32 Week Bump Date | How It Really Feels To Be Pregnant With Baby #4

Hi Friends! I can't believe November is already here and we are now in the single digit weekly count down to meeting our baby boy! Although I am super excited to meet him, I want him to stay in my belly for as long as possible. With this being my last pregnancy I have been trying really hard to soak in all those little moments because I know that I will miss it so much. I absolutely love being pregnant so closing this chapter in my life is definitely very emotional, but my husband and I have always said four littles is what would complete our family. With that being said, I will not do anything to naturally induce my labor like I have done in the past. We will wait until he is ready on his own and welcome him with all the love.

Due Date

December 30, 2018

Weight Gain

I have gained a little over 20 pounds so far, which is average for me. I don't usually gain more than 25-30 pounds. Although, I do eat anything my little heart desires and don't limit myself to anything (unless it is unsafe to eat during pregnancy) because I do balance out my diet pretty well.

Baby's Size

According to my baby app, baby is as big as a squash. He is measuring 15.3 inches and weighs about 3 pounds, this is what my ultrasound tech told me at my 31 week appointment. My OB requested that I get another ultrasound because my belly measures on the smaller side, more like 29 weeks. It is not a surprise to me because all of my babies have measured smaller. She suspects that baby A will probably be around 5-6 pounds and he is currently ranging on at the 16th percentile. 

Symptoms 

Thankfully I have had really smooth pregnancies with all four of my babies, I think the toughest one was with my oldest. I was so sick the first trimester, I could't keep anything down and I lost a ton of weight. With Avie and this last pregnancy,  I never experienced morning sickness, nausea, or vomiting, everything was super smooth and enjoyable - up until I was about 24 weeks pregnant. I started to feel more and more exhausted, my baby wasn't walking yet so she still had to be carried everywhere and I was doing the school run Monday-Friday. As of right now I feel great, I do get extremely tired and by 3pm my hips and legs start to give me the worst time. Lately, I have been experiencing a really bad leg pain, my OB says it is because of the pressure from the baby and plus being an active parent with 3 littles that always have something going on is giving my body a run for my money. I would say 85% of the time my hips hurt, like a lot! I can't sleep anymore and switching sides is probably my work out of the day.

Sleep

I don't get much sleep to be quite honest, and it stinks because I feel like we just passed the sleep regression stage with Avie and now here I am with pregnancy insomnia, googling how to make a no-bake berry chantilly cake at 1 in the morning. I seriously need like 30 pillows on top of my pregnancy pillow, since my legs and hips hurt so much, the higher they are raised when I am laying down the better it feels. On top of going to bed late, I have a hard time falling asleep and wake up like 10 times to go to the restroom and Oh Em Gee, getting up from bed is the WORST! Suddenly, everything hurts even more at that moment so I have to wake up my hubby to help me. I feel so bad because I literally wake him up more than 5 times but then I remember that I only wish I could sleep like him so whatevs, he falls back asleep in seconds anyways - not. even. lying! 

Waddle Expert 

I am officially an expert waddler, and although I have yet to receive an award for that - I can confidently say that I have mastered the waddling and still look cute AF (or so I thick, because my hubby still turns his head when I am walking by... except I don't know if its because I look cute or because he is questioning my walking skills. I take the first guess).

Swelling

I haven't noticed much swelling during the day but as it starts getting closer to 6pm I start noticing my hands and feet swell up a bit. I have to take off my ring in order to feel comfortable and I feel like my feet start to pulse a little. Unfortunately, this is one of the busiest times for me as I am getting the last things done before the day ends and preparing the kids for bedtime routines. Usually, they are sleeping by 7:45-8pm so at that time is when I will do a quick power mode cleaning, plan out outfits for everyone for the next day, prep lunch and then sit down to work on the blog, answer emails, check IG, edit photos, make sure I have a post ready for tomorrow etc. By this time my feet are really swollen and I will rub them a bit with coconut oil and put on warm/hot socks before bed. This helps with the swelling tremendously.

Slap in the face

Last week I went in for a regular check up and had the glucose test done along with checking my iron levels. Well, results came back and turns out I have very mild anemia. My iron levels were a bit low and my OB suggested to prescribe me iron supplements but I declined and instead I went out to Whole Foods and bought myself some organic iron supplements (all with her approval and dosage recommendation) and I also researched more iron-rich foods so that I can incorporate them into my diet. I came to the conclusion that I will be making myself morning iron-rich smoothies to help out my absorption of iron. Although, I was told that it can take several months to a year to restore iron levels but I accept the mission. I want to be as healthy as I can for myself and for my children because severe anemia can be risky. For those of you who don't know, anemia is a condition in which the body lacks sufficient amounts of red blood cells, which are needed to carry oxygen through the body. When iron levels are low, the red blood cells are unable to carry oxygen to the body's tissue and although it is normal to experience mild anemia during pregnancy due to increased blood volume; it can put you and your baby at risk for premature delivery and low birth weight. 

Name game

Sorry, no name picked out yet. We go back and forth with two but haven't made the final choice.

Keeping up with life 

Sometimes I can't believe we are going to be a family of 6 before the year ends. It brings me so much joy and so many emotions run through me. Although I am so incredibly excited to meet this little babe, I want to be completely transparent with you all. It is hard! Keeping up with everything that we already had going on, taking care of my kids and my hubby, while maintaining a social media presence and being a housewife is fucking hard! I tell my husband that my body would not be able to take on another pregnancy, literally. I am so dead by the end of the day, I want to cry for my mommy lol. I give props to every parent out there, even if you only have one kid. Shit gets HARD!! Oh and disclaimer, I don't always have everything done and put together. I am so glad we don't get many visitors because lets just say I would love for you continue being my friend haha. 

xo, Romelia