25 Week Pregnancy Update

Hey there!  Here we are at 25 weeks I kind of feel like I’ve been pregnant forever and I’ll be pregnant forever! lol! Anyways, I thought it was about time for another pregnancy update for you!

What’s going on with baby girl?

Well she goes through stages of lots of activity and lots of quiet time. I love feeling her move. She got introduced to classical music this week, which she seemed to enjoy dancing to. Mostly though she just listens to whatever I listen to so she’s getting a lot of Josh Groban Christmas music. haha!

She is 1.5-2 pounds and if she was born today (thank goodness she’s not) she would have a 90% survival rate. Somehow I find that oddly comforting. Technology is amazing and neonatal care has come so far in even the last 20 years!

She is also supposedly growing more hair which is fun! I’m so interested to know what her eye and hair color will be—statistically speaking she “should” be a bue-eyed blonde (Nate and I both have blue eyes and were blonde as kids), but you never know! It’s fun to imagine what she’ll look like. 

What’s going on with mama?

Well I am having indigestion and heartburn. I’ve actually thrown up in my mouth from that more than I threw up the first trimester. Sorry, that may be TMI—let’s just hope she’s growing lots of hair because of it. I’ve also been very hungry the past week and half or so—I think I/baby girl definitely grow in spurts. I’ll gain 3-4 pounds in a week and then stay there for 3-4 weeks so I guess it all evens out, but it is odd when I’m in these super-hungry phases.

I also had my appointment with my midwife and pregnancy class this week. Everything is normal with me and baby girl which is great. I love being a boring case for my midwife! She did compliment me on my abs this week when she was measuring my belly! I guess they are still in there and my planks are paying off.

We talked about skin to skin time and breastfeeding during the pregnancy class. It was neat to hear all the benefits of skin to skin time and to hear that the hospital I’ll deliver at is VERY supportive of mom and baby getting 1-2 hours of skin to skin time before anything else needs to take place. Pretty cool.

We also talked about breastfeeding which was interesting and fairly informative. I feel like it is one topic that even though you can read, watch videos, and hear how to do it, until you’re actually in the situation you can’t really learn how to do it.

Other thoughts:

I find it interesting that I am 100% comfortable posting my weight online, but I always feel SO vulnerable when I post anything about parenting. It’s just such a personal thing that people have really strong opinions on and there really is no “magic formula” for being a great parent. 

My mom has said that if she would have stopped at two kids she would have wrote parenting books. But every child is extremely unique and things that “work” for one aren’t necessarily going to be effective for another. It is one area where the closer I get our daughter being here the less and less judgmental I feel of parenting styles.

Source

I was reminded last night in Bible study of the verse that Joshua spoke about his family: “Choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15. I’ve heard this verse a lot; I think it sat in my kitchen growing up, but it struck me in a fresh way.

What hit me was that anything I want my daughter to be, any value I hope to instill in her, I need to have first.

If I want her to be patient and kind; if I want he to be a good listener and respectful, I need to be those things.

If I want her to share her toys, I will need to model generosity and unselfishness with my time and possessions.

What I choose “for my house” starts with what I choose for me.

If I want her to choose the Lord, I need to choose the Lord first and foremost everyday.  It’s a tall order, but I think it is what good parenting boils down to—modeling values—not incorporating “systems” or “styles”. And it starts with me.

So does heartburn = hair?

Did you do skin to skin time after birth?

What is one character trait you want your children (actual or future) to have?