38 weeks / 2 weeks left

Well we've reached the 38th week. I'm so happy to be here. I kind of had a feeling we'd make it this far. In fact, I have a feeling we'll make it to 40 (if we find out she's head down). She just seems like a chill little baby girl, much like her parents!

Things are getting more uncomfortable but not unbearable. Sleeping is not a problem but waking and feeling stiff three times a night to pee is a bit of an annoyance. Putting on shoes is no small feat. Getting into the car requires a big ol' leg swing most of the time. Otherwise, I feel great. Still have a good energy level. Can't say I've done much nesting in general unless you count putting away all the baby shower gifts a couple weeks ago, but that was kind of necessary, right? I've definitely dropped a few inches and I spend time on my exercise ball every day just to stay loose. I haven't felt any contractions that I'm aware of, so that's a positive sign. When I'm sitting I feel like I have a basketball in my lap which is interesting.

Baby girl moves around in there a lot of the time during the day. I don't notice her moving much at night which is nice. Sometimes she just goes buck wild with kicks and wiggles, it's very fun to experience. We can't believe that in 2 weeks or less we'll be holding her and will actually be able to see which limbs are moving and kicking, as opposed to guessing, which we do a lot of. I sometimes wish my tummy was transparent so we could see her inside there. I then think about how gross that could possibly look. She probably weighs almost 7 pounds now at least and i'm sure her length is around 19-20 inches. She's basically ready for life outside the womb but I bet it's cozy in there. If she's anything like me she won't like the cold weather so much!

Last night, I painted a lot of the white flowers on the tree on the wall in the nursery. It's really coming along now. My stencils didn't quite work out, so I ended up tracing a bunch and then painting, but I also did some free-hand so I don't think I will be wasting time tracing stencils anymore. There's a little more to do but we still have time. Everything else is basically set, ready and waiting.

Wednesday we have an ultrasound early in the morning to determine her current position. I plan to request one for next week too if needed. No appointment should be without an ultrasound in the last couple weeks if a baby is even thought to be breech. It's a waste of time guessing with your hands when you can't actually tell for sure (note to the future doctors/midwives). I also plan to have them tell me everything they would've been telling me the last couple weeks if baby girl had been head down during that time. I'd like to be in the know.

Regardless, we're fine with whatever way this little one decides to make her way into the air breathing world. She's going to be so precious, we just can't wait to meet her! (Except she can wait another 2 weeks, i'm fine with that).

{sorry for the lack of pictures in the past couple of posts.. i just don't have the desire to take them and post them. my bad}

3 weeks or less!

Baby girl is said to weigh on average about 6 pounds this week. She also probably measures about 19" long. She has a full head of hair as mentioned by the ultrasound tech last week and every day she practices her breathing with hiccups and her movements with punching and kicking! She currently enjoys sleeping through most of the night (assuming, because i don't feel any kicking/movement) and wiggling around during car rides.

I am feeling great! Still have plenty of energy though some days are better than others. I contribute my energy level to the amount of sleep I get. Luckily my sleep has not been too interrupted other than for bathroom trips. Of course putting on pants and socks and shoes is as difficult as ever, but not impossible. I also feel quite lucky that she tolerates many types of foods (for now). On New Years Eve we ate lots of spicy stuff, which was super tasty, and baby girl did not miss a beat. My throat burn has subsided for the most part but still creeps up every once in a while. I have been drinking a serious amount of fluids so that may be keeping it at bay?

This week I go back to work after having a holiday break last week. It will be nice to be back considering I don't have much time left before my maternity leave and I have plenty to do. That should help these next couple of weeks fly by! It will be weird to leave work for such a long period of time. I am looking forward too it because I will have a baby but I am hoping that I won't be too out of the loop when I return. A lot can happen in 2 months time!

We feel completely prepared now that the nursery is organized, the clothes are washed, the pack n play is ready and the car seat and stroller are ready. We need to install the car seat base and I need to pack my hospital bag but I plan to get that accomplished today along with stenciling some flowers onto the mural and other misc chores. We're also going to order our cloth diapers this week. We have a box of newborns we'll probably use for a little bit until the diapers come in (if they aren't here in time).

We have unofficially chosen a day care that baby girl will be going to once or twice a week (schedule willing) and it's very close to my work so I can go visit during my lunch hour. This one is WAY better than the one we saw previously. We like the set up of the room and the feel of the place. The proximity is also a convenience.

It feels good to be officially full turn at 37 weeks. We're hoping to make it the whole way to our due date on the 23rd! 2012 is going to be a great year!

10 Things :: Link Up :: Volume 3

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! I am off work until January 3rd! woo hoo!

1 :: Christmas

I cannot believe it's christmas weekend. Time in December has almost literally flown by. I had a lot of christmas stuff to accomplish at the beginning of the week and got most of it done last night. Final gifts and finishing the wrapping of those gifts make the tree complete. We can't wait to spend the weekend with our families and celebrate this awesome time of year. Next year will be even more exciting with a little one and I'm sure we'll be thinking about that a lot this year as we go through our days!

2 :: Baby

After posting Do I Have a Breech Baby? the other day I'm feeling less stressed about the situation. I honestly feel that the midwife was wrong and that I am right and I'm going to go ahead and trust my instinct on this. I slept like a baby last night and I attribute that to the fact that I wasn't worrying. Less than 5 weeks to go!

3 :: The Holidays at Work

This tends to bring out the goodies, aka sugar. It's really good that I didn't do any baking this year. On Tuesday we had cake twice in one day! I didn't have the 2nd piece. It will be very nice to have the week following Christmas off of work to focus on baby stuff for a while and try to prep as much as possible so I can relax the last three weeks before her due date.

4 :: Ping Pong

We are just LOVING the ping pong table that Alex's parents got to keep at our house for holidays and get togethers. Sunday night, I beat Alex in best of 7 .. which is super surprising because he is really good at ping pong. I guess this just means that I'm getting better! We need to get all the ping pong playing in that we can before baby girl comes, I don't think we'll have much time for that after she arrives. We're looking forward to this weekend as well when Alex's family comes in so we can have another tournament or two or three or four!!!!

5 :: Maternity Picture

I'll just throw one of these in here. I've already prepped a post to go up on Monday with more pictures from our entire shoot. I cannot share them before Christmas because of a gift sensitive matter. We are still super excited with how they turned out though.

6 :: Pinterest

I've recently dabbled less in the world of Pinterest. The craziness of the holidays have just sent me in a different direction. However I have some new pins I would like to share!

- Pin1 - Pin2 - Pin3 - Pin4 -

Doesn't Pin 1 look like a blast for a little boy? Pin 2 is candy.. yep.. candy jewels! Pin 3 just looks really easy and cute! And Pin 4 is an awesome idea for any party to get pictures of all of your guests!

7 :: Nursery Prints

I am loving this print I found through another pin from pinterest. I don't know yet if it will fit in the nursery but if I could get it in a magenta/purple mix, it just might. I might have to do a variation of my own and print it myself. We'll see how it goes. But isn't it sweet?

8 :: Christmas with children

Just a random idea that I'm sure there's a pin for but I have yet to see it. 12 days of christmas for kids. A countdown with gifts starting 12 days before christmas. Could be easy if you find really small trinkets or what not to give them multiples of.

9 :: Slow Burn

This throat burn is going to be the death of me. And that's all I'm going to say.

10 :: Happy Holidays

I'll say it again, Happy Holidays! This is the best time of year. Five days after Christmas I will celebrate turning 27 followed by a sure to be awesome New Years Eve! 2012 is going to be the best yet!

Photo Dump

This begins with Thanksgiving (GASP!) i know.. sorry it's so late. :)

Next up, Christmas Tree hunting!!

 

 

Random Stuff like making Homemade Marshmallows, our decorated Christmas Tree

and our contribution to the McHenry Christmas Party!

Lastly, a bare belly! I had Alex take this for documentation of 35 weeks!

5 weeks left.. whhat?

Please excuse the poor lighting and lack of tree skirt!

Can anyone even believe that there are 5 weeks or less until I hold a baby girl in my arms that Alex and I made? We kinda can't!

She's supposed to be the weight of a honeydew melon this week. So that's about 5 lbs or so. And still working around 18 or 19 inches long. She's very active and though she makes it a little uncomfortable to change positions while sleeping, she's totally worth it.

What else is happening? Well, I still haven't really organized the stuff we got from the baby shower. I need to figure out where to put things.. like how to store all the hooded towels and tiny wash clothes (my bathroom or hers?) how to organize the clothing in the closet/dresser, where to put the gear we won't use for a couple of months, etc. It's all quietly sitting in the living room sorted into different bags while I sit in another room writing thank you notes (over halfway done!).

Sunday, my first attempt at using homemade stencils on the wall didn't go quite as planned. Spray adhesive is quite sticky if you didn't know. Therefore, I am letting them dry for a while and I will attempt it again later this week. I also wish they sold tiny bottles of spray paint (do they?) and I also might succumb to a white paint marker. This doesn't solve the problem for the pink flowers but i'll cross that bridge when I come to it! I still think it's going to turn out really nice. Also Sunday, Alex and I hung up the shelf and the butterfly frame which is pretty exciting. I need to print a couple of images for the other smaller frames I have but I already know what I'm going to print, which makes it easier. Not too much left to do in the Nursery other than organize and set it all up the way we want.

Last night we 'watched' that Ricki Lake documentary, The Business of being Born. I say 'watched' because we were doing other things while it was on the TV (like writing thank you notes for me and the hunting app for Alex). I went into it knowing that it was a documentary that would try to express the negative connotations associated with giving birth in a hospital as opposed to a home birth. Intervention (such as medication) vs No Intervention. I took it all with a grain of salt. I did learn some interesting facts and it will probably have a small influence on the way I want my birth plan to go (as much as I can control anyway). For instance, I definitely want to steer clear of drugs as much as possible. I am allowing the option of getting an epidural at some point if it becomes unbearable but I hope I don't have to go there. From the way the documentary showed, the nurses are all about speeding up your labor through medical intervention, etc.. If all goes as kind of planned, I won't even be heading to the hospital until the pain is unbearable (unless something weird happens like my water breaks and it's been 24 hours or something and I'm still not progressing) which will leave little room for them to even need to progress the labor for me using drugs. A main thing I want to be able to do is be up and moving around. I don't want to be lying in a hospital bed in pain. I want to be moving and I don't want to deliver a baby lying on my back without the help of gravity. This is all probably a little bit TMI but who's blog is this?

Anyway, she's still growing and I'm still feeling good (other than the stress of whether or not she's breech). I can definitely stand being pregnant another 5 weeks so keep on cooking baby girl!

6 weeks to go!

Yesterday was officially 34 weeks!

I'm feeling good and my throat burn has subsided a bit since Friday, which is a relief. I think baby girl has changed positions though and the doctor should be able to tell me in a little bit at my appointment. I will update this afterward.

UPDATE: I was right. Baby girl is currently breech. The midwife gave me some positions to get her to move around and in two weeks when I go back they'll do an ultrasound to see where she is. This of course negates the need to ask why, again (mentioned in the paragraph below). I'm not currently going to worry about her being breech and i'll save that for two weeks from now if she still is. All I can do is encourage her to turn and remember that there is plenty of time for this to happen :) I really liked the midwife I saw today, Claire. She was very nice and informative and personable. Send good baby turning vibes my way over the next two weeks! We want this little one to be head down!

From what the websites say, she's about 4 3/4 pounds and about 18 inches long. I didn't ask last time why they don't do a final ultrasound but I think I might attempt that again today. Just to know about the umbilical cord and where it's located. That's really the only thing that I'm worried about (unless of course she becomes breech in the next 6 weeks).

Looks like I have a watermelon in there!

The bump is getting bigger but doesn't feel overly huge yet. Sleeping is a bit of a pain and I'm getting bored sleeping on my sides. I've experienced some of the leg cramps (mostly in my calf muscles.... even though i'm positive there aren't any actual muscles there) that have woken me up in the middle of the night or early morning and forced me to stand up to correct/relax them. Other issues are bending over to put on socks and shoes (even while sitting it's difficult) and climbing into my car is tricky at times.

This past Sunday we had our baby shower thrown by my mother. She is amazing. She made all of the food (which was a lot) and has done so much for us throughout this process. I hope I can be half the mother she is! My sisters helped as well which was nice too. They're the best!

Alex did not accompany me but he felt the blessings when I returned home with a car packed with baby goods. I had such a nice time seeing everyone. I wish I would've had more time to go around and chat with people though. Everything moved so quickly. I have decided that I really enjoy organizing and throwing such parties but I don't really enjoy being the focal point of them. It was a lot to have everyone (or almost everyone) looking at me while opening a million gifts. I do thank everyone for coming though, it was very special to have everyone there and I just know that baby brubaker will be loved by so many people!

Here are some pictures of shower related stuff. Sorry for the poor iphone quality. I haven't gotten the other pictures from my dad's camera or my aunt's (but I know they took some good pics!) so I'll have to update this when I have those as well. For now, this is just stuff that I helped to make for the shower because I couldn't help myself. :)

A couple of cookie in a jar prizes!

Hot Chocolate on a Stick from Pinterest and this website

Alex was so nice to help me wrap these up!

A baby bomb went off in my living room :) Please excuse the ill placed couch.

Anyway, that's all for now. It's doctor appointment time!

7 weeks remain!

Welcome to week 33!

This week, I do have a pregnancy complaint. It's called 'throat burn' .. which is basically heartburn but in my throat area. It's awesome. That's sarcasm.

Anyway, I'm moving slowly today after this past weekend of busy-ness. Well, let's say the full week of busy-ness. (I have a post coming about the week of cleaning, so exciting! again, sarcasm!) I'm hoping to feel back to preggo-normal soon however i'm wondering if this is pressure that is here to stay? TMI i totally feel like i constantly have to pee, even though i know that i don't. She's still tapping away at my bladder, or punching.. really.

No doctor's appointment this week but I'm pretty sure she's still head down. She's supposed to be about 4 lbs now and over 17 inches long. She'll be putting on weight for the next 7 weeks at about a half pound or so a week. Grow baby grow!

Our friends Mike and Jen were nice enough to take some photos of us yesterday. Mike is pretty genius behind the lens and Jen is so so good at direction. Ugh! They turned out sooo great! Here's one for your current viewing pleasure. I will post more soon!

2 months to go!

2 months sounds long doesn't it? Today I am 32 weeks out of 40 weeks. That's 8 weeks left. If each month were 4 weeks, that would be 2 months. Ish.

This week, baby girl feels like a jicama if you were to hold one. What is a jicama you ask? Look it up because I don't know how to describe it other than saying it looks like a potato but more round. Here's a picture. And in case you were wondering how to say jicama, it sounds like hick-a-ma.

She is about 16 inches long. That's longer than a ruler, people!

How she squeezes into my tummy I will never fully understand. Babies are flexible I guess.

Anyway, she's doing great. She gets hungry a lot so I have to feed her a lot and by her, I mean me. I think she was in a food coma a couple times this past weekend.. all hopped up on Tryptophan. But she's kicking around in there like a champ. She gets the hiccups a decent amount too and sometimes it's pretty fast.. so fast that I think "these can't be hiccups" (sidebar, when you type something you're thinking is it necessary to use ""?) but they probably are hiccups.

We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow where I plan to ask the following question: Why don't they do a final ultrasound when you're at your 'last' appointment before labor (if they think it could be your last appointment) to check the position of the baby? Couldn't this save lives? Or at least decrease the risk of emergency c-sections because they'll know things they can't tell without an ultrasound? Does it really cost that much to do an extra ultrasound? Anyway, i'm pretty curious about this obviously so I'm on the case and I'll report back.

The other questions I plan to ask are a tad too personal to include in this here blog. My apologies for even mentioning it! If you really want to know you can ask me and I will tell you.

I'm just happy to be asking questions since usually when I go I don't have anything prepared to ask.

A couple things we need to nail down though is our pediatrician and our childcare provider for the part time I will be at work (hopefully, fingers crossed). I really appreciate everyone who wrote on the FB post that I put up asking who to go to and I will be looking into all of them.

Tonight is our last childbirth class where we'll be learning about infant care. Maybe they'll even teach those of us who don't know how to change a diaper. Should be fun! It will be nice to have Monday night's back though. This week is super duper busy with the family coming in on Friday. I have tons to clean. TONS! Want me to document it with pictures? Okay, if you insist.

Happy 32 weeks to me and baby bru!

9 weeks remain!

T-9 weeks left! Can you believe it? It seems like a lot but at the same time, a little!

My mom was kind enough to buy me my first maternity shirt, she did a good job, didn't she?

This week, baby girl is about 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 pounds. She's currently kicking or punching me in the ribs (this is a first) which feels interesting. I wish I knew whether it was her feet or her hands since at the last appointment she was breech. Let's hope she's made the turn! Other than that she's just supposed to be putting on weight. Grow baby grow!

Things with me are going well, nothing crazy to complain about. As we move closer and closer to her due date I keep waiting to start feeling tired or super uncomfortable and trust me, sometimes I feel uncomfortable but it's not a constant thing. Putting on shoes is probably the hardest thing I have to deal with.

I'm glad that her nursery is moving along too and I know it'll be filled after the baby shower in a few weeks. My sister just gave me the baby swing from my niece on Saturday so we have that to add to the collection of things. I can't wait to have everything put together and in it's place.


We don't have birthing class this week due to the holiday and I don't have another appointment until next week so not too much else to report!


We just can't wait for her to get here!!

10 weeks remaining!

Thanks for the snap, Mike!

Yesterday marked Week 30! The big 3-0! Baby girl has made a position change and is now dancing on my bladder. So much so that I feel like I have to pee but then find out I actually don't. So that's fun! I hope the position change means she's more head down, as of last week at the ultrasound she was transverse (sideways) and I'd really prefer for her to get to head down and then stay there for the next 10 weeks.

This week she's about 15 inches and 3 pounds. Pretty exciting! Anyway, as I just mentioned, we had an ultrasound last week. It was our second at womb with a view since we didn't get the best look at her the first time. Well.. despite my best efforts to try to juice her up ahead of time, she enjoys sleeping on the pillow that is my placenta. Her face was in it half the time. Here are a couple of snaps though so you can see her again.

Mouth open.. she likes to sleep like that. During the Ultrasound we saw her drinking the OJ flavored fluid!

My little piglet! Her nose is pressed up against the placenta here.  She isn't a Penelope.

There's her little arm. Her face looks really shadowy though.

This might be close to what I posted last time. It was from the first session.

Anyway. things are still going well. Other than the bladder dancing. I've noticed that I don't waddle around on the weekends, mainly just at work. Not sure why? I made a nice list of things I probably want to take to the hospital and also went over my final project list for the nursery. I got a set of two really cute crib sheets from pottery barn on Saturday, so I won't have to sew any (or if I do, it will only be one). I couldn't pass up $8/sheet plus a 10% off discount! Alex is going away this weekend with friends which should give me lots of time to complete nursery projects!

So for my registry, I originally just went on Target.com to do it. Then after talking to someone about it (I forget who, sorry!) I went through to see how much of the stuff I chose was only available online. Answer? Most of it. So I printed it out and then deleted everything from it and went to the closest Target Sunday night and got a scanner and scanned away for an hour and forty five minutes. It was actually nice to see everything in front of my face. They didn't have everything, so when I got home I went on and added the things that I had on before that I couldn't find. Just in case. But at the store, I also added things I didn't think about or see online. So all in all it was worth it. And for those wondering, I'm not registered at Babies R Us because I like Target better. I like the clothes they have better and their prices are generally better. Nothing against BRU, I just chose Target.

At our class last night we went on a tour of Women's and Babies. I had higher expectations for some reason because the rooms felt cold. Obviously they aren't going to be super luxurious. They looked nice overall though and obviously Women's and Babies is a nice facility. It does however make me want to stay at home as long as possible while in labor before going in. Positive? 

Tomorrow we have an appointment at the doctor (or should I say, midwives since I have yet to see a doctor). It'll be nice to get confirmation of exactly what position she is in! I need to start thinking of some questions to ask.

It really seems like 10 is such a small number (compared to 40) but when I think about the time in terms of months, it seems longer. January 23rd still feels pretty far away, even though Thanksgiving is next week! Next week we'll be in the single digits! So excited to meet her!

11 weeks to go!

Tomorrow marks the start of Week 29.

Baby girl is over 2 lbs and about 15 inches long. She's moving and shaking in there almost constantly which is quite exciting. She doesn't wake me up at night so I'm sure she's just sleeping along with me (hopefully).

Last week we went to Womb with a View to get a glimpse of her little face. And here's a picture from the DVD we brought home. Her face was shoved into my placenta most of the time, with her hands and feet in her face. So we're actually going back on Thursday for another visit (free, sweeet) to get some good pictures.

It was a really awesome experience that we shared with our parents, some of whom have never seen an ultrasound. We sat in a big room, I was in the back corner and the parents sat in chairs watching a big screen TV. Alex took some pictures of the occasion but I look gross in them so I won't be posting it on here for the whole world (potentially) to see.

We did come home with a 24 minute DVD. It's decent but I think I might ask for a redo on that as well.. Because mostly what you're watching is the tech switching from 3D to 4D back and forth which doesn't make for a great viewing experience. We'll see what they say.

In the picture to the left, you should be able to make out her eyes and nose. I think her mouth is open at this point, probably taking a practice breath or trying to drink some of the juice flavored amniotic fluid (since they made me drink a juice there). Oh.. I didn't mention she was sleeping the whole time, did i? She was. She would not wake up regardless of the juice and some moving and belly shaking from me and the tech. Deep little sleeper!

Things are still going well comfort wise. I've had some round ligament pain (stretching feeling in the lower tum tum) but something I just realized this week is that my back pain has gone away for the most part. Overactive days make it hurt a little bit but nothing like before so that's a success. I've also been getting more throat burn which I'm pretty sure is normal. Other than that.. things are still going easily.

I'm still living it up in normal clothing (other than jeans) and hope it continues. Still no news on the coat front but Alex is excited that he gets another coat.

I wish I could say I worked on Nursery Projects this past weekend but alas.. I did not. I did however buy some awesome stuff to make some christmas decor (pinterest style) and will share those as well. I need to get my booty in gear though with the other roman shade (I finally have more fabritac now) and the other projects I'm working on. When the weather is cooler and it gets darker earlier it just makes me want to relax under my super soft blanket on the couch. I'll work on it though!

11 weeks to go! Can't believe Thanksgiving and Christmas will be mixed in there somewhere!

12 weeks left! Hello 3rd Trimester!

Preview of Halloween

 Well well well.. we're finally in the 3rd trimester. This day also marks seven months of being pregnant. Only 2 more to go!!

Exciting news! Gretchen gave me some clothes!! This should extend the time that I can wear normal clothing (her shirts are longer and some flowy-er than ones I have) not to mention she gave me some super comfy bras that I am totally taking advantage of. Thanks Gretch! That's right, my boobs are now officially huge (before it was unofficial). But i'm super excited at the fact that I don't need to buy clothes. I do however need some work appropriate black shoes that are comfortable.

Not so exciting news! I can't zip my winter coat. It's kind of sad actually. So my thought is, we'll buy Alex another coat and I will rock his for the winter. I can't bring myself to buy a maternity coat.. at least not at this point. I'm not quite that desperate yet (let's hope I don't get there either).

In baby news since this is supposed to be about the baby. She's supposedly around 2 lbs 2 oz and about 15 inches long. I obviously don't have gestational diabetes because they didn't call me with the results so she's doing quite well at this point. She still kicks around but her positioning is such that I can't feel it quite as much as I used to be able to. Laurel felt her kick yesterday a little bit.

I think I waddle a little bit. I've been a little crampy in my lower abdomen which I'm assuming is some stretching. So the tiny pain that is walking makes me waddle.. a little bit. I try to counter this as much as possible when I realize it's happening!

Whhhat else? Today is Day 8 of being sick with a sinus infection. Last night I was pretty desperate so I purchased myself a NetiPot and that seemed to work but when I woke up this morning I was back to sick and congested. So I rinsed again this morning, success again but the congestion came back quickly so I'm not sure what's really going on. I called my doctor so hopefully he has some insight. I really want to just take some NyQuil and pass out but that's not good for the baybay. I will say though, I think she's scared when I cough. How could she not be?

That's probably enough for a 28 week update, right?

13 weeks to go!

Sorry for the awful picture. It was taken Sunday night, so that's my excuse. (i'd actually rather not post it but what's a bump update without a picture?)

The bump looks the same to me still, so I won't mention anything regarding it. I however, feel like I look like a whale (no comments, please, you won't change my opinion).

I do have one complaint though.. it's called maternity clothes, especially jeans. I know I wrote a couple weeks ago that I love my jeans and I still do. BUT they need to be washed every couple days because otherwise they loosen up too much and then fall down all the time. Kind of like the skinny jeans I got from Motherhood that fall down regardless of whether they were recently washed or not, therefore I cannot wear them. Irritating!

Vent over.

In other maternity clothing news, I haven't bought anything else. However, I'm almost at the end of road with most of the shirts I have because they're getting increasingly shorter and 'belly shirts' on pregnant girls is just not attractive, I totally know this. I will be working on it soon (because I have no choice left).

Appointment Update:

It went fine. I had the glucose screening. I don't know what everyone was talking about with the 'gross soda like drink' I thought it tasted fine and had no problem chugging it down. Maybe it's because I was hungry for some sugar though. After I chugged I did have my normal appointment, nothing too exciting but the midwife (I think) Lisa was very nice. They've all been nice but she was a little bit older so she seemed more like a mothering/nurturing type that the other ladies i've seen. I wouldn't mind having her deliver my baby. She told me what position the baby girl is in which was cool to hear. I was basically right though, she's shifted more into head down. Her heartrate was 148 bpm which I think is close to what it was last time. After the regular check-up I waited another 30 minutes before I could have my blood drawn with the biggest gauge needle ever. I distracted myself by having the lab girl talk to me about how much she likes drawing blood and how everyone at work calls her the Vampire. It was a good distraction.


I've been doing lots of research recently regarding delivery. So I had some questions to ask Lisa (finally, i usually don't have any) and here are the questions/answers.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of not clamping the umbilical cord right away after delivery? Her answer was that some would say that the baby gets a little bit more from the placenta by waiting to clamp it, others might disagree. I asked if it could compromise the collection of the cord blood for banking/donation and she said it very well could, which I thought would be the answer. So we'll have to weigh the pros/cons.

Why must the baby get the eye drops and vitamin K shot right after delivery? The eye drops are azithromycin and help prevent blindness in babies whose mothers may have an undiagnosed STD. And the vitamin K shot helps babies blood clot since that system is immature at the time of birth. We might forgo the eye drops.. we'll see.

What's my blood type? Turns out, it's A+ which is pretty universal she said. Now we just need to find out Alex's.. just for the sake of knowing.

If the baby is head down, does the blood rush to her head (this was just a fun question, not meant to be serious)? She said that since the baby is living in it's own little bubble, they have a completely different circulatory system then we do which means no, the blood doesn't rush to her head.

Our next appointment is in three weeks and then we'll start having appointments every two weeks until December when I think it might go down to once a week. I think all the major stuff is done though, so the rest of the visits should be fast and easy. Next week, we're going to Womb with a View with our parents as a special treat so they can see their future granddaughter on the big screen. I think it'll be awesome to see her one last time in utero and hopefully that'll hold me over for 12 more weeks until I can meet her face to face!

Last night we had our 2nd childbirth class so I'll try to post on that later this week!

14 weeks remaining!

Monday marked the beginning of week 26!

See the bump, doesn't look much different from last week, does it?

Each week it will grow about a centimeter which will be hard to detect via photo week by week but in the end when I mesh them all together into a video, i'm sure it'll be clear that it was getting larger.

Nothing new to report though, things are still going smoothly. She still kicks to tell me she's alive in there.

The baby websites say that this week the baby's eardrums, etc are basically fully formed and she can now hear me talking. We decided we're going to sing her a song every night and see if that helps her when she's out in the world when she needs to calm down. I've read that it's possible they can associate the two so we'll do a little experiment. Still trying to choose the song to sing though. We're going to have to sing it for 14+ weeks so it needs to be one we're not going to get tired of. Born this Way by Lady Gaga sounds appropriate, right?

The baby websites also say she's the length of one of those long cucumbers in the grocery store. It also says on the site 14 inches, so that's easier to think about. She's also about a pound and two-thirds in weight. Keep growing little girl!

Monday night we started our childbirth classes. We're probably on the early train for this but I didn't want to start later when the holidays are in full swing. It went quite well. It was interesting to sit down with other couples who are going through the same thing at the same time as we are. We mostly talked about anatomy and some labor stuff. I think next week we'll be talking about the stages of labor, so that'll be interesting even though i've already read about it. We did a neat activity with a balloon and a ping pong ball.

14 weeks to go!

15 weeks to go!

Today marks 25 weeks (or 15 weeks to go)!

Things are still going well. I'm sorry these are so boring and that I don't have anything to report! Though i'm sure at some point i'll say, it's getting more uncomfortable.. that hasn't happened quite yet.

Things get a little crampy sometimes but I do believe that's normal considering I'm growing a human.

I did have something exciting happen on Friday though.

I got new jeans!! I ordered from Old Navy online and I freeeaking love them. Way way way wayyy better then the ones I got from Motherhood Maternity, not to mention, these don't make me look like I have a wide rear-end (or not as much). They are super comfortable and I'm sure i'll get another pair soon because I can't just wear one pair of jeans all the time (or can i?)

Let's see.. what else? Well you saw the post I did yesterday on one of my nursery projects. I'd also like to report that my parents came down on Friday and showed us how to set up the crib (we were clueless!) and it looks great. Here's a picture!

I need to do some touch-ups on it but it looks brand new with it's white paint job. Can't wait to see what the bedding looks like on it.

Next week I'll be creating Roman Shades for the room and hopefully sewing some crib sheets if there's time. I have finally decided on colors for things. I can finish the mobile next weekend too (or maybe this week) and also the wall piece I'm working on. Super pumped for the DIY things to come! (don't worry, i'll post all about them).

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

24 weeks

This is the start of month six.

Things still going well, nothing new to report.

Lots of movement now that I can often feel on the outside.

She's kicking as I type.

Guess that means she loves my blog already??

Last week we signed up for our childbirth classes. They begin the 3rd week of October.

Yesterday we visited Erin, David and baby Addilyn. She is ah-dorable. It was awesome to hold her and it made me realize I should start working my arms out now. She slept so peacefully the whole time we were visiting.

I can't wait to hold our little sweet pea in my arms in 16 more weeks!

23 Week Update

Old Image Removed due to Disgust

Here we are at 23 weeks! I may or may not have photoshopped this image.. so sue me! Maybe it's this ipad camera.. yeah, let's blame the camera bc honestly, I don't see that when I look into that mirror (and by that, i mean what you would've seen, had i used the actual original image).

Anyway!! We're still feeling great!

We had a doctor's appointment on Monday and baby girl's heartrate was around 150bpm. The midwife couldn't get a super accurate reading due to a wiggling little one. Funny that her heartrate is only going up, when they told me a couple appointments ago that it would start going down. We're measuring right at 23 weeks which is good and I'm assuming my BP and other levels are doing well.

Alex had a major milestone Sunday morning, he felt her kick for the first time! We'll be working more and more on that since the more she moves around now, the more I can feel it on the outside.

Our next appointment is in another 4 weeks and we'll be doing the Glucose screening as well as a normal OB appointment.

Things are definitely feeling bigger these days. I did play volleyball last Wednesday, which left my thighs a little bit sore but felt really really good to do some sweaty exercise. I hope to continue to play for another month or so until the bump really starts getting in the way. Sleeping is a little bit harder than before but nothing too serious. And the throat burn seems to have subsided which is good.

I'm thinking about teaching myself to crochet a baby hat, which could be interesting. This is the one that I like and also this little hat/cocoon set (though that's knitted, maybe I could just use the pattern from the left hat to make a longer hat to use for a cocoon). It can't be that hard, right?? Update: I believe Charmayne will be making these for me, so no need to teach myself something new! Ha! Just kidding, I still might do it. It's nice to have a trick up your sleeve every once in a while and would come in handy for baby gifts for my friends who just had or will be having a baby soon!

{pin}

{pin}

As per last week, nothing too crazy to report. Just counting down the days until we meet our little one!

22 Weeks

Monday marked the end of week 22.

Things have still been going well. Over the weekend after dancing a lot at a wedding, my back was feeling it a lot. Mostly on Sunday and Monday. I'm back to normal now. I expect that after I play volleyball Wednesday that it will again hate me. I'm cool with it. At least I'll get some exercise in.

Not too much to report for week 22. I still feel normal other than the growing bump. She's moving around in there on a schedule which is nice. I've been trying to put my hand on the outside when she's moving on the inside so that I can try to direct Alex in the near future.

Alex spray painted the crib the last couple of days. And I think tonight we'll finally put it in the room (note to self, take a before picture). And maybe we can even set it up! We need to wait until another guy comes over before we can move the steal of a deal changing table I got from the garage since it's too heavy for me to help Alex move.

I'm still struggling a little bit with the fabrics for the quilt but I think i've finally found some that I like that all go together. And a pattern that I like. We're very grateful that Charmayne wants to make it for us, I think it will be one of our favorite keepsakes.

I basically feel hungry all the time and it's pretty difficult to make good choices all the time. I try to do my best though. Who can resist a double stuffed oreo? It just tastes so fresh!

Well that's probably enough, I can't really think of anything else too interesting to say about week 22. :)

21 weeks

I really hate the background of these images. I should cut myself out and plant myself on a beach somewhere or something.. but that would look silly since i'm always fully clothed.

Anyway, I hit 21 weeks on Monday. I never know what to say when i'm in the next week, so I always just tell people "I was __ weeks on monday, or I'm going to be __ weeks this monday" makes it easier. It really gets me when people ask how many months that is because apparently my brain has trouble dividing by 4. Anyway, it's 5 months or so I guess.. In the 2nd trimester. Babycenter says the baby is about 10 1/2 inches long and they relate that to a carrot (must be a big carrot). Eating healthier has been going pretty well. I try to bring my lunch everyday as opposed to buying it.

Everything is still going smoothly, still some minor backpain from the sciatica which I'm positive can be helped by a chiropractor if only I wouldn't be so lazy and go visit one. I did really well walking around Ikea on Saturday though.

I feel like a bus but I'm sure that's normal. Yesterday my bump looked huge and today it looks down a little bit. I should line up the first 5 months of pictures and check out the progression. Maybe i'll do that at the full 6 months! Something to look forward to.

No new milestones to report other than I feel her moving more. Sometimes she taps me a couple times in a row which is cute. I don't think she likes that I sit at a desk all day and don't move around all that much. I'm trying to pay closer attention to the patterns though to see when she's awake and when she may be sleeping. It's pretty early for her to set any patterns that won't change by birth but it's interesting to try to decipher.

19 weeks and 20 weeks

Yesterday, I was 20 weeks along. Officially halfway!

Things are still going great! Still feeling great (despite minor backpain brought on by too much walking). I feel the baby girl move at least once a day and really have no complaints!

Here are the pictures from 19 weeks and 20 weeks.. since we all know that I procrastinate!

19 weeks

20 weeks

In the 20 week picture, don't worry.. that wasn't my martini! Just thought it would be funny to pose with it since I was out at a bar, dancing with my belly ah la amy poeler's snl skit. More pictures from that night in the next post recapping the weekend!

Not much left to say about 20 weeks, other than.. it went relatively fast. Hoping the next 20 go even faster!!