I haven't shared an update in over three weeks... definitely not intentional, but boy have I been a busy pregnant bee. For starters, I have been "diagnosed" with potential gestational diabetes. I opted out of taking the three-hour test (same outcome if I failed it or skipped it). My midwife has to treat me as she would a GD patient. I'm not really complaining, the pokes really aren't that bad. Secondly, my FAVORITE and only OB office I've actually used out here is closing for business as of well, yesterday. I had to find a new establishment, a new OB, and I'll likely have to find a new midwife as well. The good news? I am set on a hospital for delivery, baby boy is doing absolutely fabulous, and my best friend will be flying down the day of my birthday to spend time with her goddaughters while I deliver AND meet her new godson! That's a lot to take in, right? Let's dip into these highlights. I can't wait to share our growth with you guys! 

How Far Along: 34 weeks
Nicknames for baby: Our little pickle, baby Liam, sweet boy,
Size of baby: About the size of a cantaloupe (over 4.5 pounds)
Gender Prediction: It's a boy! Confirmed blood test at 12 weeks AND gender scan at 15 weeks.
Symptoms: Pelvic pressure GALORE, Braxton hicks, backaches, and morning sickness has returned with a vengeance.
Best moment this week: Seeing my son during our last 4D ultrasound. Also, receiving a stuffed animal that plays Liam's heartbeat.
Movement: Liam definitely still moves quite a bit, and it feels like a baby earthquake is happening inside my uterus when he moves these days. He's head down and I can sometimes feel his little but smudge up against the top of my belly.
Food Cravings: Probably chicken sandwiches again - ugh. It's been ugly over here. Especially because my craving almost always results in heartburn shortly after.
Food Aversions: Marina sauce. Each time I look at it, I get queasy.
What I Miss: Being able to sleep comfortably - I literally spend most of the night tossing and turning, hence insomnia. I miss being able to sleep on my stomach or my back.
Sleep: I am sleeping more during the day (when the girls take their naps) and it seems to help by the time nighttime comes around. I've been going to bed around 11pm every night and I'm not feeling too shabby come 630am.
Justin: My sweetheart has officially hit the nesting stage right along with me. Putting up baby gear, picking out Liam's first outfits for the hospital, and asking about child birthing classes I may want to attend. I find him talking about Liam SO much more than the last few months and I think it's because the reality is setting in pretty hardcore for him at this point. He continues to talk to his son with his hand on my belly, and he's just such a proud papa bear. I'm proud of him. It's amazing to watch this man get excited over our children. 

Ava: Sometimes I wobble in pain from a pinched nerve, or I cry because I'm highly emotional literally all the time - Ava can feel those vibes so heavily and I think they are impacting her in a way that I wish they wouldn't. She loves on me more, constantly asks if I'm okay, and even scolds her sister if Olivia runs into my belly a little too hard. While I wish I could hide and contain a lot of the pregnancy feels over here, I do appreciate that my sensitive girl is completely in tune with me. I remind her daily that mama is okay, but I'm not too sure she believes me entirely. 

Olivia: She's ready for baby brother to be here like NOW. Seriously. She had a tummy war with him last night and it was HILARIOUS. She laid her face on my belly and said, "Baby brother, MERE!" That means baby brother come here. She sees his face on every ultrasound, she sees all of his things slowly making their way all around our house... she's impatient and I don't blame her. I am too! 

What I am looking forward to this week: My appointment with my new OB facility on Friday. I'm hoping to get in there, be heard on my concerns, and hopefully set an induction date! *SURPRISE* GD patients are automatically induced! Good thing this isn't my first rodeo.
 Happy or moody most of the time: I am a happy, happy pregnant gal! My belly is growing, my son is healthy, and I'm almost positive I'll have a set induction date as of Friday. Things are falling into place in perfect time and I can only hope the delivery of my son mirrors the same tempo.  

Overshare Wednesday: Leaking

Someone asked me the other day what the most embarrassing part of pregnancy was this time around... and now I'm exposing myself! If you guessed by the title that this post is in regards to some sort of fluid, you would be correct. It seems the more babies I have, the worse my bladder control has become. When I cough, sneeze, or laugh too hard... yep, "spritzing" occurs. Apparently, the term for this is urinary incontinence. 50% of women will not have this issue resolve even five years after having a child. Considering in the last five years I'll have had three babies... I'm assuming my body just hasn't had the time to recover. My pregnancy will Liam has definitely made this "spritzing" even more obvious than ever before. I've even cried about it because it's just embarrassing, unsanitary, and I personally have to shower every time something like this happens. Even though I know this is common, it's still a pain the rear to deal with. 

The good news? After talking with my birth photographer and doing a little research, apparently, there is a natural method to try and resolve this after the baby comes. Womb massages! Have any of my readers personally had one? This external massage actually moves and lifts your uterus (gently) into an optimal position in your pelvis. I have read and also heard great feedback from other women who have had a womb massage before. I'm thinking about seriously giving this a go if I don't notice a difference with my situation after Liam arrives.

Something really sweet just happened while writing this; growing up I can distinctly recall my mom laughing or coughing too hard and having some of the same issues I'm writing about. Back then, I'd just look at her and be so put off by the fact that my mother was peeing on herself... and that it had become a normal occurrence since her childbearing days. Oh, how the tables have turned. I wish she was here to see this happening to me. Though I could go without, it is kind of neat to piece together this connection with mom, even now that she's gone. 

Something else I wanted to share is how I manage to leak on a daily basis. I tend to use mama cloth pads more than anything, but in a bind, I gravitate towards the huge Always overnight pads. If you are a mama with this same issue and walking around without any coverage... you are a brave soul, my friend. I myself have had a couple of good days and thought, " I totally got this" and I was totally wrong! Better to be safe than sorry. If anyone else has any other methods or advice about this lovely pregnancy leakage, shoot me an email or leave a comment below.

P.S. Yes, the picture in this thumbnail is our sweet Liam. I had a 4d ultrasound performed and those are one of the (few) clearer images we were able to get of his sweet face. 

Tips For Flying (While 36-37 weeks pregnant)

This has been a highly requested blog post since I traveled to New York while being a day shy of 36 weeks pregnant. I was so nervous when I got closer to our travel date, simply because everything on the internet talks about all the cons of flying later in pregnancy. There were very few resources I found that were actually helpful, but the amount of worries with a pregnant woman flying were abundant. I have mentioned in other posts that my flying experience was far from terrible, and that part was true. We had a couple contingencies while traveling that were airline related, but other than that, it was a smooth trip both ways for me. The two MAJOR things that really assisted me during our travels were:

1) Compression Socks
2) Hydration
3) Hygiene toilet seat covers
4) Comfy clothes/ loose fitting shoes

I was most nervous about dealing with blood clots and/or swelling in my feet from being so high in altitude and I really think the compression socks helped immensely. I had zero swelling, zero blood clots, and absolutely no pain in my legs what so ever. On the way back home, I didn't get up and walk around nearly as much as I should have, but even then, I had zero discomforts. I slept more on the plane ride home then I did on the plane ride to New York. I did get up and walk to and from the bathroom each time I had to go, but that wasn't nearly as much walking as some do. Each of our flights were completely packed (holiday travels, gotta love them), so I didn't like having to move my way through isles of toddlers, people sleeping with half their bodies in the isles, etc.

I brought my filtered Brita bottle on board, and I made sure to take advantage of the complimentary drinks that were being served by the flight attendants. When I wasn't drinking, I made sure to suck on ice cubes. It was a pain in the rear to continue to get up to use the bathroom so frequently, but it did work out. I also made sure to bring my own toilet seat covers that I ordered from Amazon... Boy, am I glad I did this. Not only are airplane restrooms freakishly small, but NONE of the Southwest bathrooms came equipped with toilet seat covers. I seriously would have lost my marbles if I hadn't brought my own. I am a germ FREAK when it comes to public restrooms, and airplane bathrooms are not exception. That really isn't pregnancy related, but for a woman that already feels huge and would like to use the restroom with added comfort... yes, those toilet seat covers are golden.

Dressing comfortably was also the smart way to go. I think everyone who travels for the most part, dresses comfortably. I worse a lose fitting sweat outfit that I bought a week before we left, I also wore really loose Roxy boots that I could slip on and off really easily. My feet never hurt, but they did get a bit sweaty at times from the compressions socks. Justin took care of Ava bug pretty much during the entire time we were actually traveling and I can't rave enough how much of a saving grace that was. I got sleep when I wanted to, Ava and daddy got to have some quality time together, and when we were landing... I got to glance at them looking out the window at the pretty city lights.

If I had to mention a couple other tips or discomforts.. I would say to sit on the isle row. With a family of 3 in our own seats, it was so nice not to sit next to strangers. I sat on the outside so I could access the bathroom a lot easier. My pregnant belly was too big for me to put my table down in front of me (huge bummer), but either Justin or Ava sat in the middle, so I just used their table. We had a lot of luggage during our travels as well, but the only thing I carried was Ava's gate checked carseat from time to time. Justin was such a trooper with gathering all of our carry on bags, and checking the huge luggage bags that needed to be checked. Walking through the airlines wasn't completely ideal either, but if we were early enough to our seats, I got to sit and relax and put my feet up.

Overall, that's all I took into consideration while flying just days away from my due date. When I got home, I did head to Labor and Delivery triage to get myself and the babe checked out, we both got a clean bill of health. This pregnancy has also been low risk and uncomplicated, which allowed me to receive the green lights from my providers. Had there have been some concerns, I most definitely would not have risked traveling at all. Every pregnancy, every woman, and every situation is completely different. I would still recommend discussing travel plans with your provider, assessing the risk factors for flying, and then making the best educated decision from there.

If you have any further additional questions, or if there was something I didn't list that you were eager to know, feel free to email or message me!

Happy Monday all!

♥- Leilani