26 Weeks

I'm starting to freak out just a little bit...

In roughly 14 weeks we will be a family of 3! I will be a mom. JD will be a dad. The last 26 weeks have flown by, I'm terrified that I am going to blink and it will be September! There are moments when I need JD to dunk me in the pool.

Snap out of it!

I'm getting to the point where, other than my growing bump, I can tell my body is not quite the same. Normal things like bending over, getting off the couch, getting in and out of bed are much more difficult than they used to be. My sciatica has been killing me and normally curling up in the fetal position helps...but I can't quite make it into the fetal position. I end up in some pose that resembles a cat.

JD asked me to grab his bottle of water on the floor of the car the other day...had to unbuckle, skooch forward and lean sideways...but I got it!

So, 26 weeks. Nugget is the size of a head of lettuce...or an eggplant. Again, could you be a little more specific on the version of lettuce, please? Are we talking Boston lettuce? Red Leaf? Micro Greens??

U.F.O. is getting ready to open his/her eyes. The eyelashes are growing. I'm passing along my antibodies to boost up Nugget's immune system. Getting ready for life on the outside with other germy kids. Amazingly, Nugget is also taking breaths of amniotic fluid. Apparently, this is a good thing and the baby doesn't drown. Whew. 

I am supposed to start paying attention to swelling. Mild swelling is ok. Severe or sudden...not OK...this could be a sign of preeclampsia. A condition where your blood flow is restricted and can lead to some unwanted outcomes. I watched Season 3 of Downton Abbey...poor Lady Sybil. 

Braxton-Hicks Contractions have started. Not quite a scary as I thought they would be. So far it just feels like my belly gets really tight all of a sudden. Then it passes. Easy, peasy. 

Symptoms at 26 weeks:

-Trouble sleeping: What? I'm sorry I was snoozing...because I don't sleep at night. JD would argue that I do, but just because I fall asleep easily, doesn't mean I stay asleep. The last few nights I have been tossing and turning. Then I inevitably kick my body pillow out of bed. Have to get out of bed to reach it. (Our mattress is roughly 3.5 feet in the air). I've also been waking up really early too. If I were smart, I'd just get up and exercise...but I have pregnancy brain so...

-Swelling: I'm judging this mostly on how tight my wedding ring is. Still fits like normal. No swelling!

-Headaches: Negative. I drink water like a champion.

-Pregnancy brain: I really don't think it's too bad. I might have to go down to the kitchen 6 times because I keep forgetting to do what I intend to do. But I haven't put the cat in the fridge or anything weird yet.

-Higher blood pressure: Not sure...Dr. tomorrow.

Speaking of exercise. My fabulous fit sister Amanda has urged me to sign up for this prenatal Pilates class. It is the only prenatal class I have found and I think it will be a bit too intense for me. She thinks it would be good for me to meet other pregnant ladies and have someone to commiserate with...you know share our fears of our vaginae (spell-check tells me this is the plural of vagina...fascinating) falling out...

I think we have successfully sorted out the plan for medical insurance for the babe which is a load off. Now we are on our way to finding a pediatrician. Help! Area moms with recommendations? Are family practice doctors just as good with kids as a pediatrician? Or do you really need a pediatrician? 

This past weekend was Memorial Day Weekend! #mwd for all you hashtaggers. My first sober MDW since 2006...wow. You can get a lot done when you aren't playing lawn games and drinking! We (and by we I mean JD, my big bro Jason, Irv and Kyle) laid down the hardwood floor in the nursery. It looks amazing! We just have to finish painting the closet and put up the baseboards and molding. Woo hoo! 

I ordered an area rug for the room and I really cannot wait to get started putting everything together and decorating. 

June, Jacklyn, Shane and myself weeded a good portion of the yard. There are weeds I've never seen before back there. It needs a little more TLC but it will look great after a few more weekends of hard work. 

Apparently JD and the baby bond when I fall asleep at night because the baby kicks like crazy. Adorable. And I'm pretty impressed I can sleep through that!

I'm a little nervous about getting weighed tomorrow. I have definitely been indulging in cravings. Last weekend I made home made ice cream sandwiches with chocolate chip cookies and homemade coconut ice cream. They last 5 minutes. Yesterday the Dining Hall at school/work had chocolate chip cookies, Cocoa Puff treats and frozen yogurt soft serve...I had all 3. Fat kid.

 I feel like the bump got smaller...

Week 25 Ultrasound

First of all...our blog has been viewed over 1000 times! Half of those might be my views...but that is fantastic! Thanks to those of you reading!! 

Last night we buckled down to finish painting the nursery so that we would be ready to lay down the hardwood this weekend. 

#Fail

We ran out of wall paint...UGH. So Phase 2b will be completed this evening. Luckily the paint only needs 4 hours to dry...miracle paint. And we'll have K Duggs there to help! Yes, you unknowingly signed your weekend away to housework/yardwork...you're welcome. 

So, the reason you are all here...the Ultrasound Take 2. 

The baby was amazing today. Cooperating so we could get the coveted spine and heart shots we missed the last time. We have a very wiggly nugget apparently who loves to have her/his feet up over its head. 

Growth is on target.

Cute little profile

Here's looking at you, kid. (Nugget is looking right at you!)

The spine...nice arch

Another adorable profile...and what I can only assume is a bottle opener

U.F.O. is definitely its father's child

The Dr. surprised us with a little 3D action. At first you don't know what you're looking at. It's just an orange blob. Like a nuclear mushroom cloud. Then after some clickity-clacks on the keyboard this darling little face starts to appear. And then there it is! Our little miracle. 

Apparently the 3D caught part of the foot...that is the bump on the forehead...not a growth.

Because this is just a slice of the face it reminds me of that part in The Little Mermaid when King Triton blows up all of Ariel's human paraphernalia and all that remains of the statue of Prince Eric is his face. Right?

And as promised...the belly photo.

25 Weeks

25 Weeks...Holy smokes! 

"It's probably dawned on you that soon you'll actually have to deliver this baby"...uhhh yeah! 

No...really I thought that if I didn't think about it, I wouldn't really have to do it!! 

The baby is the size of a cauliflower...we are into the vegetables!! Baby is really growing now. Of course at this point the fruit/veggie scale is just amusing to me. 

** So thebump.com sends me weekly emails. This week it tells me the baby is a cauliflower. thebump.com also designed the fruit/veggie scale seen at the top of my blog. That says the baby is an eggplant this week. Get it together!! 

Nugget is bouncing all over the place these days. While on a conference call this week I felt the U.F.O. flying around and looked down at my belly to see my bump moving around. It was crazy/creepy/cool/amazing. 

Sort of reminded me of this:

You know...just cuter

Yet another productive weekend under our belts! We made a decision on and purchased the hardwood floor for the baby's room. You should all be super impressed with how quickly we made a decision!! We then trucked it home, ripped up the carpeting in the nursery (I discovered a dead mouse under the carpet...1. How did it get there? 2. How long had it been there??), and pulled up the nasty pad that goes under the carpeting. 

The Blank Canvas

Much to our surprise there was a usable sub-floor underneath! 

Sunday was the big Fire on the Water event at Indian Ranch that our little satellite church group had been planning. It was very successful. We ended up with over 100 people! It was a long day, but a very special one!  

Cherry on top? The B's won! 

Tuesday night I worked late in order to attend the Class of 2013 Alumni Association Induction Dinner...being an alumna who also works at the school I sat at a table with 8 graduating seniors. The students could pick whichever table they wanted. Mine was one of the last ones to fill up...it was all boys. They were fun. They told me all about their senior pranks and looking forward to drinking and partying in college. 

My peeps

Oh and the B's won again! 3-0

Pregnancy symptoms from thebump.com

-Constipation - No, I mastered this during Week 5 - drink water! eat greens!

-Hemorrhoids - No thank god! Not sure I'd want to know if I did.

-Gas and bloating - Sure but worse than a period week? Nope.

-Heartburn - I am very lucky. I only had heartburn once. This baby is going to love spicy food because I test the heartburn trigger a lot. 

-All-over aches and pains - Yes...could be my posture, could be how I sleep, could be that I really don't exercise or stretch at all...

-Trouble sleeping - Oh boy. Apparently Week 24/25 is the time when comfort goes out the window. Nothing is comfortable. The baby is always kicking my bladder. It's too hot. I had the joy of being woken in the middle of the night by calf cramps the other night. I'm blaming this on the fact that we haven't had bananas in the house this whole week...

To Do:

-Schedule glucose tolerance test...if you need to: So does this mean I might not need to?? Cause the first time they took my blood I passed out twice...it would be really nice if they didn't have to take more blood.

-Pick out maternity clothes - ???? Do people really get to Week 25 without having purchased maternity clothes??? IMPOSSIBLE! I needed them over a month ago. I have a globe where my abs used to be. 

This weekend Jurve will be home for a couple days. I am exploiting them for slave labor while they're home. Irv, Jason and JD will be busy installing our hardwood floor while June and I sweat in the garden. There are quite a few things we need to dig up, tame, kill, replace. Step 1: Identify what are weeds and what are plants to keep (they are so tall I can't tell the difference!). Step 2: Is that poison ivy? Step 3: Open the pool for the season!! Woot Woot! (except that it's going to be 50 degrees this weekend...)

We started painting the nursery last night. Realized after putting the first coat of paint on that the compound we used to fix a couple holes was visible through the coat of paint. Good news is that this morning it looked as though as the paint dried the spots disappeared. Hoping with the 2nd coat we will be golden! I managed to help paint 2 walls in the room before my back started to hurt...still paying for it today. My fabulous husband finished the job while I made dinner. Pretty good trade off if you ask me! 

I forgot to take a bare belly bump pic but I'll be posting an update tomorrow with new ultrasound photos (YAY!) so you'll get to see my "when-is-that-belly-button-going-to-pop" belly photo. 

Until then:

24 Weeks

Holy Guacamole!

I can't believe we are 16 weeks away(ish) from meeting our little nugget. I remember when I was 16 weeks pregnant...seemed like yesterday....my regular clothes still fit.

I am loving my maternity clothes. Yesterday I tried to pull on one of my pre-pregnancy dresses I still fit into 2 weeks ago...I couldn't get it to zip. Maybe if I had a helper it would have gone, but it was a lost cause. I was banking on still squeezing into those for another couple weeks at least! Alas, I am wearing one of my maternity dresses today. They are so comfortable. JD saw me dressed this morning and says, "Awww you're adorable". I think that was a compliment! (To clarify I was not insulted by this comment. Love you honey.)

This past weekend was Reunion weekend at school/work. JD celebrated his 15th Reunion. I was busy busy all weekend, but from what little I saw it looked like the class of 1998 had a blast. 

I had to make it really big because it's so good!

We had most of these jokers over at our house Friday night. The good news is we can have parties at our house and the cops don't get called by our neighbors. 

Lots of Reunion shenanigans happened over the weekend (not at our house!) and it was a blast but I am glad it's over. Needless to say I think this was JD and I Monday morning:

Sunday was Mother's Day. My darling husband managed to fight his way through the hangover to buy me a Mother's Day card and an orchid. What a guy! I love that this was technically my first Mother's Day...but I can't wait to celebrate with our little nugget here in person.

Still haven't managed to really "exercise". But I did put a lot of standing up miles in over the weekend, so that counts.

This week the U.F.O. is the size of a cantaloupe! That's a good size and seems about right judging by the size of my bump. His/Her skin is becoming less see-through and becoming more pinky. Nugget is kicking away. 

One of the most amazing milestones we've hit so far: Last night JD was able to feel the baby kick! It was awesome. We were laying in bed and I could feel the baby moving around. The kicking seemed stronger last night. I thought I felt a couple on the outside so I grabbed JD's hand and put it on my belly. Sure enough he felt the baby kick a few times. 

It was so great and such a big moment for JD. I know he had been bummed he couldn't feel the baby yet...I have a feeling I'm going to have his hand on my belly every time we're next to each other.

Pregnancy Symptoms this week:

-Swollen ankles and feet: You mean Flintstones feet? Yes. I blame this on standing up for 3 days in a row and not so much on the pregnancy. 

-Leg Cramps: Not so much.

-Back Aches: Mostly from the days I spent on my feet this week, but otherwise I don't usually have bad back pain. Sometimes my sciatica acts up...

-Linea Nigra: The line down the belly...I haven't had this show up yet and I've been checking!

-Stretch Marks: These are still right around my love handles. They haven't progressed further. 

A pretty low-key week for pregnancy symptoms. 

To Dos:

-Nursery: This weekend we are going to pick out the flooring, I am picking up the paint and we are going to check out cribs. 

-Birthing Classes: Find one.

The bump this week!

I'm getting my hair cut tonight...hallelujah! I have the itch to chop it all off...I usually get this itch every couple years. MOST of the time I give in and chop...then I go into a hair depression for about a week. I feel like a need a change, but maybe not the mom haircut just yet! We'll see what Lynn says...

The countdown until the first trip out to MV has begun!! 15 days!! 

Week 23

Refreshed and relaxed from our California vacation…until I went to work today. This weekend is Alumni Reunion on campus, so its an all hands on deck sort of thing. I love these events. They are a lot of work and tiring, but a lot of fun. I'm glad we had a week off prior to it. JD is celebrating his 15th high school reunion this weekend…I married an old man. 

No, no! I said Old Man not Oldman.

We had a fabulous time in Cali. I might need another blog just to talk about that trip! We hiked, we ate, we relaxed, we toured the Warner Bros. studios, we ate, we laughed, I cried, we ate, and we spent some real good quality time together as a family. Olin and JD are new best friends…sorry Willis. Looks like you might need a new texting buddy.

Here is a link to photos from our trip (I hope you like landscape shots!): I got all my sisters with me!

Baby is the size of a grapefruit this week….again I am baffled how a grapefruit is bigger than a papaya…and wasn't the baby already the size of a grapefruit?? Is this lengthwise or if the baby is curled up into a ball?

Apparently on top of painting the nursery we now how to stress out about our financials and insurance. Also we need to find a lawyer and write a will, which is a good idea. Looking to one of JD's friends to hook us up…anyone? Anyone but Kip. 

Also on the To Do is setting up a savings account for the baby. Yes, a very good idea. Especially since statistics show that babies with savings accounts are more likely to go to college…so are smart kids. I'm banking on smart and earning a scholarship. UMASS here we come! 

The nugget (or as we now like to call it, U.F.O. (unidentified fetal object)) is developing nipples. U.F.O. is also listening to our voices now. I knew it could hear mine for a while, but now it can hear Dad's voice too. I've started trying to censor him when he is watching sporting events. Tonight's Bruins game proved difficult. "F'ing, what f'ing garbage". (I censored that). I think we might have to invest, or invent some sort of belly muff for sports games. Or at least until hockey season is over! I don't want our child's first word to be F@!%. (Update, the Bruins won the game. My husband is a very happy man.)

Symptoms for Week 23:

-Swollen feet and ankles: Hell yes. I am 90% sure this is due to flying all day Tuesday and probably not drinking enough water. I know, I know but I hate asking the guy on the aisle to constantly get up! 

-Braxton Hicks Contractions: Not that I've noticed…unless that is what I think is the baby kicking…

-Aching back: Unfortunately. It goes with the territory. I have to make sure I'm sitting up straight. I need to find a prenatal yoga class. My body pillow is not cutting it. Last night I slept on my left side until my hip hurt then I rolled to my right side until that hip hurt. The only comfortable position is my back and I'm not supposed to lay on my back! Argh!

-Bleeding and/or swollen gums: Not that I have noticed, but I do have a pretty spectacular dental history. 

As I'm sitting here writing this I just noticed that my boobs are touching my belly…jabba the hutt the style. A new low. 

Belly photo: 

22 Weeks - Update

So, it turns out our week is California was so action packed we never had a moment to update the blog!
Since tomorrow is the big 23 week update I will keep this brief:

Baby is (was) the size of a papaya this week. Finally a fruit that makes sense! I've seen some pretty large papayas, so I can believe that the baby is 10.5-11.8 inches. The nugget better weigh at least 1 pound at this point…because I'm putting on some poundage and the weight better not be going just to my derrière.

This week the baby looks more and more like a newborn with pronounced nose and lips. We got to see our nugget at week 21 and boy is it cute!! 

The baby is sleeping in 12-14 hour cycles…but now that I am definitely feeling the baby move I can tell you this is fact. While I'm not actually counting the minutes between feeling kicks, the baby definitely wakes up in the evening. Nugget usually likes to kick, kick, kick while I am trying to relax. Dad is bummed he can't feel the baby moving yet, but I have a feeling in the next couple weeks he'll be able to feel our miracle move as well. It is an incredible feeling! 

Symptoms at 22 Weeks:

-Increased libido - No comment, my father reads this! 

-Stretch marks - Why yes, seems I'm developing some around my newly formed love handles

-More vaginal discharge - poor JD, his ears are burning.

-Steady weight gain - I do not own a scale, so I can only comment on the fact that I feel more and more like a whale. Some days I look little, others I look puffed up…who knows if it's weight gain or not.

-Minor swelling - Perhaps, but lots of H2O seems to do the trick!

-Back aches - My sciatica is killing me!!! Walking for long periods makes it act up. Sometimes just bending over makes it twinge. I'm looking for a prenatal yoga class to hopefully help!

-Hair growth - Other than the normal stuff…no

-Trouble catching breath - Only once did I get winded going upstairs, and in my defense I was moving pretty quickly, so yes, but not really. :)

Starting to think about maternity photos…I'd love to just have a friend grab a camera and take some nice photos of the two of us. I don't work well under pressure, or in front of strangers. We also need it to be someone JD is comfortable with so we get photos with BOTH of his eyes open! 

No belly photo this week…stay tuned for Week 23's post. 

22 Weeks!

Hello from sunny Burbank, CA. 
Baby and Mama are doing great.
Today was busy, so once we get some down time this weekend we will update this week's blog. 

xo
Schrogers