28 weeks | 7 months!!!

7 months...7 months!

that's quite pregnant if you ask me!

I definitely feel that this is a different stage of pregnancy emotionally and mentally. It all feels so "right around the corner".

Ezra keeps being perfect and wonderful in my belly with his squirmish rock n roll movements that I love so much.

It all just feels so imminent, as if I will blink and it will be October.

I just cannot wait for the weather to cool down. I would say I've done a pretty good job at keeping cool and swollen down during the hottest summer in Alabama in 30 years. I give props to myself for that. We take nightly walks only when the sun's gone down, and if I'm outside I'm submerged in a pool somewhere.

Tomorrow we get to see the unspeakable: my baby's face! his FACE! All the features and skinscapes my mind is too simple to be able to fantasize about. I've been trying not to think about this appointment too much, just not to spoil the grandiosity of it! But boy oh boy, I know just what a big deal this is!

Laying down is getting harder. In bed, when I try to move from one side to the other, I feel like I am 1000lbs. But overall sleep is still pretty good.

I am informing myself as much as possible about childbirth, and I am actually SO thankful I've witnessed one in real life ;) (you know who you are ;)

I feel decently prepared as to what to expect, and I feel safely surrendered to fate. I won't be able to help how the baby's positioned, or how long my labor will be, what type of birth I will have-- but I feel positive that I can face any scenario, where my baby is safe, positively.

I really believe that as with anything in life, the way things are meant to unfold will be so, and therefore, I am very open to whatever and however "our birth story" will be.

Obviously I have preferences and opinions and we will try our best to be able to direct events to our preference.

We've been reading to Ezra at night, in Italian. It's a special bonding time for B and I, and I like the idea of baby hearing daddy's voice.

I sometimes force Brian to keep his hands on my belly for as long as possible, because I desperately want him to feel exactly all the moves I feel-- there are several types and I think he's felt them all. Well you know, besides feeling him from the inside ;P

I couldn't imagine being a man and not touching the belly a lot--as the moves progress-- then all of a sudden- they put a baby in your arms! I feel this way at least, he faces hard proof evidence of a squirmish baby, his habits, personality, and thinks about him as a real person.

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Today we were able to see Ezra's beautiful face for the first time ever... and it really is just that: beautiful. His babyscapes are scrumptious, and just as I thought, he looks just like his daddy! :D

 Maybe he'll star as Edward in the remake of Twilight one day-- he's THAT handsome... ok I might have just gone too far... ;)

But seriously LOOK at him!!!!!!!

whatdiditellyou!??!?! look at his LIPS! so flawless! And look at that foot, which will become the most photographed foot ever!?!? so perfect! 

Baby feet are seriously one of the reasons I wanted to have a baby :P ...

Everything was perfection at our appointment today- perfect blood pressure, my weight was good, Ezra cooperated in showing his handsome face... 

but guess what?! we found out that yet again my belly is measuring 3 WEEKS ahead of schedule (I am 28 weeks and it measures 31)... I just think someone is ready to come out into the world ;)

It occurred to me yesterday, and this may get a little cheesy for you, so be warned... that : Ezra is already IN this world... I just get to be the vessel that takes him from God, where he came from, to earth, where he is going. If you really have ever had that feeling sink in, it's overpowering. 

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27 Weeks | End of 2nd Trimester!!

Wow. Only 1 trimester to go. But I am so ready!
I already feel like I know Ezra with all his little habits :) The thing that I am so very incredulously amazed with is HOW RESPONSIVE Ezra is to MY touch. Not anyone else's touch, not even his daddy's. When I rub my tummy, I obviously know exactly where he is tucked in or sprawled out and when I rub he starts responding by kicking or touching my hand back! AWE STRUCK. I had no idea babies in utero could literally respond and communicate to outside touch. But it's no coincidence----it's almost 100% of the times. I touch and he responds back. DEFINITELY my favorite thing about pregnancy.

The best is when he's up there towards my abs, where there is less fat and I can feel him just millimeters away!

Yesterday, I had a very weird episode of what i think was Braxton Hicks. It's hard for me to describe what happened because I felt hazy. Basically I was cramping on my left side, a constant cramp- not a discomfort that came and went. I tried to completely ignore it, but it seemed to linger and not ease up. I was alone at home and Brian was not answering his phone, so that made me quite nervous.
I tried my hardest to relax, lay down, listen to music, but nothing--- the cramp (mainly on my left side shooting from my cervix to my stomach) persisted. I walked around, peed, laid down again, drank water-- nothing seemed to ease the weird cramp. So I ended up calling my doctor and the nurse suggested I come in to get checked out. By now it had been about 50 minutes of this. I met Brian along the way on the way to the hospital, but by the time I met him, it was like the cramp had melted away. It was gone all at once. So I called the nurse back and said that I now felt fine.

It was pretty odd though, because at one point the feeling was so uncomfortable that I could barely walk or lift my left leg... I am pretty sure it was Braxton Hicks.

I told Ezra that even though I know how anxious we both are to meet each other and even though  the world IS big and beautiful and there is a lot to see, he needs to stay in there for just a few more weeks. When I had that talk with him, my belly relaxed and the Hicks faded away.

Maybe he was just missing his daddy who knows. I think it's pretty incredible how the body gets a woman ready for labor though--- I hear BH are nothing like the real thing, but still, to even get a glimpse into the panic of labor I think mentally helps women.

Besides that episode, I've just been feeling heavier-- well obviously and also at 25 week my belly was measuring 27 weeks-- He's growing like a weed :) and it makes me happy :)

Last night Brian and I had so much fun just watching my belly rock and twitch from his movements. His most active times right now are 10am and 8:30pm :) So I can always count on some bonding time around those hours :)

In one week and one day we get to do the 4d ultrasound!!!!! I think that's INSANE! to be able to see HIS FACE ! the face I've been so intently trying to imagine since we were told "it's a boy".

Brian and I were not the cutest babies to be honest... we had to grow into our features. But I just think Ezra will be pure angelic perfection. Oh lord I'm THAT mom already! 

Next post you will see will be OF HIS FACE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the most important little face in my world.

26 Weeks

This is the heart of pregnancy and I am loving it.

At week 26 I've noticed the sides of my stomach expanding and feeling the baby higher and higher in my upper abdominal area.

Ezra has been rocking and shaking my stomach where it's externally visible. Every time he rocks out like that, it's always a bit wild even for me to be watching it from the outside! He has definitely made himself comfortable in his temporary home.

The other day my stomach felt so tight, after eating Mexican food, I literally thought my shirt was too tight until I raised it, and realized it was my skin that was feeling like a tight shirt!

Yesterday I brought him along for a girls night and after dinner, during the movie I was feeling pretty uncomfortable as he kicked my vagina from the inside! I literally felt I could have peed constantly, and the need to clench for my life! He also was doing some crazy crazy moves during the movie-- perhaps because it was so loud!

I am absolutely loving the rain throughout week 26- Every time it pours down and cools down, I think about how little time is left before I meet my sweet handsome little love. I know he will be handsome if he looks anything like his daddy. Sometimes I think we were BOUND to have a son because Brian's good looks just NEEDED to be passed down-- oh gosh Brian is gonna kill me if he reads this! 

Anyways, back to the rain- it's soothing-just like the baby kicks I wake up to--- they go along so well.

25 weeks

 

25 weeks today- things definitely start feeling very imminent at this stage. 

 Ezra is as big as an eggplant and it totally feels like it too! :) 

He is so big and his movements get cooler and cooler. Because of his size, I never feel alone, but always accompanied by a little person. My favorite type of movement is when he will kick and punch almost simultaneously so that I can really feel his length across my stomach! The other day I could have sworn I had little feet kicking across towards one side, while his head and hands were on the complete opposite side of me.

His movements feel much more intentional now, and I hope I'm not being "THAT MOM" when I say this, but I can totally tell that when I touch my belly he moves more than when others touch it! I'm so serious. Can babies sense a different touch? I don't know but it sure seems that Ezra can ;) 

His movements in a way also feel more coordinated. Another fabulous happening in the "feeling him" news, is that I feel more of his "surface" not just a hand or foot thumping; I can actually feel his surface :) only inches away from my hands. 

I have been asked by some people why pregnant women "touch their bellies so much?" 

I would say there are two answers to that:

a) Um, if you had a little person growing inside of you and changing every day  you would be touching that too?!

or

b) I think a mother is always in search for her baby inside her; seeking and striving to connect and communicate with him.

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In other baby news, we are at a really good stage with the nursery and playroom. I even made a pillow for Ezra, look! ( I plan on making at least 2 more ;)

 

His play room will be fun, whimsical and colorful - while his nursery is rustic, chic and soothing

Today Ezra's gender reveal party and NAME reveal were featured on Onto Baby Blog:

http://www.ontobaby.com/2012/07/simply-sweet-gender-reveal-party-by-simply-bloom-photography/

see all the images here:

 /http://www.ontobaby.com/gallery/simply-bloom-gender-reveal/