24 Weeks

(Looking Big and Tired)

Thankfulness: I am so thankful for reaching 24 weeks. Obviously we want our little boy to keep cooking for a long, long time, but it's crazy to think this is how far along our niece and nephew were when they were born. I am also very thankful that I've been gifted with the occassional night of good sleep. Even if it's just once a week, waking up feeling rested is beyond wonderful. 

How Far Along?  24 Weeks! Only 4 weeks left until 3rd trimester, which seems impossible to believe. 

Size of the Baby? A cantaloupe.  At some point, I'm sure these measurements will get a bigger range, since they've been giving the same numbers for the last few weeks. That said, other sources say baby is at least a foot long and well over a pound (other sources say 1.3 lbs)! He's likely grown about 4-6 ounces in the last week. So happy our little baby keeps growing.  

Sleep? Plenty of rough nights lately, but Thursday night was fantastic! Slept in until 7:40 with only getting up once. It's put me in such a wonderful mood for the day. I've noticed a super high correlation between good sleep and not feeling nauseous, so good sleep gives me many reasons to be thankful.

Eating? Ed and I have slowly started transitioning back to more paleo styled eating. We've been having fantastic dinners and protein heavy breakfasts. Still too much chocolate, but that's a holiday hazard that'll be going away eventually :). I'm definitely finding that when I don't sleep well, like the night before last, I feel like I'm back in first trimester, sickness wise, which definitely hurts eating. Going to keep working on high protein/fat and lower unhealthy carbs. 

Exercise: I did okay with this. Was active outside a whole lot more, but still not as much as I would have liked. I did do my best though. That's all I can ask. Even though I only worked out 3 times, it was probably my highest mileage week in quite a long time. I am especially proud of our 4.5 mile hike - it is the course of a race in a month that I may sign up to hike (Ed will be doing a longer version that day). We'll see how I feel about doing that distance in a month though. Hopefully with going back to work and being more on a routine, I will be successful in hitting my goal this week. 

Best Moment? Another fantastic week! Best moments would have to be having out second Christmas with my side of the family, having my niece be super cute about the baby ("Is there a baby in your tummy?" "Is that for baby Evan?" "Is baby Evan sleeping? He needs to wake up!" plus lots of kisses for baby Evan). Of course, having my baby shower was also amazing - wonderfully cute and special, and we felt very showered with love. My mom and sisters did such a great job with it!

Milestones: We've put together all of the items we were gifted at the shower, which makes us feel much more prepared. In a less positive milestone, we also had my first major freak out about pre-term labor, and first panicky call to our Midwife (technically this happened Saturday, but I'm including it here since most of the freaking out was this past week). Short story - I'm just a first time mom and worrying about normal symptoms. I do love that we can call our midwife about concerns, and even schedule extra appointments, which I still may do. 

Mommy Update: Long story of the above, I've started experiencing the elusive Braxton Hicks contractions. Basically, these are contractions that don't indicate a start in labor, but are sort of scary when you don't know what's going on. Ever since we got back from California, I have been experiencing increasingly more of these. Combined with a few other symptoms that are normal but, in conjunction with labor can spell out pre-term labor, and I was a bit of a mess. I never had more than 3 in an hour, which means it's fine, but they are still very disconcerting. Worse, they seem aggrevated by having to go to the bathroom, so I am pretty concerned about how I will fare going back to work, since I often have to go 3-3 1/2 hours without a bathroom break due to our schedule. 

On good days I only have 4 or 5 during the day, but on more active days it can be upwards of 10. They don't hurt, they are just a bit uncomfortable. Just have to keep reminding myself they are a healthy pregnancy symptom and mean nothing so long as they keep showing up randomly and go away quickly. 

Otherwise I'm doing pretty well. When I get good sleep, I feel amazing. Otherwise I am tired a lot of the time. When I sleep well, I also feel much more positive about life and the pregnancy. I also have fewer contractions. Clearly, I need to sleep as much as possible :). 

Baby Update:  Evan's big milestone is his lung development. This week marks viability because his lungs are finally developed enough that, with substantial support, they could function outside the womb. He's continuing to gain baby fat and everything is growing bigger. Evan can also now tell if he's upside down or not. Kicking is definitely a daily occurrence, but still not quite strong enough for Ed to have been able to feel. Hopefully soon! 

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