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the weekend

Happy Monday, guys! Hope y’all had a great weekend.

I’m back on an overnight oats kick.  I’ve started waking up hungry some nights and it’s nice to have something hearty and ready-to-go in the fridge.  In the 1st & 2nd trimesters I would eat a snack right before going to bed to keep middle of the night hunger away.  It worked great.  But now if I do that I end up uncomfortably full when I lay down and/or with acid reflux.  Tums does help with the acid reflux! So that’s helpful.

My overnight oats are always a mix of coconut or vanilla greek yogurt + oats + chia seeds + mashed banana + milk.  Topped with granola & nut butter.

I spent most of Saturday in a blah, emotional mood.  My back was super painful and made moving around hard.  Sometimes a little movement + stretching really helps my back.  But I just felt weak and tired, so I slept a lot instead of moving. 

Andrew worked on home improvement projects all day.  He’s doing this cool thing were he’s changing the texture of our ceilings from a popcorn/bumpy look to smooth.  I think it makes the house look custom and awesome.  I love it! 

Around lunchtime I ventured out to Chick-fil-a to pick us up some lunch.

Then I slept more and worked on thank you cards.

Later I enjoyed an ice cream bar.  Loving these.  Even with food aversions these always sound tasty!

I tried to organize the nursery a bit, but the back pain was making that tough so I waited until Andrew could help me (aka I waited until Andrew was free and I could say “okay put that there, hang this there, spray paint this that color, carry that over there” lol).  We’re waiting for one cart to arrive and then the nursery is all ready to go.  I’m super pumped with how it came out and am excited to share it.  I’ve always liked room reveal type of posts, so I hope you enjoy ’em too :)

We kept Saturday evening easy with Asian food + baseball watching.  The Astros are going to the World Series, which I’m happy about because it gives me something to look forward to watching in these last weeks of pregnancy!

We had our typical Sunday morning of church + grocery shopping.  I really resonated with the sermon…love when that happens. 

At the grocery store we decided to take advantage of the bump and park in one of the close up parking spaces for the first time.

Right after church we had lunch.  Then my back was feeling better and I felt like moving so I did a lil’ barre arm workout.  With my back and knee pain any squatting motion and a lot of weight bearing lower body movement is out, but it still feels good to move my arms! I’m grateful there are ways that still feel good to move in pregnancy.  I think it would be so so so tough to be someone who was put on bedrest. 

Sunday afternoon we met some of our favorite friends, Amanda & Andrew, at Tout Suite for a snack.  And I had a cookies n’ cream cupcake + iced chai tea latte.  Amanda & Andrew live about 4 hours north of Houston now, so we really treasure any time we get to spend with them.  Amanda is due with her first kiddo in December and it’s fun having a pregnant friend to do pregnancy with.  Amanda is a very calm, confident, rational, low-stress, least-dramatic-woman-I’ve-ever-met kind of person…so she’s good for me to spend time with because she helps me balance out my uptight, anxious, worrisome nature.

Sunday I decorated a pumpkin (just in case we forget what season it is lol)

Come dinner time Maggie needed a bath and dinner needed to be cooked.  So I took bath duty and Andrew made dinner.

Clean pup :)

Delicious dinner…

I’ve got an OB appointment this morning.  I’m pretty sure today is the first time I get checked to see if I’m dilated at all.  I don’t understand if there is a medical purpose behind being checked.  Everything I’ve read/heard says how much you are dilated tells you nothing about when the baby will actually come..so I’m not sure I understand the point of it and am gonna ask my doctor.  Like you can be 3cm and baby could come tomorrow or in 3 weeks.  I think if I’d lost my mucus plug I’d be more curious about how dilated I am, but I haven’t.  Have any thoughts on this? I guess it’s not a big deal to just let your OB check, but again I’m like “what’s the point? What does this tell us?” Since on average most 1st time preggo ladies go to 40 weeks or past 40 weeks I figure I’m currently 0cm dilated…and that doesn’t sound like an encouraging thing to hear when I’ve got back pain and am feeling pretty ready to get baby into the world.

Let’s end this post with a bump photo because I feel like the mood of this post was a bit meh and pregnancy really has been one of the coolest things I’ve ever done :) I’m just ready to meet her now! Bring on the sleep deprivation! 

38 comments

  1. I’m so sorry you aren’t feeling well! But great job of listening to your body. You are taking care of yourself well, and Raspberry will be here soon. I would feel a bit weird being checked if it seems pointless, so I understand your concern. Definitely discuss it with your doctor. I hope everything else goes well at your appt., and I can’t wait to see the nursery!

  2. Just started reading your blog and really enjoying it! Thank you for sharing so many great tips. Could you share what products Andrew is using for your ceiling? Our house’s ceilings are popcorn and we’d love to update them!

    • I’m just using a lightweight drywall mud to do a “skim coat” on top of the existing texture. Our existing texture wasn’t very tall so I didn’t bother scraping it off, just went right over it. It will take 2-3 coats. Good luck!

  3. I always look forward to reading your posts. You have such a knack for sharing your journey. I really admire you. My first baby came naturally at 37 weeks so I’m wishing you the very, very best as it could be any day now for you. Cheering you on. ??

    • Thanks for the kind words, Amy <3 And I'm trying to remind myself that labor COULD start 10 minutes from now! The unpredictability is just hard for me.

  4. I chose to not be checked until I was 40 weeks because I honestly thought it would just be mentally discouraging for me. And as someone who was not even a cm dilated at 41 weeks and 6 days, I can tell you that when I finally did get checked it was SUPER depressing to keep hearing that I basically was making no progress :(

  5. I’m so excited for you to meet your babe! And I felt the same way about being checked, but my doctor told me (and some research confirmed) that effacement tells you more than dilation does. I know people who were 3cm dilated for WEEKS before they went into labor, so when I was dilated at 37 weeks I didn’t let myself get excited haha. BUT, I was 75% effaced at 38 weeks and had my baby a few days later, so I definitely think my doctor was right about that being more of a factor. But who knows! Everyone is so different!

  6. I ordered a fetal Doppler on Amazon as an impulse so I could hear baby boy whenever I felt like it and it was bliss. I love having him in my tummy, nourishing him and also (weird but very true) talking to him when I take pee breaks at work! Its such a gift. Take care and best of wishes for more light pain days than heavier ones.

  7. I agree with you on the baby doc visits. I’ve read that before somewhere that several of the OB visits and just really unnecessary, but I suppose it’s whatever makes Mama feel at peace!

    I love your enthusiasm about the sleep deprivation, lol!

  8. Yep I almost didn’t get checked because everything I had read said it basically told you nothing but my ob said it would help him guess when/if I might go into labor. I was 0cm dilated at 37&38 week, then like 1cm after that and didn’t go into labor until 41 weeks. I had an appt that morning and I was 2 cm but doc still didn’t think I’d go into labor in the next 1/2 week so we had an induction all scheduled but baby came that night! He was totally ok not checking me if that was my preference but I didn’t care either way. And hearing I wasn’t dilated definitely gave me more incentive to be doing everything I could to progress my labor! Thankfully I was able to walk a ton and start doing squas and I know you’re in a lot of back pain (I am so so sorry!) and are limited physically but one thing I did that I really believe helped was to use my breast pump for like 5-10 min on a few different days. Regular nipple stimulation didn’t seem to be doing anything but I think using the pump helped!

  9. There is really no point to the six dilation check. In fact, neither of my midwife practices and either pregnancy would even consider checking until you were actually in labor to see how far the labor had progressed. It can introduce infection being checked too frequently, especially if you are slightly dilated.

  10. I was surprised when I didn’t get checked at my 38 week appointment, but when I asked about it I was told exactly what you said in this post…that it means basically nothing. I am glad I didn’t get checked then, because once I was in labor at the hospital and they checked, it hurt!! However, my sister and many others told me it didn’t hurt them. I do not want to be one of those people who tells horror stories to pregnant women! I’m just saying if you think you’d rather not get checked yet, I would recommend not, based on my experience. :)

  11. I have been loving your pregnancy posts! One thing I am curious about is how you came to be a Christian and what your journey with that has been like. If that’s too personal, I apologize!

    • Great question, Ashley. I’ve been mulling over sharing something along these lines for awhile now. Hopefully during maternity leave (as I take a break from client sessions and eventually get my brain power back once I’m sleeping again) I’ll get a chance to figure out what direction I’m going with this. Thanks for commenting with this!

  12. I love your skull decor on your tv stand and that pumpkin is so cute! I’m sorry you are feeling so down and in pain! I can’t even imagine. I am super excited to see the nursery! I love room reveals and have just been anxious to see it all come together for you since you’ve shared bits and pieces along the way. : ) Also, way to go Andrew! That’s awesome that’s he’s so handy! Hope your Monday and doctor appointment goes well!

    • Way to notice the details, Kaci! I got the skull from Target last year and somehow remembered to get him out again this year! I’m not the best at decorating for holidays, mainly because I forget where I put the decorations I bought the year before lol. It’s the only Halloween decor in the house and I love him :)

  13. I’m guessing by the time I post this comment you’ll probably have already gone to your check-up, but I’ll comment anyway. ;) My midwives would offer if I wanted to be checked later in pregnancy and I always declined. I was only ever checked twice- after I lost my mucus plug and then when I arrived to the birth center at 9.5 cm dilated! I say- if you ever have a question for your provider, ask!

    • Thanks, Christine! My provider was fine with not checking me today. I’m totally down to be checked after my mucus plug passes…but I’m not having any signs of that at this point so it just seems weird to do it. Thanks for sharing your experience!!

  14. Totally agree that this tells you nothing. BUT… try not to get too discouraged with the measurements because I was 1cm and 0effaced at my 9am appointment and my son was born at 4:51am the following morning! I really had no idea I was in full on labor and didn’t even get to the parking lot of the hospital until 4:23am!!

  15. I think it is so funny that you felt this post was meh! I always find your life sharing posts to be inspiring on my own recovery journey because you create, relax, and do fun things! Also eating delicious things with such a non-fussy attitude. The nursery! So exciting.

  16. I’ve read a lot about those checks being meaningless too… I was going to ask my doc about it to see their thoughts, but I know it’s kind of a “we just do this” type thing it seems unless you’re with a midwife/holistic practice.

    • Yeah. That’s the vibe my OB gave me today. I really like her and I guess it’s just more data she likes to have as she provides care for me…but I really feel like it’s pointless. At this point I’m not really curious to know if I’m dilated or not. Baby will come when she comes. She said she’d let me go 10 days past my due date without inducing, so I’m like what is the rush to check my cervix? My reasoning for not was that I’m already emotional enough and having to be checked would just make me feel gross & violated. I mean, just a pap smear makes me feel ewww.

      She was totally fine not checking me today at 37 weeks, but said she’d like to check me next week if I’m up for it. Which is fine. I choose her for my care so I don’t wanna argue with her or be a difficult patient. If more pregnancies end up in my future I think a midwife + OB practice could be an interesting experience.

      • Yeah, totally agree… we almost switched to a midwife practice (it’s connected to a hospital though and they work in tandem with the doctors, which was good because I wanted to be near a higher level of care just in case) but in the end it was too much of a pain to switch everything over, so we decided to just stick with ours and bring a doula with us to the hospital to advocate for us/support us. Anyway, I go on Thursday for my 36 week appt – we’ll see what they say about the checks! My practice only lets people go about 7 days past their due date without inducing… but they said occasionally an extra day or two is fine. I have a feeling I’ll be late, so we’ll see…

        • I’ll be curious to know what they say about your checks. Hopefully we can have our call next week and talk baby at the beginning lol

          And I have a feeling you’ll be early. No idea why I feel like that :)

  17. I have two little girls and was never checked! I agree — no medical rationale, so why get a preggo lady excited or disappointed for no reason?! Regardless, you are SO close to meeting a tiny human who will teach you a whole new level of obsession ;) good luck!!

  18. Cannot wait to see the nursery! I have loved following your pregnancy posts, they have helped me think about how I will handle body image when I do get pregnant and I am so appreciative for your insight and honesty. 

    In your instagram stories this week you posted a single serving pancake recipe. Would you mind sharing? I can’t find the screen shot I thought I took.

  19. OMG it’ll be so much fun to have a friend with a baby the same time as you! Cute lil baby dates will be nice, for sure :)
    Also your Saturday noodles look yuuuum

  20. Just FYI, even if you pass your mucous plug, you probably don’t need to be checked at this point if it seems unappealing to you (call and ask, of course). Although it means labor is coming, it could still be weeks away.  I passed my mucous plug around 38 weeks with my daughter and had her at 39 weeks. Nobody had warned me about mucous, so I was a little confused! This pregnancy I started to pass it at 33 weeks which, of course, freaked me out. They made me go in and be checked, but said it’s not terribly uncommon. My cervix was just barely dilated, so there was no concern baby would be coming anytime soon. I would agree with the previous commenter that it was a little painful, and I had some brown, old blood discharge the next day. I’m a little past 35 weeks now and baby is still in my tummy! Apparently the plug can pass over a period of months, especially in a second pregnancy. They did say to go in if there was any blood in the mucous because that can be a sign of labor starting (or not!). Isn’t the waiting game exciting?

  21. So sorry about your back pain! That is no fun. Sounds like you are doing a great job of self-care during this time, though! So exciting that you have a (laid back!) friend to be pregnant with. Life goal ;)

    Hope your week is off to a good start!

  22. I can’t wait to see the nursery reveal! It looks so cute already!!

  23. I can’t wait to see your nursery! All of the baby items you’ve shown look beautiful :)

  24. That cupcake and iced chai tea latte combo sounds BOMB! Love dessert + coffee dates. So sorry about all the back pain, but thankfully Andrew sounds like he’s been a total champ of a husband :) Can’t wait for the room reveal!

  25. I had all my babies (a son and then boy/girl twins) at 30 weeks, so I never made it to the dilation check! I was born at 30 weeks so I guess it runs in the family. I didn’t even know I was in labor with the first. But I went in for back pain and was 5 cm dilated. My husband and I kept saying, “no, that can’t be right. Can’t we just get a steroid shot for the back pain.” Oh boy.

    I think you’re smart to trust your doctor and just relax as best you can until the time comes.

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