Quick Takes: Hello Third Trimester!

  • Yep, that’s right, I am 28 weeks pregnant as of today, and that means the third trimester has arrived. I’m shocked at how quickly it’s going, while at the same time the next 12 weeks seem to stretch out before me crazy-long. We are still doing great. I definitely have aches and pains, but nothing extreme and nothing lasting. I’ve started drinking red raspberry leaf tea in preparation for labor. Right now I drink it twice a day, but will soon increase my intake to 3-4 times per day. Tomorrow I have an appointment with Stephanie, and intend to ask her what specific thoughts she has regarding natural induction. We are going to try to get Noah to come a little early, in the hopes he will be a bit smaller than Aria was (10lbs, 4oz and 23″). I continue to swell a small amount, but am still wearing my wedding ring. I think it will probably come off in the next few weeks. I am struggling a bit more with back pain if I’m not careful, but it’s manageable and always goes away with rest (done the right way – on my side, with pillows between my legs).

 BabyFruit Ticker

  • Aria started walking yesterday! We were in the kitchen, where I was prepping dinner, when she stood up in the middle of the floor and did a little dance. She loves to dance, and is always bopping to something – this time it was something in her head, because there was no music playing. I thought it was ludicrous that she could dance on her feet but not walk to me, so I coaxed her to come to me (simply calling to her in an enticing tone, and asking her to walk to me). She did! It was maybe three feet, and it was precious how many shuffling steps it took her to get to me. She walked a tiny bit later that night, and some this afternoon, each time shorter distances than those three feet. Tonight, though, she walked quite a distance, clearly pleased with her skill. She’ll be fully mobile in no time! I have mixed emotions about it. I know it will make my life a bit more difficult in one way. Even more than that, it saddens me because her crawling is her last baby-like characteristic. But I need her to start walking, because she is getting to be too much for me to carry for long distances. And, of course, I’m thrilled to watch her develop in every way.
  • Aria is also now a full-on climber. She gets on and off the couch as though she’s been doing it for years. The other day I caught her trying to climb onto her activity table, which is definitely NOT engineered to hold 25+ lbs of toddler. Tonight she climbed onto the piano bench very briefly. I’m going to have to watch out for that one!
  • So far this week we have gone on a walk every day. It’s been wonderful! The walks have been brief, the first day due to my discomfort, and the past two due to the chilly weather. Aria loves to be outside, and gets excited when I suggest a walk. I started tracking our walks using MapMyRun, and was disgusted with how slowly I was walking on Monday. Normally a comfortable brisk walk for me would be about 14 mins/mi. Monday I walked 22 mins/mi, and it was uncomfortable. That was the fastest I could walk without putting myself in pain. It was by no means aerobically taxing – not even close – but Noah sits so low in my pelvis it hurt my pelvis and back to move any faster. Yesterday I started wearing a maternity support belt, and it did wonders for my comfort. I’m still walking pretty slowly – just under 20 mins/mi – but I’ll take it. It feels slightly aerobic now, as opposed to like I’m a snail.
  • Last week was a rotten, no good, very bad week, health-wise. On any given day at least one member of our household did not feel well. Thursday night I got violently ill, vomiting on the hour from midnight until 7am. It was awful. I never vomit. The only times I can remember vomiting in the past decade were when I took a decongestant I turned out to be allergic to. This time we are fairly certain I had food poisoning. When I began to get nauseated Noah began to get active. Really active. It made the nausea so much worse, but the positive side is that I knew throughout that he was doing fine. Andy has been struggling with his food sensitivities, and we’re not quite certain what’s caused the relapse. Today is the first day he’s felt pretty decent in about a week. I’m grateful we seem to be finally moving in the right direction, and hopeful that with the weather finally beginning to warm up we will be done with illness for a while.

Here’s to spring!

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