Third Trimester

Better late than never I guess.

The third trimester of my pregnancy ended up being probably the best one in my ways - though it was not without it's own challenges. I entered it at the end of February and felt great with the nausea now gone. This was also the trimester of gifts and baby showers so that added to the perks.

I really started getting bigger which brought the challenges of what to wear and how to move... and growing pains. At one point, Matt said it looks like ate a watermelon because the rest of my body generally stayed the same except for my stomach which shot out.

Though I never had the swollen ankles until after I gave birth, I promised my co-workers that I would stop wearing heels when the third trimester started so I had to learn to live with flip flops, sandals, tennis shoes and other flats.

Me at the beginning of the third trimester

Feeling so good, I could still go hiking

Then just as soon as I started to get too comfortable, Mia started making herself cozy on my ribs. There were times where it literally felt like she would rest her an arm or leg in my ribs. Several times I would be in work meetings and gasp quickly because she was moving around - sometimes it felt like she was just swinging her arm across my belly and it did not feel good.

I loved feeling her move when she wasn't hurting me - and was terrified when I didn't feel her regularly. I even had to make two extra trips to my OB to have them monitor me. The second time, Mia took forever to move around and let us know she was okay. It took me drinking two cups of very cold water and then a piece of chocolate to get her moving.

Because of the nausea and being told to eat whatever made me feel good previously, I got into some bad habits of eating lots of sugar cereal, fruit and regularly drinking orange juice and chocolate milk. It's no wonder, I failed my first glucose test. After scaling back on my carbs, sugary drinks and fruit intake, I barely passed the second test but with a warning from my OB that she wanted me to eat cautiously and that she would know from my regular urine tests if I was being naughty again.

Can I just say that one of the worst ideas is having a pregnant women fast at all - especially for a three hour test! I thought I was going to die having to sit around and not eat for that long - or that Mia was going to eat me.

Being on the brink of having gestational diabetes was no fun and after hearing that GB can cause bigger babies, I really paid attention to what I was eating. This became especially unpleasant when my nausea returned again in the last month of pregnancy and left me without much of an appetite again.

Now on a brighter note, I have amazing friends and family who threw me celebrations and showered us with gifts for Mia which helped distract from the discomfort. The first baby shower was thrown by my previous SVCF co-workers who surprised me when I thought I was just going to have lunch with them. They threw a rock and roll shower to go along with my nursery theme. We even played music games like guessing songs with the word baby in it. Check out the photos below from this shower:

Nicolette, Julie, me, Sarah (the host), Diane and Christine

Diaper cake made by Diane - I think. It's been awhile :)

One of my favorites memories of this shower was not only the good food, but the hilariously adorable names for each food item.

If you can't read these labels, they say "New Kids on the Block of Cheese" and "Veggie Gibson Tray"

My next shower - and last hurrah before Mia came - was a girls trip in Vegas with my college besties. Laura, Briauna and Anna and I all joined Jodi, Darlene and Amanda in Vegas for a weekend of fun. We discovered the amazing world of Vegas "$20 foot massages" which really meant full-body massages. We loved them so much, a couple of us went back and had another on the following day. I got to spend time with Jodi, Darlene and Amanda and their kids and had a blast partying it up with Briauna and Laura. I hadn't seen Anna in years - and she flew out with her own newborn - which was amazing and I'm so glad she was willing to make the trip.

We spent a day of fun people-watching at the Flamingo pool after a run-in with security while Laura and Briauna were trying to break into the pool without having to pay. Darlene and I were laughing so hard that we missed spotting the security who walked over and angrily told them to back away from his fence. They got chewed out and then the guy said "Just go around to the front gate and you'll get in for free - all ladies are free today." Sheepishly - but laughing hilariously - we walked around to the front only to enter a "spring break pool party" that was not fit for us married mamas but made for great entertainment.

For my shower, I wanted to just spend time together and keep it simple with everyone having to travel, so we ate at the only restaurant that sounded good to me at the time - and a fave - Cheesecake Factory. Below are photos from the trip:

Jodi, Anna (from Georgie), Briauna (from Florida)

me, Laura (from So. Cal), Darlene and Amanda

Massage beds

Me, Briauna and Laura 

We passed this sign and realized that none of us had ever stopped and taken a photo so we did. And Briauna taught us the art of jump photography. I wasn't sure if jumping was the best idea with my pregnant belly but I couldn't help join in the fun. 

Flamingo Pool Party

Dinner at the Cosmopolitan (I think)

Piano Bar at Paris Resort

My previous co-worker, Olivia, who I stopped in to see 

Visit to the Venetian, where I used to work

Being pregnant in Vegas was not the most fun idea but I managed through it and it was worth it to have a last trip before the baby came.

My next shower was hosted by my church friend (and co-Primary teacher and visiting teacher), Emily Hawker, and other friends, Holland Denny, Sariah Tolley, Becky Castillo and Ally Okasaki. This shower was a French-themed garden party based off of the first event Emily and I put on - "Christmas in France" Relief Society Christmas Dinner in 2013.

Everything about the shower was gorgeous! Check out the pics below. This one was attended by a mix of church friends, family and others.

 

Emily's backyard

Gold Chiavary chairs

Beverage cart with fresh raspberries 

Beautiful naked cake made by Sariah

Additional desserts

Paper flowers

Jillarie McMillan, Holland Denny, Emily Harris

Eddy & Ally Okasaki, Emily Hawker, Erin Parkes

Jeopardy type game made by Becky Castillo

Matt's cousin, Ben, felt that every baby needs this shirt

Holland and Sariah

Me, Linda McGhee, Katie Chernikoff, and Melissa Abbott

Being pregnant didn't stop me from still having fun and I enjoyed monthly karaoke nights with friends. I'm not sure people knew how to act when I was dancing around with my pregnant belly and singing songs like "Naughty Girl" by Beyonce.

At Dave & Buster's for Matt's birthday party

I got tired just walking around so I had to sit and relax. 

My last shower was also a surprise thrown by my AHA coworkers during a work day. They also did a rock and roll theme and had adorable decorations and delicious food. Below is a copy of the slides from the a game during the shower where they asked Matt questions and then I had to answer them verbally and we compared answers. Matt's are shown on the screen.

Homemade cake pops and cupcakes

Adorable clothes as decor with cute little paper guitars

The signed onesie

They made VIP Passes for all of us with Mia's sonogram photo

I continued walking almost daily throughout this trimester after work, but that even that got hard. With Mia growing and filling up my tummy, I quickly became out of breath. My walks got shorter and slower but I think they helped my mood and my overall health.

Another fun part of the third trimester was preparing Mia's nursery. I had all these visions of what I wanted but the downside was that I had no energy to make them happen. So my friends, Nicolette and Christine, stepped in to help me and here are some photos of what we did.

Made the Rock Star marquee letters out of cardboard letters and ping pong balls. Bought old records at Goodwill and painted them for like 2 weeks! It felt like it took forever and I was worried Mia was going to come before I finished.

Each record has a letter of the alphabet with a corresponding musical instrument

Four of them just say "McGhee"

Collage of classic pop/rock albums Mia needs to learn mixed with photos of Matt and I

The last pregnant photo I took before Mia came. Seriously I was huge!

As you can see, the last trimester was fun and busy! I truly had no idea what I was about to embark on and did my best to try to prepare. I remember putting stuff into Mia's diaper bag before she came and thinking how exciting this was going to be to carry around. It's a good thing I waited for this trimester for the fun stuff because otherwise I probably would have sat around worrying about how uncomfortable or was or how bad I felt. 

A huge shout out to those who shared their love with me, Matt... and soon to come Mia. I really needed that extra love throughout my pregnancy and appreciate the simple acts of kindness from everyone. It truly does "take a village to raise a child" but I think it also takes that village to bring that child into the world.

Second Trimester - The Honeymoon Period?

I entered the second trimester right before Thanksgiving and my all day/all night long nausea continued strong. I did get a small reprieve on Thanksgiving enough for me to bake rolls and eat a decent Thanksgiving meal. But most of the time, it stayed with me and I didn't eat much until right after Christmas while we were on vacation in San Diego.

Week 16

Just like everyone said would happen, I woke up one day after Christmas and realized that I didn't have that nagging nausea on my stomach. A Christmas miracle! I felt so good I went out for a 3 mile run - yes, a run - something that I had given up on because I always felt like running brought me one  step closer to vomiting. 

Finally got some energy to finish Matt's t-shirt blanket which I had started in April 2014

I enjoyed food again and didn't go crazy eating all the time but I didn't hold back if I was hungry either. And it didn't help that Matt's family loves sweets and dessert.

By the time I got home from vacation and went to the doctor, I discovered that I had gained 11 pounds since my last visit a month before! 11 pounds! Yep, both my doctor and I were amazed. Crazy what your body does when it can process food again. Since my doctor wanted me to keep my weight gain during pregnancy to 25 lbs, she was happy to see that my body was now where I should be at this time 

I'm not going to lie - this made me a little nervous about gaining too much weight and I worried this 11 pound per month trend was going to continue on in my pregnancy. But it really didn't. The next month I only gained a pound.

Week 19 - really looking pregnant now

After a few days of feeling good in San Diego, I entered a new phase of pregnancy and that was sickness of a different kind. I got a cold. This may not sound so crazy but for someone with limited medicine options and not being at home, this was not fun. I remember laying in bed for hours a couple nights because I really couldn't breathe. And I was so nervous to take any medicine so I suffered through it miserably. Luckily this hit at the end of our trip and we had done most of what we had wanted so I was able to chill in our hotel room and try to relax for a couple days.

But by the time I went back to work, my cold turned into a horrible cough that sounded like a had the black plague - not exactly something you want to have when meeting with people. I kept taking off work and getting extra rest to get better but it didn't seem to fix anything. And the cough lasted more than a month as usual! It probably didn't help that I had to go on two business trips within two weeks during this time.

Week 20 - back at work again

After a month, instead of improving, my cough started getting worse and all of a sudden, the head cold came back along with a lovely urinary tract infection!

I have to say I was pretty defeated by this point. My honeymoon period that every one promised I would find in the second trimester was turning out to be less of a honeymoon. Now that my pregnancy nausea was gone, my appetite went away again too since my body was drowning in mucus!

By the time the second cold came around, I was beaten down. I remember being in tears one day on the couch and telling Matt that I just couldn't do it again. And I really thought in my head, I could not feel any worse. I've never felt so helpless - and this was after months of nausea!  Even my doctor, the nurses and my OB looked at me with pity and genuinely felt sorry for me.

I went to Urgent Care for the UTI and the cold and found that indeed I was just unlucky to get a second cold. I called my OB who told me the same thing and no one really had an explanation or a solution for me on how to get better except to let it run its course. I couldn't bear the thought of going through the cold again and spending another month coughing up my lungs. Having only a couple more months of work left before maternity leave and much to do was also making me anxious. 

So back to bed I went - frustrated and angry. Matt was my rock during this time doing anything he could to take care of me and make my life easier. He was constantly reminding me to find joy in the journey and helped me to stop feeling sorry for myself.

My doctor suggested that perhaps I should cut back on spending my Sundays around a lot of children as this may be why I got the second cold since young kids get sick every 6-8 weeks. It seemed silly to me since I was only around the kids for two hours a week but I did think about it. Matt agreed with the doctor and encouraged me to ask to be released but I brushed it off since I enjoyed teaching the kids and didn't want to leave my partner hanging.

Finally I emailed my allergist around week 24 and asked him if he thought there was anything else I could do to get better. He had me come in to see him and he suggested something so simple... but something that changed my life :) - taking an allergy pill every day. Yep, I already had a bottle of them at home and so I did this every morning and within a couple days, my cough started improving and cold went away. Love that man! He thought since I couldn't take my anti-fungal pills during pregnancy that perhaps my body was overreacting and he was right!

I mentioned the advice from my doctor about staying away from the little kids at church and he said he doesn't like to tell people what to do in those kind of arenas but he did say it made sense if I could avoid it easily. So I debated and prayed feeling guilty about abandoning the children and my partner for what felt like such selfish reasons. And finally I called my sister who helped me see that if I could take this one stressor away from my life through pregnancy, it would be worth it since I already had work and my health to deal with. So I finally asked to be released and am without a calling now for the first time in a very long time. It feels awkward and I miss Primary after having been there for the last four years without a break, but I must say my health has never been better during pregnancy.

During our time in San Diego, I entered week 19 of pregnancy which meant I was able to do our second ultrasound and find out the sex of the baby. Since we didn't want to wait another two weeks until we got home, I found a place near Matt's parents house that we could get this done at. And as you already know by now, we discovered that despite my own feelings of it being a boy, we are having a little girl.

Week 19 - our second ultrasound

Week 19 - The big announcement that we are having a girl!

I'm so glad we found out when we did because I know Matt was nervous about having a girl and he wanted a boy, but we got to spend time with two of his nieces while in San Diego and he had such a blast with them. I really think Heavenly Father gave us that time to help Matt appreciate little girls and give him the confidence that he will be a great father for boy or girls. 

I didn't care if we had a boy or girl but once we found out we were having a girl, I got so excited thinking about all of the fun we were going to have together with a little mini-Keri.

Christmas date with Matt's niece Calay - Perfect timing for Matt to practice being around little girls 

Christmas date with another niece, Carys

Around week 19, while sitting in Matt's parents house, I felt the baby move for the first time. And the weird thing is that it was not just a little flutter. It was enough that Matt could feel too when he put his hand on my stomach. It was the most alien and at first, creepy feeling for me because it really reminded me that this was all real. For me, the feeling was kind of like how your stomach feels when you have gas :) but it moved and obviously, there was no gas. It was so weird! I just sat on the couch for the next hour in awe - and maybe a little shock - at what I was feeling.

Once I got over the initial shock, I have come to really enjoy feeling the movement of the baby. It is such a special experience that she and I get to share and I love the constant reassurance that she is still in there and healthy.

Another new thing I experienced at the end of the second trimester was leg cramps while sleeping. After spending an exhausting day in high heels at a Go Red for Women fashion show at a local mall, I woke up that night at least five times with the worst leg cramps - or charlie horses- I have ever had. At the time, I didn't know this was a normal thing to experience in pregnancy. The only thing I could do to make them go away was to get out of bed and stretch my legs while yelling in pain.

The next morning, I struggled out of bed due to my legs feeling like noodles. I felt like that guy in Weekend from Bernies :) having no control of my leg muscles. It took me a couple hours before my legs started to feel normal again. Since then I haven't had as many leg cramps in my sleep, but I do get them especially on days where I exercise more or don't drink enough water.

By the time I started feeling like myself again, I was just coming out of my second trimester. So overall - as with the first trimester - I had more lows than highs it felt like. I really don't like to complain - and I would love to be one of those women who love being pregnant - but for someone who has been pretty lucky with good health, my body has taken a big hit with so much change. I am so grateful to be pregnant and to experience sharing my body with a little one. There is nothing like realizing that my body has truly not been my own - and learning humility.

I'm curious to see what the last trimester has to offer... both the good and the bad :)