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I’m back from Hawaii and as far as I know all is still well. I’m so thankful that we were able to go on our trip and that nothing scary happened while we were there. The little bub cooperated quite nicely by being active on both the flight there and the flight back and for most of the trip in general. He did have a couple of quiet days but luckily I had the doppler with me for some reassurance.

Paul and I were able to take maternity photos, I’ll post some here when I stop being so lazy. Our photographer was completely amazing and I’m so glad I decided to get my hair/makeup done too! If anyone is going to Oahu and wants to have pictures taken, let me know because I have a great recommendation for you! There are also some belly shots we took ourselves where you can REALLY see how big I’ve gotten. For the most part, when I’m fully dressed you can see a bump but I still look like I’m carrying quite small. Most people are shocked to hear how far along I am (except my mom who seems to think I’m normal to huge).

I can tell that the belly is growing quite a bit though by the beached whale feeling I get when I try to roll myself out of bed. It’s actually pretty funny except when I’m afraid I’ve somehow hurt the baby as I maneuver around (I’m pretty sure I’m not though and I’m just being paranoid). Bending over has also become quite a gargantuan task and requires careful planning and body placement. Today I noticed that a shirt that previously fit just fine over my belly now must be carefully monitored and frequently pulled down so as to avoid flashing bare pregnant belly to my coworkers. I feel like I’m waddling but Paul says no, not really, so I guess I still have a ways to go. I have another ultrasound tomorrow and am excited to see how big the bub has gotten since before we left for Hawaii. At my 25w (exactly) ultrasound he was estimated at 1lb12oz so I’ll be interested to see how far over 2lbs he is now given I feel like I’ve definitely had a growth spurt.

These past few days I’ve been constantly hungry. Unfortunately a lot of what I’ve been craving is food I can’t get in California! We had these amazing Japanese style pork bowls in Oahu and I want one SO bad! I also weirdly started craving wax apples, which is a fruit I’ve only ever had in Taiwan, it looks like a cross between an apple and a pear and is sweet and foamy texture inside. Drooool. But unfortunately they don’t grow in the US and are too fragile to be shipped.

Something else I noticed is that in Hawaii my skin totally cleared up! No new acne at all. Once I got back to SF, a new one sprouted on my chin. Blech. Luckily it’s small, but now I’m convinced it’s a combination of pregnancy hormones and San Francisco that’s been causing all my breakouts. Can’t put all the blame on the kiddo apparently.

My blood pressure did go up a bit while we were in Hawaii, but still within a reasonable range. (Yes I’m the girl that went to Hawaii with my blood pressure cuff and fetal doppler). It was running 120/80 (which is really more like 120/70 since my cuff runs high) but now has dropped back down to 108/72 (which again is more like 108/62) as of my last reading last night.

I also cut my own dose of Imuran because I think they had me on a high-ish dose and I’d really like to be on the minimal dose necessary since I want to breastfeed. I cut myself down to 100mg instead of 150mg and so far *knock on wood* it seems to be fine. From what I’ve read 100mg is a perfectly acceptable dose. Like I said, my bp has been fine, still only trace protein in my urine as of two weeks ago and no joint pain other than those associated with normal pregnancy (lower/mid back pain). I haven’t told my docs yet but plan on letting them each know at my next visit with each of them.

According to my own scale, which I think is most accurate since I weigh myself first thing in the morning, I’m up about 13lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. If I go to 40 weeks and gain 1lb per week this puts me right on track to gain 26lbs which would be the low end of normal for someone with my pre-pregnancy BMI. My doctor said 25-30lbs would be ideal for me since I’m small to begin with so he’s totally happy with where I am.

As for the positive FFN, since my cervix still looked long (3.3-3.6cm) and closed as of the Friday before we left for Hawaii, no one seems overly concerned about it. I also haven’t had any more BH episodes since that week so my OB said just to repeat the FFN when I go in for my monthly exam (in two more weeks).

The best part of the past couple weeks is that I feel the baby SO much more now. I feel him all over my belly now and can feel all types of different movements. I think I’ll be able to start discerning body parts very soon – or at least I hope! Lately he’s been getting the hiccups on a daily basis. It’s starting to become very clear that my body is not just my own anymore and I couldn’t be any happier about it. It’s times like these that I’m actually grateful for all the struggles I faced to get here because I never take any part of this pregnancy for granted. I’m so beyond thankful for the opportunity to be this close to my baby boy, to get to know him better than anyone else in this whole world before anyone even gets to lay eyes on him. It is truly a miracle and so precious to me and I just thank God every day that I get to experience every bit of this. It’s definitely not all fun and games but it’s more than worth any of the discomfort I’ve experienced so far. Maybe this will change as I get bigger and more uncomfortable, but I LOVE being pregnant!

In a little over a week I’ll be 28 weeks, this is significant because this is when Paul and I decided we’d really start buying baby stuff. The survival rate for preemies at 28 weeks is something like 80-90% so while we know anything can still happen, it seems like that is the right time to really start preparing for having a baby live in our house! As of right now we have one half-full box of stuff shoved into our storage closet and besides that you’d never know that we’re supposed to have a baby in just over 13 weeks.

Here’s one pic from our maternity shoot for now until I figure out which ones I want to share.