32…almost 33 weeks

I am 32 weeks and 5 days now with baby girl and have about six weeks until our scheduled c-section date! We are all very excited about meeting her! I have been bad about posting belly shots and weekly updates so I am posting them throughout this update!

31 weeks

We had an appointment yesterday and the report was that baby #3 is still a girl (always  a good thing to hear when you have been going crazy with girly stuff) and doing great! She is measuring just slightly bigger than she should at this point and is just around 4 lbs right now which is great! She is still breeched (head comfortably under my ribs) but sometime between my last appointment and this one she managed to get her feet up by her head like Peyton was. There is some concern over hip displacement issues like we had with Peyton but there is nothing we can do until she comes out so right now our prayers is that any hip displacement from being stuck like that for a couple of months is very minor and fixes itself like Peyton's did. Other than her new position, everything looks great which is a huge praise. My blood pressure is low, my fluid levels are good and everything is looking like it should which is a huge praise! I have an appointment April 21 and then probably just one more after that before the big day. 

32 weeks

Beyond what the doctor said, I am feeling great! Starting to feel the aches and pains at night time (especially in my hips) of carrying around extra pounds and an active baby all day but beyond what is normal pregnancy pains, I am feeling great. I am thankfully still not having any cramping, my blood pressure is low and I am able to do either prenatal yoga, a nice walk along the beach or some light weights/arm exercises! I am struggling with getting comfortable at night and sleeping which has been really hard. I can get a couple of good nights and then some naps on the weekends to catch up but the weeks are hard and I am pretty exhausted :( no nesting/surge of energy for me yet…just really tired! But overall, lots of praises for a healthy and easy pregnancy.

Although it is has been pretty easy I have realized there is no more shopping trips for me :( We went to Khobar for a shopping day (with the hour drive each way, prayer time closings…shopping takes a whole day) about two weeks ago and it wore me out. It was way too much, and I was exhausted and achy for several days afterwards. Not worth it. Thankfully I got everything I needed for our hospital stay/coming home that trip out and from now on John will be running any errands in Khobar solo.

Baby girl is crazy active! She kicks, punches, rolls, stretches ALL DAY LONG! She is the first baby that John can just look at my stomach at times and see moving around. It is such a different feeling. She is so strong, so active and feisty! Wonder that will mean when she comes out!?!

The kids are super excited and have been asking more and more about how much longer, and when can we hold the baby. They have also been playing baby dolls more than ever and often are in the nursery playing house and taking care of their babies. It is pretty cute and leads to some good teaching moments on what we can and can't do when baby girl arrives.

We have our hospital bag packed, the kids car seats moved to the back row of our car (we can't fit three seats across the main row) and her car seat base installed in the main row. Have her clothes all washed and ready, batteries in swings and the pack n play up in our room. We have 15 or more freezer meals made and waiting to be eaten that John and I have been working on the past few months to prepare and have on hand. We are going to start working on and finalizing all the care for the kids with our friends while I am in the hospital and also help with transporting kiddos after I come home and recover. So, hopefully we are ready!

We have been so blessed with wonderful friends (and even friends parent's who are in country visiting while baby will be born) offering to help with so much which has meant it hasn't been stressful or too different being overseas and away from family while preparing for babies arrival. We are so thankful for the support we have here. I know it will be hard and a little emotional when she comes not having family here or coming here but we will be looking forward to "hopefully" a trip home late this summer to show her off….I say "hopeful"because there is a lot of paperwork, passport process, translations, visas, residency permits that all need to get done before we leave and we are up against the deadline of the Ramadan holiday when nothing gets done. If we don't have her stuff before Ramadan, we will probably not be going back to Washington until Christmas time. Thankfully I can't control or do any of the steps so this is all on John to manage and we will be waiting for everything to come through at the last minute to leave for the summer. Our vacation plan/schedule for this year has so many options and contingencies, you can only laugh and take it day by day!

32 weeks and 4 days