35 Weeks & Pain Coping Mechanisms

How far along? 35 Weeks 

Total weight gain? Up 31 lbs. I go in again Week 36 for another soon! I really wanted to stay below 30 lbs, but as we can see I have gone up one pound over and Coraline still has big growth spurts ahead...my dream seems to be squashed. :-[ They say at this point she is growing 30 grams a day!

Maternity Clothes? ASOS is my top #1 choice! The tops/tunics run true to your pre-pregnancy size. (Given you didn't let yourself go and blow up like a balloon - boob growth is accommodated for). I found that the pants are true to your current pregnant size. So if you measure your hips properly, use their size chart to order the proper pregnancy size. Yes this means you may order a 10/12/14. Grieve for a bit, then get over it. My next choices are The Gap/Old Navy. I have really only ordered tank tops from there and again, true to pre-pregnancy size. However, for 3rd trimester I recommend going up one size, the belly region can get tight. :-) 

Stretch Marks?  The red marks are still on my butt! Good news, the red marks on my boob have vanished! Gone! Not even a slight sign that they were once even there. WHOOP! What is amazing is no stretch marks on my belly, none what-so-ever! 

Sleep: Sleep is better this week, I am still tired, but definitely got a "second wind" to help get all those baby gifts un-packed and put away.  The only thing is she is really getting up in my ribs. It gives me anxiety because I am afraid she is going to dislocate a rib or something. haha

Best moment this week: Found our labor coping mechanisms courtesy of Birth Boot Camp! I'll explain more in the "Thoughts".

Miss Anything? Alcohol. It is hot and I want to enjoy the fun fruity alcoholic beverages everyone else is getting to enjoy. Jealous. 

Movement: Her movements are up in my ribs now. Before they would be close to my ribs and I could push her little feet away, now they actually glide up UNDER my ribs where I can't reach, for obvious reasons. She has dropped a bit lower this week. I went to work out for the first time since week 28 and she dropped painfully low afterward. I have woken up feeling crampy from her in the middle of the night. I can feel her little hands move around my belly button and hip bones too. 

Food cravings: Watermelon. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Textures are still making me sick. 

Gender RESULTS: BABY GIRL!!! My gut feeling was right all along! I absolutely can't wait to meet her!

Labor Signs: More and more contractions! 

Symptoms: 
Her sitting painfully low.
Ligament spasms? They are super loose in my groin area and sometimes spasm or cramp as I am walking. It feels hella weird and kind of unpleasant.
Braxton Hicks! Yay.
Very small bladder...very. small.
Baby hiccups
If I don't take my prenatal vitamin at night, my legs get extremely antsy! It feels like I need to go running they get so antsy. However, if I take my pre-natal within 30 minutes they chill out. I read that it has to do with the iron. Either way, it works.
Movements have changed from individual movements to feeling simultaneous movements in two different spots. Like I will feel something toward my right side up by my ribs, and at the same time another movement on the left side of my belly button. It's the weirdest, yet most wonderful feeling in the world.
Disappearing belly button, baby bump, nails and hair growing like weeds, baby movements (the best!) and my boobs have drastically increased.
Occasional swelling of my feet and hands. Especially my right foot. 

Belly Button in or out? My belly button is officially FLAT. No innie, no outtie. 

Wedding rings on or off? Both rings have moved to my pinkie fingers. I had a scare with my Aggie ring and just decided to keep them both there. Juuuust in case. 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, Happy!

Looking forward to: Finishing out the nursery and getting back into our house from the tornado!

Baby Name? Coraline! I love the name!! See WEEK 21 for name details. <3

Thoughts: I mentioned above we learned coping mechanisms for labor in our Birth Boot Camp class. I was really excited for this class and I feel we learned quite a bit. Our midwife passed around ice, a napkin and set a timer. Randomly the timer would go off to signal a "contraction" and we would have to put the ice in our bare hands. She then encouraged our partners to help us "cope". If the coping mechanism worked, the pain from the ice went away, if not, well then the ice started to burn. HAHA We learned that Henry rubbing my head and neck, laughing and talking about what we are excited for with Coraline's arrival helps me to relax and cope with pain. The midwife also noted that we laugh a lot together and says that is a great sign - she thinks natural labor will be easy for us. GO US!

I also had another dream about Coraline - love those! All I can remember is once she was born they put her on my chest to hold. She cried for a bit, but once she felt the warmth of Henry and myself she began to sooth herself and calm down. Once she was calm she opened her eyes. She had the most mesmerizing emerald green eyes!! They were gorgeous. I remember looking down and just being dumbfounded by how beautiful her eyes were. Green eyes are a definite possibility since my mom has green eyes, so we will see! :-)

We also decided to play music for her this week and see what she liked. First we picked a mutual favorite band - A Perfect Circle. She moved toward the music and seemed to like being pressed up against it. We then tried Blake Shelton and Josh Abbott - she moved away from those. Henry then tried Turnpike Troubadors, another favorite with lots of fiddle music and she pressed herself up against the music. We played Sublime, another rock band, and another country song - she stayed away from all those too. We played another fiddle-heavy song and she pressed up against it. We got a big kick out of it! Every song heavy on the fiddle she LOVED. She just keeps getting more and more perfect every week. :-)

About the Board:

We tried to keep the board simple this week. We chose the line about the fiddle because of the experience listed above in thoughts. :-]

Pregnancy/Maternity Fashion: 

Jessica Simpson Maternity Top and Jessica Simpson Maternity pant/leggings. I LOVE this outfit. It is a new line that just came out at Motherhood Maternity - just my luck at 35 weeks. haha I despise those pants with the stretchy belly band thingy. They pull my belly down and itch like freaking crazy! I have read that scratching your belly is what opens up the skin for stretch marks to begin and refuse to scratch my belly. Not to mention, it is Texas. It is hot. My belly has enough pressure without this stupid band pressing on it and then layer clothes on top of it as well. Can you tell I despise it? When I saw these adorable "pants" I had to have them! They have a low lying waist in front to accommodate the belly without smothering it. They also have these notches with a bit of elastic to accommodate the growing bump. So, when I sit down they don't cut into my belly like the belly band pants do. Not to mention they have faux pockets in front and real pockets in back, so they look like black skinnies, only very comfy and stretchy. I am not limited to wearing them with just tunics either. WHERE WERE THESE MY ENTIRE PREGNANCY!? Better late than never though I guess. I would put these pants on my top 5 maternity wardrobe MUST-HAVES.

24 WEEKS & A Tornado. WHAT?!

Gotta love being displaced, greasy, pregnant and tired
from "experiene"ing a tornado. 

How far along? 24 Weeks

Total weight gain? As of the last doctor's appointment I have officially gained 17 lbs. HOLY GUACAMOLE!!! The doctor however says it's fine, that I look great and have a big baby so it's no big deal. Given my boobs have grown drastically, but the baby being 2 lbs now and given the boobs probably 2 lbs MAX - that's TOO much weight by my standards. I don't care what my doctor says. Cue depression. LOL I shouldn't gain more than 30 lbs over the course of the pregnancy and Coraline still has her biggest growth spurts ahead of us. Next appointment is June 3rd so hopefully the weight gain will have slowed down. 

Maternity Clothes? ASOS in the UK is my go-to maternity store! Free shipping, plus free return shipping if it doesn't fit or I don't like it. Sign me up. Not to mention, GREAT prices. All outfits can be worn post maternity too. I am obsessed. I will forever rave about them. I also recently found some cute ones at Old Navy online as well.

Stretch Marks?  Still have the red mark I freaked about on Week 21 & 22. Other than that, looks like I am clear for now. Been applying lotion with Vitamin E and Cocoa Butter religiously every day.

Sleep:  Sleep has been much better since the amazing body pillow as arrived. Coraline seems to be on a regular sleep pattern. She squirms like crazy before bed, then settles down for the night, then around 7 am is up and squirming and rolling around. 

Best moment this week: First Mother's Day! 

Miss Anything? Sushi and Rum - Although I have finally started eating smoked salmon. I have to admit it felt SO GOOD and I don't regret it one bit. Everyone has their opinions on it, but I went for it. Coraline has been fine so far. 

Movement: Yea buddy. I actually felt a ROLL for the first time! Not just a kick or twitch. I felt like something pointy on my upper left side so I set my hand on it, then felt it roooooll down my side to my lower left side. CRAZY FEELING DUDE!! SO CRAZY! It was definitely a knee or elbow. 

Food cravings: Fruit (watermelon) and finally gave up on whole watermelons and settled for getting halves. Haven't had a bad one yet! Go me!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Textures are still making me sick, like couscous, as well as red meat. 

Gender RESULTS: BABY GIRL!!! My gut feeling was right all along! I absolutely can't wait to meet her!

Labor Signs: Too soon

Symptoms: Disappearing belly button, baby bump, nails and hair growing like weeds, baby movements (the best!) and my boobs have drastically increased, which has lead to the dreaded red-mark, and frequent bathroom visits. I am starting to wake up at least twice a night, and it's like I wake up and have to RUN to the bathroom! Bending over is beginning to get difficult, especially to tie my shoes or take my boots off. Then my back has begun to break out like a highschool boy going through puberty on steroids. That bad. Luckily, it is on my upper back and my long hair covers it, but I am praying it goes away before our beach maternity shoot in St. John. 

Belly Button in or out? Innie - barely.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, Happy!

Looking forward to: Finishing out the nursery!

Baby Name? Coraline! I love the name!! See WEEK 21 for name details. <3

Thoughts: Henry has been out of town a lot so getting someone to take a picture of the board has been hard. I really don't like calling someone over just to take a photo of me. This week we experienced our first twister! So that only made it more difficult. I am from Houston originally so I have dealt with a hurricane before, but tornados are a whole foreign subject for me. Needless to say, I don't like them one bit. We are currently staying at our in-laws farm. Our ceiling has water damage, needing a new roof, master bedroom windows busted, and we have a community backyard. For the dogs sake, I am worried about nails and broken glass, not to mention the no fence thing, so being at their farm has been heaven for them. However, this called for the board to be in a bit of disarray. It wasn't even until after we had finished the photos that we realized I had completely mis-spelled "Experience" and NO ONE noticed! Henry's sister had come over a few days later and pointed it out to us. Womp Womp. Oh and don't you love the background decor? Deer head, guns on the wall, cedar staircase with christmas garland still on there - LOL City girl really did meet a country boy - or country family. :-P

About the Board:
*This board was inspired by our twister experience. How ironic that Coraline is the size of an ear of corn this week and tornados are always portrayed as going through corn fields??
*Fonts: Harrington
*Due to dim lighting it was hard to tell how bold the board actually was. Wetting the board with a damp cloth (not soaking wet, just damp) helps the chalk go on smoother and bolder.
*Using word to pre-type what you want in fun fonts is a great way to eye-ball what to write, unless you are just freaking amazing at free-style all around. I need something to look at though. :-P

Pregnancy/Maternity Fashion: 
This weeks outfit is rather blah and simple. The flowing top is from ASOS Maternity Line. Leggings are from Motherhood Maternity, and the belt is from a local boutique. I was originally going to wear a black version of the belt, but as I grabbed it off the hook in my closet both clasps literally fell off!! So the nude was what I had to wear, but black was much better. I guess that's what you get when you pay $5. Boo.

Board close-up. 

BOARD BLOOPER

Henry's mom trying to take a photo of us with Henry's iPhone. lol

Aggie Style Bridals

You will probably hear me rave about our wonderful photographer and friend, Michelle Peyronet Jones, for the rest of my life. She is the one who captured our beautiful engagements, rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and reception. She also went above and beyond for my bridals.

Henry and I met while attending Texas A&M together, so to say Aggieland is dear to my heart is an understatement. 

Aggieland is where I began my first true adventure away from home, met some of the greatest friends a girl could dream for, received a wonderful education, learned what true camaraderie meant, and of course, met my Aggie Sweetheart. 

Did I mention I also have an A&M tattoo? Yea, that school is a pretty big deal to me. 

When Michelle said she was willing to do a day trip to College Station for the Bridals I was ecstatic! I of course had to bring along bridesmaids Megan (Henry's cousin) and Stefanie (sister) to help with toting my dress and fixing things here and there while Michelle took the photos. 

We began by hair and make-up. My make-up was a bit too bold at first, let's just say border line black-eye-ish with how much purple there was, so luckily Michelle was able to talk to the make-up artist and get her to tone it down more to my liking. 

Then it was off to Kyle Field! 

We had to park illegally and I knew A&M was notorious for parking tickets, so Michelle wrote a quick note to let the parking attendant know we were hurrying to take bridals and would be right back. I don't know if it worked or if he never saw, but there was no ticket. Whoop!

Apparently the gates had just closed! Michelle found a sweet old man and sweetly talked him into un-locking the gates for us so we could take some quick shots on the field. Michelle worked at lightening speed to capture some beautiful shots. That day was the mans wedding anniversary, and had nothing but kind words to say as he walked us out and locked everything back up. 

Next was the famous Century Tree. When I toured the A&M campus this tree was one of the main reasons I said yes to A&M instead of Baylor. Yes a tree. There were fresh red rose petals all under the tree from a recent proposal and the professor showing me the campus explained the importance of this gorgeous tree. After Henry proposed, we trekked across campus to walk under this tree and make our engagement "official". When I went to show Michelle the location (prior to the wedding dress being on) numerous students stopped to warn us not to walk under the tree alone, for fear we would be doomed to a life of loneliness. They were truly concerned. lol

Thanks to the wonderful summer heat and my layers upon layers of tulle I nearly passed out and we decided it would be best to move to our next location indoors....The Dixie Chicken! 

I had a friend who had stunning photos taken here, so of course I was a copy-cat. hehe

Also, Henry proposed to me right behind the Dixie Chicken where we officially met for the first time. 

Since it was Michelle's first time to the Dixie Chicken she was able to come up with some GREAT shots that ended up being some of my favorites!!

Thanks to the long lasting sun in Texas, after moving around to all these locations we still had plenty of time to make it to the Aggie Barn on the edge of town in time for the magical sunset sky. The barn photos were beautiful, however all the crickets climbing between my layers of tulle were not. HAHA

After the photos I sat down in the car to feel something jumping around in my dress. I jumped out like a mad woman and nearly stripped down to nothing right next to the road trying to get the mysterious critter out of my dress and far away from me!

A few months later I had scheduled boudoir photos with Michelle as my Hubby-to-be's wedding gift. On top of the boudoir photos, I received a second set of Bridals (WHOOP!) as a kind of trade-for-print deal with a new wedding venue in Arlington, Howell Family Farms, and a new Aggie-owned-and-operated Vintage Furniture rental company, Gold Dust Vintage Rentals. The vintage furniture was GORGEOUS, and had this venue existed when we had been looking, it would have been a top contender on our list.

Wedding Eve Bash

Henry and I opted for a less traditional Rehearsal Dinner.

Most rehearsal dinner's are for intimate family members and the wedding party.

We invited extended family who were already in town for our out-of-town wedding, wedding party members and their families, and friends in general. We held it at a local bar - the bar where Henry first saw me to be correct - Daisy Dukes. It was a country bar, so the natural decor and setting was perfect for our theme and required no extra decorations. They had a large screen and projector for a slideshow at no extra charge, bars to provide alcohol, djs to play music, and are owned by the same people who own La Bodega, our favorite restaurant, so catering was rolled into the package. It was simple and easy. 

We decided to hold toasts at the rehearsal instead of the day of the wedding due to social anxieties and knowing that our group likes to get rowdy and drink....which could result in a speech only few would understand anyway. It was a great idea I feel because it was more intimate and didn't waste time at the wedding. Although I am sure those at the wedding who weren't at the rehearsal were a little baffled on why we didn't hold an official toast. 

Uncle Billy and Uncle Warren

Uncle Mark and Cousin Matthew, Usher, girlfriend, Kaitlin

Aunt Shiela and Cousin Laura

Cousin's Shaye and Aimee, Niece Wheezy 

Fabulous friends, Lorenzo and Leslie! You will be seeing much more of them in the blogs to come.

Henry had taken the guys to a Rangers game earlier in the year for their groomsmen gifts, so the bridesmaid and flower girls opened their gifts at the rehearsal dinner. Each bridesmaid was gifted a different Coach wristlet. Each wristlet then had a mini-survival kit tucked inside: Disposable toothbrush, disposable floss/toothpick, nail file, tissues and compact hair brush/mirror.

All the girls reading their Thank You cards.

Sister/Maid of Honor, Stefanie, and Cousin, Megan

Longest friend, Airika

College Best Friends, Danni and Lauryn

All the girls from left to right: Airika, Megan, Audrey (sister-in-law), Danni, Lauryn, Stefanie

The flower girls received little fairytale princess dress-up packages. Each package had a veil with a tiara, a wand and a ring - so they could dress up with the bride-to-be. 

Baby cousin, Shaye 

Niece, Ariana, also known as "Wheezy"

My bridesmaid, Danni, put together a wonderful heartfelt slideshow compiled of numerous photos which she had broken down into "chapters" - Meet Heather, Meet Henry, Meet their friends and Family, Heather and Henry as a couple. It had almost everyone in tears and laughing. 

Lovely friend, Leslie

Hubby and myself laughing at photos on the slideshow

In-laws - I am suppose to state for the record they both were crying.

Kenny 

Fabulous, life-saving, in-law Aunt Terri!

Uncle Mark and Aunt Marilyn

Everyone enjoying the slideshow

The toasts were amazing. It was funny because as we mentioned time for speeches my sister and Casey kind of danced around each other trying to pick who would go first. Finally my sister said, "Fine, Ill go first!" and walks up to the front to claim the microphone. She then proceeds to whip out a long, pre-typed speech. I was cracking up! My favorite part was how she said she loved Henry for accepting us a package deal, he never tried to separate us as sisters, allowed her to tag along on outings and allowed her to help on the most important things, picking out my ring and the proposal - and made her feel loved on all occasions. I had never thought of that before, but it was true. Henry treated my sister like she was his sister too, and it made my heart smile hearing what wonderful things my sister had to say about my future hubby and how she adored him as a brother too. 

My sister, Stefanie, giving her speech.

This is where the great part of him accepting her as my sister came in - the water works are in full flow.

Love my little sister - and our 2nd cousin decides to jump in on the hugs. <3

Casey apparently was not aware we were giving a speech that night, so he had to wing it. LOL But he did a phenomenal job. I honestly did not expect such a well delivered speech. He had everyone bursting into laughter when he said He knew Henry and I were serious because Henry refused to bring me around any of them for the first few months.
 SO TRUE!
Henry said he was afraid his friends would scare me off - he was right. Had I not been so in love with Henry, his rowdy friends probably would have been too much to handle up front. I had never met so many guys who could party and drink so much! And I drank and partied a lot, I had just turned 21 when I met Henry, so the partying had just begun.
His friends were another breed. 

Someone recorded Casey's speech, I need to find them.

Good 'ole Casey steps up to the plate.

 
 

 

After it was all done, most people stayed out and partied. Henry went back to his friend Justin and Lacey's house, where I proceeded to my hotel room with my bridesmaids and about 10 bottles of wine.

Henry and his Niece, Alanna

All teary eyed with my Great Uncle Joe all the way from Cali and my Mom.

Greatest Father-in-law in the world!

Mom and Sister

Our fabulous photographer, Michelle, followed us to the hotel room to capture us goofing off and jumping on the bed. However our goofing off was cut short due to the room next door pounding at the wall every time we started laughing. Damn fun suckers! It was like 10 pm on a Friday! Sheesh.

 

It was a great Wedding Eve Bash before the Big Day!