29 weeks

Another Tuesday, another week older.

This mommy-to-be has no complaints. I'm feeling good, happy, and still running. So far I don't have the usual late pregnancy ailments like heartburn, rib pain, poor sleep, or fatigue. The nursery is painted and we are eagerly awaiting the furniture (which should be arriving in the next 2 weeks) and checking things off the pre-baby to-do list.


**How Big is Baby?: "Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain."
**Maternity clothes? Yes, although today I'm wearing a "regular" top and probably stretching it out.
**Total weight gain/loss: Up 17lbs (amazing considering the chocolate I ate the last two weeks)
**Stretch marks? No new ones
**Sleep: Still pretty good- I get up a few times a night to pee, but that's not new and doesn't really wake me up.
**Best moment this week: Getting home to my husband and puppies on Friday night.
**Movement: The baby was moving a lot while we were in Florida, and then it seemed like he/she wasn't moving nearly as much the last day we were there. Since there is any number of problems that decreased movement can indicate, I called and asked the doctor, who said it was normal for the baby to move less, as long as I was feeling it move everyday. I think the baby just moved into a different position. I also realized that when I sit still, I feel the baby more. So now that I'm back at my desk, I've been feeling a lot of movement. It's more like moving pressure (from a head, back, butt) rather than kicks or jabs (although I still get those). Plus, on Monday night I was awoken by kicks. That's a first!
**Food cravings: Nothing new. Just trying to eat healthier.
**Health/Exercise: According to Stephen, I'm waddling when I run. It's also getting uncomfortable. Saturday I had heavy pressure on the lower part of my bump like the baby was trying to escape through my belly button. I was thinking that my running days might be coming to a close, but then had pretty good and great runs the past couple of days. So I'm going to waddle on...for now.
**Labor Signs: None, thankfully
**Belly Button in or out? In and staying that way.
**What I am looking forward to: Getting the nursery furniture soon and our birthing class on Saturday. Then a Dr's appointment next Wednesday.
**Quote of the Week: "Do you guys go to the baby store EVERY weekend?"- Josh
For the record, we've only been to the baby store 7 times in 6+ months.
**Milestones: Only 8-11 weeks to go!

Weeks 27 & 28: Jet Set

After all this snow, we were so excited to fly out to Florida for our babymoon. We headed to Ft. Pierce (where we first met) and stayed with Stephen's parents for a long Valentine's Day/Presidents' Day/Babymoon weekend. It was a little bit chilly, but we went shopping, relaxed, had some delicious meals, and just enjoyed being together and with Debbie and Alex. It was wonderful. Stephen hanging out:


Our first Valentine's Day married:


Here was our first attempt to "lay out" when it was in the 50s and windy:


We got one day in the sun, but thought we could avoid sunscreen, which led to some pretty terrible burns. Turns out your skin is more sensitive to sun (there's 50% more blood circulating in your body) when you're pregnant.


27 week bump picture (before we left)during a break from painting:


28 weeks bump picture:


Then I went to San Diego for work. While it wasn't nearly as much fun as our babymoon, it was successful work-wise, the weather was nice, and I got to see Amy and Nicole!








While traveling, especially while pregnant, is not nearly as glamorous as I once thought, it was a fantastic week!

Week 27 and More Snow!

As if the 18+ inches we got on Saturday weren't enough, we are currently in the midst of a blizzard expected to drop 8-16 inches. We got out of the house as much as possible for walks and errands on Saturday and Sunday, primed the nursery, and baked cookies. We've spent a lot of time with our sweet dogs. We couldn't make it up to V & Josh's house for their annual Superbowl Party (which didn't happen due to the 3 feet of snow they got and the location of their house on a steep hill), so watched the Superbowl at a friend's house in our neighborhood. Monday both of us were off, so we walked, got paint and painted the nursery. Tuesday we were both off again, so Stephen chopped wood, Helen did an OnDemand kickboxing video, and then we went out for lunch (needed to get out of the house) and picked up some food for the current snowstorm. And, with blizzard and whiteout conditions today, we're both off again.

That means that we've been together, constantly, for more than 5 days- Yes, almost as long as our honeymoon! Unfortunately this snowmoon has not been nearly as tropical as our honeymoon, but we are enjoying it. We have somehow managed not to argue too much. We've laughed a lot. And spent a lot of time together on the sofa. We even took honeymoon inspiration and photographed our dinner Tuesday night:



And some desserts we picked up:



Oh, and lest you think that it's ridiculous that we're both off, here is what our street looked like before the second storm began:


Clearly not plowed, and only getting worse in the additional snow.

Pre-snow, post-shoveling backyard view:


7:30pm



10:30am



Around noon Stephen shoveled the backyard and played with Mueller, who was loving the snow in his face.





And the front:


With all this unexpected time at home, we were able to get the nursery painted. It needs another coat but looks pretty good. And it feels so great to have it (almost) done. Check back tomorrow for that picture.

27 weeks: Beginning of the 3rd trimester. The baby could be here in 10 weeks--Crazy!
**Total weight gain/loss: Up 15lbs
**How Big is Baby?: Eggplant
**Maternity clothes? No, mostly sweats ;-)
**Stretch marks? Only a few small ones on my lower back. Stupid back fat.
**Sleep: Getting 10-11 hours a night, so even waking up isn't impacting how restful it is. I'm just going to enjoy this for as long as possible.
**Best moment this week: Seeing the baby move (from the outside) every morning and every night. Even if it's uncomfortable at times, it is really amazing.
**Movement: There has been a huge increase in the baby's movement since late last week. We can see the baby moving from the outside, and saw an elbow or knee sticking out on Monday morning. Yesterday I felt hiccups! It was a rhythmic thumping, faster than my pulse, lower in my pelvis, that went away after about 2 minutes. So cool!
**Food cravings: Random bland foods. Cream cheese. Pizza. I had a delicious chicken reuben sandwich yesterday. Yumm.
**Health/Exercise: Trying to get exercise in via InDemand FitTV exercise videos. Yesterday I did a kickboxing one that has every major muscle in my body sore, so I'll probably do something easier today. It's probably going to be a while before I get out to run again.
**Labor Signs: None, thankfully
**Belly Button in or out? In and staying that way.
**What I am looking forward to: Babymoon!
**Weekly Wisdom: Trying to get something for the baby accomplished every week. Since we've been off, we've tried to accomplish something every day.
**Milestones: 1-hour gestational diabetes test on Friday (ugh), and then it's back to the Dr the first week in March.

Snowmaggedon 2010

You MAY have heard that the DC area got slammed with a monster snow storm this weekend. Since we live in the city and across the street from the grocery store, Stephen loves building fires (in the fireplace), and I just LOVE snow, we've enjoyed the past couple of days. We also documented the snowfall:

6:15 Friday Night

10pm Friday Night


Midnight Friday


9:30 Saturday morning



Mueller clearly could not even walk in the snow, which was up to his chest. So Stephen shoveled out a path for him and Madison.

Then we attempted to get out the front door

This was the view down our street

Stephen and Mueller dug out the car

We got an additional 3-4 inches after that, though, for a total of about 16 inches. Apparently we got the least in the area, because the official DC reading was 18.6".

More snow on Tuesday????

26 weeks

We had a Dr's appointment today and it was relatively uneventful (knock on wood). I'm still healthy (no activity restriction) and we got to see the little one for a bit.


S/he looked great- measured perfectly for 26 weeks 1 day, jabbed a few times and kicked my bladder during the ultrasound. What you see is actually the knee--The baby is curled up pretty tightly these days, which may explain why my bump isn't that big (or is because my bump isn't that big). His or her little arms were raised above the head (you can almost see a hand above the head below) and at one point the baby gave us the finger!


Here's a pregnancy update:

Sleep: So-so. The biggest impediment to sleep is now an overactive mind rather than pee breaks (although they're still very frequent). Trying to get as much in as possible for as long as I can.

Gender: Today I swear I saw a penis and Stephen swears he saw ovaries. During an ultrasound you can, in fact, see a cross section of the baby's abdomen. Today we saw the stomach, bladder, and kidneys. I didn't notice any ovaries, but they could have been there.

Bump: Growing.


Feeling: Eh. I got sick on Sunday morning, perhaps because I had a Tylenol with OJ on an almost empty stomach or perhaps I picked up a stomach bug traveling. Unfortunately, I haven't felt 100% since then with periodic headaches and nausea. Bleh. The Dr said I should feel better soon- It doesn't seem to be pregnancy-related.

Health/Exercise: Still running about 45 mins per day. The biggest problem now is actually the snow on the sidewalks, which isn't goining anywhere. Luckily the Dr is still letting me exercise.

Movement/Kicks: Lots of kicks!

Maternity Clothes: I need more. That's all I have to say.

Belly Button: Still in--staying that way!

Highlight of the week: I spent this weekend in Charlotte with Holland and Lauren! We had a great time doing girlie stuff- going to dinner, shopping, etc. It was just great to see them. They both looked fabulous and I wish wish wish that we were all in the same place. I'll post pics when I get them from the girls.

Upcoming milestones: Only 97 days to go...3rd trimester starts on Monday....that means the baby will be here in 13 1/2 weeks!!!!