35 weeks!

I feel sort of badly about the fact that this blog has become a giant pregnancy journal lately.  But honestly, it helps me get through the end to document it rather than whine about it.  Although sometimes documenting it is whining about it.  We'll forget that part.

HUGENESS!  Baby dropped over the weekend and I can feel him or her pretty low.  This is really nothing new for me so I'm trying to remind myself constantly that it really has little bearing on whether or not I go early.  I also know I'm starting to really dilate, but again, trying to remind myself that for me, that also means nothing.

My friend Beth gave me the best little piece of insight today that I'm going to use to shift my mindset.  If you don't already know, I had Ben in the 38th week and it was a four or five hour labor from start to finish.  That's short for a first baby.  Adalyn wasn't born until a few days before her due date, but her labor was an hour from start to finish.  A crazy painful hour, but an hour nonetheless.  And at 36 weeks pregnant I was 3 cm dilated and almost fully effaced.  I thought for sure I'd be early...and I wasn't.

I've complained about all my early contractions and the early dilation that sets me up for disappointment a lot, but in the end, I should be thankful.  I should be grateful that I dilate early because it means I have less dilating to do once real labor begins.  I should be thankful that I dilate early because it means my labors are short.  And since I'm wanting to go natural, a short labor sounds so, so much more pleasant than a long, drawn-out one, right?  So I think the disappointment of sitting around fairly dilated for weeks on end is a small price to pay for quick, easy labors.  Yes?

So I've vowed, from this day forward, not to expect baby to come early or whine that it's so unfair that I'm dilated and having lots of prodromal labor but no baby.  I've vowed to thank God every day that He allows me to get a lot of the hard work out of the way before real, active (otherwise known as painful) labor begins.

And of course, most importantly, to thank Him for the blessing that is finishing up its growing inside of me.  :)

Brownies, babies, basketballs!

Ignore the terrible picture quality and the sewing mess, pretty please.  :)

Here we are - 34 weeks with baby number 3.  I look like I have a basketball (or 3) under that shirt, huh?  We had a prenatal appointment yesterday that revealed I'm now measuring 37 weeks (eek!) and still have really low iron.  Boo and boo.  I always measured far ahead with Ben, but not with Adalyn.  And this is the first time I'm measuring big with this baby, so I'm a little bummed but maybe that just means this baby will come early like Ben instead of pretty much on her due date, like Adalyn.  Wishful thinking, I know.

I'll be a good pregnant patient, though, and accept that this baby gets to come whenever he or she wants.  But because of the level of miserable this pregnancy has entailed, I wouldn't be upset if he or she chooses a few weeks early versus a few weeks late.  :)

Now I just have to work hard to get my iron up so we can continue on this homebirth journey!

To drown my sorrows about being so big, I decided to make brownies this morning.  Twisted logic, right?  I did at least attempt to make healthy brownies.  Or, uh, as healthy as brownies can be.  We consulted one of my favorite vegan bloggers for this feat: Peas & Thank You.

I whipped up these vegan, whole wheat brownies in no time at all:

While my kiddos entertained themselves with the fridge and chair, respectively:

The end result was this:

This:

And this:

Happy customers!  They weren't the most delicious brownies I've ever had in the entire world, but they were  really good and I felt better about giving my kids brownies in the morning knowing they were at least relatively healthy.  The kids loved them, and that's what matters most, especially because they're such picky little things.

The changes are finally here!

For probably, oh, eight months now, I've been wanting to make some changes in the shop.

Shortly after opening last May (almost a year!), I knew I wanted to do more with the shop than just sew.  I wanted to do something.  For others.  And since I feel so passionately about adoption but we aren't in the position to do it ourselves right now (hello, surprise third pregnancy!), I'd like to do my part to help.

So that's what we're doing.  Like we mentioned earlier, we'll be donating a portion of all proceeds to two different organizations: An Orphan's Wish and Warm Blankets.  

Every time you place an order from today forward, you'll be helping us help these amazing organizations who help orphans.  See how cool that is?  Please check out their websites to learn all about their missions and how you can get involved if you want to do more.

As I mentioned back in January, we weren't loving the long turnaround times that come with custom orders.  I'm the only one who sews, I'm pregnant and I have two kids under three at home already - there is never enough time in the day to get it all done without sacrificing my family, who is always my first priority.

Custom orders are awesome, but they also carry more problems than just long turnaround times.  Like I've had happen a few times, sometimes you run out of fabric and it becomes sold out everywhere (Kumari Garden, anyone?!) and you have an order to fill and you can no longer get that fabric.  And sometimes, life just gets in the way.  Kids get sick.  Mama gets sick.  You have to leave town at the last minute.  Pregnancy issues.  And when I've promised someone an order in two weeks, I need that order out the door in two weeks!

So now you've got the brain dump and hopefully understand why we are only going to offer custom orders on a limited basis as time permits.  We opened up a second etsy shop that we'll publish once we re-open custom orders (after baby comes).  That shop will open and close as we have time for custom orders.

Right now and for the indefinite future, we're focusing mostly on accessories.  You can check out the shop to see all the new accessories we have available for immediate delivery.  We'll get clothes up in the shop, too, (we have a dress available right now!) but accessories will definitely be more prevalent in the shop than clothes.

Thanks for supporting us through our changes!  We're so excited to have finally gotten to this point and to see how The Blue Swirl grows and how we're able to help others through your support over the next year in business!

32 weeks!

Well, we've entered into the land of not much sleep because I have contractions all night long.

This time around, however, I know better than to think that means I'll be having a baby anytime soon.  LUCKILY.  At 32 weeks, obviously, I want this baby to stay put for quite awhile longer.

With Adalyn, these nightly contractions started somewhere in the 36th week and I "went into labor" almost every night until she was born just a few days shy of her due date.  I remember thinking all the false labor was going to be the death of me.  Maybe this time it'll be a little easier because I have come to expect my body to do this weird prodromal labor thing.  It must just be how I do pregnancy.

But I'm tired!  Man.

My nesting instinct still hasn't kicked back in and I'm not sure it will.  I think I'm one of those early nesters who fizzles out.  There's not much left to prepare for baby other than to buy more cloth diapers and make sure everything is washed and buy our birth kit.  This has been such a low-stress preparation for baby.  I wonder if it gets less stressful each time?

I was just thinking today how I'm 6 weeks away from that exciting time.  Something about the 38th week gets so exciting.  At that point, you know baby can come at any time (Ben came in the 38th week, Adalyn in the 39th) and it's half exhausting and half exhilarating.  You become so in-tune to your body, wondering if any little twitch, cramp or weird sensation could mean labor is impending.  I have quite the love-hate relationship with those last few weeks.  With Ben, it was awesome.  I expected to be late, so when he came 10 days early with my water breaking and a quick labor, it was just perfect.  I was expecting to not only be late, but to have no idea when I was actually in labor and then have it drag on for days.  With Adalyn, having been told that she would be so early and then having prodromal labor for weeks, by the time she did come along, I was exhausted.  My money is on this one being just as exhausting as those last weeks with Adalyn, but I guess I should be more glass-half-full than that, huh?

Without further adieu, I decided to put together all the pregnancy pictures thus far.  You know, for a more dramatic effect.  :)

 

31 weeks!

31 weeks and miserable would be a better title.

I don't know if it's the third trimester or my anemia or being pregnant and having two little ones to care for or a combination of all of that, but I have suddenly hit a point in pregnancy where I can barely do a thing.  Like...literally.  I bring a load of laundry upstairs and I'm wiped and have to lie down for 30 minutes before I can do anything else.

Today my mom told me to go shopping and buy myself some dresses and shorts and skirts to help get me through the rest of the pregnancy while she watched the kids and I could only make it to one store.  One measly little store and I felt so exhausted and so weak that I just came home.  Instead of shopping alone.  Me.  Chelsea.  I did that.

My heartburn is so intense I'm wondering if this baby might actually have hair!  My other two weren't bald, but neither had a lot.  This time I have heartburn even standing up.  Totally never happened to me before!  Usually it's just a bedtime thing.

Yes, this post is a rant.  Nothing but a rant.  Like I always say, though, this baby will be worth it a hundred times over!  But for now, I'll sit here with my feet propped up on the couch, the laptop barely in reach below my huge belly and whine about how lousy I feel and how ready I am for June 3rd(ish).  And I'm only on the couch because today is actually a cool day and I'm not outside with my feet in the ice cold water of the baby pool, which is how I've been surviving every other day.  This "spring" weather has been nothing like normal and this pregnant woman is not loving having the indoor temperature reach 80+.

Now I suppose I should go stare at pictures of my kids as newborns to help me get excited so I can stop being a grump.  :)