Bump update! 28 - 32 weeks

20 weeks on the left vs. 30 weeks on the right.  Wow!  Hello belly!

How Far Along: 32 weeks.  8 months!

Size of baby: a honeydew, 19 in, 4.5 lbs.

Total Weight Gain: too much :(  yuck.  

Maternity Clothes: pretty much everything I wear except for some workout/yoga pants.  I can't go out in non maternity tops (and probably shouldn't wear them around the house either).

Gender: We had another ultrasound at 29 weeks to check the status of my placenta previa problem.  Tech, Dr. and midwife all confirmed it is undoubtedly a boy!

Movement: Oh yes.  I'm thinking he still has plenty of room in there for tons of fun.  He's getting strong!
Exercise:  Because I still have placenta previa my Dr and midwife have made me swear off running, riding and anything "strenuous" for the rest of my pregnancy.  I'm super bummed because I love being active, but I will have to make due with yoga, walking and swimming in my pool.

Sleep:  Still awesome.  I do feel more tired these days.  It could have to do with working my tail off on the new house. 

What I miss:  I'm ready for a cocktail.  A big one. 

Cravings:  I finally have a full kitchen again.  Movers came and I'm excited to have things again like my blender, keurig, toaster ... you know, plates to eat on. All that good stuff.  I crave avocado, watermelon, sweet potatoes, peanut butter on apples or bananas.  Eating healthy and organic is so much easier stateside.  I'm enjoying getting to cook again!

Symptoms:  I'm feeling so awesome.  It's great.  I do get puffy hands and feet if I do too much by the end of the day.  I feel huge, as in massive.  Baby boy is super active and I adore him already.  I only get minor braxton hicks when I do too much and get totally stressed out.  It's only happened a couple of times but it's like a little alarm that tells me to cut it out and relax. 
Best moment this week month:  Ok - big ones here!  We moved into a new house.  It's great!  And the pool out back is the shiz.  Our movers came with our stuff after being in the house for about 4 weeks.  I was overjoyed and totally overwhelmed.  We have way too much crap.  I think I have the nursery almost done.  Pictures and a post on it coming soon.  This is not the best thing, in fact it was the opposite for me, but my placenta previa has not resolved.  I have to schedule a c-section for when I'm 29 weeks around June 27.  That's only in 6 weeks, eeep!  The crappy, depressing side is that I wanted so much to have the natural birth I've been planning and hoping for.  I won't get to let my body do it's thing, I wont get to put my big hips to good use (I mean why else have I had to suffer with these huge baby makin' hips my whole life!?), I wanted ... something so different then a totally surgical birth.  Surgery terrifies me.  And for about a week I literally couldn't even talk about it without crying hysterically.  But, on the flip side, I'm so glad that with modern medicine the doctors can do something to save my baby and me.  The baby would die if I tried to give birth and I might too.  So, surgery is a much better alternitive.  I have a doula that is going to help me get ready mentally for the surgery and I am going to get as prepared as possible for the surgery and recovery process. 

What I’m looking forward to:  I can't believe that my baby boy will be in my arms in about 6 weeks.  

Here are belly pics from the last few weeks!  

On the porch of our new house!

Loved getting to see this beautiful boy's adorable face/legs/arms/belly - all of it!  I cry every time.

Pensacola beach!

I kind of look hot and sweaty... pretty much the case constantly this pregnancy.

This was from yesterday, Mothers Day!

 

Baby Shower Tea

My wonderful mother offered to throw me a baby shower tea while I was home visiting last month for my local friends and neighbors.  Since I love France so much she did a Provence theme.  I even found an awesome bakery to make us pretty French macarons.  We had iced teas, sparkling water, mimosas and a selection of hot teas.  We had lots of yummy foods like finger sandwiches, pastries and French cheeses.  Yum!

Paxton and I were showered with so much love.  He got a ton of wonderful things.

My friend Jules that I hadn't seen in years!

Long, long time bff Jess.

Alexis came all the way down from MA!

Aliya, me, Kate and Kaitlin

Me and my amazing, beautiful mommy.  This was at the end of the party.  If she looks tired, she probably was.  She worked so hard to make my day special. 

It was totally amazing to have so many of my favorite people together in one place.  I'm so lucky to have so many incredible people to support me and my growing family. 

23 - 27 week bump update

March has flown by!  We had a really busy month.  We moved from Okinawa back to the States.  We visited my parents for 3 weeks, we had a lot of fun seeing friends and really enjoy being back in America!  A few days ago we drove from VA to FL and are currently house hunting.  So, I have some catching up to do with my blog.

It's been a while since I've done a baby bump update!  

23 week picture is from our last day in Okinawa. 

Still loving my runs at 6 months!

25 weeks in DC

26 weeks in mom and dads living room.

A picture from today in our Pensacola extended stay hotel.

How Far Along: 27 weeks.  3rd trimester!!

Size of baby: Head of cauliflower, 16 inches, 2.5 lbs.

Total Weight Gain: my belly has gotten SO big over the last couple weeks.  Getting on the scale at my Dr appointment on Tues is not going to be fun.

Maternity Clothes:  Yup, pretty much only in maternity clothes at this point. I've been able to shop at maternity stores now that I'm back in the States and my neighbor gave me some great maternity clothes last week.

Movement: Baby Boy is super active and getting pretty strong.  I LOVE it.
Exercise: While I was visiting my parents in VA I went to my dads gym and kept up with my cardio, free weights and classes like cycle.  I'm still running quite a bit, but keeping the distances down.  Doing about 5 miles max, but super proud I'm still able to run 8 min miles!  I really enjoyed going for walks with my mom.

Sleep:  Sleep is pretty good. I'm not needing naps most days, but I'm usually ready for bed by 10pm. Some mornings I wake up really early and can't go back to sleep, but really can't complain.

What I miss:  I must think about drinking a margarita at least a couple times every day.

Cravings:  When I was home I would go into Whole Foods and just pretty much walk awe struck down the aisle lovingly putting organic thing after organic thing into my cart.  I love America! 

Symptoms: My belly is getting SO big.  I have a lot of really unattractive blue veins that have appeared on my boobs, tummy and thighs.  I hear these are temporary thank the lord.  I'm super-duper hot and sweaty majority of the time.  Sitting for long periods of time makes the middle of my back ache.  But, really I've been so lucky and I've been feeling so awesome.  And no stretch marks yet!
Best moment this week month:  Mom threw me a baby shower tea and I'll do a post on it soon. I loved being back in the States and getting to see my parents and friends. 

What I’m looking forward to:  Finding a new place to live, getting a new doctor, and not having to live out of a suitcase anymore.

Spring time photo shoot

Before we left Okinawa I wanted to do one more mini photo session with our friend and fabulous photographer at Boundless Love. 

She was doing Spring Mini Sessions so I jumped on board to get some half way through my pregnancy pictures.  (I was about 22 weeks when these were taken.)  And I got to snuggle an adorable bun bun! 

All pictures - ©2013 Molly Rogers, Boundless Love
Okinawa, Japan
http://boundlesslovephoto.com/

Okinawa Baby Shower

I've been wanting to catch up on my blog for weeks now, but we have been saying good bye to Okinawa, moving back to the States, and vising my parents in VA the last 2 weeks and things have been busy! 

My dear, sweet friends in Okinawa threw me an amazing baby shower on March 2 before we left on the 9th.  The shower was held at one of my favorite Okinawa restaurants, Cafe Green Green.   They went over the top creating a space invader theme for the shower and every detail was thought of!  I'm doing a star/space theme in the nursery, so the space invader theme was perfect and super cute. 

The girls know I have a major sweet tooth, so they made a sweets table with a candy bar and pineapple filled angel food cupcakes.  They also made those super cute blocks!

Me with my wonderful hostesses.

Pax and I were showered with so many wonderful gifts!

Surrounded by so much love and support!  I love these ladies!!

It was a perfect afternoon spend with awesome friends.  I loved every minute of it!  And Pax got some amazing new things.  I can't believe he's really going to be here in a few short months!

Papaya - 22 weeks

Feb 27 - March 5

How Far Along: 22 weeks

Size of baby: a papaya, 8 in, 1.2 lbs

Total Weight Gain:

Maternity Clothes: I'm still wearing the same things.  Lots of skirts and dresses. Looking forward to doing a little shopping when I get back stateside! 

Gender:  I've got a wild man in there.  He's a mover.

Movement: No doubt about it. 
Exercise: I'm walking and running mostly these days.  We've only had one car, so I haven't been getting over to yoga class very much and we've been so busy with this stinkin' move that I've been exhausted.  I will be so happy when this move is over.

Sleep:  He's active when I first lay down to go to sleep and I love falling asleep with a smile on my face and a hand on my belly.  And usually right after I wake up and start moving a bit he'll move around and it's an awesome start to the day.  Blissful.  

What I miss:  I want a margarita!  And I would love to run with out feeling like I'm going to pee my pants.

Cravings:  Apples.  Going to FINALLY get a granny smith apple in t-minus FIVE days.  And since we have practically nothing in our apartment since the movers came I'm really missing my fruit and spinach smoothies, and eggs... and cooking food in general. I'm eating a lot of salads this week which is good.

Symptoms:  Everything is getting bigger.  And I'm hot.  Pretty much always unless I have control over the AC/fans/windows.  It's terrible.  Everyone will be fine and I'm like "Can I open a window? Can we turn the AC up?" as I'm sweating rivers.  Poor Brad woke up the other morning with icy hands and my cat had freezing cold little ears and feet.  I was comfortable. I felt so bad! And I'm usually always cold.  NOT excited to see how I'll like being 9 mo pregnant in the middle of FL summer.  
Best moment this week:  My baby shower!  I'll post on this soon.  And I did a lil mid-pregnancy photo shoot and I can't wait to see how the pictures turned out!

What I’m looking forward to:  We move back to the States on SATURDAY!!!  I can't wait to run around the lake, eat at all the fantastic American restaurants, go shopping in actual stores I want to shop in, I can't wait to go shopping in an American grocery store that isn't the commissary... ok you get the idea.  Mostly I can't wait to give my mom and dad a big hug when I see them this weekend.  We'll be staying with them in VA for a few weeks before we go down to FL. 

Since I haven't posted belly pics in a few weeks on here:

Seeing these pictures off of my iphone makes me realize how terrible my iphone has gotten.  Please excuse the grainy, slightly blurry pictures!  So excited to get my new iphone 5 next week! But, you get the idea.  I finally look a little pregnant.  I'm pretty sure I can still hide it though depending on what I wear.  While my belly button has been out since about 18 weeks my belly itself has taken awhile to pop, but it's finally getting out there a bit.  I like to joke that I am carrying the baby in my butt because that's what's really expanding the most.  So after 5 months of being pregnant but not showing it's fun to finally look the part!

Suprise Going Away Party

Last weekend I was totally surprised when my friends at the stable threw me a wonderful going away party.  Brad was totally in on it and made up a excuse to why we needed to be at the base by the barn on a Saturday and I totally bought it, but when he turned into the barn instead everyone was there in the driveway holding up balloons and a sign.  I was so shocked, happy and totally emotional.  It was the last thing I was expecting.  (You can really tell I wasn't expecting to be at the barn that day by my totally inappropriate barn outfit.)

Everyone in the driveway welcoming me.

The barn owner giving me a going away present - Okinawan Shisa Dogs.

My wonderful co-workers who put it all together - Karin, me, Aimee and Amanda.

Adorable, yummy cupcakes that say "We will miss you Eve"

Me and one of my favorite little boys on the planet and my former student, Max!

I love these precious girls so very much!

Awesome collage frame present with pictures from all 3 years of me and my favorite horse.

Giving my good friend Karin a big thank you hug!

The day was so special.  The girls decorated with pink and blue balloons and colorful tissue paper flowers.  They grilled chicken and everyone brought yummy sides and salads.  They were so sweet to make sure the food was full of fruit, veggies and beef/pork/processed meat free.  I could eat everything!  The whole thing was just amazing.  I felt so loved and appreciated.  I really did work super hard out at that barn for 3 years and it was so special that people let me know I meant as much to them as they do to me.  It will be really hard to leave all these amazing people I've grown so attached to. 

I've learned a lot, I've grown a lot, and I have made memories (good and bad) that I will never forget at this barn.  I don't think I've ever worked harder or been more invested at any job before.  I feel very grateful and lucky to have had this experience and to have gained life long friends in the process.