Pressure: physical and feeling under

Holy moly.... the amount of pressure that this little boy can put on my hips and pelvis is incredible.  Luckily he doesn't sit that way very often anymore, but today he has been mercilessly cuddling up on my pelvis and it is just KILLING me. I believe he is somewhere between 2-3lbs officially now. He's been a "pelvis cuddle-r" since around the time I started feeling him moving in the beginning of the second trimester.... I thought back then that he was heavy when he laid in that general area... I was wrong. It's MUCH worse now. I can only pray that the bigger he gets, the more he will stay upwards in the uterus and NOT lay in my pelvis very often. It feels like a bowling ball hanging out inside of me =P So uncomfortable and occasionally painful.

I also started having braxton hicks today. I had one earlier this morning and drank a ton of water all day long (which I had to anyway seeing as it's been outrageously hot!!) The cramping and contractions stopped for a while and I felt increasingly better. Then around 1-2pm today is when Caius decided he needed to lay on my pelvis and I was so uncomfortable for a while. I took a nap and that helped relieve some pressure while I was laying down. On my way to work I had another braxton hicks contraction. I drank a ton more water and it went away again. Sadly, I just got home not too long ago and I had yet another one. I am beginning to wonder if him laying awkwardly/so low triggers these false contractions to occur... probably not, but just a thought.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how close I am getting to my due date. July is sneaking up on me and then I have August to get through. I honestly think I will be having this little boy a few days, if not a week or two earlier than anticipated. It's a feeling that I can't shake... as long as he makes it to 37 weeks, I am fine with him coming when he is ready after that. However, the realization that he could be coming BEFORE the bitter end of September makes me start to feel frantic about getting stuff done. AHHHH!!!

Next week is the magical week I can start SERIOUSLY preparing our house for his arrival. I don't think it's going to be too much work, but with how tired I get so easily it might take me longer than I'd like. Whether it takes a week to finish the ideas I have in my head or until Caius comes out, I could care less... I am just thrilled to be able to FINALLY start getting everything ready for him! I'm sure once I get things the way I see them in my head currently I will feel satisfied for a while... and I also think I will reorganize and rearrange stuff continuously until he comes just to occupy myself =)

I can't wait to meet this newest addition growing inside of me =) I can already tell he is going to enrich our lives further and bring some wonderful changes to our family =)

26 weeks (tomorrow)

Next week I will be in my third trimester. Holy crap!! I cannot believe how far along I am!! What's a more horrifying realization is that I'm the ONLY person left in my place of work that is pregnant. Everybody else who was has "popped" in the last few months. I'm all that's left... We are approaching the END of June, then I have July, August, and most of September (assuming I don't go early!)

And that's it. We will have Caius with us soon after that. I have suddenly started worrying over the last few weeks that we don't have enough time to get everything done that needs to be done. Fourteen weeks left, and I already feel like I'm suffocating from being overburdened with all kinds of crap to do!

Luckily, at the beginning of June Ben (my brother who has been living with us for a few months) will be moving out into his own place so I can FINALLY start to organize Caius' stuff and put things together and just truly nest. I have had SUCH an urge to nest this last month or so and I have absolutely no way to do so... all of our extra space has been occupied by him. As soon as he is out, I will be doing all the baby clothes laundry I can, we will be purchasing some more stuff for the boys' closets to help organize, and I will be in Landon's room until I feel I am satisfied with how things are set up. I can't wait to get all of the baby stuff out of our living room and bedroom and get it in it's rightful place!

(<---- This is how I perceive my living room everyday..but please note it's not my actual living room, lol!)

We have the pack n play that will be staying in our room for when Caius comes (he will be in our room the first few months.) Then we have ALL of Caius' cloth diapers, disposable diapers for when he first comes home, his bouncer, his crib, his crib mattres, all the bedding, clothing, breastfeeding supplies, bottles, baby monitor, BOXES upon BOXES of clothing, shoes, toys, blankets, bumbo seat, baby carrier, and whatever else is in the pile of baby-shinanigans downstairs. 

I especially want to get it organized as soon as Ben is out specifically because I found out my good friends Jessica and Rachel will be throwing me a baby shower sometime next month, bless their loving hearts =) I just want to be able to bring home whatever I am gifted and place it EASILY into it's designated spot instead of throwing it on top of the pile-o-baby-crud we have going on any given place in our house! It will be VERY nice to take care of it all right off the bat instead of stressing about where the hell it's all going to go.

I SOOOOO wish at times I was a more organizationally-savvy person with an eye for design... sadly I'm not. I'm not very creative at all and need to copy other people's ideas to make my house feel like it is quite possibly "organized", lol! Alex and I sat down today and went through Pinterest boards as well as google and some blog's we found and got some *ideas* on what we should purchase to help organize the boys' room. Hopefully we will be able to afford all the stuff we wanted.... but until then, we put it all on our baby registry. No harm in that, right?? >.< I don't anticipate anybody to buy us anything from our registry (people are really good at ignoring that kind of stuff for house-warming parties/baby showers/bridal showers I've noticed, rofl!) but JUST IN CASE, it's all on there ^_~

The last thing I am debating in my head (not out loud because I'm sure Alex will slap me... hahaha) is whether or not I should buy one final batch of cloth diapers. I would be buying the Sunbaby 12 pack of pocket diapers (they have such cute new prints!! I wasn't too thrilled with the selection when I bought our first batch..) I feel like I could feel COMPLETELY ready cloth diapering-wise if I had one more batch... but then again, Alex thinks I'm crazy already and went WAAAAY overboard on the diaper front. I like prefolds and will be VERY happy to use them, but all the same I love the idea of the pocket diapers, especially since they seem much easier to deal with in the middle of the night. Ohh well...

There are days when I feel EXTREMELY pregnant, and days when I'm in complete denial that our family of 3 will soon become a family of 4 with two spunky, rambunctious little boys. I think once I have everything in place and set up the way I see it all in my head things will be MUCH more real to me... 

The wonders (well, pain) of pregnancy

I'm not normally a back sleeper, but since about 5 weeks or pregnancy I have been dying to lay on my back. I did for quite some time (I would say up until 19 weeks), and then the hip pains started. I don't even know how to describe it but I NEVER had this wonderful side effect with Landon. I'm thinking it's because I am MUCH heavier this time around than I was with Landon, but either way it BLOWS.

If I am sitting or laying down (in ANY position, but especially my back) my legs will go numb. If I adjust, it literally feels like my hips are going to dislocate. The pain is so horrendous and I fear the need to roll over or adjust while I am asleep. As for sitting, when I stand up to walk the pain is so intense that I almost cannot walk. The more I walk (well, let's be honest: It's waddling at that point) the better my hips feel and my "walking" becomes more or less normal again. It's almost like I am rusted up from being immobile so long.

However, if I DO start any kind of activity (being on my feet for ANY length of time) I start to get dizzy and out of breath and my back is a killer.. It's VERY annoying!! I am eating well, drinking pretty much NOTHING but water, especially when my son and I are out in the horrible heat playing. I stretch every morning and every evening before/after I am in/out of bed, and I usually stretch a couple times while at work. It feels GREAT when I do.

People have recommended a chiropractor but I'm not sure our insurance covers that. I know this isn't a permanent state of being (thank the good merciful Lord above!!) but it worries me to know that I still *potentially* have 15 more weeks of this awful pain that just increases on a daily basis. I've tried sleeping in different positions with pillows in places I never thought I would put them and NOTHING helps. I also do not believe it has anything to do with the way Caius is laying because it ALWAYS happens regardless of if he is laying in my pelvis or up high attacking my rib cage. It's just crazy.....

Anyway, I was definitely motivated BEFORE all of this started bothering me to loose weight, but now I am ESPECIALLY ready to go all-out and kick my own ass into shape after Caius is born and I am healed up. If we are going to have a THIRD little one someday (probably not for another 3-4 years again, LOL!) I do NOT EVER want to be this size again as I'm sure that is the *MAIN* reason I am so miserable right now.

24 weeks... viability!

Saturday was 24 weeks for us. In the medical world, this is the point of viability in a pregnancy... basically, if something were to happen and Caius needed to come anytime between now and September (God Forbid!) he would have a better chance of making it than not making it. It's a very comforting feeling, although I have been one of the fortunate ones who has had no complications during pregnancy so the likelihood of Caius coming before his time is very slim.

In other news, Caius has been such a simple baby thus far. With Landon, I was hungry all the time as well as nauseous and I was always emotionally compromised and cried over everything. Landon also kicked and punched and squirmed like nobodies business! Caius is the opposite... he is active more on some days versus others, but he is so mellow with his movements. I feel more emotionally stable, my nausea has been gone for quite a while, and I hardly get hungrier than I would normally. Granted, there are days where I feel hungrier than others, but ultimately I am eating like I normally would when I'm not pregnant.

The last few days I have been getting a little bit of heartburn off and on. Sadly, I am excited about it because I believe the old wives tale of "women who have heartburn during pregnancy have babies with hair. women without heartburn have bald babies". I would love Caius to have hair! Bald babies are absolutely adorable and I will love Caius with or without hair... but it would be great to say I've had the best of both worlds: Bald and head full of hair =D

I also wanted to say my mom is AMAZING! She ordered and sent me a body pillow that I will be getting this week, as well as an ADORABLE baby bath! Look at how flipping sweet it is!!! I'm not quite sure how it's supposed to work, but I cannot wait to find out! I saw these on my forum a while ago (somebody had posted about them) and thought they were just the most precious bathtub I've ever seen in my life, but did not want to spend the money on it. I never even told my mom so it's amazing that she found them, let alone ordered us one! THANK YOU MOM!! I love you!!