22 October, 2012

My favorite maternity shirt

Self explanatory.  Mr E and I were studying some stuff for work when I had the desire to show you all my favorite maternity shirt.


Making sure Mr. E can see the book.  Not many good pictures though.  

I don't know why this one looks funny...

21 October, 2012

Beautiful fall day!

Brian and I went to a friend's cookout today which was a blast!  The weather was great!  When we came home to feed Mika, we hung out in the backyard playing kickfetch with Mika and chillin' in our hammock.  It is just awesome weather today.  Not too many updates with baby.

I'm 30 weeks!  EEEK!  10 weeks / 69 days left (yes I know this isn't a set day, but here's hoping Mr. E stays in until ~40 weeks).

Mr. E:

  • ~15.7" long
  • ~3lbs
  • still moving around like crazy.  
  • Fingernails and toenails are pretty much finished developing
  • his bone marrow is completely in charge of red-blood-cell production
  • is opening his eyes sometimes, but his vision is only about 20/400
  • has spent most of his energy on brain development
  • has eyebrows
I am: 
  • sleeping a lot
  • suffering from swollen hands.  My rings have been moved to a necklace chain.  I'll probably just quit putting them on my hands even when they are not swollen.  I might also drop them off to get them cleaned. 

Here are some pics from today's trip to the backyard:

Brian fixing the camera for me.  But he got my belly so I thought you would want to see!

Brian's feet

Mika says, "Throw it!"

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Eli and Mika playing kickfetch

Chillin' in the hammock

I was trying to get a nice picture, but someone had to make a face

I got rid of my first husband to marry this mountain man I found while on a hike one day. 

We decided we wanted a family photo, but Mika wasn't working with us.

She was very ball-focused and couldn't figure out what we wanted her to do.

This was the best we could get!

I tried to get my belly, but my arms aren't long enough.  B is so serious looking with the beard and shades.

Taking a break from playing with her ball.

"I'm ready!  Throw it!"

I got it!

I'm ready!

16 October, 2012

I'm a terrible blogger: 29 weeks

Here, have some pictures first to appease the masses: 
29 weeks 3 days.  Not a maternity shirt so it looks weird.  I was feeling lazy, and you're lucky I'm even wearing pants.

29 weeks 3 days

29 weeks 3 days

Sorry I haven't updated (again).  I'm a terrible blogger.  I'll make up for it today by writing a thousand page novel.  I have just been tired and too lazy to bust out the camera.  And not having pictures was a great excuse to be lazy with typing.  Who cares about the pregnant lady unless you can see the bump!

Obligatory fruit comparisons and such:

Mr. E:

  • is about 2 1/2lbs (about the weight of a butternut squash...mmmmm butternut squash is delicious and now is the season!)
  • is about 15 inches long from head to heel.  That is long.  That is longer than a ruler.  I'm having a baby.
  • is developing a ginormous head to cause me pain and make room for what will be his genius little brain.
  • is further developing in his bones, lungs, and muscles
  • is starting to grow his fat stores.  He will be less skinny from here on out.  
  • has teeth under his gums
  • is going to be cramped soon.  He's trying to get in all the movements he can before then.  Believe me. 
  • can distinguish between bright sunlight and artificial light, not that he knows what it is, he can see the difference though.  

Me:

  • I can no longer type in baby at ## weeks into google images.  This leads to pictures of babies born at 29 weeks.  I don't think of that.  I keep explaining to Mr. E that he isn't allowed to come out yet and to stop knocking on the door.
  • I have started kick counting as advised by the doctor.  Even though Eli moves a ton, I don't have the attention span to make it to 10 movements at most times throughout the day.   So I do it when I lay down to go to sleep. 
  • Heartburn is actually not as big of a problem this week as it has been the last month or so.  I'm telling myself it is because Eli is hanging out attacking my bladder and cervix instead of my ribs and stomach.  
  • I'm pretty sure I saw an arm/elbow or leg/knee bulge out of my stomach the other day.  That was cool, although a little uncomfortable so I'm glad it didn't last long. 
Brian: 
  • School is going well!  It is midterm week and he only had one midterm (how lucky is that!).  
  • The spring schedule looks like we might not need full time childcare.  Who here can see Brian being a work at home dad two days a week?  It may just happen!!
  • Has had two realizations that baby is coming soon: 
    • He said, "What do you want for Christmas? Christmas is soon you know.......That means baby is coming soon!"
    • He was emailing a hotel that he has been to before (about returning for a stay) and wrote something to the extent of "I will be returning with my wife and son."  He said that using the word son felt strange.  I am very excited for him.  He doesn't get all the bumps and kicks and heartburn and bathroom trips to remind him all day long.  So I am excited that I get to share more of the excitement/nervousness that I feel with him because I think he is feeling similarly. 
Mika: 
  • Doesn't even know what's going on
  • is currently snoozing like a rockstar because she went to camp today.
  • has been licking my belly so maybe she does know something is going on.  
  • loves bananas and applesauce and cheese and pumpkin and...

So for those of you who can't resist buying cute baby things and sending them to me (you know who you are...grandmas!)  We are pretty set on newborn and 3-6 month clothes.  Our neighbors are awesome and have a boy about 10 months.  We are getting tons of his hand-me-downs!

For those of you that are getting titles with this birth, we would love to know what you would prefer to be called.  I'm sure we'll have an Oma and a grandma and an Aunt (like ant) and an Aunt (like aunt) and such.  So if you know what you want to be called, let us know.  Also, if you have a recent picture you could digitally send me, that would be awesome.  I want to put family pics on his wall and start a picture book for him so we can "visit family" who we don't get to see often.  My older sister had a little photo album for her kids and I love the idea.

I had a doctor's appointment last Friday.  There weren't any real updates before then anyway (another excuse for being a terrible blogger).

  • I do NOT have gestational diabetes which is great.  
    • First off, that glucose stuff they make you drink is gross, I am so glad I didn't have to do it again for a 3 hour test.  It tasted like a flat orange syrupy soda.  I don't like orange soda and if you are a drink that tries to taste like soda you better have carbonation and a lot of it.   This weirdo husband of mine likes to shake his sodas so there isn't as much carbonation.  I glare at him.  Anyway, the orange stuff is gross.  Most of you know me well enough to know that I love my sweets, so you would have thought that I would have loved an uber-sugary drink.  
    • Secondly, I'm hoping this will prevent a doctor from trying to tell me I'm going to have a 20 lb baby and demand a c-section and then baby comes out at 5 lbs.  
  • I'm a bit anemic but I practically begged not to be put on extra iron supplements.  I'll feel fatigued a lot, that's fine. Most of you ladies that had to take prenatal vitamins with iron probably know the reason why.  Everyone else can just be left hanging. 

The doc at my appointment was great.  This was the first time I had questions and she listened very carefully and answered thoroughly.  Also she felt comfortable laughing with me.  That was nice.

  • Laughter suddenly turning into uncontrollable sobbing is perfectly normal, even if you are still trying to laugh BECAUSE you are sobbing so hard you can't breathe.  She got a giggle out of me explaining the deer in headlights look Brian gets when this happens (poor guy).  
  • Punches to the cervix area are normal and not a cause for concern unless it is consistent pressure.  I like to tell Mr E. to go away ("no one's home!") and come back in a few months.  I actually think I preferred it when he was exploring all the different ways he could hit my ribs.    
  • Sadly, my left arm and hand has started to get tingling in it again.  This is a first since my surgery, so it scared the crap out of me.  I spent many moments trying not to cry about it (stupid hormones) during the three days between the tingling starting and my doctor's appointment.  
    • The doc recommended going to a regular doc and getting my hardware checked on and anything else they might think is necessary.  
    • She also explained that my progesterone levels are already on the higher side of normal so my tendons and ligaments may be relaxing quite a bit to prepare for birth.  This could be putting stress on the nerve going down my arm.  
    • She also thinks I may be compensating for my belly with my back which could cause strain on that nerve somehow.  SOoooo (why aren't there various sizes of the letter o so I could make that soooo get smaller in increments?), she provided me with a pregnancy belt.  Now anyone sitting inside my mind during my plane ride home to Indiana would know that I made fun of the pregnancy belt advertisement in the magazine I read.  However, it made a difference just in the 40 minutes I wore it that day.  So I'm suppose to wear it when I have to walk a lot (in and out of work, renn fest (ooops, forgot it), shopping, etc).  And I get to be the dork in the pregnancy belt.
That's all for now (are you really still with me?  woooow!).  I'll update again this weekend.  If I don't, make sure you blame the photographer.  Or maybe the dog.