24 Weeks

I made it to 24 weeks!! It's a very exciting day for me personally - it's viability day! Heaven forbid, if Ava was born today, she would have a 50/50 chance of survival. Of course, I want better than that, but for whatever reason, week 24 in pregnancy has been on my mind since the beginning. I was so worried that this pregnancy would be "flawed" due to the way it started out and my bleeding at 6.5 weeks. But Ava has proven me wrong, and I'm so glad for it!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. It was the first one after the anatomy scan. At 20 weeks, Ava was measuring in the 45th percentile overall for size. She weighed 300 and some odd grams (I forget now how many she said), which puts her at just under a pound. So now that it's 4 weeks later, I'm sure she's over a pound now! The doctor said everything looked good in her scan. She did say that Ava does have some inflammation in one of her kidneys, but my doctor said it's nothing to worry about, but simply something to watch. It may just resolve itself and not be an issue at all. That combined with the fact that I have a bicornuate uterus (which may limit Ava's growing room) led the doctor to want to do regular ultrasounds for growth scans and to be able to check up on her kidney.

That made me feel a lot better - I have been wondering if I would be monitored more closely and was hoping for it! Ava was happy to kick and move around a lot while the doctor was trying to measure her heart rate! She doesn't like those dopplers!

My glucose test is coming up in a few weeks, followed by an ultrasound, and then my 28 week appointment. At 32 weeks I can register for classes and a hospital tour. Things are picking up! I am thinking that these next few weeks might just be the last few "slow" ones.

We are making progress in the nursery - we finally got a changing dresser for Ava! We got a pretty good deal on it, and it has been a fun little project for Chris. It started out a blueish-green color. The previous owner said that it had a couple of layers of paint on it, so we decided to strip it.

And then we took a break and sat in the back of my car. It was a beautiful day. So thankful that winter is (hopefully) making it's exit! In like a lion, out like a lamb!

It's more of a weekend project, so it's hanging out in the garage, mostly stripped down to the wood - only the nooks and crannies are left now.

Ironically, it is almost the same turquoise color I'm going for in her room! It's funny to see how her room is coming together - I was originally going for mostly grey and white with a bold pink with just a little turquoise as a secondary color. But now that I have everything laid out, I'm realizing that I was searching so hard for that turquoise color that is so hard to find, that her room is going to be mostly white and turquoise with pops of grey and bold pink as a secondary color!

I still love it! I enjoy the challenge and satisfaction of finding just the right thing for her room!

I've done really good at taking what I had originally wanted and tweaking it to save some dollas. With the bigger and more expensive items, I am striving to pick items that are gender neutral so they can be used in the future if we have a boy.

I was SO bummed that I missed out on all the great consignment sales in KC, and then my neighbor told me about a local one here! I was excited to get my "new mom" pass at the last minute!

And I scored. Here's what I got:

A Baby Einstein Jumperoo (missing a few toys). Retails $89 at Babies R Us.

A mint green bumbo seat WITH safety straps (the older ones do not have these). Retails $44 at Babies R Us.

A foam changing mat for her dresser. Retails $26 at Babies R Us.

A tummy-time mirror. Similar one retails $19 at Babies R Us.

...and a 4th of July dress for around her first birthday. Retails I don't know. $10-15?

So that would put it at around $188 BEFORE tax.

You know how much I spent on it all??

Fifty-five dollars. NO TAX.

FIFTY FIVE DOLLARS!!! This is exciting stuff, people!!

Babies are SO expensive...

I think we are going to splurge and buy the 4moms mamaRoo swing with our Babies R Us gift cards here soon. We've already set up the pack-n-play (I know, I know...we are still 16 weeks away...) and moved the bookshelves upstairs to make room for all this baby gear.

I am hoping Tricare will cover a breast pump. Fingers crossed!! After that, we are down to her carseat, stroller, baby monitor, and a chair for her room.

So how have I been feeling this week?

Happy. :)

I think the weather played a HUGE part in that! We almost hit 80 degrees on Tuesday! It was glorious. We are still in that pre-spring yoyo of temperatures, but I feel like the daytime highs are going to be much more desirable from here on out.

I have felt tightening a few times in the last couple weeks. It makes me smile because I can feel her little head and the rest of her body so well. And then I drink some water to keep up with hydration. I am SO glad we ordered new couches...my back really aches by the end of the day! I am surrounding myself with 3 pillows on the couch to maximize comfort. I am anxious for the furniture to be here next week!

Last night I was getting a snack from the pantry and I swung the door open into my belly. Sorry, Ava! This is not the first time I've done this. And it makes me laugh every time! Another thing to adjust to!

My sleeping habits have gotten very odd lately. I've always been more of a night owl, but I've been getting tired around 8 at night! Or sometimes I feel like I'm not tired at all until 11. If I have to wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I can usually just fall back asleep. Occasionally I will be wide awake and mess around on my phone until I get sleepy again. But here lately I've been sort of roused awake while Chris is getting ready for PT, and then I realize that I have a full bladder, and after getting up to go, there is no way I can fall back asleep. Other mornings I will sleep right through him getting up and I can't seem to get myself out of bed! So either I get up a little after 5 or a little before 9 or 10. No in-between! This morning was an early one; there was no way I could go back to sleep after going to the bathroom and realizing that I was starving. I've already had my first breakfast...I'm sure I'll have another one soon!

In other random news, I hit 20,000 views on my blog the other day! It's very far from the traffic successful blogs have, but I thought it was kind of exciting! I don't do any sort of marketing or have any sponsors - it's all self-generated. Plus this blog is mainly just for me and sharing my life with friends and family who are far away.

Thanks so much for reading!