Candidly Cara: Week 34 Bumpdate

34 weeks down, but who's counting?

I think they say these last few weeks go by soooo slowwwww and boy are they right. Sleep is slowly becoming non-existent, constantly rolling from side to side trying to find a comfortable position and then once I finally do....I have to get up and pee. Every morning when I wake up and sit up in bed I feel like I got hit by a truck and those first few steps out of bed are rough. It's getting harder to eat normal sized meals because I constantly feel like I ate an entire Thanksgiving dinner. I can't even look at a salt shaker without my fingers and feet swelling up so I basically avoid all foods that have any sodium in them and I drink about a gallon of water a day. I also spend any downtime I have with my feet up to avoid swelling and walk/workout 5 days a week to keep the swelling down. Everything that I do has become such an effort, even getting dressed makes me feel like a 400 lb drunken sumo wrestler that lacks balance and coordination.

I have yet to experience any back pain, thankfully, but by the end of a long work day my feet feel like they are on fire. My dreams are becoming more vivid, majority of them are about me going into labor early and the nursery not being ready (crossing my fingers that's just pregnancy paranoia.) Any of my downtime is spent organizing, cleaning, and obsessing over what I need before the baby comes (can you say nesting?).

So let's talk about pregnancy and skin discoloration. Melasma, pregnancy mustache, dark nipples, dark lines, etc. How about the lovely linea nigra....some people get it and some people don't. I'm one of the lucky ones that started developing this lovely line around 24 weeks. At first I was self conscious about it but actually over time I've grown to love my little dark line as it really just means that I have lots of pregnancy hormones pumping through my body which means a healthy baby. How about the darkening of the nipples? I mean who knew nipples could even be that shade of color?! Or that they could grow that much in diameter? It's like everything just gets darker and bigger during pregnancy! Luckily I never had any issues with the pregnancy mustache or melasma on my face..but I know plenty of people that dealt with facial discoloration. The best part about having friends that are all pregnant or have been pregnant is discussing nipple size, baby poops, and hemorrhoids. If you can't discuss these things with friends then are you really even friends?

This last weekend my mother in law threw me a small baby shower for Rocco's side of the family. We decided to have 2 separate showers since our families live far a part from each other. It was such a cute shower at the most adorable little Tea Room in Medina. We received so many great gifts and enjoyed spending time with family, we are definitely feeling very blessed to have such great family and friends in our lives. This coming weekend I have my other baby shower with my family and friends and I am really looking forward to it. Then we can finally get the nursery all put together and wait for the arrival of our sweet little boy! Exciting times ahead :) Here are a few photos from my shower last weekend, I had a few people ask about my dress and it's from Pink Blush Maternity and I am OBSESSED with it. It was the most comfy and soft dress that I think I have ever worn, and would be perfect even without a baby bump!