27 Weeks

Thanks to an unfortunate encounter with a cold virus (and the ensuing mess that is my poor puffy face), I will not be posting a photo today! Perhaps later on in the week, I'll feel good enough to stand in front of the camera. If that happens, I will update.

Today marks the beginning of the third trimester, the home stretch! The baseball thing is not a perfect analogy (four bases vs. three trimesters, etc.), but making it this far feels a little like getting ready to slide into home. Very awkwardly. And instead of running, I'm waddling. And instead of home plate, it's a delivery room. Okay, in my defense, I'm not exactly a sports connoisseur - or an analogy connoisseur, for that matter - but I'm doing my best.

I'm in sort of a fog. I started feeling sick on Sunday, so I tried to rest and take it easy that day and Monday, but by Monday night I knew I was definitely coming down with something. I saw my doctor on Tuesday - more on that later - and she gave me the rundown of safe medicines to take if I started feeling really bad. Cue Wednesday morning, I wake up and am in the throes of a nasty head cold. Runny nose, sneezing, fatigue, headache, the works. Then Thursday I woke up with a horrible sore throat and all day I could feel the cold moving down into my chest. Sure enough, this morning I woke up coughing and hacking, and still with the sinus congestion. So I'm taking Robitussin for the first time since I was eight years old, coating myself in Vicks, and drinking so much water that my belly could host a swim meet. I'll be glad when this finally goes away!

Anyway, on to the update:

Symptoms
Braxton Hicks contractions continue to be a daily occurrence, and I'm starting to feel some pressure low in my abdomen - baby is getting heavier and from what I can tell, spends a lot of time hanging out head down. I had some disconcerting cramps on Monday night, but after talking to my doctor on Tuesday, we figured it was probably dehydration, but it's something I'm supposed to keep an eye on. I'm also apparently getting pretty big. In relation to my size, I enjoyed this moment with one of my kindergarteners yesterday, on our first day back after the two-week break:
Me: "Good morning!"
Kid: "Good morning, Miss Emilee. Wow! Your belly is HUGE!"
I had to chuckle, but then we talked about a better way to speak to pregnant ladies about their bellies.

How big is baby?
This week's fruit comparison is a rutabaga. I'm not sure I've ever seen a rutabaga in real life, which makes me question my culinary expertise. Babies at this stage are an average 13.6 to 14.8 inches in length, and weigh between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds. A lot of lung development has happened over the last couple of weeks, and now baby is practicing breathing, although it's amniotic fluid, not air, being inhaled and exhaled. Baby's also starting to show an increase in brain activity. I think that this has something to do with the reactions we get whenever Elliott reads, talks, and sings to the baby. He or she is making a lot of connections now, and obviously recognizes Dad's voice. It was a total dance party in there after Elliott read The Tawny Scrawny Lion last night.

Movement
Aside from the "Dad's talking!" disco moments, I'm feeling regular daily movement. My doctor has us doing kick counts daily now, and so far we get way more than ten kicks in an hour once baby decides to be active! I can also see lots of movement from the outside, which is both weird and cool. Sometimes I think I'm having a Braxton Hicks contraction because suddenly part of my belly will get hard, but it turns out to be baby's head or butt sticking out, and when I press on it, I feel it shifting and moving away from my hand! It's pretty surreal.

Highlights of the week
Making it to the third trimester! It feels good to finally get here, and is also a little unnerving, since I'm realizing I only have 13 weeks to go (or, you know, 12 or 14 or so, depending on when baby decides to arrive). We bought paint for the baby's room, but I have yet to make any progress on moving the furniture out.

Low moments of the week
Well, this cold certainly doesn't count as a highlight. Monday night was pretty rough. Elliott got home and I was trying to cook dinner, but kept having those cramps. He walked into the kitchen and I basically put the spatula in his hand and said, "I need you to finish this," and went and sat down. I've felt so out of it.

Dreams
Nothing to speak of - I must be sleeping pretty deeply these days!

What I'm looking forward to
Getting started on the baby's room! Once this cold goes away, I've got a couple of small things to build in other parts of the house so that I can clear out the furniture and hopefully move in a crib and dresser! The weather is supposed to be fair over the next week, so we'll have an opportunity to move the twin bed and the corner desk out without freezing our noses off. We're also preregistering at the hospital within the next couple of weeks, and we agreed that once that's done, we should probably start getting the hospital bag ready. All of a sudden, the "third trimester to-do list" is front and center!
My mom has also started planning my baby shower. I didn't expect to be as excited as I am for that!

Happy Friday, friends! I'm hoping that this cold will clear up in the next couple of days and next week will be extremely productive for me! I hope to have lots of nursery updates next Friday. Today I'm writing up plans for the nursery closet and I'm hoping to do a little organizing in there this evening, as long as I don't decide to go to bed at 7.