The Home Stretch

As of today, I am in my 3rd trimester.  I feel like I can't believe it's already here.  In some ways, it feels like 3 months from now is such a short time.  However, at other times it still makes me feel we do have 13 more weeks to go before the due date and that feels long (even if it is the same amount of time).  He isn't even half of his birth weight yet.  It's crazy.


Yet, it feels good to have 2/3rds of the pregnancy behind me now.  And I will say I do feel that third trimester coming on! I'm starting to have to go to the bathroom more frequently now.  I am having more trouble bending over and getting up out of chairs and such.  Plus, I feel I'm starting to "waddle" oh my! When Gordon Lee moves, it is so strong now! He gave me a scare on Wednesday as he did not move the WHOLE day! I didn't know what to do.  They say to call the doctor for decreased fetal movements, but I didn't want to seem like this obsessive woman who was overreacting.  Fortunately, he got to kicking later on that evening.  Then, on Thursday, he was moving like crazy! I suppose he may have had a little growth spurt. :)


I really just wanted to see what he face looks like.  So, I scheduled a 3D ultrasound that I just had done today.  The little stinker kept covering up his face with his legs and hands.  So, we didn't get a lot of good pictures.  The lady wanted to schedule another session free of charge.  So, I'm going back in on Wednesday to see him again.  


A few things I learned today at the ultrasound were...

• he is definitely a boy lol
• he supposedly weighs 2 pounds 2 ounces
• he is already on his own schedule! Usually, he would have been awake at the time when I had the ultrasound, but he wanted to sleep today.

Here are the two best pictures we got.

As you can see in the first picture, he's quite flexible! :) That's all for now, I will hopefully have a few better pictures on Wednesday!

The Thing about Kids is You Have to Raise Them

I love babies, and I enjoy being around them.  But I have never looked at a baby as just a baby.  When I see a baby, I see a human being who will become a child, a teenager, and eventually an adult.  I never went through a phase as a teenager where I wanted to get pregnant.  I wasn't in a hurry to have kids.  And this is because I saw a baby as a human being that you are responsible for for the duration of your and their life.  I'm not saying any of this to seem like I'm just "oh so smart." Believe me, I'm not.  That's just part of the way my brain operates.


And let me mention that just because I see a child as a responsibility does not mean that I do not believe that children are wonderful blessings.  I'm saying all of this to preface something I read about tonight.


I have been loaned this fabulous pregnancy book by my "Aunt Patti." :) It's called The Pregnancy Countdown Book.  

I LOVE IT! It counts down pregnancy by the day.  Each day has a page of random thoughts, comments from mothers, jokes, etc. relevant to the stage of pregnancy you are in.  I have a hard time not reading ahead because I enjoy it so much.

Well, I just had to share tonight's reading on here.  It deals with, you guessed it, parenting.  When you are expecting a child, it's pretty much impossible NOT to think about how you will raise him/her.  You may have a plan NOT to be like your parents or to be just like them.  And, of course, we all have witnessed people who have to parent and discipline their children in public.  I, for one, would say that I would be being dishonest if I didn't admit I form my own opinions about people's parenting techniques when I see them.

But this page tonight really brought out some important things that I think we all should remember.  I am going to write it down exactly as it appeared on the page.

"At This Point

I'm not going to be like that!

No doubt you're noticing mothers with their children a whole lot more than you did before.  You probably already have some ideas of how you'll parent differently.  For example, your child will never:

• have a tantrum in a grocery store (only brats do that)
• eat cookies in the grocery store (she will request carrot sticks)
• eat sugar or drink juice (she will request water or milk)
• get hooked on a binky (she will be a secure child)

You will also never in a million years tell your child, "If you don't get back in this grocery cart, I'm leaving.  Okay, here I go.  Okay, I mean it.  See my keys are out.  I'm shaking them. Here I go...."

THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT

What real moms think of your plan

     Good luck!

ADVICE FROM THE TRENCHES

Consider staying silent

"If I were you, I would keep my big child-rearing plans to myself--especially in front of mothers with young children.  Maybe you will be the one mother in a million who continues to make her own organic baby food past the third batch and really won't use lollipops as a child-rearing tool.  But then again, you haven't been shopping with a young child yet."

-Lisa, mom to Harris and Brian"

It's true we (or I if I am alone in this) will see other people with their children and think "they really ought to...." But what do I know? I haven't had a child and what mother doesn't get physically and mentally exhausted after handling a small child all day? Who hasn't thrown in the towel after seeming to have tried everything?  I haven't had children, but I have been a nanny and it does wear you out.  Some days you just want to offer the child a million dollars just to be quiet...just to have some peace.  And that's why THEY and WE are all human and EVERYONE Everyone learns as they go.  

So hats off to the moms out there working hard to raise their children no matter what strategies they've tried.

Getting Ready...

When I last wrote on Monday of last week, I thought I was going to be writing a lot last week.  However, I was really tired and I just didn't feel like writing.  Also, I didn't have things quite the way that I wanted them to to post pictures.  Another thing is that my mother ended up blogging about the very same thing I was going to blog about on the same day, so then I didn't want to copy what she put up.  It's not a problem at all..I guess we were just on the same wavelength. :)


Anyway, the nursery is nowhere NEAR where I want it to be, but I have gotten a start on it.  I just have to wait for the bedding, the wall appliques, the mobile, and a clock that will hopefully tie the room together.  It's from a collection called Lambs & Ivy Enchanted Forest. Here is a picture of the whole thing. 

I haven't gotten any of the things from my nursery theme that I want yet except 1 lamp.  So, these pictures of the nursery are FAR from what I want the finished product to be.  But for now, I'll show you the cute, fun things I've added in the meantime.

A few notes about this picture...

1.) The two pictures on the wall are pictures I drew in high school.  One is a raccoon and the other is a chipmunk.

2.) The green box at the end of the bed is being used to hold small toys and books.  when I have time, I plan on ripping off that unsightly label and adding woodland animal appliques with a sign that says "toys"

3.) The bed doesn't have a mattress yet, so I've put some things on it to try to make it look less bare.

Here are some notes about this picture

1.) Instead of buying a new changing table, I decided to cover up the table we had there, get a contoured changing pad, and then put diapers and wipes, etc. underneath where they can't be seen.

2.) The turtle lamp is a GREAT thing that I wanted that I got at one of my baby showers!! :) I'll show more about that in a minute.

3.) I found that fabric for the table for a very low price a Joann's. It has tiny dragon flies on it, and I thought it would go very nice with the theme.

4.) On the end.  I have a little display for when he first comes home.  That blanket is only there temporarily until I can get a fabric for it.  I hope to use the picture frame to hold one of his first pictures.  Then those are a pair of newborn sized shoes given to us! :) They are great!

I had a very hard time capturing a picture of it.  But the turtle lamp projects a constellation on the ceiling and walls! It is an amazing thing! :)

With these pictures, you may be wondering what we do have.

Well......

We have plenty (and let me emphasize that one more time) plenty of clothes! And these aren't even all of them.  I still have clothes in storage that I have yet to fold and put away or hang up.  I started by folding some of them as you see in the bottom picture.  But then I decided not to for the rest because I need to wash all of them anyway.  I just wanted them to have a place to go instead of just sitting around in boxes.  So, I hung up clothes until I used up all of the hangers.  Then, I put others in drawers based on the type of clothing they are.

I can't wait to post a blog of the actual finished nursery! But that will have to wait a little while. 

Also, if you notice that fabulous centerpiece on the table, it is a diaper cake that my mother-in-law and sister-in-law made for us! Since it would be redundant to post it again, you can see it and read about it on my mother's blog! :)

Baby Kicks

We went out of town for the last week to visit our families, so I didn't post any blogs.  But I sure do have a lot to post now that I'm back! :) I will probably be making a post every day because I have so much to write about.  I am still waiting on some photos before I can post about my 2 baby showers I had over the break (which were both wonderful).  That will come later this week.

For now, I can report that his movements are getting much easier for me to see and feel.  He was very active during the vacation, and I tried to give my mother-in-law the chance to feel his kicks.  But the little stinker wouldn't kick when she put her hand on my belly.  He did kick once, but on the part of my belly where she didn't have her hand.  She did say she felt it a little bit though.  There was one day when he was very active while I was at my parents' house.  So, I sat by my mother and had her feel.  He kicked quite a few times, but I'd get excited and say "Feel that?" So she couldn't tell if she was feeling anything.

What I have tried to do now is capture it on video.  It is so much easier to see in person, but I did manage to capture 2 kicks (or whatever they are) on camera.  I'll post the video here, and I've labeled when the kicks are coming.  It may be hard (or nearly impossible) to see them, but the first one is stronger than the second one.  You might be able to see them!

24 weeks

Sunday morning, I was sitting down when I noticed my stomach jumping.  It looked like there was a little frog inside trying to hop out! I got so excited to see the baby from the outside.  It was such a neat thing. :) I tried to get it on camera, but he wouldn't do it for the camera! Since then, he seems to have turned to face my back. I've been getting some good strong movements that I can feel in my back.  So, I think that's why I haven't seen anything from the front any more this week.  It was still such a great thing to experience, though.


Tomorrow, I'll be 24 weeks pregnant (according to the baby's size based on ultrasounds), and that is when they consider the pregnancy viable meaning the baby has a chance of surviving outside of the womb. HOWEVER, we want him to cook for quite awhile longer.  As much as I'd love to meet him, he needs to stay in there until at least 37 weeks.


My original due date was July 14th, but I've had 4 ultrasounds and each one has given me the same due date of July 22nd.  If I go by my first due date, I'm officially 25 weeks pregnant today.  If I go by the 2nd one, I'll be 24 weeks tomorrow.  For now, I'm going by the 2nd one.  I'd rather expect the baby later and not be surprised if he isn't here by July 14th than expect him then and wonder if he's ever going to come.  I don't know if that makes sense to anybody else, but it does to me!


I had a doctor appointment today.  I was originally going to have an ultrasound, but things were kind of crazy when I got there.  They considered me a walk-in patient even though I scheduled my appointment a week ago.  This is the crazy part of the army healthcare here.  Doctors rotate, so it wasn't my doctor's day to be in the office.  Yet, she scheduled an appointment with me anyway because it was time for my 24 week appointment.  So, since she wasn't scheduled to be on the hall, that made me a walk-in patient.  That's probably why they didn't have the ultrasound equipment ready.


But it didn't really matter that much.  I didn't NEED an ultrasound.  We were just going to do one because I hadn't been feeling regular movements.  That has all changed in just one week! Little Gordon Lee must have had a growth spurt! I still did hear his sweet heart beating away at between 145-150 bpm! I did measure 25 weeks pregnant according to my fundal height.  So, everything looks good.


I can feel the baby all the time now.  It's like any time he moves I can feel him.  The doctor said she could feel for the position of the baby, and she said he is diagonal.  She isn't sure where his head and feet are because he is so small, but she can tell he is diagonal going from the top left of my uterus to the bottom right.


My uterus is now the size of a soccer ball! The baby is still a papaya! lol We won't change fruit for one more week! Growth in length does seem to slow quite a bit from now until the end of the pregnancy.  But he still has pounds to pack on in fat.


That's really all for now! Here's an (almost) 24 week belly picture.  I cut my head off because I don't like how my face looks from this angle.

Check out my Crib

Last weekend, my parents came down for a visit.  With them, they brought the crib that I slept in when I was a baby.  I wanted to use this crib for the baby, and I was glad they were willing to bring it down.  It is nothing fancy and brand new, of course.  But I don't care about that.  I wanted my child to have something that I had, and I thought the crib would be perfect.  It's still in great condition.  We only need to replace 3 springs, which can be purchased at Lowe's.  

As you can see, it has drop sides.  And somebody mentioned about how drop sides can be dangerous because baby could get caught on it and end up dropping a side.  Well, I am 100% positive that if my baby figures out how to get these sides down, I'll have more to worry about than the crib.  I even struggle to get them down! I'm pretty sure I won't be dropping the sides too often.  There isn't anything for the baby to get caught on anyway.  Please ignore the desk next to the bed.  That's going to be moved before the baby starts sleeping in the crib.  Anyway, I'm very excited to pass something of mine on to my child.  No, I don't have the mattress or crib set yet, but we've been told by certain people that they are buying those for us. ;) So, we'll wait to get those.  

But what was even more special and interesting to me than receiving the crib to pass on to my child, happened to be something that came with it! :)

Hand-written assembly instructions including illustrations by my father! :) Ha! These are great! First, I just love the pictures he drew! He had been very careful to try to make his images look as much like the actual parts as possible.  And he actually did a very good job! Another thing that's just wonderful is the 1980s printer feed paper complete with perforated edges with the holes! That line at the very bottom of the picture is the part where the two pages were joined and you had to separate them yourself! 

Lee and my dad worked together to assemble the crib.  While they were doing this, they came downstairs and my father showed me the most interesting part of the instructions!

As you can see it underlined in this picture, the date that these instructions were written was March 18, 1989.   Now, that might initially seem like nothing.  However, my parents just so happened to come with the crib on March 18, 2011! I just think that is the coolest thing ever! The crib was assembled on March 19th.  So, it has been exactly 22 years since those instructions were written until they were passed on for the next generation! My dad says he is sure he wrote them for my sister or myself to use in the future.  It is great that we actually are!

In other news, I'm now 23 weeks pregnant (as of Friday).  I feel the baby every now and then, but for me it is still often the butterfly feelings.  I think he has to be moving around A LOT or kicking/punching pretty hard for me to feel things.  I talked to my doctor about this and she said we can arrange an ultrasound for my 24 week visit (this coming Thursday) so we can see how the baby is moving and how much of it I'm feeling.  Of course, I'm elated to be able to see him again!

Oh my a Papaya!

I am now 22 weeks and 2 days pregnant, and baby is the size of a papaya! :) At this point, however, we will not be getting a new fruit every week.  Instead, baby will be the size of a papaya for 2 weeks.  I suppose growth in length slows down as baby starts adding things like fat now.  

Papayas are rather large.  Baby is supposedly 11-11 1/2 inches long and weighing in at about a pound! Some places say 15 ounces and some say 1 pound.  Honestly, there is only one ounce difference! So, he's close to a pound if he's not there already.

Being that he is at the size he is now, I have just reached the next milestone.  I felt him from the outside for the first time last night! My parents were visiting, and my mother felt my belly when I told her he was moving and she said she could feel him.  But I really couldn't tell.  Well, last night he was moving around up near my left side and I definitely felt him moving.  It was so exciting and I do hope to feel it again soon.  It depends on where he is moving as to whether I can feel him or not.

Anyway, that's all I have for now! :)