27 Weeks

How far along? 27 weeks and 3 days.  I’m officially in my third trimester!!!  J
Total Weight Gain: 30.8 pounds (so my weight is up only 0.6 pounds since last week, which right on track).   
Maternity clothes? Yes!    
Stretch marks? Nope, and my skin still seems to have some stretching room left!  I’m still using the Palmer’s nightly as well.
Sleep: I miss being able to sleep on my back or stomach!  Sleeping on my side is already starting to get a little uncomfortable.  But I have been sleeping pretty well, some nights better than others. 
Best moment this week: We finished all of our Christmas shopping, and I have about half of everything wrapped already, so it feels great to have that nearly done!  Justin and I also had a day this past weekend where it was rainy so we just hung out and played a bunch of games of Trivial Pursuit and watched football, and even though he won basically all of the games except one (can I blame this on pregnancy brain?), it was still a very fun and relaxing day! 
Also, my Mom and Earl were in Connecticut this past week, and last Wednesday, my mom went to visit our dear family friend, Bill Edgar, in Westerly, RI and talked with him for several hours, and took the great picture below for me!  Bill is the husband of Mary Edgar, who passed away in February 2012 less than a month before Justin and I got married.  Mary took care of me from the time I was a baby while my mom and dad worked, and both her and Bill were just an enormous part of my life, not to mention some of the absolute best people that God ever lent to this world.  I miss Mary terribly, and I hope that I will get the chance to visit with Bill myself sometime soon, but I am so glad that my mom was able to do so.  I ordered lots of prints of pictures of me and me and Justin to send him with his Christmas card! 

Miss anything? Snow!  There was some crazy winter weather across the country this past weekend, and I wished I was somewhere to see some of that beautiful snow!  I’ve also been missing red wine a little lately, though I did indulge in about two-thirds of a small glass the other weekend and it was very nice.  I also miss watermelon.  It was a much more healthy way to indulge this new sweet tooth of mine without resorting to something like ice cream – I wish it was still in season!
Movement: Yes, and plenty of it!  We have been noticing lately that she is almost always active when we’re in the car with the music on, and the stranger the song (she apparently likes “The Thong Song” and “I Drink Alone” of all things), the more active she is!   I still feel nearly all of her movement on my right side, so I guess she prefers it over there. 
Food Cravings: I haven’t been quite as hungry this past week.  Justin made some delicious slow-cooked pulled pork for dinner last night, and it was really good.  But all my usual little food indulgences haven’t seemed very satisfying or tasty lately, so I haven’t been eating quite as much.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing really makes me queasy, other than meat fat, though I still don’t have any interest in Chinese or Indian food, or anything super spicy.
Have you started to show yet? For sure!
Labor signs: No.
Symptoms: The restless legs seem to be getting just a little better, and I don’t even take my heartburn medication every day anymore, so I have been feeling pretty great, though my sleep is getting a bit more uncomfortable now. 
Belly button in or out? Still in, but getting really, really flat!
Wedding rings on or off? Still on.
Mood: Happy, though things have been very stressful at work the past few days, and it has been extra busy on top of that.  So some things will definitely be changing with my work situation in the New Year – at the very least, I will be returning to work as an independent contractor, which will give me some much-needed flexibility.    
Looking forward to: Leaving for Nashville just one week from this Sunday!  And it looks like now I will be able to stay for two weeks instead of one, so I’m thrilled to have this extra time to spend with my family. 
Midwife’s Appointment (Wednesday, December 4^th): Everything was good at our midwife’s appointment last week.  Baby’s heart rate started out around 140 bpm, but shot up to around 155 because she was moving around so much!  My uterus is measuring right where it should be, which is great.  I had my gestational diabetes screening test as well, where I had to drink an insanely sweet drink (see picture to the right) then have my blood drawn an hour later, but I don’t have the results yet.  I also got my Tdap vaccine, which means I can pass on some immunity to pertussis (whooping cough) to the baby in utero, which is great.  However, I must have had a bit of a reaction to the vaccine because I had a huge red welt on my arm for about 5 days, and it was incredibly sore, unlike any experience that I’ve ever had with a vaccine.  But protecting my baby is definitely worth it!  We talked about whether the midwife wanted to see me before I went to Nashville, and she said it was up to me, so unless something comes up, my next appointment won’t be until I return in January.  Then it will be every two weeks!
Pictures: I usually only post one picture of myself each week, but every Tuesday, my dear husband takes anywhere from 10-30 pictures to get that one picture that I am satisfied with enough to share with other people, and he is very patient with me!  So below is one of our failed pictures, where I am making a ridiculously funny face!