Maternity Pictures

Bryce and I recently had maternity pictures taken.  Our session took place in City Market, one of our favorite places in Kansas City.  I wanted to do them in a rural setting, but at that time, everything was dead and brown (including the grass.)  City Market turned out to be an excellent next choice.  I was 34 weeks along when we had our session.  There is a small part of me that wishes I would have waited a little longer so my belly was a bit bigger, but patience is not exactly my strongest virtue.  I can't believe I ever hesitated to do them...  Bryce and I are so happy to have this part of our lives documented with beautiful pictures. Our photographer is fabulous and we just love her to pieces!  Luckily she will also be doing our newborn pics!!   Here is a small sample of some of our favorites.  Please ignore my horrible picture crop job!

Baby Movement

Baby Hawk is really shy, and inevitably will stop moving in the presence of a camera, or when someone places their hand on my belly to feel.  I've been trying to capture video for weeks; he/she will be moving like crazy until I take my phone out.  One of my colleagues laughs because she can see the baby move through my shirt, but then as soon as she places her hand to feel, H. stops.  Then resumes when she removes her hand.  Stinker.  I happened to capture a few seconds of movement in the beginning of this video.  Bryce and I get such a kick out of it, I thought I would share.  (The best rolls happen around 13 seconds.)

35 Weeks

How far along: 35 weeks, 4 days
Size comparison:  Baby Hawk is about the size of a honeydew melon, a little over 18 inches long and approximately 5.25 pounds.

Baby nickname:  Baby, Baby Hawk, Chupaloop 
Baby bump:  Feeling like we might be starting to drop a little?!

Gender Prediction:  No comment.

Weight gain: 29 pounds.  

Maternity clothes:  I'm all about maxi dresses.

Stretch marks: None.  Knock on wood.

Belly button in or out:  In.

Wedding rings on or off:  Off.  And really hoping I will be able to wear them after the baby is born... I miss them!  Otherwise I will be getting my bumpers taken off ASAP.

Sleep:  Same as usual.  I'm real tired this week.

Best moment this week:  We got our maternity pics back.  We love love love them!  Now to figure out which ones we want for the nursery and the stairway.  Grandma and Pappy also came to KC for Easter weekend and helped clean our house.  Like, scrub the oven racks kinda clean. So awesome and a huge help!

Worst moment this week:  Carpal tunnel, fingers that feel arthritic.  Am I preparing for birthing a baby or my 80th birthday?

Miss anything:  My sanity, feeling like I have my $h!+ together.

Movement:  Feeling some really low movements and some pressure, lots of kicks to the ribs.  Baby Hawk really likes Mom's right ribs.

Cravings:  Salads.  And chocolate. Still.  

Queasy or sick:  Heartburn is back and worse than ever.  It.is.awful.

Labor signs:  Nope!

Happy or moody:  Happy!

Looking forward to:  Packing my hospital bag, installing car seats and purchasing a bookshelf for the nursery!

My hawt cankles.

34 Weeks

How far along: 34 weeks
Size comparison:  Baby Hawk is about the size of a cantaloupe, almost 18 inches and 4.75 pounds.

Baby nickname:  H., Baby H., Peanut
Baby bump:  I can barely zip up my North Face... It is tight.

Gender Prediction:  I am actually indifferent right now... My coworkers have pointed out I started referring to the baby as a "she."

Weight gain: 28 pounds.  

Maternity clothes:  Maternity clothes to the end.  Still love dresses.

Stretch marks: None.

Belly button in or out:  In, believe it or not.

Wedding rings on or off:  I think the wedding band has been officially retired.

Sleep:  It feels pretty non-existant these days.

Best moment this week:  Maternity pictures!  We saw a sneak-peek and they look great so far!

Worst moment this week:  I may or may not have shed a few tears one night after I couldn't find my planner... Hormonal, much?  

Miss anything:  I would love a Boulevard right now.  More than 2-3 consecutive hours of sleep.  Upper shoulders that don't ache. 

Movement:  Baby has officially moved and is no longer breech!  Lots of full body movements and rolls, and tons of kicks to the ribs.

Cravings:  Coconut water, chocolate.  Anything with chocolate!

Queasy or sick:  Feeling great... Just tired.

Labor signs:  None yet.

Happy or moody:  Happy.  Minus my planner meltdown. ;-)

Looking forward to:  The weekend.  Purchasing the rest of the items on our baby registry and making the final preparations for baby!

33 Weeks

I apologize... I realize that I've only been doing weekly updates, and we have so, so much more to tell you about!  So much going on and tons of prep work for baby gives me a lot of updating to do, but not much time to do it.  Hopefully things will be calming down a bit, and I can tell you about everything that has been going on.  Until then, here is the latest bumpdate!

How far along: 33 weeks
Size comparison:  Baby Hawk is about the size of a pineapple (holy moly.)  17+ inches and a little over 4 pounds.

Baby nickname:  H., Baby H., Peanut
Baby bump:  I feel so huge.  Seriously.  Ginormous.

Gender Prediction:  Boyyyyyy.

Weight gain: 27 pounds.  

Maternity clothes:  You bet! Still loving maxi dresses.

Stretch marks: No, but I have a feeling my time is nearing...  Last night, I thought I noticed a couple, but I must have just scratched my stomach because it was gone in the morning (I've underestimated the size of my bump and actually bumped into the doorway once... or twice.)

Belly button in or out:  In.

Wedding rings on or off:  Wedding band is tight some days.  Still staying strong, though.

Sleep:  Still waking up a few times per night.

Best moment this week:  Dubuque baby shower!  Loved every second of seeing some of my family (including my sister-in-law who flew in from Colorado!) and some of my friends. :)

Worst moment this week:  I am wicked uncomfortable.  Baby needs to turn/move/something.  Annnnd, looking at the picture above and realizing just how flabby my arms have gotten!  Embarrassing.  

Miss anything:  Feeling comfortable. 

Movement:  Lots of full body movements lately... Hoping that means baby will be turning soon?!

Cravings:  Non-citrus fruit (grapes, blueberries, cantaloupe and strawberries are tops now) and veggies with ranch dressing.  Thanks to the weekend home with my dad, I'm also really digging egg and cheese sandwiches using English muffins.

Queasy or sick:  Feeling pretty good!  My heartburn is getting better now that I have eliminated EVERYTHING I like.

Labor signs:  Nope.  I will die when I say yes.

Happy or moody:  So very happy!

Looking forward to:  Staying home with my hubby this weekend!! :)

32 Weeks

How far along: 32 weeks
Size comparison:  Baby Hawk is about the size of a jicama (I had to look it up).  16 3/4 inches long and 3.75 pounds.  Feels more like 10.

Baby nickname:  H., Little H., Baby H.
Baby bump:  Growing more and more each day!  Although I have been told that I don't look as big in person as I do in the bump pictures.

Gender Prediction:  Boy!  More and more people are also voting boy.

Weight gain: 25 pounds.  Supposed to be gaining about 1 pound per week from here on out.

Maternity clothes:  You bet! 

Stretch marks: No, but I have a loooong 7.5 weeks to go!

Belly button in or out:  In.

Wedding rings on or off:  Wedding band is on but getting tight.

Sleep:  Same as always... Although I've had a couple nights where I only got up once.

Best moment this week:  Omaha baby shower!  Aunt Paige and Great Aunt Kristen hosted an absolutely beautiful and fun baby shower.  Baby Hawk is awful lucky and loved.

Worst moment this week:  Feeling a little under the weather this weekend.  Lack of sleep, long days at work and heartburn really took a toll on me... Thankful for the baby shower for a nice pick-me-up!

Miss anything:  Intense workouts like I used to do. I would give anything to run a half marathon right now... Throw on an Insanity workout... Anything.  I feel super flabby and lazy. 

Movement:  Movements are changing... Less constant, little movements and more slow, big movements these days.  I'm waiting for a leg or arm to come through my skin ;-)

Cravings:  Nothing specific.

Queasy or sick:  Still battling heartburn/reflux...  I'm also trying to battle the slow start of a cold/sore throat/sinus congestion.

Labor signs:  No. Despite what I told my husband as an April Fool's joke! 

Happy or moody:  Happy!

Looking forward to:  Our trip to Dubuque!!  Although this trip to Dubz will be unlike any other that I've ever had (no late night boozing with my buds.  Weird.)