Week 22

How Far Along? 22 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 10 lbs.
   

Baby Related Purchases: Well, we purchased paint for the nursery and a nice camera! We also did a ton of stuff for Claudia's nursery over the weekend! I'm planning to do a separate post about Claudia's nursery when its all finished so all the progress/before and after pictures can be in one place :-) We bought paint on Saturday and, with the help of Mary, painted her walls, closet, bookcase and a shelf! The only things that are in her closet are her clothes and, currently, the boxes containing her crib, mattress and changing table!! I don't think I've ever been more excited about a closet :-) 

Sleep: This could be my imagination, but I feel like I've been sleeping more soundly this week. Maybe its because its been rainy, who knows?
  

Movement: She moves so much! At the doctor's appointment on Friday afternoon, the nurse checked her heartbeat. Unlike last time, she found Claudia's heartbeat right away (much to my relief and happiness!) but then it would get staticky (is that even a word?), we'd hear her heartbeat again, and then there would be static again. She was running away from the monitor :-) When the doctor came in to examine me, he exclaimed, "She kicked me! She's moving around a lot- that is so good!" Her little personality is already coming through. 

What I miss: Being able to do physical tasks like I used to. Painting on Sunday afternoon was no small task for me (it was zero VOC paint, so no one needs to worry). Being on my knees and moving to make sure I painted every nook and crevice on the bookcase was pretty exhausting. I had to take multiple breaks while Austin and Mary pushed through. I was pretty sore yesterday! 

  

Cravings: More than ever, I'm craving fresh fruits and vegetables. I went to the grocery store a few days ago and emerged with blackberries, strawberries, a pineapple, broccoli, carrots, corn, and grape tomatoes. The only non-fruit or vegetables were cereal, milk, chicken and salmon. :-) 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!

Gender: A little pink girl! 

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: On Saturday night, a new symptom decided to enter into the mix- HEARTBURN! Oh. my. goodness. The last time I had heartburn was in 10th grade at Disney World when I'd eaten 3 beef tacos and some nachos with cheese from Taco Bell on a really empty stomach. Bad idea. And I suffered for it!

According to WebMD:

During pregnancy, the placenta produces the hormone progesterone, which relaxes the smooth muscles of the uterus. This hormone also relaxes the valve that separates the esophagus from the stomach, allowing gastric acids to seep back up, which causes that unpleasant burning sensation.

Progesterone also slows down the wavelike contractions of your esophagus and intestines, making digestion sluggish. Later in pregnancy, your growing baby crowds your abdominal cavity, pushing the stomach acids back up into the esophagus.

Many women start experiencing heartburn and other gastrointestinal discomforts in the second half of pregnancy. Unfortunately, it usually comes and goes until your baby is born.

There is a list of things to avoid/make sure I'm doing to help with this, so that's good! Saturday night (when everything started) we had eaten dinner at 9 p.m. and I woke up at 3 with the heartburn. Eating late is a big no no! So, I need to make sure I'm eating smaller meals more frequently and avoiding foods with high acidity (another reason I'm glad I gave up coffee!).

Tums were useless- Pepcid AC finally did the trick after hours of misery. Anyway, hopefully I can keep it under control from this point on!

Other symptoms: stretching (I can tell she's really growing), Fatigue, Round Ligament Pain

Happy or Moody most of the time: It's been a happy week, especially after making so much progress on Claudia's nursery!

Worries:  The doctor's visit on Friday was super encouraging. Everything looked normal, Claudia was moving around a lot and her heartbeat was strong at 143 beats per minute! The current worry (especially after having an all-too realistic dream about this) is that she will be born way too soon and not be as developed as she needs to be. Again I am reminded that she belongs to the Lord and I just need to give her to Him daily! 

Best moments this week: Loved hearing her heartbeat on Friday! I could listen to it for hours and hours if they'd let me! It was also encouraging to hear that everything looked great.

It was so wonderful to get the nursery painted! It was a huge task (these things always take longer than expected). Now it just needs to be touched up in a few places (thanks, painter's tape!) and the baseboards need to be freshened up with some white paint.

In other news, we have decided to do a massive clean out of our belongings and have a yard sale the last weekend in June! Claudia is a huge motivation for this, as we actually need a place to put her ever growing collection of things :-) It was long overdue anyway. Austin hadn't gone through his things since before we married. My parents and grandparents generously gave us a lot from their homes that they weren't using, and combined with stuff we already had, it resulted in ridiculously packed out closets (where we weren't using storage space efficiently) and a "catch all room" that prevented us from being able to use our office/study. When we weren't working on Claudia's room this weekend, we were sorting through our stuff and I think we're nearly done with the purge! I'm getting rid of SO MANY clothes from college or that just don't fit anymore. Half of my shoes are going into the yard sale as well! We've been watching a lot of "Clean House" and it has inspired us to have a clutter free home!

Now we just need to sort everything and put price stickers on them! Anything that doesn't sell is going to Goodwill! I honestly can't wait!