31 Weeks and Braxton Hicks or too many nachos and worries about Baby Blues after...

Wow how time is flying! As I write this we are 32w1d - cannot believe less than 8 weeks till Baby Wik will make his/her appearance! But as always, my posts are a week behind so we will talk week 31!

This week was pretty uneventful baby wise - I felt great for the most part and have been sleeping a bit better. We did however have a pretty eventful weather week here in Chi-town. I am convinced the apocalypse is coming - no joke. This winter has just been crazy! Monday we got a crazy snow storm dumping probably 8+ inches in a few hours - ridiculous! I headed to work but only stayed until 11am and worked the rest of the day from the comfort of home! :) After the storm - a few days later we had temps that pushed 50 and lots and lots of melting which was nice - however the polar vortex is on it's way back to town and we are expecting to not even reach the 20's this week. So. over. it. Please please please hurry up spring!

Baby Wik is extremely active these days - which is so so amazing! I get pretty consistent movements multiple times a day which is so reassuring and he/she reacts when I try to mess with him/her by poking at my belly - so cute!! At my last appointment the baby was head down which finally made me realize that those little blips I felt low in my abdomen were actually hiccups - I had not clue how the baby was positioned and thought they were tiny kicks! This week at my 32 week appointment doc was a little unsure which way the little one was but wasn't concerned since we have so much time left. Things are starting to get a bit more uncomfortable and I'm definitely slowing down which is a new feeling for me - but all comes with the territory and wouldn't change it for the world!

Hilarious - this is not really how fast Baby Wik was moving but when I uploaded the video it did this and I just couldn't stop laughing so I'm going to leave it!

That brings me to last night and something I've been thinking of talking about for a while. Yesterday I felt great, went to the doc, bp was perfect, measuring right on track, found out I've only gained 29 lbs (I thought it was closer to 40!) and everything looked great! Worked the day from home and then headed to Mexican date night with hubby. I only ate about half my dinner and was feeling totally stuffed. By the time we came home I laid down on the couch and within about 20 minutes starting having some pretty crazy pains. At this point I really don't know what contractions feel like - and everyone says oh you will know - but whatever these were I haven't felt them before and they certainly didn't feel normal.

I felt pretty intense pains that would come and go - we didn't really time them because again - I'm not sure that's what they were so I had zero clue how to actually time them. I was getting frustrated and scared and Chris was oblivious to what was going on. Apparently I need to be more vocal when I think there's an issue! I felt like I couldn't really move because I was so uncomfortable and in so much pain. Time to call our doula!! I knew all day yesterday I needed to be drinking more water - but for some reason I just had trouble getting it down yesterday. So Rita suggested I take a warm bath and try to get some water down and see how things went. I did just that and was finally able to get some relief. They lasted for probably about an hour to an hour and a half start to finish before I was finally able to drift off to sleep! I hope it was an isolated incident and doesn't happen again because it sure did scare the crap out of me!

That's where the baby blues notion comes in. Of course my first thought was oh my gosh what if the baby comes? Will it be OK? It's way too early - this can't be happening. So I was scared for Baby Wik but the only other thought on my mind was - I'm not ready to NOT be pregnant yet. It totally freaked me out. I love being pregnant - love everything about it. I know some women complain and there's zero judgement here on my part because I have had a pretty easy pregnancy thus far (knock on wood) minus the scare in the beginning and I have no clue what the next (give or take) 8 weeks will bring. But thus far, I have felt great, continued to work like crazy, stay active, workout - all of it. Plus this all feels like a dream to me still so the thought of it ending early and being "cheated" out of any of my 40 weeks all of the sudden made me so sad! I literally just kept thinking no no no, I'm not ready for this to end!

This makes me very worried about baby blues after the baby comes - and to be honest Chris has mentioned to me he is very very worried about it too. I have always been the one that goes into a mini sad period after the holidays, or vacation, or any big life event that I've spent time preparing for. It's like there is all this build up and excitement, then it's all over so fast and then it's like well damn, what do I do now? In this instance of course we are finally going to have our little one here with us and our dreams will finally become a reality so I'm hoping that that helps. Even having Baby Wik here though - hormones are a strong force and sometimes can't be stopped. According to the American Pregnancy Association 70-80% of all new moms experience the baby blues and it's believed to be caused by hormone changes. I'm very thankful that in our classes thus far we've talked about this, the fact it's nothing to be ashamed of, and the symptoms to look for. Plus - with our amazing doula I have no fear she will help us through. We also plan to do placenta encapsulation which I save for a whole different post…prepare yourselves! :)

So keep us in your thoughts and prayers that yesterday was just too many delicious nachos and a little discomfort and not a sign of anything bad to come! We want to cook Baby Wik as long as possible! Hope you all have a great weekend!! Oh, yes - week 31's pic!!

XOXO

K