Week 23 - overwhelmed but making progress

Week 23: Jan 16-22

Not to sound negative, but these posts are intended to help me remember the pregnancy, and in week 23 I felt exceedingly overwhelmed by everything. From furniture and nursery décor, to registries and shower guest lists, and finances and childcare. It doesn't help that I keep dreaming I am going into labor at 23 weeks and of course, nothing is ready! I am so BLESSED to have Darrin as my partner in all this - he has been amazing helping me in whatever way I need and he is definitely the voice of reason amongst us. :)

On Thursday, we decided on bedroom furniture and called to order it. Friday we went on two more daycare visits and they did not bring us any closer to a decision. I nearly left one crying because it wasn't at all what I expected - even though I'm not sure what I expected? - and now we're more confused than before on what is best for our family.  Can I please ask that you pray with us about this decision? It's overwhelming to decide who is the best person to take care of our little blessing and we feel so lost on that decision right now!

Saturday we picked up the beautiful nursery furniture for Miss Blair! Then my amazing husband went to JoAnn's with me and stood in line for 15+ minutes with about 20 ladies and 6 bolts of fabric just to get sample swatches cut for me (I'm making her bedding!!) When we got home, I looked over all of my options and ... MADE A DECISION! All of the fabric has now been purchased and is ready to be sewn into her darling nursery bedding. :) Her colors will be a pinky-coral with grey and yellow accents! Coral will be the main color. I'm putting a picture of the fabric below, but the cell phone camera doesn't do the tones justice. It is not red and it's definitely not orange!

This is her furniture as it was displayed in the store. It's espresso colored.

Nursery fabric!! Coral and grey with yellow accents

And I'm super excited because our friends, the Harringtons, picked up a diaper bag for me at the Vera Bradley outlet this weekend! I got a cute (in my opinion), nice quality diaper bag for only $5 more than the cheapest one I could find at Target! I am SO excited about this find!! :) Looking forward to carrying her cute little belongings around in it.

Week 23 Growth:

your baby's the size of a grapefruit!

At about 10.5 to 11.8 inches and about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces, baby's not just getting bigger, she's getting even cuter.

 

your baby at 23 weeks

• She's forming little nipples (It really says this, ha!)
• Her face is fully formed now -- she just needs a little extra fat to fill it out.
• She's listening to your voice and your heartbeat -- and even to loud sounds like cars honking and dogs barking.  (Barking dogs, we don't have those...;))

At Week 23, I've gained 11.5 pounds and have started experiencing some Braxton-Hicks contractions. They're not painful at all, just very unusual!



Week 23

-Jamie

Weeks 20, 21 & 22 - Busy busy!

Weeks 20 - 22 just flew by and we didn't even realize it!! I'll summarize them each below:

Week 20 (Dec 26 - Jan 1)
This week was filled with last minute Christmas and wedding preparations. We celebrated Christmas with both of our families during week 21 while we were in Bryan for the big wedding so we had to do our last minute ahem, all of our Christmas shopping and packing preparations for the big week during this chaotic weekend.

Blair's Week 20 Development - Size of a banana, weighed just over 12 ounces in our doctor's appointment and, for the first time, I FELT MOVEMENT!!! This was the coolest and most exciting thing yet!! :) It felt like a little twitching in my stomach that I couldn't see or feel from the outside. So crazy!



20 Weeks - Halfway!!!

Week 21 (Jan 2 - Jan 8)
The Saturday of week 21 was the big wedding!!! Wedding will get it's own post later, but Aunt Kaity was a beautiful bride and we had so much fun spending time with all of our family and lots of friends. On Monday, Mommy turned 26 (this is the same age my Mom was when I was born!) and Daddy brought me a dozen beautiful pink roses.

Blair's Week 21 Updates:
Size of a pomegranate, a little over 12 ounces, producing meconium (which apparently makes for a nasty first diaper) and now has her lifetime supply of eggs - approx. 6 million WOW!

We officially decided on the spelling of her full name: Blair Alise Barton We love it!! Little Miss Blair decided that after wiggling early in week 20, she was not going to move anymore, so I went back to the doctor to have them check her heart rate and make sure everything was OK. A strong 155 bpm and she was moving so much that they had to keep moving the monitor around! And in true drama queen fashion, she gave me a swift kick in the side on my way back to the office. We've got our hands full...



21 weeks picture taken on my 26th birthday :)

Week 22 (Jan 9 - 15)
This week Darrin also got to feel Blair moving! I was thrilled to be able to share that with him!!!! Our little princess was moving like crazy and seems to favor the left side of my stomach. My stomach even looks kind of like it leans to the left a little (& I sleep better on my left side)!! I experienced one of the weirdest pregnancy symptoms yet that I will spare the public from, but I will remember it myself when I read this! haha We went on a furniture shopping extravaganza this weekend that left us empty-handed and totally sticker shocked.

Blair's 22 Week Development - Size of a papaya, 10.5 to 11.8 inches and weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces. Eyes & lips are more developed and she is sleeping in regular cycles now from 12-14 hrs per day. She is definitely causing weight gain - up a total of 10.5 pounds as of this week - and itchy skin. Also, some minor back aches and a little more difficulty in taking deep breaths. Nothing majorly uncomfortable though. Plus, I swear I'm starting to get morning sickness. Yes, at week 22!

22 Weeks!

Whew, talk about a blur! Week 23 to come soon...

-Jamie