We are PREGNANT!!! YAY! Since we found out, we cannot think about anything else. Pregnancy is such an exciting time. We have been praying for this little miracle. And when the test finally turned positive, we couldn’t believe it. We are going to be parents!!! 🙂

Before we could catch our breath, we had so many questions about our pregnancy. From doctors’ appointments to all the beautiful things happening so quickly to our bodies (#whospregnant #dadbod). By no means are we experts in this field, but we thought it would be fun to share everything you need to know about our pregnancy! Filled with all our UPS, all our DOWNS (yikes!), and everything in between!!! Here are the links to our blog:

• Our Gender Reveal
• Our First Trimester
• Our Second Trimester
• Our Third Trimester

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Our Third Trimester

Your Baby: By the end of your third trimester your baby will be the size of a watermelon!!! Isn’t that just a miracle??? We remember the moment we downloaded our first pregnancy apps (“What to Expect” and “Pregnancy+“) and looking up the size of our little baby girl: A poppy seed. And now we are sitting here 39+6 weeks pregnant, holding a watermelon to take our 39-week pregnancy progress photo. While there is lot’s of growth happening inside of our “tummies”, there is also lots of growth happening for the outside… Especially over the last 4 weeks of the third trimester my baby bump has really popped out. And we LOVE it!!! In addition to the cute bump, our baby girl’s kicks and movements have become pretty strong. She loves to tickle me with her big feet and even rub them against my ribs every once in a while… While it doesn’t really hurt, I like to push against her wiggly feet to get them out of my rib cage. She will then start wiggling around with her booty and it’s just a fun little playful game that her & I are enjoying while she is still in my womb. Often, when Douglas will say a little prayer or wishes her a goodnight, she will start kicking him gently on his cheek as if she is saying “Hi Daddy” to him. It still brings tears in my eyes every time we get to feel her move together. Other than that we are VERY lucky. She is letting me sleep through the night (except for multiple bathroom breaks). She rests at night and usually is very active between 8 – 10 AM and in the afternoon / evening. A few kicks right when we go to bed, but then she will sleep through the entire night. *Can this please stay this way once she is born?*
Now, only a few days (or maybe even hours) away from meeting her, we are getting so very anxious to see our baby girl for the first time!!! What hair color will she have? Is she going to have daddy or mommy’s nose? Oh how we cannot wait to kiss her beautiful face for the first time!!!

Your Body: That bump is definitely showing now! YAY! Your body is not only preparing your little one for the BIG DAY but also your very own body… And with that, as soon as we hit the 3rd trimester, I experienced some major pains for the first time during the entire pregnancy… First, I started to have a 24/7 headache that was super painful. And even with tylenol there was nothing that seemed to bring any relief. On top of that I started to also develop very painful sciatic nerve pain in my right hip… I tried heating patches. Ice. More tylenol. Rest. But nothing seemed to help. So we decided to get help. We found an AMAZING chiropracter and I started prenatal chiropractic treatments, first 3x / week, then 2x/week, and then 1x every other week. He was able to bring so much relief and within a couple of weeks I had a 70-80% improvement of my pain and movement in both my head/neck and hip. Now, I am completely pain FREE!!! If you live somehwere in North Dallas / Frisco, you have to see Dr. Mark Taylor (Taylor Family Chiropractic).

While your body is fully preparing and training for the miracle of delivering your baby, there are some typical symptoms you may be experiencing during your last trimester of pregnancy:  

• Growing Belly & Breast: My belly really POPPED out even more during our last 4 weeks of pregnancy. While your breast tissue is really preparing to nurse your baby it continues to grow throughout the third trimester.
• Heartburn: While your baby is growing, he/she might be pushing against your inner organs causing some aches/pains and/or heartburn. Before pregnancy I had never experienced any reflux, but now, whenever eating any spicy or heavily greasy food, I will get some heartburn, especially when laying down… For me personally smaller, lighter meals have helped to reduce any reflux and now, being close to 40 weeks, I haven’t had any reflux in weeks.
• Energy Levels: While lots of women may experience a little dip in their energy levels during the third trimester, for me it was the opposite. My energy levels have been running super high. I can barely sit still, want to clean up the entire house. Prepare the nursery. And every room for our baby’s arrival. This is also called “Nesting” and totally normal to experience during your last few weeks of pregnancy.
• Round Ligament Pain: Your body is continuing to prepare for birth. While most joints and ligaments are starting to stretch it is very common for those round ligaments in your pelvis to hurt. While I had a super short period of round ligament pain during my second trimester, I had zero pains during my third.
• Sciatic Nerve Pain: Depending on your baby’s growth and position, he/she may be pushing against your bones, joints, and nerves. And this can really hurt. I had very (!!!) painful sciatic nerve pain as soon as we hit the first day of our third trimester. And for about 6 weeks I was in the worst pain… Could barely get up from the bed / couch. Could not walk… Luckily my chiropractor was able to bring relief!!! Around week 36 all of my pains were fully gone and we could finally resume our daily walks!!!
• Braxton Hicks Contractions: I now finally know how Braxton Hicks contractions feel. Initially I would not really know I was experiencing BHs. I would simply notice that my tummy (ie. uterus ;)) would get super tight/hard but I had no idea what was going on. Now, that they are getting more frequent, intense and slightly painful, I finally and retrospectively can say, these are Braxton Hicks Contractions. Preparing your uterus for the big day!!! We even experienced a 2 hour episode in week 38 of 30-60 seconds long BH contractions every 5-15minutes. It woke me up around 2:30 AM and I started tracking the contractions (*awesome app: “Contractions“). About an hour later I woke up Douglas thinking this might be the start of our early labor. He started a bubble bath for me and the contractions continued for about another hour. Right about 5 AM, when we started getting ready to possibly go to the hospital later that day, everything stopped. No more contractions. False alarm… Ever since, they come and go. Sometimes for a couple of hours. Sometimes just a single BH a day. Oh how we are ready for the real deal!!! 🙂
• Emotions: My emotions are on the very HIGH!!! Overall I am just super excited to finally meet our baby girl! But then there is major waves of anxiety and worries. About her health. Labor. Being a mom. And all the unknowns. We continue to put our faith into the Lord and instead focus on all the GREAT things He has done in our lives. His will be done. And we are so thrilled to see what He has planned for our growing family.

Throughout our entire pregnancy we have been taking weekly bump pictures. Every Sunday after church (*perfect timing because we love to get dressed up for that*) we’d spend just 10-15 minutes to put on my Lulu’s dress and take a quick bump picture. Sundays are also our grocery store days, so we’d pick up the “fruit of the week” showing the growth of our sweet little baby girl.

Here is the link to shop it directly from Lulu’s website: Lulus White Long Sleeve Lace Dress.

Your Doctor Visits: Your doctors visits are now every 2 weeks and then you 1x / week during the last 4 weeks of pregnancy. While there is not a lot of exciting test going on during the third trimester, we continued to LOVE listening to our baby girl’s heartbeat and hearing all the medical professionals reassure us that both mommy & baby girl are doing great!!!! This is also definitely the time to prepare a birth plan and ask your ob/gyn all the questions you may have about labor and delivery.

• Urine samples: Just like at every visit throughout your entire pregnancy.. Be ready for a urine sample at every visit!
• Ultrasound: For us, there was no more ultrasound. We had 2 ultrasounds total with our ob/gyn (1 during our 1st and 1 during our 2nd trimester). We had 2 additional ones through Stork Vision just to see and connect with our baby girl. But during our 3rd trimester we were not able to schedule another sono due to the pandemic. Safety first.
• Weight: Definitely NOT looking at the scale anymore… I know I have gained quite a LOT of weight. But my body is making a little human being. A miracle. So instead of getting hung up about a number on the scale, I am grateful for everything my body is doing for our baby girl!!!
• Blood Pressure: At every visit you will have your blood pressure taken to make sure you and the baby are doing good.
• Baby’s heart rate: With a clinical grade doppler your ob/gyn or nurse will measure your baby’s heart rate at every visit. I will never get tired of that cute little sound!!!
• Physical Exam: During the last 4 weeks of pregnancy and your weekly ob/gyn visits, be prepared for a *not-so-fun* (but necessary) physical exam to check if your cervix is showing any since of labor. Your ob/gyn will check for dilation (ie. opening) and effacement (ie. softening, shortening and thinning) of your cervix. Be prepared: This is painful! But hey, it’s all for a good reason.

Shopping: Time to finish up the nursery and do some (more!!!) baby shopping!!! We have put together our baby registry must-haves and also our nursery [coming up soon] for you to see the items that we LOVED for our baby girl.

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If you want to read more just follow along our pregnancy story here:

• Our First Trimester
• Our Second Trimester
• Our Third Trimester