Wednesday, October 26, 2011

31.5 week ultrasound pictures

So little mister dropped some time last night, resulting in major pressure and more frequent contraction-y-type things... so this morning found me at the doctor.  They said they think everything's fine, though, so don't worry... just had to sit around at the office(s) forever - and we'll know more from the send-away test tomorrow.

That being said, I've been told that Peanut should grant Mommy's wish and stick around until at least after the baby shower Saturday (ya know, once his Daddy isn't on the other side of the country anymore?!?!)... and we got some cute pictures today.  He had the hiccups and was more mobile than I've seen him yet.  But, boy, is he running out of space in there!








Two Years!?!?!

Just a quick post that two years ago today, I started my new job at HoneyBaked Ham - where I met the love of my life. It's been a crazy two years and simultaneously feels like I've known Nate forever and that it was just yesterday that we started our journey together! Here's to many, many more years of memory-making!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Ah... Sisterly Love!

Natalie, 12 (left) and Alyssa, 14 (right) are 19 months apart... this means that they've spent their entire lives being together and sharing everything.  They share a room; they share clothes and makeup; they share games, movies, music.  They've always got each others' backs (which can be a little frustrating for parents when the "sister code" comes into play and we can't weasel information out of one about the other) and they genuinely are great friends.

This is NOT to say that they're anything alike though.  Alyssa likes pink and red, skirts/dresses and girliness, Avril Lavigne and the drama of middleschoolers.  Natalie loves purple and Star Wars, jeans and Converse, and is commonly labeled as our "tomboy".  While they almost always get along (sometimes with a little prompting, because, what kind of siblings would they be if they didn't fight every once in a while)... sometimes, they just have to attack each other!





Wednesday, October 12, 2011

28-31 weeks - I'm so behind!!

Wow, I'm back to being a blogger-slacker! I keep seeing all these posts that trigger ideas and/or think about things I want to share, but I just haven't had the time... or haven't made the time... Let's see if I can do a quick catch-up...

Woohoo Trimester 3!

At week 28, baby is about 16" long and officially weighed in at 2lbs 9oz at the growth ultrasound.  At last week's fluid ultrasound (which I forgot to mention in the previous post), the tech expressed some concern about a shortening of my cervix.  We were given the option of doing the progesterone pills to stop the progress or to watch it for another week and see if it was just a fluke... we decided to wait for another week.  When we went in this week, my cervix had shortened another 1/2-1cm (from 2.5-3 to 2-2.5) so they went ahead and gave me the prescription - and we'll see from here, but I'm SO not ready for his great debut!  I had a bit of a frustration/scare with my glucose test - which I expected to fail as it seems that I didn't actually HAVE gestation diabetes before, since the fasting reading is usually the first that goes wonky, and mine was the only one that wasn't failed horribly.  So when I went in for it this time, I took my blood sugar meter with me so I wouldn't have to wait - and when I took the reading after drinking the nasty concoction, I had failed it by 20 points! :(
Some pictures from this week's ultrasound:






29 weeks was a little lackluster in the progress report... went to the OB yesterday for a check up since the progesterone pills have been giving me terrible cramping (and other strange symptoms).  I was measuring at 30cm (which she said was beautiful) and have officially hit the 20 pound mark! The Braxton Hicks contractions are starting to get a little crazy uncomfortable, but I just remember that each one brings me a little closer to meeting our little Peanut!  Good news is that I found out that there's something terribly wrong with my blood sugar meter - my glucose test came back perfectly normal... NO GESTATIONAL DIABETES!!!

Baby was playing peek-a-boo with us at the ultrasound, which I've got to say is absolutely amazing and simultaneously kinda creepy!  He's getting really big, and we could see his little fat rolls around his ribs :)  Supposedly over the next few weeks (what's categorized as "month 7"), he's supposed to be about 15.2-16.7" long and 2.5-38 pounds... but we'll see for sure at the growth ultrasound on November 2nd.


 I just love the smirk in this one! :)

 He's got my nose
 This is my favorite from this week - he's sucking his thumb sideways!!

In other news, Nate is in Dallas this week for more training for his promotion (and will be headed back to Phoenix the week after next).  Natalie has joined Ping Pong Club and is loving the weekly meetings that they have. Yesterday she announced that they found another school with a PPC and will be having competitions (not exactly what I had in mind when I was thinking they needed healthy competition - ie sports team - but something that will boost sociability nonetheless).  Alyssa was nominated for the High Flying Falcon award (3rd consecutive year) for being an exceptional student and will get it at a ceremony tomorrow!  Next week she will be inducted into Beta Club as well!  My mom is coming to town this weekend to help with the cleaning/moving/organizing of the bedrooms - we're fixing up the girls' room to make it more efficient and getting the "game room" converted into the "baby room" in preparation for bringing home all the crap from my baby shower the weekend after next (afternote: the sunroom is about 60% filled with boxes/bags of stuff that's being donated to GoodWill - good job to the chicas for FINALLY being willing to part with some of their junk, er, "treasures")... and I think baby officially has a name!

30 Weeks:
 I was looking particularly small today, so I figured this would be a great picture to share... at this point, we were looking at about 6.5 weeks until we would be induced!
 Profile

He's already got the beginnings of a double chin!!

This is the beginning of the 31st week and it's starting to really sink in for me that we're VERY rapidly approaching the finish line!  The baby shower is this weekend at my mom's house - and while I don't want to seem greedy (because I just want to have everyone together that's supported us throughout the tumultuous times we've been through lately), I'm really looking forward to all the goodies that we'll be bringing home with us!  We have NOTHING at this point.  I bought a hand-me-down travel system (carseat and stroller) and swing from my friend Jessica; my parents have the crib and my mom bought a couple outfits.  Aside from that, I have a coming home outfit and a grand plan for his "nursery"... lol!  We were disturbingly productive when Mommy came to help us clean the other weekend, and have the "baby room" semi-cleaned and the girls' room is just about ready to go.  We still have to drill holes for the dresser knobs for both rooms, and then the girls' room will be set (and I'll post pictures then); they'll be able to get the last remnants of their stuff out of the old game room/baby room, and we'll be able to move forward with setting up baby stuff! 

Nate's in Phoenix again this week (the last traveling of the year; he'll go again for the graduation the first week of January) and while I still don't like it, I'm starting to get used to the traveling-spouse thing.  Natalie and Alyssa are keeping me busy with their newly-budding social lives: they want to go everywhere with everyone all the time!! Natalie is now doing both Ping Pong club and Art Club, and Alyssa is doing FACS (Food and Consumer Services) and Beta Club.  They've both mentioned sports, but haven't committed 100% at this point, but we should probably get on that, since track starts in December and softball starts just after the New Year and we still need to get physicals.  This week, I'm realizing that as much as I love being pregnant, it's starting to get old. I've been pregnant for the majority of the last 15 months (!!!) and I'd really like to be able to sleep on my stomach, eat and drink as I want, etc (which has started the beginning of a post called "Gripes and Grins").  I got my new camera this week (I'll take pictures of and with it this weekend at the baby shower and post them soon) and I can't wait to get started playing with it!!  I'm starting to get to the point at work where it might be time to start thinking about what's going to happen when I'm out as he's born - and I've started typing up very detailed step-by-step instructions of daily responsibilities (can you tell I'm trying to hang on as long as possible? I'm a little wishy-washy, lol).  They're bumping up my OB appointments to bi-weekly and continuing the weekly ultrasounds at the hospital, which means that I feel like I'm constantly running around!  Luckily, my employer has been wonderful and understanding in my here-and-gone schedule.  Doctor(s) tomorrow, so probably I'll tack the ultrasound pictures onto the beginning of the post that will come about the baby shower this weekend... and maybe I can attempt to stay caught up while riding the whirlwind for the next few weeks.

27 weeks!

This week baby is around 2 pounds and ~15" long!

Some pictures from this week's ultrasound (sorry they're dark): As a side note, whenever Nate comes home from work, he sits in the right-hand corner of the couch and props his feet on the bottom shelf of the coffee table: left heel on the ledge and right heel on the ankle of his left... exactly the way our little man had his feet positioned at the ultrasound today!






Wow lots of catching up to do!

Alright, when I went in for my 25 week appointment, the high risk specialist at Maternal Fetal Care said that everything was looking great and that she wanted to take me off the high risk list - yay!  The next morning, I got a call from my OB's office saying that they wanted to step up the ultrasounds and measure movement/breathing/fluid weekly from here out - hmmmm.....

So it turns out that they're just doing this as precautionary because of the history (around this same time) and while it's a pain in the butt to be off work for hours each week and travel back and forth, it means that we get to see little mister (who is still to-date unnamed) every week... which leads to the fact that I've got a backlog of picture to put up on here even though it's only been a little while since my last baby post.

26 weeks!
This week baby is the size of a hothouse cucumber (whatever that is) - his eyes are developing and should be starting to open soon!  His eyelashes are fully developed as well :)

Some pictures from the ultrasound: