Today marks the 36th week of my pregnancy and it feels surreal to know that today, May 1st, will mark the baby’s birth month (unless she’s late and arrives in June). It has been such a pleasure to document each week and share my thoughts and feelings with all of my wonderful readers. I love reading your feedback and reading about your own pregnancies too. I also appreciate all of the product recommendations many of you have provided on my Facebook page!
I’ve had a pretty smooth pregnancy which I’m so thankful for but these last couple of weeks have definitely been a challenge. I finally get what people mean when they talk about how rough third trimester can be. That home stretch seems to bring with it a slew of symptoms—constant pressure, Braxton Hicks contractions, constant bathroom visits, discomfort while sitting/standing/walking, lower back aches, cramping, waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. and not being able to sleep again..the list goes on. Fortunately, it’s such a small amount of the pregnancy that’s on the rougher side and it’s all worth it for the baby.
April was a really busy month for me professionally—tomorrow I’m filming a story with a national media outlet that I’ve been planning with producers for nearly a year, so seeing that finally come to fruition is really exciting. The crew is flying in from New York and I have a super early morning tomorrow so I’m heading to bed early to get some rest. I had maternity photos taken today and all of the standing and positions have really given me some lower back pain so I’m trying to take it easy since I’ll be with the crew for 12 hours tomorrow. After this week, I’m ready to slow down a bit for the rest of my pregnancy.
In other updates, the nursery is almost complete and I’ve also washed some clothes and blankets and my husband assembled some of the baby items we still had in boxes. I realized when I was washing clothes that I literally had maybe five pieces of newborn and 0-3 month baby clothing. I was buying everything in larger sizes as so many people recommended, so I had to order some footed sleepers and onesies in 0-3 month sizes so the baby would actually have clothes to wear when she was born. Every mom has recommended the footed sleepers with zippers to me so hopefully they will work out! BTW—I used the code GAP35 at checkout to get 35% off of all of my Baby Gap purchases. Not sure how long it’s valid for but check it out if you’re looking to buy some cute baby stuff.
I’m also in full-on nesting mode. I decided last Sunday while half-asleep on the couch that suddenly I had to spring into action and rearrange my kitchen cabinets. Totally had the husband get a step ladder so I could go all organization-freak on the cabinets. I’ve just been really into organizing lately, which is not unusual for me—but the unstoppable drive to organize is kind of hilarious. My husband was like “are you serious right now with this cabinet stuff?”
Speaking of cleaning an organizing, we finally hired a maid/housekeeping service. When I first moved to Houston, I have to admit I was completely stunned to find out that a large majority of the people I met had maids or cleaning services. Even single people and married people with no children. It was definitely not the norm where I grew up and I admit I didn’t “get” why people would pay someone else to clean their house when they could clean it. I’m a weirdo who likes to clean, but admittedly, it was getting hard to keep up with it all as I got further along in my pregnancy— just the physical nature of it and also not wanting to use certain cleaners (chemicals).
My husband has been so awesome during pregnancy and has really gone above and beyond with pitching in—but we always knew that once we had a baby, family time would be our largest priority and to be honest, we were spending hours every weekend cleaning/maintaining the house.
Once the baby is here we want to spend all of that extra time with her, especially since we will both be working full time, so this is a great choice for our family. Plus, I totally get it now—coming home to a clean, sparkling home after a long day is an incredible feeling. We are going to have our home cleaned every two weeks. It will be nice to have the extra help while I’m on leave too, since just adjusting to life with a new baby can be challenging enough without having to worry about cleaning your shower (and everything else, too).
One more thing—I got my hair done last weekend. I just added a few more ombre pieces to the underneath part of my hair and around my face. I am really happy with out it turned out! I also noticed that since I’ve been growing my roots out during pregnancy (I used to have them colored darker than my natural color) that I seem to have some light pieces through the top and especially in the front that appeared out of nowhere. I think it has to do with pregnancy hormones because I don’t have the top colored.
How far along? 35 weeks (I do these a week behind as a recap of the previous week, so I’m actually 36 weeks today). Just FOUR more weeks to go! EEEPPPP!
Total weight gain/loss: I will find out for sure at my 36 week appointment on Friday. I am feeling more discomfort and the baby is definitely larger so I know there is weight being put on each week.
Maternity clothes? I still live in my GAP maternity skinnies for work and maxi dresses on weekends. Also love love love long, stretchy tanks (Liz Lange for Target and Lululemon cool racerbacks) and my Tory Burch Reva flats. They’ve been great during pregnancy.
Stretch marks? I’m continuing to use Belli’s Elasticity Belly Oil, Mamma Mio Tummy Rub and Mustela double-action stretch mark cream in rotation. I am literally waiting for the day to see a stretch mark where my belly button piercing holes are, I just have a feeling about it with how tight it is. It’s all worth it though for a precious baby.
Symptoms: Just the ones I mentioned at the beginning of my post, same as last week basically.
Sleep: Not great these days. Waking up randomly in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back asleep is becoming a regular occurrence.
Best moment this week: Getting a good report on my fetal monitoring this week, hanging artwork in the nursery, getting more and more done for the baby.
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? Being comfortable
Movement: Baby girl has been active lately—her kicks and movements feel more intense as she gets larger and larger. I will find out at my ultrasound how big she is (approximately).
Food cravings: Honey Nut Cheerios with milk, Subway, sweets in general
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Oh yes, round and proud!
Baby is a: Girl!
Belly Button in or out? Outie but flat.
Wedding rings on or off? On—getting tight though—noticed that this week
Happy or Moody most of the time: all over the place, to be honest…I can go from happy to crying to stressed to excited….
Looking forward to: Breastfeeding and infant care classes this week and next and my 36 week OB appointment.
Thank you for reading and for all of my pregnant readers, please feel free to check in below as well and let me know how your pregnancy is going 🙂 I also welcome everyone’s advice and comments about pregnancy!
Liz S says
So exciting! I hope you're lucky with stretch marks- my belly literally looked like it was going to pop it was so tight, but I never got them. I think it was my reward after dealing with insane swelling 😉
miemiemie says
You look lovely dear! Pregnancy suits you so well. I wish I'd be as pretty as you when I get pregnant.
1924london says
So excited for you! Can`t wait to see the little peanut!
Lilly says
You're glowing Veronika! I love how prominent your belly is and you're still so thin. So cute 🙂
Kristen says
how exciting! i can't wait to see your post of the nursery once it's all finished. sleep insomnia is the pits! we should just text each other to keep each other company! lol
this summer we'll have to get on the same tv shows to watch in the middle of the night so we can report to each other. could you imagine? ha!
Andrea Clare says
I can't believe how quickly your pregnancy has gone! It feels like just yesterday you announced!!
Ps. I can't get over how gorgeous you look in your instagram picture!
-Andrea
Schnelle says
I remember all of you are describing here all too well! Try to slow down, relax, enjoy the last weeks of your pregnancy as much as you can and most importantly— get lots of sleep! I say that because you will not be getting much of it once she's here and while there isn't such a thing as a sleep bank, you will definitely not regret being well rested beforehand. You are glowing and gorgeous. I'm so excited for the arrival of your sweet little girl:)
MilaTobien says
you look amazing! I just found out about your blog a couple of days ago and have been reading it with pleasure since! you are an inspiration! all the best from salzburg/austria x mila
Jennifer says
OMG so awesome it's your birth month! I can't wait to hear all about your little lady!
Audra says
Oooh, I love your hair – it turned out great! And now you've inspired me to hire a cleaning service. I'm due with our second on May 12, and I'm just getting so tired. I think it would be so worth it!
Katie {Miss Dixie} says
Having a cleaning service is the best investment ever!!! I cannot tell you how much you will appreciate that once baby girl is here. Definitely a good idea to have some newborn things- Weeks was able to wear his for several weeks and we bought those at the last minute too. Thinking about you as you approach baby day!!
Shadowy Lady says
Agreed with Shnelle. Slow down and sleep more or just rest as much as you can. I know it sounds cliche but it's coz it's true 😀
Awesome only 4 more weeks left (give and take)…
Caroline says
You are getting SO, SO close, lady! 🙂 This must be so exciting… I am so happy for you and your husband!
Jenny @ Prim New Englander says
You look absolutely GORGEOUS, V. 🙂
So excited for you and your H's bouncing bundle of joy. FI and I are not planning for children until we're both finished grad school… so I'm living vicariously through your posts!
– Jen/www.chibistk.com
Ellie says
Hahaha yesss! Being comfortable is the only thing I ask right now! I'm suddenly going through sooo many symptoms and have been getting little infections and sickness here and there, so I feel ya on the third trimester being a rough one. And you're looking amazing, and so is your hair! Keep up the good work and stay healthy~~~:D
Nicole says
You will not regret a cleaning service, especially as you both work full-time… it will be nice for the three of you to spend weekends with each other instead of worrying about getting things cleaned up for the week.
Also, I definitely recommend getting a least a few newborn items! My husband and I are both really tall, so I figured baby would be huge and wouldn't fit into newborn stuff, but she was probably 6-8 weeks old before any 0-3 stuff fit. A few onsies, zippered sleepers… oh, and those pants with feet. I actually preferred to do pants + shirt as the 2 pieces make diaper changes easier. And I like the feet attached because you don't have to worry about their skin being exposed at the ankle outside!
Amber says
I know everyone tells you to take it easy that last trimester, the night before my water broke I had exhausted myself working on organizing the nursery. At 10pm my water broke (37w 2d) and I had my son at 9:30 the following morning. I was having contractions and thought they were Braxton Hicks. I don't know if I over did it, sending myself into labor, but I sure wish I didn't go through labor so stinking exhausted! Rest up, you'll need it :).
Erin says
You look so great for being almost there!!
I know what you mean about moving here and everyone having maids, I thought it was insane at first but now that we have our daughter it makes everything so much more relaxed! If you enjoy them if you wouldn't mind passing along their info — we just got rid of ours 🙁
Mandy Brown says
Once baby arrives, go easy on yourself. And by easy I mean, don't beat yourself up for the little things. Adjusting to the new normal is hard! You're exhausted, your boobs now belong to someone else and do not feel great, etcetera etcetera 🙂 I had a few sobbing snotty lip meltdowns because I was tired and breastfeeding was hard or the first outing alone with the baby was terrifying…what if she cries?!? Those first few weeks are hard…don't be afraid to ask for help and you don't always have to have it together 🙂 The first weeks seem like a blur to me right now but I am changed for the better and you'll have that moment where everything clicks and you'll be like, 'I'm a mom and I got this!' 🙂
Sarah @ Life, Love & Dinner says
Just found your sweet blog! I'm 19 weeks and I am definitely considering a cleaning service since I'll be in the third trimester all summer and don't think I'll be able to do as much cleaning. You look great!
Jackie says
you're looking great! we're married with no kids yet but have recently started thinking about having a maid service come to our home. there's something very nice about coming home to a clean house and not having to spend extra time on the weekends cleaning!
Carolyn says
Veronika, you look fabulous! It's been a pleasure watching your pregnancy throughout these months! Your in the home stretch and then you get to enjoy your beautiful baby girl grow up even more!
Hiring a maid is something I hadn't considered either, but it seems like a fabulous idea to have that one less hassle while in the initial balancing of motherhood.
I have a special giveaway on my blog and would be honored if you would take a look, Veronika!
<3 Carolyn
Luba Lovely says
You look so gorgeous! Wow, I was blown away. You are almost there, so exciting. I remember the last month was uncomfortable and yes the nesting mode was quite overwhelming. I remember one day I streamed all of my hubs dress shirts, lol. He was like "you're crazy, go rest!" But it's like a drive you can't stop.
And actually after that day, in two days I gave birth! Have you had any contractions?
Kelsey Bang says
you are the cutest prego ever! you are so tiny and look amazing!
Alex {Bump to Baby} says
Your pregnancy seems to be going so quick! And it really reminds me of my own. I had my little one two and half weeks ago and I'm happy to report that being a Mum is the best feeling in the world! 🙂 xo
herenowforever says
Hey Veronika, thanks for sharing your pregnancy moments with us! I'm due in July and very curious about everyone's experience on this) Your blog is very positive and inspires to create some things for the baby like this nice decorations etc
Take care and please write more!
Liza
LisaC says
You are getting so close!!!!
I love the ombre. That is a seriously stunning photo of you.
Jenn says
Love the ombre hair on you! Looks great. And you will definitely not regret a cleaning service! We got one when I was pregnant with twin boys and could no longer do the cleaning as well…then we kept them when the boys came. Then I got pregnant again…with twin girls! So, needless to say, 2 sets of twins in 4 years….these cleaners aren't going anywhere 🙂 Getting close mama! Hang in there! http://www.twobytwomom.com