26 weeks

Well, the second trimester is winding down, and I'm starting to find myself slowing down as well. This week I have been sooooo tired. I think part of it is that I've started waking up a lot more at night. I usually can just roll over and fall right back asleep, but it's long enough to disrupt my rest. Plus, activities that normally wouldn't have fazed me in the past are now leaving me totally drained. I guess this just comes with the territory. I still can't bring myself to nap, which is probably what I should be doing. I'm just not a good napper. Hopefully the babe will be better than I am in that area...

So I'm in full-on countdown mode now. I literally manufacture ways to count down days, weeks, milestones, etc. This is not new to the pregnancy; I've always been really aware of approaching events and slightly obsessed with marking the passage of time until those events arrive. Here are some of my latest countdown observations related to this pregnancy.

• We have less than 100 days until my due date. Going from triple digits to double digits seems like a big deal.
• I have fewer weeks of work from now until my due date (11 weeks, when adjusted for Thanksgiving and Christmas break and other days off) than I have already worked so far this school year (12 weeks, including teacher planning)
• Stewart only has 3 more rotations until my due date (and these rotations go by so fast!)
• Last week I bought a new bottle of pre-natal vitamins, and realized that I have exactly enough vitamins to last me until January 31st. So now my vitamin bottle gets to be my visual countdown reminder!
• Only 11 more weeks until I'm considered "full term". Obviously I'd like to make it to the end of January (although I might be singing a different tune around week 38 and 39), but I was three weeks early and look how well I turned out!
• 3 months and one week until my due date!

I've always been a good test taker.

Turns out I passed my glucose tolerance test, with flying colors. So no gestational diabetes for me! The cutoff for the blood glucose level is 139, and mine was in the 70's. I think this means I need to eat more ice cream, but Stewart assures me that this is not the case. Can't imagine why not!

25 Weeks

Is it bad that I left my gestational diabetes screening this morning and went directly to Krispy Kreme? I felt I deserved some sort of reward after getting up so early on a Saturday morning, chugging a nasty glucose drink (tasted like orange Gatorade with three times too much sugar), spending an hour and a half in a packed, uncomfortable waiting room, and then being stuck and drained of two vials of blood. I won't get the results for another three days or so, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be in the clear. And if not, at least I got my doughnuts before being deprived of all things that taste good.

As you can see, this month (weeks 25-28) the baby has moved up to the next fruit size. Did you know that an eggplant is a fruit? I always thought it was a veggie. This week the baby is starting to gain some of that baby fat that will make him so incredibly adorable. Supposedly the vocal folds have developed, and I may be able to start feeling him hiccup soon. Each week I can feel his kicks up a little higher (now a few inches above my belly button), even though my belly still seems to be sitting pretty low. My lower back is starting to give me a little bit more trouble. Friday was a teacher planning day, and I spent ALL day sitting at my desk doing paperwork. Each time I got up, I swear I did that stereotypical pregnant woman walk- one hand on my lower back, waddling just a bit, grimace on my face. I swear, it's too early for me to be doing that walk...

So after fighting this cruddy sickness for a week and a half with no improvement, I finally got on some antibiotics and hopefully will start feeling better ASAP. Sleep is quite elusive because I can't breathe out of my nose and sound like I'm trying to cough up a lung. I'm hoping not to cause the baby hearing loss with my hacking.

The name issue is starting to stress me out. We have it narrowed down to two likely choices, but can't seem to come any closer to a decision. It used to be fun to talk about hypothetical baby names, but to actually have to decide on one for our child is a lot of pressure. Neither Stewart or I are known for being great decision makers ("Whatever you want, honey", tends to be our both of our most common utterances.) So we basically keep going around in circles. I don't see us waiting until the baby is born to decide, because as much as I hate decisions I also hate being in limbo. So....anyone want to volunteer to name our baby? We reserve the right to veto.

This has been a pretty disjointed blog post, so I'll just go ahead and give you what you came for, the belly picture. Notice I'm wearing long sleeves....yay for the first real fall weather of the season!

Follow-up with the specialist

Today I went in for a follow-up ultrasound with the fetal specialist to make sure everything still looked ok. Stewart wasn't able to make it to this appointment, which was fine but strange, since I've gotten used to him being with me at every appointment. In a nutshell, everything looked great. The echogenic focus has gone away, and all the other measurements were good. I got to see some awesome close-up shots of the four chambers of the heart and the brain. Apparently at one point he yawned (the baby, not the doctor), but somehow I missed that. He wasn't in the greatest position to get many good pictures today, although at one point he did have his legs crossed at the ankles, which I just found irresistible. I guess he's just chillin' in there! They attempted to get a 4D shot, but apparently 24 weeks is the earliest they will even try for that, so it didn't come out too clear. He had his arm up blocking his face too, which actually was kind of a relief because I think the faces sometimes can look kind of scary on those 4D images.

Here's the picture of his crossed ankles. (I know you can't really see his toes, but I assure you it's just the angle of the shot...he has nice, long feet with gorgeous toes)


And here's the attempt at the 4D shot with his hand over his face.


According to the doctor, he weighs 1 lb 10oz. Quick, go find something in your house that weighs about a pound and a half (in my pantry it was a bag of new potatoes). Can you believe he's that heavy already??

24 weeks

I'm 24 weeks along today, and not much new to report. I ended up coming down with a cold or upper respiratory infection of some kind this week. Normally I wouldn't have gone to the doctor, but with all this scary flu talk I decided not to take any chances. They tested me for strep and the flu, both were negative. (Well, the strep was negative and they never called me back with the flu results, which I assume means it was negative as well.) When the nurse was getting all my intake info, she asked "And when was the first day of your last period?" When I said "April 25th" she kind of gave me this funny look, so I continued with "which makes me almost 24 weeks pregnant." She acted shocked. "I never would have known," she exclaimed. Sigh. And I was feeling like I actually looked pregnant that day.

I'm still in research mode for baby gear, since I'm trying to get the registries settled. In big ticket items, we're leaning toward the Chicco Keyfit infant carseat with the Maclaren Easy Traveler stroller frame, and then the City Mini stroller when he outgrows the infant seat. This week I've spent lots of time thinking about baby carriers/wraps, so thanks to those of you who have already weighed in on that topic. Anyone else who has opinions or experience, feel free to chime in. The front runners include:
A Moby-style wrap like this one from Etsy seller LoveyDuds


An asian-style baby carrier like this Baby Hawk


and a soft-structured carrier like the Beco Butterfly


All a bit pricey, but I keep hearing that many others (even the Baby Bjorn) can get really uncomfortable on the back and shoulders. I have issues with my shoulders (carry lots of tension there) that tend to lead to migraines, so I know I need something that's going to be supportive and evenly distribute the baby's weight.

So.....since I'm more than halfway through the second trimester and haven't done my little pregnancy survey, I figured I should go ahead and do it. Here ya go!
How far along? 24 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Believe it or not, around 20 lbs. Eeek.
Maternity clothes? Absolutely. Also loving my new yoga pants from Target, whenever I'm hanging around the apartment.
Sleep: Not too bad, actually. I even occasionally make it through the night without getting up to pee.
Best moment this week: Non-baby related, but I think it had to be Jim & Pam getting married! (I know technically this happened last week, but we just watched it last night.) I literally sobbed.....thanks a lot pregnancy hormones- or maybe I'm just a sap. My favorite line was right at the end: "The boat was actually Plan C, the church was Plan B, and Plan A was marrying her a long time ago. Pretty much the day I met her."
Movement: Dance Party USA is going on in my uterus.
Food cravings: Just pumpkin stuff, but I think that's more fall-related than pregnancy-related.
Gender: Boy!
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? Still very much in....maybe it will stay that way.
What I miss: Nothing really!
What I am looking forward to: Looking obviously pregnant, even to people who don't know me.
Weekly Wisdom: I'm currently lacking in the wisdom department.
Milestones: A big increase in viability occurs this week! Meaning if I went into labor this week, the baby would have a 50%-70% chance of surviving (as opposed to the 20%-35% chance if born week 23 or earlier.) Obviously I'm planning on keeping the little one in there for a good 16 more weeks, but it's pretty amazing that his body is developed enough to have a chance for making it.

AND finally, it's belly picture time! Here I am, modeling my one purchase from the Seaside garage sale last weekend!


And a front shot. I just loved the print, and figured even if I didn't wear it more than once or twice, maybe I can make something out of the fabric someday.

Random Tuesday thoughts....

I apologize if none of this is of interest to anyone else....

• Is it possible for a baby to be TOO active?? Seriously, the last few days have convinced me that we're going to have a wild man on our hands.
  
• I've pretty much decided to get the H1N1 vaccine, after much consideration. If I didn't work in a school, I might have made a different decision. Now that the media is saying that vaccines should be available to the high-risk populations this week (like pregnant women with asthma), I can't get any information about getting one around here! My primary care physician (and I use the term "my" loosely, since I've only seen him once) said they are not likely to get any. The health department doesn't have any and doesn't know when they are going to get any. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and get my regular flu shot, just in case it takes a while to find an H1N1 vaccine. And in case you were wondering, yes, there have been cases of H1N1 at my school. So far not as widespread as they were anticipating, but it's still early in the season...
• I switched to a new OB/GYN just before I got pregnant, mainly because my former OB doesn't deliver at the local hospital that has a NICU. Well I'm glad I switched when I did because this morning I saw a commercial for a new medical weight loss center, and the physician they have on staff is the doctor I used to go to! So I guess I would have had to switch anyway, since he seems to have had a bit of a career shift.
  

23 weeks

Sorry I'm a couple days late; we were gone most of this weekend and I just now feel caught up enough with laundry, meal planning, and grocery shopping to sit down and type out a post. We're doing great, and baby continues to be a bundle of energy. The evenings are definitely his most active time, and we can now see my belly move when he gives a particularly big kick. It makes me laugh really hard every time it happens. It's such a weird feeling, to watch my own body move without doing it of my own volition!

I had my monthly doctor's appointment last week. It was a quick checkup, with just the basic weigh-in, pee in a cup, and listen to the heartbeat. The doctor said everything sounds good, but he's on the fence about whether or not I'm gaining weight too quickly. Guess I need to start being a little bit more careful about my calorie intake, and get back to some sort of exercise. We went for a nice long walk last week that I know was good for me, but the heat and humidity has kicked back in this week so I've been hesitant to head back out. I have to go for some sort of glucose tolerance test in a few weeks, I think to see if I'm developing gestational diabetes. I believe it's a routine test that the majority of women get at this stage in pregnancy, not just because my doctor thinks I'm a porker.

So after the shattering of my body image, at least something positive did come out of that appointment (besides knowing that the baby is doing well, of course.) At check-out I put my name in a drawing for a free mommy-to-be facial, and the office called me today to tell me that I won! Yay! I never win anything! It's been forever since I've had a facial, so I'm really looking forward to some pampering.

So here's this week's belly shot, on location at Seaside. We went for the semi-annual Seaside garage sale and some outlet shopping in Destin. Thanks for my mom-in-law for the maternity outfit and the for adding to the growing stash of adorable baby clothes!