It's The Final Countdown!

We are officially down to single digits in weeks… the final stretch!

 I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am, in case you couldn’t tell. This journey has definitely been an emotional one—one that started rocky (and throw up’y), anxious about the ‘what ifs’ and the unknowns, and finally excited as each week passes and I’ve received good health updates for both Taylor and I.

I’ve truly enjoyed these last couple months of pregnancy . From about 3 months up until this point, I’ve been feeling good, have been able to eat pretty normal (with the exception of some foods and most drinks), have had some energy, and have loved watching my sweet girl grow and move inside my belly. However, the morning sickness and lack of energy is beginning to creep back in (sad face), especially in the afternoons and evenings. I'm HOPEFUL it won't be near as bad as it was in the beginning but as each day passes, it slowly has been getting worse. The upside-- only 9 more week. Nine. More Weeks. I can do this! 

But the best part has been our health. If you’ve followed my pregnancy journey (or just follow my blog), then you know that I currently live with a chronic health condition—leukemia. While me having leukemia poses no risk to the baby, it poses a risk to me as I can’t undergo (normal) treatment while pregnant. It’s almost guaranteed that my type of leukemia will progress without treatment but the hope has been that it will slowly progress (which after taking a pretty big jump in the beginning, it has remained pretty steady since) to where I can go the full 9 months without treatment, safely have the baby, then immediately begin treatment again. This has been the case so far, which is so exciting! Assuming my latest test results come back good, I'll see my oncologist one more time at the end of February for more testing and if those results also come back good, then I'll for sure not have to undergo any treatment until after the baby arrives and won't need to be induced early for that reason. Fingers crossed this is the case! 

On a more exciting note, our sweet girl is doing great. One of the perks of being a high risk pregnancy is you get to see your baby a lot via ultrasound. We’ve had three so far and have two more scheduled—one at 32 weeks and the last at 36 weeks. It's always so reassuring and gives a peace of mind every time we see her on that screen looking healthy and perfect. She’s measuring a little further along than my original due date which means she'll either she’ll come a little early or she might be a little chunk :) 

These past few weeks we’ve enjoyed preparing for her big arrival. Her room is just about complete and I absolutely love it. 

I took my non-shopping husband to Target to register for some baby things and that was an experience. He was mind blown by some of the things that we’ll need and why we need them-- it's going to be so much fun watching him as a dad. :)  Up until a couple weeks ago, I had done such a good job suppressing the urge to buy baby clothes and accessories (aside from the basics). But after Christmas, I could wait no more and finally made my first splurge purchase and bought some of the cutest outfits. Eeek!! Little girl clothing is just so cute!! I’ve made a vow to not buy anymore clothes or accessories until at least after our showers and possibly until after she arrives. Let’s see how long that lasts. :)

Nine more weeks and I’ll be a mother of 2. God is good. <3 

Confession: 

Part of the reason why I've been feeling pretty good is because I've been taking Diclegis and Zantac since the beginning of my second trimester. They have both been my saving grace, up until this point anyways. I take Diclegis (4 times a day) and it usually keeps it the nausea at bay. I also have to take Zantac (2 times a day) because even when I do have an appetite, nearly all foods give me heartburn and acid reflux and made it near impossible to eat, that was until I started taking Zantac. I haven't had to take any anti-nausea meds in the past couple of months but have a feeling that will be changing pretty soon....

Because I deal with those issues, it's kept me from being that pregnant lady with her face shoved in a pint of ice cream. While part of that makes me sad because that should be one of the perks of being pregnant and growing a human inside your belly, on the plus side I haven't had to worry about gaining too much weight. I've gained 15 pounds so far and as you can tell from the pictures below, I don't look much different from my 26 week picture to my 30 week picture.  However, I'm fully expecting to pack on some pounds, especially in these final weeks.