It's Always Winter but Never Christmas | The Third Trimester

A few days ago I hit the 28 week mark and officially entered the last leg of my pregnancy. I feel simultaneously relieved and terrified. I mean, let's face it. If you haven't gathered it from my posts by now, I'll let you in on a little secret--I don't do pregnancy well. I mean, I'm healthy, and baby boy is healthy (something I am unbelievably grateful for)... but I'm kind of a miserable wreck throughout this whole gestational ordeal. Particularly so with this second experience. When women tell me they love pregnancy, that it was just so wonderful and they never experienced nausea, heart burn, indigestion (I sound like a Pepto Bismal commercial) or any of the other things that plague me like locusts, I kind of want to punch them. Blame it on the spike in testosterone. And, now that I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy, I get to deal with the ever permeating sense of claustrophobia brought on by compressed lungs and (literally) squished organs--the plight of a short girl with a short torso. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than thrilled by the prospect of a new baby. But, if I could fast forward through all of this pregnancy mayhem, I would. Oh, I would. Just give me the baby already and I would be one happy mama!

Thus, the fact that the end is nearing excites me, obviously. But I still have three months to go... and that means three more months of growth! Big time growth. How will that even be possible? I already feel stretched to the max! I'll be like the giant blueberry Veruca from Willy Wonka... at this rate they're going to have to roll me into the hospital to give birth.

Okay, deeeep breaths... I should probably focus on the positive. At least by the time I'm nearing 40 weeks all the typical fears associated with giving birth will have given way to the overwhelming desire to simply get this thing over with. I won't have the energy to be afraid. ...a blessing in disguise perhaps?

The other night I was letting myself get caught up in negativity and my thoughts were spiraling out of control, so I decided I needed a Pinterest intervention as a last ditch effort to prevent the very real possibility of hyperventilating. I flipped open my laptop and started looking at pictures of newborn baby boys. It was surprisingly calming. I love imagining what he will be like, and perhaps it attests to the fact that I am a highly visual person but looking at actual babies... knowing that I will have one of those actual babies soon... it helped. My Pinterest board has been flooded with pictures of newborns lately. It might become a nightly ritual before long.

On another note, Klair is doing better. If you follow me on Instagram you may have gathered that she had croup last week. A week ago Sunday she was completely fine. No signs of sickness whatsoever. She even went to sleep without a fuss. Then, around midnight, we heard her viciously coughing and rushed into her room half expecting her to be choking by the sound of it. The cough was very hoarse and barky, and her breathing was so labored it sounded like Darth Vader. We called the on-call doctor at the clinic we take her to, and we were informed that croup can come on suddenly without warning in the middle of the night like that. Who knew? I feel like this is information they should give new parents. A heads up would have been nice. We were also told that if she continued to struggle breathing that we should definitely take her into the ER. Luckily, once we were able to calm her down her breathing steadied and she was able to sleep again. Paranoid as can be we kept her in our room with us all night to monitor her breathing. I don't think I slept a wink.

Then, the next morning, she seemed pretty good again. She now had the symptoms of a little cold, but no sign of the terrifying struggle from the night before. I took her into the doctor and he informed me that the second night of croup is often the worst, and gave me a steroid to help open up her lungs. Without this we would have ended up in the ER because come midnight she displayed the same heightened symptoms, but this time it was manageable thanks to the meds. I am so grateful I took her in that day!

Afterwards for a few nights we kept her nearby just to be safe, but her symptoms quickly declined to something  resembling a normal cold. Over a week later she's still sick, but she's doing so much better and I'm hoping she'll be able to kick it completely in the next few days.

Has anyone else experienced a chid with croup? I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I didn't know what it was until we got a crash course in the middle of the night that almost resulted in an ER visit. When I heard of kids getting it before, I imagined it was just a type of cough and didn't think much on the subject. Now, if I hear of a kid coming down with it, I will make that poor mom a meal and offer a lot more emotional support. It. was. a. nightmare!

All in all, I am really ready for this winter to be over. I'm done with the seemingly endless sickness it has come to represent in this household. I'm more than ready for flowers, warm weather, and a new baby to cradle in my arms.

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Also, this post wouldn't be complete without mentioning that my red beanie, which I love, came from Sage by Olivia Wares. If you missed my last post, I'm currently hosting a giveaway on Instagram for a pair of their super soft, amazing leggings. Click on over to easily enter this contest!

Red Beanie : Olivia Wares | Tan Leather Watch : Skagen | Gray Maternity Tee : Target | Black Maternity Leggings : Ross (similar) | Necklace : H&M (similar) | Black Booties : Thrifted (similar