30 Weeks

Let the countdown begin!! 
Well folks we are 10 weeks away (but most likely 11 1/7 weeks) from meeting our little Nugget. 
10 weeks sounds like nothing, but I prefer to say 2 1/2 months...makes it sound like we have more time to get ready. 

The Nugget shower invite went out. I'm so excited to see friends and family that I haven't seen since either the wedding or the holidays!! And it's an excuse to design new thank you cards. 

This week my email newsletter says the baby is the size of a cucumber...an English one according to the picture. But the ticker at the top of ye olde blog says squash...go figure.

This past weekend I went out to the Vineyard to visit Jurve. I missed my darling husband, but it was nice to have them to myself. We dined at the Slice of Life, went to the beach (the water is now just warm enough to pee in), we had the requisite bagel at Espresso Love and a lovely walk to town. On my way home on the fast ferry we were a wee bit late to the boat and there were no open seats. After many people watched a pregnant woman traveling alone and hauling luggage, a woman, Wendy, offered me a seat at her table. She was traveling with her two young daughters. They offered to deal me in to their next round of UNO. It was awesome. They were so lovely and chatty. Luckily they let me sit with them because it was a rough ride to New Bedford. So a big thank you to Wendy, Eva and Ella for keeping me company. Then when waiting in line for the shuttle to the parking lot I played the pregnant card for the first time and was the last one on the bus...first one off and 4th car in line to pay! Score!

Stop!!  Totally my (JD's) turn to write.  I've been asking and asking to have a second opportunity to contribute, but Rach has been all:

So, kidding.  In reality I was supposed to draft a post yesterday, but instead did this when I got home from office:

Which is what my beautiful wife should be doing, not being at a brewery in Boston.  She's been such the trooper with some late nights at "the office".  And her back has been really bothering her so it's doubly difficult to do your job.  Especially one that involves schmoozing to fundraise!

Yes I did miss Rach and the Schoppes dearly while they were out on the Vineyard this past weekend. However with the aid our new roommate Tito we were able to do do this to the side of Lake Jr.:

Doesn't look as impressive in the photo, all the brush in the foreground was hauled off as well.  Now need to spray and see what we can do over there.  Slowly but surely things coming together at 12 Scenic Ave.

Hard to believe we're only 10 weeks away from meeting our beautiful U.F.O!  Where, after those 10 weeks the bebe will be neither U or F.  We started putting together the Birthing Plan with the help of Lex.  Thank goodness for her advice and insights.  There is an accepted procedure of fetal monitoring (I believe) where a hole is drilled into the head during labor.  I've always been taught babies have soft spots and the little dome is a place to be extra careful with.  Evidently a #80 / .0135 drill bit is considered safe.  No thanks.

I am however prepared to catch our tiny one and cut the umbilical cord once the placenta is birthed.  Thus far, I've only read up on this.  I have not seen visuals.  In my head it's basically a beautiful prairie with flowers, aromatic scents and sensual sounds as we frolic all around.  Serenity now!

I do hope it truly is small-ish and easy for Rach's sake.  We would not want something such as below, though we'd love him or her all the same:

As Rach started to say, we're all over the vegetable spectrum here at 30 Weeks.  According to The Bump, apparently our nugget has shrunk.  Not sure in what world a cucumber is bigger than an eggplant.  English or not.

Quite possibly my favorite thing about newborns and the months following is their instinct to grasp fingers tightly with their hands.  Now at 30 weeks, his or her hands are now strong enough to do so!  Awesome.  The skin is also very smooth and the brain is rounding into form, "getting wrinklier", to continually develop brain tissue.

This week's symptoms:

*Heartburn - Do not believe she has complained of it, but that doesn't mean she hasn't had it.

*Swelling - She mentioned this happening:

That would have been way funnier with a GIF of the slipper popping off...That's what happened.  Not impressed cyber world.
*General discomfort - She's said this exact phrase with a few (expletives) preceding, in between, and succeeding.

*Shortness of breath - Rach had a bout of this, but it was weeks ago.  Do not believe it has bothered her since.

*Trouble Sleeping - Very yes.  See, I told you your new husband was not as cool as your old one.  

*Weird, Vivid Dreams - Hmmm, I've heard some very weird dreams of hers even before she was pregnant.  Like Labyrinth weird.

*Insatiable Frozen Yogurt Cravings - Constant.  I added this symptom.

And here's the gorgeous momma just yesterday.  Shopping of course.  Surrrrre you had an event to run:

29 Weeks

I've never been so tired without having dug my own sleep hole. In the past when I've been this tired it was from working at the bar or just staying too late at Harry's...but todayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Sorry! Fell asleep typing. 

Today, it is just that I have not been able to stay asleep the last few nights. Between my giant belly and the snoring...not mine!...it has been all I can do to get a solid 8 hours of sleep. Last night was the best. JD and our new caretaker Tito came home from the Bruins game about 1:30am and it woke me up. I managed to get back to sleep around 3am. Then round about 4am I was woken up by JD and Tito doing their best chainsaw impressions. Tito was in the next room...I could have sworn the walls were rattling. I might have to start sleeping on the couch...or better yet, banish the men to the basement. 

At this point when people tell me "You look great!" it's really code for "Surprisingly you don't look as awful as I thought you would." "No, really you look fantastic!"...is it that shocking??

I'm hungry all the time. I know I'm supposed to be snacking on fresh fruit, and I do, but sometimes eating an entire bag of salt and vinegar chips just sounds SO MUCH BETTER!

Or a healthy snack of pickles and olives

This past Sunday we finally tried the new YoFro place (as Ella calls it) in Webster. It was amazing. I told JD if at any point he can't find me, I'm probably there. Their coconut yogurt was light-years better than stupid old Pinkberry. 

It's that good!

My book tells me that whenever I'm relaxing or sitting I need to be "tailor sitting" which is an old person word for Indian-style...which I know is not the accepted nomenclature. Well Dr. Bradley, I work at a desk all day sitting uncomfortably in my chair, when I get home all I want to do is sink into my couch, not sit on the floor! I can survive like that for about an hour and then I manage to roll myself over, get up, and sit on the couch. I also have to take time during the day to chill out in the squatting position. This is not easy for me

a. because when I crushed my Achilles tendon 4 years ago I have been unable to fully extend said tendon ever since 

and

b. because I have a basketball in the way and gravity does not let me balance.

I'm not really sure why my belly looks so big and extends outward so far, because the baby has been camped out under my diaphragm making it hard to move without basically getting the wind knocked out of me by a tiny head. (Longest. Sentence. Ever.)

The nugget is the size of an acorn squash this week. 

Seems about right for the size of my belly and FINALLY a vegetable that I can envision a baby being. A banana makes no sense. At no point in my pregnancy was the baby skinny and long...

The baby will start packing on the pounds...as will the mommy. The baby should triple its weight between now and the birth day. 

According to thebump.com this is a good week to start finalizing things in the nursery...well that's not about to happen. The crib is still a good 3-6 weeks out from arriving and then we have to figure out how to put it together! I do have the rug though. I need to paint the dresser and we have to figure out how to hang the closet doors. I feel like you can't really put the room together until you've had the shower. Then it's officially time to get ready, you have everything you need. So suck it The Bump, I'm waiting! 

Apparently I should also have my hospital bag packed and waiting by the door just in case! I made a list of everything I should/need to have with me. I'm going to need a suitcase with wheels for everything, never mind a duffle bag! It's ok, there will be things in there for JD and the baby too.

Pregnancy Symptoms:

-Lots of kicks: Yes, Nugget is a little Daniel San. 

-Headaches possibly due to difficulty sleeping: You don't say? I've been drinking plenty of water. What doesn't help is the fluorescent lighting and constant lawn mowing at work. 

-Itchy belly: Not an issue.

-Back, leg or pelvic pain: Yes, yes and yes. 

-Hemorrhoids: Still no, thank you Jesus!

-Constipation: I have good days and bad days. I will leave it at that. 

-Trouble sleeping: 

-Gotta pee - again!: 12 people in one office with one bathroom is rough. I wake up at least once a night to pee. I pee before I leave the house/work and have to pee again as soon as I get there. 
-Varicose Veins: Not that I know of, but I can't see as much of my body as I once could.

This week I've truly started to feel uncomfortable. And I really do hate complaining about being pregnant because it is such a beautiful miracle and journey, but uggghhhhhh.

Stopped by Jurve's the other day to measure a piece of furniture to possibly use as a changing table and to dig out some of my childhood books since I need a little more variety than the 4 books we currently have to read to the baby. 
Tangent: I found my collection of Beatrix Potter and the "Bedtime Story" book. They are so good. Really takes me back. I was such a little reader as a kid. 
Back on topic: Jurve work so hard on their property and it shows! I marvel at how effortless and easy it seems to be for them to know what to do and make their gardens look like they should be in Hyde Park. A sampling of the fruits of their labor:

They gave us some of this for our garden...looks nothing like this.

An English garden in CT

So, here is the belly this week. 

29 Weeks down, 11 to go!

28 Weeks

Does everybody know what time it is??
Pool time!! 

That's right! JD and I have successfully, after trial and error (thank you for the tip Melissa!), opened our pool for the season. Guess what? It's blue! Oh it looks so nice. I can't wait for the sun to come back so we can swim. I don't care what the temperature of the water is at this point, I just want to swim in my pool. As I'm nearing the "massive" stage of pregnancy, floating sounds like the best thing in the world. 

JD and I trekked up to the pool supply store Saturday morning (after my BBB from Brother's that consisted of french toast, 2 scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon, sausage and an english muffin (the only thing left was the english muffin...don't juduge, I only ate 2 meals that day!)) and bought a pump for the pool cover and a testing kit. It took the entire day on Saturday, plus a couple hours on Sunday to remove all of the water that was on the pool cover. Sunday JD had to put in some work hours at his Man Club (the 200 Sportsmen's Club) so I attempted to remove the cover myself. Unsuccessful. The cover was full of residual water and leaves. So I gathered the cover in a corner and began filling the pool with water from our hose (the pool was negative 2 feet of water). This process took the entire day as well. Finally JD came home and we removed the pool cover. (2 more trips to the pool store later) A "few" stray leaves made it into the pool. First lesson in skimming, complete. Added some alkalinity stuff and pH balancer...let it chill for 2 hours. Then added the shock to stew overnight. Next day we added 3 tablets of chlorine to our filter and the next day...we had a clear pool! Pretty awesome. I'm very excited to use the vacuum. The thing looks like Wall-E. 
Needless to say...we are now accepting donations for water floats and toys. 

We are at 28 weeks which means we have about 12 weeks to go. 7 months preggers. I don't think my belly looks that much bigger than a month ago...let's compare belly photos, shall we? 

 

6 months

7 months

I think I look bigger in my 6 month photo! What the heck? Maybe I'm just getting rounder. 

We are officially in the 3rd trimester! Hopefully when I go to the dr. in two weeks I'll get my 3rd trimester packet...and not the week before I'm due. 

We have registered for Prepared Childbirth class starting July 11th. 8 hours of training should be plenty...

This week the baby is starting to put on a little fat...thank god! It's not just me. The lungs are now developed enough that if the baby came early there is a good chance it could survive. While we are all very excited to meet you Nugget...please don't come early! Your room is not ready yet.

Speaking of...I kind of want to make the nursery the master bedroom now...it's sooo nice in there! I wouldn't mind a small closet, smaller room and a single window overlooking the front yard...the baby can have our room with the double closets, tv, and view of the lake. You wouldn't mind JD, right? :)

Papa Schoppe has been hard at work this week putting up the baseboards and crown moulding in the nursery. He is one awesome Grampa. 

Sneak preview

"Moms-to-be at 28 weeks are known for their lack of sleep"...that is the best thing we're known for at this point. Being tired and cranky. Awesome. 

JD is away until Sunday on his Men-with-the-last-name-Rogers-plus-Todd-and-Sam fishing trip so I have the whole bed to myself. I will say I slept no better or worse without JD there...so that's good news for him that I won't exile him to the guest room anytime soon.

Nugget is the size of an eggplant. Mmm eggplant. The one thing I've been craving that I will not allow myself to eat is a pizza with eggplant on top...because the eggplant is fried. It is literally the best tasting and worst thing for you on a pizza. Notice I said on a pizza. Because, the worst thing for you are the deep fried Oreos at the Woodstock Fair...but I'm not thinking about those...nope.

Pregnancy Symptoms for Week 28:

-Trouble sleeping: Again, trying to sleep on one side of your body for 8 hours is tough. 

-Shortness of breath: I haven't had an issue with this one, but I also try not to move all that quickly in the first place.

-Aches and Pains: The usual back pain.

-Braxton Hicks Contractions: Nothing too bad. I'm getting kicked and punched so much it's hard to tell the difference

-Leaky boobs: No, I have not had this problem. Thankfully. Save this one for when I'm breastfeeding.

To Do:

-Start counting baby's kicks - really Thebump.com? If I did that I would have no time to do anything else. I have one active Nugget apparently. 

-Do a happy dance for the 3rd trimester - YES! 

27 Weeks...Not Dresses

Part of me really did like that stupid movie with Katherine Heigl and James Marsden...then I realized instead of complaining and being a bridesmaid martyr Katherine Heigl's character could have just said no! You know how expensive it can be to be in the wedding party, but we all do it because we love the bride/groom. She must have had to take out loans to support her bridesmaid habit. How can you be that close to 27 different brides? 

I digress...

27 Weeks. The final week of the 2nd trimester. Funny story...I just received my 2nd trimester packet from the doctor last week. Hey thanks! This will come in handy for the next 6 days. The nurse scolded me because I hadn't scheduled my glucose screen yet...I didn't even know I had to until last week and it wasn't MY FAULT that no one in YOUR OFFICE told me about it! "Did you miss an appointment?" "No I did not." "Well you're running out of time"...ugh. Also you don't schedule appointments with a lab, you walk in. 

So, having to "hurry up and get it done ASAP" I decided that Tuesday morning I would get up extra early to get to the lab when they open at 7am...the time my Doctor and the lab order form indicated it opens. Well well well...as of April 1st the lab opens at 8am. "Oh the Doctor offices have the old forms"...well maybe you should have made sure they got new forms because I don't know, people might just assume they contain accurate information...ugh for the 2nd time. 

Luckily I am incredibly skilled at using the Internet and discovered a different lab in Putnam that opens at 6am. So, me and some really old people waited to get our blood taken at 7am. They make you drink this god-awful sugar water that tasted like what I imagine one of these tasted like: 

Remember these?? We weren't given sugary drinks as kids so I luckily never experienced it.

Then once you have pounded 12oz of pure sugar in 5 minutes they make you sit in the waiting room for exactly one hour and then steal 2 vials of your blood. The purpose is to determine whether or not you have gestational diabetes. The test determines if you have high amounts of sugar in your blood. If you do then your body probably isn't processing sugar properly. I'm confident that won't be an issue for me. My body has been processing sugar like a champion since my first Chilmark Chocolate.

They are 100% worth the wait

Speaking of Chilmark...JD and I spent the weekend on the glorious rock that is Martha's Vineyard. I would absolutely loaf off the tourists and live there year round. We had a perfect beach day Saturday, although the ocean was still about 50 degrees. The men were brave and went in...the water was so cold I couldn't even brave it long enough to pee. (I don't want to hear it...you all pee in the ocean, admit it).

Sunday we took a lovely stroll in Edgartown. The island was so nice and quiet. Should be a little bit busier when I go out Independence Day Weekend.

(Can I rant for a second? "I thought you were already ranting..." We call holiday weekends "Day Weekend". Well is it a day or a weekend? It is Labor Day Weekend...the weekend around Labor day. I vote to get rid of the day part and make the closest weekend to all holidays long weekends. Labor Weekend, Memorial Weekend, Independence Weekend. Rant over.) 

The third ...ugh of the week came when I discovered that the woman who made my next 2 appointments did so with a different Doctor in the practice. Now I understand schedules are busy, but I'm not being unreasonable is assuming that my pregnancy is the most important pregnancy going on in that office! I called to fix it a few days later and the rock star receptionist in that office not only fixed those two appointments but made my remaining 6 appointments right then and there to make sure I had them with my doctor. Thank you for restoring my faith in humans. 

In the last month I gained 8 pounds...bringing my total pregnancy weight gain to a whopping 17lbs. Since I'm only supposed to gain 25-35 lbs total and I'm just now approaching the point where I will gain 1 pound a week...I will have gained 31 lbs by my due date. If I continue to gain 2 lbs a week I will be at 45lbs...yikes! I think the homemade ice cream sandwiches need to scale back a bit. Exercise! Waiting for the pool to open and then I can do some water aerobics. I will channel Jane Fonda. 

This lady is having a blast!

This last week I commuted to or from the Boston area for work a couple times. Last week I sat in traffic for 90 minutes to go 10 miles. This morning I had a nice easy drive to Pomfret from Framingham...brought me back to my days of commuting to C&E. Saw this on The Chive today:

and was reminded how much I don't miss commuting on the Mass Pike. Too many idiots like this without the happy ending. Karma, jerk. 

Week 27:

Nugget is the size of a rutabaga, showing signs of brain activity and giving his/her lungs a work out. Baby is also getting quite a work out with lots of kicking and punching. JD and I have fun laying in bed at night watching my belly move in all sorts of directions. Nugget went to its first Bruins game last night where it could hear all the crowd noise. I'm pretty sure Crazy Sarah scared the babe. Nugget was going nuts in my belly. Or just being excited for the B's! When the Bruins scored their first goal I tried to stand up really fast to cheer and made it about halfway before my body weight pulled me back down to my seat. 

Symptoms this week: The usual suspects

-Leg Cramps: Only during the night when I didn't eat a 

-Backaches: Only when I work in the garden...

-Skin, hair, nail changes: My skin has improved. Still iffy, but so much better than it was! I haven't noticed much about my hair other than I look pretty H-O-T with bangs. My nails are growing very quickly and strong. I've always had brittle nails. Thank you Prenatal vitamins.

-Snissing: This might be the best name ever. Peeing when you sneeze. Thankfully I have not had this problem. However...we were at the Bruins game last night. It was an epic battle. Tied 1-1 in the 2nd OT round about 12:03am...

 

...my hero Patrice Bergeron scored the game winning goal against the Penguins from Pittsburgh. Since we were already standing (and had been throughout both OTs) I threw my arms in the air and yelled...and a little pee came out. So instead of snissing it was cheessing (cheer and pee). Haha...so embarrassing. Adult diapers here I come.

Side note: The Bruins game was so awesome. There is nothing like a hockey game. I enjoy sports in general for the most part but nothing compares to hockey. The energy in the arena was crazy. It was so incredibly loud at some points. I imagined the baby cowering in my belly  so I gave it a reassuring rub for most of the game. 

Super fans

This lady was filming Sidney Crosby during the warm ups. I thought "maybe that is his mom" but then I remembered that he is 25 and doesn't need his mom to record his warm up anymore...not judging.

I am about halfway through my Bradley Method birthing book and am finding it very fascinating. While terrified of what labor will really be like, I do think these exercises will lead to a beautiful, calm birth. The women in this book are laughing and happy and I can only hope that is the case with me!

 To Do's:

-Choose a baby/family doctor. Working on it! 

-Finish the nursery: We have the I-man coming next week to help put up the baseboards and moulding. Then we can start to decorate!! 

So Week 27 photo...This was at 2am when we arrived at our hotel in Framingham...the ever classy Motel 6. Where the only food option was a vending machine...no thanks. And the drink machine was sold out of water. Neither of these made for a very happy mama-to-be at 2am...evidenced by this photo:

Go B's!