Gage's Birth Story

This post has been a long time coming. I'm so happy that now that it's documented, I'll be able to look back on this day that changed my life forever. It's definitely a day that I'll never forget. Thanks for letting me be your mama, Gage. I love you so much, sweet boy!

There's nothing more frustrating than being a week overdue when you're pregnant. You're already pregnant and chances are your emotions are all out of whack, but now on top of that you're anxious. Anxious to meet your little bundle of joy. Anxious because your mom and brother flew in from Pennsylvania to be there for when their first grandson/ first nephew is born and you're afraid he won't come before they leave. Anxious because doing simple everyday things like putting on your shoes and walking for more than a few blocks becomes incredibly difficult. Anxious because everybody you know, even people that you haven't talked to in ages, keep texting you and asking you if baby has made his arrival yet. You get where I'm going with this...

So my doctor told me that a week after my due date is the earliest that they would induce me. My brother left to go back to Pennsylvania 6 days after my due date and that same day, my mom and I went to what I hoped was my last doctor's appointment before Gage was born. My mom was only in town for 6 more days and my dad was on a plane to Utah, so I was relying on me being able to be induced ASAP.

When the doctor walked in, she said "Jessica, you're still pregnant!" She had been making that joke for the past few visits. I tried to laugh, but all I could think about was when this baby was gonna get out of me! I just wanted to be done being pregnant and meet my little man. She checked to see how far I was dilated. About 2.5 cm, same as last time. I was hoping to have made a bit more progress. But then we got down to business- when I was going to be induced. She said that since that weekend was a holiday weekend (MLK day), she was going out of town to visit family and she wouldn't be back until Tuesday, so that's the earliest she would be able to do it. My heart sank. My parents would be leaving on Wednesday. My brother already flew out to Utah and had to leave before Gage made his appearance, I didn't want the same thing to happen with my parents. The doctor could tell that I was disappointed, so she said there might be another option. She said she could talk to the doctor who was on call that weekend and see if he would deliver the baby. I asked her if she would because I wanted my parents to be there for when he was born. She told me to get dressed and meet her outside of the room. My heart was pounding, When we got outside, she said that he would do it! Saying that I was relieved would be the understatement of the century. She was upset that she wouldn't be able to deliver my baby, but she said she told the doctor to be really nice to me because it was my first and she wouldn't be there.

When we left the office, we waited out in the lobby for my dad to pick us up and I totally cried some happy tears. I immediately called Taylor and told him and then texted all of my siblings and aunts and uncles. Then the hospital called me to confirm my induction for the next day. They told me to come in at 6:15, but before I left the house to call the nurse and make sure it was still okay to come at that time. As soon as I hung up with the hospital, my Aunt Karen called me. She said that when my mom was about ready to have her first child, she gave her some advice and she wanted to give me the same advice. She told me that tomorrow morning, while everybody was getting ready, I should go into the bathroom and lock the door and have a good cry. She said that from there on out, things wouldn't be the same and that I'd be feeling a lot of emotions, so to just let them all out. haha

We went to Sam's Club after that to stock up on some food. In the past week alone, I had probably walked more than I did in an entire semester at BYU. No joke. If it really was true that walking jump started labor, I'm pretty sure baby G would have been here by now!

When we got home, I pretty much counted down the minutes until we left for the hospital. I had my hospital bag packed and the car-seat installed and in the car for probably a week now. I was so ready to meet Gage and become a mom. That night, I was too excited to sleep. I barely got more than 2 or 3 hours. Yanno how sometimes when you have to be up in the morning by a certain time and throughout the night, you keep waking up to make sure you haven't missed your alarm and overslept? That was me all night long. And finally, I woke up before my alarm because I knew that I wasn't gonna get anymore sleep.

Within minutes, I was ready to go. When it came time, I called the charge nurse to see if it was still okay for me to come in at 6:15. She said yes to come as soon as I was ready. Within seconds, we were all in the car and driving to the hospital. As we drove along, I wasn't nervous. I knew that being a mom was the most important job I would ever do. I was just thinking about baby Gage. Who would he look like? Would he look like the little boy I saw in my dreams? What would it be like, seeing him for the first time and getting to finally hold him in my arms? When he got a little older, what would he like to do? My thoughts were interrupted when we arrived at the hospital.

Taylor dropped us off at the door and went to park the car. When we checked in, the nurse told us that they were running a little bit behind and that they'd call us up to start our paperwork soon. A few minutes later, they called me up and said that they didn't have my paperwork, but once it was delivered to them, we would get started. Finally, Taylor and I were up at the desk. The nurse was really nice. She gave us our Welcome Packet and told us the code that any visitors would need if they came to visit and explained hospital policies to us. Once we were done there, another nurse walked us back to the room I'd be delivering in. As we were walking back she asked if we were having a boy or a girl. We told her a boy and I'll never forget what she said. "A little boy, that's how kingdoms are made." I thought that was a pretty cool thing to say.

Once we were in the room, she told us that my nurse would be in shortly to start me on Pitocin and that I should get changed into the hospital gown. When she left, I had my mom help me get changed (the struggle is real guys, I couldn't wait until I no longer needed help to bend down haha). A few minutes later the nurse came in and said that she and a BYU intern would be taking care of me. She started me on Pitocin at 7:42 am. It was actually really nice that she had an intern with her because anytime she did anything, she would explain what she was doing and why she was doing it. It was nice for me to be able to hear what was going on. She asked me if I was going to want an epidural and I didn't hesitate to say yes. So she told me to just let her know when I wanted it. She also said that the doctor would be there around 9 or 9:30 to break my water....yeah that didn't happen. haha I ended up getting an epidural at about 9:35 am. The nurse had me sit at the very edge of the bed and lean forward and hold onto her shoulders. Man they weren't kidding, that needle was long! And I hope I don't sound incredibly stupid here, but I didn't realize that once I got the epidural my legs would go numb. I may have had a mini freak out because I thought something went wrong and I was gonna be paralyzed! Scary stuff. But at least now I'll be prepared for next time. ;) I've gotta say though that my worst fear about the epidural was that it would wear off right in the middle of me pushing....we'll get to that later.

So at about 11:30, I finally met the doctor that was going to be delivering Gage. He was really nice. And after we talked for a few minutes, he broke my water. He told me after my water was broken that Gage must have swallowed some meconium, which meant that when he was born, there would have to be a team in the room that would pump his stomach to try and get it out. That scared me a little bit, but he made it seem like it wouldn't be a big deal.

 In between the nurses coming in every hour to check on me and to check my dilation, I tried to get some sleep. I must have fallen asleep for at least a little bit because I remember waking up and watching some old cartoon with my dad. haha But other than that, sleep didn't really work out too well. So, Taylor brought up Friends on Netflix for me and my mom to watch. Up to that point my progress was pretty slow, but around 3 pm I was about 6 cm. The funny thing is that when the nurse checked me, she said that Gage had a little hand that was trying to get out and she had to kind of push it back up! How funny. At around that time, Taylor and my parents started making bets on when Gage would be born. My mom said 6:30, my dad said 8:00, and Taylor said 10:10. (I may have given him the stink eye after that but I'll never tell..;))

At 4:05 when the doctor came to check me I was about 9 cm! He told me that by the time I was 10 cm I would start to push. And at 5:05, I was 9+ cm, but I wasn't quite 10 cm. It was around this time that the nurse told us that Gage had hair. When somebody asked what color, she said that it was dark. That shocked me because I thought he would be blonde! By 7:30, I hadn't made any progress since 5:05, but the doctor thought we should try pushing anyway. At 6 pm, there was a shift change, so I had a different nurse now. She was super nice, but I kind of wished that the other nurse would be there since she was with me all day. The nurse told me that it typically takes about 2 or 3 hours of pushing, which took me by surprise. She then talked me through how the breathing would work and that at every contraction I would push.Before we started, I had Taylor go get me some ice chips because that was all I could have and I was thirsty. I put my legs up and Taylor was on one side and my mom was on the other holding my legs when I pushed. For the first little bit, the doctor was in the room, but then he left and said he would be back in a little bit. By the time he came back, I had made some good progress. It actually was really helpful to me when he was in the room because it made me want to buckle down and try harder. At one point he said to me, "Jessica your second and third pushes are always really good, and no matter what, you're going to meet your little boy. But if you want to meet him soon, we need your first push to be just as good as your last 2." That was the motivator that I needed. Even while I was pushing, just knowing that he was in the room made me want to try harder because he was the doctor and he would kind of coach me through it.

 By this point, Gage was crowning and the nurse kept saying that I was so close! But it seemed like she kept saying that and I wasn't really as close as she made it seem. I think she and the doctor could tell that I was getting a little bit tired because the contractions were coming so much closer together now, so they told me that I could take a break if I wanted. But I pretty much said, "Heck no! If I'm close then why would I stop? I just want him out already!" And then I started feeling a good amount of pain, so the nurse got the anesthesiologist to come in and bring a new bag for my epidural. She said that was probably a good thing because I was going to need an episiotomy and I would want to have the epidural kick in by then so I wouldn't feel it. With the contractions coming closer and closer together, I think Taylor and my mom were getting a little bit excited, so they were counting pretty loud. I had to tell them to calm it down a little bit haha. But I feel like overall, I wasn't a very grumpy pregnant lady while I was pushing.

I was getting really close, and all of a sudden a nurse came in to get the doctor. He said he would be back soon, but that if he wasn't back in time, the nurse would be able to deliver the baby. I had a mini freak out, and my dad told me later that he was about ready to leave the room and tell the doctor to get back in there! haha But luckily, he was back within a few minutes. When he came back and checked how I was doing, he told the nurse to go and get the cart with all the tools to deliver. I knew then that it would be only minutes until we went from a family of 2 to a family of 3. Finally, the nurse told me that if I did well on this next push, I would be holding my baby! The doctor told me that once they got the head out, he would tell me to stop pushing. And then he would tell me when to have the last push so that he could get the shoulders out. I pushed and nobody really said anything, so I wasn't sure if it was enough, but then the doctor told me to stop pushing and he lifted Gage up so that I could see his head. I started to cry. He was beautiful. The doctor told me to push again and I did and after that, everything happened so fast. Taylor cut the umbilical cord. They took Gage over to the team to get his stomach pumped and make sure he was alright because of the meconium he swallowed. He wasn't crying. Why wasn't he crying? Was something wrong? I was nervous. In the movies, the babies always cry as soon as they're out. But then he cried. I was getting stitched up and just staring at him the whole time, crying, and longing to hold him. My parents and Taylor were all over by Gage taking pictures and videos and I was jealous. I heard Taylor say, "He looks just like Jess." And then my mom came over to me and said that Gage had my nose. It seemed like it was taking forever for me to be able to see him. It took at least 10 minutes, but finally, the nurse brought him over and put him on my chest. I said hi to him and he looked up at me like he knew exactly who I was. I can't even put into words how I felt, but it was love at first sight.

Gage Taylor Williams. Born 1/16/2015 @ 9:50 pm. 7 lbs 14 oz. 19 1/2 inches. Completely perfect.

The first picture I took of Gage

Gage and his dad!

First time Grandma!

First time Grandpa!

Uncle Jared and Aunt Kelly

We are now Williams, Party of Three

He's perfect in every way.

So obsessed with this sweet boy

Going home! 

And here are some of Gage's newborn pictures! :)

 Yes, those are Gryffindor pants and yes, the name of the very first Harry Potter chapter is the boy who lived. :)

C'mon, did you really think I wouldn't get some Harry Potter newborn pics? ;)

30 Week Bumpdate/ Halloween!

I promise, I totally have a good reason for being so behind on my posts. MIDTERMS. Ugh, just a few more weeks until I'm done with my Bachelor's Degree. Just gotta keep on keepin on. I really cannot wait to be done because it brings me so much closer to meeting my cute little guy! And then I get to be a stay at home momma and don't have to worry about school until I find out where/if I've been accepted to grad school. Don't even get me started on that because it brings my stress to a whole other level. Oh and how about this- I had to pay $200 to take the GRE, which is fast approaching. (Fingers crossed that I do as well as I'd like.) I think they should be paying me to take the test haha but whatever gets me closer to being a Speech-Pathologist!

Anyway, let's get onto the 30 week bumpdate. So I turned 30 weeks on Halloween. And for the longest time leading up to Halloween, I was trying to find Tay and I the perfect costume. I know there's a big trend for pregnant ladies to paint their stomachs on Halloween, but I decided that I wanted to try and look for a cute costume for me and Tay- and I think I succeeded! We went as the 50's housewife and the milkman. And the best part was that we had everything we needed for the costumes already. Simple. :) Well, here's the 30 week bumpdate plus some pictures of our Halloween costumes. Hope you enjoy!

How far along? 30 weeks! 75% of the way done!

Baby size? size of a large cabbage

Trimester? 3rd and final, ladies and gents!

Due date? January 9th

Gender? baby boy :)

Cravings? rocky road ice cream, vanilla coke, pizza, still anything chocolate- so that is very much welcomed if you feel so inclined :) haha

Movement? This little guy is so active! Up until this point his favorite times to kick momma have been right when she's trying to sleep haha but he's been moving a lot more throughout the day. Sometimes it seriously feels like he's playing the xylophone on my ribs, but I love feeling him move. :)

How I'm feeling? I have been so blessed with this pregnancy. I didn't get nauseous and wasn't throwing up throughout the first two trimesters. And this trimester, all I have to complain about is some acid reflux- which is usually only bad at night. And all it takes is some tums to make me feel better. You better believe I carry those with me wherever I go haha.

I have been feeling rather large lately, but that was bound to come at some point. It's weird not being able to do things that I would normally be able to do- like put on my own shoes. I still can, it's just a lot harder for me to bend down, so it's a lot easier to just have the husby help me out. But the good news? I haven't started waddling yet, which is a definite plus in my book! haha

Nursery? It's a work in progress. Hoping to be done with it in the next few weeks :) I'm really excited about seeing all of my ideas come together for it though, a vintage cars theme is every little boys (and my husbands) dream.

Belly button in or out? Still in, but it's getting closer to being out.

Weight gain? 20 pounds. I'm hoping to stay under 35! Fingers crossed haha

--Until next time :)

27 week bumpdate!

It's been a pretty rough week. I think my body sensed that I was in my third trimester, so it automatically started to make things harder for me. But really though. Every single night this week I haven't been able to get comfortable finding a position to sleep in, mainly because of the acid reflux. And because I can't sleep until the wee hours of the night, I can't wake up in the mornings. This can be problematic with me having classes at 9 am every morning. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out a way to make this work so that this week isn't as bad!

Another thing that hasn't been so fun... lately I've been getting a little bit annoyed with people. Over the weekend, Taylor and I went to the BYU football game. While we were there, there was this group of girls sitting in the row to the right of us. I looked over at them and two of them were staring at my belly and whispering to each other. Normally when you're staring at somebody and you see them notice you staring, you look away. This was NOT the case. They continued to stare and whisper to each other. I imagine they were probably wondering to themselves if I was fat or pregnant because then they proceeded to turn to another friend in the group and ask her something. Immediately, she looked over and saw me looking at her and her eyes dropped down to my belly, as if she was questioning something. I couldn't believe how rude they were being! I was almost tempted to say, "To make it easier for you guys, yes, I am pregnant." I realize that I'm not huuuuge yet, but I have enough of a belly that it looks like a baby bump. It just got on my nerves that they weren't even embarrassed when I looked over and saw them staring. Oh well, I guess I better get used to it. On to the bumpdate!


How far along? 27 weeks, the first week of the third trimester :) (Each bumpdate is from the week earlier, so right now I'm 28 weeks)

Total weight gain? 16 pounds!

Stretch marks? Yes... but they're not on my belly. I'm still slathering on my belly butter though!

Maternity clothes? Yep! Mostly still just the pants because a lot of my shirts still work with my growing belly :) I just bought this super cute dress from Charming Charlie that totally works with my belly too and it's the perfect maroon color for fall! Can't wait to wear it :)

Belly button in or out? Still in, but it looks like it's on the verge of popping out!

Sleep? Not the greatest, but if this is the worst thing I'll have to deal with during my whole pregnancy, them I'm pretty lucky.

Movement? Lots, he is one very active baby. Taylor told me that while I was still sleeping the other day, he had his arm around me and could feel the baby kicking a lot. :)

Cravings? Caesar salad, orange juice, pizza, macaroni and cheese.

Gender? baby boy!

Usually happy or moody? Happy :)

Looking forward to? Halloween! The hubs and I picked out our costumes, so stay tuned! haha

Best moment this week? We finally found the perfect coming home outfit for our little guy, it's precious! I've been on the lookout for a cute coming outfit since I found out I was pregnant, so I'm very happy about this haha.

Worst moment this week? Acid reflux :/ really hating it.

I made the time of the clock 1:09 because the baby's due date is January 9th :)

 

A Letter To My Son

My sweet little guy,

I just finished taking a test. I'm so close to getting my Bachelor's Degree. I find the strength to continue doing school knowing that at the end of the semester, I'll be just days from meeting you. Since finding out that I was pregnant, my views on school have changed. I used to just want to be done with school, and though I still do, I realize that school is no longer only for me. It's for you. Everything I do is for you. I hope some day you will know that.

Right now, your daddy is at work. He works so hard so that he can provide for you and me. His work is never done. He comes home from a long day of work and then he does his schooling online. This is not ideal, but he does it for us. The best gift your dad has given me is the opportunity to be able to stay home with you and be your mommy. I know that if it were possible, he would stay home with us too. But he works so that I can stay home with you and teach you all the things that you need to know. Just wait til you meet your dad, he is gonna be one great daddy! I remember that the first thing that drew me to your dad was how happy he always was. It was like when I was around him, I had to be happy because his happiness filled the room, it was contagious. I hope you inherit that from him. Your dad has the biggest, most beautiful heart and the best laugh! He's the best man I've ever known.

As I continue to count down the days until I get to meet you, I am so grateful for the now. Right now you are growing inside of me. And though I long to meet you, I'm glad that you have a safe place to grow until you are ready to come into this great big world. I'm thankful that I get to be the one to provide that safe place for you. I hope that you will always feel that you have a safe place to reside, even if it's just our little apartment. The emotional bond that I already feel towards you is nothing short of wonderful. I've had dreams about you and I feel that through them, I get to know you before I've actually met you. I wonder about the little boy that I see in my dreams.Will he look/ act more like his dad or his mom? Though I have a feeling you'll be a miniature version of your dad, I still hope to see some of myself in you!

You are so loved. Momma loves you. Dadda loves you. May you always know, my little one, that you were wished for, longed for, prayed for, and wanted. I hope you don't ever question that. The day we found out that I was pregnant with you was the happiest day of my life. I've been preparing to be a mom ever since I was a little girl. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your mom! I know we are going to have so much fun together. And though being a first time mom scares me, I know that the Lord will help me to be the best mom that I can be for you. If there's one thing I want to teach you that I hope sticks with you throughout your life, it's to put God first. He will never abandon you and he will love you with an unconditional love. Make sure that you are constantly trying to have a better relationship with him and you will be so blessed for that. Get to know him on a personal basis and let him be your best friend. And let your heart, sweetheart, be your compass when you're lost. You should follow it wherever it may go. When it's all said and done, you can walk instead of run, cause no matter what, you'll never be alone.

I hope that you look up to your dad and I's marriage and that we will be a good example to you of how marriage should be. I want you to know that I love your dad more than life itself and I feel so blessed that he is mine. I need you to know that I will always put your dad and I's relationship above all. Just like you and I have a special bond, your dad and I do too, and we need to be able to continue to grow that bond if we want to be good parents to you. He's going to be such a good dad. There will be lots of laughter and silly dancing when dad's around. I want the best for you, and if that means me sacrificing in order to give you everything you need, so be it. I want you to be a dreamer, just like your daddy. Dream big, little one. You can be anything you want to be.

All my love, your mom

26 week bumpdate!

The moment I have been waiting for has finally arrived. I am officially in my 3rd trimester as of yesterday! (27 weeks) I feel like that's such a huge milestone. 2/3 of the way done. In just 13 short weeks I get to meet my cute baby boy :) And I know it's not a good thing to wish my days away, but I seriously am so anxious to meet him already! I spend all of my time thinking about if he's gonna look more like Taylor or more like me, what his personality will be like, the qualities he'll inherit from me and those from Taylor, etc. I have my hunches that he's gonna be a miniature version of Taylor, but I'm hoping he at least gets some things from me! Like my love for reading :) Anyways, here's my 26 week (last week's) bumpdate! :)

How far along? 26 weeks

Baby size? A head of lettuce

Total weight gain? 16 pounds! Doctor says I'm right on track with my weight gain during pregnancy. I'm just hoping I stay within the normal 25-35 pound range! haha

Maternity Clothes? I'm pretty much always in maternity pants because they're so comfy haha since it's fall, my sweaters and cardigans still fit, but I still occasionally wear some maternity tops.

Due date? January 9th!

Gender: little boy :)

Name: We have a few picked out, but we want to wait to decide on one for sure until we meet our little guy :)

Symptoms: Lately at night, I've been getting some acid reflux. Definitely not fun. I'm also having a harder time bending down to put on my shoes.

Cravings: BYU creamery's mint chocolate brownies!, arby's melts, ginger ale.

Aversions: The smell of taco bell makes me a little nauseous but other than that, nothing!

Sleep: I've had a harder time getting to sleep, mostly because of the acid reflux. This might sound weird, but there was one day this week where I was awake at like 6 am when Taylor was getting ready to get up for work and I totally couldn't remember if I'd even fallen asleep to that point. Weird right?

Pregnancy Story/ 24 Week Bumpdate!

Wanna know something crazy? I'm 24 weeks pregnant. Which means that I only have 16 weeks left! And I'm already so anxious to meet my little man that I can barely stand it!

Since I haven't blogged in forevs, I figure that I should probably start by telling you the story of how I found out I was pregnant....

The day before Mother's Day, Taylor and I went shopping with his parents and his sister. Everything was great and I was feeling good and obviously the new clothes helped with that (shopaholic right hurr). Then we decided that we were going to go to the cheap theaters, but first we stopped at a grocery store. That's when I started to feel sick, and not the kind of sick where I felt like going and sitting through a movie would help it to go away or at least make it a little better. I was nauseous and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and lay down. So, Taylor and I decided to ixnay on the movie and go home instead.

The first thing that Taylor said when we were in the car and out of earshot from his parents was, "What if you're pregnant!?" Right you are, Harry. (Please tell me that you guys know that Harry Potter reference!?) Immediately I got really excited because we had just recently started trying to get pregnant. About a week or two earlier, I totally jumped the gun and took a test too early and was heartbroken to find out that I wasn't pregnant. So, as soon as I got home, I went straight to the bathroom and took a test. Guys, longest 3 minutes of my life. I was sitting on my kitchen floor and Taylor was standing above me and I was kind of trying to block the test from him because I didn't want it to say no. But then it said yes. Before Taylor even knew what was going on, I started crying and jumped up and hugged him. I think that's when he put it together. Such a happy moment for us. But just in case, I took one more pregnancy test and the results were the same: I was gonna be a mom! I couldn't even think of anything else except for the little bub growing inside of me for the rest of the night. (PS. I was born on Father's Day and I found out I was going to be a mommy on Mother's Day so I feel like that's pretty cool)

Mother's Day the next day was so much more meaningful to me than it had been in the past.We decided to wait to tell everybody other than immediate family (and one of my closest friends) until I had my first Doctor's appointment. I was too excited to wait until the first trimester was over to keep this a secret anyway!  My mom texted me that morning to tell me Happy Mother's Day and said that someday I was going to be a great mother. My reply was "Someday might be a lot sooner than you think :)" And I sent her the picture of the pregnancy test.

While we were at church, the speakers were obviously giving talks about their mothers and it made me so excited to know that by that time next year, I would be a momma to a cute little bub. I couldn't stop smiling all throughout church.

 Later that night, we went to eat dinner at Taylor's parents house. Taylor had this whole plan of how he was gonna tell them, but it kind of fell apart when the first question Taylor's mom asked was if I was feeling better. I said yes. She knew that we had been trying to get pregnant, so she asked if I took a pregnancy test. I said yes once again. Then she asked if I was pregnant, and I couldn't help it, I had to say yes and ditch Taylor's plan. haha Man she was good, a mother's instinct, am i right? :)

Picture of how we announced our pregnancy :)

Now onto the bumpdate!

So, as some of you probably know, I'm finishing up my last semester of school at BYU right now. I've been a little bit worried lately because I finish finals on December 19th and baby boy is due January 9th. So I'm cutting it a little bit close. I'm just hoping that if baby boy decides to make an early arrival, he at least waits until my finals are done. haha I also worry about how my third trimester is going to be. I have pretty much had smooth sailing up to this point. My first trimester I didn't have any morning sickness (other than a little bit of nausea the day I found out I was pregnant. Weird right?) and was feeling pretty good. The only thing that has been hard has been how tired I've gotten. I'm just hoping that my third trimester is the same as my first two trimesters have been so far because I'll already be stressed and uncomfortable waddling around campus while I'm eight months pregnant, without having to worry about being sick and missing a bunch of class too. But anyways, here's a little update on my 24th week of pregnancy :)

How far along? 24 weeks

How big is baby? As big as an ear of corn :)

Maternity clothes? So far, just the maternity pants. But I'm definitely going to need some dresses soon!

Total weight gain? At my last doctor's appointment, I had a total weight gain of 12 pounds.

Sleep: Have been sleeping pretty good. I've started sleeping with a body pillow, which is more comfortable. Taylor recently started going to work earlier though, so sometimes it's hard for me to fall back asleep after he leaves.

Best moment this week? Last night we put some music on my phone and put it up to my tummy and the baby started moving a little bit :)

Miss anything? Since I've been pregnant, I've pretty much been off of caffeine. (Occasionally I'll have a sip of Taylor's Dr. Pepper, but only a sip.) This week, I've really been missing Dr. Pepper. Especially with 3 tests coming up this week. Missing my study aid. haha

Movement: Some throughout the day, but this little guy moves a lot at night!

Food Cravings: Chipotle burritos, apples with caramel, pineapple, and here's a weird one...pizza flavored combos.

Gender: little boy :)

Symptoms: peeing more frequently, sometimes get out of breath walking around campus, and the baby's movement :)

Belly button in or out? In

Usually happy or moody? Usually happy! Taylor might disagree with me on this one though haha

Looking forward to: We're going to a Blake Shelton concert on Friday! Baby will totally be jammin out! (bought the tickets before I found out I was pregnant)

And of course here are my weekly baby pictures!

P.S. Does anybody know where to get some cute maternity clothes? Specifically dresses? The only places I've seen that are cute and less expensive are pinkblushmaternity.com and asos.com! HELP!