Weeks 26-27

Week 26 

I keep waking up in the middle of the night feeling a strong heartbeat like rhythm in my stomach in one spot, over and over. I was so worried that I was squishing or hurting the baby in my sleep and had no idea what it was. When it kept happening during the day, I went down the google wormhole and discovered that they are hiccups! I felt what I thought were hiccups a month ago, but these feel completely different, however they keep happening multiple times a day and always in the middle of the night around 3 in the morning. 

Whenever I come home from work and Sammy starts talking to the baby, he usually moves like crazy. There were a few days this week though where every time Sammy started talking to him, he'd stop moving. The second Sammy would turn away or take his hand off my stomach, the baby would feel like he was doing flips. Then Sammy would try to feel and he would stop immediately. He's a little prankster this kid. A few nights later though I was laying next to Sammy and the baby just kept kicking him like crazy, so much so that Sammy was worried I was in pain. I was after a bit to be honest, but it's all good. 

The baby is starting to wake me up in the middle of the night more, whether to pee, or because he's decided that it's time to start kicking like crazy, or have the hiccups. 

We went on our tour of the hospital. Everyone else in our tour group was about to have their baby in the next month and I have mad respect for them. I was so wiped after the tour, and I still have three months to go. Seeing the hospital made me feel much better about our choice of which one to go to, and made this baby feel even more real. Sammy just kept looking at me and saying our baby is going to be here! 

I'm really excited about the hospital because after birth they try to do an hour of skin to skin time immediately, and don't encourage you having visitors for at least two hours after labor. I was stressing about family wanting to come in right away and not giving Sammy and that time alone with our baby at first, so that's not going to be an issue. They also press a button when you and the baby are being wheeled to your room that plays a lullaby through the whole hospital to let them know a baby was born. 

We'll get to help with his first bath, all of his tests will be done in our room, and I get a massage the day after I give birth. They also give you a lasagna and dessert to take home with you which we're pretty excited about. It's getting more real. I've looked up all the different routes to get to the hospital as well so we can be prepared.

Sammy and I watched the movie "Creed" together, and we had to turn it off about 45 minutes in. We've both seen the Rocky movies, but this one was just horrible. I am all about romance, and even I wasn't buying the romance in that movie, it was so forced. It felt like they threw out all these ideas in the writers room, put them in a blender, then poured it out, only giving about two minutes for all of the different scenes. I could keep ranting, but man. We did not like that movie. 

We had a busy weekend planned and were getting overwhelmed with everything we had to get done, so in an effort to lighten the load, I tried using Walmart Grocery Pick up. I spent all day at work working on my cart, and the next morning we went and picked it up. We had to wait about ten minutes for them to bring it out, but it was so worth it. We saved a lot of money as well because I could see the total in my cart the whole time, where when we normally go to the store we don't know what it is until the end. This is going to be a lifesaver for the rest of my pregnancy. 

We stopped by a consignment store to see if they had any cheap maternity clothes, but ended up leaving with one shirt for me, and a bunch of cute onesies for the baby, including this one! What are the odds that they had my college there, and only for $1. I've seen CU Boulder stuff anywhere, but never CU Denver so I was so stoked!

At work I've been doing so much research about everything baby related, and this last week was looking at breast pumps, what my insurance covered, and so on. The one my insurance covers is not at all recommended, but the brand that is is $300+. When we were at the consignment store, I saw that breastpump, brand new for $130. I bought it immediately and all the staff was telling me how good of a deal it was, and told me that I'm so lucky to have such a supportive partner like Sammy. I really really am. I felt like a little kid who got a nice brand new toy that whole drive home.

The dresser and rocking chair arrived, and Sammy's dad put them together for us which was really nice of him. I'd had visions of Sammy and I sitting on the floor together, taking a few hours to do it, but hey, that's time saved for us. The nursery is coming together and looks great!

The rocking chair is so stinking comfy and I'm so happy with it. I was stressing for days over which one to get and read so many reviews, only to have Sammy just pick one. So far, so good over here.

We went on a date to see the Incredibles 2, but before the movie started we stopped by Charming Charlie's so I could get a new purse. I already bought one and returned it, so I wanted to get the right one this time. Sammy kept bringing some to me that he thought I would like, and they were hideous. I finally picked one, and while we waited for the movie to start Sammy helped me load it up with my stuff. Except, it all wasn't fitting. I did not want to go and return another bag! Thankfully in the light I was able to make it work. :)

 The movie was fantastic. Sammy joked that there were so many kids in the theater, but I just rolled my eyes at him.

I had to run a discussion on balancing your responsibilities at church and it went fairly well. I had some notes in my bag that I wanted to use and Sammy wanted to take a look at them for some tips on a discussion he was doing, but he forgot to put them in my bag. So I was sitting there texting him over and over, trying to get him to send me the picture of them so I could run my discussion. Luckily he finally noticed my texts, and everything was alright. 

I had a craving for Honey Nut Cheerios for days. I ignored it, hoping that it would go away, but it didn't. I told Sammy about it, fully intending to head out that night and go buy some on my own, but when I got home there he was with a box waiting for me! It was so exciting.

Week 27 

Holy cannoli it's the last week of the second trimester. I may or may not be panicking a bit. 

I've been having symphysis pubic disfunction and it hurts to walk on inclines or declines, get up, and do anything that involves lifting my legs. I need to talk to my doctor about it, but one thing I read is that crossing your legs can make it worse, but that's my favorite way to sit. So I've been trying to get out of the habit of that.

Last year, we had the perfect 4th of July. We made treats while watching Jane the Virgin for the first time which had me laughing so hard, went to the park and read in the sun, then spent the whole night with our friends playing games and not watching fireworks because honestly I find them a bit overrated. This year I was stressing because our friends moved, it's been so stinking hot, my abilities are not what they used to be, and I just wanted to have a fun day with Sammy. 

This year I ended up spending the morning with a friend who is throwing my baby shower helping plan a few things and just talking everything pregnancy while Sammy took a practice test. Then we headed to the pool and there weren't as many people there when we first showed up which was great. We both brought books to the pool but I ended up talking Sammy's ear off the whole time instead. We had a chill lunch and started watching Queer Eye on Netflix. We are hooked. It's like What Not To Wear, but better. You can totally see how much these men's lives are changed at the end of each episode, and not just in the way they look, but in how they view themselves and their confidence. 

Then we headed over to my parents for a cook out. 

Sammy snapped this picture of my outfit and new purse on the way there. He had me stand next to that brick wall to pose for a background, but the lighting was horrible, and the grass made my ankles itch like crazy. 

We had a great time with my family and there was so much good food but I couldn't eat it all! I may be hungry all the time and eat all day, but Baby G is starting to push up my organs and my stomach feels much smaller. Afterwards, we headed home and watched some more Netflix and were in bed by nine. I finally ordered a pregnancy pillow and it arrived so I got to sleep with it. It doesn't take up the whole bed, and I love it.

Speaking of sleep, I keep finding Sammy in the middle of the night with the covers pulled over his face. It freaks me out every time and I take them off, and he always wakes up. He has no idea that he's doing it, but says it feels comforting to be in a cocoon. I feel more comfortable when I know he can breathe alright.

I got my hair trimmed for the first time in awhile and didn't know what to talk to the stylist about, so I told her about this lonely whale who sings at a different frequency from all the other whales and so scientists don't know if anyone else can hear it. What can I say, I'm super fun to talk to.

We went up to Estes Park for a weekend to have a little baby moon. Sammy doesn't have enough time off to go on a weeklong one, so we figured we would make the most with the time we had. We went to Estes for our honeymoon and this was our first time back since then, so we were excited. I was worried about what we would be able to do since I can't walk that far or stand the heat for long, but Sammy loves to plan trips and came up with tons for us to do. 

The morning of I was having a nightmare that some wild wolf was about to eat me at the zoo and no one was coming to help me because they were looking at a sloth. The wolf was about to dive for my neck when Sammy shook me awake to tell me he was getting gas for the car. I told him that he saved me, and then he saved me again when my body was so numb from sleeping in one position I couldn't roll over to get up.😆 When he came back, he had McDonald's breakfast for the both of us. We ate up, I got ready while Sammy packed everything up, and then we were off. I slept most of the way up until the road started getting windy. I was scared that I was going to get super car sick and started freaking out a little. We made it into town though at which point we both really had to pee, but the only places to go were on the left, and the lines to turn left went on forever. A few stressful moments later, we ended up in a Starbucks, and all was well. 

We headed into town and ended up parking next to the haunted movie theater we parked by when we first arrived on our honeymoon. Back then we had no idea what to do before checking into our cabin, so we saw a movie, which started our tradition of always seeing movies on vacation. :) We got a picture in front of the theater, but kept on walking since we did not want to see what they were showing. 

We walked around town and did some shopping. First off was taffy. That was one thing I wanted to get on our honeymoon but we just didn't get a chance. There were so many flavors and it was so much fun picking them all out. Then we headed to a t-shirt store to see if there were any that we liked. We found some and saw a cute moose onesie that we thought about buying for the baby, but ultimately didn't since it cost more than both of our t-shirts combined. Next was the old bookstore which we loved. Working at a library, I don't enjoy bookstores as much as I used to because I feel guilty knowing I can get a copy of most books for free, and I see most of the books when they come in. This independent bookstore had a ton of YA books that I hadn't seen though. I ended up with a ghost hunting Jane Eyre who's teaming up with Charlotte from Wuthering Heights and I'm pretty excited to read it. 

I was tired by then so Sammy and I went back to the car for an air conditioned picnic of... nacho lunchables!

 

Afterwards we went to the only other theater in town to see Ant Man and the Wasp. We love watching movies on trips, especially in little theaters. We were the only ones in the theater for awhile so we were just walking around and giggling at nothing. When the commercials started, they were for all the local businesses in the plaza and we were laughing at how cheesy they were. We loved the movie. While Ant Man certainly isn't my favorite, it made me laugh. In the last half-hour the baby started moving like crazy so Sammy felt all that he was doing. Maybe Ant Man is his favorite? Or, he really likes the movie candy I had earlier. Or it was too loud for him? Who knows. 

After our movie we headed off to dinner. We were originally going to one Italian restaurant, but after seeing the prices listed on the outside, we went to a different restaurant next door that advertised pizza and burgers. The pizza was amazing, Sammy said the burger was meh. When we were leaving I went to the bathroom and there were three moms in there with their kids. One kid threw the stall door open while her mom was peeing. The little girl said, "sorry ma'am" to me, but not to her mom. I'm not looking forward to that part of my future haha! 

After dinner we checked into our motel. I was a little hesitant when Sammy said it was a motel, but he reassured me that it had amazing reviews and would be okay. And it truly was! Our room was SUPER nice. It had a fireplace and a jacuzzi facing the tv (which I couldn't figure out, the jets were insane), a nice bed and was super clean. They had live music and it was lovely. There was a little bench outside our window and we just listened and took in the night. 

One of our favorite things to do in hotels is watch tv because we don't have cable at home, but when we turned on the tv the only thing that was on that we liked was Captain America Civil War. So we ended up watching two Marvel movies in night.  The baby kicked me so hard while we were watching that, that I jumped and scared Sammy.  I ended up having very destructive nightmares, probably from watching everything be destroyed in those two movies. 

The next morning we checked out and headed to breakfast at the Egg and I. We ate there multiple times on our honeymoon and it was so good to be back. I got the apple cinnamon pancake from last time and it was just as good as I remembered. After eating we walked along the river for a while since there was barely anyone outside. 

There was one spot where you could put your feet in and I very carefully climbed onto the rock. The water was so cold! 

While we were walking, the baby started kicking me right in the bladder and I waddled/ran as fast as I could back to the bathroom. After that, it was time to head home. Right as we were starting the car, Sammy got a phone call from the hotel saying he'd left a pair of shoes. We grabbed those, then headed back home. 

On our way home, my car did this weird thing where it wouldn't go, then went all the sudden. I was pretty worried about it, but after talking it over with our dads, we figured that it was probably just a case of watered down gas. On Monday morning I was panicky the whole drive to work because I was scared it was going to break down on the side of the road, but it didn't. 

I wish that was the biggest of my worries that day.

There are armed security guards at my work. Usually I don't give that a second thought. But there's this one guard who always gives me bad vibes, and seems sort of delusional. After a weird morning of him saying he was going to pass out at any moment and that he needed to remove his gun so that no one stole it, and lots of other weird comments, we were all on edge not knowing what he was going to do next, or if we needed to call an ambulance for him. He was sitting there when all of a sudden he got up and started confronting someone. Then the guard walked out of view, and the next thing I know he's chasing two kids who are running like I've never seen anyone run before. I saw something silver fall on the floor in the hallway and something roll, but didn't know what it was. 

My coworker chased after them, then came back in and told me to call 911. I presumed it was for the guard, but the guard came in and yelled that they tried to steal his gun. Then he went and picked up the silver thing which was a clip of bullets and ran back outside. I've called 911 a lot in my 2 years here, but I've never had an adrenaline rush like I did at that moment. I thought I was going to pass out and wouldn't be able to finish the phone call. Somehow I made it though and fed dispatch all of the details. People kept running in and giving me more, and it was a mess. 

As soon as the police showed up, I went home. I felt awful and like I was having contractions and did not feel safe. I had panic attacks the rest of the day and was terrified to go to sleep because I usually have my worst attacks in the middle of the night. Sammy gave me a blessing though and I was able to sleep. The next day every time I was alone I started panicking again, and I felt so bad for the baby. He was so active those two days, kicking and squirming all day long when he was usually asleep. I knew I needed to calm down for him, but it was hard in this situation. 

Days later, after seeing the security footage for myself, I know that what I was told was a lie. No one tried to steal his gun. We can't see why the clip of bullets fell, but it's very likely he was reaching for his weapon, because we can see him gesturing to it earlier when talking to them. Those kids were in danger of getting shot by this guard who wanted to play policeman. It's a miracle that no one was hurt, and I still honestly can't believe it happened.

 The only reason I was able to go back to work afterwards was because I know this was all his fault. This was not the patrons who come in everyday's fault. This was what happens when a man who is not fit to carry a weapon has a weapon. I could talk about this for days and I still wouldn't be able to say all my thoughts on the matter. 

On a happier note, I was able to hang out with my college roommate Joice while she's back in the country from med school. We met up for lunch and had real street tacos and got to catch up. It was so good seeing her, and I seriously feel so blessed that we were roommates my freshman year of college.