Flynn Samuel: Weeks 25-33

Woah! I'm approaching the finish line. This may be my last pregnancy update blog post before Flynn arrives! It always comes up fast. The more kids I have the faster it goes by. All the other kids keep me busy and distracted and the I realize, oh my goodness my due date is next month!! :O I'm trying to finish up this blog post before I start forgetting this time of pregnancy. So let's start where I left off. 25 weeks! I had an appointment with Sallie at 25 weeks. We got everything done quickly since he's definitely too big to hide from the Doppler now. Flynn and I got a perfectly healthy report that I am always so thankful for.

26 weeks!

It always seems to be just a few weeks before I hit the third trimester mark that strangers stop being scared to ask me when I'm due. I'm always glad when it definitely looks like there's a baby in there and people can stop guessing. It doesn't just look like I put on some extra weight in my midsection anymore. I also start being more comfortable for close friends or family to touch my belly. Before this point it just feels like someone rubbing my flabby post 3 children stomach even though I know they mean the sweet rub for the baby. Not my favorite feeling. So if you are wondering when it's ok to touch your friend's baby belly. Wait until they are in their third trimester at least! Now that strangers know just by looking at me I can get some strange glances. Like "I can't believe you have that many kids that close together." looks. I get a TON of "You've got your hands full" comments. Which I don't really appreciate. If you mean well by this statement please choose a less ambiguous comment. Like, "You are doing so well handling everything!" Or "You have such a sweet family!" I LOVE comments like that.

Flynn's First baseball game

For the first time Sam and I splurged on some nice Astros tickets and took sort of a babymoon! We're not the type to travel or stay at a hotel. We're homebodies. So my parents took the kids for a sleepover and we enjoyed watching the Astros win with Verlander on the mound. Then we got to go back to a quiet house with the luxury of sleeping in the next morning. <3 Thank you so much Marmee and Pappaw!! It was so perfect. I'll consider it Flynn's first baseball game! ;)

Big sister and brother loving on baby brother. <3

Right around 25-26 weeks I am pretty sure Flynn made the move to the head down position. (Good job buddy!) Before then I hadn't been able to feel his kicks as strongly as the other kiddos by this point of pregnancy and it was almost starting to worry me a bit. But then one day I started feeling big kicks at the top of my belly consistently. Just a couple days later Jane and Atlas both got to feel him kick for the first time. I love watching Jane's eye's light up every time he kicks her. It's so sweet! This move alleviated any concerned I had about him not being as active as the others. Now that I can feel everything he is just as strong and active as any of my other babies. Yay!

Beach bump!!

We took a family beach trip in September to Galveston. It was the first time at the beach for all my kids. The last time I was pregnant on the beach I was pregnant with Jane in St. Maarten. All of my other babies first trip in the womb was to New Braunfels. But we decided with the current ages of all the grandkids it would be best to have a beach house within walking distance of the beach so we could get out there between naps and they could play in the sand and the shallow waves. A river and huge waterpark is a little harder for a toddler to have fun and be worth the price of admission. It was a great trip! It was just the right pace for my third trimester self. A three day, two night stay is just about all I could handle with the energy level that I had. My mom got to feel him kick for the first time on our trip too! Such a special time.

I just love his name! I can't wait to match his face to it.

He's big enough that I can find his foot now! <3 I can push on it and he'll move around. He's different from Atlas though. If I push on him he moves around just a little and finds another comfy spot and doesn't kick my hand back. Atlas would kick me back so hard! Flynn is the most active when all the kiddos are asleep and I'm finally sitting still for the evening or if I'm sitting down to work. I think he's going to be soothed by movement the most like Atlas was. Jane was soothed the most by touch. Xan was a mix of both really. I guess we'll see! Another thing that was particular to Flynn at this time of pregnancy is that for whatever reason his positioning made sneezes hurt!! I had to brace myself if I felt one coming on. Thankfully a few weeks after the start of the third trimester he must have changed positions a little and sneezing was fine again. He's definitely still head down though!

30 Weeks!

At around 29 weeks I had another check up with Sallie. She confirmed that he had made the move to head down. Yay Flynn! We both remarked at how amazing it is that most babies settle in that way around this time. All of my babies have at around the same time as well. The rest of the appointment was uneventful with Flynn and I receiving another all healthy report! So thankful!

Look at that little face!!!! <3 <3 <3

The 31 week ultrasound crew!

At 31 weeks I decided I wanted to have one last ultrasound since this was my last baby and I'd never done a nice 3D/4D ultrasound that late when you can actually see what their face looks like a little more. Also my due date has been a little more up in the air as far as ultrasounds and my original calculations. My first due date from my LMP was December 5th, but I wasn't sure on that date. My first ultrasound put me at December 16th which wasn't surprising to me. I wasn't regular yet when I got pregnant. Then my second ultrasound put me at December 21st. But it seemed like he had a growth spurt right after that ultrasound. With this third and final ultrasound it gave me the due date of December 17th. So I feel like the first ultrasound was probably right and the 16th of December is pretty accurate. We'll see what he decides to do for his birthday. ;) For the ultrasound Flynn was sooooo stubborn. He kept his hands up by his face almost the whole time and Chenel, the Ultrasound tech, was so amazing and patient. She did everything she could to move him out of his comfy spot so he would show us his face. Right at the end he finally did! He looks so perfect. I don't know what y'all think, but I see a lot of brother resemblance already. :D We got to see him sucking his hand, yawning and swallowing a lot. Babies are so amazing. Oh and he is without a doubt a boy. He wasn't shy about that. ;)

Clean, old fridge!

By 30 weeks nesting comes on strong!! This year my grandfather moved into an apartment and gave us his fridge that he didn't need anymore. It's bigger and has a door water and ice dispenser. So we put our old fridge in the garage until we figured out what we wanted to do with it. Then I realized it was perfect since I could use it to store freezer meals after Flynn! I've never had enough room in my freezer to even consider freezer meals after a baby. I'm excited!! Now I just have to figure out what to make and find some time to do it! ;) Right around this time I got out all of the 0-3 month baby boy clothes that we have. All of the kids "helped" me sort and fold it. Jane was like "Oh!! This is so cute and tiny!" Atlas was like, "Hey! This used to be mine." Xan just enjoyed handing me clothes. It was sweet. I did realize I will need some newborn cold weather items for Flynn since he's actually going to be born in the middle of winter. All the rest of my babies were born when it was warm or right as it was warming up. Nothing a trip to the thrift store can't fix! ;)

Just add Flynn! <3

Look at those adorable kiddos! I still can't believe they are mine sometimes. I'm so blessed. I can't wait to add Flynn to this picture in about a year. He'll fit so perfectly on the end. Then I'll have a full bench. <3 I only have a few things left to accomplish before we're ready to add him to the kiddo crew. A few things on the list are, order my birth kit, put together a bag of things I might want during labor and right after birth, pick up some newborn diapers from the store, Talk to my boss about maternity leave, fix my phone screen, mount a TV in the school room, donate unneeded items, set up baby swing and rock and play. There's more, but you get the idea. I know some of it is completely unrelated to having a baby, but I feel like if I don't get it done before he comes it's going to make those things delayed even longer!

31 1/2 weeks!

Soooo, do y'all remember that I sprained my ankle pretty badly when I was 36 weeks pregnant with Alexandria?? I don't know how I do this... Well this time we went for a walk right after I had Jane take this picture of me. During our walk Atlas hit the side of the stroller with his big wheel and at the same time Cambria pulled me to the side. For those reasons I stepped right on the edge of the sidewalk and rolled my ankle right off of it. It was hurting pretty badly and I sat on the ground for a while wondering if I would need to call my dad to pick us up in his truck and drive us home. All the kids were so worried about me, sweet things. I took a couple minutes to compose myself and tried to stand. It was definitely still hurting, but I was pretty sure I could make it the rest of the way home. Thankfully I didn't sprain it as badly as last time, because last time I had to use crutches for a couple of days. This time I just had to hobble around for a few days. I'm glad I got it out of the way so I wasn't worried about going into labor with a bum ankle. I was pretty irritated that I did it the day before we left on our trip to Austin. It's not like there's ever a good time to sprain your ankle though. Hopefully I'm good with ankle sprains for another couple of years now. ;)

Hanging with my big girl on an early morning during our trip to Austin

I wanted to take one last road trip before I got too pregnant with Flynn and before I have a newborn again. I don't plan on taking any trips for a while after Flynn is born. My cousin Stephanie graciously let us stay with them for a weekend. While we were there we got to visit Scott and Anna and watch an Astros playoff game with them. We picked a good time to go because I think if I was any bigger it would have been hard to juggle entertaining the kids in the van on the trip there and back. It was a great last trip to see some of my favorite people before I'm stuck close to home for a while. (which I really don't mind too much because I love home so much.)

Finishing up Xan's baby book!

You know all the memes about only first borns having a baby book? It definitely doesn't apply to me. I LOVE doing their baby books! It's one of my must have items before they're born for me. I love to have it with me so I can start writing in it when I'm recovering from birth and snuggling with them. I also make sure I'm up to date with the other kids baby books before I have a newborn, so I don't get behind. A couple of months ago I got Xan's all up to date. It just makes me so happy to look through it!! I got this style of book from a co-worker for my baby shower for Jane and I fell in love with it! It's a little pricier than most books. My mother-in-law has spoiled me and given me the same style of book for each baby after and Flynn is no exception. I'm excited to start his baby book when he arrives! <3 The only other thing I had to have before Flynn was a new car seat for Atlas so Xan could move into his and Flynn can have the infant car seat. My mom got the car seat for us! So really, we're good to go! I did complete a little Amazon registry for a few times that would be fun to have, but aren't necessary. If you'd like to take a look, feel free!! Click Here.

Xan had to be right in the middle of the appointment! ;)

I had an appointment with Sallie at around 33 weeks. She said everything was great and she wished all her clients were like me because it would make her job so easy. It was so encouraging to hear. It was my last 4 week appointment. Appointments are every 2 weeks now!! Reaching this point always signals to me that I'm in the home stretch and he will be here before I know it! I start taking bump pictures every two weeks as well since there is the most change in bump size at this time. Flynn will put on all his plump during these last few weeks. I'm kinda hoping he's chunky like Xan. I love those baby rolls! But hopefully he's not too big to make delivery difficult or anything.

Sweet cuddles with my littlest before she is dethroned.

I've been feeling Braxton Hicks contractions since around 28 weeks or so. But they weren't strong until about 32 weeks. Now they are every day and some of them kind of hurt. They start around 7pm and come a few times an hour until about 10pm. Every time I start to think, "hmmmm, they've been coming for a while..." they go away right then. It's making me wonder if he'll be early like Atlas. Maybe boys come early for me?? Anyway, I talked to Sallie about it and she said to try to relax if I feel more than 6 in an hour. She also mentioned that we just need to make it to 37 weeks and then we are good to go for a home birth whenever Flynn feels like it. Of course he could be faking me out and be late like his sister. We'll just have to see!! I can't wait to get to see him face to face and find out what his birthday will be. <3 We're almost there!!

Cuddles with my big boy! It's so rare these days!

I am not feeling too impatient yet. I feel really good. Third trimesters are really good to me. It's not until around 38 weeks that I start feeling done. I'm so grateful each time to have made it to this point. Really, I know life is about to change drastically, so I'm trying to soak up as much sweet time with Jane, Atlas and Xan as I can before there is a newborn to share my attention with them. I'll take all the cuddles I can get. <3

Romans 8:25-27

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.