I wish I could say "I can't believe it's almost here!" And that it has been a quick and easy pregnancy, but that's simply not true. We found out at around four weeks that we were pregnant and it's been a LONG pregnancy. I haven't had any major problems, it just isn't easy navigating life being pregnant when you have a house full of children plus homeschool, and all the other 'fun' stuff wives and mamas have to do in any given day. Trust me, it makes pregnancy a little harder and seem a little longer (at least it does for me, anyways).
But, here we are three weeks until my due date and I am super excited to meet little miss Abby Lou!! I am feeling pretty good these days, but I did have some weird cramping two weeks ago which has led my doctor to doing a weekly non-stress test. Nothing has shown up on the test so far and she seems to be doing well. To be totally truthful, I've felt so good throughout this pregnancy, that I've still been exercising six days a week; which includes lifting weights and speed roping! It is getting harder every day, but I'm going to keep up with my normal fitness routine until I physically can't do it anymore (per the doctor's orders) or she is born.
I've had zero swelling this time, which is amazing, because I have ALWAYS had terrible swelling in the last trimester regardless if it was a summer or winter pregnancy.
The only other issue I've had this pregnancy has been dizzy spells where I felt like I was on the verge of passing out. My doctor felt it was because of my blood sugars spiking too quickly, and that I needed to make sure I was eating small meals with protein multiple times a day. Once I started doing that, I haven't had any more of those spells.
My doctor doesn't typically do late pregnancy ultrasounds, but because I'm 39 years old he wanted to make sure the baby was growing correctly, which meant we got to see her beautiful face via ultrasound last week! Apparently older mamas have an increased risk of babies not growing properly at the end of pregnancy ~ thankfully Abigail not only is growing just fine and dandy, but she's measuring a full week ahead of her due date! I'm guessing she's going to be a big baby just like her big sisters. Both Tabitha and Lydia were over nine pounds when they were born!!
While I'm not a fan of unnecessary testing, I am grateful for a doctor who is attentive and insures my baby and I are both as healthy as we can be under the circumstances. Perks of the non stress test is that I get a couple hours break from 'life', and I get the joy of hearing my baby's precious little heart beat. But, the downside of being hooked up to all those machines is that Abby Lou DOES NOT LIKE IT!! She squirms and kicks the whole time and I have terrible false labor contractions which ends up putting me in the bed for the rest of the day ~ sigh!
I've only gained around 15 pounds this pregnancy and I didn't really start showing until I was around 30 weeks, so I have very few 'bump' pictures. Last week I had my 16 year old take a few pictures of me so I can remember Abby Lou's baby bump in pictures.
I'm sure with multiple appointments this week, and Thanksgiving next week, the next couple of weeks are going to fly by (or at least I'm hopeful that it does, lol). I am trying to focus on keeping up with homeschool and deep cleaning projects. I'd love to say it was because I was nesting, but nope, I typically deep clean around the holidays. It works better for me to do it now verses in the Spring when we're going into our big gardening season. Of course, I'm not getting nearly as much done as I'd prefer, but I am trying to take it easy and not over do it, which is super hard for this organizing, clean freak, type A, overachieving mama. 😜
With Love & Hope,
Jennifer
