39 Weeks - Still Waiting, Still Swelling

39 weeks.  A mere 7 days from my due date.  It's a serious 'how did we get there from here' moment!

Baby girl is so low right now I feel like she could just fall on out without a problem.  My EVERYTHING is swelling now.  Hands, wrists, knees, legs, ankles, feet - and hopefully my face though who knows if that's fat or fluid.  lol.

At last Thursday's appointment I had gained 7lbs since the previous week!!  Considering the amount of swelling I have, it's probably mostly fluid weight but good lord was that an eye-popping experience!!  No protein in my urine and my blood pressure was still good though.  When my midwife had me lay back to listen to the heartbeat and measure me I put my legs up and she noticed my ankles right away and wound up taking my blood pressure a second time for her own sake before letting me leave wanting to make sure that it was really okay considering the weight gain and how swollen I was.  But so far so good - apart from the annoyance it causes me that is.  Next appointment is tomorrow and hopefully I haven't gained much more - fluid or no!

I have been having some off-and-on contractions but nothing overly notable.  It's so hard to tell - I get contractions all the time of the Braxton-Hicks variety, and sometimes even those come regularly.  Everyone says you'll be able to tell the difference though, so I'm banking on them knowing what they're talking about.  I've had some today that I'd call 'more noticeable' than some of the others that were just a tightening feeling.. but nothing consistent and as someone told me -  our babies have a sense of humor even from the womb - so I'm sure it's a big ol' game of 'let's get mommy excited and have it amount to nothing'!  lol.

Oh and I did meet with the anesthesiologist before my last midwife appointment.  It was just a quick talking meeting where I told him what I'd been given before and what my reactions were and what my concerns were in the 'in case shit' scenario of birth though I truly hoped to never see him again.  He was totally cool with that and basically told me not to worry if for no other reason than they don't use those sorts of sedating/memory-taking medications (i.e. sodium pen and versed) typically in birth settings because you WANT to remember.  The only time they use sodium pen is if a c-section is a true emergency and they're putting you under general anesthesia.  Basically you only deal with them for an epidural in labor - which I'm planning not to have - or in the case of a c-section.  And in a normal c-section he said that they use a spinal anesthesia that is just numbing and that's about it.  He kept saying that they might give you something for after if you're having a hard time relaxing and I kept waiting for him to get to what they give you, ya know, WHILE they're cutting you open, but no - the spinal is the end of that basically.  So essentially he was like 'don't worry we don't use those things cuz you'll be awake!' and I'm like "stellar!!"  lol.  He did go on to say that they stay with you throughout everything and are able to take you to the next level of whatever it is you need to make you comfortable while protecting your airway and keeping you and the baby safe which was good to hear.  And he said that in my previous situations it wasn't so much that I couldn't be given any more meds, it was that I couldn't be given any additional meds safely in the setting I was in without an anesthesiologist there to monitor and protect the airway and take things to the next level.

But regardless of all that, I hope hope hope I never have to see them again because if I do it means that everything we've planned and hoped for has gone to hell and that's not something I'm looking forward to or want to focus on.  So tomorrow I'll have my 39 week appointment and see where we go from there.  So far my midwife has been very awesome of not pushing internal exams (I don't want one unless I go passed my due date and we have to start the countdown of how late they'll let me go) and thusfar there's been no talk of having to set an induction date (I know some people get pushed into scheduling an induction at their 39 or 40 week appts 'just in case' which would irk me), so hopefully that will continue tomorrow.  Or hey - maybe I'll have a baby by the time of my appt tomorrow - who knows!  hahaha... 

Oh and if you're keeping track - belly button is still sort-of in, but I don't know that I can completely call it in at this point.  We're at least at the half and half point on this one.  eep!

38 Weeks: No More Rings :-(

I've never been a patient person, I'm not gonna lie.  It's definitely showing these days as well.  At 38 weeks we pretty much have everything ready, we're just waiting on her and waiting sucks!  haha.  That's not true - we're still waiting for our nursery letters which JUST finally got shipped on Monday so we should have those this week - remind me never to order from THAT GUY again - it took him like 6 weeks to get these done and in the mail!!!  They're not even custom painted!  Just white!!!  ugh.  Anyway, maybe that's what she's waiting for - she feels like her nursery is 'incomplete' without her little name letters over the crib!  lol..

But the latest and greatest as far as things go is that I had to take my rings off yesterday.  I'd been wearing them on my pinky finger since the end of March/beginning of April (and sadly they actually FIT my pinky right away so clearly I should have been doing that long before I actually did it!), but yesterday I woke up and realized that they were tight and THEN realized I couldn't get them off and had to run my hand under cold water to loosen them and slide them off.  I almost made it!  Close but no cigar.  :-(  But my hands have definitely joined the 'swelling party' in the last week.  Not cool if you ask me.  Especially because now they hurt - like grasping things and bending my fingers and wrists.  Basically movement of the skin the way my feet hurt from the swelling.  Next appointment is tomorrow so hopefully my stats will still be good.

I got the results of the GBS screen that was done at my last appointment - and it's negative!!  I'm sooo glad.  I know that being positive for the bacteria is, in actuality, no big deal really, but in today's world of modern medicine it guarantees a heplock and antibiotics in labor on the very very slight chance that the baby might have a problem because of it (1-2% is what we're talking about here).  And so my jubilation is less for the lack of the bacteria and more for the lack of IV that it means for my labor.

I also have an anesthesiologist consult scheduled just before my appt tomorrow.  They thought it would be a good idea considering my lack of response to conscious sedation meds in the past, just to be prepared for worst case scenario.  She also told me that it's one of those things where if I go it practically guarantees that I won't need to use it because that's generally how it works and I agree.  Life is crazy like that - if I don't go, I'll wind up needing the anesthesiologist, but if I go through the trouble of meeting with and talking over my options and making a plan, I won't need it.  And that's a plan I'm a fan of.  :-)  I expect to walk in there and be like "Hi - I hope to never see you again but..."  lol.

Beyond all that, I've been trying to do some walking - which typically I do in stores since we live on a giant hill and especially at this point I'd die trying to get back up it.  I've actually gone to target, not gotten a cart or basket with no intention of buying anything, and spent like 45 mins just browsing.  This is something I can do easily and Jeff's LEAST FAVORITE skill of mine.  hahaha..  He thinks it sounds torturous - I don't even notice.  Walking is definitely not comfortable for any real stretch of time (think like 3+ mins here!) but I know it's good for me and the potential of labor.  I've also started drinking Third Trimester Tea by Earth Mama Angel Baby - which is the closest thing I can find to red raspberry leaf tea locally.  It's listed as the first ingredient which works for me.  I do tire of mint teas quickly though and this one is no exception.  Spearmint is the second ingredient.  But I know that red raspberry leaf is supposed to help ripen the cervix and provide tone to the uterine muscles so drink it I shall.

Come on baby girl - we can't wait to meet you!!

37 Weeks: Full Term!!

Meet the "full term bellah"!  :-)  Our little girl is finished developing, just gaining wait at this point, and can come whenever she wishes now.  Hooray!  She's somehow gotten even lower recently - which didn't seem possible, but there you have it.  I had a midwife appointment on Tuesday the 4th and all was well, but she had to go waaaaaay down low to get the heartbeat!  Consequently, I still only measure 36 but she said that once they drop you often won't make it to 40 so they're not concerned about that at all which is good.  I also only gained 3lbs from my previous appt that was 2 weeks before.  At this point it's expected to gain a pound a week so after the 7lb jump the last time, I was definitely thrilled to be right where I should be.  And most importantly, my blood pressure and urine samples were all normal so there's no concern about my swelling at this point which is great.  I'd rather NOT be swelling like this but it's definitely good to know it's just inconveniencing me and not causing a true problem.

They also did my Group B Strep culture at the 37 week appointment - still waiting to see how that will come back, but they did tell me they send the culture with request for sensitivities since I'm allergic to penicillin and that usually what they wind up using is Clindamycin which is actually something I've used topically before as an acne medication.  Added bonus is that it's given every 8 hours instead of every 4 like the penicillins are.  And even if it is positive, I don't need to show up at the birth center until my water breaks - so fingers crossed I labor like my mother (in more ways than one) and my water doesn't break until pushing!  Though basically they told me that the pediatricians like to see a dose of antibiotic at least 4 hours before birth, so I'm feeling better about being able to still labor at home regardless of which way the culture comes back.  I'm not thrilled about the thought of possibly having to have a heplock IV line, but will deal with that if it turns out to be a reality.

We also had our "pre-birth meeting" with our doula last night where we were able to go over any updates in the pregnancy and our plan and desires for the birth.  It really made it hit home that it could happen any time now!  But it was good to see she was on the same page with us and to know that we'll have someone there for us that actually knows what's going on and will have at least a certain level of detachment that is not something that Jeff or I could ever get in the situation, and sometimes you need that. 

I actually had a weekend of tummy upset last weekend that got us both a little excited thinking that things might be gearing up, but so far not the case.  And as piece of TMI, I think I've started to slowly lose my mucous plug between weeks 36 and 37.  No idea if it's actually 'gone' yet or even if that was just it getting ready or something, but I've heard not everyone loses it all at once and that sometimes they lose it over time more liquifying than just popping out.  Shrug.  I also know that you can lose it multiple times and it can regenerate so it's not really the best 'labor sign' out there.

But we're ready, that's for sure.  I know I keep saying it's getting harder and harder to move around, but now it DEFINITELY is hard to move around and do things.  Just going out to the store can be tough - my back starts to really hurt, and my feet start to hurt because they don't fit well in my shoes anymore (even my flip flops!).  My heartburn/reflux is INSANE at this point, which would actually be interesting if it didn't suck so bad because she's so much lower than she was so my digestive bits have more room than they did - so why is it worse?!  It's a problem at night - I usually wind up taking some tums one of the times I get up to pee in the night and still have problems, so needless to say this is one of those things I'm hoping goes away fairly immediately.  I mean, goes away to the extent it was gone before I was pregnant - i.e. managed with meds.

Despite all my discomforts though, I know I'm going to miss feeling her wiggling around inside me, knowing that she's with me.  We both definitely can't wait to meet her though, to see what she'll look like and to learn about her little personality.  So we sit and play the waiting game.  :-)

36 Weeks - Less than a Month to Go!

"Big and tired" has become my everyday way of life.  lol.  I feel like I'm getting bigger - and I know that she's supposedly gaining a half pound a week now, but since she moved down into my pelvis, I feel like my pictures aren't showing size increase and sometimes I feel like I might even look smaller than I did!  I'm also still calling the belly button INSIDE - though it looks more and more threatening with each passing day that I'm really wondering if I'll make it at this point!

I've also been tied to our washing machine doing baby prep.  I washed the newborn sized clothes, then the 0-3 month sized clothes.  Then there were the pack n play sheets and the cosleeper sheets.  The receiving blankets (which filled the washer all on their own - I couldn't believe it!!).  Some crib sheets, changing pad covers, baby blankets, the baby socks (more on this later!) and lastly all the newborn diapers.  Including the prefolds, I counted 38 diapers that *should* work for us from the get-go provided she's an average sized baby.  This should allow us hopefully 2 days between washing in the beginning (fingers crossed) to make things easier while we're getting used to caring for a newborn!

The final count of our newborn diaper stash is:

12 Kissaluvs Size 0 fitteds
3 Muttaqin Baby newborn fitteds
3 Bububebe newborn fitteds
2 Little Boppers newborn fitteds
4 BumGenius 3.0 All-In-One x-small
3 Thirsties Duo Diapers size 1
11 Green Mountain Diapers Cloth-eez Orange Edge Prefolds 
and then 3 Snappi Diaper Fasteners for the Prefolds

I also have 6 covers:
5 Thirsties Covers x-small
1 Thirsties Duo Wrap size 1

As well as 3 pairs of newborn sized longies that can be used as covers - 2 knit by me and 1 pair of fleece longies.  I'd say we are definitely good to go.  I'll try to add a pic of the whole newborn stash organized in our diaper drawer later.  And not a single one of those was purchased new either.  There may be one or two that were sold to me second-hand but unused, but all were purchased from other mamas, which saved a good deal of money and allowed me to get some of the nicer/cuter and thusly more expensive types of diapers for much less than I would have paid for new (so if you actually follow those links to look at the diapers know that I did not pay that price for any of them!).  I love my little diapers.  :-)

What I did NOT love was the arduous process of taking apart allll the little baby socks from the packaging they came in.  Seriously - it was like someone went crazy trigger-happy with those little plastic tags that stick things together?  every sock was shot through twice and needed to be cut free - it took FOREVER.  and THEN they all had to be washed - well infant socks are freakin tiny!  I've since been advised to get a lingerie bag to wash them in, or a pillow case, to keep them from getting lost in everything else, but man was that a good time.  And then matching them up!  I definitely am considering for the future just keeping them loose and grabbing whatever two socks I grabbed and saying I let her pick them out.  lol.  In any case, baby socks are my new nemesis.  :-)

So all the laundry is essentially done - I might get another one or two pack n play/cosleeper sheets and if so would need to wash them, but at this point if we have it already it's washed.  Our ceiling repairs from the water damage we incurred during the big roof leaking extravaganza was also finished this week, so our next order of business is to move our bed (to where the ceiling leaked!) and rearrange the bedroom so that we can get the cosleeper out of the nursery and into our room.  We've already done some massive overhauling of my clothes in order to make room for Jeff to start utilizing some of the space in our bedroom and give up more of the nursery closet.  I'm not sure that we'll ever wind up with ALL his stuff out of there, but I'm also not sure that it will be necessary to do so either.

My diaper bag was officially shipped yesterday, so I'm super excited to see it.  She sent it priority mail from Alabama, so I'm hoping that I get it tomorrow!  Still no name block letters - I may contact that seller soon to find out if they've shipped yet or what.  I believe the listing said he gives himself 4 weeks to custom make the letters (seems like a long dang time to me but whatever) and it's been 4 weeks at this point - but the shipping estimate (i.e. arrival time window) doesn't seem to start until May 11th which seems like a bit more than the normal shipping time if he shipped at 4 weeks and I haven't heard anything from him since the purchase, so we'll see.  Other than that, we're pretty set!

There are, of course, a few more things for the walls that I'd love to get - particularly two sets of these wall butterflies that coordinate with the Butterfly Ceiling Sculpture that we got to hang over the changing station.  I think they'd look great with one set on each side of the wooden name letters over the crib but at $24.99 each, they're a bit out of our reasonable budget range at this point as far as 'decorative things' goes.  Alas.  :-)  And we also decided to forgo a mobile for the crib - we're not planning to have her sleeping in the crib for several months at least, plus weren't 100% sure that with the thickness of the top of our crib that any of the standard mobiles would actually work/fit onto the wood.  PLUS they're all like $40+ and it just seemed like an unnecessary expense.  She'll get to look at the awesome butterflies above her changing pad and those are pretty cool.  In fact, the whole room is pretty awesome.  We <3 it.  :-)  I'll have to do a post of just the finished nursery pictures at some point - I don't think I ever posted them here.

35/35 - 35 Weeks Pregnant and 35 Days to Go!

35 days left!  Still growing by leaps and bounds.  How do I do this?  I'll tell you how - by gaining 7.5lbs in 2.5 weeks that's how!  I had a midwife appointment where, incidentally, I met the last midwife in the practice I had yet to meet and didn't like her, which is most unfortunate as I now know I'm only going to be content with having 3 out of 5 of them at my birth.  However, the fact remains, I gained 7 pounds in 2.5 weeks.  I was NOT expecting that.  She gave me some flack (which is the first time the whole pregnancy that any of them have said anything about my weight gain being anything other than fine btw even when I've been concerned) and she said if I was still gaining like that at my next appointment we'd talk nutrition.  Really?  Cuz you had me book my next appointment at 37 weeks so...  seems kinda silly to talk nutrition then!  Not to mention I'm not an idiot and am fully aware of what is healthy and what is less so, but I'm also not eating particularly differently either.  They also took my weight before having me pee.  Who does that?!

Apart from the "weight before peeing" bit, I have also been experiencing a definite distinct increase in swelling since my previous appointment.  Exhibit A: my feet.  Now if you've never seen my feet/ankles, you probably don't know that they aren't usually little toe sausages stuck onto puffy troll-like feet supported by tree-trunk-like ankles squeezed to death by socks.  But let me assure you, this is in no way normal for my feet.  I start the day only slightly swollen, but by afternoon they're usually all sorts of ginormous.  Good times.  I mentioned the swelling at the appointment but she didn't seem to care, said to drink more water.  Thanks!  I mean my blood pressure is still good so I guess there's not much to care about, but she could have at least wanted to look at it ya know?  Anyway, I suspect that I am carrying a fair amount of fluid weight at this point.  I'm trying to actively lay off the salt (alas my beloved salt!!) and drink constantly and keep my feet up whenever I can - so if I have a day where I do a lot and my feet are crazy puffed I'll try to lay low the next day and rest and keep my feet up.  Doesn't always work or make a difference, but I make the effort all the same.

Other random things, we've installed the car seat bases into both of our cars - still need to get them inspected, but they're installed nevertheless.  We got our baby monitor, sheets for the co-sleeper and pack n play, I got my awesome Ergo, we got some more decorative/storage things for the nursery and pretty much are about ready to go.  Still need to pack the birth bag, that's a big one.  I washed all the itty bitty clothes, still need to wash the dipes along with sheets/blankets/etc.  so there are still some things to do.  I'm having a diaper bag made by someone on Etsy, so I still need to get that and we have some wooden letters to spell her name out above the crib that were being made by someone on Ebay that still have to arrive.  But we're definitely getting there!  Slowly but surely.  :-)

34 Weeks: And It's All Starting to Come Together

34 weeks down, 6 left to go.

I didn't even try to pretend I could tell what happened during what week during my fake updates the last few weeks, so this will have to serve as one big catch-up update from where I was.

First and foremost - I'm pretty huge now and still getting bigger!  As I was posting these pictures even in just the last 3 weeks I can't believe it!  ANNND, by some sort of miracle, my belly button is still inside - though it's crazy stretched and hurts and does NOT look like it wants to play this game for another 6 weeks!  I'm not 100% convinced I'll make it to the end without it popping, but only time will tell.

I've been into appointments every 2 weeks for a bit now and was able to meet one of the midwives I hadn't met yet at my last appointment.  My next one is Monday April 19th and I'll finally be meeting the last one of the group that I hadn't met yet, which is good.  At the last appointment the midwife confirmed that she's in a head-down position which I'm psyched about.  I could tell mostly what position she was in, but couldn't tell her head from her bum and so it was a relief to know that it's her bum that's been in my ribs all this time, particularly since she's been favoring this position for ages now.

I've also been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions now.  They don't hurt really, they're just not my favorite thing.  I'd describe them like having someone take a super wide rubberband and tightening it across your belly or something.  Or maybe your belly IS the rubberband that someone is pulling on both sides of.  Either way - not pleasant but not the end of the world either.  I also have a lot of pressure way down low on my bladder now when I'm on my feet.  Sometimes with every step I take it's like someone's pushing on my bladder and it's full - even RIGHT AFTER I've peed.  That drives me crazy!  And my pelvis is way loosened up so that when I sit for a little while and then try to stand, it takes a minute for me to get all the parts going where they need to and have it and my legs actually support me properly. 

I'm also only sleeping for about 1.5-2 hour stretches at night because at this point I have to lay on my side, but the pressure of all of me on one hip starts to become uncomfortable after that amount of time.  So even though I'm "only" getting up to pee once or twice a night, I still wake up and have to flip over constantly.  And let me tell you, flipping over in bed is soooo not what it used to be.  I'm like a beached whale now, so it's a huge to-do when I need to move at all to flip or get out of bed.  Poor Jeff.  Lol.  Then there's the issue of heartburn/reflux.  Most nights I spend some time with that keeping me awake.  I'm still on the Protonix for GERD but will have to stop taking it for breastfeeding.  They want me to switch to Zantac, which is what I took BEFORE they started  prescribing proton pump inhibitor class meds to me and it wasn't working enough.  They've increased the OTC dosage available though so I'll give it a go.  But none of the PPI class meds were cleared for breastfeeding so I'm not sure what I'll do if the Zantac doesn't cut it.  Burn out my esophagus I guess.  Lol.  So yeah - DESPITE being on prescription heartburn/reflux meds, I'm still getting crazy heartburn/reflux at night and even during the day.  Wonderful!  I've gone through more tums than I've taken in the last 4 years combined!!

We also just had our last Bradley birth class this past Monday.  I can't believe that it's been 12 weeks already!  It seemed sooo long when we started, like it would last forever, and still I mean, that's 3 months, ya know?  That's a good chunk of time!  But it really kinda flew past.  It was bittersweet to have it end, but I'm pretty sure my pelvis wouldn't have taken another week of 2 hours on the floor.  It'd been getting progressively harder to sit like that the last couple classes but this last one was the worst and when I got up at the end I felt like I had to pop all my lower bits back into place.  Yeah, no fun.

Sunday the 11th was our last baby shower for Jeff's side of the family (and other Eastern MA-ers), so now we're all done with the showers as well.  It was at The Village Green in Danvers and they did a nice job.  We had a huge room which seemed strange at first but Nell's daughter, Lily, was there along with a little girl, Paige, from Jeff's people and they were able to take the other half of the room as their 'play room' and run around which was great for them.  It was a very nice shower and we got some nice things, but I have to say I'm glad the showers are done with because they are EXHAUSTING!  I don't have any pictures yet, but am hoping that someone can provide some for us.

My mom also came up for the weekend so she could attend the shower as well and so she finally got to see the nursery and all our baby stuff put together (and the massive avalanche of clothes that we've been given!).  We did some shopping too and she got me a few 'warmer weather' maternity clothes which I'd been hesitant to spend money on not knowing how long postpartum I'll be wearing my mat stuff, but it'll definitely be good to have an option or two for a while, just in case.  :-)  And she took us out to dinner which is always fantastic.  Moms are awesome.  :-)

Last week we received the disk with all the pictures from our maternity photo shoot.  I'll put up my favorite here.  We got some really good ones and some not so good ones, but she gave us every picture she took so that's definitely to be expected I would think!!  Overall I'm very very glad that I got them done.  It's such a special thing to experience as your body goes through these insanely huge changes, and while I can't imagine forgetting I know that having these pictures will certainly help in that area.  Plus it'll be fun to have our baby girl on the outside and say "this is what you looked like while you were inside of mommy and this is what MOMMY looked like when you were inside her!"  haha..

So that's all for now - maybe I'll add a few more maternity shots in the next post - which I'm vowing to get on schedule with for these last few weeks!!

33 Weeks: More Catch-Up

33 week belly picture.  I love this outfit btw, and none of it is maternity if you can believe it!  I've found that hippie skirts are very forgiving with their elastic waists.  We had a crazy heat wave on this day where the temp got up to 90 and I thought I was going to die it was so hot.  Reinforced my gratefulness that we were able to get pregnant in our (my) "timeframe" of acceptable due date times and that I do NOT have to go through the summer like this because man, that was some sort of awful!!  And it was only a day!! 

Also I think you can see that she started to drop between the previous week and this week.  I was definitely able to see/feel a difference.

32 Weeks: Playing Catch-Up

Okay I have some severe catching up to do.  Blogger wouldn't upload pictures the last day I tried to catch up (the day of my last late post!) and I never came back.  Shame on me.

So without further adieu....belly at 32 weeks...

31 Weeks - Just the Belly (again)

Okay so I've done it again - but have at least a wimpy excuse this time.  My laptop has been busted for a good amount of time - randomly the hard drive decided to self-destruct, and while i've been dealing with Dell and getting my replacement and figuring out how to get my data off the busted one, I've been using Jeff's laptop which is not exactly BFF's with me.  And I had my last week of work where I had to train my replacement (that would be for week 31) and was so spaced out that this pic was taken something like 2 days late (usually I take them on the actual change date).  So.  This is why, once again, there is a basically just a weekly belly picture without a significant update.

30 Weeks and First Baby Shower!

Okay so I don't have any superb pictures from our baby shower yet because pregnancy brain caused me to forget to take my own camera out of its case, but I'm hoping to get some soon.  The shower went really well though was utterly exhausting to me.  The food was great, we got some great presents, and mom got us a fantastic cake that we've been eating leftovers from ever since.  If you ever need a cake in Western Mass, Cerratto's Pastry Shop is absolutely fabulous!

Also, on the drive to the venue there was like *the* most amazing rainbow ever.  So bright and clear - you could see all the colors all the way down to purple clear as day.  My brain WAS functioning at that oment and we attempted to get a picture of it, but I swear it was the most camera-shy rainbow ever and as soon as we stopped the car to take a picture it immediately started to fade so you can only barely see it in this picture here.  But I promise you it was absolutely phenomenal at its prime!!  There's nothing more

promising to me before a 'thing' than to have a rainbow pop up.  It's like a great big smile from Mother Nature.  :-)  Anyway - if you squint reeeeally hard you can see the hint of rainbow left about the tree-line in the middle of the picture.  No I'm not crazy, I promise it's there.  lol.

We also made washcloth duckies for the tables as our shower favors.  We'd seen this done at our friend Arwen's shower a few years back and I knew when I saw it that I so wanted to do that for my shower when it was our turn.  Thankfully she still had the directions and it wound up being way easy to do - the worst

 part was seriously having to buy 80+ washcloths in our preferred color scheme!!  We wound up with a few shades of purple, pink, and green, and then a couple yellow, white, or cream ones.  We got them from Ocean State Job Lot where we were able to get a deal - but the quality was less than stellar.  I figure people can still take them apart, pull the eyes off (they're just white glued on) and use them as kitchen rags rather than for washing babies or faces or whatever.  That's what I'm planning to use our extras for anyway!  Call it my way of slipping some eco-friendliness into the shower without people knowing.  Bwahahaha!  :-)

We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us though.  This coming week will be my last of working at Timberland - official last day is 3/26.  My next midwife appointment is April 1st because I'm up to appts every 2 weeks now (!!) and then on the 3rd we have our maternity photo session booked and Easter is the 4th.  Then our next shower is the following weekend on the 11th with Jeff's family, and the week after that I'lll have another midwife appt scheduled at some point and then that weekend is Erin's wedding shower on the 17th!  Total craziness!

My last appointment was on Wednesday 3/17, and I'd gained 3 pounds from my visit 3 weeks ago - so I've apparently hit the 'pound a week' segment of pregnancy!  But they're happy, and my blood pressure is still wicked good (108/60!) which is good to know because I've started getting some swelling off and on in my ankles and my fingers so was starting to wonder.  But that's all good.  Baby girl's heartbeat sounded great - holding steady at 140bpm most of the time now and I'm still measuring right on track.  Oh - and belly button still inside!  Woohoo!

29 Weeks and 28 Pounds!

Yes, my big belly has now become a platform for my boobs.  Where are they going to live in 2 more months?!  hahaha..

So you read the title right - at 29 weeks I'm up 28 pounds from pre-pregnancy.  More than I thought but not that much more I suppose.  And the midwives said they like to see anything between 25-35 and are totally happy with where I'm at so I'll try not to feel the traumatization of seeing the scale readings at my appointments.  I've moved to appointments every 3 weeks now.  My next is 3/17 and then I have another 3 weeks later, then I believe I move to every 2 weeks!  It's crazy how quickly time is going - but how slowly at the same time!

We've been making headway in getting more things that we want/need and more progress on the nursery as well.  We have our stroller and highchair and have them put together and ready to go.  Our first shower is this Sunday, March 14th so I'm sure we'll have plenty more by Monday!  The shower is being held at Summit View Banquet House in Holyoke.  I can't believe it's already here, but so it is!  I'll try to post some pictures after too.

So the nursery progress!  We've got the mattress and bedding in the crib now, along with a lavender shag rug that we put in front of the crib.  I'm hoping to find some big cushy floor-type pillows that we can put away during the day, but prop up against the front of the crib on the rug so we can do storytime that way.  We'll have the glider up there too, but we realized that both mommy and daddy are interested in storytime, so it will likely be a family affair - at least from time to time.  :-)  Jeff has also taken to displaying a few of our stuffed animals on the back of the crib.  We still want to get letters to spell her name on the wall above the crib but so far so good.

Then last weekend we got this cube storage dealie from Target.  We were considering different sorts of bookcase type pieces and hadn't planned to go the particle-board route, but this was functional and cute.  It also made for a great place to display the Jim Shore carousel that my mom got us at Christmas time and a place for us to start putting the books for our quickly expanding library.  Right now the purple slide-out bins are empty, and we're not positive what we're going to use those for, but I'm sure some hidden storage is always good in a kid's room and it'll only be a matter of time before it's all filled up.  :-)

Overall, I'm very pleased with how the nursery is shaping up.  I actually just booked maternity photos with Photography by Heather for April 3rd and we decided to do some in the nursery and she's going to bring her backdrop and lighting to set up some studio-type photos for us as well.  I'm very excited.  I'll be about 32.5 weeks at that point - though as you can see I definitely have the belly for it now!  I didn't want to wait TOO long 'just in case' and plus I'm getting more and more uncomfortable and I can't imagine that's going to particularly improve at this point!!

The following weekend we have the shower that Jeff's family is throwing us - April 11th.  Because of the distance between both of our families, two separate showers like we did for the wedding made the most sense.  But our weekends sure are filling up quickly!

Things are pretty status quo for how I'm feeling - though just this past week or so I've started having trouble sleeping.  For no particular reason!  I'm not any more uncomfortable and in fact am typically MOST comfortable laying in bed, I'm not peeing every 10 mins at night or anything, and baby girl doesn't wake me up with her kicking.  I just.wake.up.  For no reason.  But it sure is ticking me off!!  Her movement has definitely increased over the last few weeks as well - Jeff has felt an uncountable number of kicks at this point and we'll often lay together so that he can have his hand on my belly to feel her movin' and groovin' in my tummy.  :-)  She still spends most of her time all up in my ribs making me crazy, and I'm pretty sure she's still changing position pretty frequently which I guess is good, though I'm eager for her to settle into the 'head-down' position just so I can stop thinking about it.  hahaha..

And last but not least - two awesome books that I've borrowed from our Bradley class instructor:  Henci Goer's The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, and also Ina May Gaskin's Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.  The Henci book was hugely informative and explained so many different things and procedures and was very educating.  I'm still reading Ina May's book but the first 120 pages of the book are dedicated to wonderful, moving, positive birth stories from women that gave birth on The Farm (community that she started).  These women did not give birth in sterile hospitals with bright lights and bustling activity with interventions pushed at them, but rather in the quiet homes of their community with the attendance of kind, experienced midwives.  One thing that's struck me is that there are SO MANY stories of women who birthed 8, 9, and 10+ pound babies all naturally - by which I mean completely med-free - and vaginally with no episiotomies and often with minimal to no tearing.  In a hospital, "large for gestational age" is a reason some OB's will recommend scheduling a C-Section without even giving the woman the chance to see what her body can do.  These are inspiring stories that are very good for a pregnant mommy to read.

So after cheating you out of an update last week, you got a long rambling update.  :-)

28 Weeks - falling behind

Okay so I'm posting my 28 week picture at exactly 29 weeks.  Clearly I need a kick in the butt to get these posted once a week.  Oiy.

Things have been busy though - to be fair to myself.  I wish I could explain exactly HOW things have been busy but as I mentioned, I'm a week behind and these days I can barely remember yesterday.  So I'm going to post the pic, and cut this week short in hopes that I'll post the 29 week post more 'on time' and can catch up on everything at that time.  As a consolation, I'll mention I'll have more nursery pics at that time as well!  :-)

27 Weeks = Third Trimester!

Here we go with the third trimester!  Two-thirds of the way down and coming down the home-stretch!  And speaking of stretch - good lord will my body make it these last 3 months?!?!  I'm continuing to marvel at how big my belly is and the knowledge that it's going to get bigger still.  Continuing to marvel at how such a small (relatively) little being inside there can wreak such havoc on my digestive system, my comfort level, and all of my joints.

Other than my whining about intense reflux despite my daily meds and various other discomfort, things are continuing along just fine.  The midwife appointment I had on Thursday 2/25 showed our little jelly bean is measuring exactly where she should be - despite how much bigger I look than other people in the same place as me.  She said it was just due to the length of your torso, how you're carrying, and baby's position.  Weight gain is up 28lbs so far (!!) but they're happy with where I am and said that they like to see people gain between 25-35lbs and that you usually don't gain quite as steadily through the last 4-6 weeks.  so that's something I guess.  But it sure explains why I'm huffing and puffing when attempting to do anything!  The added weight plus decreased lung function is all the explanation I need!  I also had my 1hr gestational diabetes test (GD test).  So far I haven't heard anything on the results - they said they'd call if there was anything abnormal and expected results on Friday or Monday so hopefully tomorrow goes by without a phone call.  I felt like there was more glucola this time than the first one they made me do at my first appointment, but Jeff thinks that I just forgot how much I had to drink that first time.  Yick.  And it's definitely NOT any better the second time around when you're burping it up.  Just fyi.  bleh.

Our first shower is coming up quickly as well.  While I'm still adding and deleting things from the registry from time to time, both the Amazon and Babies R'Us registries are essentially done.  The invites for the first shower have gone out including the registry info.  We went shopping for an outfit for the shower as I realized that including this one, I only had 2 more shopping weekends left! 

Which brings me to my next rant: maternity dresses.  Okay so you see the pictures online of maternity dresses and they look cute.  In general, I like dresses so figured it'd be a good way to go.  HA!  Let me tell you, the two dresses I tried on made me look like a HOUSE!  And normally I know my belly's fairly big and am fine with it - but i felt like a grandma in a muumuu or something just because the dress comes up over the bump but then just drops down and keeps going.  There's no shaping at the bottom like you get with pants and tops.  So needless to say, I'll be wearing pants and a cute, flattering top for my shower.  Bonus for not needing to shave anyway, right?  :-)

Oh and for anyone that's wondering - belly button is still in!  Woo!  Looks friggin WEIRD but fingers crossed it can make it the next 3 months..  Only time will tell.  :-)

26 Weeks and Less than 99 Days to go!!

26 weeks - 2 weeks left of the second trimester and I've hit double digits.  That is, double digit days left to go till my due date!  Not much else is going on and this will be brief as I lagged in posting this update almost a full week (oops).

Baby continues to push her way further into the ever increasingly valuable real estate of my abdominal cavity.  Right about now I'd put the value of my abdominal space in the category of super luxury home because there is so very very little of it left and its previous inhabitants (i.e. my ORGANS) are not pleased with their cramped quarters.

At least I continue to feel her movements throughout the day.  I've begun to notice patterns and can expect to feel her move about at specific times during the day and notice if I don't which is kind of neat.  It's almost like I'm able to keep track of what she's doing already!

25 Weeks and Finished Nursery!

Well the walls are finished that is.  lol. 

So 25 weeks and still growing.  Still loving my belly though - even though I notice more and more that I'm having difficulty moving around, getting up, etc.  I did have one random morning of sickness but it was apparently a freak occurrence and I've been fine since then.  So overall I'm feeling good - getting more and more excited to meet her and hold my little bundle in my arms instead of my belly!!

One interesting thing I've read is that around this time, babies begin to prefer their right or left hands.  It seems crazy that this starts before birth let alone so far before birth.  I remember mom telling me that when I was really little I would use both my right and left hands for things often and Babci would freak out saying that she was supposed to force me to use my right hand because left handed-ness was some sign of the devil or something (and yes she was crazy.  Clearly!).  But baby is also getting more dexterous and the ability to really make fists and grab for her feet, etc is improving.  So she'll have plenty of time to practice before getting to the outside!!

So - onto the nursery pics as I know those are everyone's favorites.  First pic is showing the finished paint job with the white chair rail installed.  I really like how the chair rail ties in the white stripes and works with the design.  I had my doubts that I could pull off a white chair rail with the stained woodwork in that room unless one of our stripes was also white to tie into it.  Looks like my hunch paid off, huh?

Next is the finished walls with the crib put together.  Have I mentioned how much I love this crib?  Cuz I really really do.  :-)  The angle I took this pic you can totally see how it will make a gorgeous headboard and footboard for a full sized bed someday too, right?!  Definitely a good choice.  :-)  Still no mattress or bedding in it, obviously, so I'll post another pic once we get that bit all set up.

We probably should have cleaned up the tools from the install before taking pictures, but this is the dresser.  It was apparently the heaviest furniture that Jeff and his dad had ever had to move (up two flights of stairs no less!!).  The drawers don't even come out - must be some kind of safety feature - and the whole thing was already put together in one piece in the box.  I'm glad we didn't have to put it together, and I'm glad it's clearly a solid, good piece of furniture, but man is it heavy!!!  hahaha..  Very pretty though and plenty big enough to put a changing pad on and still have room which is great.

And the last pic is just a close-up of the final paint job with the chair rail in place so you can really see the stripes.  They are definitely not perfect, and we did have a few issues that we want to touch up, but I'm really really happy with how it finally turned out.  :-)

We've so far gone to 3 of the 12 birthing classes, and are really enjoying it.  There are definitely some sorta 'hokey' bits to it - as there are with most things like that - but it's been great to get information and different exercises to do to strengthen the muscles that will help the most with labor and birth.  It's also fun to have the things I've previously mentioned to Jeff validated by having someone else say them as well.  :-)

24 Weeks: V is for VIABILITY!

24 weeks = "V-day" in the pregnancy world.  And that's a whole different V-day than most people think of.  We're not talking Valentine's Day people, we're talking viability!  At 24 weeks baby has a greater than 50/50 shot if she were born early and chances just get better from here.  It's a really good spot to get to for a mama.  :-)

Movement has also kicked up a notch - I still can't tell hands from feet from general moving around, but Jeff did finally feel his first kick on the 28th!  I finally made him sit down with his hand on my belly until he felt her - there's no way for me to know when she'll move and she doesn't always KEEP moving after the first bump so it was hard to otherwise make sure he was there at the right time.  Way cute - I had to tell  him when she kicked because he couldn't believe what he felt wasn't just my tummy in normal status.  hahaha..

We've also begun work on the nursery - all the previous 'spare bedroom' furniture is gone and we started painting.  Here is a photo timeline of what we have so far starting with the 'before'  picture.  We did the top half of the wall first, then started working on the stripes.  Because of how the stripes are laid out we were able to tape and paint two of the four colors of stripes at once which was nice.

I also got the call from Babies R Us that our dresser has arrived and is ready for pickup.  Thankfully we have 15 days to get it so can wait a week to go pick it up.  I'm hopeful the shape of the box will allow us to get it INSIDE my SUV - the crib was a no-go in that department and we had to ride it on my roof rack tied down.  That was...not the plan at the get-go.  I mean everything always fits in my truck!  But no - not the box for this crib.  Ah well.

I also ordered our crib bedding because the site was showing it as suddenly discontinued and since we spent such a long time deliberating on the 'right' set to get, I definitely wanted to be sure that we were able to get that one!  Particularly as I based my paint color choices off of it - so it was important that our decor actually match the paint job we're spending so much time in creating here!

Ignore my super cool 'painting' outfit here.  One thing I've learned about maternity wear is that it definitely puts you in a sticky situation when it comes to 'crap clothes' for things like painting.  So I have a pair of maternity pj pants and one of Jeff's too-small t-shirts on.  they did the job and I only caused minimal damage to them, so that's all that matters right?  lol..  Cuteness was definitely not a factor here.

In the end, we found we did have some trouble with the paint bleeding under our tape in some places.  This may be a problem where it happened on stripes that are going to be painted white in the next stage, but the other stripe color is dark purple so that should cover anything - the white is the only issue.  I've gotten some tips since discovering our problem as well on 'burnishing' the tape with a credit card or something to ensure full contact with the wall all the way down, and we also plan to pay close attention to the amount of paint we're using towards the tape to hopefully prevent bleeding again.

And last but not least, is a pic of the bedding we're getting.  We're mixing and matching from this set (Kids Line: Lilac Garden) and the Carter's: Garden Party set.  The bedding is all Lilac Garden but we're taking some of the ancillary pieces of the Garden Party set and using them instead because there are some things I just liked better and most of their stuff will match the Lilac Garden stuff anyway.  I can't wait to get the crib built and the bedding all set up!  All we need now is to build the crib and get the mattress!

23 weeks - More Big Purchases and Birthing Classes!

Movement is picking up!  I feel bouts of movement several times each day now - most commonly during/after eating.  I'm soooo happy to finally feel her - it's just such a comfort to feel her in there doing well and have that reminder.  To not have to just assume things are fine just because nothing bad has happened, etc.

According to the books, she now weighs about a pound, which for some reason seems monumental to me.  We're no longer talking about fractions of ounces anymore, but measuring in actual baby weight measurements!

We have also been working on our registries some more, and finally have a fair amount of stuff on there.  We may still add something here and there, but we've made the bulk of our decisions and between Amazon and BRU are pretty much covered.  Soooo glad that's over.  It's very hard to think of all the things and then to pick between the gazillion options out there and what's the best/safest one to choose?  How do you know?  What's just a gimmick and what's for real?  It's crazy out there.

Some of the biggest news is that we purchased our crib and ordered our dresser!!  The crib was almost a disaster to try to get home - it didn't fit in the back of my full sized SUV!  I couldn't believe it!  It takes a pretty big box to not fit inside the back but there was no way it was going in.  So they got us some rope and we did a bang-up job tying a ton of knots to secure it to my roof-rack. I canNOT wait to put them together.  I'm in love with them.  So pretty.  The crib will become a toddler bed, day bed, and full sized head and footboard as well.  They truly are gorgeous!  We got an awesome deal too - between the two pieces we saved $200 with a $100-off coupon plus a 10% off coupon that worked on your entire purchase when you add to your registry in-store. 

Now THERE'S a story - adding to our registry.  Doesn't seem like something that would imply a story,  right?  Yeah.  So we spend like an hour and a half

walking around with the little registry gun and wound up adding about 54 items.  We go to turn in our gun and the registry they print out and hand us?  ISN'T OURS!!!  They programed the wrong registry into our gun so we'd just spent all this time adding things to someone else's registry!  The "good" news was that this other girl's due date was in 2009 so it wouldn't affect hers, but we wound up having to sit at the registry desk, checking off each item we thought we added to the registry so that someone could manually add it to ours.  The confusion came when she found someone with the same name living in MA.  I apparently set up the registry under Nikki and not Nicole.  And the fact that this chick's due date was last year didn't register I guess.  So yeah.  Craziness.  And definitely NOT something that happens when you register for stuff online!!  lol.

Other things going on with me are that after my last midwife appointment we decided that I would get an upper abdominal ultrasound to screen for gallbladder problems.  I've been having this awful ache way high in my right ribs, right under my boob, that seems to start after eating.  I have it every day, usually multiple times a day, and have since just before Christmas so definitely been a while at this point.  The thing with the appointment is that it's supposed to be an 8 hour fast beforehand which obviously makes for some cranky pregnant ladies if the appt is not in the morning.  I was supposed to have it scheduled on the 28th at 2 in the afternoon but because of a scheduling snafu it is now scheduled for Feb 4th instead and now it'll be at 7:30 in the morning which of course is much better in terms of fasting.  I'm fairly convinced at this point it's NOT a gallbladder issue as the pain does not fluctuate in intensity or frequency based of the fat content of what I'm eating.  I can get it after a bowl of chicken soup or salad the same as I do after a burger and fries.  Nothing is different about it.  My hypothesis is that my stomach has squashed up into a bad spot and presses in on my ribs when it expands with food and that is causing the pressure/pain.

Also!  We started our birthing classes!  I randomly happened to contact a local Bradley class instructor to find out when her next session was going to start on Friday the 15th, and come to find out it was supposed to start that Monday the 18th!  There was some snow on the 18th and so the first class was postponed until this past Monday the 25th.  It's at the instructor's house in Newburyport and there are 3 other couples in this session.  I'm the second earliest due date in the class!  That's something.  The first class was good - I'm actually the only one giving birth in a hospital setting though!  Two couples are using the free-standing birth center in Stratham, NH that I was going to look into if I didn't like Anna Jacques at our tour, and the other couple is having a homebirth.  It's costing us $350 and classes will be once a week for two hours and last 12 weeks.  I've heard so many good things about how Bradley classes really help a couple have a natural birth and so I'm hoping it really works out for us as well.

22 Weeks - First Outside Kicks!

22 weeks and on Friday 1/15 I saw my very first "outside kicks"!  Movement has still been very hit or miss - but I at least feel a few "somethings" every day now - mostly after eating I can count on it.  Most are little movements - presumably buffeted by the anterior placenta, and when I feel things it's off to the sides or top/bottom of the belly, but I definitely saw my shirt jump twice with two little kicks that day for the very first time!!  That was so fun.  It's happened a couple times since then when I've been watching and sitting quietly at work - I love it!  Poor Jeff still hasn't been able to feel her since we're both working and so there aren't a ton of chances for him and as it is, the movements you can feel from the outside are definitely fewer than the movements that I can feel from the inside still.  But hopefully soon!

We also spent the long weekend making massive (in my opinion!) progress on nursery/baby decisions!  We made our first significant baby-related purchase - our glider!  It's cherry stained wood with 'fern' microfiber cushions.  Personally I think they look more tan than fern but I'll let them have it.  It's a Shermag locking glider so you can lock it from moving - which is a safety feature for curious toddler hands later on - but it will also lock in a variety of the gliding positions most notably the 'way back' glide so while it doesn't "recline" per se, it comes acceptably close.  We also got the glider/ottoman as a set that was on sale plus an extra MLK day sale, plus we had a 20% one item coupon that we used and returned the extra Snoogle that mom got me for Christmas with the cover so had $70 of store credit to use and in the end only had to spend $109 of our own money on the $300 glider.  Woohoo!!  Saving money is awesome.  :-)

While we were there, we also decided on what crib and dresser we are going to get and confirmed with my mom, who has said she'd buy our nursery furniture, that it was in her budget as it was a bit more expensive than some others.  But it's sooooo beautiful and will make an awesome full sized bed when the time comes.

Also, over the weekend, we finally picked a decorating style for the nursery and even purchased paint so there's no going back now!  This is a rough markup just using MS Paint to give the idea of our plan - so be kind!  The horizontal white line will be a white chair rail.  I think we're going to measure so that the green stripe is equal to the width of the light and dark purples together.  Or maybe the green with the white stripes is equal to the two purples..not sure yet..we haven't done our measuring and marking yet.  But we have oak stained woodwork in that room for baseboard trim, windows, and doors (of which there are FIVE!!) so while I hated the idea of a stained wood colored chair rail, I didn't think I could get away with doing a white one if I didn't add white into the paint scheme somehow.  Hence the white with our stripes.  Fingers crossed it comes out as nice as it looks in my head.  :-)

We also *finally* started registries.  They are nowhere near finished though.  We opened a universal registry on Amazon which is great because they have a lot more things that we want than Babies R Us does, and most times you can get free shipping over $25, plus you can add things from other websites that aren't even sold by Amazon which is a cool feature.  With the added bonus that many things available at both BRU and Amazon are significantly cheaper at Amazon, and I'm sold.  But I understand that people like to shop "in-store" for things so still have things on the BRU registry, and we plan to put more little things on that one once we get back to the store and walk around with the registry gun.  My mom booked our shower for March 14th at the Summit View Banquet House so we realized it was definitely time to start getting our registry together.

All-in-all it was definitely a week of progress!

21 Weeks - Not Too Much New..

I now get comments from random people that don't know me about being pregnant and when am I do, etc.  There is no more question for the general populace and people at work are more comfortable asking me about it.  Yay for the pregnant belly!  :-)

There's not much else happening aside from that.  Things are pretty status quo.  Still trying to decide on nursery decor/paint style, still trying to decide on a bedding set, and still haven't set up a registry.  Lol..  Soon though!  Soon!  And I am at least making progress on deciding things on the nursery - I at least have most of the decisions narrowed down to two or three options which is way good for me, ya know?  But a big motivator is realizing how quickly the first half of this pregnancy went, and guessing that it will be time before I know it and I'm starting to get antsy to have things 'ready' even though I logically know I have plenty of time.

Our newborn diaper stash is pretty much complete at this point and I succeeded in purchasing *everything* used.  Some is purchased second hand but unused so actually new but at a reduced price, and others are used in excellent condition etc.  We need to start practicing the prefold folds - but first I have to order us a package of snappis otherwise our attempts are pretty pointless.  I've got some stuffed animals that are a good size for us to use to practice on.  I may get a few more dipes for the next stage but also want to wait and see what works for us and our specific baby before getting a ton of any one kind in larger sizes.

I've been feeling little twitches and flutters more and more this last week - I'm hoping this means I'll start feeling *real* movement soon.  I definitely know these are baby movements that I'm feeling - I notice them frequently after eating and often multiple times a day now as opposed to one or two one day and nothing for another few days or more.  I wish I had a little window to my tummy to say hi to her, and see what she's doing.  My books tell me that she is getting sleeping and waking cycles of a typical newborn at this point and some research suggests that she's starting to set her own internal clock based on my eating and sleeping habits along with levels of light and noise.  *crossing fingers* my regimented schedule makes for a well adjusted baby at birth!  hahahaha..  I'm sure you more experienced readers are laughing at my hopefulness right now.  :-)

Next midwife appointment is the 19th at 22 weeks.  I'll be meeting Jodie this time - I haven't met her at all yet so this will be good.  Ideally I'd like to at least meet all the midwives in the practice as any one of them could be working when I deliver and that's the kind of person I am.

20 Weeks = HALF WAY THERE!

I cannot believe I'm halfway there.  The first half of this pregnancy flew by faster than I ever would have believed.  It only stands to reason the last half will too which means time to get our butts in gear and get this place ready for our bean!

I had my repeat ultrasound, everything missing was accounted for and measured and checked out great.  10 fingers, 10 toes, 4 (right?) chambers in the heart.. it was neat but this tech was all business and there to get her pictures and be done.  The last thing she needed to get was the right hand and our little girl was playing hard to get holding that hand behind her head for the whole time.  I had to keep flipping from one side to the other before she FINALLY woke up and started moving around and stuck her hand out.  we didn't really get much for pictures this time - three only.  two of the face in raptor mode (which was slightly less raptor-ish because of the gain in bits of fat happening now) and one of the foot.  Jeff wasn't able to go to this one and was sorely disappointed in my spoils.  :-(  I wish they would have gotten a picture of - after she started moving around and got her hand from behind her head - she had both hands out together then started grabbing for her feet.  It was *so* cute.  But alas.

So obviously I'm continuing to grow ever bigger.  The 'secret' is officially out at work now which is nice.  I've been feeling pretty good - except for a pain under my right ribs that comes and goes but typically seems to come most often after I've eaten.  My real guess is that it's gas, but I can't help but be concerned that it's something gallbladder related just because of my previous issues with IBS and GERD.  What's left to go wrong in my digestive system, ya know?  lol.  But 'hopefully' it's just an issue of trapped gas and a full stomach pressing on my ever crowded organs all stuffed up into my chest.  Poor organs.  My next midwife appt is on the 19th so I'll bring it up then unless it becomes intolerable before then.  Sometimes it's worse than others and when it's not as bad it's easier to shrug it off as nothing.

We are continuing to formulate a plan for the nursery - slowly starting to make real decisions though everything is still a 'rough draft' in my mind.  It's still progress though.  I've been doing research in my down time on cribs and bedding and gliders and monitors and tons of other stuff.  We STILL haven't actually created our registries, but are getting closer to doing so every day.  Mom and I are starting to discuss plans for the shower for sometime in March.  Once we set a date for that, it will definitely provide fuel for the fire to get me into getting everything registered for and all that.  I have lists on paper, but nothing 'official' yet.  Definitely time to get on that!

19 Weeks: Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 everyone!  Nothing too interesting over here in week 19.  Still not feeling much movement, tummy still getting bigger.  I did 'come out' to my boss over the week finally - though it was obvious to everyone but him.  We'd told the HR people expecting them to say something to him but I don't think it ever happened.  He asked if we'd be drinking in excess for NYE and I was like um, I'm pregnant???  lol..  And being a man he was of course like "I knew that, I know that.. I just forgot..  Yeah so you can't drink huh.. "  He was so flustered though I tooootally don't believe he knew though he suspected.  He'd been on vaca for almost 2 weeks and by the time he was back the tummy was pretty apparent (as you can see).  Very amusing.

Follow-up ultrasound is coming up on the 6th.  I like seeing our little girl but am hoping she lets them get the peek they need at the remaining anatomy just so we're sure everything is good.  I'll be halfway at that point!  It's so crazy.

We're starting to try and plan out the nursery (in my brain at least) and have basically picked colors - purple, green and white in muted pastel shades.  I feel like it's this monumental decision, picking how to decorate the nursery.  Plus we have FIVE DOORS in that room - FIVE!!!!  And they're all stained wood that I will want to be white instead.  This will be a monumental undertaking that is currently giving me nightmares.  ugh.  ::shudders::

I'm also finally starting to look into doing a registry.  I'm thinking the Amazon Universal Registry for most things - as I understand it, you can put things from any website on it and the purchaser marks off that they've gotten that item.  This will allow people to see what we want and have an option on where to buy it but be free to get it wherever they want and just mark off they got it.  SOOO much better in my opinion.  I'll still do Babies R Us for some things - probably basics..  But honestly so many things are reeeally a lot cheaper on Amazon than BRU.  The monitor I was looking at is $30 cheaper, the Arm's Reach Cosleepers are like $40 cheaper...  I mean people can buy wherever's easier for them but I'd hate people 'having' to buy from BRU knowing that it's cheaper elsewhere ya know?  So hopefully that will work out for everyone.  Amazon is pretty well known and my hope is that everyone is either able to go online and check it out themselves or knows someone else who can and could print it out for them so they could pick what they wanted and where to get it and then have the person check it off for them.