The past ten weeks of my pregnancy have been pretty wonderful... until a slight scare a few nights ago (more on that to come!). My brain needs structure right now, so I'm going to do this catch up of the past 10 weeks of pregnancy a little differently.
Diet: I am generally a very healthy eater, but around the holidays I let myself "live" probably a little too much. I couldn't resist my mom's delicious Christmas sweets (especially when she makes them dairy-free for me!), so I indulged. And I noticed I stopped feeling as great because of it (duh). So, I went back to my "no sugar except for a square of dark chocolate (86% cacao) a day and the occasional Starbucks for a treat" diet. I eat lots of lean protein and tons of veggies and fruits. I do this because I know it's best for our baby, especially at the end when any sugar I eat goes straight to him. I've been feeling awesome. Around 28 weeks, I had my gestational diabetes test, but no nasty glucose drink for me. Two Hershey bars have the same amount of sugar, so I downed them with no guilt before being tested for gestational diabetes. And I passed - woo hoo!
Working and working out: I worked until the day I went into labor with Tanner and I plan to do the same with this little man. I have also been doing the elliptical at a low intensity 3-4 times a week for 20 minutes. I love how it makes me feel, although it started getting a little harder around 30 weeks. Baby boy is very low and settled nicely into my pelvis, which is great preparation for birth, but not so comfortable on my pelvis and all my organs :) I bought a support belt that I wear when I'm home now in an effort to keep him a little higher in my belly. I was sad when my midwife told me this weekend that I needed to stop the elliptical for a couple weeks (again, more of that to come). Here is my 30 week belly shot, all ready for New Year's Eve.
Nusery Preparations: We moved Tanner to his big boy room (much more on that to come!), so the nursery is empty and "almost" ready for a baby. I just need to do some cleaning and change the name on the wall and we'll be all set. We are basically keeping the nursery 100% the same (minus the name change on the wall). We loved it when we first decorated it and we still love it, so why change it? I'll post pictures when it's "ready," although they will look pretty familiar if you've been following our blog for long :)
Baby boy: Our little man is nicely positioned SUPER low in my belly, as I mentioned early. He moves, kicks, and punches all the time! Fortunately, he is also head down. I went to visit my friend who does ultrasounds to check on his position and I was relieved to learn he had made his way head down since my boys both loved the transverse position for the first 26-28 weeks. She took this 3D image of our munchkin while she was doing the ultrasound and all I can say is AHHH! I love his sweet little face and I think he looks A LOT like his daddy! 
Birth plan: I think I've already mentioned this, but we are planning another home birth and I'm excited to hopefully try a waterbirth this time. We have our birth kit with all of our supplies all ready to go and are attending a couple refresher Bradley courses over the next couple weekends to remind us of what to expect during labor. Call me weird, but I'm excited to experience childbirth again. It's such a surreal and beautiful experience. Here is my 32 week bump!
33 weeks!
I have been soaking up my moments with this little boy every single day. I can't believe he only has a few weeks left of being an only child. I honestly struggle trying to imagine how I can possibly love another little boy like I love him, but I know God has that all figured out for me :)
I showed Tanner this picture one night (we were cuddling and I was taking selfies) and asked him who was in it. He proceeded to say "Tanner loves Mommy." I could just eat him up.
Here I am at 34 weeks - when baby boy officially became Baby B! That's right, our little man finally has a name. Of course it is a secret until birth, but it does start with a B :) We had been between two names for the longest time and at 34 weeks, we finally committed. Check!
I'm so thankful for chiropractic care during pregnancy. You can see how the lordosis (curvature) in my lower back is already bad and then add a basketball belly to the front of me and one would expect me to be in a lot of pain. Thankfully, though, with regular visits to my chiropractor friend, Dr. April, I rarely have any back pain.
Finally, the story I've alluded to twice in this blog post. Last Thursday night (not quite 35 weeks), I woke up around 2AM to contractions. I never had any sort of painful contractions with Tanner until I was in labor, so it freaked me out a bit, but I tried to just go back to sleep. I would fall asleep for a couple minutes, but they would wake me up when they started. They weren't awful by any means, but I was definitely uncomfortable and these didn't seem like traditional Braxton Hicks contractions. About an hour into the contractions Tyler woke up and I explained what I was feeling. I had looked online for ways to stop preterm labor and thankfully, I found some things I could do. One was to rub lavender essential oil on my belly. Check. Two was to lie in what they called the "polar bear" position and try to relax. Check. Three was drink tons of water. Check. Four was to take wild yam, an herb that can help stop contractions. Thankfully I had some on hand because it also helps with hormonal headaches during pregnancy. Check. Two hours into it, I was still having them and decided I would give myself another hour before I called our midwife and potentially went to the hospital. I knew that a baby born at 35 weeks would need medical attention, so I couldn't have him at home. I decided to draw a warm bath (how I've missed these over the course of my pregnancy!). I added a few drops of lavender and just laid there and prayed. The contractions seemed to slow down after a bit, so I got back into bed and fell asleep. I was SO thankful when I woke up the next morning NOT in labor.
Because of my bout of what we are calling premature labor, my midwife wants me to take it very easy... at least until 36 weeks, when she said it's safe for Baby B to be born at home. I am still working, but I'm not working out and I'm supposed to be resting as much as possible. I'm also taking wild yam 4 times a day to keep my uterus nice and calm. I've learned that I'm not good at resting. I've been on a pretty intense nesting kick lately and I don't want to stop. There are things to be done and I desperately want to do them... but I also don't want to have a premature baby if I can avoid it, so I'm trying. Please pray with us that Baby B hangs out in there a few more weeks!
On a much lighter note, we had maternity pictures taken a couple weeks ago and I am IN LOVE with this one. More to come later!