Hello Third Trimester

This wasn't my favorite picture to post, but it was taken at around 11:30 p.m. after a whole day of work and night of packing and moving :). I'm a little behind on posting, but we are one week and one day into the third trimester! I can't believe how quickly the second trimester went after a first trimester that seemed to drag on. I hit the 28 week mark yesterday, and I went to the doctor two days ago for my appointment. Everything is going well, and I had my gestational diabetes test done...tons of fun ;)! So many people talk about how terrible that sugary drink is, and though I didn't find it good enough to be a daily refreshing beverage, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I was given the options of lime, orange, and coke flavor, and the woman at the desk recommended strongly against the coke flavor. I found out today that everything checks out good, and I don't have to give up sugary treats! I start going to the doctor every other week now until 36 weeks when I start going every week. Things are really picking up speed now!

Right now I am trying to find a doula for child birth as well as a prenatal chiropractor. My friend Ashley Jones had her daughter completely naturally with the help of a doula, and I am hoping to do the same. For those of you that don't know what a doula is, they provide emotional support and natural pain management techniques during child birth (help with positioning, counterpressure techniques, massage, etc.) to make the whole experience a little bit more tolerable. They aren't a doctor where they monitor your health and the baby's health, so you would still use your medical provider and go to a hospital or birthing center. Doulas are known to decrease length of labor, decrease requests for epidurals, and decrease your chance of a c-section by also helping with positioning the baby through massage. I also want to stay home as long as possible, so they can be a guide to when it's time to go to the hospital and when you can stay home since I would rush off to the hospital with the first contraction being a first timer. As far as emotional support, they are there for you as well as your husband since, from what I hear, it can be a very shocking experience. I am also looking for a prenatal chiropractor, because the doctor said my tailbone is tilted forward. I wanted to try to get that in line before labor to decrease the chance of a c-section. This is also so new to me, and when I first heard about all of this I thought it sounded a bit "granola" or hippy-ish, but it's actually quite fascinating what they can do to help nature run its course.

Yesterday and today are our big moving days into our new apartment. These two days or so will be a little chaotic trying to balance work and moving, but this weekend we may get a chance to start working on what will be the nursery. Right now the baby items we have accumulated so far are sitting in the corner of our bedroom, so it'll be great to have a space to put everything and start to organize. Jonathan is working on refinishing an armour. It'll probably take the 3 months he has left to finish it to get it done since it's a time consuming task, but I think it's going to look great and be wonderful for storage since the room does not have a closet. I feel like we are looking at our new living space with two new sets of eyes, because we are trying to figure out the best way to set everything up so it is most conducive to a new baby. We are storing a few huge furniture items to make more space for baby items and give him room to move once he's at the age to be mobile. I can't believe that this is the place we are going to bring home a baby in around 12 weeks.

Another big thing going on is that Jonathan started school on Monday. He is taking pre-reqs for either Physicians Assistant or Nursing programs. The military has a lot of great benefits for people with a medical degree, so we're hoping to take advantage of that in the future. Right now he is taking Chemistry, Anatomy & Physiology, and Sociology, and he has class 4 days a week. He definitely has some challenging classes, and he has to jump right into the groove of going to classes and studying since they don't hold off on teaching the material.

Survey Update:
How far along: 28 weeks and 1 day
Maternity clothes: Some of the tops I thought would surely fit until the end are starting to get shorter and shorter.
Best moment this week: Getting into the room that will be the nursery and starting to map out what it will look like.
Cravings: Nothing in particular actually. I'm just really missing deli sandwiches that aren't heated up in the microwave.
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: None thankfully.
Belly Button in our out? Still hanging "in" there. It's just dying to pop out I think, but I'm hoping it holds strong :)
What I miss: I still have to say I miss sleeping on my back sooo much. My hips kill in the morning after sleeping on my side all night. I'm now surrounded by both a pregnancy body pillow and a standard body pillow on all sides trying to get comfortable. I still wake up in the middle of the night on my back, because I guess I just can't help it.
Weekly Wisdom: I've learned a lot from talking to a doula about being an advocate for yourself when dealing with doctors and getting ready for delivery. Make sure you have someone that is on the same page as you.
Milestones: Reaching the third trimester for sure. Also, I discovered this week that OJ gives the little guy the wiggles!