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 :)

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!

Gordon Lee is Looking Like his Daddy!

Today, I had my rescheduled 4D ultrasound appointment.  Fortunately, he was much more cooperative this time than the last time.  For anyone interested, this is how his legs were for pretty much the duration of the ultrasound last time.  And he would not bring them down! :)

Today, he was much more compliant.  Although, he did arch his head back giving us some funny pictures.  And there were a few times that he had his feet and hands up blocking the view.  Nevertheless, we did get some good pictures.  Annd..I can't believe how much he looks like his daddy in them! 

This picture of Lee is the best one I can find from the same angle for comparison.

Of course, when he was doing his blowfish impression, he looked quite a bit different! :)

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!