28 Weeks

SEVEN months today!!!!  Cruising right along and doing wonderful, minus a few not so fun symptoms.  My back hurts pretty bad if I walk more than 5 mins.  I don't know if it's sciatica or just in need of a chiro, but when it happens I have to walk humped over while holding my back.  Heartburn is still going strong, tums have become a staple of my diet.  A new symptom I've been having over the last 2 weeks is swelling of my ankles.  My socks leave big purple rings around my puffy stumps.  Weight is still climbing and a little faster than I would like to see.  20 lbs, yikes!

Other than those very minor nuisances, everything is great.  Little Seven is growing like crazy and has really increased his active times.  My belly morphs all over the place as he somersaults.  His kicks are visible thumps.  He stops every time I tell Kerry to look and immediately throws a big punch as soon as he looks away.  He only shows off for mommy.

A funny on Kerry... He's been stuck with litter box duty for over 4 yrs, just in case I became pg each month.  Well he says to me today; "hey, can you start cleaning the litter box now that you're finally pg?"  He waits until I'm pg and now wants to hand off kitty poop duty???  LOL, silly man!

We took all our loose change that has been sitting around the house forever (mostly pennies) to one of those coin star machines.  I guessed there would be about $50 and Kerry guessed $35 max.  Well the machine just kept cha-chinging and cha-chinging as we jumped up and down and yelled at it to keep going.  You would have thought we were in Vegas at the slots.  $157!!!  Wahoo!  We used part of it to purchase a new pack n' play on ebay.  Since Seven's bedroom is upstairs from ours, we'll be using this in our room for the 1st 3 months.

Here's this week's BIG belly!  My waist increased an entire inch in 1 week!!!  My belly button seems to be taking the brunt of the stretching.  It has morphed from flat to wide open like a black hole to stretched and squished.  It has a white ring around it as a little virgin button (that has never seen the light of day) is making it's way to the surface.  I got a feeling it's going to pop out before it's over with.

We have kicked it into high gear and are making progress on the nursery.  Not as much progress as we set out to do, but progress nonetheless.  My step son moved out and married, so we decided to use his old room.

Walls have been spackled.

Stripe edges have been sanded down smooth.

Stripes have been kiltzed.

1st sheet has been made!  Did I mention how much I love chocolate and blue?

2nd sheet has been made!  Most of the work was done in the middle of the night around 3am because I can't stop nesting.

Way too many paint samples have been sorted through, over and over again.

Here's our fabric collection and paint samples almost narrowed down.  There's a total of 11 patterns in this collection, but we won't be using all of them.

It's been quite the challenge picking colors and deciding which fabric to use on each project.  I plan on making the crib skirt, quilt, curtains, pillow, an extra boppy cover, basket liner, hamper liner, changing pad cover and lamp shade.  I see lots of 3am shifts at the sewing machine!

Our plans for the walls are white crown moulding and chair rail with the walls in a neutral color.  Below the chair rail we will do vertical stripes in the 3 blues and chocolate to match the fabric.  So whatcha think so far?

27 Weeks

Holy cow, today I enter the 3rd trimester!!!  I can NOT believe how fast time is flying by.  So much to do, so little time.

I had an u/s a couple of days ago at 26w5d.  This included a growth scan and cervix check.  Everything is perfect!  Our little man is now 2 lbs and measuring in the 43rd percentile.  My cervix is doing great and measured at 40mm (36mm last check) with no funneling.  Other than some unfounded worries, this has really been the perfect pg so far.  I just don't want it to end!!!

Here's the detailed u/s report.  Click to enlarge if you're interested:

Here's a few pics from the u/s, you'll see that he's definitely starting to fill out now.  I love him!

Here's this week's belly.  Kerry and I cannot believe how big I'm getting and I still have an entire tri to go!  My weight continues to rise at a rather fast pace, but according to all my books, I'm right on target.  I actually tipped over the other day and had to catch myself.

I'm starting to experience some discomfort on occasion.  I can definitely tell my digestive system is squished.  The heartburn usually kicks in at night.  After eating I tend to get the "all you can eat buffet" type of fullness.  Recently, my back seems to have a pinched nerve and makes walking somewhat painful.  But all this is pretty minor and I'll gladly take it.

In other news, I hit the baby gear jackpot!  My niece Lyndsay loaned me an entire car load of baby stuff!

A Chicco Keyfit 30 Travel system, wahoo!!!  I just have to buy an extra base.  Kerry and I keep staring at it and think, is that really for us???

A swing, bouncer and tub:

4 bags of clothes which nearly maxed out baby's closet when added to what we already had.  Baby will not be short on fashion!

Homey G (my furbaby) thinks this is all for him.  He tried to jump in the swing too but freaked when it went flying out from under him.

A special gift from Lyndsay, a musical giraffe:

Thank you sooooo much Lyndsay!!!  And thank you Jean & Crew for bringing all this stuff back from FL! We just sold the king mattress set (that the giraffe is sitting on) today, so now we have room for the nursery furniture, whenever it comes in.  The sale will also pay for the crib so that's nice.

We finally made a decision on the nursery bedding.  You may think I'm nuts, but I decided to make my own!  The brown/blue fabric arrived today and I hope to get started on it soon.  I'll share pics as I complete it.  Now that we have the fabric, we better get going on picking out the paint.  It's definitely time to kick it into high gear.

Up next, an OB appt in 2 weeks.

26 Weeks

I passed the gestational diabetes test from last week. Yeah!!! Being a choc-o-holic, I'm not surprised, my body is trained like an olympian on how to handle high dumps of sugar.

We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary yesterday. Due to an upcoming event that is quite costly, like a baby, we decided against gifts this year and just celebrated with quality time together and eating out. We had dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

Afterwards we walked the mall to make room for dessert. After a few laps, we drove back down town for chocolate fondue at The Melting Pot. Have I mentioned that I'm a choc-o-holic?

Thank you Jean and Boop for dinner!!!!!

When we returned to our car, Kerry went to open the door for me and as I looked down, I started yelling OMGosh, OMGosh, Look, Look!!! I scared the crap out of him as he thought someone had hit his car or something. He responded in a panic; What, What??? I pointed to the ground at our parking space. Check this out... out of thousands of parking spaces downtown, what's the chances??

Nothing really new this week. I'm starting to experience a little hip pain, but that's about it. I guess my hip bones or tendons are starting to stretch. Unfortunately so is my bootay.

This week's belly:

25 Weeks

Cruising right along! I can't believe I only have 15 weeks to go, almost puts me in a panic when I think of how much there's left to do.  The nursery, bedding, painting, birth classes, book reading, registry, maternity photos, etc etc etc.  OMGosh, and his name!!!  I need time to slow down, and a money tree!

On my last post I was heading out to get baptized.  It was really special to do this while pg.  Kerry says we got a 2-fer.  I promised the family that I would post a video of it on my next post, so here goes:

I had an OB appt yesterday.  An hour before my appt, I had to drink the dreaded Glucola to check for gestational diabetes.  (Still waiting on the results)

Is really wasn't that bad, just tasted like sugary flat orange soda.  Supposedly this is a time sensitive test and you have to get your blood drawn exactly 1 hr after finishing it.  As I was about to head out, I couldn't find my car key anywhere.  Kerry had driven my car last so I gave him a quick call.  He gave me a few places to look and after tearing the house apart, it was no where to be found.  By now I was frazzled and flying high on glucose and adrenaline.  I called him all panicked as I was going to be late and did not want to have to redo this test.  He made the statement that it was simple, it was either on the counter, in the kitchen drawer or in my car.  I looked in those areas plus every other possible place at least 10x.  He finally had no choice but to come pick me up.  On his way he kept telling me on the phone that he was sure the key was right in front of me and that I was just over looking it.  Grrrr!

We arrived 10 mins late.  Luckily that was their cutoff or I would have had to redo the test another day. Whew!  They drew my blood and then it was off to wait on the OB.

Our nurse was down the hall with several other nurses and doctors.  She was wearing fluorescent hot pink scrubs and a brightly multi-colored lab coat.  Kerry whistled really loud at her and then started singing and disco dancing to Stayin' Alive.  I about peed my pants!

We met with the OB.  I addressed my concerns about my cervix and how I really needed some peace of mind.  She was very sweet and understanding and was willing to do whatever it took to make sure I enjoyed this pg to the fullest.  She did an internal exam and said there was a soft area but then found my cervix hidden off to the side.  It was long, firm and closed just as it should be.  What a relief!  She listened to the HB and found it to be nice and strong.  She measured my stomach from the pubic bone to the top of my uterus and said I was measuring 25w.  I guess my big belly isn't ahead of schedule as I thought it was.  Weight and blood pressure were right on target too.

She then surprisingly sent me to u/s to make sure there was no funneling and that the cervix length was still doing well.  While the tech was viewing my cervix, you could see Seven's butt crack clear as day right above my cervix. What a cute little bum he has!  He's currently breech, but there's plenty of time for him to get into head down position.  I'm very happy to report that my cervix measured 36mm (34mm last check) and there was no funneling.  Ahhh, now I can relax and stop with this ridiculous worrying.  That was exactly what I needed.

The tech then said she'd let us look at the baby for a few mins.  Yeah!!!  We found him chewing and then sucking on his fingers.  He's definitely getting bigger and putting a little fat on. The amniotic fluid level was perfect and his HB was 153 bpm.  Here's a few u/s pics:

When we returned home, Kerry searched for my car key and guess what, it wasn't on the counter, in the kitchen drawer or in my car!  I gave him a really hard time as he insisted that they were there.  Here's the kicker, guess where he found them?!?!  In the garbage can in the garage!!!  Yeah, why didn't I think to look there???  You're probably wondering how in the heck it got there... well I guess the first thing Kerry did when he got out of my car was throw away some trash, and apparently the key with it.  He's eating crow now!  Thank God the trash didn't get taken out as that is my only car key.  We will be getting a spare made asap!

Seven continues to practice his kick-boxing every day and for the first time, I saw him move across my belly.  It was like an ocean wave moving across.  We read that dad may be able to faintly hear baby's HB by putting his ear to my belly.  Kerry tried this and Seven kicked his ear.  Loved it!  We're not sure why, but Kerry loves saying into my belly "hello, this is your captain speaking".  He then tapped a drum beat on my belly and Seven tapped back.

I seem to have middle of the night insomnia these days.  It's not very uncommon for Kerry to find me upstairs nesting around 4am.  The other night I organized all of Seven's clothes by type then size.  He has a few rompers, shirts and onesies, and then the rest are all sleepers.  Ya know, because my little man is going to be such a sweet little peaceful sleeper who sleeps through every night and never cries.  ;-)  Behind me in this picture is a room with absolutely nothing baby-related in it.  Yep, got lots of work to do.

I finally broke down and bought the milk jugs some new cartons.  I received a great tip to go ahead and buy nursing bras instead of maternity so that I can continue to use them throughout breastfeeding. I've been avoiding this as one, nursing bras are very expensive and two, I have no idea what size I'll need once my milk comes in.  Nursing bras seem to run $30-$60 and makes this girl's eyes bug out.  We're talking about a girl that is completely content with her $10 Walmart bras.  I am soooo thrilled to have found some very comfy ones at Baby Depot for $7.99!!!  They seem just as nice and I was so excited about what a deal I got that I keep repeating to Kerry all night, $7.99!!!

This week's belly...

I think my Bad Hair Day pjs have shrunk (wink, wink)!!  Yikes, this top used to cover my pre-pg belly.

Up next, an u/s in 2 weeks.  My OB wants to double check the marginal cord insertion and get another cervix check.  I think she's really only scheduling this for my peace of mind, and while I believe I'm doing much better in that dept, I'll take it!  I invited my mom so I'm excited for her to get to see her grambaby for the first time.

23-24 Weeks

There wasn't much to update at 23 weeks so I decided to combine week 23 and 24 into one update. Thanks to those that checked up on me. I am officially 6 months now, wowser!!!

Everything has been going really well except for a little anxiety. Not getting cervix checks anymore has affected me more than I anticipated, especially after seeing a friend lose her baby to incompetent cervix. I find myself taking the better safe than sorry approach most of the time. This has resulted in a lack of exercise and self imposed bed rest, not good for me emotionally or physically. I'm chunking up! I tried to schedule an u/s for a quick check but they were only willing to let me come in for an internal exam, which I don't feel is very thorough as you can't feel funneling. I'm going to talk to my OB next Tue at my GD appt to see if we can get one more cervix measurement so I can relax and more fully enjoy life without all the anxiety. I really believe all will be totally fine, but can't seem to get myself to take any chances with all I went through to get here and no ability to get back. I guess I'm already a little over-protective over this little guy.

Seven is doing great and is kicking up a storm. Kerry has seen and felt him kick a few times, though he usually stops as soon as I tell Kerry to look or feel. According to my pg updates, my uterus is now the size of a basketball and Seven is starting to put fat on, as am I! I'm up 14.5 lbs and officially weigh more than I ever have. Supposedly I'm right on track and hope to remain on track.

Week 23 Belly:

Week 24 Belly (Hotel 7 has taken the lead from milk jugs):

We made our next sorta big purchase, a Graco Sweetpeace swing in a giraffe print:

I went to my first consignment sale and this definitely won't be my last, talk about great deals on gently used baby items! I volunteered to work the consignment sale for 10 hrs and in exchange I was able to shop before the public.  It was like black Friday with everyone lining up an hour before hand and racing to get to the best items first.  We were newbies and weren't quite sure what to go after, I'm sure we looked lost.

Here's a few items we got, many still with tags. Between these, gifts and other hand me downs, baby is stocked up on sleepers!

Notice a common pattern in what we were drawn to?:

Kerry was quite proud of his find:

We also got a baby video monitor that retails $199 for $20. Thanks Sharon for introducing us to Sugar Babies consignment!

My mom bought me a keepsake that will be treasured for a long time to come. This is my little man hatching out of his shell right before transfer:

I know it's way past Christmas, but we needed to wait on the gender to know if to get pink or blue.

A video for the family...  this is the commercial ad on local cable featuring Kerry:



Alrighty, I'm off to go get dunked, not sprinkled, fully dunked!  I'm finally getting baptized, better late than never.