36 Week Pregnancy Bumpdate

and how I’m really doing with Baby D #3

I always start these updates with this: Daily, I thank God for this baby, for the new sibling my boys will receive soon and acknowledge how incredibly blessed I am to carry my babies. My heart is always with those women who long to be pregnant right along side me, especially my best friend Shawnda (UPDATE! Dreams come true and she is currently into her second trimester with her second baby after so much heartbreak!) and so many others. 

Here are some of the questions that came rolling in this week about my pregnancy and a few other updates I’ll share with you.

How Am I Feeling // Well, it was an interesting six weeks over here you guys, damn! Let’s start with all of my visits to hospital since January:

Hospital Visit #1: Ended up in the hospital last week after a flu spell. I couldn’t keep anything down and I was very dehydrated AND contractions started. I contracted 2-3 minutes apart for 7 hours. Let me tell you, contractions plus the flu, sitting in a hospital bed is NO JOKE. After 3 liters of fluids, two separate shots to stop labor, a shot of steroids for the baby’s lungs in case it was “go time,” a collapsed vein, and some anti-nausea medication – I survived and I’m still pregnant which is the ultimate goal. I was not and am not prepared for a 31 week baby, so we are happy I was able to go home baby still inside! It was a scary ordeal when they really thought a bag of fluids would knock the contractions out but instead they only got stronger and more consistent. After another liter of fluids, it was the same outcome, they called in the reinforcement of the shots. They would only administer 3 shots, so luckily after shot 2, the contractions subsided.

Hospital Visit #2: Did my water just break!? While visiting my sister in Brookings, South Dakota, I went to the bathroom and was sure my water broke according to what I saw the contractions that started shortly after. My doula insisted I go get checked and see if it had in fact broke. It didn’t, the contractions stopped and I was left with hmmmm OK!?

Hospital Visit #3: The next week at my doctor’s appointment, I noticed some bleeding and I started having contractions every 3-4 minutes apart again. She wanted to hook me up to check them out. I was there for an hour and they were coming in hot! She said I had to go to L+D to get evaluated and possibly get more shots to stop the labor. Sure enough, more shots and fluids were administered and I was tested for some potential infections. The contractions stopped after 1 shot and it came back that I did have an infection that they thought could be causing all the action in my uterus :). Right then at 34 weeks my doctor put a mandatory stop on me working (two weeks shy of when I had planned to stop). Whew. OK, here we go!

Hospital Visit #4: Another potential water breaking moment and contractions once again. It was false labor and I was sent home… to a puking kid (AGAIN! #momlife)! I told my doctor I won’t be going back to the hospital until the baby is crowning! haha – SO over it.

–  – – – – – – – –

OK, so there you go, that’s how this month has gone! Honestly, even with all of that craziness, I am doing pretty damn well. The weeks are flying by, my business is running smoothly in the gym without me, my Virtual Clients are all in their third week of their 1st program (I’m opening up room for 5 more if you want in!), I’ve been writing programs and creating content like crazy so it’s all complete before the baby gets here, and my body is feeling good for the most part.

You can see in the pictures I’ve grown A LOT in the last month. The baby is growing a lot and my doctor said I have a really tall baby in there. She thinks it could be my biggest baby yet! Just this week, I have started to get pretty uncomfortable in any position and sleeping has been interesting. Otherwise, I cannot believe this is the final stretch. 3 weeks or so and I’ll have a new little Doyle in my arms. The boys keep asking me “Mommy, when are you going to push the baby out!?” They’re so excited!

Your Questions:

“Have you been meal planning to prep for baby?” // Not really, honestly. I don’t do well with freezer meals for some reason! I need to get better, but I find if I make them, we never actually eat them. If you have good ones that you swear by, please send them because I am SO open to making some to stock pile.

What I have been doing is making sure we are always ready to go with a full weekly meal plan and plenty of beverages, fruits and snacks on hand so whoever is here with the kids once I do go into labor, is all set and doesn’t have to think about what to make or I don’t have to worry if there’s food in the house for everyone. Each week I’ll make an easy breakfast like blueberry muffins, banana chocolate chip muffins they loves, or pancake muffins and we always pair it with a fruit and a smoothie.

I have been making the meals that are no frills and easy breezy. I got 3 ingredient meals from Trader Joes last week to have for easy week night meals. Remember, I’m solo parenting now so it’s all about ease over here. George leaves the house when I bring the kids to daycare around 8am and I do not see him again until we wake up the next morning. He usually gets home between 11pm – 1am. More on this below.

“Cravings?” // My cereal obsession has subsided and I’ve been way more into fresh tart fruits like raspberries and green apples. My appetite is getting lower, I remember this with the boys at this stage, too. Not a lot sounds great right now, but I am still loving my weekly solo Chipotle dates and popcorn every night. I’ve also been on a big sweets kick making a pan of brownies weekly or thoroughly enjoying those damn girl scout cookies.

“What’s your first self-care item you’re looking forward to”// So funny, I was just thinking about all the things I want to do or buy once the baby arrives because I’m just feeling so blah. Here’s what I’m doing until the baby arrives to boost my mood and relax: I’m getting a massage every month until the baby comes (I got one in January, I got one last week, I’ll get one in March and I’ll get one in April) and I’m getting a pedicure next week at 37-38 weeks.

After baby arrives, I am saving my pennies to buy all the clothes! I know my body will be in the in between stage for a while, but I’m determined to find quality pieces that go with my Color Pallet (Dark summer – thank you House of Colour Minneapolis!) and that make me feel confident going into summer with my postpartum body. A good pair of in between jeans, a swim suit that I’ll be OK rocking with the kids this summer and nursing friendly tops, too.

I’m also going to be purchasing new skin care products since I’m getting low. I am going to try some Monat Skin Care products, some over the counter products and for the first time, Retinol. I can’t wait.

“What will you do when the baby naps if you have alone time?” //  They say sleep when the baby sleeps – HA! I never was good at that and I probably won’t be with this one either. So, I will likely keep up with housework, prep dinner before I have to get the kids from daycare, plan visits with friends, catch up on shows and begin planning my come back program for work! HINT: It’s going to be a program geared towards Moms and getting our bodies back post baby. I can’t WAIT!

“Do you have names picked out?” // Yes and no. Names have been hot on my mind in the last few weeks. It’s hard when you’re picking top names for both genders because you don’t want to get overly invested in any name because one list will literally go out the window the second the baby is laying on my chest!

We actually had a solid 5 names list for each gender heading into the month of February – which I was impressed by. We never had that many for the boys. I asked a lot of my friends and family to rank the names we had to see their opinions on them and I have been making tally charts. It’s so fun to see the difference in people’s opinions on names. These polls won’t sway our decision one way or the other, but it did help me narrow down the list just by getting them out there and on the table and discussing them. I will say, my top name for boy and girl is in the lead on the tally chart – so yay! BUT, I have a husband who has a say, too – boo! haha, and he has a top name he wants for either a boy or a girl.

In the last week, we’ve agreed on top two names for each gender and we will just have to wait and see what one feels right when we meet this little baby. AH! I CAN’T WAIT!

“Do you want a 4th?”// Great question! I can’t imagine this being my last pregnancy or my last baby, but I really want, and need, to take it one baby at a time. See how overwhelmed I feel, see how our family dynamic is and see if I could mentally handle another once this baby arrives. I want my kids to have a great mom and I don’t know if I can be a great mom to more than three, but we will see! There is something to be said about closing this chapter of our lives and moving forward into the next without newborns and diapers every two years. I always say these years are hard, but it’s worth it for the full Thanksgiving table in 20 years I dream of! George is so open to more if I want more or is done if I want to be done.

What I hope will happen is, I will know one way or the other once the baby is here for a bit what we will be best for us. I very well could feel so complete with once the baby is here and content with shutting down shop. If we do have another one, I’d really like to do it sooner than later. I would like to be done having babies by 35, so I’d only have about 1.5 years left to make it happen.

“How’s your weight gain this time around? Same as with the boys? Are you still working out” I’m at 40 pounds gained and this baby will put on 1/2 pound each week, so I’ll likely be close to 50 pounds gained again. It’s pretty crazy each and every week I’m at the same exact weight I was at with the boys. I started out heavier this time around, so the amount gained isn’t as high, but so crazy to see that the body does what the body has to do to grow my babies!

My workouts have lessened to about 1 – 2 per week. Between all of the hospital visits, complications and being a single parent, it’s been hard getting any workouts in. I’m not stressed over it. I went to a workout class last week and it was just HARD moving my body in that way right now. I’m heavier, my belly is huge, I have to modify so much and I have to leave to go to the bathroom 3 times in an hour. It does wonders for my mind though, so I will try to stick to 1-2 workouts per week until baby comes!

“How’s single parenting going during tax season?” // You know, it’s been going alright. The kids and I have a really nice groove and routine going without George being here, but I know it’s about to get a lot harder and, if I’m being honest, I’m really nervous about it.

Me having to stop work early was for the best for a lot of reasons. Since I have to do it all at home; the cooking, the grocery shopping, the laundry (this is normally his task every week), daycare pick up and drop off, hauling the kids to Karate class, doctors appointments, and speech therapy, dinner, bed, bath every night all alone it gets to be a lot and I’m SO ready for bed by 9pm.

The kids (and I) really miss George during this season and he misses us so much, too. He misses out a lot and because he’s so hands on with the boys, it takes a huge toll on him mentally. He doesn’t get to do the water park fun I plan with us and our friends, he doesn’t get to see the boys more than 1 hour a day, he doesn’t get to be at any doctor’s appointment or hospital visits for myself and the baby, he doesn’t get to help me out on sick days with our kids, so it’s sad and it’s a lot for all of us in the family, but we are thankful for all of the work he does for our family during these hard four months.

The boys and I usually bring him dinner once a week, or deliver him lunches on the weekends. He tries to come home before bedtime one night each weekend so we can have a family movie night together in bed and he tries to go to work around 10am on Sunday’s so he can have donuts with us and play for a few hours before the office.

I’m really just very thankful for my friends who offer to come over and keep us company, or to those who open their houses up to the boys and I and make us dinner and insist on “staying as long as you need to,” so I can have a break. And for my sister and mom who offered to start booking out weekends with them so the big boys can come play and stay over night once the baby arrives which will help me out on long tax season weekends when everyone is home and I’m alone.

To be honest, I’ve been nervous for the baby to arrive during tax season knowing George won’t be here the way he was with the other two since the day I found out I was pregnant, but last night, George said he felt nervous about it too and that sent me into a tailspin of anxiety. George NEVER feels nervous and if he does, he never tells me, so hearing him say how hard it’s going to be on all of us was scary. He’s nervous about  not seeing the baby a lot, not being here to help me in my recovery, not being able to help me with the boys on the weekends or at night, the lack of sleep we will all be getting during the last push of tax season and the list goes on. In true George fashion, he ended it with, “I’m nervous babe, but it will all be OK, I promise.” And it will be. We have a lot of support and luckily, we know the madness WILL end in May and we will have our super hero dad back in our home again.

 The next update will be….BABY!

Molly