Wine Down: Bumpdate {27 Weeks}

I have reached that stage of pregnancy where perfect strangers find it acceptable to say stupid things to me and let's just say that I find this particularly hilarious. I always walk away with a smile on my face, dying from laughter on the inside and thinking, "wow, you should just never talk to pregnant ladies, like ever". One of these days, I going to come back with a really witty, sarcastic comment and set them straight. Exhibit A: Stranger says, "when are you due?", I say, "June 4th", Stranger says, "oh my goodness, no way! You look like you are ready to deliver right now!". Seriously people? Why would you say that? As if pregnant women aren't already feeling sensitive enough about their body image/weight gain. Just say congratulations and move on. Exhibit B: Stranger says, "do you know what you're having?", I say, "A girl.", Stranger says, "what if it's not a girl when it comes out?", I say, "well I've had quite a few ultrasounds of that region and the doctors seem to be very confident that it's a girl", Stranger says, "well I hope they are right or that would suck!". Like what are they expecting me to say? I mean, yes I would be surprised if a boy came out and we would have to buy some non-pink clothing, but I'm not going to be like, "oh no, you guys have to keep this one because they told me I was getting a girl." Once again, just go with a simple congratulations. People are so special and luckily I have a good sense of humor, so I do enjoy having a little second hand embarrassment chuckle at their expense. As Ron White would say, "you can't fix stupid."

Week 27: March 5 - March 11

Week 27 Milestones:

- Baby is the size of a rutabaga this week! Speaking of, what the heck is a rutabaga? It appears to be some sort of round vegetable, but let's just say that I've never seen one in real life. Baby is showing brain activity this week and her lungs are developing rapidly. She could survive outside the womb by now if necessary, but we want to keep her in there as long as possible!

- Total weight gain thus far is 25 pounds. My ankles are swollen everyday now. Ugh. When I wake up in the morning they are fine, but by the afternoon they have definitely swelled to a cankle-like state. In the evening, I have been elevating them and even icing them, but they are still swelling. Overnight, the swelling goes down but then as soon as I get back on my feet the next day it starts back up again. Of course this made me start feeling concerned about possible preeclampsia; however, I don't have any of the other symptoms for it so I don't think I need to be concerned. I borrowed my mom's blood pressure machine and I have been taking my blood pressure everyday because that is one of the main symptoms. My blood pressure is still low and in the exact same range as it has been my entire pregnancy.

- We had a little scare this week with Peyton's movement. Typically, I feel her move regularly throughout the day and a lot at night especially after 9pm. I felt her regular movements last Tuesday night, and then on Wednesday I noticed that I hadn't felt any movement all day. I didn't really think much of it and I waited to see if she would get back to her regular movement that night, but still nothing. I sort of forgot about it until about mid-day Thursday when Jared asked me if I had felt her move yet and I realized that I still had not. We decided that this might be a good time to call the doctor and ask if there was something I could do to try and get her to move on my own. The nurse had me do a fetal activity test at home to see what our next step should be. I drank a big glass of cold orange juice and then sat in a quiet space so that I could count movements. I had to feel 10 movements within two hours in order to pass the test and I far exceeded that goal. Ever since then, she has been moving and partying like crazy. I must say I was really proud of myself for staying so calm and not freaking out when this happened. I honestly thought that if I ever stopped feeling her move that I would immediately panic and take myself to the emergency room or something unnecessary. However, I was actually calm during the entire process and was never seriously worried during that time. I only called the doctor's office because other people were telling me that I probably should. I guess I just had a gut feeling that everything was fine and faith that God would take care of us. I suppose that mommy really does know if something truly is wrong or not.

- I experienced Braxton Hicks contractions for the first time this week. I have been reading on my pregnancy app for the past few weeks that I might start experiencing these at this point, but I had no clue what it would feel like and just assumed that I would know it when it happened. Luckily, my mom was with me the first time it happened so she was able to confirm that what I was feeling was indeed Braxton Hicks. I always imagined that a contraction would feel like a sharp, shooting pain or cramp concentrated in one area of my belly. Apparently, I was wrong. This definitely felt like my entire belly all of a sudden tightened up to rock solid hard. It stayed super tight for about a minute and then relaxed again. It was a very strange feeling and not at all what I expected. It wasn't painful or uncomfortable, just different. It happened twice that day and has only happened again like twice since then, but I'm sure it will probably happen more often as we move into the third trimester this upcoming week.

- I have started experiencing regularly occurring pregnancy insomnia, and let's just say that I am not a fan of this. I like my sleep and I need my sleep and I know that once Peyton comes I won't be getting much sleep so why can't I just enjoy my sleep while it lasts?! Wah. So my new sleep schedule involves not being able to fall asleep until about midnight and then waking up around 4:45 for a bathroom break followed by some serious insomnia. During this entire 12:00-4:45 time, I'm not really getting any good quality sleep either. I'm constantly waking myself up changing positions or going to the bathroom. When I wake up at 4:45 though is when the real fun begins. I lay there wide awake from 4:45 to 6:00 until Jared's alarms start going off. I then continue to lay there from 6:00 to 6:40 listening to his alarm go off every 5 minutes. I had him change his alarm tones to Luke Bryan music so that I could at least have something to enjoy if I'm going to be lying there wide awake listening to it anyways. By 6:45, I'm exhausted and sleepy again so I desperately try to go back to sleep. By this time, Jared is also out of bed getting ready for work which gives me tons of room to stretch out and get comfortable in strange positions. I can typically get back to sleep a little after 7:00 and then I usually sleep until 9:00. These final two hours are by far the best quality sleep I get out of the entire night. I guess this is just conditioning my body for what is to come. Oh goody.

- Food preferences: My favorite cravings right now are waffles, milk, coke icees, chocolate ice cream and pasta. I know, super healthy. I also drink a ton water all day long because I'm always really thirsty. I still can't stand eggs or chicken.