Bump Diaries :: Month 7

Bump Diaries

Welcome to Bump Diaries – a pregnancy series on Houston Moms Blog! Becky is expecting, and here she will share her journey – the good AND the ugly – with all of you.  It is sort of like an homage to the original mommy blog where we provide a little peek into the life of a {pregnant} mom.

Well, hello there third trimester!!!!

Kicked this final trimester off with a bang– me and my girls headed to New York City!

7 month pic

My husband was in El Salvador for a Compassion International mission trip with our church, Bayou City Fellowship, so instead of staying home we packed up our bags and went off to NYC to visit my bro, his wife, and my two little nieces.

So, traveling while pregnant. Not just pregnant, but third trimester pregnant with my third kid while taking care of a 4 year old and 2 year old. It really went so well… but I wasn’t sure how it might go.

So I thought I’d share a few tips for those that have to travel with kiddos while pregnant and by yourself ::

  • Wear and pack clothes that are comfortable. Cute is fun and all, but it’s time to face it – you are huge and comfy clothes will not be regretted.
  • Give yourself plenty of time. We got to the airport a good hour before we needed to. Doing this gave us lots of time to grab a bite to eat, go potty a hundred times, and get some energy out. Speaking of getting energy out…
  • Let your kids be kids. You will save yourself a lot of stress if you just let them run in circles playing chase, do art on the airport floor {don’t judge}, play hide-n-seek under everyone’s chairs, and have a dance party. Most will think your kids are adorable. A few will be annoyed, and lucky for them they have plenty of options to sit elsewhere! Just know that a few will have “helpful advice” on how you could parent better.
  • Stay on top of discipline. Whatever method you choose, stick to it. Your kids will behave better if you stay consistent. We had at least 2 timeouts on that lovely airport floor with each girl.
  • Get the blue pass, also known as the disabled pre-board pass. Yep, apparently being pregnant is considered a temporary disability! So me and my little ladies were the first to board, which means we had first pick on seats since we flew Southwest.
  • Bring treats for your traveling neighbors and flight attendants! Not sure where I saw this idea, but we packed a giant bag of lollipops for everyone to hand out before we took off so they would think my girls were adorable and maybe overlook any typical kid behavior that might come about during our 4 hour flight {after a 3 hour delay}. This totally won their hearts!
  • Pray really hard that God will send you a sweet grandma to sit right next to you. I kid you not this was a big prayer of mine for the trip for one reason only… How in the world would I fit in the bathroom with my 4 year old, 2 year old, and that giant belly of mine? The answer is I couldn’t. Lucky for me, a sweet grandma came to the rescue a few rows over to watch my 2 year old while my 4 year had to go potty about 18 billion times on that flight.
  • Drink very little fluids. Those airplane bathrooms are tight for a normal sized person, but they are impossible for someone who is pregnant. It might be easier to pee in the cup at the doctor’s office each visit than to use the airplane bathroom.
  • Once you get to your destination, eat as much food as you want to! Thankfully, the people of New York City are so amazingly kind {not sure why people think they are stuffy up there}. Every single place we went, owners were throwing extra food my way, and as you can see, I didn’t put up a fight. I also gained 6lbs in a week, and it was SO worth it.

pizza

  • Don’t be afraid to ask others for help or to take breaks. Thankfully, my family was AWESOME and made it so easy on me. Even so, we walked around 6 miles a day, and that’s not exactly easy. Don’t be afraid to say, I need a break or a stop for some ice water.
  • On a final note, even though you are a super woman that is actually sustaining another human being inside of you, remember that you do have some limitations. Even if you’ve seen other people do something, you aren’t other people any more. You are actually two people in one. So even though you’ve seen lots of other people go through something like a subway turnstile with an umbrella stroller – yeah, it doesn’t mean you can do that. You might get stuck for a good 5 minutes. You might almost wet your pants because you can’t stop laughing and it’s your third kid, so bladder control is no longer a function you have. You might have to unbuckle your child and have someone twist the stroller upside down to unwedge you. This just could happen. Not saying it will happen to you, but it might have happened to me.

stuck in turn stile

What are your best travel tips while pregnant?

Month 7 symptoms ::

{I said I would be honest with symptoms, and I’m going to stick to that promise – so if you know me personally and don’t want to really know me personally, maybe stop reading this section in these posts. Wink.}

  •  I haven’t puked at all this month! I puked for 20 weeks with my first pregnancy…then 30 weeks with my last pregnancy, so I thought for sure I would go the entire pregnancy this time. SUCH a relief! So I have a great appetite again, which leads us to…
  • I am gaining some weight now! There are two consolation prizes given to those that have full on morning sickness and not just nausea – you don’t gain as much weight when puking and you get daily reassurance that baby is okay. Other than that, it is pretty miserable.
  • I have no bladder control. Sneezing or laughing too hard is a hazard. Thankfully, there are things that can help with this. Pregnancy is so glamorous, isn’t it?!
  • Vagina bone pain is a real thing and so is lower back pain. I’m sure there is a medical name for vagina bone pain, but I don’t know what it is. As things are stretching and growing, everything can start to hurt. If you have either or both of these pains, you should invest in a maternity belt. They look ridiculous, but if you keep it under your clothes, only you will know. The relief it brings is so, so, so worth the ridiculous image you now have of yourself.
  • Passed the glucose test! I know most really hate it, but I didn’t think “the juice” was bad.
  • Lots of going potty in the middle of the night. I try to cut out fluids a few hours before bed, but I’m also so very thirsty when I’m pregnant – so it’s a tricky problem.
  • Snoring, according to my husband. So ladylike {only not really at all!}.
  • The bump is clearly a bump, and I love it.
  • Kicks are now visible to people on the other side of the room. We have one very active girl on our hands!
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Becky K
Becky grew up in Houston, leaving only for college and an internship, but the humidity called her back! And it's a good thing - because shortly after moving home, she met her husband Chris, St. Louis Cardinals fanatic and {wife proclaimed} genius. She stays home with their two (soon-to-be three) girls: Karis, a girly girl and tenacious toddler, and Moriah, smiliest baby alive & Texas Women’s Hospital 10,000th baby in 2012. When she's not in the middle of a tea party, play dates, or potty training, she writes devotions with Sacred Holidays, teaches at prisons and women's ministry events and is a certified MBTI Life Coach {with Orbiting Normal}. She loves hot Houston summers, coffee creamer, dance parties with her family, nail polish, iced tea, reading {although it’s a lot of picture books these days}, and their church family {Bayou City Fellowship}! She would love to connect with you on her personal blog {www.beckykiser.com} or through Twitter {@beckykiser}, Pinterest {@beckyjkiser}, and Facebook.

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