31 Weeks - Our first Baby Shower!

Week 31 (Mar 13 - Mar 19)

Your baby's the size of a pineapple!
 (What a terrible analogy! The thought of a prickly pineapple wiggling around in my stomach, hm.)
 

She's about 15.2 to 16.7 inches long and weighs about 2.5 to 3.8 pounds this month. She's getting so big, she's probably crowding your lungs. (This is actually not the case for me - PTL. She is so incredibly low that my lungs and ribs have been safe from all jabs and discomforts that most people experience.)

your baby at 31 weeks

• She's going through major brain and nerve development.
• Eye development, too. Her irises now react to light!
• All five of her senses are in working order.

Week 31 was so busy and SO MUCH FUN!!! I've been delaying this post because I wanted to include my pictures from the week, but my camera cord is MIA and I just can't delay any longer!! I'll have to settle for the pics I was able to snag on my phone, for now.

Week 31 started with a trip to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and the artist for the night was Maroon 5. We had a blast enjoying some good ol' Texas food & fun from a suite - woo hoo! I did so much walking from the parking lot and around the arena that I started having contractions on the way home. (Just some mild tightening, nothing bad.) My feet even swelled up a little bit!

Suite view just before Maroon 5 got started

 On Saturday, our family came in for our first baby shower & Darrin's "Man Storm"/Diaper Party/Excuse to go play at Dave & Busters. My sweet girl friends from Bryan put together a beautiful celebration for baby Blair and we had a wonderful turn out from family, Bible Study friends, and coworkers. We are truly overwhelmed by the love and blessings in our life! THANK YOU!!!!!




Shannon, Patricia, Hannah & Amber - my sweet hostesses. Love this banner that Shannon made for her!!

My precious sisters and Blair's sweet grandmothers. Love them!!!

The boys came back to help us carry gifts home! Papa, Patilyn, Mommy, Daddy, Gigi & GPops

On Sunday, I helped host a vintage school themed baby shower for one of our friends who is expecting a little girl just days after baby Blair. I know they will grow up to be great friends.

Bible Study girls, taken at Emily's shower on Sunday. How fun is this - we are all expecting little girls! Mindy's is due NEXT WEEK, mine & Emily's are due in May, and Jessi's is due in June. :)

 The week finished up with an early 32 week appointment and once again, we were told everything is "perfectly normal!" I even got us preregistered at the hospital. I love checking things off my To Do list. :)

31 Weeks

Blair's Heart Rate: 146 BPM
My Weight Gain: Still hovering around 15-17 pounds
Preggo Probs: SICK (cold/sinus), Charley Horses, cramps (when I'm on my feet a lot) & some CRAZY emotions.

30 - relaxing, kind of

Week 30 - Mar 6 - Mar 12

Your baby's the size of a cucumber!

Your 15.2- to 16.7-inch, 2.5- to 3.8-pound baby continues to grow.

your baby at 30 weeks

• Her skin is getting smoother.
• But her brain is getting wrinklier -- to make way for all that essential brain tissue.
• She's now strong enough to grasp a finger!

After the craziness that was week 29, week 30 was rather uneventful and relaxing. We had our 30 Week appointment and everything was "normal" again. Your heart rate was somewhere in the mid-140s. Pretty exciting that our appointments have started to get closer together now!!

I have had lots of "Charley Horse" cramps in my life (both before I was pregnant, and since I've been pregnant), but this Friday I woke up in the middle of the night with the mother of all leg cramps. It was absolutely awful and sent terrible pains through not only the back of my calf, but also the front of my SHIN!! I literally woke up screaming and didn't even realize I was screaming, it was so painful. Your sweet Daddy sat by my feet and moved my foot back and forth in an effort to relieve the cramps. The next day I bought the biggest bundle of bananas I could find at the grocery store and started chowing down. Hoping to get past these ASAP! Luckily, on Saturday I had a prenatal massage scheduled - ahhhh. Aside from the outrageous leg cramps, this week was very calm and relaxing. We needed the break! And I was able to get most of the fabric cut for your nursery bedding - FINALLY! Stay tuned for that...

30 weeks - Wait, did we just pass the 20s already!?

29 - Chaos (but fun chaos)

Week 29 - Feb 27 - Mar 5

Your baby's the size of an acorn squash!

Baby already measures about 15.2 to 16.7 inches long. Right now, she weighs about 2.5 to 3.8 pounds but she's still got a ways to go -- can you believe she'll triple in weight before birth?

your baby at 29 weeks

• She's getting a little cramped in there, since she's growing so fast. But you probably already realize that, since you're getting all those jabs and kicks.
• She's growing white fat deposits under her skin, and her energy is surging because of it. 
• Feel a subtle twitch? It might be baby hiccupping. (I think I did feel some hiccups)

Week 29 was chaotic!! We went to Rodeo Cookoff Friday night; repainted the office (which used to be the dining room), met Gigi & GPops for lunch/dinner, and went to a surprise party on Saturday; finalized our registries on Sunday; started training my "work sub" on Monday; and went to watch the Rockets vs Heat game on Tuesday. Plus we had winter show up for probably the 10th time this year - I'm not kidding!! It was warm and sunny over the weekend, then out of the blue it got very cold and wintry again!! I don't mind though, I kind of like the cold. :)

Daddy was super excited about the Heat coming to town!!

Soaking up these spontaneous date nights while we can - I love him!!

Head to toe bundled up - this was one of those wintry days. My official "29 Week" picture was only two days earlier.

Mommy's brain settled down a little bit this week and I am pretty much obsessed with feeling your sweet little movements. You're quite the wiggle-worm! Weight gain is around 15 lbs and my stomach discomforts have taken a backseat to an even less lovely pregnancy plague that I will not write for the public to read about, ha! Now, if only we could focus this energy into something slightly more productive than "playing"... Did I mention, we've started the third trimester!?

Taken on one of those sunny warm days. Our official 29 Week photo

Front view of this fun and very appropriate shirt. When "Aunt" Abby first sent it to us, it was way too big. Loving this! 

Week 28 - Maternity Pics!!

Your baby's the size of an eggplant!

Putting on layers of fat, your baby now weighs in around 1.5 to 2.5 pounds and measures about 13.6 to 14.8 inches.

your baby at 28 weeks

• She's starting to develop more fat, so her wrinkly skin will start to get smoother.
• Her lungs are mature enough that she'd probably survive if she was born now. Wow!

Week 28 was too long ago for me to remember much of the specifics (really, 5 minutes ago was too long ago for me to remember anything).  I'm getting so behind!!  I do remember feeling much happier this week than week 27.  And being obsessed with feeling sweet Blair's little movements.  She moves a lot when I'm still - which is kind of never.

28 weeks

We went to Bryan the weekend of week 28 for a wedding and Allison came to take our maternity pictures!!!!!  Here are some of our favorites - actually, pretty much all of the pics. We love them all!! :)

All photos done by Allison Barton with Blessed by Grace Photography.

THANK YOU ALLISON!!!

Week 27 - Paint and Panic

 

Your baby's the size of a rutabaga!

At 13.6 to 14.8 inches and 1.5 to 2.5 pounds, she's not just getting bigger, she's getting smarter.

 

 

your baby at 27 weeks

• She's practicing inhaling and exhaling with her rapidly developing lungs.
• It's official: Baby's showing brain activity! And her brain will keep on getting more complex.

 

 

Week 27 was not exactly my favorite week of pregnancy.  I'm not sure what happened exactly, but hormones went crazy, panic set in, and I experienced a full on, out of the blue, out of control, melt down. Or two. Sigh... I was driving the crazy train, y'all!

 

In general, this week was consumed with a lot of fear and anxiety over pretty much everything. Will we pick the right daycare/paint color/carseat/brand of bottles, etc, etc? You name it, I worried over it.

 

On the bright side, it was still a great week:

• We found another daycare to look at, well, get on the wait list for. It's a church daycare and far less expensive than some of the others we've been looking at. Also, very convenient location. If a spot opens up before Fall, we'll go check it out.

• My absolute most favorite thing about the week - my parents came to help us PAINT THE NURSERY!!!! AND my mom brought us some delicious dinner. AND my Dad helped Darrin put together all of the furniture! :)  It was fun to spend a few hours together. I am getting so excited about finishing up starting her bedding and putting the room together.  :)

A cute little someone got too close to wet paint and had to have a bath. Oops!

 

Papa & Mommy - he brought us a Valentine's card & chocolate covered strawberries!

 

Darrin really likes this picture because he's the only one actually working! And check out our sweet Blair hangin' out of that non-maternity shirt!! HAHA

 

Finished product - with furniture!!

 

Mommy & Patilyn :)

 

Mommy & Daddy - we can't wait for our tiny Princess to be in that bed!

• At our 27 week doctor's appointment Blair's heart was beating 152-154 BPM, she was wiggling like crazy, and they confirmed that I passed the glucose test, yay!! (This means I don't have gestational diabetes - whew!)

This is my "Real Life" 27 week picture. End of the day, dead tire, smudgy eyes, and pajamas.  This was after 2 1/2 hours of stroller shopping. I now LOVE buybuy BABY - seriously!!

 

Goodbye 2nd trimester!!!!