Friday, December 1, 2017

Pregnancy Update: 26 Weeks

Happy Friday! I'm back with another pregnancy update.

Baby size: the baby is a size of a scallion this week (lengthwise, obviously) or the size of an eggplant from a weight perspective. The baby is 14" long and weighs about 2 pounds. My bump has definitely grown over the last several weeks!

24 weeks

25 weeks
26 weeks - also my least flattering picture I've taken! :P 

Symptoms/RA management: Eh. My RA is still very active. I'm continuing to get about a flare a week. Some last longer than others. I am going to try acupuncture this month to see if it gives me any relief. I figure it can't hurt!

Other than my RA/feeling really tired, I started to have some rib pain last week which I attribute to everything shifting up as my uterus expands to accommodate our growing baby. It seems early to feel rib pain as my bump isn't that big but I guess everything is shifting up and putting pressure on my ribs.

The only other issue I'm having is that my complexion is AWFUL. I've always struggled with hormonal acne and it's just terrible right now with all the hormones pumping through my body. In the past, it has helped to remove dairy from my diet but I don't really want to do that as the baby needs calcium or it will leech it from my bones. I could take calcium supplements but I feel it's better to get my calcium naturally versus a supplement. So I guess I will just have to put up with bad skin. I am reminding myself that I notice it more than others. I switched to a new line of Arbonne products for acne-prone skins, so hopefully that will help!

Recent/upcoming appointments: I had a prenatal appointment yesterday with our OB. My appointment went well. The baby's heartbeat was strong at 158 bpm. My belly is measuring a week behind but the doctor wasn't concerned since it's such an approximation. My next appointment is the screening for gestational diabetes (GD) in mid-December. I'm kind of paranoid that I will fail the screen and find out I have GD because it seems like my mom probably had it with us since 3 of her 5 babies were over 9 pounds and they broke the collar bone of my little sister during her delivery (broad shoulders and heavy babies can be a sign that the mom had GD). Plus my older sister had GD with all 3 of her babies. We'll see what the test shows, though! If I have GD, it's not that big of a deal. It's just another thing to monitor.

Sleep: My sleep has been ok. Some nights are better than others. I have to switch from side to side during the night because if I lay on one side for too long, my hip and shoulder start to hurt. I'm still getting up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom, too. Naps on the weekend have been so helpful, though!

Cravings and favorite foods: I don't have any real cravings. I find that I am VERY thirsty for water sometimes. My favorite snack these days is dried mango. I can't get enough of it. Unfortunately it's not a cheap snack as the brand I prefer (peeled snacks) is almost $4 for a bag with 2 servings (which is sometimes just one serving for me - ha).

Recent baby prep/decisions/purchases: We purchased this combination dresser/changing table from Target on Cyber Monday when they had a 15% off deal.


Eventually we will purchase the matching crib. I think I've mentioned before that we are not going to order the crib until we find a house and move in. I'm really hoping we can move by early summer (I've lost all hope of finding a house before the baby is born). We are hoping to get by with a halo bassinet and pack-n-play until we move. We are just trying to avoid assembling a crib, taking it apart and then assembling it again when we move. This of course means that I won't get the experience of decorating/setting up a nursery before the baby is born but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter all that much to me. It would be such a waste of time and money to decorate a nursery when we know we won't be in the house much longer. We're just too practical for that!

Our next purchase will be the glider. I'm going to shop for one with my mother-in-law next Friday. We're also going to buy a less-expensive glider off of Amazon to have upstairs in the nursery/guest room so that we will have somewhere to rock the baby at night (our 1915 home has super steep steps so I won't want to walk down those with a baby at night!). The other glider will go in our living room where I imagine we'll spend most of the time with the baby (the only rooms upstairs are our bedrooms/full bath so we don't 'hang out' up there).

Mood: The pregnancy hormones have REALLY set in over the last couple of weeks and I've had some long crying spells over insignificant things. I'm usually not very emotional, so it's been an adjustment for Phil to see me having these crying spells. I told Phil that I wish there was a virtual reality game that would let men 'step in to the mind' of a pregnant woman and see how it feels to lose control of your body and your emotions! I know it comes with the territory but I don't enjoy being extra emotional.

11 comments:

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

I would've loved that virtual reality game haha!
Glad baby is looking good- hope the next 14ish weeks go fast for you!

Charbelle said...

Arbonne is amazing, hopefully, the new product helps! I'm excited that you found such a great deal on the changing table!!! I have purchased more online this year than ever before! There were so many fantastic deals (Kohls: artificial Christmas tree with Kohls cash and discounts #winning. Between last Wednesday and today, I have pretty much finished Christmas shopping. I love seeing the bump! I wonder if maybe since you are so healthy with how you eat and how active you are if you will not have to deal with GD? Hopefully!

Stephany said...

Aww - look at that adorable bump! I love it and you can definitely see the change from week 24 to week 26!

I can be a very emotional person, which is why pregnancy scares me a little. I can't imagine being MORE emotional than I already am. Haha. Or maybe I'll be the opposite and not cry over anything? (... doubtful, ha.) But I imagine that's hard to get used to when you're not used to being so emotional! Pregnancy is a crazy time!

thetalove said...

You are cruising along! Honestly my good friend has a 4 month old and I think he is primarily in the pack n play, so i think you're making the right call with waiting for the crib. House buying is the worst, hopefully you guys find a nice place in the next few months! (this is katie, I don't know why my other account is linking).

Marlys said...

I think your last picture is the best because Baby Segner is growing and it's getting closer to the day when we can hold him/her in our arms! It is hard to have those hormones raging through our bodies and I remember well how hurtful it was if someone made even a slight joke about me when I was pregnant - especially your Dad! He didn't think it was so funny when I burst into tears!
You are on the home stretch now, so hang in there!
I love your new dressing table, BTW!

San said...

You look wonderful, Lisa.
I am sorry you're still dealing with RA flares though. I hope they'll go away once the baby is there.
My sister had GD during one of her pregnancies as well and it wasn't really THAT big of a deal, although of course I hope that you won't have to deal with it at all.

Carolina John said...

I hope the acupuncture will bring some relief. I absolutely loved the one treatment I got and it was very effective!

Pregnancy hormones? hahahahah (mean face) WHAT MOOD SWINGS?

yeah, I'm familiar. they don't get better (sad face) but kelley did get better at dealing with them. So sorry you're having to deal with that now too, it's really not fun.

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

Your bump really bumped! It is super cute! And I just picture Phil kind of blandly staring at you as you weep copiously. I am sure he is at a loss as to what to do! Also I have a really hard time imagining you weeping a lot!

Fingers crossed you don't have GD. Not that it's a huge deal, but better less things to worry about, I always say! I am sure you are having enough fun already. I hope that the acupuncture and massage etc help with the flares and other aches and pains. I have never tried acupuncture but have heard great things about it!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

Sorry to hear your still getting frequent RA flares, and that you've been so emotional. I hope the acupuncture works for you! I tried acupuncture for the first time this year, and thought it was really cool. My friend Matt practices, and he started with the baby needles on me, so I didn't even feel them go in. I've gone a few times now, just for relaxation.

Your little bump is so cute! I think you look great :-)

That's too bad that you've been breaking out more. I know some veggies and fish etc. have a lot of calcium. Maybe you could increase those and decrease the dairy at least a bit.

Amber said...

I love the change table / dresser you ordered! That's awesome it was on sale. The pregnancy hormones are no joke, same with the postpartum hormones. I didn't find myself too emotional during pregnancy until the end when I was mostly just super angry and irritable ha ha. But man the crying post partum has been crazy. I am not one to just dissolve into tears but it has happened more times over the last 2 weeks than I can count - over both good and bad things! Also, so far having a newborn is 100x better than being pregnant, so anyone that makes annoying "just wait" comments to you should just shut it. Those were the most annoying for me during pregnancy. Especially when they came from other moms - don't they remember how terrible it is to be pregnant?! Ha. I honestly can't believe the older generation, like your mom, who would do this FIVE times. Or my MIL who had two children one year apart. Amazing/insane. Haha.

Leigh said...

You look great Lisa! I had terrible skin for the first bit of my pregnancies and it was annoying! Hopefully the new skin line works for you