32 weeks 1 day

A jicama. WTF is a jicama?

Still not sure what it is, but apparently that's what it looks like.

the goober is approximately 3.75 lbs and 16.5 inches long...taking up more space in there every day. He'll gain about 1/3 to 1/2 of his birth weight in the next 7 weeks, getting all fat and sassy and ready to be born. He's got hair and fingernails and toenails and is pretty much just concentrating on putting on weight.

My blood pressure is looking good and very consistent throughout last week, so that is good. Dr. George told me to lay down for about 20 mins every two hours to help with the water retention and the swelling, so I am now under doctor's orders to nap at work. He said it'll help me feel a lot better and also make sure that I can stay working as long as possible.

I am feeling pretty good most of the time, just tired and out of breath pretty much constantly.

5-8 weeks to go!

31 weeks, 1 day

4 navel oranges. so he's rounded, but very lumpy.

He's about 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 pounds. He's putting on weight and filling out quickly at this stage and moving around like crazy.

I had a good appointment yesterday, my blood pressure was a bit high so Dr George asked me to monitor it for the next week and keep a log (I borrowed a home BP cuff from a friend at work) and it was much lower today, so I must have just been stressed out or something yesterday! I have another appointment next week to go over the results from this home monitoring.

We also talked about the whole procedure of what to do when the show gets on the road (call the clinic or the hospital if it's after hours, they will page him. Both numbers are now in my cell phone. I may also have a secret weapon....he's Matt's neighbor, so I possibly have access to his actual phone number if I need it. I shouldn't need it. They do this stuff a lot.) and went over my (incredibly vague) birth plan a little bit. He said that most birth plan checklists seem to come from the 50s...they don't do a lot of the stuff that used to be done as routine; i.e. take the baby to another room for newborn procedures, episiotomies, etc. It seems like St. John's is very flexible and definitely wants each mom to have her own experience and not overly control everything, so that sounds just great.

Another belly pic from Dillon -



6-9 weeks left!

30 weeks, 1 day

This week the goober is a head of cabbage.

He weighs approximately 3 lbs and is almost 16 inches long. His eyes are continuing to develop, but will not be very good until....well, considering his genes, he'll have good eyesight when hell freezes over.

It seems like he's probably getting more cramped in there, it seems like every movement I feel now is a big one. The other morning he had jammed his foot up almost against my ribs, Nate and I could both feel a hard little lump where his heel was poking through. I think I've started having the Braxton-Hicks contractions as well; I don't feel anything happening unless I happen to touch my stomach and it's super hard in there. It's very odd. I'd imagine as they get stronger I'll start to feel them more.

We've started the baby classes at the hospital; the first one was pretty fun! I even know a couple of people in the class, which is nice. The next one is all about pain management options and the hospital tour - it's definitely the one I'm most looking forward to.

My glucose tolerance test came back normal, so I do not have gestational diabetes, hooray!

A picture from our trip to dillon the other month that I really like....




10 (or 7, or somewhere in between) weeks to go...

29 weeks

he's a squash this week!

the goober is about 2.5 lbs and a little over 15 inches and I'm pretty sure he's a soccer player. Or perhaps into karate. he's very busy in there, whatever it is he's doing. Maybe he's knitting! I hope he doesn't bring the needles out with him.

I noticed the first stretch marks on my stomach yesterday, whaaaaaaaa. The good news is they are very faint and not very long; I'm going to cling to the hope that they'll fade away immediately after delivery.

Nate and I have been busy rearranging the house - we had been living with our friend Jim for this past year or so and he just moved out on Wednesday...we got to set up our (AWESOME) new couch and coffee table and lovely shag rug and are going to work on hanging up some artwork and moving the office into its new, bigger room tonight. I got most of our closet moved last night and just need to transfer my bathroom goodies to the new bathroom and that'll pretty much be my contribution to the move...it's pretty hard to contribute when most of the items being moved are large and so am I...*snort*.

I think I may be a little slap happy today.

11 weeks to go! Although technically I'll be full term at 37 weeks, so it could be as little as 8 weeks. Yikes!

28 weeks

According to Dr. George, I am almost too healthy to need to come in and see him. Almost. :) Generally this is about the time I'd switch to going in every two weeks (I'm currently at the doctor every 4 weeks) but he recommended 3 weeks, so that's what I'm doing.

The booger was doing great, he didn't seem to happy about the doppler thingy moving around on my belly as he got very active as the nurse was trying to get his heartrate...there were huge squeals of static every time he kicked it. His heart rate was within the normal range and Dr. George said I am measuring right on target for my due date.

The gremlin currently weighs about 2 lbs 4 oz or so (he's a chinese cabbage this week) and is about 14.8 inches long from the top of his head to his heels. He must be folded right in half in there! He has eyelashes and may be able to see light filtering in through the uterine wall.

I'm feeling pretty good most of the time; I'm starting to have more trouble sleeping as my hips are getting more and more sore the more time I spend on my side. It's mostly ok though - I'll have a few bad nights and then be so tired that I sleep like a rock for about 12 hours and feel great for the next day or two.

12 weeks to go!

27 weeks

hellllloooooooo third trimester! whoooooooo!!!!

the goober now weighs about 2 lbs (like a cauliflower is the example they gave on babycenter.com - what is it with the food comparisons?) and is approximately 14.5 inches from head to heels. he's sleeping and waking at regular intervals and opening and closing his eyes, maybe even sucking on his fingers at this point.

he's practicing breathing, and may actually be able to breathe in the outside world with some heavy medical assistance if necessary (which it won't be). all the breathing often leads to hiccups as his diaphragm develops, so that will be fun.

not much else to report at this point - i feel pretty good other than the ridiculous fall allergies i seem to have developed. it just doesn't seem fair to get them in the spring AND the fall.

we're going to start setting up the nursery over the next few weeks....i'll finally get to nest! hooray!!

13 weeks to go....wow.

25 weeks

just got back from a checkup with dr. george and everything is going well. I've put on about 10 lbs over the past 5 weeks, but considering I only put on about 4-5 in the previous 8 weeks i think it's ok.

the goober is about 13.5 inches long and weighs about a pound and a half (which is apparently how much a rutabaga weighs - who knew?). If we could see him we'd be able to tell his hair color and he's starting to fill out a little bit. I think most of what he'll be doing in the next 3.5 months is packing on some weight - he's already reached 65% of his length but only about 20% of his birth weight. madness!

Yoga yesterday was great, it felt really good to stretch out a bit. She kept up a great pace, too - if it's too slow i tend to get bored and look at the clock a lot, so it was great to keep moving.