PREGNANCY POST // 7 MONTH BUMP UPDATE

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How far along are you?

I'm in my 28th week and in my third trimester...just a couple days from week 29! Cannot believe it's 11ish weeks until I see my sweet baby.

How big is baby?

Baby is about 15 inches long and weighs 2.5 lbs. At 29 weeks he's the size of a pineapple!

Feeling:

I'm still feeling pretty good! My energy levels aren't as high as the second trimester but I found out my iron is low so I'm going to start on some iron supplements and I'm sure I'll notice my energy levels going up.

I don't have gestational diabetes PTL! I tried doing the two hour test but ended up puking the drink up after 15 minutes lols! So my doctor let me do the 1 hour one and I passed..yaaaay!

If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen this post from last night. I had my ultrasound on Monday and am happy to report that my placenta has moved waaaay up!! Praise God! No bed rest or pelvic rest and no forced c-section! And it was sooo sweet to see my little man. They doubled check he was indeed a he and oh boy, yes he is...lols. We also got the sweetest shot of his face and found out he has a ton of hair already! The technician even told us he is going to be crazy cute when he comes out #proudmom... but seriously how cute is this photo of his face..those lips and cheeks...my goodness #heartmelting

Food love/hate:

My appetite has defs increased! I'm finishing full meals now and constantly crave sweets. Still haven't had any weird cravings though!

Exercise:

I've still been walking to work about 3x a week. It takes me about 35 minutes (instead of my usual 30!) but I always feel better! I've still been going to the gym about 2x per week, if my weeks aren't too crazy. Still trying to get my squats and lunges on!! I had a massage the other week and my goodness, that was the best decision. My hips and back hurt so much before and since then, they haven't hurt at all! Can't wait for my next one :)

Clothing:

I'm wearing a mix of tight shirts and loose shirts. Honestly, it depends on my mood and whether I'm up for people commenting on my bump. It's so funny, I don't feel that large and some people make comments like "Are you sure there aren't two in there?" and "You still have how long to go!!?" It makes me wonder if people have ever seen a pregnant person before...lol. I'm okay with it, and know they're not trying to be rude but sometimes it gets annoying so I opt for looser shirts if I'm tired and know I don't have a lot of patience that day ha!

What I'm looking forward to:

Starting our birthing classes in two weeks! We've signed up for classes at the hospital and I'm so looking forward to learning and meeting other parents to be! I'm also looking forward to spending more time with James as this month has been insane! Mind you, next month is going to be crazy as we are planning on reno-ing our bathroom and setting up the nursery (weeeeee!!!)

Thank you again for all your prayers and your encouragement!

XO!
laura

OUR PREGNANCY STORY

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I've been waiting awhile to share our pregnancy story. It's a bit of a complicated story because there are other stories intwined with it. But it's a story of God's goodness, so I just can't not share it with you. Just a disclosure- this may be a bit TMI as I talk about cycles and ovaries and all that fun stuff haha...don't say I didn't warn you!

When James and I got married, we knew we wanted to wait awhile before having kids. So I went with the IUD as birth control knowing I had a good five years of not having babies. But after two years of marriage, the ovaries started yearning. Little, cute babies everywhere with all their cute baby things...oh that can do some damage to your ovaries.

But James was still in school and then we bought a house so we decided to wait to start trying. Until we had dinner with some awesome pastors who encouraged us re: having babies while we were young. After some prayer and chats, we decided that I would get my IUD taken out and we would give it a go! Surely we wouldn't get pregnant right away.

And we were right as much as I didn't want to be right. The ol' IUD peaced out in early March and I didn't get pregnant until September. My body took a little bit of time to get on track and then James was travelling with Towers & Trees during a number of my "fertile windows" ha. It got to be a bit frustrating during the summer as I discovered my cycle going from 30 days to 32 to 40 (!!!!) to 35. When I look back on my app that tracked all that, we ended up just missing my fertile window days almost every month lols. During those months when my cycle was longer than normal, I obviously took pregnancy tests. I had a friend who hooked me up with those free stick ones so I couldn't not take them (they were freee!) 

I admit it was definitely disheartening to dip the stick and only see one line when it seemed that everyone was getting pregnant around me. But God gave me peace about it and I knew it would happen when it would happen.

September came around and James was in town the whole month. BOOYAH! This was our month to actually "try". Because my cycle was unpredictable, we decided to strategize a bit. So for a two week period let's just say we "tried" a lot. This also happened to be during our local rock festival, Rifflandia, where James played two shows at...so I can proudly say my son was conceived during a rock festival that his daddy played at (pretty freaking awesome, if you ask me, ha!!)

So fast forward a couple weeks...I decide not to test until at least day 32. I didn't feel pregnant. Some women know they're pregnant the second they conceive...I was not one of those. 

But I had a dream.

Let's get this straight though. I dream a lot. I've even had dreams about babies before but this dream was different. I don't even particularly remember what exactly happened in the dream except for the fact that I was pregnant and my sister was pregnant too. I woke up and just knew it was from God. I knew that I was pregnant. I even recorded it in my journal. 

I remember telling James when he woke up and I could tell he thought I was a little crazy. He knew I heard from God but this had been something that had been on my mind for a long time, so logically I could have just had a dream. But I KNEW....like I said before, I didn't feel pregnant but I knew that God was telling me I was. I told a couple friends as well, along with my sister. 

Now my sister was on her own fertility journey. Her and her husband had been trying for almost two years. So it was with so much joy and such a privilege that I could share that God was going to make her dreams come true.

So I waited five long days to test. I still wanted to wait until day 32 to test. I felt so crazy over those five days. One minute I would be talking to my belly saying "Oh hello little guy!" (which was my first instinct that I was having a boy) and other times I'd be talking to God, "Am I crazy? Did I just make that dream up?" 

But Monday morning came and I woke up before six like a kid on Christmas morning. I bolted to the bathroom, peed into a cup and then dipped the stick that would change my life. Immediately two lines appeared. Thank you Jesus. First of all, I'm not crazy...and second of all, but really first of all, I couldn't believe how amazing God is, that he would tell me in a dream that I was pregnant!!! I took two more tests to be sure.

I then woke James up with the news...and this is the one thing I regret. Man all you people who wait to tell your husbands and come up with really cute, creative ways...how do you do that!! I just could not hold it in. James obviously was so excited but he is not a morning person and it was 6am...so let's just say I didn't get the reaction that I wanted and next time I will wait till he's fully awake before I announce the news, lols. 

We told a few close friends and I excitedly called my sister to let her know that a. God was right, I was pregnant and b. she would be pregnant soon. James and I announced our exciting news to both our families one week later over our joint Thanksgiving dinner and that was the best.

And guess what? 5 weeks after I found out that I was pregnant, my sister got the news too. And we just found out she's having a little girl. Little boy and girl cousins who will be born five weeks apart.

HOW GOOD IS GOD!!!! I'm still in awe of his goodness as I feel our little lion kicking away. I can't say I haven't had fears (so many) but his promise has kept me grounded through it all. My faith has grown as I've seen this miracle grow in my sister as well.

And I know some of you don't share this story. Pregnancy is such a crazy, vulnerable thing, my heart breaks as I know so many who have experienced loss but all I can say is, God knows your heart, he is faithful, he is good and he's still at work in your story. Don't you forget that.

Love you to the moon & back,
Laura

PREGNANCY POST // 6 MONTH BUMP UPDATE

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How far along are you?

I'm in my 24th week! Can't believe baby boy is supposed to come in 15 weeks! This trimester is flying by! In 3.5 weeks I'll be entering my THIRD trimester!

How big is baby?

Baby is about a foot in length and weighs just over a pound! I have a couple pregnancy apps and they compare him to a cob of corn, an eggplant and a zucchini!

Feeling:

The best yet. I am loving all this new found energy. I can stay up past 10pm and I don't die the next day if I wake up at 6am. Although, I am finding it hard to be productive at night if I worked all day. Illuminate is on Friday so I know this is going to be a CRAZY week but I know God will give me all the strength I need and all the help I need too :)

It's also been amazing to know the sex of the baby. I am a type A planner and I seriously would be having panic attacks if I didn't know the sex lols. We're going to be doing the nursery up in April so I'm having a ton of fun pinning all my inspiration on my NURSERY BOARD!

This month has been the one with the least worries which is kinda funny because after my ultrasound my doctor told me that I had a low lying placenta. She didn't put me on any restrictions and told me not to worry because in 90% of cases, it moves up as the baby moves up. It can get sketchy in cases where the placenta stays lows and then covers the cervix because that means baby can't get out naturally and you're most likely put on bed rest and will receive a c-section. God has given me so much peace about it and I'm really not worried. I know without a doubt that He is taking care of my baby. (And that's not saying I haven't had fears this pregnancy..I'm actually working on a post of all the crazy fears I've had lols)

I feel The Lion (our nickname for baby boy) move around all the time and it is the best feeling!! He's usually down low but sometimes I get big kicks around my belly button. It brings me so much joy that I get to feel my sweet baby. James has been feeling kicks as well! And funny story, one night James put his ear on my belly, trying to hear the Lion's heartbeat but apparently the Lion didn't like that because James received a huge kick to his ear...so sweet. 

Food love:

My appetite is definitely increasing!!! I can eat A LOT, which was not how I rolled pre-pregnancy. I'm trying to eat healthy things but man a pregnant girl sure needs her sweets.

Food hate:

Don't really hate anything but a homemade spinach salad isn't very appealing right now.

Exercise:

I'm so thankful for the energy I'm experiencing because it's really motivating me to keep going to the gym! I've been going about 2-3 per week and I'm still walking to work. I'm finding things are taking me a lot longer than before but I'm so thankful I can still do them.

Clothing:

I'm all about showing off the bump! For once in my life, I'm proud of having a belly lols so I'm wearing a lot of tight t-shirts and tanks over my maternity jeans. I tried wearing regular leggings the other day and they were sooo uncomfortable so I'm probably going to purchase a pair of maternity leggings. I feel right now my bump is HUGE and I'm still trying to imagine how it's going to get even bigger....the human body is an amazing thing!!

What I'm looking forward to:

Our doctor's appointment today! Also we have an ultrasound in March to see if my placenta has moved up (please pray it moves up!!) so I'm looking forward to another opportunity to see my sweet baby boy on that ultrasound screen.

Hope you have a great week!

XO,
laura

PREGNANCY POST // 4 MONTH BUMP UPDATE

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It's about time I update you on this whole pregnancy thing hey? I'm excited to give you some monthly updates that I will continue until baby Liira's arrival!

Well, first of all the day has come...my bump has arrived!!! Clearly, I'm very happy about it as I spent most of the first trimester feeling very bloated most of the time. So hello bump! It's so nice to meet you :)

How far along are you?

I'm just at the start of my 4th month. Can't believe I'll be 15 weeks tomorrow! I feel that the first trimester went ridiculously slow and now I'm all like HOW IS IT 15 WEEKS!

How big is baby?

Right now baby is the size of a large lemon and tomorrow he/she will be the size of the pear! It's insane to think that this little baby started out as cells..makes me think how amazing God is! He knit this little one in my womb <3

Feeling:

I'm finally starting to get my energy back (PTL!!) yet last week I had the flu…which sucked! I hadn't been "sick" in six years so I guess it was about time I got sick again. During my first trimester I was nauseous most of the time and very tired at night but miraculously, no puking! I definitely feel like I have more energy except last night I strangely went to bed at 7pm!! I guess I'm finding my balance with how much I can handle. I try to squeeze a lot in a day and God is teaching me to listen to my body and rest when I can…and if I don't…I'm forced lols.
I've also started to get heart burn a lot!! If it's still real bad by the time of my next doctor's appt (end of Dec), I'll end up asking her for something stronger than tums.

Food love:

I feel like I'm just starting to get cravings. On Monday I HAD TO HAVE A VEGGIE CONE from a local Japanese market. Something came over me and OH MY GOSH I HAD TO HAVE IT. It's nice to actually start craving food instead of just bland crackers and bananas.

Food hate:

Strangely, I want nothing to do with pasta…especially cheesy pasta in my first trimester. There was a pasta bar in the buffet on our cruise and I literally had to hold my breath or plug my nose every time I walked by! I still don't want anything too cheesy. I also want nothing to do with leftovers or super saucy salads.

Exercise:

I'm still going for runs and to the gym a couple times a week! It's been pretty sad to see my pace go down but I know I can't push myself too hard. I don't want to give up though. I know you're allowed to exercise so I'm finding the balance of doing it right without over doing it.

Clothing:

Right now I'm still wearing my old jeans (with the help of the good ol rubber band trick). My shirts are mostly loose so I will probably be able to wear them for a LONG time. I do want some new flat boots and maternity jeans which I may purchase on a post-Christmas trip to Vancouver (HELLO TOPSHOP!)

What I'm looking forward to:

CHRISTMAS! Right now all I want to do is get into pyjamas, snuggle up with James (or Coco lols) and watch Christmas movies. Our Christmas tree is up and our mantle is decorated and I could just stay in my living room forever. I'm also very much looking forward to our ultrasound in January where we find out if Baby Liira is a boy or girl…oh my goodness the waiting is KILLING ME.

Oh and funny story….When I originally took the mirror selfie above I immediately had to retake because I was horrified by the state of my room. I quickly cleaned a bit and then took the photo but that's not real life so below is the original photo…

Ha, how awesome is Coco's tail!

With love,
laura