28 Weeks

I love love love this cute dress. Have you all heard of Majamas? They make awesome clothes for pregnancy and nursing. They are super pricy because they're high quality and made in the USA, but they have a boutique in my neighborhood and they had a sample sale recently. Lucky for me, I am exactly the sample size, and I snagged this dress and two super adorable tops for $10 each. Most of their tops and dresses are in the $60+ range, so this was such a score! And all of the pieces will work for nursing. It was so fun to treat myself and feel cute in a new outfit without spending a lot or supporting child labor in other countries.

Weeks pregnant: 28
Total Weight Gain: +25lb
Total Waist Gain: +9"
Baby Size: Chinese Cabbage

Physical stuff: I'm starting to get used to the achy pelvis and soreness. Yoga helps. Sleeping with lots of pillows helps. I feel like such an old lady when I'm trying to play with Penny though. We do a lot on the floor, and it's taxing to get up and down. Music class is turning out to be quite a workout for me–we're constantly on the floor, then running around the room, then on the floor, then galloping in a circle. Who needs a gym membership? Also, Penny's bed is just a mattress on the floor, and we do lots of reading books on her bed, so it's a lot. But, I'm grateful to be healthy, and I'm happy that baby is growing.

Emotional stuff: I'm starting to get a little panicked about all of the things I need to get done before baby comes. Well, not panicked enough to actually start doing anything–just panicked enough to make me stressed out. I decided I wanted to actually write down all of the things I want to get done before the baby comes. And then I thought, well why not just add it to my pregnancy posts–this will be a good reminder for me, and when the weeks go by and nothing is getting crossed off, maybe it will kick my butt in gear. So...

Before Baby to-do list (items in italics have been started but not finished):

• Make a few frozen oven-ready meals
• Stock the freezer with filling snacks (muffins, lactation cookies, bagels)
• Read Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk
• Make 30 cloth diaper inserts
• Purchase a double stroller, or figure out some other plan for carting around 2 little ones
• Purchase a supplemental nursing system (just in case)
• Look into potential sources of donor milk
• Clean and inflate my birth ball
• Get homebirth supplies ready (from list from midwife)
• Submit paperwork for maternity/postpartum gym suspension
• Find newborn photographer
• Catalog/archive/organize digital photographs–I need to figure out a system for this. Suggestions welcome!
• Unpack newborn clothes from storage bins and put in dresser for baby
• Unpack newborn stuff (slings, blankets, nursing pillow, swaddles, etc) from storage and organize for baby
• Get Penny's preschool applications ready–apparently all the preschool fairs are in mid-January and the applications are due around then, so I guess I'm going to have to do the research on my own. I am hoping to get her into a 2-day, morning program (so like 4-5 hours per week) in the fall.
• Go out to a nice dinner with my husband 
• Figure out a childcare plan for Penny during the birth

That's what I can think of for now–I might add more. Any glaring things you can think of that I'm forgetting? Mama brain welcomes suggestions!

Birth prep: I had my last 4-week gap between prenatal visits. Now I'll be going every 2 weeks. I had my gestational diabetes screen this week. My midwives did it a little differently than is conventionally done. Instead of drinking that nasty neon orange glucose drink (seriously–how is that stuff good for pregnant women and fetuses? Aren't we supposed to avoid sugar and artificial crap?), they had me get a drink with 50 grams of sugar and drink that an hour before my appointment. They recommend the Naked or Oodwallah smoothies, and I found one with exactly 50g of sugar. It's still a lot of sugar, but at least it's all fruit and all natural without artificial colors and junk. I haven't gotten the results yet, but the appointment wasn't really noteworthy otherwise. Fundal height was measuring right on track, and the heartbeat was strong.


Here I was 28 weeks pregnant with Penny: