Hello from my *official* third trimester! Lots of journally pregnancy stuff these next two paragraphs, so skip to the third if you just want to hear about our Independence Day. I've been rounding up to the third trimester for almost a month now, and according to me I'm at 30 weeks today. But this last week I had my "28 week" appointment so now it's official official. I passed my glucose test, but my bloodwork results came back with some pretty definitive anemia. Which honestly I'm glad to know because now there's an explanation for the impossible, unmanageable levels of fatigue I've been having for several weeks now. Any productivity levels I picked up during the second trimester are nowhere to be found anymore. (And this explains why I started wallpapering the nursery 3 weeks ago and now nearly a month later we are barely halfway done, yikes. I have like one panel in me at a time and then I have to take a break for several days. It's going to be so cute when it's done though!) My doctor prescribed me an iron supplement and lots of rest, and he and Jared assure me that if I'm diligent to take the iron every day I'll have my levels back up in a month. Which feels like a long ways away but once again, at least I'm not barfing!!!! Exhaustion over barfing every day of the week, always and forever, amen. (Still on the nausea meds though--I think I'm as weaned down as I'm going to get since I tried to cut down more this week and it didn't go well. Glad they're helping and that they double as allergy meds.)
Hopefully getting my iron levels up will be enough to boost me back into a realm of semi-normalcy, because my sleep is taking a HIT now that we're in the third trimester. This happened with Jack too. My round ligament pains and Braxton Hicks come on months before birth and are pretty aggressive. Every night I'm waking up to either bad cramps (round ligament pain) or the most awful charley horses imaginable. Then I'm also frequently waking up to allergies and/or asthma (an air purifier in our room has been helping a lot in this area though). And as of this weekend, my uterus has officially encroached on my bladder enough that we are in chronic interstitial cystitis mode. Booooooo. I was really hoping by some miracle it wouldn't come to this. I have a painful bladder condition called interstitial cystitis that I've learned a lot about over the past 8 years and can keep very well controlled when I'm not pregnant. But with my bladder under constant strain now I'm starting to have daily flare-ups (a flare-up basically feels like an intense and sudden UTI). With Jack they were so bad that anytime I woke up during the night I'd have to take a hot bath while sipping a full quart of ice water to try and relieve some of the pain so I could fall back asleep. Lots of 3 a.m. baths back then, and I'm sure many 3 a.m. baths in my future. But for now my best defense is drinking water nonstop, and so far that's keeping the IC more mild than last time (last time I was overwhelmingly nauseous the full 40 weeks so I physically could not drink enough water to stay ahead of the IC). Overall it looks like 3rd trimester might be turbulent, but I'm still doing sooooo much better than I was at this point with Jack. Baby girl is kicking up a storm. It's fun that Jack can feel her now (Jared too, but extra sweet with Jack).
Let's do some 4th of July pics to finish up! Jared's mom and brother ended up coming to spend the afternoon/evening with us after all which made the holiday more fun. We had a potluck with ward friends for lunch, then when Jared's family arrived we drove into Arlington to watch a parade, then we threw together a yummy dinner and watched fireworks from our driveway. I wasn't expecting much, but WOW. Granite Falls delivered. There are no restrictions on fireworks here that I'm aware of, and our neighbors did not hold back. The evening started with some respectable driveway displays before it got dark (Jared's mom sprung for a big box of fireworks that Jack loved watching--sparklers were his favorite). Then after they left and Jack went to bed, it started to get dark and the aerials came out to play. At one point I felt like we were watching 3 professional firework shows at once--2 off in the distance and one just down the street from us so we were watching from directly beneath them. It was the first time in my memory that I didn't wait for the fireworks to end to turn in for the night. Impressive displays just kept going for hours and hours. Eventually I was like, "I think I've seen enough big fireworks" and we went to bed. Savvy is usually a bit skittish on July 4th, but the fireworks were so constant that I think she got used to them and I swear I caught her intently watching a firework showdown out our bedroom window while I was falling asleep haha.
Happy 4th! I'm writing this on the evening of July 3rd. We don't have lots of plans for Independence Day, but we're doing a BBQ potluck lunch with some ward friends and then hopefully we'll find a parade or fireworks show at some point. Jared's dad is out of town and his mom is sick, plus we'll be driving down to his parents' on Tuesday for an OB appointment/anniversary date, so we're doing this holiday solo.
My fatigued pregnant girlie era is still going strong and evolving into my annoyed-all-the-time pregnant girlie era. Probably a combo of pregnancy hormones, not getting enough sleep (pregnant Laura needs 10+ hours or she is grumps city), and the aches and pains that come on with the 3rd trimester are not treating me well. I'm also feeling really homesick now that we've hit one year in Washington? I don't even know where for--sometimes Wyoming, sometimes Utah. Washington is gorgeous and we love being close to family for the first time in a while. At the same time, we feel most at home in a dry/desert climate, and probably even more than that, I miss having wide-open trails literally right outside our front door like we had in our Wyoming prairie (or my Utah foothills). If I could plop that prairie down across the street from our current house in Washington, the homesickness might immediately disappear. That meditative daily sunset prairie walk was really good for my mental health. Also for Savvy dog. There just isn't a good equivalent here--anything that comes close requires a bit of a drive, and involves a trail that meanders through dense forest. Again, gorgeous, but a little unnerving. I always feel like someone's watching me or could pop out from behind a tree (one time I was taking Savvy for a walk and spotted a homeless man watching me from under a nearby tree, neat!).
On a completely different note, last week we spent 2 days and a night at Great Wolf Lodge in Washington--an indoor water park about 2 hours south. It was important to me that we have one Jack-centered family trip this summer before baby girl arrives. Jared agreed, so when he got off of work on Monday we drove to the hotel and spent the evening and following day at the water park. Jack LOVED it. Worth every minute of terrible hotel sleep to watch his face light up and hear his pure little squeals of delight when we stuck him in the deep end with a life jacket and taught him how to doggie paddle around. The actual cutest Jack moments I've witnessed this year. We're probably going to get a YMCA pass for the month of August so Jack can get more swimming time and I can enjoy some MUCH needed gym childcare moments of silence this summer. Amen and Amen. Here are some pics from Great Wolf Lodge!
We are about to head out for some family fun when Jared gets home from work so I'll make this snappy. Here are some snapshots from our week:
That's it! Nothing crazy to report. I'm getting very little done during weekdays, but we ordered some wallpaper for the nursery and it was nice to have Jared's help putting it up over the weekend. We've never wallpapered before and it's been a steep learning curve so we're not even half done, but I'll be sure to share pictures as the nursery comes together (might be a few months--my pregnancy productivity levels are record low and Jared's got a very busy schedule so Saturdays are about all we have to work with). We both love the look of wallpaper but it's been a bit of a headache doing a whole room so we probably won't attempt it again for a few more years, or when we get into a more "forever home" type of situation. Very glad we went for it in the nursery though.
Ok I'm off to enjoy a popsicle on the patio now. Summertime has finally decided to show up in Washington! And by "summer," I mean highs in the 60s and low 70s, but at least it's sunny. Not hating it.
That's about it! Nothing too exciting coming up this week. Today we're going to Jared's brother's high school graduation. Then I need to decide on a wallpaper and/or paint for the nursery so I can take advantage of these last few functional 2nd-trimester weeks to get some projects done. Third trimester was pretty miserable with Jack so trying to keep my expectations for what I'll be able to get done in check.
Hey-o! We just got off a wonderful weekend spent with my brother Jordan's family who was visiting us here in Washington. They lived in a town about half an hour north of where we live now a few years back so it was fun to show them around Granite Falls, have the best sibling/cousin times, and they got to visit some of their old friends and hangs in Mt. Vernon. They picked an absolutely perfect time to visit--I've been feeling really pretty good for about a week now, my belly is still at a manageable size, and the current Washington temperatures are *chef's kiss*.
The forecast was mostly rainy during their time here, but we did get a sunny day on Saturday that we spent lounging on our own little riverside beach for several hours. When we pulled into the usually-empty parking lot by the river, we were surprised to find the lot overflowing with dozens upon dozens of cars. Apparently there was some kind of church party taking place. Everyone we walked by was speaking Russian, or possibly Ukranian? Maybe it was a refugee gathering? No idea but it was really cool, and in a beautiful spot. Almost felt like we'd stepped into another country for a bit. Luckily the party was in one central space, and after hiking about a quarter mile along the river we found a quiet, expansive beach all to ourselves. Much of it was rock, but there was also a lot of great sand for the kiddos to dig around in. My brother Jordan is the GOAT and carried 2 of our outdoor dining chairs the whole way to the beach so all the adults could have a chair to sit on, since we only had 2 camping chairs. We had a great time digging, throwing rocks, picnicking, and enjoying the perfect weather.
