Saturday, May 7, 2011

How many weeks exactly?

It seems Gordon Lee is all over the place when it comes to how far along I am with him! My original due date was July 14th (as I'm sure I've said before), which would put me at somewhere around 30 weeks.  I had a few ultrasounds where they estimated (based on his femur length) that he is about 8 days behind that.  In that case, I am 29 weeks and just turned 29 weeks yesterday.  BUT on Thursday, I had my OB appointment at which point he started measuring 31 weeks! 


My doctor also told me that we are not going to go any longer than 1 week past my due date.  So, if he isn't here by July 14th, I will be induced on July 21st.  I had changed my pregnancy tickers from the due date of July 22nd, but I guess I'll change them back to the 14th because I thought I was going to be able to go to 42 weeks if possible (not that I want to).  I really really really HOPE that I do not have to be induced. 


I personally feel that inductions are harder than natural labor.  I have seen them hundreds of times on television and they always seem longer and more intense than natural labor.  The pitcoin is supposed to cause stronger contractions.  I also think that the body is often not ready to labor when induced, so it doesn't always respond other than having contractions.  I just really don't want this.  So, if anyone is reading this blog, please pray for me that I will not have to be induced on July 21st.  


The baby is now the size of a squash. On my ticker, it has a squash that looks like this.
I have learned this is called a golden nugget squash.  Naturally, I looked for it in the produce section yesterday, but they don't seem to sell it here (at least not right now).  They did have other types of squash and they were rather large.  So, I suppose Gordon Lee is the size of any large squash right now! :)  The measurable size (according to my Lilypie ticker) is 16 inches and 3 pounds! I think that's about right.  

In other news, we are actually moving right now! It might sound crazy, but it's only 2-3 minutes away and I can literally take several car trips over there.  I've loaded up the car quite a few times now with things that I can carry and taken them over there.  We just needed more space.  This new house (that we are renting) has 3 bedrooms where the one we have now has 2.  It also has a fenced-in backyard where the dogs can run around.

Our two dogs, Amber and Chloe, who love being outside, really need space to run around.  Amber loves the new yard so much that she started running laps around it! I tried to get a picture of her, but she was running so fast it just came out as a brown blur.

After we're moved in, I'll take pictures of the nursery.  But the new room is PERFECT for Gordon Lee! :) Here are a few pictures of the house for anyone interested :)










Sunday, May 1, 2011

A Few Updates! :)

First of all, I LOVE the fact that it is now May and the end of the school year is within sight! We only have 3 more weeks to go and then we are done! In fact, the seniors have only 2 more weeks to go.  And since I happen to teach 2 classes with seniors, my load will get a lot lighter in that last week. YES! 


I don't know how people work up until their due date because it just gets harder.  It's actually kind of an inconvenience and I really feel as though I'm not much of a help there when I have other factors which keep me from doing my job the best that I would like to do it. Here are some of the things that I'm talking about...


  • I'm not sleeping as well at night because I have to turn every so often to keep my circulation going right (this started a little after 20 weeks).  Also, I'm getting up about 3 or more times a night to go to the bathroom now.  The school's schedule doesn't change just because you're pregnant! So, now I'm going in very tired every day.
  • I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday, which is my last monthly one.  From there on out, I have to go in every 2 weeks.  Then, I'll have to go in every week.  I'm so glad school will be out because it is very hard to schedule doctor appointments when you are working.
  • It's getting harder to move around.  Getting up and down, bending over, etc. are all getting much harder when you have a belly in the way.  Plus, I must constantly warn the students to LOOK OUT! LOL I accidentally got one kid in the back of the head with my belly because I didn't have enough room to walk behind him.  
  • You're actually supposed to keep your feet elevated for a certain amount of time.  And when you have to walk around all day, that's pretty hard.
  • If I had a problem (which so far I haven't), I'd have to just leave.  It's not good for my coworkers.
I just couldn't imagine doing my job much past the 3 weeks I have left.  People have done it though, and I commend them for being able to make it work.  For me, I wake up every day waiting to be able to just cater to the pregnancy as needed without having work getting in the way.

I did take a picture of my belly today at 28+2 days pregnant.  I will leave my head in this one because I don't I think I look HORRIBLE but I still hate how I look from that angle.  And in my own mind, I don't even look like myself.  But anyway, here's the most recent belly picture! By the way, these aren't even maternity clothes! Ha! You can find things that work as maternity clothes if you really look.  For example, tops that are longer or skirts with elastic waistbands are just like maternity clothes to me!

I haven't updated the fruit comparison of the baby in awhile! This is mostly because I only have 3 more fruits after this one.  Each fruit lasts 4 weeks now and I just start forgetting.  The last fruit I gave you was a papaya.  But we are long past the papaya now! We have been since about 25 weeks.  Now, Gordon Lee is the size of an eggplant!
It's debatable as to whether an eggplant is really larger or smaller than a papaya.  And I have done some in-store comparisons to only come to no real conclusion.  Either way, eggplants vary in size.  So, we'll just say he is the size of a large eggplant.  At this point, he is actually slowing down in growth in length and starting to put on pounds! 

Some people go by what's called a fundal height measurement to find out how large the baby is.  I think I wrote about this on here before.  But I can't remember and I don't feel like searching my blogs to see.  The fundal height is the measurement lengthwise of the stomach in centimeters which should be equal to the number of weeks you are.  I'm not sure how to measure mine.  I asked my doctor but I was only more confused.  But I KNOW my baby is growing without needing to measure any fundal height because...1.) I can feel his kicks  A LOT more now! and 2.) I have to go to the bathroom more meaning he is larger and putting more pressure on my bladder. :)

My stomach will shake like an earthquake when he moves now.  I tried to capture it on film to share, but he got camera shy and didn't move.  It's funny when he does do it, though because my stomach will literally shake from side to side.

In other news, going back 2 blogs ago on the formation of the nursery.  A very generous donor (i.e. Aunt Megan) either read the blog and felt the compulsion to contribute or just had intuition.  Because about a week ago, we received the Lambs & Ivy Enchanted Forest crib bedding as a gift from her in the mail! I was elated.  I didn't write that blog as a plea to get anything.  I was just trying to explain that the nursery still had a ways to go.

But now, that ways to go has come one step closer as the crib bedding is set up and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! Thanks, Megan! :)



Now that this blog has gone in every possible direction, I will wrap it up here! Woohoo 12 weeks left until the due date!