Evelyn's Birth Story 7.15.19

After we had Arden, our baby #1, I thought I'd never forget the details of her birth day. I mean how can you? Especially with your first precious baby! And yet, as sleep deprivation set in and as time went on, the very specific parts of her story started getting a little blurry. Sure, we knew the big picture, the overarching story, but when exactly did we get to the hospital? What was that funny thing the nurse said once we hit hour 9 of labor? Etc. So, with Turner, baby #2, I was determined to get the details down on paper (or more accurately, on my computer!) so that we'd have everything straight (his birth story is here) - and we did the same thing with Evelyn, our tie-breaker baby #3. Here is her story:

To set the scene: my due date, Friday 7 /12, came and went and our little family got to have one last fun weekend together, just the 4 of us - details to bring you up to speed are over on my 40-week bumpdate (and all previous bumpdates can be found here).

{Baby3} Nurse Thank You Gifts

The nurses (both labor & delivery, and postpartum) at the hospital are our heroes!

Since we had Arden, I've always put together some kind of "thank you" basket for our nurses & brought it with us to the hospital. 

With Arden, I wanted to keep it healthy (after talking to a nurse friend who told me they get a lot of junk food!), so I packed up oatmeal packets, granola bars and fruit BUT I didn't actually get the baskets assembled before I went into labor, so we had a family member helping us put the baskets together at the last minute. Whoops. One other mistake we made was dropping off the baskets at the nurses stations right when we got there (one at L&D and one on recovery floor)  but I'm not even sure we had our names on it. Whoops again.

{Baby3} Bumpdate: 40 Weeks!

40 Weeks! 

BABY’S GROWTH/MOMMA UPDATE

Well, we made it to 40 weeks! Spoiler: we made it to 40 weeks + 3 days, but in those 3 days (or really, 2 days and a few hours) I didn't get the chance to post this update :)

{Baby3} Bumpdate: 26 & 27 weeks

26/27 Weeks! 

We are officially at the end of the second trimester!

BABY’S GROWTH
We've had 2 chances over the past 2 weeks to see our baby girl! I'm on a volunteer list at a clinic near my office to help out when they are training new doctors and need someone to be willing to get a sonogram & we got lucky twice! It's a slightly longer-than-usual sonogram since they spend a while practicing taking measurements, but it means we get lots of time to see our baby girl on the screen.

They have 3D imaging too so we got to see some really fun 3D views of baby girl while we were there. They had a hard time getting a good still picture though because my placenta is in the front (anterior) & baby girl was smushed up pretty snuggly against it. Apparently the best pictures need to have fluid in front of the baby's face to turn out well. 

The second visit they captured a few really good side profile pictures. We got to hear her heartbeat (bottom picture), and found out she's currently weighing 2 lbs & 2oz. They measured her skull, looked at her heart and all the chambers, and measured her leg bones - all looked great & she was measuring exactly where I should be for my due date. 

This past week I also had a regular OB appointment - the last one of the 2nd trimester! 

Now we switch to bi-weekly appointments - it's crazy to already be at that point!

My doctor listened to the baby's heartbeat & she's measuring right at my due date. 

I also had the opportunity to do my 1-hour glucose screening test, woohoo! Haha definitely not actually a "woohoo" thing. You have to drink this incredibly sweet drink and then wait at the office for an hour, then get blood drawn, and from that they can determine how your body is processing glucose aka they can see if you have gestational diabetes or not. As someone who never drinks soda and rarely drinks juice, I think the orange "drink" is pretty terrible, but I made it through & should have results over the next few days. I didn't develop gestational diabetes with either previous pregnancy so I'm expecting results to be negative.

MOMMA UPDATE/HOW I'VE BEEN FEELING

I've been feeling mostly pretty great heading towards the 3rd trimester! 

Two weeks ago, on one of my normal walks, I stumbled over an uneven sidewalk and tweaked my ankle. Right after it happened I was a little sore, but it didn't majorly hurt so I just went about my day. A good 6 hours later, as I was siting at my desk at work, all of a sudden my ankle started absolutely killing me! It was the craziest thing I've experience during pregnancy so far! I went from not thinking about my ankle at all to hardly being able to put any weight on it. Literally. I iced my ankle for an hour at work (I actually asked a friend to get me a bag of ice from our work kitchen because I couldn't handle the walk across the floor!), made it home (after friends literally had to help me walk to my car) and hobbled my way into a Walgreens to pick up an ankle brace and some BioFreeze (per a friend's reco). I was quite a spectacle! I found a shopping cart on my way in and used it basically as a walker through the store, more-or-less dragging one foot behind me. People kept stopping me to ask if the pregnant lady was okay! I made it home (after having to pick up the kids from school) and rubbed on some BioFreeze and I'm not sure what finally happened but by the time Taylor got home I could walk on it again just fine and it was only sore the way it had been in the morning! It was a little sore the next day but then was totally fine and I never ended up using the ankle brace. It was so incredibly odd that I ended up googling it a bunch and the only thing I could come up with is that a nerve or ligament or something must have gotten pinched while I was sitting at work and it just took a bit of movement to loosen up and relax. During pregnancy there are a lot of hormones in your body that cause your muscles to loosen up and so apparently it's very common to twist your ankle!

On a different note, I finally, finally (!) got myself to The Gem for one of their amaaaazing smoothies. I was absolutely in love with these smoothies during previous pregnancies and they are every bit as delicious as I remember. I love this place but now it's kind of out of the way for me to get to so I hadn't been at all during this pregnancy yet. The smoothies are a little on the expensive side BUT if you add protein powder to them, which I always do, then they're perfect for a meal and so then not too bad at all. And let's face it: in reality, during pregnancy is the best time to treat yourself so that's exactly what I did!

This one is my fav & is called the Crown Jewel and has banana, cashew milk, coconut manna, spinach, blueberry, date, cacao, & cinnamon. Add some chocolate protein powder and it's absolutely delicious!! 

Over the past two weeks (or really since my last regular OB appointment) I've been trying to eat really well and go on daily walks (+ do pilates every day) and I'm totally noticing a difference. I feel really great overall and on the days that I end up eating something heavy (because of a work lunch or something like that) I feel like I need more veggies and so it helps me get back into a good eating groove.

Weight gain at 26 weeks: 11.6 lbs total

Weight gain at 27 weeks: 11.8 lbs total

Can I just say that I'm kind of thrilled to not be gaining multiple pounds each week!? Even if it's just a fluke for a few weeks (which is probably is), I'll take it! At 25 weeks I had gained 11.5 lbs total, so it's been gaining only 0.3 lbs over 3 weeks - wayyy different than the first part of my second trimester. 

Summary for 2nd trimester gains with baby #3: 12.3 lbs total (so 11.8 overall is factoring in my lost 0.5 lbs in the 1st trimester). 

At this point with Turner: 11.4 lbs total.

At this point with Arden: 14.4 lbs total.

Let's see...other random momma updates:

I got in another adjustment at my chiropractor and felt sooooo good after!

I also managed to sneak in an hour solo & treated myself to a pedicure - this one of my absolute favorite ways to treat myself and relax a little. 

WHAT THE FAM HAS BEEN UP TO

Goofy playtime at home:

Second ever haircut for Turner:

Ready for picture day at school!

More playtime with my silly boy:

Arden rocked her school pictures.

Turner, not so much:

We celebrated my MIL's 60th birthday with a party this past weekend!

Due to a series of unfortunate events including this momma messing up a fresh pedicure while rushing to meet a repair person + daycare closing early due to a severe weather warning + having little brother in tow, Arden ended up at the nail salon with me and was lucky enough to get her first official manicure (read: bribe for sitting quietly while they repainted my toe!). 

I had mentally planned for this "first" to be a little more special (think mom/Arden-girly date) so I'm going to just say that this didn't officially count and instead was a "prepper" for the next time we go together and get to make a date of it. 

She was absolutely thrilled though and is in love with the (bright) purple color she picked out!

Peace out 2nd trimester!

26&27 Weeks with Arden

26&27 Weeks with Turner

2nd Trimester Meals & Snacks

For my first 16 weeks of this pregnancy I felt so bad that I pretty much ate whatever, whenever. Anything that sounded appealing I would eat, and I ate pretty much all the time to try to keep the nausea away. Now I will caveat that I'm normally a pretty heathy eater, so even eating terribly isn't too bad for me, but I had gotten used to a ton of pretty empty calories (think toast, cereal, etc.) and lots of sweets. But about halfway through 2nd trimester something hit me and I realized I had like 20 more weeks of this pregnancy and could not keep gaining 2-3 lbs a week!

So, I kicked my butt into gear and started doing short pilates sessions every morning, as well as going for at least a 30 minute walk every day.

But I also really revved-up what I was eating. And it totally helped.

Here's what a "normal" day of meals looks like for me right now:

Breakfast
Always the same: 1 egg, usually pan-fried in a little butter, often with a sprinkle of shredded cheese & sometimes with some ripped up spinach. Add a piece of buttered sourdough toast & a cup of tea and this is basically the same breakfast I've been eating every day since forever. Lately we've been trying to eat more veggies so I've been adding either chopped up bell pepper & onion or mushrooms & onions to the pan before the egg. Every now and then I'll add a side piece of bacon or turkey bacon. Taylor usually eats the same as me, except he does 2 eggs and no toast. The kids usually get the same as me, just cut up (though for them I alternate days where they get oatmeal/raisins/peanut butter). I'm super particular about my sourdough bread. I only ever get it from one very specific bakery!!

Morning snack(s)
I've learned that I need at least 1 but sometimes 2 snacks at work between breakfast and lunch. I eat breakfast about 530am and lunch usually around noon so it's basically a snack every 3 hours or so.

Lately I've been cooking up a big batch of steel cut oats on the weekend & portioning into containers for my first mid-morning snack. I add a sprinkle of cinnamon & tsp (or two) of brown sugar, and a bit of milk (sometimes some blueberries too), and it's been delish! I don't think I've ever particularly craved steel cut oats before but right now I'm loving them. If I need a second snack before lunch my go-to is a Fage yogurt cup. I've been opting for the full-fat version, always strawberry, and each of them has 11g of protein! Other options for a second snack: a handful of an almonds & craisins mix (I pretty much keep with me all the time in my purse!), or a banana and some peanut butter.

Lunch
Totally depends on the day if I have something going on at work, but over the past few weeks Taylor and I have been perfecting salads. We do a mix of spinach, arugula, and kale as a base and then top with some combination of: cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, sprouts, slivered almonds, black beans (usually just for Taylor), goat or feta cheese (usually just for me) & grilled chicken. Taylor tops his salads with a squeeze of lemon & I opt for just a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. These salads have been SO good and so filling! I usually pair my salad with some fruit, which lately has been raspberries & blackberries, a bag of grapes, or an apple.

Afternoon snack(s)
These vary depending on the day but generally I pack 2-3 of the following and eat them throughout the afternoon at work or on the way home:
-Baby carrots & a small container of hummus
-Celery stalks paired with some peanut butter
-Bag of grapes
-Apple
-More almonds/craisins!

Dinner
This has probably been the most challenging meal area for us. Taylor has been following Tim Ferriss' "slow carb" eating plan for a while now so I usually try to make meals that fit into that. It's pretty clean eating so generally pretty healthy, which works well for both of us! It's usually some kind of protein and lots of veggies (usually two since I'm trading the veggie for a carb). No dairy/cheese/carbs can be challenging when I'm feeding the kids so they sometimes get a slightly different meal than we have, but usually I try to only cook 1 meal a night so often I just modify what we're having for them (and then give them a side of fruit, or cheese, or avocado or something like that).

Here are a few new recipes we've tried recently that we really liked:
-Chicken zucchini poppers (w/ a side of guacamole & some green beans) - the kids loved these, and we did too!
-Cauliflower Rice Taco Bowls (w/ all the usual veggie-friendly taco toppings: lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado) - the kids liked this too and I gave them the freedom to choose their own toppings so they ended up with just cheese, avocado, and greek yogurt (aka our "sour cream") on top.
-Chicken & Asparagus Lemon Stir-Fry (everyone liked this! I separated out the asparagus for the kids so they had chicken, a few pieces of asparagus (not loved), and then fruit)
-Edamame Fried Rice (I even added tofu for a little extra protein and everyone loved this!)

These are some of our regular go-tos:
-Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
-Green Onion Salmon
-Meatloaf w/ sweet potato fries & green beans

And this week we're trying these new recipes:
-Steak Taco Lettuce Wraps (w/ Mexi-Cauli Rice)
-Veggie, Ham and Cheese Bake (I just left out the cheese on half of it for Taylor)

Dessert
We are not regular dessert people. Don't get me wrong, I love me some sweet treats, but in general we don't regularly have "dessert" after dinner. The kids sometimes get a bowl of fruit if they finish their meals, but just as often I give them fruit with their meals so I wouldn't say they expect any kind of dessert. In general we treat sweets as "treats" and our rule (mainly for our sanity) is that the kiddos don't get treats during the week, but on the weekend we are okay with one a day (usually depending on what we're doing like a birthday party, or cookie decorating, or something like that).

However, one of my absolute favorite mom-treats is to sit down in the evenings with a piece of (good) chocolate & a small glass of milk and relax for a second after the kids are in bed (or sometimes after dinner while we're watching TV). This has been my splurgy treat forever and usually I don't do this every night but especially during pregnancy I let myself more often (especially when Taylor is having a glass of wine!!). Taylor knows my love of good chocolate bars well and keeps me well stocked :) He got me a set of these a while back and they are hands down my favorite chocolate EVER. I can make a chocolate bar last for quite a long time and so I always have a few good options in the fridge....aaaand I may or may not have an entire shelf in the door of the fridge with my chocolate stash. Oh one last thing: these macaroons are absolutely delish & a current pregnancy favorite!

{Baby3} Bumpdate: 24 & 25 weeks

24 & 25 Weeks!!

BABY’S GROWTH

Well the weeks are speeding along and my belly is expanding at the same rate! We finally had a monthly check-in with our OB and everything seems to be looking just fine for baby girl. I was supposed to have the midway point glucose test at the appointment but they forgot to remind me about it and since you have to commit to being in the office for an hour, they let me reschedule to next appointment.

At week 24 baby girl was about 1.3 lbs and about the size of a papaya & at 25 weeks she's about 1.5 lbs the size of a sweet potato!

MOMMA UPDATE/HOW I'VE BEEN FEELING

This time was a longer-than-normal gap between appointments (5 weeks) because they were trying to get me back onto the regular schedule, which is every 4 weeks until 3rd trimester where it switches to every 2 weeks until the end where I'll go weekly. All that to say, the most notable thing from the appointment was my weight gain. Over the month, according to their scale, I had gained almost 10 lbs! In reality it was more like 6-7ish, but in any case my doctor took notice and said his benchmark is gaining about 1-3 lbs per month, not per week! I literally had to ask him to repeat it because I couldn't believe how far off I was. We talked about diet a bit and how to stay on track a bit better and here's to hoping I don't shock him again next month!

Weight gain at 24 weeks: 10.3 lbs total
Weight gain at 25 weeks: 11.5 lbs total
At this point in my previous pregnancies I had gained 13.1/14.5 lbs with Arden and around 13.0 lbs with Turner so it seems like I've gained less at this point than before, BUT I was just about exactly 10 lbs lighter before so it doesn't feel like I'm doing all that well this time!

After that revelatory appointment I realized I needed to get a little better about watching where I'm getting my calories from, so I'm trying to eat a little lighter (think more veggies, less ice cream) while still making sure to get enough protein, etc. I also started incorporating a 30 minute walk into my day and so far for the past 2 weeks I've managed to do it every day! With both previous pregnancies I was definitely going on walks more at this point & I think between the long commute and two kiddos at home, it's just harder this time. It's okay though, never too late to start making exercise a priority so that's what I'm doing now!

25 week bump at work!

I've been having fun putting together my weekly boards - but I definitely feel like I'm going to need to get a little more creative with 15 more weeks to go! The ones I've liked most include something relevant to that specific week (besides just the number) so I've been trying to include little tidbits about how I'm feeling or what's going on.

For week 24 we had the first day of spring & it was fabulous and starting to get really warm out and then the following week it was freezing again - oh Texas!

In week 25 I was really noticing how much baby girl is kicking. She now really, really regularly kicks and moves. It's strongest when I stop moving (or settle down at night), but I definitely notice it throughout the day as well. I also started feeling her kick in the middle of the night which is new! And yes, it has woken me up before!

Overall I've been feeling pretty good these past two weeks. I'm usually exhausted by the end of the day, but can still sleep really well so feeling fine by the next morning. The vein in my leg has been bugging me a bit these past weeks and unfortunately it's probably due to all the walking I've been doing lately - ironic, right? Such a vicious pregnant cycle....exercise more!...but then things start hurting...so stop moving around so much and put your feet up!...but don't stop exercising because then you'll feel worse! Haha oh well. I bought myself a pair of lovely compression socks and hopefully they'll help with my leg.

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO

Taylor's car finally bit the dust after 11 years and 180k miles, so we got a new (to us) one. 

The kids love it!

Taylor and and I got out for day alone and went to a Pepperdine alumni brunch and then got to visit friends in the area who just had a new baby:

The kiddos and I are still spending lots of time at the park, eating snacks and/or dinners outside, and generally just enjoying the nice weather (when we have it!):

Taylor's Aunt has been encouraging me to make sure to talk to both kids about the new baby and so I'm trying to do that when I remember. We talk to Arden about the baby very often, but usually just assume Turner is too little to understand, but I think Taylor's Aunt is on to something, because when I'm inventional about telling Turner short easy things about sister, he does seem to get it! 

24 & 25 Weeks with Arden

24-25 Weeks with Turner

{Baby3} Bumpdate: 22 & 23 weeks

23 & 23 Weeks!!

BABY’S GROWTH

Still haven't had another appointment with our OB (we do this week, finally!!) BUT we got to do something cool this week & had another sonogram to see our sweet girl. A few weeks ago I signed up to be a sonogram volunteer at a clinic near my office. They train a lot of doctors at this location and each of them need lots of practice doing sonograms before they are sent to other offices. Back when I signed up they just added me to a waiting list so I'd pretty much forgotten about it until I got a call to come in!

Since it was a training session, it was a longer than normal sonogram and so we got to spend a lot of time just looking at our sweet girl! They took all her measurements and she's still measuring exactly on track. Her heartbeat was pitter-pattering at 141 BPM. 

The coolest part was them testing out the 3D option on their sonogram machine. Our OB's office doesn't have this capability, nor did our old OB, so I've never actually gotten to see one of our babes in 3D before they were born. Baby girl wasn't quite cooperating anymore at this point - they said she actually probably fell asleep (which makes sense because she was moving around for almost 45 minutes prior to this!), so they couldn't get a fabulous picture, but it was still amazing to see her little face (or part of it anyway!) in 3D (top picture below).

MOMMA UPDATE/HOW I'VE BEEN FEELING

Weight gain at 22 weeks: 9.2 lbs
Weight gain at 23 weeks: 10.8 lbs
At this point in my previous pregnancies I had gained 11 lbs with Arden and 13 lbs with Turner)

Lately I've been feeling a little large, and slow. While I'm still in the ballpark of gaining weight at about the same rate as the previous two babes, this time it's been a little harder. I started this pregnancy a little heavier than the last two so seeing the numbers creep up is a little stressful. I know I'm still in the "normal range" of gaining 1-2 lbs per week tho so trying to focus on that.

Food
No major cravings at the moment per se, but definitely gravitating towards healthier/lighter foods - I think the beautiful weather & spring is helping with this! One of my favorite salads right now (to make at home & bring to work) is spinach & arugula with goat cheese, slivered almond, carrots & tomatoes, topped with balsamic vinegar. It's so good!

Berries have been appealing and I can't wait for peach season to start. I've been liking really tart things so grapefruits have sounded really good lately. I still eat an egg (with spinach) and toast every single morning. It's been my go-to forever and I still love it. Mid-morning snacks at work are either oatmeal with blueberries, a small yogurt with granola, or a pre-made (by me) waffle or piece of french toast with peanut butter. Snacks are usually almonds/craisins, an apple, a bag of carrots, or veggies with hummus.

Exercise
I'm still doing pilates every day (every single day in March so far!) but I'm noticing that I'm not able to do certain exercises comfortably anymore. There are a handful that I've been intentionally avoiding, but I think now I need to specifically start queuing up pregnancy-friendly workouts.

Clothing
I'm still wearing non-maternity PJs (and coat) but mostly everything else is maternity. I'm really just tired of winter clothes and can't wait until I can wear some of my spring/summer maternity clothing.


WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO

We helped Uncle Saw & Aunt Sara move into their new house...and got to have special donuts that morning! 

We went over to the elementary school by our house (where Arden will go to kinder in a few years!) and tried out the playground:

We tried out an imagination play place in Rockwall called PlayQ where we're thinking about having Turner's birthday party. The kids loved it!  

We've had a bunch of days in the low 70s lately so we've been packing up dinner and having picnic's at the park! The kids eat and then play and I love that there's no mess to clean up at home :) Plus we all get a good walk in before bedtime!

We celebrated the 1st day of spring with ice cream at Dairy Queen (free cone day!). This momma also learned that ice cream at 4pm means that littles won't be hungry for dinner at 5pm. Oh well!

We got to visit friends in Coppell one weekend and had a blast bouncing on their new trampoline! 

And then to wrap things up, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day for 3 days straight! Post here!

22 & 23 Weeks with Arden

22-23 Weeks with Turner