29 weeks.

i quickly snapped these 29 week bump pictures on my way out the door to meet travis for a dinner date.****

i feel like i’m finally starting to look pregnant.  i’ve gotten many more comments from strangers over the last few weeks.  i’m still measuring a little on the small side (27 weeks), but my midwife said it’s completely normal.

i took the glucose tolerance test this morning.  the glucola was not as horrible as everyone made it out to be.  i drank it in about a minute flat to get it over with.  it made me a little bit nauseous, but that quickly subsided after the one hour mark.  other than that, the appointment went well.  i was THRILLED to find out that sylvie is already head down and likely to stay that way.  good job, baby girl!  her heart rate was very good at 140 beats per minute.  seriously, i can not wait to meet this kid of mine!

there is much to be done today!  our dear friend, joe, is coming into town this weekend.  we’re a small stop-over on his drive from philadelphia to iowa.  neither of us have seen him since last summer, and i’m so excited to spend some time with him!  i need to get this place looking more like our hip apartment and less like babies r us exploded.  wish me luck!

****by “dinner date” i mean that i went to the restaurant where he works (and was tending bar last night), and sat at the bar for an hour of his shift.  i ate some amazing gazpacho and a delicious shaved vegetable salad.  i even had a small glass (probably an ounce or so) of wine courtesy of my husband.  ssshhhhhh!  don’t tell the preggo police!

p.s. sylvie totally has the hiccups right now!  since she is head down (i repeat, GOOD JOB, BABY GIRL), i can sort of feel them in my butt.  does this happen to anyone else??

bump and a haircut…

…2 bits.

i LOVE my hair cut!  if you voted “NO”, and don’t like it, that’s ok.  i am so much happier with my hair now!  without further ado, here is my bump, my hair cut, and some outside pictures to celebrate the beautiful day we’re having!

the other side of my hair is a bit longer in the back.  it looks like a mullet in this picture, but i swear it’s not!:

and one to showcase this gorgeous day:

our 16 week appointment went really well.  the heartbeat still sounds strong and fast.  i believe the doctor’s exact words were, “the baby sounds great.”  a couple vials of blood and a payment later and we were out of there in 45 minutes.

travis is out taking auggie on a nice, long walk in the sunshine.  tonight we’re headed out to babies r us and a few other stores to start exploring our stroller, car seat, and crib options.  our parents are visiting in 3 weeks, and we want to have a good idea of what we like before then.

oh, and last night i made a burger onesie!

i hope you all have a great day!  i’m going to sit outside in the sun.

update.

i just got back from my appointment.  the doctor thinks it was just a particularly bad case of round ligament pain, which has subsided now.  we heard the baby’s heartbeat, and it sounded good and strong.

it was a scary day to say the least, but we got to hear our baby again.  this, alone, makes the hour i spent writhing on the couch completely worth it.

of appointments and clothing.

my OB appointment this morning went really well.  i didn’t get the triple screen today (my place does that at 16 weeks), but i did get 5 vials of blood drawn.  AND i got to hear my baby’s heartbeat again!  it was amazing and even faster than last time–a whopping 175 beats/minute!  i just wish travis had been there to share it with me, but he was in chicago for the day.  i have another appointment in 5 weeks and 3 weeks after that we find out the sex.  just 8 weeks from today!  april 8th at 4:00pm.  i can’t wait to cut out this him/her crap and know for sure.

***

i made this post on affordable maternity clothes a while back, which featured items from forever 21.  however, it has recently come to my attention that forever 21 has really disgusting labor practices.  as such, here is another post on affordable maternity clothes from places another than forever 21!  hooray for do-overs!

modcloth.com has long been one of my favorite websites to find affordable and stylish clothes.  like forever 21, they are not a maternity store per se, but they carry a great deal of bump-friendly styles.  unlike forever 21, they carry exclusively small/indie designers, all of which use fair labor, and most of which are made in the good ole USofA.  below are some of the designs i’m currently coveting to cover my convex core:

foxglove t-shirt dress, $23.99

donna-jo tank, $29.99 and, sadly, out of stock

ode to a grecian tunic, $57.99 (definitely out of my price range, but soooo pretty for a special occasion)

southwestern spa dress, $52.99

delilah dress, $54.99

pointillism dress, $49.99.  i LOVE this one for a baby shower.

speaking of maternity clothes, heidi klum’s lines for both motherhood and a pea in the pod premiere tomorrow.  i’m curious to see if the motherhood line with be as stylish as it could be.  i have the feeling that the pea in the pod line will be the more chic (and expensive) of the two.  we’ll see.

it seems the rest of the evening will be spent cuddling with my puppy and crocheting.  i started a baby pillow yesterday and am just 3 rounds from finishing it!

it matches the blanket i’ve started.  cute.

baby, baby. can’t you hear my heartbeat?

it’s now less than a week until our first ultrasound.  i’m pretty nervous about it.  i can’t help but stress, wondering if everything will be ok.  don’t get me wrong, i have no reason to think anything is amiss with our little blueberry, but until i can see the heartbeat for myself, i will remain somewhat anxious.  I wonder if we’ll be able to hear it this early.  i’ve heard that some women can, while others can’t until close to 20 weeks.  i hope we don’t have to wait quite that long!