neighbors

i just wanted to put up a some pictures of our friends! danny and emily live next door to us, and emily is just 3.5 weeks ahead of me with her pregnancy. well, they had their baby last sunday (dec. 1st) and i got to go and take pictures of their birth experience! emily has a different doctor than me, but i will be delivering in the same hospital! it was seriously such a sweet experience to be able to witness, and has actually left me feeling more excited than scared for our own baby's arrival. 

so...i will be posting more on my photo blog eventually, but i couldn't wait to share just a few! our editing system disappeared from our computer (we know why) so while i am waiting to get that back here are some of the unedited ones. emily did have a c-section so i wasn't allowed in the operating room...but i got to capture some of the other moments!

danny getting ready to go in the operating room

 luke got to hold baby rowen!

i also took some video with my camera, and danny and emily took some with theirs as well. emily went ahead and put a movie together showing the birth story! it's super cute! here is the link if you want to watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odmivWYZo9g&feature=youtu.be

weeks 33-37

37 weeks

 36 weeks

35 weeks

 34 weeks

33 weeks

I cannot believe how close we are to meeting our baby!! We are getting really excited! a week ago our neighbors and good friends, danny and emily chamberlin had their baby. we had the opportunity to go to hospital and take pictures for them, and it was such an exciting thing! i will be delivering at the same hospital, so it was so neat to get a feel for what it is going to be like for us! 

 i feel like i have been super lucky throughout my pregnancy. yes i write about the changes and the uncomfortable things that have been taking place, but most of the time i feel great! i sometimes even forget i am pregnant. but i feel like i am starting to get to know this baby inside of me, just by the way he moves. and it's fun to see how excited luke is to have a baby in the house. we get pictures and videos from dave and court (luke's brother and his wife) of our niece sally (the only niece we have) and it makes us so excited to get to have a baby too. I'm sure we'll be exhausted when the little bean actually comes, but for now, we're excited!

so this is what has been happening....

•  sleeping has become more difficult just this last week or two. I have been waking up more during the night and having to use the restroom...and then i am thirsty afterwards! so i have started putting a water bottle by my bed so i don't have to keep going to the kitchen in the night. plus, the cockroaches like to hang out in the kitchen at night, so i don't like going there in the dark.
• my legs and feet get cramps in them. i will be lying in bed, totally relaxed and all the sudden my calf will cramp, or my toes will cramp and get stuck in a weird position. it doesn't happen that often, but it's just funny.
• walking is sometimes more difficult. the other day i think i was actually waddling...like a penguin. i had been feeling good that day, and so i did a bunch of cleaning....and afterwards i was really tired and kinda stiff. and then the baby decided to change positions so that he was putting a lot of pressure pretty low. we were at walmart, and i had to lean on the cart at times for support. but besides that, the baby has been sitting pretty low more often, and so that just makes walking uncomfortable.
• when i lie down at night, my lungs sometimes feel really tight, and i have to take deep breaths until i feel like i can breathe normally.
• at my last appointment on thursday (36 weeks 4 days) i measured 33 cm for my belly and i have gained a total of 14 pounds so far. and the doctor said the baby was pretty low (he has been head down at every check up since 28 weeks).
• baby is still moving a lot. his movements are very strong. he still likes to stretch out his legs, whether it be to the side or straight into my ribs, but thankfully mostly to my side...usually the right side.
• acid reflux. last time i said it had gotten better...well, it got a little worse again shortly after writing that. it hasn't come back full force, but i definitely still get it. i have woken up a couple times in the night with my throat burning, and have had to sit up in bed til it calmed down. i have been taking Tums...which seem to help. sometimes the acid reflux doesn't affect my throat, but my stomach...so there have been a few times where i have had stomach aches from it.

what is crazy to me is how different everyone's pregnancy is. when i talk to friends who are pregnant i have experienced things they never have, and i will never experience things that they have. i have been asking my mom a lot recently about her pregnancies, labors, and birth experiences. they say you are a lot like your mom, and so far that has proven to be true. 

when it comes to labor and delivery i am feeling pretty good. i have read quite a bit, and am hoping that i can be flexible with my plan when the time actually comes. I do not want to be induced, i want the baby to come when he is ready. but if i really need to be induced for safety reasons i am ok with that...(we are thinking baby will be late). also, i would like to labor naturally for as long as i can handle it. i have no idea what my pain tolerance will be, so that will be interesting. but i do plan on receiving an epidural when it's time to deliver. so we'll see how things go!

maternity shots

the other day my friend emma asked if she could take some pictures of me with her film camera. so naturally i said yes:) they turned out really cool! and i love them! they are very "filmesque" (pretty sure just made that up) with lots of light leaks and stuff. but here are some of my favorites! (33 weeks pregnant)

thanks again emma!

weeks 27-32

32 weeks (today)

 31 weeks (just woke up from a nap)

(This is also 31 weeks)

30 weeks

29 weeks

28 weeks

27 weeks

 the ultrasounds are from when i was 28 weeks and 2 days

 this one looks like he is throwing us a "shaka" with his hand

 face

 face

 face profile

today i am 32 weeks! 2 months and this baby will be here! luke and i both think he is going to be about a week late. my mom was 2 weeks late with her first, and i am having a very similar pregnancy to hers. but here is what is new:

• 28 weeks:

-i took the glucose test. this is where they test you for gestational diabetes. you can't eat past midnight, and then you go in the next morning and drink this super sugary orange drink, wait and hour, and then they draw your blood. it wasn't too bad! i was expecting the drink to be disgusting, but it's just sugary, and it's only about 2 cups. but while i was drinking it the nurse told me that a lot of women get queasy or throw up. so that kind of freaked me out. but i ended up being fine, no queasiness or vomiting, and i passed (just barely).

-we finally had our big ultrasound check-up! so, normally around 18-20 weeks you have this big long check-up where they do an ultrasound and check basically every inch of the baby. they make sure all the organs are there and that they are functioning properly. this is also the appointment where they usually tell you if you are having a boy or a girl. BUT, since we left california when i was at 17 weeks, and then we had to figure out what we were doing with insurance and everything....i didn't see a doctor from 17 weeks - 27 weeks! so this appointment was done for us at 28 weeks, much later than normal. but it was awesome! they confirmed that we were indeed having a boy. and we got to just sit and watch him on the big monitor for about an hour while they checked him out. the coolest part was seeing his face. the pictures we got don't do it justice, but i couldn't believe we were looking at his face! but everything is going well, the doctor said he was a good size and healthy!

• baby is moving MORE! he has definitely become more active the past few weeks, which is normal. he likes to push his feet against my right side A LOT, so i often have this little bulge coming out my right side. but i still love feeling him move. it can be uncomfortable because he will push pretty hard sometimes, but its not very often...but it just surprises me how strong he is! every once in a while he will have a super mellow day where i hardly feel him at all. but i have noticed that if i watch i can see him move, i just can't feel it because they are smaller movements. its the best part of being pregnant though. also the movements that were uncomfortable, i no longer have those. it must of been when he would kick lower, but now his head is usually down and so i think that made the difference. 
• He gets the hiccups all the time! they are totally different then what i originally thought they were. they aren't painful, it's just a little bump every couple seconds. but sometimes they go on for 5 minutes or so. and if they continue for a while he will sometimes start to move around...like he doesn't like them.
• i don't really get acid reflux anymore, i had it really bad a few times around 27 and 28 weeks, but now i rarely get it and it isn't very strong. YAY!
• i am becoming more tired again. i have only taken a nap once, but mostly i just start falling asleep a little earlier and notice that my energy drains quickly if i am active (i have been swimming more and walking). 
• if i walk quickly i get a side cramp. it's only this one little spot, but it's pretty silly. i don't get it from swimming though...only walking.
• I have gained about 9 pounds total so far. at 28/29 weeks i had only gained 6, so i am starting to put them on a little quicker now. also, the doctor said my belly is measuring a little small. every time i have a check-up, they take a measuring tape and measure from top to bottom to see how big your uterus is, and at 29 weeks my doctor said i was 27 cm, but i have no idea what most people are. 
• this is kind of embarrassing, but i have peed my pants a couple of times...yesterday, and also a few weeks ago. this is what happens...i have to go to the bathroom, and on my way over i sneeze! and sneezing for some reason causes me to lose control of my muscles down there just long enough to get things damp. i think it's pretty funny actually. it's just not something you want to have happen when you are out of the house!
• Braxton Hicks. i have only noticed these a few times. these are kinda like contractions, some people notice them and others don't. what it is is my stomach just gets really hard for a few seconds and tightens. it doesn't hurt, and i usually don't feel it happening, i have just noticed my stomach is hard and then 10 seconds later it's back to normal.
• i am slightly anemic. so, even though i take my prenatal vitamins and they have iron in them, i am a little on the low side. the doctor said its pretty normal to have low iron when you are pregnant, i just need to eat more red meat and more leafy vegetables (like spinach).
• it's still hard getting out of bed. it's pretty funny. you really start to lose your abdominal muscles and theres not much you can do about it. luke will sometimes give me a little push when i am sitting up and just laughs:)

Halloween

(struggling to bend backwards with my big pregnant belly)

halloween was simple this year. we weren't very good at preparing a costume so we kind of just looked in our closets and threw together whatever we had. so we were nerds! We went to a party for TVA (Temple View Apartments - this is the on-campus married housing at BYU Hawaii) which is where luke works. and then on halloween night we went with some friends to a party for married couples. but we are excited to be able to dress up our little one next year though and maybe even go trick or treating:)!

weeks 20 - 26

 24 weeks 6 days
(i should wear shirts like this in baby bump pictures more, it's hard to tell what i really look like in my baggy ones)

 here are some pregnancy update photos (missing a few):

26 weeks 3 days

25 weeks

24 weeks 

(luke and i laugh at this one. i look super square in this pic for some reason)

22 weeks

20 weeks 

I am writing this at 26 weeks 4 days (which is about 6 1/2 months). everything seems to be going well with the pregnancy, here are some changes/updates that i've noticed: 

• at about 22 weeks I started getting acid reflux:( which means every few days or so i feel like i have something stuck in my throat and it burns a little. sometimes it's not bad, sometimes it's really hard to ignore. but i looked it up and it's pretty common in pregnancy.
• ankles and feet swell. nothing too bad, it's pretty minor, but i definitely notice it.
• i am getting round ligament pain. so, as your skin and everything else stretches, it starts to not feel so great (not bad, just uncomfortable). i mostly notice it in the morning when i try to get out of bed or pretty much whenever i lay down; everything just feels pretty tight on the lower part of my belly, and i now have to push myself up a little bit instead of just using my stomach muscles. it's kinda funny because about two weeks ago i started noticing that it was getting harder to bend down to pick things up; there's just something in the way, and it's not squishy!
• baby moves a lot! i love feeling him move! i really do. he likes to move in the mornings and evenings mostly, but there really isn't a pattern to it. but it's so fun to just sit there and watch as a little foot bump pops up and moves across my stomach. i'm always telling luke, "watch, he's moving!" i just get so excited about it, and it makes me feel more attached to this little guy. 
• weight gain. i have gained 5-6 pounds. i was a little worried at first because that seemed a little low, but my mom was like this with her first and i definitely feel like i am eating plenty! i asked a midwife about it and she said not to worry, everyone is different.
• baby gets the hiccups. or at least i think that's what it is. they are these short bounces or vibrations almost i guess that happen every few seconds. but they don't feel good! they kinda hurt because i always feel it really low. also, if he kicks low it really doesn't feel good, maybe it's my bladder he is kicking, i don't really know. 
• clothes are getting a little snug for sure, (my shorts mostly). i have been using the rubber band trick, one side through the hole and the other around the button so that my pants have a few extra inches. so this works well, except that a couple pairs (the originally more snug ones) are getting snug even with the rubber band. but so far, i haven't had to wear maternity pants.

I think it's so fun to be pregnant, it's a super unique time in life that not everyone gets to experience. yes, it may have some downsides to it, but i still can't believe that there is an actual baby growing inside me. luke and i get really excited to be parents sometimes. we definitely have our fears too, but mostly excitement! i have been doing a lot of reading about labor and delivery recently, so i am feeling good about that. i don't feel super nervous about labor, i just want to make sure we can get to the hospital in time since it's about an hour away here!

But i started working on a project for the baby! i started knitting a blanket about 1 week and a half ago. this is the first thing i have ever knitted, so we'll see how it turns out...