Third Trimester Wrap-Up

Today is my little guy’s due date…9 months of preparing all for this long awaited day.  It feels a little surreal that at any moment Baby Hoov could make his arrival into the world!  As I am sitting here writing this I am having contractions lasting about 30-45 seconds every 7-10 minutes apart.  They feel mostly like period cramps and it’s hard to tell if I am really starting labor or if it is false labor.  I lost my mucus plug over the last 2 days as well so that’s a good sign too!  At first I was like, “What the heck is this stuff?”  It looked like jelly and kept coming when I wiped.  Looked up mucus plug and sure enough…that’s what it was!  Then, last night when I went to the bathroom I felt something “fall out.”  Haha, looked in the porcelain bowl and there was the rest of it!  It made me happy because that meant I was progressing.  (I should mention that at my last doctor’s appointment 4 days ago I was only dilated ½ centimeter and my cervix wasn’t effaced much, so I thought that I had awhile and was going to have to be induced.)  So, with probably having already said too much I am excited about today!  Wouldn’t that be something if he actually came on his due date?!  So fun.  Ok, so here are the highlights and lowlights of the third trimester!

Highlights:

1.       Preparing Baby Hoov’s room: It was a lot of fun planning and preparing his room with Greg.  I love all the little owls and special touches that went into making his room special.  I painted the tree, Greg put up the wood wall, my mom pained the frames and wall art, my grandma Lee made the curtains, and Greg’s mom got us the bedding!  So much love went into this room! 

2.      Baby Showers! I was able to have three showers with lots of friends and family.  I felt so blessed to be able to receive such wonderful gifts for our little boy to prepare us for his arrival.  Organizing it in our house and his room was fun too!

3.      Watching Baby Hoov grow in my tummy: I love that this trimester my belly has grown immensely.  Although it does make sleeping and moving more uncomfortable I love being able to feel my stomach for “body parts” and knowing where he is in my tummy.  It makes being pregnant more “real.”

4.      Maternity Leave!  I decided to go on maternity leave at 36 ½ weeks because working all day was getting very tiring with kids, and with the holidays the weeks were busy busy busy!!  So, over the past month I have been able to rest and get so much done at the same time it’s fantastic!  I also have been able to focus more on Baby Hoov which is wonderful as well.  Thank goodness for maternity leave!

5.      TODAY!  Today is one of my highlights as well because it is his due date!  For 9 months I have been looking forward to today. J  Whatever happens I am so glad that I have made it to today!

Lowlights:

1.       Continued Restless Leg: So I didn’t think it was possible to get this any worse but I was wrong!  Anytime I wanted to lay down to rest my leg wouldn’t let me.  I had to either stand, walk, bounce on my exercise ball, or stretch.  SO ANNOYING!

2.      Breathing, or lack there of!  As the Baby Hoov grew he began to be pushed into my ribs.  This not only was uncomfortable but made it hard for me to breath at times. I would be talking to someone and just start running out of breath.  Can you say awkward?!

3.      Insomnia: Well, I guess it is a good thing that God starts to prepare you early for having a baby because at around 32 weeks I stopped sleeping through the night.  I would wake up to go to the bathroom in the beginning but as time went on I would just wake up!  Every 2 hours like clockwork my little peepers would open.  Sometimes I would just lay there and stare at the ceiling and other times I would watch a movie or eat a snack.  Either way waking up several times during the night is not fun.

4.      Getting dressed/finding something to wear.  So as my stomach grew bigger it became not as fun anymore to wear clothes.  When you start to outgrow your maternity clothes you know you are getting huge!  Putting on shoes, finding clothes that are comfortable to wear- all struggles of having a huge baby hanging off your front side.

5.      Contractions..although they just started about 2 days ago they are pretty consistent now and I must say that having cramps every 5 minutes is not the most fun thing in the world.  Although I am putting this as a lowlight it will soon be a highlight because I get a prize at the end…my baby boy!

Well, we have our bags all packed and in the car waiting to be taken to the hospital.  We had them packed a week ago just in case Baby Hoov decided to make an early appearance.  I hope I have everything I need and if not, then we will find out soon enough!  (Oh man it is hard to focus and write when I am having contractions!...so if this blog is random that is why…)

            Can’t wait to share my labor story with you all and hold my little boy in my arms. J  Good times are coming…yahoo!!  Here is a picture of me on New Years Eve-his due date!