weeks 23-25

week 23

Crazy boy! You are a little wild man...and I LOVE it :).  I'm beginning to wonder if you ever sleep in there.  Maybe you sleep while I am, keep that up!  I am still getting random feelings that you are going to be a big baby, maybe partly because some of your movements seem so BIG sometimes!  The other day at work you were going crazy for 5 straight minutes-moving, swiping, kicking me all on the top right side of my belly.  I love being able to see your movements and see you shake my belly if I lift up my shirt and watch.

I'm down to 3 days/week at the gym (some weeks only 2 days, but I try and do 2 classes one of those days) and still teaching BodyPump.  I'm feeling pretty good in BP, but the cardio classes are starting to become a lot tougher.  I don't do as much of the jumping or high impact and taking low options every once and a while.  It is just starting to feel uncomfortable to do some of those things.  Pushups and anything core-related is pretty much out the window now too. I have been having a member come up on stage and do the core track full-out while I go modified and still tell people what to do :).  Pushups are definitely on my knees now, modified pushups when even those get too hard.  It's crazy to watch yourself simply not be able to do things you could do before!

We had our appointment today and everything checked out great!  I had a feeling I had gained some weight this time for sure...and boy did I! We made up for the last appointment with no weight gain I guess.  I gained 7.5 lbs in 4 weeks...holy cow! I guess that means you are a growing boy in there! Or maybe it means I need to take it easy on the Halloween candy :).  So that puts us at a total weight gain of 10.5 lbs so far.  Blood pressure was great at 120/80, even better than last appointment.  Your heart rate was 160 bpm and Dr. Hughes said you "sure are growing!" when she measured my belly.  Our next appointment will be at 27 weeks and includes the glucose tolerance test (note to self: don't drink my morning OJ that day), Tdap shot (boo!), and more blood work.  Matt has still been coming to every single appointment and I absolutely love it.

Baby is the size of a grapefruit this week and gaining weight every day!  You are about 11 inches long and weigh just over a pound.

week 24

24 weeks...6 months!  What a solid number.  It's so cool to have gotten this far.  And guess what milestone you hit this week? Viability! Now that does NOT mean you are allowed to come out (especially since we will be out of town and away from my NICU for a week).  In the NICU world, there is a huge difference between a 23 and 24 weeker.  Every single day counts.  The longer you cook and the closer you are to term, the better.  Us NICU nurses have quite a warped mind, but it makes me feel so much better to have gotten to 24 weeks!

I feel like I have gotten a lot bigger this week.  Actually I feel like my stomach grows bigger every single day, it's so strange! I absolutely love having this little bump on me reminding me that you are growing away in there.  You can definitely see my been-an-outie-for-awhile belly button through my shirts, I can't imagine it popping out any farther.

My mom and I went to Joann Fabrics and picked out all the fabric for the nursery! We got the fabric for your quilt, crib skirt, and crib rail cover.  It's a mix of grey, turquoise, lime green, linen, and white.  I'm hoping everything will tie together!  The room will be basically neutral (grey, linen, brown) with little pops of the turquoise and lime.

Baby is the size of a cantaloupe weighing in at a little over a pound and 13-21 inches long.  

week 25

This thing is popping out like crazy!  I have definitely felt very "pregnant" this week.  I think that week off for vacation where I mostly just sat on my butt and ate made for a hard come-back this week.  After work this week, I've come home with slightly swollen calves and feet-just a slight indentation from my compression hose.  I had a super busy day with an admission on Wednesday and my feet were throbbing like crazy.  It's getting harder to run around these days!  I'm back to peeing every 5 seconds (I had a good solid couple weeks break from that!) which made for quite the interesting road trip back home, definitely a couple more stops than on the way down.

We had an amazing trip! You dad was as incredible as ever and never once complained about our frequent stops or the need to relax a little more...in fact, he actually complimented me on how well I was doing!  He was a pro with the back rubs and the morning breakfast sandwiches too.  He's the bomb.  You're going to love him :).

The coolest thing when you move now is being able to feel little body parts. I don't know exactly what body part it is, but it feels like a foot or knee (or hand!) pushing out at me sometimes.  I mostly feel you at my belly button or upper right side.  Lately too I have been noticing I can feel you in multiple spots at once. You'll move and I can feel you up top and pushing off my bladder at the same time.  The movements just feel so much bigger!  We are going to get started on clearing out/possibly painting your room this weekend.  But we also are going to register, so I'm not sure what all we will actually get done.  I'm starting to feel the pressure of getting everything done before you come though!  We are looking forward to spending time with family next week at Thanksgiving!

Baby is the size of a cauliflower this week weighing in at 1.5 lbs and about 13.5 inches long.

road trip

Matt had a weeks' vacation left at work for this year so we decided to do a road trip to see some of our favorite southerners for a week! We had an absolutely amazing time.  It was exactly what we needed! Getting to spend a week with Matt was my favorite part by far, and we were lucky enough to be able to visit some friends that we hadn't seen in a while.  It was our last hurrah/vacay before Baby Dunn arrives and we are so happy that we did it!

We decided to do a road trip instead of flying just so we could be flexible.  We weren't sure how great of a traveler I would be at 24/25 weeks pregnant so we planned a couple extra stops on the way down.  Bathroom breaks were a tad more abundant on this trip as compared to others :).  I have been feeling great so the riding in the car really didn't bother me too much. My back bothered me a little, but nothing that a back massage couldn't fix!  It really was the perfect vacation!  Little man was super active on the trip.  I found myself with my hand on my belly just about the whole time taking in all of his moving and kicks.  I'd grab Matt's hand when he got real crazy :).  It was amazing to just spend hours in the car with Matt while feeling our baby go wild.  The love we already feel for this kid is crazy.  Matt was amazing on the trip-always so patient with me, never complaining about the extra stops or the extra backrubs, making me breakfast sandwiches every single morning, and giving me every chance to relax.  He is the best.

We started our trip on Saturday afternoon and made our way down to Nashville, TN.  We got there late afternoon and walked up and down Broadway Street listening to the bands, taking in the culture, and looking in a couple shops.  The weather was fantastic! A beautiful Fall day.  After we walked around for a while, we stopped in at a bar (three-level with different bands on each one).  Matt got a couple beers and we listened to the music.  Afterwards, we walked to grab some dinner.  I have a couple friends who live in Nashville so I asked about some of the best places to go.  Of course, all of the restaurants they suggested had at least an hour wait...must mean they were good! We ended up eating at Demo's, an Italian restaurant, and it was delicious!  We had planned on staying the night at a hotel in Nashville that night and then getting up to drive to GA the next day, but our friends in Jacksonville had plans the middle of the week so we tried to figure out a way to get there before.  We last minute (around 8 pm while we were paying our bill at the restaurant) decided to keep driving on past Atlanta that night, stayed the night in Macon, and then went the rest of the way to Jacksonville on Sunday.

We got into Jacksonville Sunday afternoon-weather high 70s and sunny the entire couple days we were there!  Jacksonville (especially Ed and Candy's house) is super special for us.  It was where Matt and I's relationship started.  We couldn't get enough of each other on that vacation we took back then, were inseparable once we got home (until Matt moved to FL for school for 1.5 years and I went down every chance I got), and 9 years later still going strong! It's crazy to see how far we have come since that "family vacation" so long ago.  

We hung out at Ed and Candy's and grilled out Sunday night.  The food was delicious!  On Monday while they had to work, Matt and I slept in, had coffee (hot apple cider for me!) out on the pool patio, took the golf cart down to their dock to hang out, and then made our way to Jax Beach.  That night once they got home, we went out for dinner and drinks.  On Tuesday morning, we hopped back in the car and trekked towards Savannah, GA for our next stop.

Instead of driving straight to Cumming, we made a stop in Savannah to be touristy.  Savannah was beautiful! A bunch of old buildings, the cobblestone River St., and all the little shops (with free pralines!) were awesome.  We walked around and then had lunch at The Pirate's House.  After lunch, we finished our GA leg of the trip to Cumming.

We hit some Atlanta rush-hour traffic once we were almost to Cumming, which drove Matt crazy! It pushed us back by at least an hour.  We got into Cumming around 7 pm and Hunter and Amanda had tacos ready for us!  Tacos and Sons of Anarchy-perfect.  They had come up to Indiana to visit us back in June and Matt rode his motorcycle down to see them in September so we have done pretty well this year with seeing each other.  We love spending time with them and all the cute little kiddos!  Matt is a kid magnet.  They immediately leech onto him and never let go.  He's a pretty fun guy so I can understand :).

On Wednesday, we got up and Matt hung out with Hunter at the store while I went outlet shopping with Leann.  I found a beautiful and super awesome diaper bag at the Kate Spade outlet that I couldn't live without.  The sale was too hard to pass up :).  That night we went for a hibachi/sushi dinner at the Kani House with Hunter and Amanda.  On Thursday, we slept in, had our morning breakfast sandwiches and coffee/hot cocoa.  We hung out with Hunter at the store that morning and then we all went and had a delicious lunch at Rooster's.  We ordered like 3 appetizers and still all got lunch.  My food intake from the week will definitely be to blame when I gain 20 lbs by my next doctor appointment :).  That night, Matt and I went out for dinner and drinks (mocktails for us girls!) with Leann and Trent at Marlow's Tavern.  The mocktails were so yummy!  It was nice to drink something besides water :).  We made a stop at McDonald's for ice cream cones after dinner, in which us girls ended up with two each since they went the drive-thru while Matt and I went inside so I could go to the bathroom.  Nothing wrong with two ice cream cones! Afterwards, we went back to Hunter's and watched the Colts game. Friday, Matt and I went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and made a Target stop (I needed more apples before we hit the road again).  We built a fire (which was the theme of the week) and relaxed until everyone got home.  That night all four kids were there.  It was so fun!  Matt made a steak dinner for all of us and we stayed up once all the kids were in bed and hung out.  The next morning we got up to hang out and then headed back home that afternoon.

 It was such a relaxing and enjoyable week with our GA friends! Thanks to ALL of you for spending your week with us. We love you all so much!