maternity photos+third trimester happiness!

last updated on 11/11/14 (my due date)

we took these in our home and on the property when i was 37 weeks:

this was jon's idea! to include out little monkey, the first gift we bought our baby and the same one he held in our pregnancy announcement. 

being pregnant has been an amazing experience. i have loved [almost] all of it.

first trimmester:

sick, sick, sick. no throwing up, but constant nausea. 

not feeling like myself at all. spending way more time indoors laying down and watching tv than any other time in my life. 

zero energy. 

but, the excitement of having a baby growing in my belly kept me in check. every time i complained or thought of complaining, i felt guilty because i knew how blessed i was to be experiencing it all. 

second trimester:

nausea and back pain from the first trimester carried on into the second. by this time my doctor had prescribed me medication that helped me function like a normal human being and i started going to physical therapy for my back. he put my ribs back in place (seriously. one on each side) and worked on my posture and strength. wow, it helped SO MUCH.

i got my energy back! the first time i did laundry and cleaned up our room i felt so accomplished! i found myself vacuuming and organizing and it felt so good. i also started running again. i swam as often as possible at my SIL's pool and at the neighbors pool. this helped us beat the summer heat and was really good for my back. stretching and swimming around felt amazing. 

third trimester:

i stopped being able to run and eventually stopped walking like i had been. i'm still active with jon (we went to six flags with his parents and walked around for a few hours and it was fine), but "working out" hasn't been a priority! it was enough to stay working until 38 weeks. my energy has still been okay, some days are better than others and the same goes for how well i'm feeling overall. the last few days i was working were actually quite tough and i feel like i quit at just the right time. i think my stretch marks on my belly started around 33/34 weeks and have since spread. my belly button popped out at like 20 weeks so i should have known that my belly could only stretch so far before leaving marks, haha! they are just around my belly button and moving outward and outward. sometimes throughout the day they are purple/reddish, but most of the time they are pretty light, just shiny. i have gotten sad about them, but try to think of them as a sort of 'battle wound', or proof that i did this. carried a baby through all the ups and downs for 9 whole months. (plus, they could be worse)

my dad has been calling every week to check up on me. he used to start the conversation with "so, how are you feeling?" and lately its been "so, where's this baby?" he is so sweet. my in laws went to a grandparents class at the hospital and came home very excited about this little one! a little too excited as they started stressing me out with questions like, is the car seat installed correctly? have you been letting the baby listen to classical music? what kind of mattress does the baby have? i can't even complain because i know they're just trying to help and that they can't wait to have this little baby hanging around the house. kathy is a pediatric nurse practitioner, so she will be an amazing help when our baby has an ear infection or something in the middle of the night. and john is just good with kids, they'll be great grandparents. 

this whole experience has been truly amazing. it feels like i've been pregnant forever and i think part of that is because i've consciously made sure to enjoy every twist and turn we've encountered. i appreciated feeling nauseous most when i stopped feeling so sick and was amazed at how good i felt! i loved having energy and being able to run and walk with a little baby in tow. as weird as it is, i've liked to see my thighs and legs get bigger as they've had to accommodate for this increasingly large belly. (i'll like it even more if they go back to normal) i can't imagine not being pregnant now and not having a constant companion kicking, turning, moving, hiccuping with me all day and night. i am obsessed with holding my belly and guessing which body part is sticking out of where. i've even really liked having people touch my belly! working with 25 women and having mostly women clientele was so much fun, clients and coworkers just loved to feel my belly and feel the baby kicking. i loved seeing my coworkers faces light up as they felt him or her push up against their hands. the clients were mostly encouraging about not finding out the gender, staying home with the baby once its born and some talked personally and openly about breastfeeding. so many of them complimented me on how i looked, which was so, so welcome on some days. one of beth's clients (a man around 55 or so) gave me a $20 bill to 'help offset something, or for the baby fund' and said that i 'looked great'. (this was my 2nd to last day) i put it in our diaper bag for emergency money!

it is officially our due date today, Veteran's Day 2014! katie got here on friday and we have gone to six flags, eating HOT jalepeno poppers, walked around downtown ish (the pearl brewery), and gone to wurstfest-lots of walking, dancing and eating. now that the due date has arrived i am very ready! 

pure posh baby shower!

ah yes, the season of baby showers. my good friend ashton and i work together, so she threw me a work (plus two friends plus my cousin) shower!

how cute???

 you wouldn't believe that this is the first themed party ashton had ever thrown! everything was well put together and thought out. there were three games and they were all fun!

this is her new house! they moved in just a few short months ago.

laughing about ashton's wrap job and dying over tiny baby socks (how can you not?) 

I DIED. DEAD.

i meannn!!!!

kris tie's little baby she made out of playdoh. she later confessed she took some classes in sculpting, haha.

 i can't tell you how happy i was to have Bev there with me. it's been a sad 9 months with my family so far away, i loved having my cousin here to take part in some of the celebrations! she cracked me (and everyone else) up with her three separately wrapped presents that included three different cards that all had something sweet written in it. that woman knows how to go all out, and she does it well.

aw, i could go on and on about this woman. she did such a good job planning this whole shower with cute decor, awesome food and fun games. not only that, but she took all the money that the girls at the salon pitched in for our gifts, asked us what we still needed needed and bought all of it. i'm talking diapers (disposable and cloth), changing pad+cover, bottles, socks etc. although we don't have everything, we definitely feel like we can bring a baby home now. she is 20 weeks behind me in her pregnancy and i can't wait to spoil the crap out of her and her baby with hand me downs, haha! all-in-all, it was an awesome day filled with fun people. i am so grateful ashton took the time and effort to do this for us and our little mystery gendered baby.

35 weeks 6 days (so pretty much 36 weeks)
(i got my dress to wear to the shower and for the maternity pictures....those are next..!)

still feeling pretty darn good! i'm working a few less hours (typically 30-32, now hanging around 25) although i do feel pretty normal at work, the only issue is bending over to pick things up that i drop. i can do it, but the poor baby gets squished in the process. sleep does not come easily and i stopped being able to eat past 8 o'clock because i'd lay down and my dinner and dessert would come up my throat into my mouth, not fun. i think i'd have 24/7 heartburn if not for the miracle pills my doctor prescribed me, i take them morning and night otherwise i'll wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn. i notice the weight gain most in the middle of the night when i stand up to go to the bathroom and my poor feet scream. they swell a little bit at night every once in awhile, but nothing major or very common. the stretch marks around my belly button are multiplying but still staying pretty light. i am still enjoying being pregnant and people have been pretty nice about not saying insensitive things about my size. i still have a few weeks, so maybe people will start telling me i look exhausted and ready (which i almost am :) ) i'm looking forward to the last few weeks before the baby comes to hang out with jon and prepare for the arrival. we are getting so excited!

hagerman baby shower!

you guys, my in-laws threw me a shower a couple weeks ago and it was awesommmme! 

 my sister-in-law Melissa spent so much time preparing and making all of the decor, coming up with the games, deciding and preparing prizes-etc. they spent a full month planning the shower and it was very obvious. it was originally going to be at the church, but last minute switched it to a lady's house from the ward. i think it turned out better than it would have at the church, it was homey and the decorations really did their job here. 

 here are some of the prizes for the ladies that won the games. peach jam kathy made from our peach tree, honey from their bees and melissa sewed up some rice heat pads herself. 

 

 baby hagerman!!! i can't wait to meet you!! 

kathy spent the week preparing all of the mexican style food. taco salad, enchiladas-the works. my FIL John even made deviled eggs with our farm fresh ones. kathy made the cake as well. if you look closely, you can see that those tiny m&m's are lady bugs. way too cute!!!!

dana, my neighbor friend and fellow horse lover, and kaitlyn-my SIL.

me and my former visiting teaching companion. 

they had a station set up to decorate bibs and onsies. melissa cut out so many stencils for the less artistic and they were all thoughtful. the onsie i decorated is the mountains with the sun-jon and i love the mountains AND the sun! there was jon's favorite dinosaur, a bow and arrow,  both utah and texas with hearts on them, the list goes on.

the woman behind the party, melissa!

grandma doesn't always go to parties, so it was really nice that she came out for this. here is (almost) the whole gang, i missed jon terribly. 

cute girls from the ward, amy, ashley and emily. our ward just barely split and i am pretty sure they are all in the other ward, sad!

allison (her husband off roads with jon and she is due just a few days after me!) and Leigh who is also in the other ward. 

my VT's abby and bethany and one of our little 8 year olds mom, Sherry

the good news is, the party pretty much wrapped up before we got to the gifts so we decided to take them all home. i loved that because it meant jon and i could open them together! it was fun to have him involved in the process of imagining our baby using everything and seeing the genuine generosity in our friends. people are so kind and we are truly grateful. it was a great way to kick off the baby celebrations!!!

33 weeks 5 days

this was after the shower. i was still feeling good at 33 weeks, not as much energy and motivation as i had during the second trimester but no real complaints. i hadn't gotten any stretch marks either, but i think they came soon after this. just around my belly button which i'm not mad about (yet)