November 30, 2013 6:05 am

16 Weeks

I’ve been kind of terrible at documenting this pregnancy. I just have so much other stuff going on!

I re-read a bunch of my posts from when I was pregnant with Wesley and I seem to be doing way better physically this time around. I don’t have nearly the ligament pain (though sometimes sneezing or coughing wrong does give me shooting pains for a few moments) or the achy-ness.

My insomnia got better for a little while and then the last few days have gotten worse again. Instead of being awake from 1-3 or 2-4am, I wake up at 4:30 or 5:30 on days where normally I wouldn’t have to be awake until after 7am. So irritating.

I also haven’t taken any belly photos this time around. Not on purpose; I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I think I’m quite a bit smaller looking though, despite starting this pregnancy about 12lbs heavier than with Wesley. I expected to look way bigger way faster, but that hasn’t been the case. Having not gained any weight probably contributes to it, too – I didn’t keep records of my gaining pattern then, but I’m reasonably certain I had gained close to 20lbs by this point last time.

I just FEEL a lot better this time, I guess? I’m hoping it continues throughout the pregnancy and labor and delivery.

Did I mention I got the Home Study Hupnobabies kit? It went on sale a while back so I went ahead and bought it. I don’t have any illusions about it, like, removing all pain and negative feelings from my experience, but I like the idea that it will give me a framework for relaxation and visualization. I know several people for whom Hypnobabies worked really well so that helps me feel more confident too.

A lot of what I’ll have to work through is fear-based; primarily feeling scared of a vaginal birth because I’m currently way more familiar with the alternative. Kind of a “the devil you know is better than the one you don’t” situation. I never want another c-section but that doesn’t mean I’m not kind of terrified of a VBAC, you know? It’s hard to articulate. I’m afraid I won’t know what to do, I guess.

Anyway, I have the Hypnobabies VBAC CD as well which is really helpful. I’ve listened to it several times and it has a really good visualization track that I think will help me a lot.

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November 29, 2013 9:39 pm

Christmas Tree

We put up some Christmas decorations today and I seriously love the atmosphere it creates in our apartment. It’s so much more cheerful and exciting in here now.

I told Wesley what to do if he’s under the mistletoe (we have the felt one from West Elm) and he thought was really funny. Three and a half is a great age for understanding Christmas stuff.

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We discovered this year that not only were our normal string of lights burnt out, so were the ones that came with the tree when we bought it. I sent Daniel to the store to get some more lights and he saved the day! I even tried out the Martha Stewart / Rockefeller Center method of lighting a tree (up and down stripes vs back and forth horizontally around the tree) and it seemed to work nicely.

Our tree is seriously so ridiculous. It’s basically become a contest of how many ornaments we can fit on it before it either falls over or you can’t see the tree. We totally have enough ornaments for a tree twice the size, but we’ve never lived in a place big enough to fit a full-sized tree. Maybe someday!

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November 28, 2013 9:55 pm

Thanksgiving 2013

This year, we only had one Thanksgiving to attend! It was a nice change. Daniel and I volunteered to bring pumpkin pies and then Daniel got a wild idea and decided to also attempt sweet potato pies. So we made four pies, which was about two and a half pies too many for the number of people attending.

Wesley really liked my grandma’s sweet potatoes, probably because they had a bunch of marshmallows on top. He claimed he didn’t like the turkey but I am pretty sure he didn’t actually try it.

We let Wesley skip his nap, and he did so well that I couldn’t figure out at first why he had fallen asleep on the drive home at like 7pm. Usually it’s pretty obvious through his behavior that he’s missed a nap!

Right as we were leaving, we discovered that my brother’s horrible ancient old cat had peed on Daniel’s scarf! The scarf must have fallen on the floor when someone grabbed their coat earlier, and the cat thought it looked like a nice spot to pee. Ugh. The worst! That smell never really goes away.

My grandma gave me two books for Wesley and was thrilled that he knew some letters in sign language. Other than the scarf incident, it was a nice mellow afternoon.

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