maternity photos & 38 week bumpdate
photos by Katie Hill Photography
dresses & floral crowns from Sew Trendy
Let's first address the elephant, or tarantula, in the room that is my false eyelashes in these photos. I had no idea how out of control they were until I saw these pictures and am somewhat shocked that Zach didn't tease me about them before the shoot and tip me off that they were ridiculous looking. An hour or so before the shoot, I waddled up the stairs into the guest bedroom closet that houses random beauty products and grabbed some eyelashes. I remember thinking at the time, "These are kind of crazy looking" but when you're 37 weeks pregnant and hormonal through the roof, everything seems crazy (probably because you're crazy). So anyway, hopefully you can look past the spider lashes to see how much love I have for these three boys and just how exited Bear is to be a big brother! He is so ready to meet "his" baby and Zach is, despite not looking overly thrilled in photos, equally as giddy.
How Far Along: 38 weeks
Baby Size: around 19 1/2 inches long, 7ish pounds
Total Weight Gain: 15 pounds
Maternity Clothes? Oh yes. I've officially given up on pants for the most part, well jeans anyway, and am living in dresses if I go out or comfy joggers and sweatshirts at home. I shot some looks for the blog yesterday and had planned to shoot a top with black jeans but that just didn't happen- all dresses FTW.
Stretch Marks? Not yet but honestly, not to jinx myself, I don't really care if it happens or not. That just means I'm a mama, right?! No shame in anything carrying this baby leaves me with.
Sleep: Not so great the past week or so. I'm having bad insomnia at night no matter how exhausted I am, and even though anxiety is not a normal thing for me I feel extremely anxious every night when I lay down. I can feel my heart race and all these thoughts start going through my head of "what if my water breaks during the night?" and "I need to lay out Bear's clothes for whoever will be home with him when we're at the hospital" etc. etc. It's crazy, I know, but I can't help it! Then once I'm finally asleep, I'm getting up every 2 hours to pee. Which is a whooooole separate fun experience in itself since Baby has dropped so low.
Best moment this week: Taking Bear lunch at school today and getting him new books at the Book Fair. It was Grandparents Day at his school and his grandparents weren't able to make it, so this mama was not gonna let her baby be without a guest! As exhausted and overly emotional as I am right now, I'm making an effort to soak up these last days while Bear is still my only little cub.
Miss Anything? Sleeping through the night and doing normal things like running to the mall or taking walks that I've now had to back away from.
Movement: Still quite a bit but it has slowed down some the past week since Baby is pretty squished in there. This boy has been very active almost the entire pregnancy so it's no surprise he's still a wiggle worm as much as he can be.
Food Cravings: Still loving the salmon- I seriously can't get enough. If we go out to eat and they have fish, that's what I'm getting. HEB also has these precooked meals that you just stick in the oven for 20 minutes and viola, a delicious and healthy dinner. The ones I get are $7 for a single serving but it's still much cheaper than what I'd pay in a restaurant and just as yummy- I've been getting the ones with salmon in a garlic lemon sauce, broccoli, and potatoes. Actually craving one now just typing this!
Anything making you queasy or sick? I'm sad to report that yes, the nausea has come on strong again since about last Thursday. I read where this is normal for a lot of women as labor nears, since your hormones are increased and your body is preparing to have the baby.
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: LOTS of Braxton Hicks, lost my plug last Friday (TMI, sorry!), lightening crotch (also TMI but #truth), nausea
Belly button in or out? I don't even know at this point...Zach and I laugh about it all the time. It used to be a "loose innie" if that makes sense and now it just looks like the top of a bottle of wine that someone corked (and is about to spew open).
Wedding rings on or off? On & loose
Exercise: No longer taking walks as of the past almost week...I walked 9 miles right before Bear's due date (not all at once- 3 miles in the morning, 3 after lunch, 3 in the evening) and that set me into labor so I'm paranoid that it will do the same this go-round. Taking it easy and letting Baby come when he's ready!
Looking forward to: Going to the movies with friends on Thursday evening if we don't have a baby yet. Any guesses on what we're seeing? :)
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If you're in the Houston area and looking for a photographer, Katie Hill is absolutely amazing and comes highly recommended. I had worked with her on head-shots several years ago and she did such a great job; she'll also be doing our newborn photos once baby boy arrives!
I have my 38 week check-up tomorrow and am excited to see how things are progressing- will keep you all posted. Hope your week is off to a great start!
xo, Britt