28 weeks

I have officially entered into my last trimester! It’s hard to believe that in just 12 short weeks Dustin and I will be parents! Here are some pictures of how big I am. They are not the best pictures, but it’s hard to take a good picture of yourself! I’ve gotten comments like “Wow, you must be almost done!” to which I reply, “Not for another 3 months”. Or the most common one is “When is your baby due?” and when I say “Not until April” people look a little shocked and confused.

I am afraid of how big I’ll be by then. I’m already having difficulty doing normal things. I waddle when I walk, and the stairs up to my apartment are getting harder to climb. Things at work are getting harder too. I’m short, so coloring and cutting hair is already a challenge for me, but lately my belly has been literally bumping into clients! I do love working, but in a month or so, I probably won’t be able to reach my clients!

Other than those complaints, I’m still feeling great! I still have energy (most of the time), and I still feel like I can do most things. Dustin and I are going to take one last trip together this weekend. We’re going to San Diego! I’m very excited.

Things are looking good on the medical side too, the baby is doing well, and we have another ultrasound scheduled in 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I did have to get tested for gestational diabetes. Everyone gets screened for it around 28 weeks, but my basic test came back too high, so I had to return for another one. It was brutal. It takes 3 hours. When you arrive at the lab, they draw your blood. They then have you drink a really sweet liquid (it tasted like sno-cone syrup). Then they draw your blood every hour for three hours. On top of it all, you have to be fasting. No food or drink. So, people that know me know how much anxiety I have about doctors, hospitals, and needles. I have to have Dustin with me every time because I almost pass out every time. Add not eating on top of that (I get light headed when I don’t eat anyway)-- I was terrified I was not going to make it through this test. But Dustin gave me a blessing that morning, and I ended up doing just fine. I did have to go in a back room and lie down once, but other than that I did okay. Afterward we celebrated with all-you-can-eat pancakes at IHOP. I don’t know the results yet, but I’ll keep everyone posted.

Dustin and I are preparing ourselves as much as we can. I don’t know why (maybe it was all those years of writing research papers for Mrs. Platt), but I like to do my research. I bought a lot of good books off Amazon. The Baby Book, The Birth Book, and The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears, The Nursing Mothers Companion by Kathleen Huggins, and the No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. We also purchased a childbirth class on dvd. I work at night, so finding a time to take an actual class would have been difficult. Plus, the dvd was $30 and the actual classes were $65. It’s also nice because you can freak out at home instead of in a room full of strangers. The lady on the dvd is a little cheesy but it’s been really informative so far.

We’re slowly getting everything we need for the baby. We still need some bigger things like a mattress for the crib, a changing table, etc. The one thing we do have is clothes! Of course we can always use more, but I’m feeling pretty good in that department. When my mom and sister came to visit two weeks ago, we went to Once Upon A Child. It’s a second hand store, but most the stuff there is really nice and hardly used. They were having a 60% off sale that Saturday. So we ended up getting outfits for about $2 a piece!



I also got a lot of clothes from a co-worker of mine. So here’s a picture of all the clothes getting sorted and organized. She now has at least 5 outfits in every size.

We are so excited that she is almost here! Let’s just hope she is cuter than this:
Scary right? And what’s with the duck costume?