Weeks 21-25 Bumpdate

Where has the past month gone?! This pregnancy is going by way faster than I anticipated. Getting sick and doing home renovations probably doesn't help slow time down either... But, hey! Let's stop with the spoilers and get to the bumpdate.

When are weeks 21-25?

Friday, January 19, 2018 - Thursday, February 23, 2018

What’s the size of the baby?

At 25 weeks baby is the size of kale or a bowling pin, and is measuring 14 inches and 1.68 pounds.

Waist size?

At the end of week 25, I was measuring 34 inches around, which is 1.5 inches bigger than I was measuring at week 20.

Symptoms?

Body: There's no denying that I look pregnant now. I'm at that stage where my bump is noticeable, but not so huge that people make comments. It's also normally hidden under a large winter coat, so that helps.

In the middle of February I got a lung infection. Luckily it didn't turn into pneumonia. There was a little while there we were worried I'd be hospitalized because the coughing had gotten so bad. Luckily, with the help of modern medicine and a few days off work, I'm feeling much better. It's been a couple weeks since things were really bad, and I still have a lingering cough. However, it's much better than it was, and I'm so grateful for that.

I've been feeling a lot more miserable lately with horrible lower back and hip pain. Most nights I can feel my hips stretching and it's very painful. Also, since I spend a lot of my days in a chair at a desk, my lower back gets very tight at night and hurts. I bought a stability ball (which I'm amazed Buddy hasn't thought it was a toy and popped it. I'm very proud of him for his restraint :) ). So, most nights I sit on it, lean against it, roll my back on it, honestly whatever it takes to get some relief. I feel like this is only going to get worse the bigger I get...

Sleep: With how bad my nighttime hip pain has gotten over the past few weeks, it's getting harder to get comfortable and fall asleep. However, most nights I can get a few decent stretches of sleep in, and feel fairly rested in the morning.

Cravings & Aversions: Honestly, there isn't much that I'm craving or avoiding right now. I'm hungry all the time, so I typically eat whatever is easiest and sounds okay at that moment.

Nausea: I'm starting to get nighttime nausea now if I eat to close to bedtime. So, now I have to eat dinner earlier, and I'm not able to eat with Jason when he gets home late without being very nauseous trying to fall asleep.

Movements: He is a little mover and shaker. I think it's cool now that he has a schedule, and I know he'll be awake every 3 hours for around 30 minutes. It's also really funny when there's a loud noise (like Buddy barking or when I shut the car door) that startles him and he wakes up. He moves around a lot for around 5 minutes and then stops moving. I'm assuming that's how long it takes for him to fall back to sleep.

There have also been a few times on the weekends when I'm moving around a lot more than during the week, and I think my moment makes him sleep through one of his awake times. Then, his next awake time he's super active and moves around way more than normal.

Also, now his movements are getting to be big enough that you can see them from the outside regularly. There are still some times that I can feel them, but you can see or feel them from the outside. That's happening less and less now.

Dreams: Still nothing too different than pre-pregnancy...

Stretch Marks: None yet!

Gender? 

It's a boy! Read more about our gender reveal here.

Must have items?

Comfortable undergarments! I didn't realize just how uncomfortable my wired bra was until I broke down and ordered wireless maternity/nursing bras and tank tops. Then, I bought plain ol' Fruit of the Loom underwear. They may not be sexy, but I feel so much more comfortable during the day. I wish I would have done it sooner.

What do you miss?

Honestly, nothing... The past month we have done so much stuff, and there really hasn't been much I can't do. It's actually kind of nice getting out of doing any heavy lifting during our renovation projects. So, pregnancy has been working out in my favor recently :)

What are you looking forward to?

Getting his nursery set up and organized. Next week we're going to have new carpet installed in his room, and down our stairs (Bye-bye blue carpet! You will not be missed!!!). Then, we can pick up his furniture and get that set up. Thanks to us, our parents, and some amazing friends and family this little boy has already accumulated a lot of stuff, and having it stuffed in random corners of our house has been driving me insane. I'm a huge fan of our things having a home - a place where everything belongs. So, having his dresser and being able to officially put away his clothes, blankets and toys will make me feel a lot better. Plus, we should have it finished before I start my third trimester, so I won't have to do too much when I'm huge and super uncomfortable.

Best part of these weeks?

Getting some of our smaller renovations started, and parts of them finished has been amazing. We finally updated our nasty mudroom, and it's so pretty and practical now. Honestly, I never thought I'd love a mudroom so much in my life. I'm excited to get started on the renovations upstairs now, so the little guys room will be done.

Challenges these week?

Besides being sick, my biggest challenge came during my last doctor's appointment. They told me that our little guy is officially a little guy. He was only measuring in the 20th percentile during the anatomy scan (Everything else looks good. He's just small), and my belly was also measuring 1.5 weeks behind at my last appointment. I know my calculated due date was three days sooner then the due date they determined when measuring him at 11 weeks. So maybe my due date is off by a few days, but his is still on the small side. Right now, it's nothing to worry about, but now they're going to be keeping a closer eye on me and him to make sure he doesn't fall any further behind growth-wise.

Things have gone so smoothly with my pregnancy, that I definitely got overly worried after finding out he's on small side.  There's a chance that because I'm so slender, that my babies are just going to be slender, too. However, it was really hard at first for me to not blame myself. The doctor said I'm right on track with my weight gain, and there's nothing I can really do right now. I'm starting to accept the fact that this is something that is out of my control, and I need to continue to focus on being healthy and eating well-rounded meals to make sure I don't cause things to get worse.

Hubby’s thoughts?

I never thought I could love Jason more than I did before, but getting pregnant has proven that to be wrong. It is so cute when he wakes up in the middle of the night and puts his hand on my belly. He's starting touches my belly when we go to bed and tells the baby goodnight almost every night. Now that we're rounding out the second trimester and I'm noticeably pregnant, he has also been very gung-ho about getting the house ready for the little guy. He wants everything to be perfect, so all I have to do is worry about myself and the baby once he's born. I think he's nesting more than I am right now, and it's so stinking cute to see.

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