29 Weeks!

Here is the 29 week belly bump!

 

How far along? 29 weeks...cannot believe the countdown is almost into single digits!
Total weight gain: 19 pounds...apparently drinking 100 grams of sugar for that diabetes test made me gain 5 pounds in what seems like 1 week
Baby is the size of an:  Acorn squash (to be precise)
Maternity clothes?  As of this week, I feel really sloppy wearing all of my non-maternity clothes. It seems like the belly band isn't doing a good enough job of keeping my pants up and I seem to be spilling things all over my tops because of the protruding belly, not to mention them not fitting anymore. I'm thinking I'm going to have to re-evaluate my clothing situation here soon...
Stretch marks?  Nothing new
Sleep: Up to the bathroom at least 4 times a night again, but falling asleep right away still. I could get used to this! Last night Dan was watching a movie with bears in it and I rolled over and said I was done watching before I had a nightmare, and he was laughing because he said I had no more than finished saying that and I was literally snoring. He actually thought I was joking because it was so quick. That is not normal for this girl, but goodness that feels so good! 
Best moment this week: Nothing too exciting, really.
Miss anything? A flat belly and my old bladder that was so much less maintenance 29 weeks ago.
Movement: Yes. I read an article about this this week, and I've decided that we have a pretty calm baby. I certainly wouldn't say she is overly active, and most days I only feel her a few times throughout the day.
Food cravings: Sweets!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Steak?
Gender:  A sweet little princess
Baby Name: It's pretty much decided, but I'm still not calling it a done deal yet
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Heartburn something fierce! I've also been forgetting to put in here that I have had a petechial rash where my triceps would be if I actually had them on both arms. Asked my MD about it and he said it was probably just a weird pregnancy thing. Some days it's worse than others, but it never really itches or spreads. Can't say I've had much fatigue either....I'm working 10-11 hours most days by the time I add in my 2 hours of driving to work every day and I'm still handling it pretty well I would say.
Comments Solicited from Others: Nothing interesting, suprisingly.
Belly Button in or out? Flat as a board
Wedding rings on or off? On, getting a bit more snug.
Happy or Moody most of the time: I'm still happy that we are smooth-sailing, and I am not taking 1 single day for granted! Praying for a happy, healthy baby girl and an uneventful 11 weeks!
Looking forward to: Our 1st baby shower this weekend, and my grandpa's 75th birthday party!

Love and Prayers in Week 30, Sweet Girl!

The Dreaded 3 Hour OGTT

Monday of the 28th week was the dreaded 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I wouldn't have normally been dreading it because it is what it is, but having a really big interview right afterwards made it a bit more stressful than it needed to be. I didn't quite realize what I could have been getting into when I scheduled them back to back (after spending an hour reading horror stories online), and by Sunday night when I did a little research it was too late to reschedule. With my 1 hour test, I had the lemon-lime flavor (which was room temperature), and for the 3 hour my only option was the Fruit Punch (which was cool this time, so that was very nice). I'm thinking I like the Fruit Punch better because I never really had any problem with it (there were just a couple times drinking the lemon lime that I thought it could come back up).

Before I drank the glucola my blood sugar was 75 so I passed and was able to take the test(has to be less than 95 to continue).

And here are the results of my 3 hour test:
1 hr post drink - 151 (had to be less than 180 - passed it)
2 hr post - 175 (had to be less than 155 - failed it)
3 hr post - 123 (had to be less than 140 - passed this one...phew!)

If I would have passed the first 2 hours I wouldn't have had to do the 3rd hour, but like anything goes, I didn't and had to sweat it out an extra hour. Not to mention, because the nurse was 20 minutes late getting me started, I ended up being late to my interview. Luckily my OB knew the doctor well that I was interviewing with and called him and told them that it was their fault...and they were completely understanding. But nothing like showing up to your dream job interview completely disheveled (this is an understatement) and not feeling the greatest.

I brought a huge lunchbox full of snacks to take immediately after my last blood sugar reading was taken (hint from my dad to avoid bottoming out and feeling crappier) but didn't end up having time to each much. It was a rough 18 hours of fasting/feeling yucky and then having an interview and having to go to work right after all of that!

Needless to say, I survived and PASSED! Thank you, Lord!

Welcome, 3rd Trimester!

This post is much overdue, but taking pictures and getting them uploaded has been causing quite a hold up lately being so busy. This was typed and ready to be posted at 28 weeks but took me until now to get it published.

Here is the Whale Baby Bump at 28.5 weeks :)

How far along? 28 weeks, 12 to go!
Total weight gain: 18 pounds...eek
Baby is the size of an:  Eggplant
Maternity clothes?  You bet! Most of my work pants still "fit" without being buttoned, thank goodness for the belly band.
Stretch marks? Might have a new one popping up on my breast...
Sleep: Can't really complain here
Best moment this week: Joyce and Kilah came to Lincoln for the weekend and went shopping. September isn't even over yet and I'm over 1/2 done with my Christmas shopping! I also put Kilah to work making lots of bows and some decorations for Little Miss's nursery.
Miss anything? Only really miss a nice glass of wine now when we got out to dinner.
Movement: It's been a little less this week
Food cravings: Sweets! I'm becoming a regular at The Cookie Company where I have been the last 3 weeks in a row...I will pick up 3 or 4 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and take them home to the freezer for the week.  
Anything making you queasy or sick: No, but if I really HAD to pick something I would say it would be steak. I can still eat it just fine but it just doesn't sound good.
Gender: Sweet baby GIRL!
Baby Name: It's pretty much decided, but I'm still not calling it a done deal yet
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Breathing has been much better this past week and I'm down to using my inhaler once every couple days for the most part. Still having lots of heartburn but have been taking a Zantac almost every day.
Comments Solicited from Others: In the middle of a conversation about her treatment, a patient interrupted me and said "So you're having a boy aren't you?" I asked her why she thought that and her reply was "Well you are just really wide in the middle." Whatever that means?
Belly Button in or out? Flat as a board
Wedding rings on or off? On, getting a bit more snug.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I felt like I was on the verge of my 2nd emotional breakdown of this pregnancy last week because I was ready to be done being pregnant and be comfortable again...but thanks to Daddy, we avoided that and things have been just fine since.
Looking forward to: Our 1st baby shower coming up in a week and a half!

And here are some pictures of Kilah helping doing my project for me. I wanted poms made to hang in the nursery and found out quickly that I lacked the patience it took to make them without ripping them.

I had already made several bows for Little Miss, but thought that we needed many more so I thought she could just help me make a few more after we were tired of making the poms. I caught a lot of grief for this because apparently everyone else didn't see the need to have a 100 of them made already. I don't get it, a girl's gotta be prepared? :)

Love and Prayers in Week 29, Sweet Baby Girl!

Done Lost My Mind!

This post is for no other reason than for myself to make sense of all of the strange things that pregnancy did to me in the future. I know that pregnancy does weird things to a person, and I have a pretty good feeling that's what this is all about.

First, I must provide a strong disclaimer -- I despise Tiger Woods. I might loathe him actually, but I won't get into all of that here. So a couple weeks ago I had a very vivid dream - that Tiger and I were dating. We had met at some party with mutual friends, and eventually that evening he had invited me to start going to his golf tournaments with him. He even had his pilot's license, so it was just him and I on his private jet touring the country and basically living the dream. He treated me like an absolute princess and it was a dream that at the time, thought I never wanted to wake up from. (I know, this is absolutely NUTS...I can't believe I'm writing this). When I woke up and saw Dan next to me in the middle of the night, I thought he was Tiger. I got up and went to the bathroom, and fell back asleep and picked up right where I left off. I woke up the next morning and thought it was Tiger who was calling me when my phone rang. It was so real. For 2 whole days, I thought that this dream was real. When I saw him playing on TV, I felt like I had already been there and witnessed that moment first-hand. Dan and I still laugh about this, and the funniest part is that I was actually attracted to him throughout the entire dream and thought he was just the greatest thing ever.

Finally a week later reality became reality again (thank GOODNESS). I didn't think anything more of this dream (besides the running jokes between Dan and I about this now). Until last night, when I am thinking I had what must have been yet another vivid dream. I do remember that I had a hard time falling asleep last night, and I am pretty sure that Little Miss was moving quite a lot. I think I felt like entire limbs moving across my entire lower abdomen...more than usual. Last night, either in a dream or reality, on my upper right side Little Miss was particularly active, and it was even stronger movements than I have ever felt before. At one point, I felt what I was so positive was a tiny little fist poking out of my belly and it was long enough that she held it right under my hand that was cupped around it. I also felt movement up by my ribs that was something I haven't felt before. It was surreal, and maybe it was. I could not stop thinking about this all day, running it through my mind over and over to try and figure out if it was real. I wish I could put into words what is going through my mind about this, but the closest thing I can relate it to is that picture that is viral online about the tiny baby hand reaching out and holding onto the surgeon's hand before the baby had been delivered. Seeing that picture for the first time is the closest thing that evoked the same feelings that I have about this if somehow it was real. I want to re-live that moment 100 times.

Mid-morning today I got an email from Pampers (one that I get weekly with pregnancy updates that I rarely ever open) and decided for some odd reason to open it. At the very end, the following paragraph caught my eye:

Dream weaver. If you're like most pregnant women, you've got an extremely vivid, even bizarre, nightlife once you nod off: You give birth to a full-grown son. You go through labor only to find...a litter of kittens. The newborn baby in your arms suddenly opens his mouth and says, "I love you, Mama." You may dream not just about your pregnancy and baby, either; many women report that their dreams during pregnancy are filled with wild adventures, heady love affairs, and strange occurrences, all rendered in Technicolor. What the heck is going on? The dramatic dreams of pregnancy may be due to the extra hormones coursing through your body. Or they may simply be your mind's way of dealing with the range of thoughts and emotions you're experiencing right now. Whatever the reason, enjoy your vibrant nighttime getaways, and don't take them too seriously.

Now if that isn't something confirming that I done lost my mind, I don't know what is!

27 Weeks

And here is the updated post with the 27 week belly pic!

 

How far along? 27 weeks .... Crazy to think we only have 13 more! These last 7 weeks especially have gone faster than the entire first 20 did I think!
Total weight gain: 14 pounds at week 26. 15 pounds at week 27.   (According to my doctor's records weight gain is 12.8 pounds which has been since my first OB appointment...interesting?)
Baby is the size of:  2-2.5 pounds(ish)?
Maternity clothes?  Starting to outgrow my regular t-shirts, and my work clothes are getting a bit snug. Hoping I have a few more weeks in them.
Stretch marks? Nothing new here, fortunately!
Sleep: Sleeping pretty well, but having to get up to go to the bathroom more again. Last night was 5 times..an all-time high.
Best moment this week: Her kicks have gotten so much stronger this past week! I have been loving watching my belly move, and I always smile when I have a hand or arm resting on my belly and see it move throughout the day. Also, I was super excited to purchase the camera that I have been saving up for and looking forward to for YEARS this week! We weren't planning on getting it for another couple months or so, but it was on sale so we decided to pull the trigger. Can't wait to start playing with it! Also purchased the diaper bag that I have had my eye on for a year...and found the perfect color. Can't wait for that to get here now, too!
Miss anything? Only really miss a nice glass of wine now when we got out to dinner.
Movement: More and more, finally!
Food cravings: Really just anything sweet, but it probably doesn't count when I was like that pre-pregnancy
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Gender: Sweet baby GIRL!
Baby Name: It's pretty much decided, but I'm still not calling it a done deal yet
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Heartburn all day every day, and I'm still hot.all.the.time. Have also had 3 asthma exacerbations these past couple weeks, 1 of which scared me quite a little. Unfortunately I am taking medication (albuterol, singulair, and daily zyrtec) that I would much rather not be having to take right now. But it's all I can do. My dad reminded me that "If Mommy isn't breathing well, baby isn't either." If I wasn't pregnant right now, I would probably be on a round of steroids because nothing seems to be helping clear it up.
Comments Solicited from Others: I walked into a patient's room this week, and she said "Let me guess, it's a girl isn't it?" with all confidence. I was somewhat caught off guard and told her she was correct. She said she was positive that I was having a girl by how high I was carrying it. (So pretty much all of the myths have been true with this pregnancy and us having a girl. Even though I was positive that we were having a boy, all of the gender prediction quizzes, etc said girl from the very beginning. All of our heartrates were high and in the "girl range." And I'm carrying her high, just as the myth goes. Interesting!) Another patient, after walking into a room, asked how far along I was and after telling her I was 6 months she said "You are awfully big for only being 6 months!" Thanks for the honesty, but quite honestly I thought I would be bigger at this point than I am.
Belly Button in or out? In...barely
Wedding rings on or off? On, getting a bit more snug.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, of course!
Looking forward to: Is it too soon to say that I'm ready to be done being pregnant?

On September 17, we had another doctor appointment and this was the dreaded diabetes testing. Having gestational diabetes has been one of my biggest fears throughout this pregnancy, and really the only thing that I have really worried about. Just as feared, I failed with a reading of 148. I am devastated. 140 is required to pass the screening test, so I get to go back in a week for the 3 hour glucose tolerance test and drink double the glucola and wait 3 hours this time instead of 1. Praying really hard that this was just a fluke. They reassured me that it was only a screening test and I was only 8 points above what I needed to be. Needless to say, I am pretty bummed about it, but thinking positive for next week.

Her heart rate was nice and strong at 142 and my uterus is measuring at about 25.5 weeks, which he said was normal.

This week I am praying extra hard about my job situation and would appreciate all prayers. I have had 3 interviews at one office here in town and am waiting to hear back on that one, and have another interview at another one next Monday. I'm really praying hard that God's will be done with this, because I don't want to be switching jobs several times before I find the right one. The interview on Monday is for what could possibly be my dream job, so it would be pretty cool if that worked out. We will see, and until then, I will keep praying.

Sweet Baby Girl - I washed the first load of your teeny, tiny clothes and hung them all in your closet. I was fortunate to get a huge pile of clothes from a friend before our garage sale last week, and could not wait to get them home and hung up. I just love to go in there and sit and think about how much fun this is going to be! :) You are going to look so stinkin' CUTE!

Love and Prayers in Week 28!

25 Weeks

***This post is 2 weeks late being posted, but was typed at 25 weeks. I had been trying to find my camera cord to post the 25 week belly pic and just finally found it.

How far along? 25 weeks
Total weight gain: 13 pounds - Have woke up starving twice now in the middle of the night...so much that I had to get up and eat, which is something I have NEVER done before. So much for staying around 20 pounds this pregnancy...
Baby is the size of an:  Eggplant
Maternity clothes? Slowly getting out more and more. Had to buy a new Husker shirt for the game this weekend because I have outgrown all of mine from last year.
Stretch marks? Nothing new
Sleep: I'm back to being able to sleep for a good 12 hours if time allows and a lot of days I feel like I need 12 hours. But that isn't to say that I don't have to get up 4 or 5 times to pee during that time.
Best moment this week: Having a 5 day "weekend" for Labor Day - on Thursday Daddy and I went back up to NE Furniture Mart and ordered our glider and brought home the dresser (I LOVE it!), went and looked at cameras (SO excited to make a purchase - the one I want is even on sale!), bought myself a couple large husker shirts so I'm ready for the season, enjoyed a Diet Pepsi (guilt-free), and went to dinner with Grandma Wert. Friday I baked husker/fall sugar cookies, an apple coffee cake, and Dan made an egg casserole for gameday morning and then we went to a party at a friends' house. Saturday was Husker gameday with Grandpa and Grandpa Matthes. On Sunday, I worked on my garage sale pile for next weekend and got everything labeled and then went and hung out with some of my very favorite girlfriends while Daddy had his annual fantasy football draft/golf/poker day with the guys. On Monday, I slept til noon-thirty while Daddy played in a golf tournament. It has been a crazy busy weekend, but I wouldn't change one bit of it!
Miss anything? Not really, things have been so crazy busy that I really haven't had time to think about it
Movement: Some, it seems like it's a little less lately (maybe I'm just too busy to notice). Still mostly on my left side.
Food cravings: Have been too busy to really notice
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Gender: Sweet baby GIRL!
Baby Name: It's pretty much decided...
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Still lots of indigestion, but surprisingly less fatigue than prior weeks. And speaking of feeling overheated all the time, sitting at that football game in the 98 degree heat about put me over the edge. I'm still trying to recover from that one!
Belly Button in or out? In...barely
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, of course
Looking forward to: COOLER WEATHER - I'm over this heat.

At Friday nights' party, there must have been 20 kids running around and at any one time half of them were probably screaming or crying. Someone asked if I was ready for that, and without thinking, my answer was "No, I'm not. I'm enjoying that I can just sit here" (and none of those are my problems to worry about). I got to thinking that that probably came out very wrong, because of course I am excited about having a child of my own and I love a couple of them there just as they were my own. But I did very much mean what I said. Truth be told, I am not ready for that because right now I am enjoying my last 3.5 months of my kid-free, quiet life. Our time will come, but right now I am loving that Dan and I can just pick up and go wherever we want whenever we want, and that we can enjoy evenings out without chasing around crying or screaming kids. I am loving our adults-only outings, and I am ok with admitting that. Come December, I will be ready and I will welcome that crying, screaming baby girl with open arms.

Sweet Baby Girl - Just as I had finished writing above that I had been feeling you move less than normal, I sat there for an hour watching you sommersault in my tummy as much as you ever have. It seems like it has been so long since I have had a morning where I can just sit and watch you move like that...I was starting to miss that. You really only move around like this when I am alone - I just wish you would do this on one of the mornings where Daddy can sit here and watch you with me. You always seem to go still when he puts his hand on my tummy - I think maybe he has the same calming effect on you that he does me. There is just something about Daddy's hands, Baby Girl, and I know you will be calmed by them just as much as I am...I think you are already.

Last night you were living up to your partyin' in the pm reputation, and kept me awake for a couple hours from about 3-5 am. I felt lots of kicks on both sides of my tummy at one time...you must be longer than I can even imagine you being because I didn't think that was possible. I am surprised to say that I wasn't even mad about the sleep that I wasn't getting, because it isn't very often that I get to feel you so much for so long!

Love and Prayers in Week 26!

24 Weeks (The Belly, a Spider, and Giraffe)

Here was the 24 week belly picture that I haven't had a chance to post. I wasn't going to put on makeup just for this picture, so you get what you get. When I get a day off of makeup, I take it!

 

Here is Daddy putting the finishing touches on the dresser. It is a much better quality dresser than the first one we tried; I'm thinking we are going to be much happier with this one in the long run. 

 

All done! It is just what I had in mind. :)

 

All I had to do was light a little fire under Daddy that we needed to get started thinking about some things for the nursery, and he was ready to go. I had one night where I hardly slept at all because I was starting to stress out about all of the things that needed to be done, and what seemed like so little time to do it since I work every other weekend (I know, I know I was maybe being a tad ridiculous. But I am a planner, and we are getting short on weekends with all the parties/showers/holidays coming up!) After that, he was the one pushing to get things figured out and start getting some thing settled. He was the one pushing to get back up to NFM to get the right dresser and to get the glider ordered since it takes 6-8 weeks to come in, and I appreciated that more than I can ever say. I'm fairly confident in saying that he has had just as much fun with all of this as I have. We have had so much fun doing all of these things together...time together, alone, that I will never take for granted.

 

This next picture is really just for me. A couple weeks ago, Daddy told me that he had brought home a toy from his parents' house from when he was little. He had a couple to pick from, and he said he had picked the spider because it was most like us - our spider is a story that goes way back with us.

 

Anyways, I didn't really think too much about it. A couple days ago I was in the nursery getting a pair of pants before work, and I saw something odd in the crib. I walked over and saw this:

 

I had NO idea what that thing was, or where it came from. As I was getting ready, it dawned on me that it was probably that toy that Daddy was talking about. There that thing sat in the very middle of Baby Girl's crib. Not on the wide open bookshelf, not in the closet where most of the other toys are...but in the very middle of the crib. I just had to laugh because that is just something that Daddy would do...It is probably something only I can appreciate. And now I can't bring myself to move it. I can just picture him walking in there and wanting to put it somewhere special, and that is right where he chose.

 

He has also told me a couple different times these past few months that there is a giant giraffe that he walks by everyday at the hospital gift shop that he wanted to buy for Little Miss. I have always liked giraffes, and Baby Girl does have a couple giraffe toys already so I just laughed it off for the most part. I haven't really thought much about that giant giraffe until the other day when he was unloading the dishwasher and out of the blue he asked "What are you going to do if someday you come home and there is a giant giraffe in the corner of her room?" I had really just been blowing it off every time he had mentioned it, but at that moment I realized that he was really serious about buying this giraffe and that he was feeling me out about it. I asked if he was really serious about buying it, and he said "Well, kinda. I know how much you like giraffes and I think I'm starting to like them now too." I didn't even ask how much that thing costs, because I'm pretty sure he doesn't know himself, or really care for that matter. So let's just say, I won't be surprised if one day I walk in the nursery to find it. A bit ridiculous, maybe? But so dang cute if you ask me. :)