Boring Week 27

Wow, the baby has been really active the last few days. I think he has decided he likes to chill in front rather than in the back where I can't feel it. I am not sure when he sleeps. He often wakes me up moving around and as far as I can tell he never really mellows out. I really hope me feeling sick doesn't affect him, but I am sure all of the sneezing, coughing, etc bothers him since it makes me stomach contract. Luckily I haven't had any more severe Braxton Hicks contractions, just a few little ones here and there. I am torn between really liking feeling him move and just wanting him to calm down for a few minutes. He is also really squirmy, and I am not a huge fan of that feeling in general, it is gross feeling, like he is slimy and slithery. I like it better if he just kicks or flips, even though it sort of hurts sometimes. I just hope I feel better soon so that I can pay more attention to him.

Baby's lungs are going through some major developments these days, which (combined with the opening of previously plugged nostrils) means he's now able to practice inhaling and exhaling. The lack of air in your womb means every "breath" is filled with amniotic fluid, but hey -- it's progress.
Your baby weighs about two pounds and is about 12 to 15 inches long, about the size of a small pot roast. If your baby were born now, he would have an excellent chance (85 percent) of surviving. He still isn't fully formed and would probably not be able to breath by himself. He would need to stay in an incubator to keep his body temperature regulated, and he would have a weak liver and immune system. (Fact: Babies have more taste buds at birth than they will have later in life. Newborns can sniff out and tell the difference between their mother's milk and someone else's.)

The weight of your baby is putting pressure on your back, which can cause shooting pains (sciatica) in your lower back and legs. Lifting, bending, and walking can make the pain worse. Warm baths, ice packs, and changing positions may help. The volume of your amniotic fluid is reduced by about half. With less cushioning blocking the view, you'll be able to see bony knees and elbows poking out of your stomach when the baby kicks and turns. As you grow, you may start to see stretch marks on your breasts and abdomen. You may also have a hard time bending over and tying your shoes. Your heart rate may have increased, causing you to feel flush and look winded with less exertion.

Trimesters

Trimesters in pregnancy are a giant scam. Or really bad math. Women are pregnant for an average of 40 weeks. That includes the two fake weeks at the beginning. Mathematically that is 13.3 weeks each, or 93.3 days each. It isn't like that though, at all. I totally understand this in the first trimester. Developmentally, the baby changes from an embryo to a fetus and major organs are formed. Medically this is significant. Women start to feel a little better, hormones stabilize, the chance of miscarriage significantly decreases and the baby can take more because risk to the brain and other organs is significantly decreased. So, I get the 12 week mark (even if you aren't even pregnant for two of those weeks). That leaves 28 weeks. Logicially, that should make the third and second trimesters 14weeks long. But it doesn't. Why? I have no idea. I have done a ton of research and there is nothing special that happens at 28 weeks that doesn't happen at 26. Nothing for mom or baby. In fact, there isn't even consensus on when the damn third trimester happens. Some things say I am already in the third trimester, but not my book or doctor. They say 28 weeks. Why do we say the third trimester starts at 28 weeks! This really frustrates me. It is just illogical. The third trimester should start at 26.6 weeks or at 26 weeks, but no, it doesn't. Lame. Oh well. My belly grows inches (literally) every day. It is getting huge. I had a really cute pic, but I accidentally deleted it. I took more. Here I am at almost 27 weeks, which is a completely uneventful week in pregnancy.

Possibly the Whiniest Post Ever

OMG I feel like shit. I cannot believe how horrible being sick is when you are pregnant. I had no idea. Yesterday I felt pretty bad starting around mid-morning. But I sucked it up and worked all day. By mid-afternoon I was thankful that I did not have kids at school because I don't think I would have made it. I went out for drinks with some co-workers from a previous job that I really wanted to see. Some of them I hadn't seen since Welby closed, so I was excited to see them and went even though I didn't feel well. On the ride home I started to feel really sick again. What is hilarious is that I just have a cold. I don't have flu or anything. I am not even that sick. I have a horrible stuffy nose, headache, my throat hurts and body soreness--more skin soreness, which is really common for me. In fact, my skin hurting has always been my complaint when I am sick. That is it. I don't even have a cough. If I breath really deep it hurts. Yet I am miserable. I may even be more miserable than when I had pneumonia, because when I had pneumonia the fever would make me delirious, I would choke down some pills, the fever would break and I would pass out for 4-6 hours, just to be awoken by the fever again. I literally just slept for three days during the worst of it. It was way more scary, and I totally felt like shit, but I was asleep.

Since I am pregnant I can't take anything. I get 325mg of Tylenol every 4-6 hours. That is nothing. So my headache, body aches and everything just remain. In addition to this loveliness, if I drink anything, including water, I get heartburn. Like all illness, it gets worse at night, so last night I was miserable trying to sleep. All of the pressure from blowing my nose was pushed into my ear causing a massive earache. Apparently that is normal too, but I have never had it. Advice online? Don't sleep on your side. What the hell am I supposed to do? I can't sleep on my belly, or my back, and now not my side. So I tried to sleep in the recliner down stairs and keep my head propped up with pillows, but now my back hurts like hell. My ear is better though, so that is good, at least it isn't a bacterial infection. Mostly I am just so tired because laying down causes heartburn or backache, so I am just trying to stay up until tonight when I can hopefully sleep. I suppose I need to eat something for gigantore, all I have eaten today is a bagel and fruit smoothie (both of which I regretted immediately due to the heartburn).

However, the most fun of all of this is the sneezing fits. If I am sitting down and I sneeze I am fine, which is good since I can't really lay down. However, if I am laying down to standing up and my body is extended the sneezing fits cause Braxton-Hicks contractions. For real. I was worried about it, but I looked it up. Sneezing can even cause labor if you are really ready to have the baby anyway. Crazy. It is just the force. But regardless, feeling like shit and having contracts sucks. Ohhhh, I feel like shit. Oh well, at least it isn't stomach flu or influenza.

26

Holy crap, I only have 14 weeks left! Less than 100 days. Shit!! I am feeling better overall because Colorado is no longer in the middle of an arctic cold front that prevents me from being outside for more than 10 minutes unless I want frostbite. Literally. I guess it was actually less than two minutes for exposed skin the other day. Don't get me wrong, I love not having to work because it is too freaken cold to heat our ancient building and kids cannot wait for buses, but it also means you have to stay inside. I get really depressed without the sun, and vitamin D isn't really the answer. So this weeks high 50s and Colorado's plentiful sunlight makes me a much happier person.

I am definitely getting HUGE and that is hard. Growing so fast is hard on your body--your bones, muscles, ligaments--really everything, are just not prepared for it. My belly hurts all the time, and the round ligament pain is sort of ridiculous. I also eat all of the time and am gaining the amount of weight I am supposed to in a month EVERY WEEK. However, I only have 14 weeks left, so I can do anything for three months.In baby news, he is finally a new fruit and is the size of an eggplant.
Baby's soaking up your antibodies, getting her immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and she'll soon be practicing the blink...perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes. Your baby weighs about 1 1/2 pounds and has undergone a growth spurt in the past few weeks. From weeks twenty to twenty-eight, he almost doubles in height and now would be about a foot tall if he could stand. This week marks a major milestone in your baby's hearing and sight. Your baby's hearing system (cochlea and peripheral sensory end organs), which began fine development during week eighteen, is now completely formed, and over the next few weeks, he'll become increasingly sensitive to sound. In about a month, you'll feel him jump if he hears a sudden loud noise. Sound passes easily into your uterus, which helps her ears develop. His eyes are almost fully formed. Did you know that all babies have blue eyes in the womb, no matter what their genetic inheritance is? A baby's eyes don't get their final color until a few months after they are born. The air sacs of the lungs, called alveoli, will be developed by the end of this week and will begin to secrete a substance called surfactant that keeps the lung tissue from sticking together.

In mama news:
Don't panic if your uterus suddenly starts tightening and relaxing -- Braxton Hicks contractions often begin around this time. They're simply your body's way of practicing and preparing for labor. (If the contractions are regular or particularly painful, call your doc just to be sure it's not the real thing.) Sleeping is definitely getting uncomfortable. Try sleeping on your left side. Your baby has to battle with your backbone when you're lying on your back, and sleeping on your back will also position your uterus over a major artery, cutting off blood flow. Between now and the next three weeks, you may be tested for gestational diabetes with a glucose tolerance test. This test requires you to fast for twelve hours and then drink a glucose-rich liquid usually in the form of a syrupy orange-flavored drink. After an hour, a blood sample is taken. If you do have gestational diabetes, you'll be advised to adopt a low-carbohydrate diet. Gestational diabetes is a temporary condition, which goes away after the baby is born.

Peeing made difficult

Yeap, that is really what this post is about--this may be a post to avoid, but my blog is about adventures with procreation, and this definitely counts. Peeing has become an adventure. First of all, there is very little room in the bottom of my belly, which means the baby is constantly pressing against my bladder. In the middle of the night, when I need to roll over because my arm is asleep or whatever, the baby is also pulled by gravity right on top of my bladder, so I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee, every time I roll over, seriously, every time, even if I remember and immediately roll back over. It is too late. Secondly, when the baby is awake and head up, he enjoys kicking it, which feels very similar to having a bladder infection, except it is intermittent. It is this insane feeling of "I need to go THIS INSTANT" but then it is gone, and you are left with an odd feeling of not really understanding your body. I think this serves the double purpose of making mom's realize what it is like when they try to potty train too early and a child really does need to go "THIS INSTANT," the other purpose is lost on me. Luckily, the baby likes to chill transverse in general, so this is less frequent than it could be. Finally, when I actually go pee, I can't. There is NO pressure. It is like all of the muscles forgot how to work. I pee in a very unsatisfying trickle. I cannot seem to make it work better, and I have to move around and push on my belly to even fully empty my bladder. So I pee for like 10 seconds at a time, rearrange, then do it again. I guess there is something in there that the baby can lay on. I should have paid more attention in anatomy. I have no idea how the baby can lay on so many things at once. So peeing is fun, and not peeing every 30 minutes is impossible.

Alien

I think the baby is trying to get out. I have been able to feel the baby move for a really long time, like 15 weeks or something. Mike has been able to feel him since 18 weeks or so. However, it has always felt cool, now it feels....I don't know, like he is trying to come out through my belly! I think he grew a lot, I gained some weight and was really tired, and that may have been due to a growth spurt, but this is crazy. I think he is going crazy in there. I think he loves to flip around, not up and down, but traverse over and over. And I think he uses his legs and arms to propel him, so I just feel and see all of these things move as he turns. And I feel him on both sides at the same time, but not the top and the bottom. So weird. He pushes SO hard. My belly is just this weird lumpy mass and instead of feeling light movements it really does feel like something trying to escape. It doesn't hurt or anything, but it is not a "sensation" anymore, it is clearly a living being moving around in there. SO WEIRD!

Week 25?

I have been slacking on the blog front. It is exhibition time at school, which on top of a lot of other shit means that I work 7:30-7:30 most days, have no time to do anything at work and am generally stressed and exhausted. Exhaustion leads to mild depression for me, which makes me more exhausted. If I can sleep it off I am fine, but if I can't it gets worse. It also triggers insomnia. I am sure you see the catch 22 here. So, after posting about sleeping all the time I faced a week that entailed not sleeping, stress, exhaustion, a lot of crying and mild breakdown (or three). At least Mike is on nights :) Anyway, Friday night I crashed hardcore, I don't think pregnant Donna can do insomnia the same way (plus Mike was actually gone--I have a miserable time sleeping alone if he is here, but if he is at work I am usually okay). Anyway, I slept all day, went shopping with my mom and had dinner with Mike, just to go to bed at 8:30 and sleep another 12 hours. I woke up in a much better mood and opted to not spend my only day off (I am counting yesterday as mental recovery and NOT as a day off) cleaning. So I went baby shopping...

It didn't go well. For one, I am out of clothes because I didn't do laundry yesterday. So I wore my only remaining pair of maternity pants in my closet. It is a sad day folks, I have grown out of a pair of maternity pants. That cannot be a good sign. Anyway, I was super uncomfortable. I went to get a pedicure figuring the massage chairs would be nice, and they were, except my pants hurts my belly. Then I went to Home Depot to get some room stuff and got very hungry. So I blew $100 on some Martha Stewart organizational bins and came home, where I spent the next hour in my underwear eating roasted potatoes on blood oranges (not together).

Finally I went grocery shopping, in a comfy, albeit dirty, pair of large maternity jeans. I got general groceries and stuff for dinner tonight, that I suppose we will call Valentine's Dinner. Plus I made two pans to go in the deep freeze for when the baby arrives.

For our last Valentine's Day as single people this is what we are having:
Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells in a Pesto Cream Sauce
Romaine Salad with red onions, cucumber and avocado
Extra thick brownies with balsamic macerated strawberries and whipped cream

As far as baby goes (or went about 6 days ago):

That oh-so-handy sense of equilibrium is kicking in, and baby's learning to distinguish right side up from upside down.

Your baby weighs 1 1/4 pounds and is a little more than 11 inches long, about the size of a small bag of sugar. In the last third of pregnancy, he'll double and triple his weight. Your dexterous baby can touch and hold her feet and make a fist. Your partner may be able to hear his heartbeat by pressing his ear against your belly. Your baby has a regular sleep schedule now and active and inactive periods. You may or may not be able to discern what those periods are. his nostrils, which have been plugged, open up.

And in mama news (although thankfully this hasn't actually happened yet):

Got a dark line running down your belly? That's your linea nigra, and it's totally normal. Pregnancy hormones might also be making your complexion a little spotty. Switching to oil-free, water-based, noncomedogenic makeup should help clear things up.

Welcome to the third trimester! You're really in the homestretch now. While reaching the third trimester feels like great progress, with it comes a return to fatigue, dizziness, and constant trips to the bathroom. To relieve back, hip and leg pain now, try to keep walking, swimming, practicing yoga or doing any other nonweight-bearing activity. This also can help you recover faster physically after childbirth. To make sure you'll enjoy your baby shower, schedule it between weeks 30 and 36; you'll still be spry enough to enjoy it.

And my favorite piece of advice this week:

[ tip ] Skip the elaborate nursery decorations and spend the savings on an extra-comfy rocking chair. At 3 a.m., baby won't know the difference...but your back and bottom sure will.

Advantages of Being Pregnant

For the most part, being pregnant isn't very much fun. It is cool, in theory at least, but it isn't very fun. However, I have found an amazing side effect: sleep. For the last 12 years or so I have suffered from clinical insomnia. Not occasional sleeplessness, but chronic insomnia. I have tried homeopathic remedies and prescription sleep aids. I have come to terms with this. I know how many nights I can go without sleeping, what truely not sleeping for a whole night feels like as opposed to light drowsing and what the side effects of medically induced, almost comatose sleep can cause. I know when I can get away with taking a homeopathic option, and when I really need to just suck it up and take the Ambien. Some people have insomnia because they can't stay asleep, and I guess Tylenol PM works great for that. I have the kind that prevents you from falling asleep in the first place. Sometimes I wake up and can't go back to sleep, but usually I just don't sleep. Apparently developing this type of insomnia is common in pregnancy. It is caused by an inability to stop thinking. Or stressing. Or whatever. I don't have the ability to "table things" for later conversations. I cannot sleep if I am mad, or worried, or distressed or even nervous. Hell, I used to not be able to sleep if there were dishes unwashed in the sink. OCD, I know. Since being pregnant causes a lot of worry and stress for many women, I was nervous about this. Sleep aids are NOT approved during pregnancy. However, since about week 14, I have had no problems sleeping. I have slept better than I have in my entire life. I can sleep with or without Mike. Don't get me wrong, I still have a hard time not worrying all the time, but it seems that my body doesn't give a shit about my mind anymore, and pure exhaustion just takes over. Yesterday I laid down on the couch at 7:30 and woke up around 10:30, only because my dog was whining at me. I actually don't worry too much about being pregnant (also very odd for me) but even if I did, I think it would just sleep. I feel so sorry for these women that can't sleep because not sleeping and growing a baby would be enough to make me cry, all the time. But for me, I can easily sleep for 12 hours as long as I don't need to eat in that time period. Pure bliss.

We had our 24 week appointment today. It went really well. I like our doctor a lot so that helps. He is really laid back and his general attitude is that growing a baby is natural and there are lots of variations, so just go with it. I asked about protein intake, and he essentially said if anything our baby is on the big size, so I probably shouldn't worry about him growing. I asked about some mild cramps, he said sometimes they get really bad, sometimes not, don't worry about it unless I have other symptoms. I asked about rapid weight gain, he told me I was normal and just catching up from before. I asked about being tired and gestational diabetics, he said I would take the test next week, I could do it early if I wanted, but really, being pregnant makes some people tired, that I should sleep more. I like this approach. I am such a control freak that having a laid back doctor makes everything so much easier (and less stressful since I could easily take thing wrong). Other than that, they weighed me, took my pulse, and measured my belly. He is measuring about a week ahead of schedule. No biggie. Next time I have my glucose screen. Yuck.

However, I did take pictures today anyway. So here I am at 24 weeks in my favorite gray sweater that makes me more pregnant. You can tell on the middle one because you can see the granny part of my maternity jeans. I am definitely showing now.

Rach, this is proof I love you.

V Day

Yesterday was viability day, the day that medical personal will do everything they can to save a baby upon early delivery. Although the chance of survival is still really low, it is nice to know that theoretically gigantore could survive without me. Though I would really prefer if he stayed in until at least mid-May. Normally I would take a photo of myself to commemorate this event, but it is 0 degrees here and I am not taking off my sweatpants until I have to go to work. I do have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning though, so maybe I will get a belly photo in before then. I am definitely getting bigger very fast. I am starting to catch up and actually look like I may be 24 weeks pregnant. I need to slow down on this weight gain thing before I end up gaining too much.

What is up with baby?
Baby is still the size of a papaya. Baby's skin is becoming more opaque as the fat starts to pack on. And, thanks to the formation of small capillaries, his newly thick skin is taking on a fresh pink glow.Your baby weighs a little over a pound and is about 8 1/2 inches long. Your baby's skin becomes less translucent as pigment is deposited, and it looks wrinkly because her body is making her skin more quickly than it makes the fat to pad underneath it. Your baby's unique hand- and footprints are forming. You may feel jumps as she has bouts of hiccups. In fact, it may seem like the baby is in perpetual motion. Some babies now kick in response to sounds and touch from outside the womb. Encourage your partner to talk to the baby, and see if she kicks in response!

And the ever awesome list of great thing that happen to me:
Take a break from the computer if your fingers feel numb or tingly. It's probably carpal tunnel syndrome, often brought on by pregnancy. Stretch your hands frequently to loosen them up. For significant symptoms, try wrist braces or splints at nighttime. Your uterus is about 1 1/2 to 2 inches above your belly button, and your bump is definitely apparent and hard to disguise! You may be suffering from heartburn, muscle aches, sore feet, fatigue, and dizziness. Call your care provider if you feel dizzy often or if you faint; it may be a sign of anemia. Dizziness if often caused by low blood sugar or by standing up too fast. Rise slowly, and eat regularly.

But They're Just So Cute!

Gigantore already has a considerable wardrobe when you think about the fact that he doesn't even need clothes for another 16weeks! We generally don't buy anything in newborn sizes because he is estimated to be so big. I mean, what is the point, he isn't ever going to fit in any of them! However, the monkey outfit is just too cute! This is what he will come home from the hospital in. The T-Rex is baby gap and I just love it. It is so soft.

Then Target was having this huge sale, so we got some onesy's. I think they are cute. The first set is puppies, with paw prints and such, and the second is frogs. I like the frogs more, Mike likes the puppies. They are all 3+ months, so hopefully they will fit :) To be fair though, this isn't me. Mike is WAY worse about buying baby clothes than I am, he loves it!

This one was all me though, it has matching brown pants. I like it because he can wear the onsey around the house and the pants and sweatshirt if we go out at night. So cute!

Now we come to Mike's domain. I keep trying to tell him that the baby and us are going to want onesy's not button downs, but he loves these shirts. He says he will just leave them unbuttoned over a onesy. I think Mike likes having a mini-me. Our poor, preppy baby :) Actually, I think the red one looks like a lumberjack baby. Go cut some wood or something. Never mind we live in a townhome. And of course, the KU stuff begins. See, this is ALL Mike.

I, on the other hand, am obsessed with organized baby clothes. I HATE it when you go to dress a baby and there are a gazillion sizes and none of them fit. Some are too big, some are too small, you get it. It makes me nuts. The parents always know, but that doesn't help someone else. So I made these to hang in the closet to divide the clothes, when they get to small we will give them away, but we can keep the big ones handy in case he grows fast. Yet people who don't live here (like my mom) will easily be able to find a change of clothes that fits him properly.

Nursery Update

Mike and I have been working a lot on the nursery, and now I am concerned we may have too much stuff! Lol. Here are some images to help guide us. The first one is from the door and then it slowly goes in a circle.

We obviously still need curtains, and I want the curtains over the window to match the curtains on the closet. I am thinking a light brown/tan color, just because the room is already so busy. We have two valences that match everything else, they are really nice and are the exact width of the window, but I don't know what to do, I want real curtains to block light, and I am not sure it will look bad with the valence on top of the curtains. I want curtains that hang to the floor, not the find that fit inside the window, because I think it will balance the room better since the closet curtains will be to the floor. I just don't know.

We also have a lot more monkey decals to hang up, but I don't want to put them up until we get everything else settled. In the corner by the crib will be a rubber tree--for oxygen and decor. It was Mike's idea, I think it will look really nice to have a live tree in there. We still need to find room for a hamper, a wetbag and all of his toys! Eeek. We are putting those bins in the closet too, but we haven't gotten there yet. We bought all of the bedding off ebay and the dresser, glider and side table from craigslist. Oh, the glider is going though, it is the most uncomfortable thing ever. I do love the tree decal though, and the GORGEOUS blanket my mom made is on the chair.

Above the crib will be gigantore's name in letters that I made, each one with a different animal. I think I may have to redo the A because it looks like crap, and the I is missing the giraffe still (the store was out :( ) Other than that I like how it came out. It is HUGE and will take up the entire wall behind the crib, I think it is over 5 feet. Gulp.

I am also not exactly sure how to attach them to the wall....I think that is Mike's new responsibility, I made the damn things! :)

I also have all of these cute details, like the lamp and diaper hanger, but I have no idea what to do with them. I mean, the lamp okay, but the diaper hanger? I have no use for it, but it is SO CUTE! Plus we have crib bumpers, but I can't leave them in there when the baby comes, so I have no idea what to do about that. What else can you do with it?

The Joy of Cloth

I bought my first cloth diaper yesterday. I have been stalking Eco-Politan, a local cloth diaper store, but I haven't bought any because I am terrified I will spend all of this money and then they won't work with our son. But, I need SOMETHING when he gets here, so I bought some. I figure a little at a time will help the cost seem less. Diapers are expensive though. Like, really expensive. So, here is my first stash.

The two top ones are Thirsties Covers in newborn size. They fit babies 6-25 pounds (I think, maybe it is 18) and have three different rise options. Although M and I are both against velcro, the lady convinced me to get these two in velcro because it makes them even more adjustable. Next to them are Osocozy Indian cotton prefolds. These are the cheapest diapers ever, and I really like them. They are the old fashioned kind that people used before disposables. M is not at all into prefolds, but after intensive research I found that other diapers just don't fit newborns, not until they are about 6 weeks old. And the fitted ones made just for newborns are about $18-26 each and only last about 8-12 weeks. I am not spending that on 2 months. So, I will try the prefolds and used sized diapers only for night time. Here are two close-ups, the second one has a prefold inside, so it is how it will look when it actually goes on a baby instead of all flat.

Next up we have Best Bottom Diapers. I am SOLD on these. I love them, but I couldn't find them locally and I really wanted to support local business. Then I got a message on facebook saying my local store was offering them! I just hope gigantore likes them too. What I love about them is that they have double leg gussets, less chance for leaks. They are adjustable so they grow with baby which saves money, but they also have snap in inserts. Okay, so here is a quick lesson in cloth diapering. There are these diapers called pockets, they have a waterproof shell and a lining, then you stuff a pocket between these two layers with something. A prefold, a liner, whatever. Then when baby goes, the liners come out and you wash the whole thing. The advantage is that they get cleaner than just an all in one diaper (think disposable, but you wash it, it is just like that) and takes less time to dry. But, they are expensive and you still have to wash the whole damn thing. These are different. The liner snaps in so nothing touches baby but the $4 insert, baby goes, you pull it out and snap a new one in. So, I need WAY less covers and the inserts are same price as they are for pockets. As convenient, no. Less wasteful, yes. So, it is WAY cheaper (you can use a new liner every two hours at $4 a pop and one cover at $16 or you can use pockets at $16 each time), less wasteful (think about the laundry) just as easy since you have to stuff a pocket the other way and I LOVE the colors and prints. I only got two because I am trying to be reasonable here. The cow print is on the biggest setting, the chunky monkey (they all have icecream names to describe the color :) is on the smallest, that is a lot of growing! You can also see the double gussets on the chunky monkey.

Here is a close up of the snap on the insert and a pic of the chunky monkey with an insert in it, so again it looks like a real diaper instead of deflated one. The liners are four layers of cotton and a top layer of microfiber to help wick moisture away from baby.

And lost but not least, my sample of soap nuts! I need to wash all of my diapers, and my liners and prefolds three times before I can use them, so that is what I will be trying these babies on.

I think I am actually pregnant

Although I complain a lot, I have had a pretty easy pregnancy. Or I don't know, maybe not easy, but just not standard pregnancy hard. I was sick in my first trimester, but other than that my pregnancy has been pretty abnormal. I mean, I hid it from my students for over 20 weeks, and most of them were shocked. Most of my staff was shocked. I still am underweight (although that is changing fast), I don't really look 23 weeks pregnant, I haven't really been into nesting, I don't really want to eat anything. However, I am starting to actually feel like I am pregnant.

For one, gigantore moves all the time now, so that is a constant reminder. Most of the weight I have gained is in my belly, so when I look down it is round. It is getting hard to bend and stuff because pregnant bellies don't bend--I never really knew that, that fat bends, but baby belly doesn't, it makes sense, but I never thought about it. I also have food cravings. Or at least eating habits that different than normal and tend to be really unhealthy. Let's just say the sugar aversion is gone. About half of my facebook posts are about food now. I am also hormonally imbalanced and therefore moody. I have been pretty easy going so far but I feel like that is changing. I feel super emotional in general, which is more like me pre-pregnancy. I just feel like the melt downs are coming. And the nesting, and the immense, sudden, weight gain, and the ridiculous baby purchases. At least I am more than half way done, most people have this in the first trimester and it lasts all pregnancy. Now we only have to deal with 16 weeks of this nonsense. I think I will go eat some pickles since I already had a strawberry cheesecake spoonbender and see if anything makes me cry tonight and how many rice crispy treats I will get down while actually in bed.

Week 23

Pregnancy is weird. Well, I guess that is sort of obvious, but that isn't really what I meant. You try to hard to get pregnant and when you see those pink lines, or blue lines, or digital "pregnant" reading, or all of the above, it is hard to believe. At least for me. Then you have all of this pent up excitement that you can't share with anyone. Then you doubt it, then you go to the doctor, then you are all excited again. By the time you can actually tell anyone it is sort of old news. The shock value has worn off for you. Then you go to the doctor again, and now you have to wait for the gender scan, so it is exciting again. You wait and wonder and during that time the baby starts moving and you start growing (or normal people do). People can feel the baby. You learn how to poke it to make it move, or when it moves, or whatever. Then you find out the gender, and it is all exciting again, and you buy LOTS of stuff because you finally can. And now? Now what do I do? It is too far from delivery to actually get excited about meeting gigantore. Then there is that whole actually birthing gigantore thing to worry about, but right now, what do I do? The baby moves. A lot. Other than my kids no one finds that exciting any more. We go to doctors, I check my weight gain (I am FINALLY gaining the right amount of weight and am almost up to the minimum required weight gain). I take tests. The nursery is almost done, and we aren't going to buy more stuff until after my shower. The baby grows, I grow, I eat a lot, I sleep a lot, sometimes I cry for no reason. Mike steals my prego snacks and I freak out. But really, that is just sort of life, except now life revolves around me being pregnant. That is all I hear about, how big I am, or people asking about the baby, or whatever. Which I know is well intentioned, but it is also obnoxious. Sometimes I am the way I am just because I am me, not because I am pregnant. Sometimes I eat like shit just because I do, or sometimes I am tired because my job sort of blows are the moment and is really stressful. Not everything about me is growing a baby. And I have four more months of just waiting, and really nothing to be that excited for until we are close enough that I can start wanting the baby to get here. It is boring prego time. Yet, I am still pregnant. Which sort of sucks (obviously I don't want the alternative either). I would like to have a bottle of wine. Yes, I know I can have a freaken glass, but I don't want a glass, I want a bottle. I am sick of getting fat, even if it is a good thing. I am sick of counting my protein intake. I just want to be done being pregnant, and have my baby. I don't get why anyone loves being pregnant. I mean, I get why you are excited to be pregnant, and am definitely fortunate and happy to be pregnant in the sense that it means there will be a baby, but actually being pregnant sort of blows. Luckily I read an article today about hating being pregnant and how to cope (my favorite being, don't feel guilty about not enjoying being pregnant) where one of the lines was "Hating pregnancy and being a good mother have absolutely no connection."

However, I promised Rachel that I wouldn't get like this and stop posting pictures, so here are a few where I look particularly pregnant, thanks to Anne Taylor non-maternity silk sweater which clings like no other to my maternity pants.

I did go to a breast pump class. Yes really. It was informative, but pretty boring since I will be staying home and not needing a fancy shmancy pump. The $50 one will do me just fine.

I need to take pictures of the nursery, it is really nice. I think I also want to learn to sew, make cushion covers for the new glider and ottoman and some curtains for the room. I do actually know how to sew, but I don't have a machine. Recovering major furniture is out of my comfort zone though, so we will see. I can't really mess anything up with it though. Everything else is done really, we have a closet, dresser with changing station, mirror, glider, ottoman, table, lamp, linens, some clothes and I have selected diapers. Not a whole lot to do but wait. I hate waiting.

In baby news:
Baby's now the size of a papaya!
Baby's little face is fully formed...minus the baby fat, of course. The next task at hand for baby: sprouting two teeny-tiny nipples!

Weighing in at a pound, and at eight inches long, your baby is starting to really look like a baby! You can compare her size to a box of sugar or a bag of coffee beans. Her skin is filling out as the first layers of fat are deposited and her muscles grow. During the next month, her weight may almost double.

I guess I can get new shoes out of the deal, even if I haven't hit the 15 pound mark:
Swollen from head to toe? Increased blood flow, by now an old friend, is to blame. Consider a trip to the shoe store because loosening ligaments will cause your feet to expand even more in the weeks to come.

Your care provider should be monitoring your expanding uterus and weight. You should be feeling movement at this point. If you haven't, talk to your care provider. No feelings of movement could be a sign that your placenta is in front of the baby. It may also take more time to feel movement if you're overweight. As your baby gains weight, so do you. You've probably gained at least fifteen pounds by now.

Huge much?

In the last week, really just over the weekend, I grew like four inches across my belly. It was weird. Today I noticed that my boobs are also gigantic. I look pregnant instead of just fat! Yay!! I am also gaining weight at a rapid pass, so I may need to slow down a little on the peanut butter crackers and lucky charms. On the down side, my trusty weekly baby updates are now based on month. Boo. Essentially, baby is just growing now. So, as my pregnancy gets more fun for me, for baby it is just about getting bigger, which is sort of ridiculous.

The nursery is also coming along. I bought the crib bedding online and Mike and I are picking up a new dresser on Saturday that will double as a changing table. I also found a nice glider and ottoman on craigslist for dirt cheap, we will see if I actually get it. After we get the furniture in we will put up the wall decals, a tree and some monkeys, and get some curtains. I am leaning towards tan curtains just because we have so much going on, but at BRU there are the CUTEST leaf curtains, so I am still deciding. I want the closet and window curtains to match so that the room looks more put together. At the same time, I am afraid it will look too matchy. I suppose I will just wait until everything else is in and then pick.

We also went to a cloth diaper class. I already knew most of it, but it was reassuring and Mike got to see what I have been rambling about for the last five months. I LOVE cloth diapers, and cannot imagine using disposable ones for so many reasons. However, Mike and I don't agree on the actual diapers. I like prefolds and covers for newborns, and he likes pockets. I think we will get some of each, definitely one size pockets for the baby after he is over 15 pounds and probably a few all-in-ones for night time, but for a newborn I think we need sized diapers. I would really like prefolds and sized covers, I think Mike would rather have sized pockets or fitteds. I guess fitteds need covers too, so investing in a few prefolds wouldn't really cost anything more since they are so cheap. So for the newborn we will get a few covers that will work with Kissaluvs 0 and prefolds, maybe some lil joeys or something. When the baby gets bigger we will go with a combo of Best Bottoms and Fuzzibuns one size and maybe a few Rumparooz for night. If I like the prefolds for the baby, I may buy some larger covers and infant prefolds. We are asking for gift cards instead of actual diapers, so that way we can buy as we go and get what we like when we know what works. Plus, my mom gets a discount so that is awesome. God, I LOVE cloth diapers, I spend hours reading about them. I can't wait to start buying them. Mike on the other hand likes buying baby clothes. We already have a ton of clothes. They are so cute and little. I will take photos soon.

My baby boy is as big as a papaya:

Your baby is about 7 1/2 inches from crown to rump and weighs between thirteen and sixteen ounces—about the size of a small grapefruit. She is entering her fifth month of existence. Her fingernails are almost fully grown, and her organ systems are becoming more functional and specialized. She has a distinct pair of lips, and her first canines and molars are developing below her gum line. She looks like a miniature newborn. Blood is traveling through the umbilical cord at four miles an hour, fueling her growth with oxygen and nutrients.

Your uterus is certainly growing, but you can probably still bend over, sit, drive, and function fairly comfortably. You may have increased vaginal discharge as your pregnancy progresses. Yeast infections during pregnancy are quite common. Symptoms include redness and itchiness around your vagina and a yeast-smelling discharge, but douching during pregnancy is not advised. This is a good time to have your iron levels checked and to make sure you're drinking enough water, given how much your blood volume has increased over the past few months. As many as 20 percent or pregnant women are anemic, and anemia can put you at serious risk if you hemorrhage during delivery.

Real estate within your belly is getting tight, with growing baby leaving little room for your lungs to...well...breathe. Expect the huffing and puffing to start soon. There's not much room for your belly button, either -- it'll pop out any day now.

Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.

21 Weeks, sort of...

We are almost to 22 weeks and I still haven't updated the blog with information about 21 weeks. Eeep! This week at work has been ridiculously stressful to say the least so blogging has not really been a priority. Plus, not a whole lot has changed. My kids know I am pregnant now, although many of them claim to still not believe me because I am too little. The rest are pissed they didn't know sooner. Oh well, at least once an hour one of them says something about it. One nice young man even wanted to press his belly against mine so he could feel the baby kick. I don't think he visualized that until he saw my look of shock and dismay. So much for boundaries I suppose (I didn't let him, obviously). Now reading the baby stuff is funny because he is SO much bigger than the average size of babies. Oh well. I am also extraordinarily tired, not in a normal way either. I think I will have them check my iron levels at my next appointment. So much for the mommy update too, I guess it just doesn't apply to me an my little guy this week.

So, here we are with a banana!
Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion, and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, if baby is a girl, her womb is now stocked up with her lifetime supply of six million eggs (the number will drop to around one million by birth).

By week 21, your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces, and her length from head to rump is seven inches, about the length of a spoon. Ten and one-half ounces is also the size bear cubs are when they are born. Your baby has begun her main project for the rest of your pregnancy: putting on weight. She regularly drinks amniotic fluid for hydration and nutrition, urinates in the fluid and breathes in and out (fortunately, the fluid pool refreshes itself every three hours). Her eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed. Taste buds are forming on her tongue. Her eyelids are still sealed, but her eyes are active.

Mommy update:

Some women report feeling better and more energized at this stage of pregnancy than they have at any point in their life. We hope you're one of them! To safely build up your endurance for labor and for taking care of your baby later, take long walks outside or on a treadmill, ride a stationary bike or use an elliptical trainer. To keep your uterus and pelvic-floor muscles toned, do Kegel exercises and have orgasms! If your doctor has told you to avoid sex because you're at risk for preterm labor, ask what he means by "sex" and which acts may be off-limits.

My Baby, Gigantore

I know there are a lot of people who get ultrasounds and then the gender of the baby is different. Sometimes it is hard to tell, or to see, or the baby is uncooperative and the tech has to guess. When we went in for our appointment they asked if we wanted to know the gender. I told them that we did, and if they couldn't tell, could they please fake a reason for us to come back because I just really needed to know (although I was already sure). They covered my belly with goop, put on the wand thing and pulled it right back up "I know what it is, you sure you want to know?" Yeap, it was the obvious, as demonstrated below. For those of you less familiar with ultrasounds, you are looking down at his thigh bones (knees bent so they are under his knee caps), spread eagle, although slightly turned in to other stuff, I guess the placenta since I identified the umbilical cord. The specialist even made a joke about you can't be more sure than that. So, world, meet our little boy.

On Thursday we went in for our 20 week anatomy scan, we went to a perinatologist rather than just a regular sonographer. Although the sonographer we would have seen would have an obstetrical specialty, our doctor recommended the perinatologist so that we could focus on cleft-lip, cleft palette. The baby looked great. All of the major organs were functioning properly, there were no spinal issues, the placenta is far enough away from my cervix to avoid complications and the baby opened his mouth so that the doctor could get a good profile shot of his lip. He also got a shot of just his nose and lip, but I couldn't tell what it was even after he looked at it and showed me. I am glad he thinks the baby is fine.

I am not particularly impressed with the photos we received, although I supposed that is the downfall of a specialist. They spent a lot of time measuring organs and watching them work, and less time getting me good shots of our little boy complete with arms and legs. I think ultrasound photos are creepy anyway, but somehow I still love mine and wish I had more. The doctor did comment on the unusual size of the baby and even double checked my LMP to make sure it was right. The average weight of a baby at 20 weeks is 10.5 ounces. According to LMP I was exactly 20 weeks (although I am still sticking with a date four days early, see other posts for that rundown). My baby weighs 14.5 ounces. Not that an extra 4 ounces is that much, but it is when it is a third of your entire body weight!! Since then I have learned that Mike was 8 pounds 9 ounces when born, my dad had a smart ass remark about Norwegian men in general and my aunt told me my grandma gave birth to numerous 10 pound babies. Numerous. WTF! I am so screwed. Mike on the other hand finds the entire thing hilarious and says things like "we know where those extra 3 ounces are." Oh well, here is my gargantuan baby, even if you can't tell he has arms and legs.

20 Weeks

Whoo hoo, we made it half way, and I am sporting a permanent bump! I will do my best to upload more images for my best friend who lives so far away again, but hopefully she is back for peaberry's grand entrance.

I am feeling pretty good, have maternity clothes, a decent amount of energy and am really excited for the baby. I think being pregnant makes me happy, I was accused of "not really being all that negative and cynical compared to other people" today, so obviously that is a change. I can't wait until Thursday when we find out the gender and get to look at the baby, I just want to see it again. I hate only having two ultrasounds. Plus, I LOVE our nursery. Going into the yellow room just makes me happy, I just lay in there all the time. Ella will even come in there now. On a sad note, the baby is most active around 7:30 am--I used to just lay in bed and feel it move and poke it back, but now I am driving to work then, so I can't feel it or pay attention as much. :( Oh well, I had two full weeks of feeling it uninterrupted so I guess that is better than most people. Mike can even feel it in the morning if he is home too, so maybe on weekends. We are registered for all of our baby classes, except one that Mike may want to take, but it is his deal at this point. I have my first class in a few weeks. It is excited when you can actually start doing stuff, until now it has just been waiting. Now things are actually happening.

As far as week 20 goes, I have a freaken cantaloupe under my shirt!
Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies respond best to tastes they've already had via amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you'd like your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

By week 20, your baby begins to produce vernix, a white, creamy substance that protects his skin in his watery environment. Permanent teeth are starting to form behind his baby teeth. He seems able to differentiate between morning, afternoon and evening and starts to become more active at certain times than at others.

For mom:
Congrats! You're halfway there...and at one of the great milestones of pregnancy. Increased blood flow is making the pelvic area extra-sensitive, libido is resurging, and the weight gain has just barely begun.

Around now, you should feel a psychological boost: You've made it halfway already! It's a good time to find a childbirth class to educate you about labor and calm any anxieties. Plus, you'll meet other parents-to-be and possibly create friendships for both you and your child in the years to come. Your care provider will now monitor your growth by measuring the height of your uterus with fingers or a tape measure. Your uterus is now about in line with your belly button. From now on, the top of your uterus will grow toward your rib cage at a rate of one centimeter a week.

Not So Bad at Nesting After All

We finished the nursery in two days!! Well, sort of, we still don't have furniture or whatever, but it is all ready to go. I am pretty proud of us, even if Mike posted on Facebook that I suck at nesting because I had zero motivation to paint when we first started. My only issue is the size of furniture. This is a tiny room to be fair, like the closet that looks large is 4 feet, I think the room is about 10x12 because the drop clothes were 9x13 and they almost fit. We painted everything, replaced the closet and all of the outlets and put up the crib, pretty good for two days!

I wish I had a better before issue--the room had become our walk-in closet, so take this and add everything you can cram into a room that you have no where else to put.

I only took this after we painted the trim white. I know it looks white in the other photo, but it really wasn't. I wish I had an old closet photo too, this was after Mike ripped it out, it was horrendous.

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Here it is painted bright yellow (it is a little lighter in person, but not much) and the baby's new, beautiful closet. We are going to put in fabric drawers in the bookcase, but I want to wait to find out the gender first so that we can make the room more girly if we need to. Obviously the vacuum will not reside in the corner, and that little night stand is going to be painted to match the baskets, another bookcase and the gender :)