3rd Trimester Pregnancy Realizations

Oh my, how the second trimester flew by! Today I am 29 weeks along. Meaning, this baby will be full term in 8 weeks (woh!) and is due in 11. That’s a totally wild thought. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome this little girl into our family but the dawn of parenthood is upon us and that is certainly daunting.

Over the holidays we spent time with my then pregnant sister-in-law who was 38 weeks along. I’m happy to say she gave birth on January 4 to a beautiful boy, Landon Joseph Gerber. We now have one nephew in St. Louis and another niece/nephew due in late June in Chicago! It’s a wonderful time in our families of celebration and anticipation of the new arrivals.

I cannot seem to get over the fact of how grateful I am to be carrying this child. When I think back several months ago to the stress, anxiety, heartbreak, tears, struggle, and suffering of losing a pregnancy and then the process of “trying,” I am overcome with such an emotion of gratitude. No more morning temperatures, no more charting body signs, no more disappointment and frustration of weird cycles that all came to an eventual end. The female body is a mystery to me and I can really say that I am blessed that I did not have to “battle” mine for more than a period of months to become pregnant with this girl. I met with my OBGYN in July concerning methods we were about to try in order to boost our fertility chances. He said to call back and start the meds when my cycle ended–it never did. Such a blessing. I do not know what the future holds for us with other kiddos but God certainly answered our prayers for a child and a healthy pregnancy. I wish the same for all of my dear friends who have suffered loss and are in the midst of that trial.

I started seeing a therapist last April to help me work through the grief process and anxiety of wanting a baby, among other things. I still see her once a month as she helps me sort through the different elements of my life. I look forward to continuing our meetings as I prepare for motherhood and then face the struggles of it with a newborn. I love telling people about my experience in therapy/counseling. It has been so beneficial for me on every level (emotional, physical, spiritual). If you need a recommendation or want to know more about why I am such an advocate for therapy (scary word at times, but it shouldn’t be), please send me a message.

So, we are now in the third trimester and I have a few mental notes to make for myself.

- First, when you get to 28 weeks, go slowly. In the course of the last week, Jacob and I painted the nursery, set up the crib, and I painted the nursery dresser. I felt great during those first two items but after painting the dresser in about 30 hours, there was a small bit of hell to pay for me physically. Also, note to self, when bending over on the ground, painting or otherwise, for several hours at a time, choose your wardrobe wisely–particularly in the undergarment area. If you do not make things comfortable, you will regret it for several days. (And that’s about as detailed as I’m gonna get. Let’s just say, I’ve been walking very slowly around the house since Thursday night.)

- Borrowing is the BEST!!! I am so blessed to have a few girlfriends who gave me their maternity clothes so I haven’t had to buy a ton. In fact, I think I’ve got a pretty darn cute wardrobe. I supplied my own pants and sweaters so it’s awesome that I now have pieces to layer it all with. Thanks for the tights too, Becky!!

- People will always ask you, “How are you feeling?” when they see you. This week my response was, “Well, pregnant.” In other words, normal pregnancy aches and pains. My legs and hips ache at night in bed, I can’t do as much physically as I could a month ago, and I have a squirming baby inside of me that makes it look like there’s an alien playing with my belly at times. I must say, I love it when she goes all karate kid.

- Jacob and I actually love our current roles and I think we’ll love the future ones as well. I am currently subbing 0-3 days and week and teach private voice lessons 2 days. That means I have way more down time and I have been doing a lot with our home, running errands for us, and cooking/cleaning like nobody’s business. Considering the fact that Jacob now has one full time and two part time jobs (60+ hrs of work each week), I love that I can take care of things mostly on my own with our home. And guess what, he doesn’t hold it against me or anything when I’m not out working. I must say, being this pregnant is a great excuse for not working as much but I do hope to make some positive financial contribution to our family before this princess arrives.

- Naps are awesome. Saturday I was crazy tired for no reason. I slept in, fell asleep on the couch after an early lunch, then went upstairs to the guest bedroom where Jacob was studying and fell asleep again. I finally got to the grocery store accompanied by my sweet man about 7pm. I’ve got no complaints.

The nursery (pictured below) is actually getting much closer to being ready. Now we’re just waiting on one or two baby showers to help us fill in the gaps. I’m such a planner that it’s hard to wait but I know we’ll have everything that we need for this baby when she arrives, whether the registry is empty or not. God has been providing for us in great ways already and I’m sure his goodness will continue.

Thanks for your continued prayers for safety and health for me and our little one.
To see the progress of my baby bump, you can go to this Facebook album.

Here's Jacob with the finished crib and aloe vera painted walls. The rest of our house is still all white so this room is quite the pop of color.

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. It used to be white with a weird wood vinyl top. I also couldn't resist this lamp that has matching teal flowers on it when I passed it at Lowes.

I found these dresser knobs at Hobby Lobby. Who the heck decided that knobs should be so expensive?!? Luckily they were half off. I was looking for a brushed nickel but they didn't have it and these were more fun anyway.