Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 2

If you haven't seen part 1 of this post yet... check it out here: Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 1!!

Many of you have asked for my specific plans, recipes, spreadsheet, etc. I am SO excited to pass this info along to others! Please note: I am not a professional! I realize that there are a lot of imperfections and inconsistencies on the spreadsheet (and yes, as a type A, OCD person this drives me NUTS) but at 9 months pregnant AND hanging out with my almost-2-year-old (what!?) I simply do not have 17 hours to spend perfecting the way I want this to look, so it looks a little janky. Sorry friends ;).

Hopefully, you can use this more as a guideline rather than an exact plan and alter it to fit your own needs/likes/desires! Feel free to comment with any questions.

Meal Prep Spreadsheet 

If you are looking for recipes for the dishes I prepared all in one place here is a link to a Pinterest board where most of the recipes I used are located!! Meal Prep Recipe Pinterest Board (I apologize for some missing images on my own recipe pins!)


This past week, I also prepared a bunch of breakfast items as well!

Breakfast sandwiches! Egg, ham and cheese.

Wrapped up and ready to go!

Chai muffins - YUM!

French toast sticks.

Coconut banana bread.

This was probably my favorite of all - lemon raspberry muffins. They are SO good!!

Chocolate banana oatmeal bread (I may or may not have also added chocolate chips to the batter...)

A few items in this picture not mentioned above...middle rack is regular banana bread and orange chocolate chip muffins; right rack is oatmeal cups! 

The sandwiches and chai muffins I did one day, french toast sticks another and the 6 remaining items were all done another day (probably took me about 5ish hours??) To be honest, it was REALLY easy doing all of the baking at one time. I just had a bowl for dry ingredients that I reused (without washing) for each recipe, a measuring cup for breaking eggs in (and measuring oil). I really didn't have to break to do a bunch of dishes between each recipe or anything, it really was a matter of waiting for whatever was in the oven to finish! I would definitely recommend doing as many of the baked things at one time as you can. Luckily, I was able to do most of this while Heidi was at MDO, however I do owe her a playground day for being so patient with me while I spend so much time in the kitchen (she may or may not have watched her favorite,"Elf", about 25 times in the last 3 weeks....oops!)

To freeze, I quartered the breads (so we could change it up more frequently - instead of eating banana bread for 6 days straight!) wrapped them in plastic wrap and then wrapped them in foil and labeled them. For the muffins, I just dumped those guys into a ziploc bag.

Thanks for hanging in there with me! I hope you find this useful and it helps you prepare some tasty somewhat-healthy meals for the future!

Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 1

In preparation for baby #2, I decided that this time around I wanted to do a better job of having some meals and food options on hand for us. (How was it that I didn't even think about that with baby #1???) Well, this idea QUICKLY got very out of hand...and I decided I wanted to prepare a full MONTH of meals!! Yes, I am insane. Yes, everyone already knows this.

So the goal was to plan roughly 30 meals and we are hoping that between leftovers combined with meals prepared by friends/family this would last us OVER 1 month... hopefully closer to 2 months if we're lucky.

The benefits of preparing meals in advance are obvious, but I'll go ahead and share ALL of the reasons why I chose to do it this way...

a.) To keep me and/or hubby from having to do major weekly grocery trips (worse case he runs to the store for a few items or stops on his way home from work)
b.) If someone else who happens to be on their way over to meet the new baby asks, we can provide them with an exact list of just a few items they could potentially pick up at the store for us
c.) To eliminate as much meal prep as possible, so if hubby or someone else (or me) is the one actually doing the cooking there is no guess-work, no measuring ingredients out and minimal slicing and dicing required - just following a recipe and using the provided ingredients
d.) Lastly, from what I remember postpartum is NOT a time where you want to be standing/working/thinking about anything. AT ALL. That, plus recovering physically from childbirth AND throwing the physical effects of breastfeeding into the mix makes for one RAVENOUS (not to mention hormonal/hangry) mama. With my first post-partum experience, I would freaking lose my mind if I couldn't find anything to eat... or if I had to work too hard to find or prepare food or if I had to put too much TIME into getting meals ready for myself (even simple meals like breakfast)! With a newborn in the house, there just is no time to go spend 20 minutes preparing yourself a nice meal of eggs, toast, bacon, etc. etc. You need to be able to grab and go (go and sit back down on the couch I mean).

Preparing so much in advance... it really is for the state of my own mental health!

I have broken this down into 6 different "phases", because it took a lot of time and preparation before even heading to the grocery store! I'm hoping that by breaking it down this way it will be as easy as possible for someone else to understand... well actually for myself too because I know one month from now I will have no idea how or what I even did! Okay so here we go!!

Phase 1

- Determining WHAT to make: I went through every recipe I have ever used and then some. Pinterest seemed WAY too overwhelming when the search was for "crock pot dump meals"... also it's really difficult and stressful to try and sift through hundreds of thousands of those meals to find ones that aren't 90% canned/preserved goods. I always seek out recipes that contain lots of veggies, meat and "pure"/unprocessed ingredients... all of which are even MORE important to post-partum recovery and breastfeeding, so I tried to stick with what I already knew. As I sorted through hundreds of recipes, I would save recipes if they either a.) required very few perishable ingredients OR b.) if they could be prepared 100% ahead of time and frozen. I call the recipes that fall under the first category "shoebox meals", because most/all ingredients can be measured out and separated ahead of time and placed in their own labeled shoebox (or in my case, shopping bags because I didn't have many shoeboxes on hand and didn't feel like seeking any out).

Phase 2

- Creating an excel spreadsheet: Once I had picked out around 30 meals (I ended up with 13 shoebox meals and 15 whole freezer meals) I sat down to put all of this into an excel spreadsheet. I started with shoebox meals and then made my way down to whole meals. (See image below for this explanation to make some sense!)

- Determining ingredients needed and separating into columns: Once I had typed out all of the meals, I went through each recipe and wrote out basic ingredients (some with actual amounts of ingredients if it was larger amount), separated by how the ingredient was to be "stored". I did this for a few reasons... a.) to make creating the grocery list easier. I can easily see exactly how much of which items I need to ensure we have on hand or purchase (especially meat)! b.) The "perishable" ingredients are already listed out so if hubby gets sent to the store (or anyone else for that matter) all we have to do is just pick which meal we want to have and boom! We already know exactly what we need and how much.

I also color coded all of the recipes based on the type of meat and how it was to be prepared. (For my recipes, the different "colors" were frozen raw chicken breasts, cooked chicken breasts, shredded chicken, shrimp, ground beef, ground turkey and no meat/other.) This was MOSTLY helpful to do for the "whole meals" as it was just to help me prepare all "alike" meals at once - Example: If you look at the image below, the 3 meals in blue all require pre-cooked shredded chicken. So, I will cook ALL of that chicken at once and prepare all 3 of those meals at the same time... as opposed to cooking chicken, shredding chicken and making one meal. Then another day cooking chicken again, shredding chicken again and making another meal. Once the meal was done, I would turn the row back to white - my way of "checking" it off the list. (Which is why the image below most things are white except those 3 blue lines you see -  At the time this post was written I had not yet made those 3 dishes.)

I also plan on preparing some breakfast items (like banana bread, pancakes, etc.) to freeze once I am 100% done with all of these other meals, I just haven't had time to sort though that idea yet ;).

Okay hopefully this is still making sense...

Phase 3

- Making the grocery list: In order to spread out the COST of doing all of this (essentially cramming in the cost of 2 months worth of groceries into 1 month) I initially intended to evenly spread out the meals over the course of 4 weeks. That did work out pretty well for the shoebox meals, but for the whole meals what actually ended up happening was I just planned on preparing certain meals on certain days that were free and then adding those items to the grocery list that week. (This also had a lot to do with the meat and how it was prepared! Like my 3 shredded chicken meals in the image above...) I still managed to be right on budget MOST weeks, but went over by about $50 this past week with a lot of the whole meal ingredients... (so much chicken!!) You could also choose how to approach this part too based on just how strict your weekly grocery budget actually is.

- Go grocery shopping! The complicated part is over! Now it's just about getting the goods and organizing everything that you buy.

Phase 4

- Separate and measure out non-perishable ingredients: Once I unloaded all the groceries, I grabbed my shopping bags and labeled them based on the number of the meal on the excel spreadsheet (don't start with #1 or you will get thrown WAY off!)  Then I measured out spices and put those into a snack sized ziploc and placed all other non-perishable ingredients into their corresponding bags. After the first grocery trip, I had bags #3 - #9 prepared!

- Freeze meat: All meat was then labeled with it's corresponding meal number and placed into the freezer. To make life even easier, I trimmed the fat off of each breast of chicken and placed the number of breasts into a labeled ziploc bag. Yes, this made for several INTENSE sessions of fat-trimming but now that part is already over! (Again, less guess work or trying to figure stuff out in the moment.)

Preparing for chicken trimming! (You can also see some shredded chicken thawing for our dinner that particular night in the background next to our crazy fake cardinal who keeps me company in the kitchen!) 

All done - WHEW! (At least for today!!)

- Prepare all freezer meals: Once the shoebox meals were "complete", I moved on to the whole meals. At this point, I still have about 8 or so more to go before I am completely done. Also, as I mentioned above, it is way easier to break down the whole meal prep into HOW the meat is prepared, so you can knock out as much at one time as possible.

Italian sausage day (actually it's "Italian seasoned ground turkey day" technically). Pictured is lentil soup on the left and then the two pots on the right are both for lasagne rolls.

(Yet another) chicken day... this particular day I literally trimmed the fat off of TWENTY EIGHT breasts of chicken (half-breasts actually if you want to get technical).

Cooking 8 half-breasts...

Preparing 6 "dump" meals... meaning raw chicken and ingredients all get thrown into one bag and placed into the freezer. Then when we're ready to eat them, they get thawed and then contents of entire bag get tossed into the crock pot!

Ready for the freezer! Also, a bag of frozen broccoli to use as a side for some yet-to-be-determined meal. There are also 2 extra breasts that didn't have a home that I will save just in case as well. I have a little section on my spreadsheet for "extra items/side items" that we have in the freezer so we don't forget about them. 

The cooked chicken placed into it's designated casserole - on the left is spinach artichoke chicken and the right is a chicken/broccoli type casserole recipe of my mom's!

Shredded chicken day! 3 different casserole dishes.

The aftermath - lots of CLEAN dishes (thanks to Ryan for that) and lots of recycling! Also some jars of leftover broth from boiling chicken that we will pop into the freezer to use in recipes down the road. 

Phase 5

- Have a baby!!

- Pick a meal from the menu: Each morning (or day before) we plan on referring back to the "menu" (excel spreadsheet) to decide what to eat that evening. If it's a shoebox meal, then Ryan will pop into the store (or we provide friend who asks) with list of perishable ingredients for that specific meal. If we pick a whole meal then obviously we would just pull it out of the freezer, thaw and cook/heat up!

Phase 6

- Snuggle new baby (and/or take naps) with all of this time you have saved yourself!!


WOW. Okay well there you have it. Many hours of brain power (and my head swirling around trying to figure out how to execute this idea) condensed into one blog post. I hope you were able to stick with me!! I am happy to answer any questions at all that you might have so feel free to comment below with any thoughts!!!

I would also LOVE to provide some of the recipes I used for this "project", but I just haven't quite figured out the best way to do that yet...(nor have I actually had time to put a lot of thought into it yet). This is mostly due to the fact that my recipes come from all over the place! Random websites, word documents, email text and Pinterest links....any suggestions you have to make this happen please let me know ;). I hope this is helpful to all of you future mamas preparing for baby - or just for anyone crazy enough to do some intense meal-prep just for fun!!

***Update! If you are looking for recipes for the dishes I prepared all in one place as well as my spreadsheet, continue on here: Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 2

Weeks 33, 34 and 35

Week 33

Major events: Ultrasound; follow up doctor appt; Ryan out of town most of the week 

Size of baby: Pineapple

Sleep: No complaints

Cravings: None

Aversions: None

Movement: Yep! (See below for more on movement during this pregnancy.) This guy usually goes the most crazy in the evenings! I have also reached "watermelon-thumping" stage... my belly is so hard and there are spots that sound insanely hollow! It sounds like when you thump on a watermelon or cantaloupe (often, when I'm in the shower I think "what's that noise??" Then I realize it's just the water hitting my belly haha! One day, I noticed that for the FIRST time EVER this whole pregnancy, his feet were on my left side. I really didn't like it only because it was NOT what I was used to! (Also, weird that he still has room to roll from side to side?? I do think that he is head down at this point, so I guess he is just swinging his feet from side to side!) He really only spent a few hours like this before switching back to his usual position.

Belly button in or out? In

Weight gain: 25 lbs.

Missing: Bending. With Ryan being gone most evenings this week, all of Heidi's baths have been in a bucket on the bathroom floor because I can't bend over into the tub. This week has been tough on my body... either that or my body has been tough on the week!

Best part of this week: Got the nursery painted!! (Hey, it's a start at least!) and getting all of my "restrictions" lifted by my doctor as everything seems to be going the way it's supposed to. 

Hardest part of this week: This belly gets so painful in the evenings. I don't recall the "pain" so much with my first pregnancy, but this time by the end of the day my stomach (think upper abs) HURT, especially if I haven't had any time to sit/lay down during the day. (It just feels as if gravity is YANKING my belly down!) My abs are painful to the touch and I am not able to get any relief from this pain unless I am lying down/reclining. It's tough! I am assuming that my abs are just separating more this time around than the first. Also, being alone/not having Ryan here to help has been very hard. He has been super stressed with work lately and I am stressed trying to get the house cleaned and ready for the shower at our house this weekend (!!!!) by myself. My worst moment was when I realized the vacuum that we thought was fixed broke again which resulted in me as a crumpled, sweaty, crying mess on the floor and Ryan receiving some pretty explicit text messages ;). Sorry babe!

Looking forward to: Baby shower this weekend - getting to see my mom, sister and so many friends!

Emotions: Very up and down... been feeling down a lot more but I think that's just because both Ryan and I have been stressed and I have felt very separated/alone... especially with him being gone. 

Signs of labor: Possible Braxton Hicks contractions every now and then

At my ultrasound/dr. appt., we were able to confirm that baby is head down (woo woo!). The ultrasound was insanely boring, as he is really too big to see much on the screen at one time. Also, this whole pregnancy I have assumed that the chances of him coming early are good as Heidi came 3 days before her due date, but I wasn't sure if that really had any bearing on this pregancy or not. I was able to ask my doctor about this, and she did confirm that my chances of him coming early are pretty high, although obviously not a guarantee! Aaaaaa!

Week 34

Major events: Baby shower (or "sprinkle" if you will!) 

Size of baby: Cantaloupe

Sleep: Fine fine

Cravings: None

Aversions: None

Movement: Tons of movement... legs/feet flipped sides again but it seems this was only temporary. I also had one scary morning where I hadn't felt movement between about 4:30 a.m. (got up to pee) and almost 9:00 a.m. I am not someone who keeps track of kicks or records how much it happens per hour or whatever (I think that's just a good way to really stress yourself out!) but I was aware that 4+ hours is a very long time to go without feeling movement, even in the morning. I started getting a little worried but by the time I had dropped Heidi off at MDO and had time to actually think about it he woke up and started rolling around again. 

Belly button in or out? In

Weight gain: 25 lbs.

Missing: Hmmmm nothing!

Best part of this week: The shower was the highlight of my week! Also, spending some time with my mom and sister and SO many good friends at the shower! 

Hardest part of this week: I have been feeling really lonely and very stressed...and not getting to spend time with my husband has made this week a thousand times harder. Things finally started looking up about halfway through this "week" just in time for the shower thank goodness! (My "weeks" are Wednesday - Tuesday btw!)

Looking forward to: NYC next weekend!! Eeee!!

Emotions: Struggling with "down" feelings this week BIG time, but once the shower was here I was feeling much much better (Ryan and I also finally had a big talk which needed to happen and this really helped me to feel so much more myself again.) Sooo basically I am consistently inconsistent emotionally! Expecting it to be this way for a while...(esp. knowing that post-partum is a crazy time hormonally as well!)

Signs of labor: None

Week 35

Major events: Took myself on my own little babymoon to visit my college roommate in NYC!

Size of baby: Honeydew melon

Sleep: Still somewhat decent surprisingly... I think the main issue here is just going to bed at a reasonable time - something that I am super bad at! I have always been a night owl and am the most productive at nighttime, so it's hard to get in bed early. I feel like by this point in my pregnancy with Heidi, I was getting up 2-3 times at LEAST per night, whereas this time around it's more like 1-2 times (and if I go to bed late enough then I can make it all the way through until morning haha). 

Cravings: Yogurt/granola/fruit parfaits - I saw a lady carrying one around in the airport and I just couldn't get it out of my head!!

Aversions: None

Movement: Tons of movement always. His kicks hurt me a lot and it seems like he's trying to bust out of my right side!

Belly button in or out? In

Weight gain: 30 lbs.

Missing: Clothes that fit

Best part of this week: Hangin with my soulmate in NYC duhhh! SO nice to just get away and forget about all of the things that are currently causing me to be stressed and anxious.

Hardest part of this week: This week I had 2 pretty rough days (and they were back to back which makes it worse). Rough in a physical and hormonal way. Exhaustion has definitely set in and my body just felt so... uncooperative? I outgrew my maternity clothes several weeks ago and I started to let that frustrate me. I dreaded each time I had to bend over to pick something up and each time I had to go up the stairs. My belly hurt and was so uncomfortable and squished and full. The pressure on my bladder/front lower abdomen was so unbearable it made falling asleep difficult these last few nights. I also felt a ton of pressure upwards into my rib cage, and (those 2 days specifically) breathing felt impossible. I was always short of breath, winded and just struggling to get enough in to fill my lungs. Also, having a hard time emotionally (see below) and suddenly feeling SUPER stressed about how little time we have left. (If he's early - that means that this time 4 weeks from now we could be at home with a newborn. YIKES!!)

Looking forward to: Hopefully checking some things off of our "To Do" list!

Emotions: All OVER the place (this is an extreme understatement). You name it - I've felt it. I am also having a SUPER hard time coming to terms with the fact that this pregnancy is almost over. I'm ready to meet my baby... but I'm not ready to not be pregnant. I'm not ready to part with this belly. The house is not ready. His room is not ready. I just feel like nothing is ready!! (I do realize that IF he were to come tomorrow everything would be fine and we would survive. He probably won't even use his room at all for several weeks/months, but it DOES make me sad not having it prepared for his arrival.) I have been anxious, stressed, angry, depressed, excited, happy, sad, mad, disappointed, joyful... just to name a few. I can FEEL the hormones surging through my body and at times it feels like more than I can handle.

Signs of labor: None other than (maybe) some braxton hicks contraction here and there... 

Some more notes on feeling movement throughout this pregnancy...

Feeling this baby move inside of me has been different this second time around. With your first pregnancy, each roll, kick, hiccup and movement is something to announce. To your spouse, friends, family... Call them in from the other room to come experience. But going through his experience for the second time, it's different. Not that those incredible moments are any less important or exciting (not in the least!) but the second time, it's just... different. Less public, maybe. 

Throughout everything that I do the entire day, I am almost always feeling another life moving and shifting inside of me simultaneously. Whether I'm laying in bed, standing in line at the grocery store, washing the dishes, having a conversation with family or friends...but this time...it's more like a little secret that's just between me and my son. His movements are much more often something that only he, God and I are aware of in that moment. And no one else in this whole world. I do LOVE to share his movements and kicks with others but I also love those times where it's just he and I. I love bonding with him in this way.

And here are just few more pictures from these past 3 weeks...!

This is a MATERNITY shirt people. I thought I had reached this point waaay later with my last pregnancy (as in the last few weeks of pregnancy)... but I'm only 8 months pregnant (in this picture)!! Ugh! Frustrating that they don't make maternity shirts longer... what the heck!?

Seriously?? Sometimes I just leave the house like this anyway... because honestly how much am I REALLY supposed to care??? 

Baby shower!!

A HUGE thank you to these 2 ladies (and ALL of our friends and family) for making our double stroller dreams a reality!!

Baby Wells does NYC!!

35 weeks at 35,000 ft!! 

Week 32

Week 32

Major events: No major events this week - just trying to take it easy!

Size of baby: Jicama

Sleep: Still hanging in there... I had one night where I woke up several times because of hip pains, but luckily that was only one night. With my first pregnancy, I had SUCH a hard time getting comfortable and dealing with severe hip pains. I'm not sure if it was because I had gained significantly more weight than I have so far this time, or if it was just my body reacting/adjusting differently. Either way - I'm glad that sleep is still fairly easy to come by this time! 

Cravings: None

Aversions: None

Movement: Oh yes!! It is so bizarre to actually be able to FEEL your uterus stretching... something that I don't recall feeling specifically with Heidi. Sometimes it is painful, and sometimes it just feels bizarre. 

Belly button in or out? In and super flat!

Weight gain: 23 lbs.

Missing: Nothing really...

Best part of this week: Feeling so much better! And getting to spend time with many mama friends this week

Hardest part of this week: 3 things really... 1. "Taking it easy" has been a little tough. The whole "no running, no sex, no cleaning the whole house" stuff has not been super fun, and of course my mind goes to extreme places like "what if my doctor keeps me on these restrictions for the next 7 weeks!? I'm going to go insane!!" Hopefully, this does not end up being the case. 2. I really overdid it one day this week. The thing is - I didn't really DO that much... but for my body (typically), by the 8th/9th month of pregnancy for me that is when "overdoing it" just means not sitting/laying down enough! Ryan was going to be gone ALL day the following day (4am - midnight), so the day before I wanted to get some stuff out of the way so that while he was gone I wouldn't have too much on my plate. I went to our playgroup with Heidi in the morning, then we powered through our grocery store trip (we already got there pretty late and then Heidi needed to go potty. At this point, it is fairly painful for me to sit somewhat contorted in the backseat, while trying to maneuver her in and out of her carseat and on her potty, etc. Also, she pooped so that also added to some of the complication - sorry HEB but that wasn't a dog that pooped in the planter at the front of the parking lot!) The we finally got home, ate lunch and I put Heidi down for a nap. I unloaded all of the groceries out of the car and brought them inside. By the time I unloaded groceries, jacked around straightening things up, etc... it was time to get Heidi up. (I'm not even sure what I was DOING for those 2 hours but it went by fast and I wasn't sitting on the couch watching TV!) Once Heidi was awake, we played for a bit, Ryan got home and then I cooked dinner. (He DID offer to cook dinner but I still insisted that I do it.) By this point in the evening (pretty much every evening) I am already in quite a bit of pain, but tonight I could tell it was a little worse due to exhaustion... so when I went to salt my food and the lid fell off in my plate (followed by all of the contents of the sale grinder)... I tried really hard not to cry...but I lost it. I was so tired, and my belly hurt so bad and it just seemed like everything was awful. I really hadn't even gotten to sit down the whole day except for meals - which isn't really "relaxing". ANYWAY - all of that being said the next day, I dropped Heidi off at MDO and then went home, laid down on the couch and watched the Bachelor and HGTV the whole day. Even though I never fell asleep... it was amazing!! Also, knowing Ryan would not be home that evening I tried to enjoy "not doing anything" as much as I possibly could, which brings me to 3. It is so tough when Ryan is not home in the evenings to help out. (Single mamas I don't know how you do it. Yall are amazing.) Heidi's bath has to be in a bucket on the floor (which I don't think she hates ;)...) because I can't bend over the tub to bathe her. Then by the time she is in bed and I finish the dishes and clean up the house, etc... it's super late! It's so hard only having one set of hands to get everything done that needs to get done. Ryan has another trip coming up soon that will take him away for us for 3 evenings. I am a little bit nervous/anxious about this (especially because we have a lot going on that week as it is) and I know the evenings will be so tough on me physically. I'm trying very hard to prepare our schedule/meals/etc. so that it isn't too strenuous. 

Looking forward to: Doctor appointment coming up - along with our unexpected ultrasound! I'm excited to see our baby boy one last time before his arrival! And hopefully getting the nursery painted this weekend! Hopefully...

Emotions: It's been a pretty emotional week as it is and I do constantly struggle with feeling stressed and overwhelmed now that we are getting closer to his arrival. There's just so much to do! I usually feel very depressed in the evenings, when I am the most exhausted. Tiredness = depression and crying BIG time...not unlike any other normal human being, but pregnancy just magnifies this significantly. I am aware of when I feel this way and know that it's just because I need sleep and rest, so usually once I get some sleep I feel much better the next morning. 

Signs of labor: (I'm adding this category even though I feel like it's kind of dumb. Any "sign" of labor isn't really any sort of indicator as far as timeline goes... but nonetheless I still want to remember things leading UP TO actual labor. I personally don't believe there are any true signs of labor that will tell you WHEN you will go into labor - until you are actually IN labor.) That being said... I am still having a few braxton hicks contractions here and there, however now that I actually know what they feel like I am always over thinking and doubting whether or not they are actually occurring! (Is this one? Maybe. I think it is... Wait, maybe it isn't? Okay, yeah possibly.) But other than that baby is still showing all the right signs that he plans on staying in there for a good while longer!!

8 months!

When Daddy's out of town and Mommy is 8 month pregnant... bathtime happens in a bucket on the floor! 

Heidi likes to put her feet on the baby's feet...

I love this belly.

Week 31 Madness

Week 31 (heads up this is a super long one!)

Major events: Oh geeze... by FAR the MOST eventful week of pregnancy I have ever had!! First few braxton hicks contractions EVER, got a terrible stomach bug and also took an unexpected trip to Labor and Delivery! Yikes!

Size of baby: A coconut

Sleep: Fine (except that one night...)

Cravings: Cookies 'n cream ice cream

Aversions: None

Movement: SO much. I can't believe how strong he is getting. I told Ryan earlier this week that I wouldn't be surprised if he was ready to come out of there before his due date because he seems to be so strong and active!

Belly button in or out? In... I also noticed the FAINTEST sign of the linea nigra showing up (that line that runs up the middle of pregnant bellies)... still hard to tell if it's just my imagination or not...I wasn't sure if it was going to happen - by this time in my first pregnancy I had already had that line for 10 weeks!

Weight gain: 23 lbs. Also, this week I noticed that butt and inner thigh weight gain! These were actually the FIRST places I noticed some weight gain in my previous pregnancy, so I'm surprised it took 31 weeks to show up this time around!

Missing: Breathing. I have definitely noticed a HUGE difference this week in my lung capacity. I am yawning alll the time - not because I'm tired (well yes that) but because I frequently feel short of breath. It really does feel like something is sitting on my chest! I can also feel baby pressing into my stomach and it pretty much hurts all the time (except in the mornings before I eat anything!) I miss being hungry and being able to eat a giant meal!

Best part of this week: Spending time as a family of 3... 3.5... 4.... however you want to look at it ;). We had a very enjoyable weekend and finally decided on a paint color for the babies room! (That's right people. We literally have done nothing to prepare for him yet. AAAH! And I thought we got a late start on nursery prep for Heidi!)

Hardest part of this week: Our trip to the hospital sucked. (See below for details on this!)  Also throwing up SUPER hard is not fun - pregnant or not!

Looking forward to: Feeling more like myself... catching up on sleep...and unexpectedly getting to SEE our baby boy one more time via ultrasound next week! 

Emotions: SO much more emotional this week... I could definitely feel my hormones ramping up BIG time. This whole week I have become much more weepy... and one minute I feel like everything is perfect and the next minute I feel like the world is crashing down on me. It's rough! (This could also explain why that linea nigra has decided to show up THIS week - it's caused by hormones!!)

31 week belly!

I DO think that she is starting to get it...

Other happenings: Okay SO much has happened this week, I felt like I should record all of the details in the order of which they occurred. On Tuesday (which was actually technically week 30, day 7) I noticed my lower belly felt so hard! I walked up to Ryan and said "feel how hard this is right now!" At the time, I remember thinking it was just the baby's head pressing down suuuper low. Thursday (so 2 days later aka week 31, day 2) I was sitting straight up on the couch when I felt this weird hardness/tightness. It literally felt like my bladder had suddenly been filled with cement. I thought "man this baby sure is pressing down into my bladder!" and thought maybe I just had to pee really bad or something. Went to the bathroom... nothing. I was still thinking it was just the position he was in. A few hours later, lying in bed I felt this same weird feeling. It FINALLY clicked - I was having braxton hicks contractions!! I have NEVER experienced what this felt like before so this was super new and it took a few for me to realize what was going on. I have always been curious as to what this feels like! The only way I have ever heard it described is "a tightening in your abdomen" or your "uterus tightening up", "not painful", etc. etc... which to me isn't really a helpful description! I'm thinking... "okay, so like, when you flex your abs or what?!" But knowing what I know now... (at least for me) it was literally like I had a brick in my bladder. A very heavy feeling. It definitely didn't hurt... but it felt like my "bladder" weighed about 20 lbs. and from the outside, pressing on that lower area felt hard as a rock. 

On Saturday morning (week 31, day 4) I went to the bathroom and noticed some spotting. Nothing crazy... but after not having any sort of period or anything since... June (what!?! One of the best things about being pregnant for sure hehe) seeing ANY sort of color is alarming. Even though it was super light and not really red... still scary. I didn't want to go crazy and call the hospital or anything like that but just continue to monitor it and see what happened. (I also had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday, and decided that if things got worse I would call and try to get in on Monday... but hopefully I wouldn't have to and the Tuesday appointment would be fine to wait and mention this to my doctor then.) I will also say... this was 24 hours after sex. After I realized this, I was much more "okay" with it - even though that had never happened before. I know it's a thing. I know it's common. Even though I still felt like 24 hours was a long time to pass before seeing any spotting... but again something I just decided to bring up to my doctor. (Spotting [minimal bleeding] after sex/vaginal exams/etc. is "normal" during pregnancy because of the increased blood flow to your cervix. But if you experience this you should definitely tell your doctor/midwife!)

Monday evening (week 31, day 6) I started feeling not so great. I forced myself to eat dinner even though I didn't feel like there was any room in my stomach. I laid down on the couch for a bit while Ryan did the dishes and took a shower. I was so uncomfortable. We got into bed and I just felt terrible. I felt like I needed to burp but that my stomach was too crunched to let it out. I felt like there was something stuck in my throat. I felt heartburn-y and gross. (I also have to mention that at this point I feel my stomach inside the base of my ribcage... it definitely isn't anywhere NEAR my bellybutton.) So it felt like my dinner was literally just resting right underneath my boobs and couldn't go anywhere. I forced some tea down hoping it would maybe help and attempted to go to sleep. I woke up around 2:30 and felt like I was maybe going to throw up. Went to the bathroom but didn't. I continued to toss and turn all night, constantly getting up and going to the bathroom. Then, at about 5:00 or 5:30, I woke up and again felt like I was going to throw up. I was slightly nauseated, but could also feel my stomach stomach contracting - and contracting hard. (My stomach which is now just below my boobs.) It was painful. These kind of stomach pains/contractions only happen when I REALLY have to throw up (not like... if say one may have had too much to drink or something like that...not that I would know or anything ;)...!) Went to the bathroom and bam. Threw up. Hoping that was it, I attempted to go back to sleep and get some rest. About an hour later I threw up again. And again an hour after that... I am SO grateful that Ryan stayed home from work to be with me, help me get Heidi to MDO and drive me to my appointment. (Also, SUPER grateful that I already had an appointment scheduled for that day - seems like we all of the sudden went from having zero concerns to quite a few!) In the backseat of the car on Hwy 59, there I am throwing up again in a trashcan we brought with is. (At this point, it's basically dry heaving because there's just nothing left. OUCH.) 

So we got situated in our waiting room and I explain to the nurse these things that have been going on (BH contractions, spotting and puking). She told me to undress and that the doctor was probably going to want to examine me. GREAT. (For those of you who have been through a pregnancy before... you know that exams happen at only about 10% of your appointments.) At this point, I wasn't panicking or anything but I could definitely sense a shift in how I was feeling about this go-round at the doctor's. My doctor came in and we talked about everything. She did an exam and took a swab. She explained to us that the test she was running a "fetal fibronectin test" (click HERE if you're curious about the details of this test!) which essentially tests for pre-term labor. It's a great test if it's negative but not that great if it's positive - meaning that if the test comes back negative, there is a 90% chance you WON'T have a baby within 2 weeks, but if it's positive it doesn't necessarily mean that you will. She also told me that my cervix was already thinning and I am 1 cm dilated (which doesn't really mean THAT much to me since women walk around for weeks at 4 cm+ dilated)! Since I was throwing up at somewhat regular intervals (which honestly, for me is pretty normal when I have a stomach bug) her concern was that I was throwing up because of contractions. I told her that I didn't think what I was feeling was contractions, because it felt SO different from my contractions with Heidi. But I also explained to her that I could feel my stomach tensing up (again, stomach stomach, not necessarily my uterus "stomach" or belly "stomach" and that when I was going to throw up was somewhat predictable. 

I believe that each one of these pregnancy "issues" individually would not have been enough to land us in the hospital. Braxton hicks? Normal. Spotting after sex? Normal. Throwing up? Normal. I just think it was the "perfect storm" of little things that caused reason for some concern - together they all COULD have been pointing towards symptoms of early labor. All of these things combined were enough to raise some red flags so my doctor decided to send us over to the hospital for monitoring... to check for contractions, monitor baby, get me fluids if I continued to not keep anything down, etc. 

Obviously, I knew this was all just to be on the safe side... but not exactly how you want (or expect) your day to go at 31/32 weeks pregnant... My doctor also told me no more running, no sex (boo!!) and to take it super easy. None of which are things I like to hear... but she also requested that we come in for an ultrasound and follow up appointment next week to reevaluate everything. Hopefully I get the green light to continue all normal (and extracurricular hehe) activities then. Otherwise... this could be a ROUGH 2 months. 

So off we went to the hospital. Walking inside, I let my mind go to all of the crazy places that it doesn't need to...but still does... preparing myself for the worst. (As we're walking in I'm thinking..."What if the next time we leave here we have a baby in our arms"... or..."Maybe I should make a list of where all of the things I need at home are located in case someone has to bring my hospital bag to me" etc. etc.) As we walked into our room, I see the gown lying on the bed and the little baby warmer all set up waiting for a little tiny person. It just made things all too real. Even though I was not in labor or anything close to that... it was more than I was really ready to see this early on. 

I got hooked up to the monitors right away but everything after that seemed to take forever...things in hospitals seem to go so slow and I also knew that we probably weren't the priority as I'm sure there were other women there who were actually having babies at that moment. Finally, 2 nurses came in to put in an IV and draw blood for some tests (no fluids, just the needle in case they needed to hook me up). Of COURSE... nurse #1 says "Oh she's new here, but she's worked other places before so we are just showing her how we do things here"... and then proceeded to say to nurse #2 "Now what you want to do is..." giving her step by step instructions on how to stick me. NOT what you want to hear! Then nurse #2 says (while attempting to insert the needle) "Oh, shoot" and nurse #1 takes over from there. I realize that everyone has to learn somehow, and I'm usually "somewhat" open to being a guinea pig... but not NOT with needles while I am pregnant and definitely NOT while I am somewhere I already shouldn't be!! Not okay people. Anyway, that was really painful and sucked so I was glad when they left. (I have had SOOO many IVs in my life and I don't understand why it's so hard to come by people who are GOOD at it! Quick and easy please. Also I have AWESOME veins. Comeon, man!!) 

Several hours passed, a few more people in and out. Going on about 18+ hours of no food or water... I can remember thinking "if something crazy happens and someone walks in here and tells me I have to have this baby today... I don't think I could do it." I was so SO weak and so exhausted. Finally, the nurse came in and told us she had called my doctor. Everything looked normal, baby is healthy and to just take it easy and hydrate. (At this point, I was keeping clear liquids down.) We were free to go home. YES. I was so SO grateful to hear these words (and was super looking forward to going home to get some true rest). Once we got home, I ate some cheerios (the only thing that sounded half-way appealing even though I was starving) took a nap and picked up our crazy Heidi. After Heidi was in bed, Ryan picked up some sandwiches for us from Jimmy Johns... oh MAN was baby boy so happy about this. I could tell even HE felt way better after I ate - 20 minutes later he was going crazy in there!! He was active throughout the day but definitely not THIS active! I was happy that he enjoyed finally getting a "meal" :).

As stressful and crazy as that day (and this whole week really) has been, there are many things that I am grateful for. 

I am so grateful for my doctor. She is the reason why I drive almost 45 minutes to the other side of town just to see her every (year, month, week) for what is usually a 60 second appointment. She isn't fluffy, but isn't cold either. She always knows when to assure me that something is normal or when some investigation is needed. She is a runner. and she supports my desire to run throughout my pregnancies. I respect her and I trust her. 

I am grateful for friends and family who never stop supporting us. For in-laws who leave work early to pick up our first baby from MDO. For friends who text to check up on us, for those who pray for us and think of us. I always feel so... undeserving... and indebted to...the community that God has blessed us with. I hope I never stop striving to "repay" them for just loving us and caring for us the ways that they do. I hope each and every friend/family member/acquaintance knows just how much we appreciate them, the support they provide and the time they take to reach out to us. We love you friends.

I am grateful for my husband, who takes off work at the drop of a hat to be by my side. He holds my hair when I'm throwing up and holds my hand when I'm in pain.  He does ridiculous things for me too... when I'm laying in a hospital bed and my water bottle slides just out of reach and I can't quite get to it without sitting up (which is hard to do I might add)... he's the one to grab it for me. I love him for that. I love him for the big things as well as the small. He does so much when I know he is tired or has been at work all day or just doesn't feel like it. and he never complains about it. 

I am grateful that God has kept me and my baby safe, and that even though that experience wasn't a fun one - it could have been much different in a lot of ways. (Even the fact that we already had an appointment scheduled was such a blessing - AND on a day where Heidi was at school most of the day.) 

Lastly, I'm grateful for the time I spent in the hospital because I got to hear my baby's heart beating, his hiccups and his kicks. How cool is it - that usually HE is the one hearing MY heart beating all day and on this day, I got to sit for hours and do nothing but listen to his.  

Baby boy, I love your heart and I LOVE hearing it beat. But I hope I don't see this image any time super soon!

Week 31 you were crazy, but you brought us one step closer to meeting our baby boy.