29 Weeks! I missed 27 and 28.

As of yesterday I am 29 weeks pregnant! This means that to be full term, Benton could arrive in 8-10 weeks! I am ready…I don’t want him to come too early though!  

I missed blogging the last couple of weeks, because on the day that I turned 27 weeks, I decided it would be a great idea (or at least fashionable) to wear my five inch wedges. I stepped on a rock in the parking lot at work and twisted my ankle. I would have fallen, but luckily my friend Alicia’s Jeep impeded my fall! My ankle hurt, but I decided that I would be ok and continued to wear my wedges. By the end of the day my ankle was extremely swollen and I was in tears from the pain. After a visit to Urgent Care, I came home with an air cast, crutches, pain meds, instructions to stay home for three days with my foot elevated and iced and instructions to not drive for two weeks. My ankle still hurts from time to time, but for the most part I am completely better!

So what did you miss for weeks 27 and 28? Well, at 27 weeks I officially entered my third trimester! Benton was the size of a cauliflower, 13 ¾ inches long and weighing 2 ¼ pounds…roughly. He began opening and closing his eyes, having hiccups and developed a regular sleep cycle. His sleep cycle is not the same as mine though. When I lie down for bed, he decides to start kicking and doing somersaults. I am sure this is a sign of his defiant personality! 

At 28 weeks Benton was the size of a rutabaga or a Chinese cabbage. He was 13.6 to 14.8 inches long and weighed about 2.5 pounds. He gained more fat, so his skin is not so wrinkly and if lungs were maturing, which is great news!

Now as for 29 weeks…He is currently the size of an acorn squash. He is 15.2 to 16.7 inches long and weighs 2.5 to 3.8 pounds. He will triple in weight before birth…hopefully he won’t be quite that big! I am a little scared! He is growing so fast that he is a little cramped. This explains why I feel more jabs and kicks. I actually saw them this morning too. I was just watching my stomach and could see him move all around…very cool!

My pregnancy symptoms have not changed. I experience just about every single one. Luckily there are a few I have skipped. I will spare you the details, but those people who say pregnancy is a beautiful thing are lying!!

On a much more pleasant note, my friends have set the date for my shower and they are in the planning stages! I am very excited. I have been working hard on the nursery and hopefully it will be completed soon. I have to admit that I am a little stressed about that. I keep having these dreams that Benton arrives early and I have nothing! I just keep telling myself and Sam keeps telling me that everything will get done and will be fine. I know it will be!

26 Weeks

As of Tuesday I am 26 weeks along! I have not posted until today, because I have been a little sick. I had some issues beginning Sunday afternoon and Monday. I saw my doctor Monday and she said that I just need to rest whenever things like this happen. She also stated that I have not gained much weight (funny, because I feel huge!) and I haven’t gained any weight in over two months. She said at the next visit we may have to look at putting me on an eating schedule. I honestly do the best I can. I just feel so nauseous most of the time, that eating is not an easy thing for me to do. As of right now (today…at this moment) I feel pretty good!

Symptoms that I may experience this week are, trouble sleeping, swelling, headaches, pregnancy brain (it’s getting tricky to remember stuff), Braxton Hicks contractions, and slightly higher blood pressure. I am experiencing all of these, but the higher blood pressure. Yay! J

As for Benton, he is great! I feel him moving more and more everyday...he is very active! According to one email I received, he is the size of and English Hothouse Cucumber. I honestly have no idea what the looks like, so we will jut say he is the size of a head of lettuce, which is what another email told me. He's still growing in the 13.6 to 14.8 inch range and 1.5 to 2.5 pounds range. His eyes are forming and his eyes will soon start to open. His eyelashes are growing too. He's taking breaths...they're of amniotic fluid, not air, but it's still good practice for him. The most exciting part (I think so anyway) is that Benton is now able to hear me as I chat with other people!

25 Weeks

I am 25 weeks today! Benton is the size of an eggplant and unfortunately my uterus is the size of a soccer ball. Thank goodness I receive different emails that notify me of these changes every week. Not only is my uterus the size of soccer ball, but my body is starting to get “plumper” everyday…one email actually said that!! As if I needed someone to tell me that. It was bad enough when I was lying in bed one night this past week and my husband rubs my belly and says, “You’re definitely showing now!” I know he didn’t mean anything by it, but I could have done without his comment and I could live without the overtly honest emails updating me on every negative possibility that might happen to my body. What pregnant woman wants to be told their body is getting plumper…everyday?! 

Other possible changes or issues that the emails have notified me of are, heartburn or indigestion, snoring, hemorrhoids, tingling hands, varicose veins, restless legs syndrome,skin, nail, and hair changes. I’ve had heartburn since day one and according to my husband, I’ve always snored, so nothing new there. Luckily these are the only things I am experiencing, well, aside from the constant nausea, fatigue, sleeplessness, and feeling all around uncomfortable. I would love to experience the changes in my hair! Supposedly my hair should feel thicker and more lustrous than ever before…that’s a change I will take, but of course I am not that fortunate.

Ok, one last little complaint and then I will have it out of my system. I started experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions this past week. For those of you who have not been privileged enough to experience these glorious pings of pain, let me describe them for you. They’re referred to as “practice contractions”. The muscles of the uterus tighten for approximately 30 to 60 seconds and sometimes as long as two minutes. They’re irregular in intensity, infrequent and unpredictable, which is really great when you are out in public. I was lucky enough to experience a series of Braxton Hicks AFTER leaving Sam’s work function Friday night. Thank goodness I didn’t have them right in front of 20 people that I just met for the first time!

So, I am done with the complaining. Now I will tell you about Benton. Like I said, he is the size of an eggplant, about 13.6 to 14.8 inches and weighs about 1.5 to 2.5 pounds. He is growing by leaps and bounds! His lungs are developing and getting ready for his first breath. He is enjoying a new sense of equilibrium - he now knows which way is up and which is down. He's growing more fat and more hair too! He moves around like crazy! Devyn even got to feel him kick for the first time this weekend. He said he can't wait for Benton to come. Connor keeps asking, "When is Benton going to be here?" Hopefully they will still be excited when he is here and crying at 3 am.

For now we are ALL excited for Benton's arrival!

24 Weeks

Today I am 24 weeks pregnant! Benton is now the size of a grapefruit! He's between 10.5 to 11.8 inches and 12.7 to 20.8 ounces.  


I officially started wearing some maternity clothes this week, although I can I still wear a lot of my "regular" clothes too. This week people officially started commenting on my belly and telling me that I finally look pregnant. I'm not sure how I feel about that. The maternity clothes definitely emphasize my belly. I don't really understand why maternity shirts are so form fitting.


Things I have to look forward to in the coming week...swollen feet and ankles, leg cramps and back aches. Back aches are something that I have already been dealing with for a few weeks. Maybe I will get lucky and skip the other things or at the very least put them off for a couple weeks. 


One exciting thing that happened this past week was a great friend made a quilt for Benton! I am not the greatest at taking pictures, but below are two pics of the quilt, which has the same colors in it as the bedding that we registered for. I LOVE it!!

23 Weeks

Today is the first day of spring and I am 23 weeks pregnant! I was sick with the flu all last week, but this morning I was back to dry heaving as soon as my feet hit the ground. I never thought I would miss that, but I will take pregnancy symptoms over flu symptoms any day.

By now most women have moved on from morning sickness and they’re experiencing relief from other pregnancy symptoms. I am not so lucky. I have and I am experiencing all pregnancy symptoms. I have been sick since a week after conception…unfortunately that is not an exaggeration. Although it has gotten better, I am now experiencing round ligament pain, which is something I did not encounter with my first two pregnancies. It causes severe pain when I stand up or walk. Needless to say I now walk like I am nine months pregnant…not a pretty sight. Don’t worry though, my doctor told me that it is completely normal, but it will not get better for awhile. Phew! What a relief! I was worried that I might get too comfortable in this pregnancy.

After reading several pregnancy blogs, I’ve noticed the trend of the pregnant women posting pictures of their pregnant belly week by week. Though I have not gained much weight, I feel enormous and that is what I see when I look in the mirror, so for now I am holding off on pictures of my expanding belly. I am sure that I will eventually be comfortable with my pregnancy body post pictures, so stay tuned!