Pregnancy Update: 30 Weeks

How many weeks are you now?
30 weeks, 6 days

Baby's size? 
Butternut Squash per the What to Expect app. He's also somewhere in the 3 pound range. I took a picture with my Yorkie this morning...she's 5 1/2 pounds and it's funny to think that Brayden is fully formed yet he's smaller than her (for now)!

Symptoms:
Oh my goodness the HEARTBURN hit me on Tuesday of this week. I've never experienced heart burn before...ever...and it was crazy! My esophagus felt like it was on fire!! Thankfully I had a Pepcid AC and it definitely came to the rescue but I waited a while to take it because I wanted to see if the heartburn would go away on its own.

Cravings?
Cheetos and Hershey's chocolate (again)

Aversions? 

Nothing new...still fish!

Sleep:

All is well here, still sleeping through the night for the most part! I occasionally wake up before my alarm but that doesn't happen often. I will admit, I enjoy sleeping in on Saturday mornings although I do feel a little guilty because for many years, my Saturday mornings were consumed with long runs! It was always a bad thing to sleep on Saturdays, so this is a huge change. I'm soaking up the "sleeping in" while I can!! :)

Purchases:
Nothing new this week although I've been shopping around for gliders.

 

What I miss: 
Running. Especially in the cold. I cannot wait to get back out there and enjoy it once again. 

What I’m looking forward to:
Continuing the progress on getting our house ready. Last weekend, Jason moved stuff around, donated items to a local thrift store, and ordered our new desk. Once the desk arrives, it won't be long before we will be able to set up the baby room furniture!

Worst Moment of the Week:

The heartburn!!

Best Moment of the Week: 

Baby registry shopping with my friend Kim - she really helped me when it came to necessary items for the baby! Jason and I did half of the registry, then I took my friend Kim back with me and we completed it (because neither Jason nor I knew what in the world we were doing)!

Another good moment this week was my final monthly Doctor's appointment. I happened to be placed in the Ultrasound room (for no reason), so she checked his heart rate and looked at his positioning. He's head down, the fluid levels look good, and his HR is still right at 149/150! Oh yes, and he's still a boy and I'm still measuring right on track, just a few days ahead! :)

Have a wonderful day! :)

Disney World at Christmas 2015

In December, my husband and I took a little trip over to Florida to spend some time with our friends. Oh yes, we also visited Disney World, of course!

Originally, we planned this trip back in the summer as a long weekend trip in December - Friday through Monday to celebrate my husband's best friend's birthday. After a little deliberation and realizing our need to defer our Princess trip to 2017, we decided to tack on two extra days and enjoy the Disney Christmas festivities as well!

Orlando airport! Although we were in Disney for Wine & Dine last fall, I felt like we only had a little tiny taste of Christmas (first week of November). Our last time to visit in December was in 2011, so this was much overdue!

Hi Orlando! We took a late Friday night flight into Orlando, met up with our friends at the airport, enjoyed a chocolate shake from the Wawa (one of the coolest gas stations ever), then crashed at our friend's house.

The next morning, Melissa and I participated in the Reindeer Run 5K through Sea World. (See recap here.)

After the race, we showered, took naps, had lunch at a yummy Mexican restaurant, then drove over to a local vineyard. Neither Jason nor I had visited a vineyard before, so this was neat to see! They were also hosting an arts and crafts fair, so we enjoyed browsing all of the booths on the grounds.

The vineyard was gorgeous! 

We also stopped by to say hi to Santa on our way out! :)

For dinner that evening, we drove over to Celebration to enjoy the Christmas decor and downtown festivities. The main street included an ice skating rink and "snow" every few minutes.

Live bands also played throughout the evening. 

We enjoyed seeing their setup and relaxing at Starbucks while waiting on our table to open up at the Market Street Cafe. Afterward, we drove around the town and looked at Christmas lights.

This wasn't our first time to visit Celebration - if you remember the great 5K tooth incident of 2014 with my mom, she had her tooth fixed by a dentist in Celebration and that's where we spent a good portion of one afternoon.

The following day (Sunday), we slept in and lounged around the house. Honestly, it was nice to relax and sleep!

We had tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that evening and we wanted to check out the gingerbread house at the Grand! (Again, I hadn't seen this since 2011, so it was long overdue!)

Love this lobby at Christmas time!

The gingerbread house smelled heavenly! I always enjoy reading all of the details that go into making the gingerbread house! :)

We also loved looking at all of the little details and hidden Mickeys! 

Disney at Christmas is truly the best. I just love it!!

For additional recaps of our Disney Christmas trip, check out the links below! 

• Exploring Orlando Area/Grand Floridian Gingerbread House
• Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
• The Osborne Lights 
• Epcot  
• Animal Kingdom
• Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom at night
• Beignets at Port Orleans French Quarter

Up next: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! 

When is your favorite time to travel and visit the parks?

Neverland Themed Baby Shower

This past Saturday, I helped throw a baby shower for one of my best friends! We've been friends since...forever...and served in each other's weddings. We always talked about how much fun it would be to get pregnant at the same time and...well, it happened! Her due date is about 3 weeks before mine!

Her nursery colors happen to be green and yellow with touches of gray and maroon. It's also a Neverland theme! Neverland? Disney? No problem!! :)

As I set out to begin planning ideas for the shower, I noticed that there wasn't much "out there" in regards to a Neverland Baby Shower theme. There were plenty of Jake and the Neverland Pirates kids parties, but not baby showers. So, I had to wing it and make most of the decorations/corsages myself.

I didn't mind one bit, though...it helped pass the time in the afternoons. Instead of going for a run (per doctor's orders), I made baby shower decorations!

One of the shower hosts also made the shower invitations herself and they were darling! 

Another one of the shower hosts graciously let us use her home and I was in heaven when I walked in...y'all, she's as big of a Mickey fan as I am!! Loved it! The food was all delicious, too!

These Tink jars were from a facebook inspiration I happened across one day. Check out how easy they were to make!!  They were an adorable touch, too!

For decor, I basically chose a few popular quotes from Peter Pan and cut the designs out on my Silhouette machine. 

This one was my favorite! :) I also googled Neverland fonts and used one called "Gust of Wind". 

Since her colors were yellow and green, we went with yellow lemonade to drink. No southern shower is complete without sweet tea, too! :)

Sign in area...

I'm also not really a fan of shower games and all of the other ladies were fine with that, so we just had one - guess how many kisses are in the baby bottle. :)

Gifting area! :)

We also used fresh flowers in the themed colors.

Dessert included cake balls and cupcakes. Oh my gosh these cake balls were to die for!!

The momma to be with all of her shower hostesses! (Is that even a word? Or is it hosts? Hostess? I'm so confused...)

I've wanted to take pictures like this since the day I discovered we would be pregnant at the same time!

Our bellies were finally big enough, so why not? :) 

I can't wait to see the nursery all set up and ready to go! Our babies will be here before we know it!!

Our 3D/4D Ultrasound Experience

Last Friday, my husband, family, and I had the opportunity to "see" Baby Seal through a 3D/4D ultrasound. I didn't know what to expect from the experience except the website's brief description, so I thought I would share our experience with you in case you are planning to have one as well!

To begin, my doctor's office doesn't offer a 3D ultrasound, so I decided to book one at an outside facility on my own. It wasn't covered by insurance, so this was an out of pocket expense on our part. Included with our package, we received a DVD of the ultrasound experience, a CD of images, a strip of images of the 3D ultrasound (black and white), and a page of printed pictures of the 4D ultrasound (color). I might have also purchased a stuffed animal where you press his tummy and hear the baby's heartbeat. It's just about the cutest thing ever.

Before entering the ultrasound room, they had me sign release and waiver forms. These forms also ask for OB physician information, just in case the tech spies a problem...she can let the physician know.

They also asked me to use the restroom before the ultrasound because it's best on an empty bladder.

The room setup was really neat and cozy! The walls were painted a soft blue, pretty music played in the background, and a comfortable couch was available for the family members. 

In all, five family members were on the couch and they fit comfortably.

The ultrasound image projected onto this large screen TV on the wall so everyone could see Baby Seal really well! 

The ultrasound table held a fairly comfortable mattress with pretty printed sheets, so it didn't feel as if I were in a starchy clean doctor's office.

For the procedure itself, the lights were dimmed and the ultrasound gel was warm...aahhhh it was so nice!

At first, she had a little trouble visualizing Baby Seal's face because his arms were crossed over his forehead and his feet were up and in front of his face! Basically, he was folded in half like a burrito!

She had me roll to my left side and tried a few tricks and before we knew it, he was awake and moving!

It was about that time when we received this pouty little face. Oh boy....someone doesn't like to be awakened from his naps!  (This is the SAME exact pouty face his daddy gives me, by the way...)

The image clarity and quality of these shots absolutely blew my mind! It was crazy how much they could see up on the screen! Technology has come SO far!!

Overall, my ultrasound lasted about 15 minutes. I was expecting a little longer but she was able to measure and visualize everything she needed to see, so we were finished not long after that. In total, he's still measuring a week ahead and he weighs around 3 pounds 5 ounces!

I also left with this little treasure...

If you squeeze his tummy, you can hear Baby Seal (Brayden's) heart beat! I love it!!

Would I do this all over again? Well, it was a neat experience and I loved having my family there. I don't know that I would book this again if we have a second child but it was neat to experience at least one time.

If you decide to book a 3D/4D ultrasound, enjoy!! They are so much fun! :)

Pregnancy Update: 29 Weeks

Well well well...hello 29, almost 30 weeks! I can't believe this point in my pregnancy has arrived! It's crazy!!

How many weeks are you now?
29 weeks, 6 days

Baby's size? 
Small Cabbage. Pixie, my Yorkie, is about 5 pounds 5 ounces and it amazes me that our baby is smaller than her!

Symptoms:
GOODBYE cold and cough and nastiness! It took FOUR weeks but it's finally gone for the most part! Good riddance!

I'm now experiencing what I think is heart burn (never had it before) but a pepcid helps, so I'm assuming that's what it is. I try not to take one unless I absolutely have to. I also have a pain beneath my right ribs, but I am pretty sure it's due to baby positioning because it's not there all the time.

As far as swelling goes, I think I had a smidge of it in my left ankle last night. I'm going to keep watching it, though. I was on my feet a bit more than normal at work yesterday so that may have done it.

I'm also continuing to have the tightening sensations and I'm experiencing pressure like before (when she thought I might be having early contractions) but its definitely NOT as bad. Sitting and only standing or moving around when necessary has helped a LOT.

Cravings?
Nothing new this week. Still working on a King Cake from last weekend! :)

Aversions? 

Same...still fish!

Sleep:

This week, I had one and only one episode of insomnia. It was Friday night and I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30 p.m. I woke up a little after midnight hungry but unable to eat (because of my 3 hour glucose test the next day). I attempted to trick my brain and fall back asleep in my bed (I tried for an hour and a half), but it didn't work. Instead, I got up and did things around the house until I felt sleepy again. Keep in mind, I WAS STARVING. Finally around 3:45 a.m., I felt sleepy again so I returned to bed. I fell right to sleep and my alarm went off at 6 a.m. for the glucose test. Thankfully nothing like that has happened again so I think it was more related to the circumstances and not "pregnancy insomnia" like some people get. Not saying it won't happen, but it hasn't officially happened to me yet.

I also lost some of that 2nd trimester energy - I almost feel as if I've reverted back to my first trimester with waking up tired, taking naps, etc.

Purchases:
Baby's bedding and baby book - both arrived yesterday!

What I miss: 
Being able to walk fast all over the place. If you know me, you know I'm like 90 miles an hour all the time. Not so much anymore. 

What I’m looking forward to:
Hopefully the crib will arrive this week so we can make some progress around the house! Can't wait!

Worst Moment of the Week:

The 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I wrote all about it on Tuesday - you can read it here if you'd like. Thankfully, I PASSED...found out the official results yesterday! YAY!

Best Moment of the Week: 

There's three things this week....

First, we began our registry. Oy...I was quite overwhelmed with everything and will have to return with a friend who's a baby genius and can help a bit better. I'm hoping to work on that this weekend depending on how I feel.

We also had our 3D/4D scan, we officially decided on a name, and we shared it with our family and friends.

Introducing:

Brayden Paul (aka "Baby Seal")

It's amazing how detailed these scans are! We don't have the option for a 3D scan at our Doctor's office, so we went to an outside facility to have these done. Our entire family was there and it was really neat to share that special moment with them! I'll share more about our experience at the 3D/4D ultrasound place tomorrow!

Check out this adorable shot of Brayden (baby Seal) and my husband when he was a baby! Isn't that too funny?! The cheeks crack me up! 

My final "monthly" Doctor's appointment is next week, then I start going for bi-monthly appointments! The end is drawing near and it's coming fast, y'all! So exciting!!

Happy Thursday!!