I cannot believe I’m only about three months away from birthing this child! It’s crazy how long ago it seems that I found out I was pregnant, but then the countdown once I hit the halfway mark has been going at lightning speed. I remember being around this point with Petra in the womb and still having so much to do to prepare for her arrival. It’s the same this time around. One day I feel like I have all the time in the world, and the next day I’m like “Oh! I guess I better be looking up car seats and strollers!”

The great thing about this being baby number two is that I’m really not stressed about getting a thousand burp cloths and putting a nursery together right away. I had no idea how long Petra would be co-sleeping with us as a baby, so I was so stressed when she was born over a week early and her bedroom was a disaster. If I had known then what I know now, I would have just made her room into an office/guest room and called it a day.

This time around, I’m not sure if our son is going to be a much better sleeper on his own or if he’ll be super attached like our daughter, but I’m not really planning on buying much besides the super essentials until we get into a groove with him as a newborn. I’m not even sure we’ll be having a full-blown baby shower with the way the world is right now during this pandemic.

Speaking of newborn shopping, here’s what’s on the list I have in my head so far for his first few months of life:

Lots of onesies and some baby outfits. Lots of diapers (mostly disposable, but some cloth too to see if we can manage that). Car Seat. Stroller. A few burp cloths. Breast pump. Bottles (it was so nice to be able to hand Petra to someone else to feed her sometimes). Diaper Bag. Baby Carrier. Baby swing. Some kind of bassinet situation. I’m sure there’s something basic I’m missing, but I haven’t made ANY kind of formal list yet.

I’m not sure if you all have any interest in this, but I do have a few things I bought during pregnancy that I would totally recommend if you or someone you know is pregnant. If you click on the photo, it will take you directly to the product.

The first thing I’d recommend is this three pack of tank tops. The material is thin, but not see-through. It’s very stretchy, so it can grow with you. The brand that sells these on Amazon has different styles of maternity tanks, but I went with this neckline because I don’t need my boobs spilling out when I bend over. Yikes.

I never knew there was such a thing as maternity underwear, but I’m so glad they exist! I got tired of my regular panties digging into my lower abdomen, so I got these since they are very well reviewed. I might even buy more because I think these will be comfortable and become my favorite even after baby comes.

I mentioned before how my bra size has drastically changed since getting pregnant. It’s taken me ages, but I finally bought some new bras. I was happy to see that they had 2-packs in Target for some t-shirt bras. The straps don’t dig into my shoulders and the wires don’t dig into my ribs. Super plus plus.

I had been wearing biker shorts a lot with oversized t-shirts because they were the most comfortable thing to wear, but now that my belly is getting pretty large, I needed something looser. I’m wearing a pair of these shorts right now, and they breath well and are very comfy around the house. You might be able to tell that I like to buy multi-packs of items. I’m not trying to be shopping all day long.

Even though this summer has been wayyyyy more mild for us in Southern California than the previous three or four years, I still get pretty hot very frequently with this pregnancy. I sweat a lot with Petra in the womb, and I’m still sweaty on the hotter days this time around. I bought these ice packs for my neck and shoulders and it helps so much on the higher temperature days. I will warn you, they are HEAVY though.

You might recognize this dress from the photos of me at the top of this blog post. I bought two of them because they were on sale. One blue and the other a red/orange kind of color. I love the way the fabric feels and how flowy it is. I might have to start wearing shorts under them soon though because my belly is lifting the front up quite a bit. I’ll be happy to wear these after our son is born, too. I tried to get things that aren’t just maternity because this will be my second and final pregnancy.

So, how am I doing? I’m glad you asked! I mentioned in my last post that I was starting to feel a lot better mentally and physically. That has still been mostly true. I can say that I missed being able to take care of myself. For the most part, my husband has been grocery shopping and cooking or getting takeout for us. I hadn’t been in the kitchen in a WHILE because of the physical fatigue.

It’s like a switch went off and now I’m able to meal plan and get meals together. I had a few days that were pretty bad with nausea and vomiting, but I’m glad that’s not the norm anymore. I try to make sure I’m constantly eating and drinking per my midwife’s recommendation. It usually helps, but for some reason out of nowhere I’ll have such a hard time keeping it all down once in a while.

I’m also taking iron supplements now because my blood results came back with low levels of iron. I can already tell a difference in my body since starting on them. This happened with my pregnancy with Petra, too. I felt terrible all the time, and then my doctor prescribed iron pills after seeing my bloodwork. It was a game changer.

I’m really glad to be getting my energy back because yesterday we took Petra to the park and I played with her and picked some flowers. We pretended we were in a “flower shop” and you would have thought I took her to Hawaii. She was so happy! She talked about how much she missed spending time with me and going on adventures together, but she understood that I don’t feel good sometimes. I felt like such a bad mom, I’m not going to lie. I miss her so much and I want to have all the energy in the world.

I’m praying these final few months will be a lot more full of adventures with her.

I might not feel like falling over from fatigue that much anymore, but I will say it’s weird to have your center of gravity change suddenly and easily get you off balance. I have to be super careful in the shower. If I turn too fast, I’ll start to tip over. I think that has only happened twice, but I was like “Girl, you better not fall down in here and your husband has to come find you passed out on the bathroom floor.”

I also forget how big my belly is sometimes until I go through spaces I’m used to fitting in and I end up knocking something over, bumping into someone, or getting stuck. Lol.

Anyways, this is taking me a long time to post. We can get to those stats now…

Age and size of baby:

26 weeks old, 14 inches long, 2 lbs in weight.

Cravings:

Have you ever had a craving, but once you actually bought that food/drink/snack you didn’t really care about it anymore? Last week I went crazy on getting my favorite types of chocolate and it’s just kinda been sitting around because I never feel like “Oh yeah, I want some chocolate right now.” However, we went to a ramen place last night that I had been thinking about for weeks. (I’m actually eating leftovers from it right now.) It was AMAZING, but I was way more excited than I should have been. Haha!

Morning sickness:

Just a day here and there, and I’m still not sure what triggers it because it won’t be on days where I eat something really out of the norm or do something out of the norm.

Stretch marks:

My belly still feels tight, but I haven’t had any new stretch marks. I did have one day where it felt like my abs were being ripped in half. Like someone was slicing me open with a knife right down the middle of my belly. Not sure what that was, but I hope it never comes back.

Crazy hormones:

I haven’t been swept up in hormones lately, but I did get a bit emotional when Petra was telling me I’m a good mom and she understands that I don’t have energy like I used to. She said she’s just happy for the times when we do get to do fun things.

Sleeping habits:

My back hasn’t been killing me, so that’s good. Depending on how much I’ve been on my feet in a day, my lower back and tailbone area might get sore, so I sleep with a pillow between my legs when I need it. I miss cuddling my husband, but it’s hard to because I’ll either get too hot, have to move around too much, or have too many pillows in the way. Also, according to my pregnancy app, baby is supposed to be very active for a few weeks. That has definitely been the case. At night, he bounces around like he’s on a trampoline. I love it though because Petra plays with him and talks to him and it’s really cool to watch.

So, that’s that for now.  Be blessed and take time to make your dreams into your reality.

-Kytia L’amour