27 weeks!

Its been hard to get a decent picture with good light lately... so here are both my attempts this week!

27 weeks and rollin' into the third trimester! That is pretty amazing! Though I feel like I've been pregnant FOREVER, I can't believe we are nearing the end. We are going to get to meet this little person who is constantly flipping and squirming around in my belly! I've been lucky to continue to feel great. I have my moments of heartburn and bladder failure (as I like to call it...), but overall am feeling great.

I had an appointment with my midwives last week. All is well with baby and despite everyone telling me I'm huge for how far along I am my belly measures right on schedule. I had my fasting glucose tested and it came back normal, which was reassuring. Remember last month I had a GIANT jump in my weight? I think I said on here it was 13lbs, but I guess it was actually 10lbs. Anyway, I lost a pound this month so I'm still at a total gain of 20lbs. They were displeased. They'd really like me to gain the full 40lbs, but more importantly don't want me to be losing any weight. Not sure what happened, but there has been no lack of stress in our life so maybe my appetite wasn't up to par? I've been trying to be better about eating bigger meals and more often. I'm not too worried about it though...baby is growing at a normal rate so I just need to be sure we're getting enough nutrients. 

We also talked about my depression...they have been monitoring me closely throughout the pregnancy which has been nice. I'm going to meet with a perinatal therapist and psychiatrist in the coming weeks to determine the best course of action to be sure I don't get too sad. My main concern is balancing how I feel with the effects on baby. It does neither of us any good if I'm down, but I also don't want to take anything that may have lasting effects. Tough decision. I'm fine though...just lots of ups and downs which I think are mostly associated with this prolonged upheaval of our life combined with re-acclimating to the dreary weather.

What else? We decided to move in with my parents. People don't understand that decision, saying that since Grant has a good job we should be able to live on our own. And we can. The problem is that with rent being sky-high here and house prices still much higher than in Missouri, it'd be YEARS before we could buy a house if we rent anything decent. We are lucky enough to have lots of family offer to take us in and happy to take my parents up on it. It should be an adventure... 4 adults, 1 infant, and 2 dogs all under one roof! Luckily its a big space and we are all pretty laid back. We are really excited about the prospect of saving a grip of money and being able to get into a house we love in a year to 15 months. 

In baby news...he is just growin' growin' growin'. 2 lbs and over 14 inches long! It would look something like this baby in the unfortunate circumstance that it was born early. Happily, most babies do really great if they are born anytime from now until their due date. Thats not to say it would be an easy road, but likely it would be one with a happy ending. I miss working with those little babes in the NICU! 

I can tell things are getting tighter in there. Fighting for space and moving my internal organs all around. I can feel almost every little movement now and often get to see my belly wiggle along. I can also feel which position baby is laying in much of the time. I think its going to be a snuggler because it is often cuddled way down in my pelvis. Kind of nice since it makes it easier for me to breathe. We had a big week with people feeling baby move - Grant felt baby move last week, did I tell you that? It was pretty cool and made me really happy. I think that anterior placenta makes it harder to feel and see sometimes so I'm glad it finally happened. Friday night baby was doing all sorts of acrobatics that both Janelle and Lindsey got to feel and then last night my mom felt him move! I love it that I get to share that with so many of our favorite people!