Third Baby, Third Trimester

Notes from the Seven-Month Mark:

1) My hair gets so greasy, so fast. Well: at the root it gets greasy and the ends remain dry for days on end. This has always been the way with my pregnant scalp, and it's not making any exceptions for baby number three. The tricks I use (sporadically) to ameliorate the situation are:

• shower in the evening, brush my hair, air-dry it a little, sleep on it; then in the morning, straighten it with my flat iron (and some Fekkai Glossing Creme); lasts through the following evening
• shower without washing hair; rub baby powder into roots prior to showering so the humid bathroom doesn't grease up my scalp even more

(Oh yes, I have many exciting things to talk about here in the third trimester. Many.)

2) The body pillow (Snoogle, for those in the know) has been invaluable for months now. I even use it in tandem with a king-sized pillow these days, which is basically like using two body pillows. 

3) I'd heard of sciatic nerve pain in pregnancy before, but never experienced it until this time around. It's neither constant nor unbearable, but when it twinges I definitely notice and strongly dislike it. 

4) It's been hard to eat in the evening for a long time now. Not that I don't crave dinner and dessert, I do--I just have no room left in this incredibly high (and low, and protruding) belly of mine. 

5) Along the same lines, I get pain in the muscle right under my ribcage maybe every other day. It's clearly muscle soreness, but I don't know if it's caused by all the organs pressing up against my diaphragm or by the straining that goes on when I go about my normal mom-of-two duties and/or exercise for any length of time. I hope it's the former, because I need those ab muscles intact once this baby's out!

6) All of a sudden, my mental state has gone from "Wow, I can't believe I'm already 30 weeks pregnant--time is flying!" to "HOW CAN I HAVE TWO MORE MONTHS OF THIS TOTAL BODY EXHAUSTION?!" 

7) It's time to post a boy-or-girl poll to the right ---------------------------------------->

I don't know how to help you make your prediction. This baby's heart rate has been measured between the 140s and the 160s, just like both his/her brothers. I carried RIDICULOUSLY differently with Will and with Finn-you can witness my belly at seven months with each pregnancy in chronological order below--but clearly that wasn't an indicator of male vs. female.

7ish months pregnant with William

7 months pregnant with Finn

7 months pregnant with Baby #3

8) Ooh, one more thing. As athletic as Will and Finn were in utero, their little brother or sister wins that contest hands-down. Whether boy or girl, this baby will definitely be able to hold his/her own. I suppose I'm just not destined for a sit-and-play kid, although it would be a nice change of (literal) pace.

Happy voting!