The Mom I Want To Be

The good news about the third trimester is that you really start to feel closer to your baby. As the due date slowly approaches, you start to prepare in earnest, you truly feel (and look) pregnant, and those special movements remind you that you have a living being inside you that you just can't wait to meet! The bad news is that third trimester is when the real complaints begin. I was feeling pretty good about trimester three until St. Patrick's Day rolled around. Though I made a breakfast of green, sort of clover-shaped pancakes for my husband to celebrate the day, I decided to eat my usual cereal instead and some leftover decaf coffee--which I promptly threw up. I hadn't barfed the entire first trimester other than one brief night of stomach weakness during our Texas trip. However, since that morning, my stomach has been off and on: occasionally nauseous again, occasionally tight feeling. The next weekend I felt sick to my stomach all day Saturday. Then I starte...

At 28 weeks I've finally made it to the third trimester, though my brother insists I was already there. You can't divide 40 weeks evenly by three, but most websites do say that by 28 weeks it's definitely not 2nd trimester anymore. I haven't started to notice a lot of differences from trimester two just yet, though it is definitely getting harder to bend over to pick up things. It is nice to have a more noticeable "baby bump," though it's still not as perfectly round as all the pregnant women you see in photographs (and I'm beginning to think it might not ever be). But it is rounder than it was before (back when it was pudgy/poochie), and  I still have people telling me I don't even look pregnant, while others who tell me I look VERY pregnant. I'm happy to take both as compliments. I still can't say I've had any real food cravings. I've gone from a first trimester of mostly wanting meat and cheese protein with hardly any dess...

Today was a big planning day for Baby! We had our tour of the hospital birthing floor and started preparations for the baby shower next month! The hospital tour, though short, was a great way to not only feel prepared but also help make the whole pregnancy thing seem even more real. Despite the growing belly and kicks, getting to see the place where I'll eventually give birth and actually imagine it happening is a big step toward recognizing that this baby is coming sooner than we think (like only three more months)! After signing up for the tour online through the hospital's website, and taking the time to sign Hubby and myself up for a birthing class next month as well, we knew where to go to at our specified time. I double checked at the hospital info desk and then soon we were on the third floor birthing ward, signing in for the tour and snacking on free Wheat Thins and cookies they provided while we waited. There were at least four other couples there, and one gir...