Week 30 and football excitment!

This post is a little behind schedule, but better late than never. There aren't many new updates here in preggy-land. Baby Bell is definitely growing at a rapid pace, which in turn means mama is being stretched and pulled to make room for her. I do not think that I'll ever get used to being pregnant, which isn't a bad thing, I've loved every moment and feel beyond blessed to be bringing life into this world. As soon as I feel like I've adjust to each new stage, a whole new batch of changes come rolling in. I guess that is kind of how I envision parenting. I find it all exciting and am definitely looking forward to each change and adventure this little girl will take us through.

On Friday night, while watching tv I experienced my first Braxton Hicks contraction. I had another on Saturday that lasted even longer and definitely felt more intense. I wondered when I'd start getting these and how they would feel. I honestly think everyone feels slightly different when they're having one. I can tell one is coming on because I start to feel just a little short of breath and like my torso is getting squeezed in. Then, the obvious happens, my stomach turns rock hard. It is unlike anything I've ever felt. I find it kind of cool though.

On an entirely different note.... The 49ers are this much closer to making it to the Super Bowl!! This makes for an extremely happy group of men in my family. Of course, seeing them so excited puts a big smile on my face. We went to our cousin's house last Saturday for a little playoff party. We had some delish Philippino food and a very fun time celebrating the amazing win. Had any other team been playing the Saints, I'd be cheering for black and gold all the way. I think they have a great team and I love Drew Brees. Sorry Saints, our Niners definitely deserved that one!


I forgot my camera so we have no pics during the party. Tye managed to snap this one before we headed out the door.

How far along? 30 weeks

How big is baby? Almost 3 pounds!!

Total weight gain/loss? 22 pounds

Maternity clothes? Yes. Thankfully maternity clothing is very comfy.

Sleep: Once I actually fall asleep, I will get a few good hours at a time.

Best moment this week: She was dancing around so much the other night and my mom, dad, Dee and Tye were all able to feel how crazy and active she can get. Usually she'll calm down if more than one person tries to feel her moving. Apparently she felt like showing off :)

Movement: Tons! When I do my 'kick counts' each day, she will reach 10 within a few minutes. There is lots of rolling around in there. So cool! 

Food cravings: Nothing really. I feel like I am hungry all of the time though.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I am still not wanting meat, especially chicken.

Have you started to show yet: Yep!

Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks, nothing serious though.

Belly Button in or out? Neither, just flat.

Symptoms: Nothing new.

What I’m looking forward to: Getting the bassinet and having my Dad and Tye put it together.

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy.

29 weeks!

Where has the time gone? There are certain moments when I feel like I have been pregnant for-ev-er, but as a whole, this entire journey has seemed to just fly by. I think the holidays definitely helped speed things along.


Tye and I are going to go on a few dates and really just make a point to enjoy this time before our little friend joins us.

STATS

How far along? 29 weeks

How big is baby? About 2 1/2 pounds. Although, I think baby girl is going through a major growth spurt because I am always hungry!

Total weight gain/loss? Still unsure, but I think pretty close to 20.

Maternity clothes? Yes. Thankfully maternity clothing is very comfy. 

Sleep: Once I actually fall asleep, I will get a few good hours at a time.

Best moment this week: Ordering her sweet little bassinet.

Movement: I'm convinced that she is tap dancing all over. The other night the hubby and  my brother Mikey were able to witness some of this dancing after I got done chugging a little water. It was pretty hilarious. It's such a neat feeling and I know I'll miss it once she is here.  

Food cravings: Milk, spicy foods and sweets.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I'm not really a fan of meat lately.

Have you started to show yet: Yep!

Labor Signs: No, not even Braxton Hicks yet.

Belly Button in or out? In, but kind of flat. Weird.

Symptoms: The severe heartburn has returned. According to old wives' tales, women who experience heartburn while pregnant have babies with full heads of hair. We shall see.

What I’m looking forward to: Nothing in particular. I am just excited to be so close to meeting her.

What I miss: Not really missing anything.

Getting Settled . . .

We are finally getting settled from our huge move back to California and the chaos of the holidays. The slow transition into a little normalcy feels quite lovely!

We had a really nice Christmas with both of our families. It was nice not to feel rushed and have to cram a bunch of visits into a short period of time like we've had to the last 5 years. My brother, his wife and our 3 month old nephew came up from Arizona, which was a big treat since I hadn't met little Noah yet. He is adorable! Being around him definitely upped the excitement for Tye and I to have our little friend here soon. I can't say it enough: it is so nice to be home! There is just a feeling of peace being back here around our families.  

I cannot believe that I am in my seventh month of pregnancy! Time is really starting to fly by, yikes! Overall, I feel great. Each stage of pregnancy brings something new. It's all about learning to adjust and making sure that baby is taken care of.

We decided to treat our families to an elective ultrasound place. We used Womb With A View and were very pleased with the entire experience. There were 12 of us and we fit comfortably in the viewing room. Baby Bell definitely likes to keep her hands and feet up near her face, but she moved around quite a bit and put a little show on for us all. After it was all done, I asked my 85 year old grandfather what he thought since this was the first ultrasound he'd ever seen. He responded with, "Honestly? I couldn't really tell what I was looking at. It could have been a bowl of oatmeal for all I know." Priceless, haha! Here is one of the snapshots of our little girl (and yes, I made the tech confirm that she is indeed a girl!). It's just a pic of the pic I took with my phone. We joke that she's flexing her bicep ;)

After the ultrasound we all went to one of our favorite mexican restaurants, which ended in a lovely case of food poisoning for my Mom, Grandfather and myself. It was absolutely horrible! I ended up going to the ER/Maternity Ward to monitor the baby and make sure that she was ok. I got an IV to hydrate and some anti-nausea meds that knocked me out. Baby Bell was perfectly fine! Her heart rate was steady in the 150's and she was moving around a ton. I felt back to normal after a few days. I'll be perfectly fine if I never have to go through that again.

Here is my most recent belly pic. I've given myself the nickname Large Marge, haha!

STATS

How far along? 28 weeks

How big is baby? About 2 1/4 pounds, not sure which veggie though.

Total weight gain/loss? I think I am up around 15-17 or so pounds all together, not really sure.

Maternity clothes? Yep! Non maternity shirts are still somewhat usable, but tend  to be a tad short. Yoga pants and maternity skinny jeans are my faves right now.

Sleep: I sleep ok. I am usually up every 3 hours or so. I am most comfortable on my right side, but am trying to sleep on my left as much as possible.

Best moment this week: Being able to feel her roll around and also getting registered!

Movement: Oh yes!

Food cravings: Lots of sweets and spicy foods. I've been specifically craving a ton of cinnamon flavored things. Everything from candies to baked goods are fine with me as long as they're cinnamon flavored.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not that I can think of.

Have you started to show yet: Yep!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? Still in, barely!

Symptoms:  I've had the oh so beautiful swollen preggy feet a few nights this week, as well as waking up to some pretty strong muscle spasms/cramps in my right calf. I've read that this could be a calcium issue, so I've been drinking lots of milk! It's also getting harder to do everyday things with this growing belly is getting in the way. No complaints though!

What I’m looking forward to: Our next appointment and getting more things knocked off of our to-do list.

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and sleep in general.

California here we come, right back where we started from . . .

Tye and I decided that we wanted to be closer to family with the arrival of our baby girl. So, we packed up everything we owned and headed back west. The 2,900+ mile adventure was one we will not forget. Here is our behemoth of a truck - filled to the brim - and our car that we towed back.

Just for fun, here is a Google Map image of what our journey looked like.

We didn't have a strict agenda of where we'd be stopping, just a goal of around 600 miles per day. Unfortunately, the first day (Thursday, December 8) we got off to a late start thanks to our moving truck getting stuck in the front yard. We had to pay for a tow service to come and pull the truck out. Once we got going we drove for quite a while and ended up stopping in a very small town called Marion, VA. It was far from glamorous, but since we basically were in the middle of nowhere, we really had no other options.

The next day we thought it would be fun to stay in Memphis and explore a little. Well, when you're hauling a large truck and a vehicle, it's not so easy to just stop and do some sight seeing. We kept on truckin' until we reached Conway, AR. We literally hit another bump in the road when we pulled into a hotel parking lot. While driving up the small inclined driveway, the truck and trailer bottomed out. We were stuck yet again! Thankfully, we had some very nice and normal tow truck guys help us. Not what you expect at midnight in a strange town. Another challenge we faced throughout the trip was finding a hotel that would 1. allow pets and 2. allow us to park our large truck next to our room to avoid anyone breaking into it. We finally got settled into a hotel room around 1:30 am. Poor Tye was exhausted since he was in charge of the driving. Thankfully we got some decent sleep that night.

This is where the trip got interesting. We planned to drive all the way to Amarillo, TX. Once we got there we quickly realized that the area around I-40 seemed a little sketchy and we weren't comfortable staying there. So, Tye loaded up on caffeine and we decided to keep on driving through the night. We found ourselves in lovely Gallup, NM and decided to find a hotel and get some rest there. This leg of the trip was about 900 miles. Thankfully we found a nice place to stay, grabbed an early dinner and just relaxed/slept until morning.

At this point in the trip we had just under 900 miles until we arrived to our destination in California. We made the decision to drive straight through, unless weather or severe exhaustion got in the way. It started to snow as we were leaving Gallup, but we didn't come across any other "risky" weather until we passed through Flagstaff, AZ. Apparently we drove through the very beginning of a huge storm. Thank God we just barely missed that! I would not be too pleased if we got stuck in some random town and had to put the last leg of our trip on hold. This part of the drive was all desert and became boring rather quickly. We finally drove over the California state line around 4 pm. We decided at this point to continue until we got home. The only other issue we were going to potentially have was hitting a snow and ice storm in Tehachapi. Thankfully, we missed that by just about an hour.

Tye was extremely exhausted since he had done 100% of the driving. It was definitely a struggle for him to stay awake during the last few hours of our trip. I am not sure how much help I was as being 6 months preggy brought it's own challenges. No complaints though; we had a memorable but safe trip and finally pulled up to my parent's house around 11:30 pm. Thank the sweet Lord!

The next day was spent unloading the truck (mostly done by Tye and my youngest brother Mikey) and trying to get somewhat organized. Ever since then, we've been in a whirlwind of trying to get settled and enjoying our families during the holiday chaos. We are definitely glad to be home! Our main focus now is prepping for our sweet little girl to arrive in late March.