month 7 {july}
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| 31 weeks, 1 day |
Size: A small clawed otter or a foam finger :)
Name: Ada Charlotte :)
Movement: Feeling Ada move just never gets old! I still often have audible gasps whenever she moves really big, and I still smile every time I feel her kicking or moving or rubbing against my belly in some way :) This month, I started to notice some stomachaches that were brought on by her moving into certain positions. I would randomly start having an ache, so I'd put my hands on my belly and, sure enough, I'd feel a whole lot of pressure from her little body so I would just push on her until she moved, relieving me of my stomachache haha :) I also noticed that she's often most active when I lay on my side. I just can't get over how much I love feeling her move! She's now big enough that I often feel her in two or three different places at once :)
Fun Fact: She has eyelashes! :) My app has told me about her hair before, but it didn't mention eyelashes (that I remember) until this month. Thinking about her eyelashes just made me smile because they'll be so tiny!
Sleep: Dude. Purple mattresses really are the best! It took a night or two to get used to the change, but now I really love it. Before, I felt like nothing was supported and I just couldn't get comfortable. This bed fully supports everything and I definitely feel like I have no need for a pregnancy pillow anymore. I do still have a pillow that I use for between my knees (on my side) or under my knees (on my back), but sometimes I don't even need that. I 100% recommend this bed to anyone in the market for a new bed. It's worth the splurge. I mean, what 7 month pregnant person usually says they're sleeping great? Because I'm sleeping pretty great haha :)
Weight Gain: Ugh. I was doing SO GOOD this month, and then I blew it. In the first three weeks of July, I gained less than 3 pounds. Between eating better and walking daily, I was finally gaining at a rate that I was satisfied with. But then we went to our family reunion . . . I didn't walk at all (for exercise) that week and I ate . . . and ate . . . and ate. So I gained a whopping 5 pounds in that single week! Haha I'm the worst. So overall, I've now gained 37 pounds. But although I've already gained way more than I want to and I've still got many weeks to gain even more, I'm not like super upset about it. I'm growing a baby, after all, and I'll take the less-than-desirable things that come along with the miracle. I'm hoping to be a lot smarter in future pregnancies (eating more protein and fewer carbs the whole time; exercising the whole time), but what's done is done, so for this pregnancy, I'll obviously be gaining more than I'm supposed to, and there's no use hating myself over it.
Weight Gain: Ugh. I was doing SO GOOD this month, and then I blew it. In the first three weeks of July, I gained less than 3 pounds. Between eating better and walking daily, I was finally gaining at a rate that I was satisfied with. But then we went to our family reunion . . . I didn't walk at all (for exercise) that week and I ate . . . and ate . . . and ate. So I gained a whopping 5 pounds in that single week! Haha I'm the worst. So overall, I've now gained 37 pounds. But although I've already gained way more than I want to and I've still got many weeks to gain even more, I'm not like super upset about it. I'm growing a baby, after all, and I'll take the less-than-desirable things that come along with the miracle. I'm hoping to be a lot smarter in future pregnancies (eating more protein and fewer carbs the whole time; exercising the whole time), but what's done is done, so for this pregnancy, I'll obviously be gaining more than I'm supposed to, and there's no use hating myself over it.
Symptoms:
- This month, I started feeling a lot more tired and having to pee more. It's crazy!
- I also experienced my first bouts of moodiness -- where I felt like I was annoyed for no real reason and I couldn't control how I felt. That was quite annoying, as I could tell that I was overreacting, but yet I couldn't change my mood! But it only really happened on a handful of days, so maybe that was just me being angst-y haha.
- I mentioned a few months ago that I was feeling congested; I haven't mentioned it since then, but I've still been feeling that way. It's really only a problem when I am laying down though.
- Partially (I think) due to my amazing bed, my back pain has subsided! Overall, I feel much less like an old lady this month than I did last month haha.
- Also, my pelvic floor pain has improved since I've been consistently walking for 20 minutes each morning. It's not a huge workout, but I am definitely feeling the benefits.
- And I may or may not have mentioned this in previous bumpdates, but occasionally I have a hard time breathing. It's usually when I'm full, since by this point I'm full of both food and baby haha :)
- It wasn't til this month that I really felt the heat kick up. People asked about my "little heater" in previous months, but I didn't feel any different. Now there are often times when Russ is cold and I'm fine, or when Russ is fine and I'm dying of heat stroke. I'd still rather be pregnant in the summer than deliver a baby in the summer, though, because I feel like it would be much hotter to have to carry my baby in my arms rather than in my belly.
- SWOLLEN FEET. I took a flight this month, and man it really did me in. My feet just felt like they were going to explode all during the trip, as well as after returning. My last flight was on July 30, so I'm not sure whether or not this symptom will improve any more as I spend more time off my feet. I read that lying on your left side helps relieve some of the swelling, and after I did that one night, the swelling was much improved. But so far, they still get swollen multiple times during the day, so I have to lie down multiple times to keep them from hurting too bad.
Cravings/Aversions: No, not really.
Missing Most: The satisfaction that comes after relieving a very full bladder. Haha sorry for the TMI, but it's so frustrating to feel like I gotta go SO BAD and then not even have much. Also, I miss being able to bend over easily and get out of the car easily . . . I have no core strength whatsoever anymore.
Nursery: I hung another picture frame -- which I can't wait to fill with maternity and/or newborn pics :) :) I also bought a shelf from an online yard sale. I tried spray painting it, but the first attempt didn't work out so well. I'm going to give it one more try with a different spray paint before calling it quits because I'm having the hardest time finding what I want already made. That's really all the progress we made this month . . . guess it's been a busy month!
Daddy: Is seriously the best. We had a night this month where we were just cuddling in bed before going to sleep, and I was expressing my fears about labor and delivery (I had just read a birth story). I'm afraid something will go wrong and we'll lose Ada, or something will go wrong and I won't make it, and both of those thoughts terrify me because I don't want to be without Ada or Russ! I also just think labor and delivery will be really hard, so I expressed a little of that, too. Russ just kept holding me close and told me that he would be there for me the whole time, and I could do it. Gah. That man just makes me melt! Idk how anyone delivers a baby without a sweet and wonderful husband by their side. It would just be so hard! I'm so grateful I'll have Russ right there with me through it all.
With a growing belly, cuddling on the couch is getting harder! So one Sunday afternoon, we tried out a staggered version, with Russ kind of holding my legs and snuggling my belly. It was oddly adorable because I felt like he was cuddling both me and Ada at the same time :)
And now, another one about cuddling since physical touch is without a doubt my love language. Russ and I often cuddle when we go to sleep or when we wake up, but to actually sleep, we separate (and in fact, sometimes I tell him he was in my space the night before -- "stay on your side!" haha). One night, in the middle of the night, Russ came close to me and cuddled me, and it was actually super sweet :) I thought he was just sleep-cuddling, and doubted he would remember, but in the morning he told me that he had cuddled me because he had just had a dream we'd gotten divorced or something, and in his dream, he had this giant feeling of just missing me. So when he awoke from that, he had to cuddle me close :) I thought it was so sweet :)
I also found out this month that Russ has an opinion on diaper bags! I was showing him what I liked and he hated them all. For a while, he even contemplated having his own. In the end, we decided I'd get a diaper bag since I'll be the one with her almost always, and when we're together with Ada, I'll hold the diaper bag and he'll hold our girl :) Haha once that arrangement was made, he had zero desire for a diaper bag of his own :)
He's also just been super great as I've gotten more pregnancy symptoms. He's nice to help me stand up whenever I need help, or to give me a little push when I'm having a hard time getting out of the car on my own hahaha :) And when my feet were super swollen, he helped arrange me like upside down in this big chair, with my feet up, and then he started...not massaging, but like rubbing my feet to try to get the blood to drain down my legs. It was just very thoughtful of him. Also, when we were flying standby home from Seattle, he told me that if there was one open seat, I should definitely take it, because he didn't want me to have to sleep in the airport. Luckily, we ended up making a flight together, but the thought was there and I really appreciated him being so considerate of me :) He's been taking extra good care of me lately, and I really love him for it :)
So many mushy stories this month, but I love it! One day, I was wearing my favorite maternity shirt, and there was like a metal mesh fence thing. I had to slide between the car and this mesh, big belly and all. I briefly examined the mesh and it didn't look like it would snag, but boy was I wrong. It did a bunch of snagging, so when I got out of there, I looked down at my shirt, and I just felt so. freaking. sad. I looked at Russ -- about to cry. And his face was just so empathetic. Like -- as if I had just lost a loved one rather than snagged my $12 shirt. When I did indeed start crying, he came and just gave me a big, sweet hug. It was such a dumb thing, this snagged shirt, but he was so kind. He cared because I cared, and it just made me that much more grateful for him.
- My sister Brooke and her family visited at the beginning of July. Her daughter Bree liked to rub my belly a lot and give it kisses; it was sweet :) It's funny -- I think people have created such a stigma about touching pregnant bellies that I actually haven't had really anyone touch my belly. I've mostly only had nieces/nephews touch mine (first Hadley and then Bree, and now pretty much all the nieces and nephews). Definitely no strangers, but not even family really! Haha which is fine, just interesting :)
- GETTING GRASS. I was so stinking happy to finally get grass in our yard. Before we put it in, I would often think about how next summer we'll have a yard I can play in with Ada :)
- More belly touching from nieces and nephews. We went to a little celebration for my niece Adeline's birthday, and at one point during the party, Hadley, Jackson, and Adeline were all touching my belly at the same time, talking to Ada and being so sweet. Kids are so cute!
- I had my last day of work this month! I quit earlier than Russ and I had originally talked about, but I'm really glad that I'll have this time to do more preparations for Ada and just to take care of a few things on my never-ending list. Also, work was getting really hard. I was taking 5 minute naps at least 3x/day, and my belly kept bumping my desk! I just felt a bit run down, so I'm grateful that Russ agreed I could quit early :) My coworkers were awesome and sent me off with a sweet baby gift and sweet words :) I also got to choose the break activity on my final day, so I subjected everyone to the High School Musical Bad Lip Reading because it is freaking hilarious.
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| my send-off gift |
- Family reunion! Maybe I'm weird, but I love going to my in-law family reunions. Russ just has a lot of great and interesting family members, and I enjoy the chance to catch up with them all every other year. It was so nice to have a whole week where Russ and I were not working and we just got to be together and be with family. There was also more belly touching from my Seattle nieces. Susan was always asking, "How's baby Ada doing?" So sweet :)
- This month, a lot more people started asking, "When's that BABY due?!" Haha not always like that, but it seems I look about 9 months pregnant. *sigh* What will I look like when I'm actually 9 months pregnant?
- One random day, I stopped by my parents' house and ran into my sis-in-law Amy and her two cute kids as they were headed out the door. Hadley gave me a big hug and was just being super cute. Then she cups her hand around her mouth and whispers, "I have a BIG secret! I'm getting a baby girl!" and I was kinda like whattttt?! Haha I looked to Amy for confirmation and she said that yes, she was pregnant, but they didn't know the gender yet because she was only 8 weeks along. I was excited to find out that Ada would have a cousin so close in age with one of Brandon and Amy's kids since I'm super close with their current kids. I hope Ada and baby Petersen #3 are little besties!
Also, baby showers! I've been excited for these for months, but I actually have one in August, so it's even more exciting! :)
**ashleynicole
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| every month I am surprised at how much bigger this bump of mine has gotten! haha |
Your grass looks so great with your house! And a babymoon sounds dreamy even if it is a local trip :)
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