Great Expectations: Emily @ 33 Weeks

I'm now 33 weeks along, and I CANNOT believe how close that seems to 40! These last few weeks, our schedule was busier than I was planning on... we had a wedding reception, a baby shower, and my brother came in town and stayed with us, which of course called for extra family get-togethers. Surrounding all of that, my nausea has come back more, so I had long spells of time where I felt simply awful. Like first-trimester-throwing-up-awful. I also had one day where I had such bad lower abdomen cramping and aches that I called my doctor. I was told that I was 'overdoing it' and needed to relax more. I couldn't believe that since I'm not even working now, and some women work right up until their due date or delivery! I've tried to plan out my days now so that I have regular resting intervals and that helps. My doctor also advised that I try wearing a support belt, and so I headed out the nearest maternity store and got one. I strongly recommend these for anyone else who has a lot of the lower abdomen and pelvic area aches. I had been so proud of myself for my daily Pilates workouts, but my husband was quick to get me to stop those due to how poorly I'm feeling. I may try to ease in at least short segments of the workouts so that I don't get too lax- I know that come labor day, I will need some kind of muscle strength!

The baby shower that my church friends threw me was absolutely beautiful! They had a super cute book theme, and everyone brought a favorite book in place of a card with their gift. Joe and I can't wait to read all of them to Baby Boy-with two parents as teachers, this kid is destined to be a reader! I was so blessed to receive all sorts of baby goodies, including cute clothes, toys, and blankets. We also played a fun 'The Price is Right' game, which I totally failed at, but I still got to take home the fun baby prizes!

Getting so many new baby things had me itching to get my hands on the nursery. We got the crib set up and used a gift card we had received to buy crib sheets and matching changing pad cover. Joe was so excited when he saw these cute white and blue airplane designs! We grabbed a tall white bookshelf at Target to hold all of baby's new books and some of his toys. I also got super organized with his baby clothes. My sister gave me a whole bunch of newborn through 3-month hand-me-downs, which I washed and sorted in with the new clothes we have. I love that our changing table/dresser has drawers with dividers in them, making it so easy to separate clothing by size and type! Basically every time I walk upstairs to my bedroom, I go down the hallway just to peek in the nursery, because it is just so cute and it's getting so real that a baby will be in it soon!

At our latest doctor appointment, we had our monthly sonogram and it was a blast like usual. The sonogram technician was super friendly, and she switched our view to 3D just for a minute (which I think is something extra that people pay for, so mums the word!) and we could hardly handle our joy in seeing our son's little face! She noted that he had quite chubby cheeks, which is a trait he gets from his mama. He weighed in at almost 4 '½ pounds, which is about the 40th percentile for his age. The doctor is perfectly pleased with his growth and has no concerns. The rest of the visit was non-eventful, but she said at our next visit she will start seeing me weekly and begin checking my cervix. I think I saw Joe cringe a little bit at the word cervix, so maybe I need to start having him read some labor and delivery books...

To'dos that are on my mind and keeping me awake at night: Calling insurance about medical costs, getting a breast pump, buying a car seat, and finishing decorations for the nursery. Also the fact that I haven't touched my dissertation ONCE since summer started. But then I feel Baby Boy kicking around and all of a sudden that's all that matters.