26 Weeks

I know - I'm behind again - this week I have a really good reason though!!!  Currently Ben and I are managing a 6 person work load at work - with just 3 people, so we're pretty busy during the day.  That plus the fact that my mom is coming up for a visit tonight, and we needed to do a total house over haul last night (that went straight from the minute we walked into the door after work, to about 10:30pm when I finally sat down on the couch and immediately fell asleep).  Needless to say, yesterday didn't allow any extra time for blogging!

That being said, I'm caught up at work, and I have a clean house, cut grass, groceries are bought and our laundry is all done!  So it was worth it!  So please accept my apologies for being behind on the blog :p

So 26 weeks - which means about 14 left to go.  I'm starting to feel the pressure to get everything ready now.  Over this last week I have met a couple woman who have told me about their water breaking at 22 weeks, or having their child 2 months early, and it's not helping with the increasing stress I'm feeling to have the house ready NOW.  The good news is that Ben's parents are back from their trip, so we can move forward on the baby's room, and get that drywall up.  Drywall isn't something that a pregnant woman can do very well, which left Ben to do it all alone, and that's very hard - but luckily his awesome partner - otherwise known as Dad, is back to help!  So we can get that going this weekend, and then the following week, Ben's uncle Dean will be back in town and has graciously offered to help with the mudding and taping (which is Ben's least favourite job) - so I might be painting in a week or two!  (which would be awesome!)

In the meantime though, I have slowly started buying a couple things here and there for baby's room, such as an awesome watercolor world map painting, and some demask fabric to make curtains to hang from my future window cornice box!  This is the fun part for me - I live to design and decorate!!!  Most people would call this nesting, I call this being Heather - this is just me.  I actually read up on what is actually deemed nesting in the preggo world, and it usually strikes around the last couple weeks, and it ends up being an almost psychotic cleaning/organizing rampage that looks crazy to everyone around you but seems to make absolute sense to the pregnant woman.  Some of the examples given were one morning a husband awoke at dawn to find his bed empty, and frantically searched the house for his 9 month pregnant wife, certain she was in a corner somewhere giving birth - he eventually found her hauling a wheel barrow up and down the back yard fertilizing the lawn.  Another Grandma-to-be found her very pregnant daughter teetering on a tall ladder adamant that she needed to scrub down the high shelves in the top of her closet before this baby could be born - fast forward to 18 years later and her son is moving out, and those shelves haven't been touched since.

I'm curious as to what this nesting phenomenon will do for me... I think if Ben finds me scrubbing anything in a blind frenzy he will know it's probably time to pack the suitcase, especially since cleaning isn't really my favourite thing.  Organizing - sure - but dust and mop?  Meh, I do it out of necessity when people visit, not out of joy, and I'm sure I'm not alone in my sentiments.

Anyway, on to baby news!  So my little one continues to kick downward in my general pelvis/bladder region, although now and then I do feel the odd pop around my belly button, but that is usually when I'm lying down.  I've also noticed that when I'm at work sitting at my desk, if I happen to lean forward to read something, she starts kicking like crazy.  Apparently the leaning forward position cramps her style a little.  Oh well, she just has to deal, I have to lean now and then to stretch my back out!

I'm still waiting for the whole belly moving experience, but I think it's coming soon, her kicks and punches are becoming more frequent, although she still loves to stop as soon as I try to get someone to feel her - little trickster that one...

This last weekend Ben and I celebrated our dear friend Athena's birthday, and when we walked into the house we were greeted by about 5-7 babies all under a year old!  It's a good thing I already have one of my own growing inside me, because if that doesn't give a woman baby fever I don't know what does!  So much slobbering, wiggling, giggling adorable little babies!  One had a curly hair mo-hawk!  No word of a lie!  Eeeee!  It's funny what can happen in a year though - I asked Athena, and she said that last year this time, none of these babies were on the outside, but there were many pregnant woman at her birthday, and now not only a year later the party guests have duplicated and the conversation turned to labour pains, epidural's, and poop identification - which I found delightfully amusing especially considering the looks on the faces of our baby-less friends.  It reminded me a poster I saw once that said: "you know you're getting old when your friends start having kids on purpose".

Here's the belly at 26 weeks

- it hasn't grown in circumference but I think it might have dropped a little bit - there appears to be a little more shadow below the equator than I recall previously, but it's really hard to tell when I look at it everyday.  This could just be a case of me being amazed that I really am "THAT BIG" (once again my perception is some-what limited, so when I see a profile shot, or look sideways in the mirror I usually can't believe it!)

Apparently neither can the other people in my life, as my dear hubby has taken to calling me Hungry-Hungry Hippo during lunch hour, and my friend Ben B. has declared that I will be known as Tubs or Tubby for the duration of my pregnancy.  Before you sharpen your pitch forks, I laughed at my Ben calling me Hungry Hungry Hippo, (but still give him a hard time about it) and Ben B. did add "I had to wait to see you in person before I called you Tubs for the first time so you would know I was joking" so I'm really not too broken up about it.  Not to mention, I'm pretty laid back in general, and I didn't get the rep of being "one of the boys" by running out of the room crying whenever one of my guys said something "boy-esque".  It happens a lot - it's part of their charm.

Anyway, I'm rambling, Here's the update!

How far along? 26 Weeks

Total weight gain: 16 Pounds – down another pound – which means I’m officially over my water retention!
Inches gained in the waist:  8"   - same same!

Maternity clothes? Yes!!

Stretch marks?  None that I can see anywhere!

Sleep:  Not great these last few days – but better than it has been.  I’m still tossing and turning, and Emmy has been especially needy the last few days and has been adamant to curl up in my arms to cuddle (which is cute, but sometimes the little bugger steps directly on my nipple and that hurts more than anything and is not conducive to easily falling back to sleep moments later)

Best moment this week:   Friends from Calgary came up for Athena’s birthday, so there was more belly rubbing to be had!  .. I even made Ben Blue touch my tummy, and I was quite amused at how much he squirmed as he held out his outstretched index finger to poke it.  

Miss Anything?   Again with the booze – I think I just don’t know how not to drink in social situations!  (that came out wrong... I haven't been drinking, don't worry!  I just meant that previous to being pregnant I apparently never did the "no alcohol" thing, so these days it feels weird and foreign to me)
Movement:  So much movement, and still so much kicking of the bladder! 

Food cravings: Again with the Garlic stuffed Olives…..mmmm I want some now.  Also strawberries are very high on my list these days too!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Yes actually, but I have no idea what – the last couple days around 10-11am I have suddenly been hit with this horrible nausea that has me heading to the bathroom sure that I’m going to throw up (but never do), and after about 10 minutes I feel better, and I’m good for the rest of the day.  Perhaps my morning sickness hits after week 25?

Gender: GIRL!     

Labor Signs: Too early!  Thank God!  I’m not ready yet!

Symptoms: Braxton Hicks contractions are a thing these days, and they are usually brought on by walking, so our little waddles around the block have been broken up slightly by my gasping and rubbing the cramps out of the side of my belly.  

Belly Button in or out? Still in, but the scar tissue from my piercing now pushes out slightly further than my belly button these days, so I think the “pop” is probably set to take place in the next week or two. 
Wedding rings on or off? Off, but I'm still wearing my "replacement ring" which is my old junior high ring from my parents.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Very Happy!

Looking forward to:  Maternity Photos!