Week 29

I get these pop up reminders every Friday morning from my pregnancy app letting me know what week I'm at, and what baby is up to, and what to expect from my body during the coming week.  I find the app's way of delivering information to me much easier to "digest".  I get information in little chunks and I get through week-by-week.  When I first found out I was pregnant, I got a lot of books from friends and family, and I scoured them being the good little researcher that I am, but I found I went into information overload shutdown mode.  Getting updates conveniently delivered via my phone in the mornings is working quite well for me!

I feel like I say this week after week, but this week has been a little crazy!  Having a baby, and moving, and having a husband in school while both of us are working full time is really kind of too much sometimes.  We are entering the final stages of the home selling/buying process... finally!!  We sign papers for both the sale and the purchase on Monday, we'll hopefully get the keys to our new house on Thursday.  We're hoping to get in right away Thursday evening to start painting, work on the house all day Friday, and then move at 9am Saturday morning.  We have to be out of our house by Sunday at 5pm.  I just keep thinking "get through next week and it will all get easier" but then we have unpacking to do, some remodeling, and a nursery to set up.  We are definitely on a time crunch and I keep warning Bryann that I'm getting near the end of my stress-capacity and he might have a difficult, emotional, irrational, pregnant wife on his hands any moment now.  :-P

But even among all the commotion, we still find time for each other to relax and just "be" together.  We were watching the tail end of the Sex & the City movie last night (Bryann had one eye on the movie, and one eye on the baseball game on his ipad) when a scene came up at the very end where Miranda says something like "Is it really possible to be happy in your relationship every day?" Which made me reflect about Bryann and my relationship.  And I AM happy every single day.  Yes, I'm annoyed with him almost every single day also, but I love him endlessly, he makes me laugh daily, I feel like he's my "home", and I never ever go to bed thinking I wish I would have done something differently.

Needless to say, Bryann is extremely excited for baby Calista to make her way out and into our lives.  Since I've become noticeably bigger and actually pregnant looking, Bryann has been putting his hands on my belly and talking directly to her, or putting his face on my belly and giving her kisses.  It is probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen, and I love him all the more for it.

What Baby T has been up to this week:

• Baby is now between 2.5 and 3 lbs and measures between 15-17 inches - the size of a butternut squash!  Her weight will double (or potentially triple) over the course of the next 11 weeks.  Growth spurt, here we come!
• Her muscles and lungs are growing and strengthening, and her head is growing to make room for her genius brain.
• She is gaining more white fat for energy (as opposed to her previous brown fat for temperature regulation) and her skin is smoothing out and becoming less wrinkly-alien-like
• Space in her living quarters - aka MY STOMACH - is becoming cramped and she is kicking and punching more in protest.  She also kicks, rolls, and jabs in response to stimuli like noise, my movement, light, and that tasty chocolate ice cream I just ate.  :-P
• Teeth buds for her permanent teeth are forming underneath the teeth buds for her baby teet

Pregnancy symptoms this week include:

• A general and ongoing feeling of huge-ness.  Things are getting VERY crowded in my stomach, and I often feel like I'm going to explode.  I'm hungry, but I feel full and like there's no room to stuff any food in there.  My stomach feels very stiff (you know, filled with my organs AND a baby) everywhere except right at the very top underneath my bra line.  
• Heartburn and digestion issues continue.  The digestion issues are most likely contributing to my feeling of huge-ness. 
• I have to burp a lot.  Now, I know that I burp a lot normally (my friends can attest to this), and maybe I don't actually have to burp more than normal, but with all the crowding in my stomach, it's become difficult to burp, and very painful if I don't.  I actually have to get Bryann to burp me.  As in pat my back up for a few minutes until I can get a few out so I don't feel like I'm going to throw up.  Contemplate that tonight...  
• Frequent trips to the bathroom.  I'm still sleeping ok, but I have to get up at least once during the night to use the bathroom.  
• Restless Leg Syndrome has popped up over the last few weeks.  Just when I'm trying to fall asleep at night, and I try to meditate through it so it doesn't drive me insane. 

What I miss/What I'm looking forward to:

• I miss normal body functions.  
• I also miss beer again this week - I went to my choir's yearly post-season BBQ this week, and there were some tasty looking brews sweating away in coolers.
• I'm looking forward to moving next weekend.  Not so much the packing, which will be the rest of my weekend... 

29 weeks along!

Bryann taking a break from packing

We've made progress!

Kitty's "Box Heaven"

Disaster Zone