Dear Son at 27 Weeks

Dearest little one,

You are now 27 weeks along. The books tell me that you are now one viable little boy should the stars align a little early and should you surprise us now instead of 13 weeks down the road. Of course your dad and I hope and pray that you stay in your little cocoon for a few more months so that you get big and strong.

We are all getting excited for you to come. The nursery furniture is all set-up and ready to go - we`ve just got to decide if or what colour we will paint the room. It`s hard not to immediately think 'baby blue', but we're doing our best to think outside the box and put on our Martha Stewart Decorating Hat. But, sadly, my little one, neither your father or I have any crafty-ness in us. We will do our best, but I can't promise much, but the room will be filled with love, no matter the colour or design.

You are now moving non-stop and the belly is making visible waves that actually look quite freaky. It is amazing to think that there is a little baby in there- that you're in there! I'm trying to figure out if you're kicking me, punching me or chest bumping me. Either way, it's wonderful to know you're in there moving up a storm. I've learned a few things about you these last few weeks:

• You love the beat of a good song and when I crank up the radio you like to move (or kick) to the best, I've especially noticed this about Hip Hop and soulful Adele (Rumour Has It seems to be a favourite!) 
• A warm bath always gets you swaying
• The laptop is still your nemesis and you clearly don't like it sitting on the belly - you definitely like your space. I imagine when you're older you'll will have problems with "close talkers" and people who invade your personal space! 

We've learned that you can now hear voices and sounds - so I'm sure you've been getting a lot of inside information on your dad and I -  and we can't wait to hear yours!

Love you,
Mom-to-be

belly-shots

Here I am at about 22 or 23 weeks...showing mad love for our little guy. 

And here I am at about 25 weeks. The hubby and I are getting more excited as time goes by. The nursery is slowly coming together, we haven't decided on whether or not to paint....but the furniture looks great and I can't help but stop into every store I go by to look at cute baby clothes. But I've been good, I've only picked up a few pieces....(well, more like a handful)....and I can't wait to get our little boy into them! 

It is all starting to get more real. In about three months we will be holding our son in our arms! His kicks are getting harder and harder. You can actually see the baby move in the belly, it's not one of those weird youtube moments where you can see the foot or arm, I'm sure that will come, right now  it's more of a open-wave...

deep breaths

That seems to be what my last couple of weeks have been focused on. I can't get a good deep breath! Darn asthma. It barely bothers me my whole life and is what I'd consider very mild - and mostly triggered by allergies to animals or a change in the weather and now pregnancy.

I've been taking my puffer like you wouldn't believe. Last night I had the office over for a potluck and I wheezed the entire night and sounded like a winded old lady. I couldn't seem to find enough breath to speak. While I'm still able to go about my day, I am starting to worry about how I'll feel in 4 weeks or 8 weeks. I really only have a little over 3 months left to go.

3 months. This pregnancy while at first seemed to start off so slow is now powering through. The weeks seem to be going by quicker and quicker.

I just had the glucose test for gestational diabetes and let me tell you that was so-not fun. You arrive and they have you chug down this orange drink that tastes like the old-school McDonald's orange drink and is it ever sweet. You wait in the room for an hour and then they take your blood.

I got through the drink, which wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be and then about 15 minutes later I started to shake and feel queasy and dizzy. The room started to spin and I was either going to throw-up or pass out. It seems I chose the latter. Before I knew what was happening I was lying down in a back room trying to regroup. The technician was very nice and told me this is why they have you stick around for the hour because this has been known to happen and I must not eat a lot of sweets (too true, I'm a salty-girl all the way).

For now I think the majority of my preggers tests are done...and hopefully it's smooth sailing the rest of the way (of course provided that my lungs get enough air!)

Yesterday I had my 24 week appointment with our obstetrician. It's always enjoyable when the nurse leads you in the back room and has you hop on the scale so you can see how much heavier you've gotten. I think I dread this the most. Intellectually I understand that it's not like I've swallowed a baby and that the weight is needed for the health of the baby, but I still dread it.

It doesn't help when your husband is standing behind you saying the number out loud...when usually the nurse and I just silently nod to each other and it's done and over with.

To-date, I've gained 10 pounds. Which I guess is small in comparison to some expectant mothers at 24 weeks....I just hope I don't gain 20 in the last 16 weeks, which I can see happening! I think the weight hasn't been high because I was sick for so long and couldn't keep anything down....but now that I'm not barfing every day...it seems that the weight will start to pack on and I'm thinking it's going to come in large quantities.

Other than that, baby is good. Heartbeat is strong. I've had some trouble breathing lately due to my asthma and oh, I don't know, a large chest and stomach pressing against my lungs!

16 weeks to go - wow, it's gone by fast. Before we know it our son will be here in our arms and our family will grow in size and hopefully my ass will shrink!

busy, busy, busy

It's been a busy summer for our soon-to-be trio. We've done a lot of driving, travelling and back and forth. I think we've had less than 5 weekends in which we didn't have to at least 2 1/2 hours to some location outside of the city.

And it's been exhausting.

I think I  am in need of a week-long break from summer.

The little guy is  doing well. Lots of kicking to let us know he's around. The husband can now not only feel the kicks, but we can both see the belly move. It gives a little "pop" when he let's us know he's around.

Some interesting things I've realized:

• he definitely reacts to spicy food, I'm not sure if it's to say "ooh, me like that!", or if it's to say "stop feeding me this, can't you tell from m kicking?"
• sleeping on my stomach definitely causes him to let give me a good bump to let me know it's not very comfortable for him
• for some reason my laptop gets him going. I don't know if it's the heat or the pressure on the belly, but there is definitely a reaction (like right now, he's kicking tons!)

And if we're counting, we're down to 16 weeks. I can't believe we've passed the 24 week mark.  It still seems so far away, but it really isn't.

And isn't that a little frightening!