32 weeks! Only 2 months to go (due date is November 23, Thanksgiving Day) – whoa. I kind of feel like that’s not true and I’ll be pregnant forever and this is just my new reality, you know? But maybe once the legit fall weather kicks in it will seem more imminent/real since I know we are having a fall holiday baby… we’ll see!
Anyway! Check out my previous pregnancy posts first if you missed them:
- Sharing our big news
- 1st trimester recap/Q&A post
- Boy or girl?!
- 16 Week Pregnancy Update (all the emotions, all the carbs)
- 18 Week Pregnancy Update (all the sandwiches, not feeling the snoogle)
- 20 Week Pregnancy Update (in the sweet spot + starting to feel movement flutters!)
- 22 Week Pregnancy Update (still in the sweet spot!)
- 24 Week Pregnancy Update (emotional roller coaster)
- 26 Week Pregnancy Update (officially looking pregnant, dealing with hip/lower back pain)
- 28 Week Pregnancy Update (realizing my old bras were now wayyyyyy too small)
- Our Baby Shower!
- 30 Week Pregnancy Update (nausea is back a bit)
32 Week Pregnancy Update
Baby Size: Almost 4 pounds and the size of a squash! Crazy. She’s moving a ton in there now – I feel her all the time, which is fun, although it’s still really hard to believe that that’s our actual baby moving around in there… this pregnancy thing is weird and still hard to fathom!
Symptoms: I’m starting to feel more physically awkward, but generally I can’t complain – my lower back/hip pain is still more or less gone (yay!!) and other than being tired/slower and sleep being uncomfortable, I’m still feeling pretty good all things considered. Hoping it continues! One thing that has been annoying lately though is that my face is REALLY dry – like aggressively visibly dry. Did any of you experience this during pregnancy? Any thoughts/advice? I’ve tried all my usual fave face creams/etc. I have and nothing seems to work…
Currently Missing: Being able to jump and sprint and generally feel nimble/light on my feet. 🙂 Also, super runny egg yolks. I loveeeee runny egg yolks.
Sleep: Still aiming to get in bed early with time to read/relax and then still get 8 to 9 hours, although sometimes on days with early workouts I don’t get quite that much (and I really feel it later). I’ve also noticed if I don’t have time to get in bed early enough to read and wind down, I have a really hard time falling asleep/staying asleep and am awake most of the night/still keyed up. That happened last night! I’m waking up a lot even on nights I sleep well, though, either because my hips are aching or because I need to pee.
Cravings and favorite foods: The usual suspects – cheese, watermelon, eggs, all the carbs. 🙂 I’ve been enjoying some smoothies lately too since it has been (until today) hotter again – mostly my simple Banana Spinach Smoothie (<- recipe) but with chia seeds and frozen wild blueberries added to the mix. Yummy!
Food aversions: Dinner is still a bit hit or miss, but I’ve have some good meals lately that I enjoyed which was nice. Food has definitely been more of an annoyance than anything during pregnancy, though, in the sense that I know I need to eat but nothing really sounds super good and I’m not at all into cooking. This means I tend to eat similar things a lot because I’m not feeling creative, and because there are certain things that always sound slightly better than others… but then that means I get bored of what I’m eating, too. And the cycle continues! I’m especially tired of summer food, though, so I’m hoping I can get into some cozy fall stews and soups now that the weather has started to change. We’ll see!
Exercise: Loving the hiking! I just go more slowly than normal. 🙂 It was SO fun and nourishing spending time in the mountains this past weekend with Matt on our mini babymoon! (Recap 1 + recap 2.)
I also discovered that if the weather is cool enough, tennis is still fun and feels good – I just don’t run for the ball much and let it come to me. 😉 Matt and I played with our friend Shane last week one night after work – must do that more in this nice fall weather that’s now back!
I’m still aiming to get in some movement every day, whether a walk with the dogs or something more formal. Here’s a little peek at what this past week looked like workout-wise. Just a reminder that what works/feels good for me may or may not feel good/work for you – and that’s okay! You do you. If working out doesn’t feel good for you while pregnant, that’s totally fine – do what works!
- Monday: walks with the dogs
- Tuesday: lunchtime yoga class
- Wednesday: Sweatbox boot camp class with Kath and Chelsea (a combination of spinning + weights/strength moves on the floor and using the TRX bands)
- Thursday: walks with the dogs
- Friday: planning on a swim later this afternoon as a nice break from the workday!
Mood: Ehhh… highs and lows… things have been hit or miss emotionally the past two weeks. I had a lovely birthday and Matt and I had such a nice time on our babymoon, but then Monday I was feeling so bummed that our last pre-baby trip was over so quickly.
There’s also been a lot going on behind the scenes with the dogs that I haven’t really been sharing much about on the blog, and it’s made things stressful and emotional. Basically, Ashe, our puppy, is very fearful and anxious and doesn’t like strangers, which makes it really stressful and hard to have anyone over to our house because she flips out and gets really aggressive/protective/territorial. She’s also very territorial in the yard/right around the house. It’s really hard because she’s SO sweet with us, but we’re starting to get really worried about how this is going to be manageable once the baby comes and we have people in and out more often than usual. (Luckily she is not aggressive with strangers away from our house – just shy/fearful – so that’s why we can take her to the dog park, on hikes, and to dog daycare, in case you were wondering.)
I don’t think she’d ever hurt our daughter, because she’ll be part of the pack, but we are definitely worried about other kids that come over, and any adults, too. It’s just not sustainable to always have her in another room or outside forever while people are here, especially if they aren’t just over for a brief visit. After finishing out the 2 months of a puppy training group class we did with her when we first adopted her, we just did another 2 months of private one-on-one training every week here at our house to see if that helped the situation. It helped a little bit in the sense that we’ve learned to try to avoid/better manage situations where she gets fearful/protective, but it doesn’t feel really sustainable because it involves having her on a leash anytime anyone comes over (and the problem is we’ve discovered that even once she calms down and is okay with the new person, if that new person then leaves the room and comes back, she flips out all over again, so it requires really watching her constantly and being nervous about it essentially until the person leaves). I mean, at this point not even my mom can come over without Ashe flipping out initially, which is really frustrating since Ashe has met her a million times and we’ve done lots of walks together, too. If I’m there to facilitate the interaction, she will calm down quickly and then be fine with my mom being in the house, even if she leaves the room and comes back, but my mom tried to come over on her own the other day to let both dogs out while I was out at client meetings and Ashe was so scary and intense my mom just had to leave. Ugh.
The other issue we’ve been having (which is less of a big deal and more manageable, but still annoying) is that Freyja has some leash aggression with other dogs. She loves other dogs at the dog park and does great at dog daycare, but for whatever reason while on leash she’s a jerk to other dogs, which means we have to cross the street/avoid other dogs while on walks, and meanwhile she’s flipping out barking and pulling trying to get to the other dog. It’s manageable when it’s just her alone, but with both dogs it’s really challenging because Ashe copies Freyja and does the same thing (Ashe is fine with other dogs on leash when she’s alone). This means I basically can’t walk the two dogs by myself anymore, because they are way too strong for me at this point to control on my own. So… yeah. Not ideal. No way a baby/stroller can be in the mix if I can’t even handle walking both dogs when it’s just me.
Since time is running out and we need to figure this situation out ASAP before the baby comes, we actually just took both dogs last night to our last resort, which is a 2 week intensive board and train boot camp. I am pretty confident they will be able to seriously improve Freyja’s leash aggression and walking skills, but we’re not sure what they’ll be able to do in terms of Ashe’s fear-based aggression and territorial instincts. We’ll see. Earlier this week Matt and I had a serious talk about potentially maybe needing to consider rehoming Ashe if this boot camp doesn’t work… we just can’t be dealing with this while we have a newborn around (and then a toddler who will want to have friends over, etc.). Even just having that conversation and really considering the idea of rehoming her basically makes me burst into tears because we love her so much and she’s such a sweet and fun dog when it’s just us with her. I would just feel so, so sad and guilty if that ended up being what we had to do… but at the same time we need to do what’s best for our family. So, anyway. The situation would be hard and emotional anyway, but with pregnancy hormones on board it means it’s even harder. I’ll keep you guys updated… for now, we wait and see how things are when the dogs are finished with their 2 week boot camp. We will miss them while they are gone, but it will also be nice to have some peace and quiet in the house in the meantime!
Maternity clothes: Still wearing lots of hand me downs – waiting until most of my friends already had kids was a smart decision on the maternity clothing front because I haven’t had to buy much myself! 🙂 The pretty dress in the first photo in this post is another hand me down from my BFF Jenny… she gave me so much cute stuff last time I saw her! I wore it to the fun blogger dinner on Tuesday night. 🙂
Reading: Nothing baby-related right now because I got really excited when I found out that the new Ken Follett book about Kingsbridge is out (A Column of Fire)! So, reading that now. 🙂 Honestly I just feel like the amount of information out there about baby stuff is so overwhelming… and a lot of friends have said that they read a ton and then most of it ended up not being useful because their baby ended up not having xx issue but having another one they didn’t read up on – so, I think I’m just going to see how things go and read up/get advice as necessary when the baby arrives. I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions for you guys then!! Matt and I are going to attend an “infant care 101 skills” class at the hospital next weekend, though, which I think will be really helpful for those early days where we are like… how the heck do we do this?! (It covers things like how to bathe a baby, swaddling, diapering, burping, putting a baby to bed/sleep patterns, when to call the pediatrician, infant safety, things to prepare beforehand, etc. We are also taking an infant CPR class in a couple weeks, too.)
Baby Room Progress: The baby’s room is still a total hot mess, BUT the furniture we ordered (crib + changing table/dresser combo) is arriving next week, so that means I can finally start to get things organized and put away! Also, my mom is amazing and took on the task of washing all the baby clothes we received and organizing them to figure out what is missing/what we still need. She said just taking the tags off everything took her nearly an hour… Mom, you are the best!! Thank you!
And, that’s all I have for you today! Thank you for reading and sharing in this special time with us. <3 My next update will be at 34 weeks. Until then!
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