Week 27

Not much going on this past week, so I’ll just jump right to the baby stuff.

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.


Images and content courtesy of babycenter.com

How far along: 27 weeks

Total weight gain: +22 total.  This is +3 from last week.  UGH! Based on the pregnancy weight gain calculator, I’m a little ahead of where I need to be. So, yeah, I need to slow my roll.  A delicious Southwestern Egg Roll from Chili’s.  Or a pork roll from Chinese House.  Or a Crescent Roll. 

Here’s to hoping I’ll even out next week.  That seems to be the trend with this pregnancy.  Where I’d gain only one 1 – 2 lbs./week with Anna consistently, this pregnancy I’ll gain 3, not gain, gain 3.  I guess it all evens out.  My body is going to do what it wants to do, but I don’t need to help it along by eating two servings of everything.  Or three.

Sleep habits: Sleep has been quite good this week, fortunately.  Other than Anna crashing my bed a few times, I’ve been sleeping soundly and falling back to sleep quickly after waking up.  The bad dreams have stopped, and while my dreams are still vivid and memorable, at least they’re not panic inducing anymore.  I can’t sleep on my back any longer.  I wake up in pretty bad pain, achy pain.  My stomach is certainly heavier now, and it’s quite apparent when I have to get up from a lying down position.  That’s no fun.

Maternity clothes: They still fit.  It’s a miracle.  My bump is a lot higher up now and more bump-like, so I’m kind of digging the tight shirts to showcase my belly.  Of course I always wear a sweater on top to hide my butt.  So, I guess that kind of negates the cute bump shirts. 

Best moment of the week:  The Saints win against the Lions this past Saturday was pretty wonderful. 

Food cravings: No true cravings or aversions this week.  I’m ravenous, but any food will do. 

Symptoms: Some minor cramping – especially on my left side.  My hormones seem to be more in check this week, thankfully. 
 
Movement:  He’s equally active and not active.  Some hours he’s moving non-stop, then he won’t move for another hour or so.  I get worried.  It’s like he senses it and gives me a huge stomp in the bladder.  Good times.  He alternates between sitting on my bladder all day or hanging out behind my belly button.  I can feel kicks and punches all over now which is pretty weird.  I can see all of them from the outside as well. His kicks were so hard the other night that he was making my phone (that was perched on my stomach) move and bounce.  Kind of weird and fascinating all at the same time.

The nursery:  I’m counting down the days ‘til two of my BFsF, Beth over at Unskinny Boppy and Kent, come on down to help me out with the nursery details.  They’re going to help me paint the wall stripes as well as sew the curtains (Kent sews), make some pillows and other odds and ends.  

This is what I’ve done thus far:
1) I purchased his bedding – woot!  I got this entire bedding set – crib skirt, bumper, two sheets, pillow, comforter – for $45.  It’s in mint condition. 

 

2.  I purchased the fabric for the curtains, pillows, and changing pad cover that Kent will be sewing.

Curtain fabric:
I decided on an orange chevron fabric for the curtains.  I wanted to break out of the monochromatic color scheme of the bedding and add pops of colors with accents and other details.  After lamenting over different choices, I finally decided on this fabric:


Joe says it looks like the Whattaburger design.  While I agree, I think he fails to see how fantastic it will look in the final design.  Patience, dear grasshopper. 

This is what they will look like hanging (the image above is a truer example of the real color, these look a bit darker):
Image courtesy of Castle Creek Designs

Pillow fabrics:

  

Fabrics below are from fabric.com
 
Hopefully we’ll have a little fabric left over to make an orange chevron pillow as well.

Changing pad cover (minky fabrics):




3) The artwork
This has kind of been a tricky spot this past week.  I kind of/sort of started the whole decoration process without any input from Joe.  I figure, eh, decorating is more my domain than his, so it’ll be OK.  Wrong!  He wants to put all of his Coca Cola collection in the room as well as bright car posters and things that just won’t go.  I figure when baby J is older and we decorate his toddler room, we can bring all of that out, but for now I’d like his nursery to look like a nursery and not a Coca Cola/Dale Earnhardt museum. 

So, to compromise, I nixed the bird/owl theme and decided to introduce a vintage/retro/modern (contradiction, right?) theme to make Joe happy while still maintaining the overall concept. 

My friend Allison is going to create three canvases that will go behind his bed – one will have a vintage Chevy Camaro (Joe’s favorite car), the other will be an old Chevy truck, and the middle canvas will just be the letter J.

Here’s an example of the look we’re going for that will be used on the canvases using the colors of the nursery:

  
Image is from N. Eve Designs on Etsy

Here’s some artwork that I DIY after finding a design I loved on Etsy.  


I will have it framed and matted like above using some frames that I had left over from when the room was a guest room.  Total cost = $0!

Since the frames are black, I will probably spray paint them all aqua.

I love the alphabet concept, so I’ll be adding in some alphabet artwork as well. 

Here’s my DIY version:

Again, this will be framed and matted in an aqua frame.

I also love the artwork below and will try to DIY it myself and add to some shelving or the dresser/tables in his room:


Image is from Trendy Peas


Image is from Trendy Peas

Image is from Sycamore Street Press on Etsy

I guess the two basic concepts of the room at this point are vintage cars and the alphabet.  My friend Allison came through once again and found an adorable set of letters that she was able to DIY/mimic in papers that match the nursery colors.  Here’s what she’s done so far:

Inspiration photo:
Image is from mypaperlust.blogspot.com

Here’s her DIY version:
I love, love, love them!

Other to-dos:

1) Create a bird mobile like this inspiration photo:

Image from Design, dining, and diapers

Since I can’t sew worth crap, I found a seller on Etsy who made me 6 birds (in colors that match the nursery) for $15!

Check out The Fish Box

Now all I need is the wreath and hanging string.  This mobile will go above J’s changing table. 

Still to do…
1) Pick out paint colors.  I’m still undecided, but I think I’m leaning towards a mid-level beige/brown color and off-white/cream stripe.  The stripes will be on one wall only – the wall behind his crib.  The other three walls (small walls) will be painted in the beige/brown color.  Since we have a lot of patterns and things going on, I think a room full of stripes will be overwhelming. 

Still not sure if I’ll do a wide stripe like this:
Image courtesy of projectnursery.com. 

Or a narrow stripe like this:

 Image courtesy of Nursery Notations

My plan this weekend is to paint the base coat on the walls so it will be ready to go when we want to do the stripes once Beth and Kent get here.  Slowly but surely!
 
What I’m looking forward to:  Beth and Kent’s visit.  Finishing up the nursery.  4D u/s.

What I miss: Same as last week – I miss the ability to get things done without having to wait on other people to help me (ahem, Joe bringing stuff to the attic). 

Next appointment: My last appointment was January 5th, but they moved it to the 6th because my OB had an emergency delivery.  The baby’s h/b was 140.  When she measured my belly, she said I was a little behind – I was measuring 25 cm. at 26w3d, but she said as long as we’re not 2 cm different, we’re still in a good zone.  Of course I worried and Googled since I never had this problem with Anna, and it seems like this is fairly common.  He could’ve just been in a weird position at that moment which may have skewed the measurements. 

I have to go back in two weeks on January 19th for the gestational diabetes test.  They like to take it right at 28 weeks there.  I have to force myself to eat two Snickers bars for a few days prior.  What a sacrifice! 

See ya next week!

91 days to go.  Eeek!