29 Weeks

Hello friends! Today marks 29 weeks for us. One week to 75%. It's exciting, but also a little nerve-wracking as I feel like I still have a lot to do and not a lot of time left.

Symptoms
My blood tests this week confirmed that I am still severely anemic, so I'm upping my iron intake and that comes with its own set of issues.
Still growing quickly! We had a big growth spurt this week and I've since had a couple of strangers say things like "Oh, wow! You're about to pop!" I never think I look that big until someone says something like that. Then I remember that I still have 11 weeks to go and try to imagine the growth that will occur between now and then. I'm going to be a house.
I've developed an uncomfortable (but not unbearable) rash on my belly. I blame my inconsistent use of lotion and coconut oil. I've neglected to keep that routine up and now my skin is paying the price. Pregnant friends, don't make this mistake. It's itchy.
I'm also nesting. Hard. More on that later.

How big is baby?
Our fruit this week is an acorn squash. Is that bigger than an eggplant? I guess it must be. Average length is 15.2 to 16.7 inches, and average weight is 2.5 to 3.8 pounds, but again, I think we're measuring just a little bit ahead. Baby's putting more pressure on my digestive system, and I've begun to feel mild pressure and movement down low. Baby passes our daily kick count tests with flying colors and gets hiccups all the time. Elliott felt hiccups from the outside for the first time this week. I think he felt bad for the poor kid; those hiccups were intense.

Movement
I am getting beat up on the daily. I can see kicks and punches from the outside now, and whenever I rest anything on my belly (which I can do now!), it gets rocked and rattled by whatever kung fu this kid is doing in there. Again, we're doing kick counts every day now. According to my doctor, I should be feeling at least ten movements within one hour, twice a day. I feel way, way more than that almost every day, so no worries there.

Highlights of the week
We painted the baby's room! I will post a nursery remodel update later, but over the past week we've painted all four walls. My plan for today is to paint the aspen trunks on the north wall. I've got the IKEA urge today, even though we have a trip planned for next week, but I'm having trouble resisting and I may end up driving to Denver. We'll see what Elliott thinks.
I also made closet dividers - I tried to make them out of CDs, but they didn't fit quite right on the bar in the closet, so I improvised with a different method and they look great! They're nothing fancy, but that's okay. They'll do the job.
I passed my glucose test - no gestational diabetes for me! The test drink was pretty gross, but it was over faster than I thought and I'm glad to know I don't have to worry about GD. Plus I got to hear baby's heartbeat at that appointment, which I always love.
I got together last Friday with a good friend that I haven't seen since before Christmas, and it was good to see her. And then we got a big snowstorm on Elliott's day off, which has got to be the best coincidence ever. Hunkering down with him while the snow fell was an ideal day.

Low moments of the week
It was a bummer to hear that I'm still so anemic, but I'll deal.

Dreams
Lots of bizarre but short dreams this week. They weave in and out of memory for me, so I couldn't tell you any specifics, but I just have a weird feeling about them whenever I try to remember. Maybe it's better if I don't!

What I'm looking forward to

I love working on the baby's room and am looking forward to continuing that. We also scheduled our pre-admission appointment at the hospital, which makes this all feel that much more real. I'm also planning on starting our hospital bag over the next week (once we get the baby's room a little more put together), and ordering the baby's take-home outfit. I fell in love with this three-piece outfit at Babies R Us and will be ordering that in both the newborn size and the 0-3 month size (in case we have a chunker). It's so cuddly and cute!

I'm also in the research stages of finding a good handwoven wrap - I've seen some really beautiful ones online and while I'm perfectly happy with the Moby we registered for, I may save up and splurge on something like this:

These wraps are some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and they look so thick and cozy - and sturdy, which is important to me when I'm looking at a wrap. I know that the knit wraps will hold the baby well when they're wrapped correctly, but sometimes they feel so flimsy to me that I struggle to imagine it holding anything heavier than a newborn.

Have a wonderful week, friends! Nursery remodel update soon!