month 9 {december}

How Far Along: 38 weeks 2 days

Size: App says she's the size of a spaghetti squash -- "almost 7 pounds" and "more than 19.5 inches," but my guess is that she's in the 10-pound range and at least 20 inches. Guess we'll see!

Gender: Girl

Name: Holly B 💗

Movement: Still moving all over. It's just so crazy how there's an entire human in my tummy, and how she can totally change the shape of my belly based on how she's moving. Sometimes when I wake in the night, she's moving around, and that's one of my favorite times to feel her because I'm not distracted by anything else and it feels like it's just the two of us :) (usually it doesn't keep me awake for long, which is why I like it. On days when I can't fall back asleep, I'm not as big a fan 😂)

Sleep: I almost guarantee I'll sleep better after she's born than I'm sleeping now. The hip pain, the bathroom trips, the charley horses, the rolling over -- I'm so done with it! Haha. Bring on the newborn sleep! 😂

Weight Gain: I lost two pounds in the last 2.5 weeks! Which is great, because Thanksgivingtime really made me gain way too much, so I was happy to see the number dip back down a bit 😂 This brings my total weight gain to 43.4 pounds, which is about two pounds more than my pregnancy with Ada. However, I started out at a lower weight, so my overall weight is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10 pounds lower than I ended with Ada. 

Symptoms: Not many changes in symptoms really. Just having to heave this big belly around, specifically when I sit down -- it's like I have to pick up this giant bowling ball to re-position it 😂 I do feel like I've been using the bathroom more frequently as she's dropped down. 

Diabetes: Ended the pregnancy with a 7.3. Which is lame, because I really wanted to stay below a 7 this pregnancy, but I'm starting to wonder how the heck it's possible! It's gotta be the foods you eat. Because even when I think I handle a high-carb food really well, I can still be in the 150-180 range for a while, and that's all above a 7. So. There you go.

Cravings/Aversions: Just been craving sweets. It's Christmastime, and I want all the yummy things. Chocolate, cookies, egg nog, ice cream. Mmmm. 🙈

Diet/Exercise: Nothing good to report 🤷 I did try one little "pregnancy-safe" workout a few weeks ago (from @goodfortheswole on IG), and one part of it hurt me (which she said wasn't normal), so who knows, maybe I need to see a pelvic floor specialist or something. When I get further along in pregnancy, I can't do anything on one leg because I get a sort of splitting pain somewhere in my pelvic floor region . . . The exercise that hurt me was one involving being on hands and one knee and moving the other leg around. I couldn't get through even one set.

Missing Most: A flatter belly. I'm ready to not carry around a giant ball and bump into things all the time. And sleep, but we've been over that.

Nursery: No changes. We did move the barbie house into Ada's future bedroom closet, though! And we've been looking at dressers online for Ada's room, too, because until Ada actually moves in there, we need a place to put Holly's things -- diapers, pajamas, etc. -- because what if Ada is asleep when we need something? So basically Holly's stuff is going in Ada's future room until Ada lives in Ada's future room. There's going to be a lot of magical chairs (rooms) happening over the next few months. As such, I washed all the 0-3 month clothes that I held onto from Ada and hung them in Ada's future closet/Holly's current closet.

Daddy: Is hard to read! Pretty sure he's both excited and nervous. It's a big change coming our way!

Ada: So freaking cute :) The past several days, she's been soooo good and sweet, and it makes me so happy that I get to soak her up like this before Holly gets here. I explained a little bit about how a C-section works to her (because I want her to be prepared for my initial immobility), and I'm trying to go over everything I can think of to prepare her for this big change. She seems ready to meet Baby Holly, so I'm excited for that moment :) I took her on a little date the other day to a nail school so that she could get her nails (fingers and toes) painted and I could get a pedicure. She was smiling so much and just loved the whole thing. It was so fun! I'm so happy she's my girl and that I got to have her all by herself for more than three years. She's so wonderful 💗 Also the other day, we were having a family dance party and Ada came over close to me so I said, "Dance with Baby Holly!" and she (lightly) grabbed my belly and started dancing, ending up giving my belly a kiss. She's going to be such a sweet sister!

Highlights & Memories: 

• Holly's "first Christmas" ornament is done! I merged a few ideas from Pinterest and had a friend of mine (Leann Anderson) make it come to life. The ornament(s) turned out perfectly!

two so that Holly has one to take with her when she leaves home eventually

• Got to shower Lacey and her baby with love a couple weeks ago, and I'm just so excited that Holly will have a girl cousin so close in age!

• A week before the C-section, I started hand-expressing milk, per the recommendation of the breastfeeding class I took a few months ago. Because of how everything went down with Ada (low blood sugar, pressure to give formula right away, NICU for 16 days, breastfeeding over by 6 weeks), the IBCLC suggested this, so I've been getting little bits of milk/colostrum in attempts to jump start some milk production and also have something to give Holly right away to avoid formula if possible. Nothing against formula, but I really want breastfeeding to work this time, so I'm doing a lot more to foster that 🤞
• Gifts for Holly! The second time around, especially with a same-gender kiddo, does not hold the same fanfare as the first 😂 But Shayne and Steph sent a cute outfit, Mom Holmes made a beautiful quilt, Mom Petersen made a cute swaddling blanket, and my bestie (Ashley Shields) got a super cute outfit. So sweet of these people to think of our little lady 😍

Can’t Wait For: Meeting Holly B! And I'm actually super excited to try out using a clear sheet during the C-section. We'll see if I have to look away or not, but I want the opportunity to see her coming out of me if possible; I felt like I had to wait so long to see Ada after they pulled her out -- like she just wasn't in my view for a few minutes. I can't wait to see what she weighs and what color her hair is (I'm guessing another dark brown/black, but it could be anything!). I can't wait to see Ada meet Holly! I know it's a lot of work and stress and everything, but I'm excited to do it all again for another beautiful little girl :)