36 week bumpdate
smock dress (old) similar here | slip on vans | backpack | Izzy’s henley | Izzy’s shorts | Izzy’s sandals
Here we are, another month, another bumpdate! This will probably be my final bumpdate post since I’m really anticipating Luna to arrive early.
Also, yes. You read that right, I just dropped baby girl’s name!
To be fair, it’s been a few weeks since I revealed her name on Instagram, but I realized as I was writing this that I hadn’t officially said anything here on the blog. Anyway, we’re obsessed with her name and can’t wait to meet her and see if she truly matches the name we’ve picked for her.
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36 WEEK BUMPDATE
HOW FAR ALONG: 36 weeks AKA officially in my ninth month!
DUE DATE: September 25, 2020
CRAVING: The list is random but here we go! I’ve craved Cheetos, bagels + cream cheese, the vanilla sweet cream cold brew from Starbucks, iced lattes all day long (don’t worry, I’m definitely limiting my caffeine to one coffee a day), pamplemousse La Croix, ice cream bars, popsicles, guacamole, and fresh strawberries. Also wafer cookies and donuts. Ha! Kind of all over the place but I guess that’s pregnancy.
PHYSICAL CHANGES: My feet are officially tired! Standing up for longer than five minutes in non-supportive shoes literally tires me out. My feet are also swelling more, especially in the heat. As for my belly, I think it’s dropping. I’ve definitely carried lower this time (and felt the difference). The pelvic floor pressure and discomfort has been way more frequent this time around. I’m also firmly in the waddling and waking up to pee every 2.5 hours stage of pregnancy. I’m actually writing this post because I woke up at 4:30 AM and couldn’t fall back asleep.
jumpsuit | t shirt (old) similar | sandals (old) similar | sunglasses | Izzy’s bike
SLEEP: Speaking of sleep. mine’s been all over the place. Some nights I’m struggling to stay awake at 8:45, other nights I’m forcing myself to bed at midnight. I’m trying to avoid staying up late because of my early morning wake ups. I want to get as much normal sleep as possible in these last few weeks without a newborn! I’m also getting used to napping — I don’t know what it is about me, maybe it was the years of grueling debate schedules or the all nighters during my college years, but I have a weird aversion to napping. Lately though, I’ve been leaning into just listening to my body and resting when I feel like I need more sleep. It’s been nice and I’m hoping I’m able to bring that into the first couple of weeks postpartum.
MENTAL HEALTH: Oof, do you have an hour? 😅 This month has been tough. Between trying to manage the most intense heatwave of the summer, the wildfires, the subsequent crappy air quality that’s keeping the windows closed and cooping us up, my grandfather’s passing in El Salvador and our inability to be there for the funeral thanks to the pandemic, plus the overstimulating news cycle, it’s been a lot. I don’t know if delayed grief is a thing but I feel like that’s what I’m experiencing. The world and life is so chaotic right now that I can’t properly grieve the loss of my only grandfather. In a lot of ways, life feels the same? You know, “the new normal.” It’s kind of awful. At the same time, soaking up all the sweet, silly moments with Izzy and we’ve been finding ways to celebrate Luna’s arrival and prepare for her. It’s what I’ve been talking about a lot over on Instagram — this year has been all about balancing our grief and joy, about feeling the weight of the struggles and also looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.
CELEBRATING: We hadn’t planned on doing any kind of baby shower/sprinkle because of the pandemic, but our parents and friends had other plans! Our families came together to plan a drive by baby shower parade last month and it was overwhelmingly nice to see so much of my extended family and old friends drive by to celebrate Luna (masked up, of course). My high school pal made the most beautiful crescent moon sugar cookies that my sisters then passed out as party favors to each car along with a bingo card. Folks dropped off gifts and diapers for a diaper raffle then drove back home to watch as we opened the presents on Facebook Live . The bingo card was the virtual game. We’d call out what we received and whoever got five in a row first got a prize that was dropped off later. It was great and I was obviously emotional just physically seeing so many familiar faces that day.
On top of that, my Sacramento sisters from other misters put together an intimate celebration for me and Luna last weekend. We hung out in the backyard, catching up about life, talking about our TV guilty pleasures, about mothering, soaking up each other’s company. They even played Taylor Swift’s new album as the background music even though I was probably the only person there who likes her music (that’s love). My friend Vanessa created a beautiful little book that the other gals all wrote sweet encouragements in for me and Luna. And what might be my favorite part is that we had a really beautiful moment of prayer over Luna’s life and our delivery (Luna kicked a whole bunch during our prayers). I left that night feeling so loved and so grateful for the women God’s brought into my life. I prayed for a really long time to have female friends like this so it’s not lost on me how much of a blessing they are.
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I had an appointment to make sure Luna’s head was down ( it was) and after this visit, I’ll be at the doctor every two weeks until she comes! It’s wild to think how quickly this pregnancy has gone. Sometimes I wonder if it would have felt this fast without the pandemic…I guess we’ll never know! The hospital bags are pretty much packed, so keep an eye out for that post and video coming next week! Oh! And we’re also squeezing in an anniversary/babymoon staycation (say that five times fast) this weekend! It’ll be our last hurrah before Luna and I’m so looking forward to lounging in a pool. The weather is supposed to get extra hot again this weekend so it’s perfect timing. Now we just have to hope I don’t go into labor until after our anniversary! 🤞🏼😅
xo, Alex
