question because it is definitely asked of me a lot (not that I mind).  I keep waiting to feel nervous or scared about having a baby, but that hasn’t hit yet.  I am sure it will at some point, but the only thing I feel is joy and excitement at the thought of Darren and I being mommy and daddy.  It’s lucky for me that I will be very busy over the next few months to keep my mind occupied otherwise I might start to get nervous.  It may sound weird, but I’ve felt ready to be a mom for a long time, so this just feels right to me, not scary. 

I am more nervous about the preparation aspects than giving birth or being a mom.  There is definitely a LOT of planning involved in bringing a little one into the world.  (see my experience with registering below). 

Here is what I look like at 27 weeks:

Baby movement:

My favorite thing is when I am sitting in bed reading at night and I prop my book on my belly and she literally bounces my book!  She definitely has some strength now and can get even a 500 page hardcover book rocking and rolling!  I also love when I can see her little nudges.  Her movements are so much bigger now (yes, I know that seems obvious since she is bigger…but remember, “mama in training” here).  Sometimes I actually gasp out loud and then laugh when she kicks.  It doesn’t hurt but it just feels so strange. 

When I went to the doctor the other day, I had to do the glucose test.  Not as bad as I thought.  The little bottle of juice was kind of like super sweet Hawaiian Punch, and thanks to some good advice, I made sure it was cold and I was armed with a straw.  Anyway, I had to leave school right when my free periods started in order to get my blood drawn and make it to my 2 o’clock appointment.  At 1:50 I was in the waiting room waiting to be seen.  At 2:50, I was at the reception desk asking what was taking so long.  I think it’s pretty good that I made it a whole hour without complaining.  So finally, the nurse manager took pity on me and took me into the back, even thought he midwife I was supposed to see wasn’t ready quite yet.   As soon as she placed the heart monitor on my belly I heard a big “BOOF” and felt baby girl kick exactly where the monitor was.  The nurse laughed and said she was a healthy, active little girl.  I laughed to myself and silently thought, No, she is getting back at you for making me wait an hour in the waiting room!  Hehe.  My little girl already has some of her mom’s personality.      

Shout Outs - Registering

Huge shout outs to Carissa, Michelle and Amber for giving me so much advice about registering!  Registering is definitely a strange experience.  I was warned ahead of time how overwhelming it can be, so luckily I came armed with lists from both the internet and Michelle to make sure we had something to go off of and were not just wandering through the aisles trying to figure out what was actually needed and what was a waste. 

It actually turned out to be pretty fun!  We looked at a lot of cute stuff, and though we didn’t register for much cutesy stuff (mostly the stuff we really need), it was fun to think about wrapping our baby in that really soft blanket, or sliding her tiny feet into the little ruffled socks. 

We toiled about where to register for a while, but finally decided on Target, Babies R Us and also Amazon.  Since neither of our families live locally, we wanted to give them a very simple way to shop if they so desired.  Plus, Amazon’s prices and selection is amazing.  I was able to find everything I couldn’t find at Target or Babies R Us at Amazon, and I did a lot of price comparing to make sure we registered for an item wherever it had the best deal.  It was a little challenging to coordinate and make sure we didn’t have duplicates, but I am nothing if not organized, so of course I created a spreadsheet to help with this.  Maybe a little overkill to some, but it really helped me to make sure we covered everything and that we had a variety of items at a variety of prices at all three places. 

 

Nursery:

Décor is the next step!  We are trying to figure out if we want to get a big tree wall decal or not.  I love the idea of it, but I don’t know if it’s too much.  I have also heard from quite a few people that the trees can be a pain because of all the leaves/flowers.  I know my amazing Aunt is painting a couple of things for us, and I happen to have a very talented artist for a husband, so maybe we’ll just stick with their talents instead.  It’s a tough call though.  More to come…

Favorite Names:

The other day a friend of mine referred to baby girl as Lilly and then apologized because she remembered that we hadn’t settled on a name yet.  I of course told her it was not a big deal, and in fact, I liked hearing someone else call her Lilly.  I really love the name.  It helps me to hear it and know that I won’t get sick of hearing it…or saying it over and over!  It’s not official still, but I think Lilly Rae is a pretty safe bet at this point.  ;o)

Labor and Birth:

We have our birthing class next Saturday and the Saturday after that as well, so I am looking forward to that.  Darren is reading a lot about natural childbirth right now and it’s amazing to hear him talk about it now and to know that we are completely on the same page with this experience.

Recently I have started thinking about the details of our birth like what we will do with the dog when we have to go to the hospital, how much video and/or photography I am comfortable with, what items we need to bring, what I want to wear and how we will get the word out once baby girl arrives.  I guess knowing it’s only 3 months away makes it all seem so much closer and more real and, being the planner that I am, I want to be prepared.

I have also started thinking about help when we come home.  I know I will definitely welcome any help we can get and I know our moms want to come and my girl Jess offered to come as well.  It’s so nice and comforting to know we have that support even though our families and some of our close friends live up north.  I also know that we have amazing friends who are tracked out during that time, so mommy and baby will hopefully not be cooped up in the house all day every day ;o)