There are some things I didn’t expect to happen while being pregnant. In fact, you might say these are the things I’m going to miss when I’m no longer lugging a baby around in my belly.

Look at those babies! If I were to curl them they tend to touch my brow. Insanity.

The eyelashes. DUDE, the lashes. They’re out of control. I’m not sure why, or what it is, but I swipe on a coat or two of mascara and it looks like I’ve donned falsies. I am loving it!

Very similar is my hair. I wouldn’t say it’s growing any faster, but I’m definitely not losing it like I use to. (The drain is very happy about this too!) I hear around 4 months postpartum is you’ll start to shed your glorious locks, but until then, I will continue to stroke my luxuriously thick locks.

My skin is pretty awesome these days. When I first got pregnant I was worried about getting the dreaded pregnancy acne since I always get hormone related pimples in real life anyway. The last thing I wanted was a face full of acne to bring my perceived age back down to 15. While this is sometimes the case for some women, I’ve lucked out! My monthly cycle pimples are gone, and my skin has never been clearer! It does come with a price though, and it’s been drier than the Sahara. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve just taken to smearing coconut oil on my face each day, and then lotion throughout the day. If I don’t it starts to flake. Gross. Overall I’m claiming this as a win! Plus, I found what helps my keratosis pilaris due to my liberal use of coconut oil during pregnancy.

My nails stopped being so flimsy. For a bit. This one is hit and miss. The first trimester was so kind to my nails. They stopped splitting, peeling, and just generally sucking. For the first time, ever, I could shape them and paint them and they looked semi-normal! Then I caught the flu and got sick and went on all these antibiotics. I think that really depletes my vitamin levels and my body concentrates on giving the vitamins to the places that really need it, and my nails didn’t make that list.  They went back to splitting, peeling and just generally being bad. I’m a few weeks off of IV’s and they’re starting to grow out a little stronger.

Coffee has become FAR more delicious than I ever remember it to be. This is one of those things that I did not expect in the slightest. I haven’t had any real cravings like I had imagined I might, but somewhere around the end of the first trimester I started craving coffee. I drank decaf, so I knew I wasn’t becoming addicted to the caffeine. I started craving coffee so much so that I bought myself a single serve coffee maker. I almost never drank coffee before. Sure, I’d have half a small iced coffee in the summer here and there, but I’m at the point where I crave a coffee every day. Something about that bitter, creaminess keeps calling me back. I wouldn’t be upset if my craving for coffee continued past birth. I’ve been loading each cup up with about 3 TBSP of heavy cream (for an additional 150 calories and 15g of fat) so it’s been a big help in gaining weight.

My husband gives me countless backrubs. He has yet to deny me of any back-rub deliciousness if I ask and sometimes even offers! He always has spoiled me, but he’s really outdone himself on this one. Daily backrubs are going to be hard to give up. I may end up missing this one the most!

All in all there are some things that are making this pregnancy hard  which is to be expected with any pregnancy really, but I feel that the perks of pregnancy get overlooked so easily! Now excuse me while I go oogle my lashes for the 3rd time today while sipping my afternoon coffee.

For my birthday my lovely hubby bought me some flowers and a camera remote. I went a little crazy with the thing and ended up taking almost 150 pictures in under 30 minutes. I tried walking shots, twirling shot and even through in some jumping shots. It’s safe to say that I love my little camera remote! I can’t wait to try my hand at taking some family pictures with the bump. We’ll see what my photo-hating husband has to say about that one. =)


As far as symptoms go I’ve been hit this week with exhaustion. There have been a couple of days where I’ve woken up with absolutely no energy to do anything! By the time I’m done eating breakfast, doing my vest and meds I’m ready to go back to bed! 

They say it’s common to experience exhaustion during the third trimester but I am hard pressed to believe that it would kick in so soon! I have a feeling that this little girl hanging out in my belly maybe going through a growth spurt. I’ve had an itchy belly and I’ve put on just shy of another pound since last week! 

Another symptom I’ve been experience is shortness of breath. Having CF this isn’t unusual- especially with the weather. We are fluctuating between mid 60’s and low 20’s. I kid you not. Saturday was a wonderful 67 degrees and then Sunday- high of 40.  We’re getting snow all day tomorrow, and then by the end of the week will see the 60’s again. This kind of fluctuation really takes a toll on my asthmatic lungs. I breathe much easier in the warmer weather, so to have them going from relaxed to tight in such rapid succession has resulted in a lot of huffing and puffing on my end. 

I still feel like little nugget has yet to really reach the stage where she starts pressing on my diaphragm and lungs. I feel like my coughing is still forceful and productive (sorry little baby! You’re still getting lots of ‘momma hugs.’) It’s only a matter of time until that no longer is the case. 

Since I spend a decent amount of the day chatting to little Overdeep, Kyle has taken it upon himself to read to her at night. Normally I think people read stories along the lines of Peter Rabbit, or maybe even Harry Potter, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we are not following that trend. To be fair, I did look for my collection of Beatrix Potter books but it’s lost among the shuffle. Next best book, Norse Mythology. I kid you not, our child is already listening to Odin and the AEsir. She always kicks and rolls around when listening to her daddy read.

Baby O. got really excited last night listening to Kyle explain the newest physics news. We may have a future scientist on our hands. Judging by the amount of kicks, rolls, and punches she was delivering to my gut while listening to the exciting physics news, I can only imagine they were caused by excitement. 

Speaking of excitement, now that the room is really coming together and all the large things are done we can start the next phase: decorating! I’d like to install some shelves to the wall left of the crib, add some art on the opposite wall, create a mobile, add curtains, sew a crib skirt, etc. etc. Kyle let it slip that he was probably more excited for the decorating stage than the actual painting stage. Such a cutie. 

Have a great week everyone! 

Total weight gain/loss: I gained 2 pounds this week! Hooray! Brings my total up to 12 lbs. I just need to keep gaining each week and I’ll be golden!
Maternity clothes? Yes and no. If I want to wear skinny jeans I’ll pull the belly band out and rock  these Lucky jeans my sister passed on to me. I can’t wait until it’s warm enough to wear my Maxi dresses again!

Stretch marks? None yet. I definitely feel periods of where my belly feels very ‘stretched’ but so far no marks. 
Sleep: Sleeping pretty well this past week– minus last night where Oliver kept waking me up. And then there was having to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at 5 am…

Best moment this week: We had a nice lunch visit with Meghan and she felt some little ninja kicks while she was here! Always so exciting that other people get to feel little miss move around. 

Movement: Little lady loves to dance. She’s changed her sleeping habits so now she’s awake more so when I’m up. She also wakes up and moves around when we listen to music or read aloud.
Food Cravings: Strawberries! I bought a package this past week and they were perfection. I’m headed out later today to pick up more. =) 

Tried to take a silhouette type picture…

Anything making you queasy or sick?  Finally feeling pretty good! I’ve been feeling pretty short of breath lately but I believe it’s a combo of the weather changes (60 degrees to snowing?) and getting further along in pregnancy. It causes me to have an asthmatic type cough which is unproductive and highly annoying. Besides that and some round ligament pain, I’m feeling good! 

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out? Whatever it is, it’s weird. Take my word for it. 

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy camper this week. Gaining weight has really taken a lot of my anxiety away. My ultrasound on Friday also helped ease a lot of my ‘weight gain’ anxiety. Little Lady is right on track and weighs about 1 lb 8 oz. She was head down with her feet up towards my right ribs. I theorize that she likes to be head down so I don’t squash her head everytime I cough. I’ve been telling her that I’m just “hugging her” when I cough. She gets hugged A LOT. =D

Looking forward to:  Lot’s to look forward to: I’m turning 25 tomorrow, my father’s coming down for a visit, and of course I’m looking forward to setting up that crib! 

How far along? 25 weeks – only 15 more to go!
Total weight gain/loss: Total gain of only 10 lbs so far. Had a long chat with my nutritionists at my last visit. I’m just not eating enough calories. I need at least 3500 calories if not more, depending on activity level and health.  Currently I’ve had a good eating day if I hit 2500. Little ninja will obviously take what she needs from me, but we don’t want me wasting away in the process! I’ve been trying very hard to up my calorie intake, but it’s proving pretty difficult. Eating when you’re not hungry is stressful. 
Maternity clothes?  This lovely ensemble is all non-maternity. My pair of “big jeans” held together via hair elastic and a Target clearance tee in a few sizes up. 
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: My tailbone is starting to feel better so I’m finally sleeping through the night again! Glorious sleep. 
Best moment this week: Getting outside for some exercise and vitamin D since we’ve hit the 60’s the last few days!
Miss Anything? 
Movement: I’m feeling less kicks and more wiggles these days. As she gets bigger I can really feel her rolling around. 
Food Cravings: No real food cravings this week. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nothing really comes to mind. Now if this darn tailbone would just heal all the way I’d be a happy camper. 
Gender: I bought the cutest pair of mint polkadotted pants for little miss, so she better still be a she! 
Labor signs: Negative
Belly button in or out? It’s visible through my shirts now. I think I might officially declare it an outie. 

Happy or moody most of the time? I’ve been loving the warmer weather, but had one emotional day when I was feeling down about not gaining weight. It’s just stressful to have a nutritionist talk at you about how to boost your caloric intake when you’ve heard it all your life, and you know it by heart, but you just aren’t hungry. 
Looking forward to: Sister-in-law is swinging by for a quick lunch visit while she’s in town for work! I’m also looking forward to my Friday ultrasound as it’s always reassuring and fun to see my little girl wiggling away on the screen!

How far along? 24 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Total gain of about 10 pounds so far. 
Maternity clothes? Yes and no. I’m finding my maternity jeans are starting to get annoying. They do that thing where they stretch out almost immediately. I’ve been recently going out with regular jeans held up with a belly band. (Thanks Julie!)

Stretch marks? None yet!
Sleep: Sleep has been hit and miss. I’m consistently waking up every few hours just to roll over, have something to drink, or lately because my belly has been causing me pain. (Don’t panic! It’s just round ligament pain from a growing belly.)

Best moment this week: We got the glider! We also had a wonderful visit from Kyle’s parents. 
Miss Anything? I’m feeling like I’ve become a lot weaker, and I miss having muscles. I’ve lost quite a bit of muscle tone over the last few months just from exhaustion, sitting around in a hospital bed, and not exercising like I used to. 

Movement: Kyle’s mom was able to feel little ninja do some kicks and flips. 
Food Cravings:I can’t think of anything specific I craved this week, but I definitely had a few “pregnancy crazy moments” to make up for the lack of food cravings. 

Anything making you queasy or sick?  No! Thank goodness! I did manage to hurt my tailbone by helping lift the glider into the car (it didn’t fit for anyone interested) and it’s still recovering. It hurt to cough for the first 4 days so I’ve been subconsciously avoiding coughing. By day 3 I could feel the affects of not efficiently coughing. Now that it’s feeling better and no longer kills me to cough I’ve been coughing quite a bit. 

Gender: She is still a she, and no, we still won’t share her name. =) 

Labor signs: None! I’ve been having some stomach pain to the point where it wakes me up, but it turns out it’s just round ligament pain due to a growing baby & growing uterus. 

Belly button in or out? By now you know that I have this weird thing about belly buttons. I think they’re just plain ‘ole creepy. It’s started it’s final journey of flipping inside out. Half of it’s out and half of it’s stuck in the flat pancake stage. And yes, it freaks me out. Blah. 

Happy or moody most of the time? Like I previously mentioned I’ve had some crazy pregnancy moments this week. One of which was a major hissy-fit & meltdown when the glider we picked up wouldn’t fit in the car so we had to go back for it the next day. I had a slight episode of nesting rage, since I just wanted the damn glider THAT night. While logically I knew it wasn’t a big deal, my mommy hormones said otherwise. It felt like the end of the world people. My poor husband. 

Looking forward to:  Now that the glider is here! woohoo! And my husband and his father painted the nursery ceiling white (and finished caulking) I can go pick up the room paint and get started! After that we can order the crib and start getting things set up! I can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to walk into a white-ceiling, empty room and sit in the glorious glider! My crazy mommy hormones are satisfied… for now.