Third Trimester with Baby #3

 The home stretch!! I can't believe how close we are to meeting our next girl! These two pictures were taken right at the start of the third trimester, at 27 weeks. I'm hoping to get out with Dustan and take some (very quick) maternity pictures closer to the end as well :)

At 28 weeks, I had a second ultrasound to check on my placenta previa and see if it had moved, or what was going on. First of all though, it was soooo fun getting to see baby girl again, I'm not used to getting to see my babies after the 20 week anatomy scan! She was snuggled and curled up and it was so cute. And the news was so good, the placenta previa was completely gone! I was shocked. My OB made it sound like that would be very unlikely. So hopefully we won't have anything else abnormal to worry about for the rest of this pregnancy!

I'm just updating this blog every once in a while with how things are changing. Today I'm 34 weeks and in general, feeling pretty well physically most days! I have started to have some more back and hip pain, but I feel like it's not too bad for how far along I am. The heart burn has been really bad the last couple weeks though, and I'm taking many TUMS each evening. Sometimes I feel like they have almost no effect at night, but maybe I need to be taking more haha. I haven't ever had heart burn this bad, even with my other pregnancies. I also got blood work done about a month or so ago, and have also been on supplemental iron since then, like I was with Finley. My legs/lower body have been bothering me a lot in the evening, very crampy and restless, almost like growing pains. I have been so busy with our photography the last couple months that I haven't even had the chance to prepare for baby girl. I'm starting to feel a bit stressed about getting everything ready for her. Hopefully I'll have enough energy to do this next month!

These maternity pictures were taken at 36 weeks! I'm grateful that Dustan is a great photographer and took these pictures of me with the girls :)

It's the end of March and I'm now 37 weeks! I'm really hoping to have this sweet baby girl sometime next week, around 38 weeks when Eloise and Finley came. We'll see what happens though! Just in the last week or two though, I feel like my body is really starting to fall apart a bit. I was feeling so good just a few weeks ago, but each day has gotten a little harder since then. My feet and hands swell really easily (especially with the warmer weather), and my back and hips and legs are often sore and aching. It is getting surprisingly difficult to maneuver and get up. Though I did successfully paint my toenails last week, which is an accomplishment in my opinion! The hardest part so far has been sleeping at night though, mainly due to acid reflux. I've never had it this bad before. TUMS aren't even touching it, and I'm up multiple times each hour of the night because my throat is burning or because acidic barf is coming up my throat into my mouth (sorry if that's TMI). I finally asked my OB for an alternative and she prescribed pepcid, so hopefully that helps! I felt almost silly asking when I could be having baby girl any day, but is she still waits a couple more weeks, I desperately needed some help. Even on days where I am careful to not eat late at night and avoid acidic foods, I'm still waking up regularly with acid reflux issues. And on top of that, I'm also waking up often to pee, slowly roll over (ouch), or help with a toddler. But other than these rough nights, things are going well! Eloise and Finley actually seem excited about the baby and talk about her often. Dustan and I spent the last week really preparing for the baby, and we feel a lot better about her potentially coming soon (we set up the bassinet and rocker, packed hospital bags, washed newborn clothes, installed the carseat, ordered newborn/postpartum supplies, etc.). And Dustan and I were finally able to agree on a few name ideas!

We're now almost at 39 weeks! This is officially the longest I've ever been pregnant. I was able to get on some prescription pepcid type medicine that has helped sooo much with the acid reflux, I seriously regret not getting on it earlier. I'm finally sleeping decently well, only waking up a few times each night for other reasons. At my last appointment at 38 weeks and 2 days, I was dilated to 2 cm (the previous week I was at a 1), my OB stripped my membranes (which didn't seem to do anything) and scheduled an induction date for 39 weeks. I was initially hesitant about getting induced, but both my other girls needed help to come out after my water broke anyway, so it really wouldn't be much different. I'm still hoping I go naturally before that though! I've had near constant Braxton Hicks the last week, at least every 20 minutes for most of the day, sometimes more frequently and sometimes fairly uncomfortable. No contractions or real labor signs yet though! Just ridiculously uncomfortable, very swollen, and on and off nauseous. I'm definitely very done being pregnant and we're excited to meet our baby girl :)

Second Trimester with Baby Girl #3

 We're having a THIRD GIRL and we're so excited!! I can't wait to meet our next girl and see what she is like! Though I shared a couple of these photos in my first trimester post here, they were actually taken closer to 18 weeks. So I'm sharing again for bump belly updates!

My first second trimester update is that the runny nose is still around, unfortunately. But it has gotten so much better! It's mostly just a problem the first few hours I'm awake each morning, then doesn't really bother me the rest of the day. I'm so thankful for this! And except for some random circumstances (like when I forget to eat or I get really warm), the nausea is gone as well! As usual, it seems like the second trimester will be my favorite! 

Right around 18 weeks, I started to feel baby girl kick just a little bit. I was so excited, this was the earliest I've ever felt kicks! Both Eloise and Finley were well after 20 weeks. And towards the end of this trimester, baby girl seems very strong and active. 

At about 21 weeks, we had our anatomy scan, where we found out baby is a girl :) I had honestly been expecting baby to be a boy because my symptoms in the first trimester (less nausea and the runny nose) were so different than my first two pregnancies. But we are seriously so ecstatic to be adding another sister! Other than finding out the gender, we also learned that baby is totally healthy and growing right on track, which is always a relief to hear! Unfortunately, we also learned that I have a complete placenta previa, which means that currently my placenta is covering my cervix, which can lead to bleeding and ultimately a c-section upon delivery. So this makes my pregnancy slightly higher risk. So in the meantime, I need to be be careful with any activity. I will only be doing super lightweight exercises such as walking, yoga, etc. Since resting more often, I haven't had any bleeding, which is good. If all goes perfectly, my placenta will move completely out of the way as my uterus grows and we won't have any other issues! We'll have another ultrasound to check on this at the start of the third trimester.

We visited my family in Washington for Christmastime, and it was funny to realize that I own very few warm clothes that are cold snowy weather friendly, and absolutely no coats that fit over a bump at all! Thankfully I have an awesome friend that loaned me a maternity winter jacket (this was taken about 24 weeks, though you can't see any bump in all those layers!).

And here is a bump picture (taken only a week or two after the snow one), but this time in sunny Tucson! The belly is already starting to feel heavy on walks and hikes, but hopefully I can keep going until closer to the end! We're so excited to meet our girl!

 

Though we have little to no "needs" for our third baby girl, here is our baby registry for anyone that is interested. It's mostly for us though, so we can get a 15% off coupon when baby comes!