Pregnancy Update: 26 Weeks with Baby Schmieder

Happy Sunday! Today marks 26 weeks! Officially fewer than 100 days left!

I feel like yesterday I was 20 weeks…! And wow – it’s been more than a month since our last pregnancy update, which I definitely thought I’d do more of… but this works too! I have a feeling this is going to fly by now! Although I’ve heard the last month can be painfully slow…

 

 

WHERE WE’RE AT WITH THINGS

The nursery is 90% done. More on that below!

 

Registry is done and I shared the bulk of what’s on it in this comprehensive baby registry blog post! I’ve received so many messages from readers – pregnant and not – that it was helpful and I’m so glad! Everything I chose was based on research and reviews online, personal recommendations, and what I think looks great! But I will 100% review all the products once we’ve used them for a while with baby boy but that’s a few months away!

I have not one but two baby showers next month thanks to my generous mom and mother-in-law… cannot wait to celebrate Baby Schmied with family and friends.

Babymoon – check! We already went on a romantic getaway babymoon to Arizona for sun and relaxation, the last getaway with just the two of us, and I shared a recap of that on the blog, as well! I am so glad I’ll have all these posts to look back on – essentially a virtual diary of the pregnancy – and I really appreciate all of you following along!

 

FITNESS:

Still trying to get to the gym and walk as much as possible! I just shared an instagram post asking for your favorite at-home workouts for days like today when we’re snowed in. Honestly only going about 2-3 times a week but would like to improve this! For now I’m blaming the weather.

Also I’m starting to find that walking on the treadmill is super boring. Looking to try some new things like prenatal yoga and pilates!

Have used these maternity workout pants and this maternity workout top for every workout. But also just got these super cool yoga pants that I’m a bit obsessed with.

Will eventually do a whole post on fitness routine and recommendations and weight gain this pregnancy! 🙂

 

CRAVINGS:

Recently? Pancakes. I pretty much ate them never and I’ve wanted them pretty consistently this pregnancy, which is why you’ve seen them more than normal in my stories!

 

 

Bump Update: Week 26

Oh he’s a-growin! You can officially see the bump even with a big sweater on. And you can DEFINITELY see it with a fitted top on.

Sometimes though when I wake up first thing in the morning it still seems quite small. But according to the doctor measuring my tum at our 24-week appointment, “I’m textbook.” So I guess that’s good even though I feel a bit on the small side of bumps!

 

Pregnancy Update

Baby boy is ACTIVE. It’s so fun watching him wiggle which I now see happen in more than one spot. For example, I’ll see what I assume are his arms moving on the right side of my tum followed by kick on the left all in one motion… so funny! That happened for the first time on our babymoon and now it’s every night.

Sleep is still ok! I wake up with decent energy. I told the doctor about my back sleeping and she suggested just putting a pillow behind my bum so if I go to roll on my back at least I’ll be on a slight angle and that should be enough to help. So far so good.

Glucose test came back normal! I was so worried for some reason about having gestational diabetes so I was really watching my sugar intake. Now I’m all “I NEED SOUR PATCH KIDS!”

Results did come back that I have low iron, not quite anemic so I’m now on 325mg of an iron supplement a day. I have pretty much no red meat in my diet so that’s probably why. Dan’s increasing my spinach intake with smoothies and salads! Hopefully that’ll all be good in no time.

Still having bouts of extreme sleepiness probably twice a month. That “did someone drug me?” feeling. Coincidentally it has almost always hit on the weekend which is GREAT for work–it did happen one Thursday though. I was in the office and the feeling of exhaustion that came out of no where was just debilitating…

Caffeine intake: a few folks have asked about my coffee drinking! Yes, I drink coffee. My doctor’s office recommended staying under 200mg a day which is what I try to do. Fortunately a shot of espresso has LESS than a cup of coffee, so even at Starbucks or a coffee shop, I’ll ask that they only do one shot. And when we make coffee in our coffee machine at home, we do half regular coffee, half decaf into one pot to bring the caffeine amount down.

The other super personal thing I debated sharing because… TMI and all… but figured what the hell – we’re all women and maybe someone else out there is going through this – is… I was diagnosed with a UTI very early in my pregnancy and have been on antibiotics on and off for them since. (Keep in mind I’ve never had one in my entire life… pregnancy and hormones just make you way more prone to it, I guess?)

The good news was that it’s basically been asymptomatic (no symptoms, no pain) other than peeing a lot (which I was just taking as normal pregnancy symptom). They’d give me a mild pregnancy-approved antibiotic prescription of 7-day treatment that “should definitely clear it up”, but because it was always asymptomatic I could never tell whether it went away or not. Then I’d go back to the doc a month later and apparently I would have “another one.” My theory is it was basically never clearing up.

So right after Christmas they put me on a ten-day dose (oy vey), and then had me taking one pill a night ever since as a prophylactic which if you know me, you know I hate hate hate taking pills and antibiotics and have been so worried about it, mainly for baby boy’s sake of having all those antibiotics going to him… 🙁 Dan and I even started researching more natural remedies like garlic and cranberry juice but honestly too much of anything isn’t good I guess so we stuck with doctor’s orders.

But I’ve spoken with a couple other moms who have been in this boat and apparently it’s all good. A kidney infection would be way worse for him (and me). Next step would’ve been seeing a urologist… ahh scary. This has definitely been the biggest pain point of my pregnancy – but again, more emotionally because I was never actually in pain from it. But at this last appointment, my results FINALLY CAME BACK NEGATIVE. First time since September. No joke. Huzzah!

Have any of you out there dealt with this? During pregnancy (or not)? It’s just more difficult during pregnancy because treatments are much more limited. I can only assume I’m not alone but I know the extent to which I’ve had it isn’t normal based on what my doctors say. Apparently “it’s just my pregnancy thing.” Which all things considered – I’m grateful and hope this is the worst thing I have to deal with and will consider myself lucky.

Anywho – I CANNOT believe my next appointment is my third trimester – 28 weeks! HOW is that possible?! The first fourteen weeks time stood still but now it’s flying. We’ll be going back to the 3D ultra-sound place around week 30 to see our little guy again!

 

Purchases

I just bought him a few books because I already had SO many on our registry! Mainly feminist books per my instagram post about the importance of teaching our little guy how to RESPECT and value women (and everyone). And this awesome travel book!

I’ve officially put the pause on buying any more clothes for him because I already have and there are plenty of those also on our registry!

 

Nursery Update

Crib arrived! In the wrong color… But then the right one did and we put it together and it’s amazing! Full post on the crib and choosing art is here.

SHOP OUR CRIB

 

As you can see the nursery has come A LONG way from where we began back in November.

The room actually looks 10x better and more finished than that last photo even indicates but I can’t give away any more or you’ll basically see it finished!

 

So glad Dan decided to capture the famed “putting the crib together” task. I feel like it’s such a big step in the “Preparing for Baby” calendar… it probably took us 20-30 minutes but we sped it up for everyone’s sake! Hah

 

Our To Do List for the Nursery:

  • choose art for the walls –> made a decision! Read more about this decision in this post
  • a bookshelf for toy and book storage –> ordered this tall pretty wood bookshelf from Wayfair that will go next to the crib
  • window treaments –> I know I want a brass rod but am debating between white and warm white curtains… I know, big difference.
  • a lamp –> ordered this pharmacy floor lamp in antique brass from Wayfair
  • switch out light fixture
  • hang art
  • hang mirror
  • paint and organize closet

 

MAKING OVER THE NURSERY CLOSET

Because #SchmiedskiGreystone was built in the 1800s, there is very minimal closet and storage space. Big old house. Tiny closets.

I originally wasn’t even anticipating using the closet for baby boy which is why we got him a double-wide, 6-drawer dresser. I figured we needed the storage for ALL OF OUR STUFF.

But then I realized… baby has a lot of stuff. Like a lot. Pack n plays, blankets, stroller accessories, yada yada yada… no matter how much I tried to NOT add a lot of superfluous stuff to our registry, even the essentials add up!

And then I realized we rarely even go into this closet so obviously we don’t need anything we have in it. So we reorganized and purged. Again. We had a very productive day yesterday donating, throwing away, and clearing out!

I am proud to say the closet you see above on the left is now empty. And the inspiration for what it shall become is on the right – the lovely nursery closet by Monika Hibbs for her baby girl.

Of course ours will be a bit more… boy. In the 1000% stereotypical sense of the word. Blues and greys and what not.

This morning Dan agreed to run to Home Depot with me to look at paint colors! I thought I pulled a number of lovely subdued blues and greys and a tan to go with the color scheme in our nursery…

Look how soft and dreamy and pretty they look!

All colors are by Behr Paint from Home Depot!

But as you can see below, when we took them home and painted they looked DARK.

KEEP THIS IN MIND whenever you’re choosing paint colors. It happens with greys A LOT. Always go lighter than you think you need because when it’s on a giant wall it looks much darker.

Our plan is to go with the top right color – which a ton of you actually messaged me on insta and said you loved and thought we should go with! We are! But we’re going to ask Home Depot to lighten it about 80%… to be a whisper of what it currently is.

Thinking we are either going to add this wall shelving from IKEA in “birch” or do a clothing rack / shelf combo with hooks. Also love this clothing rack from Etsy similar to the one Monika has. TBD! Stay tuned!

I’m so excited to see it come together!

 

Alright – that’s that for 26 weeks! Will report back by 30 weeks if not sooner! 🙂

 

See all pregnancy posts here!