33 weeks

I am 33 Weeks as of Friday and have less than 50 days until the due date. I can't believe how fast it is coming. People keep telling me that soon I will be tired of being pregnant and want it to be over. I still have a little ways to go, but I am very happy to keep the baby inside where I don't have to worry about him.

The past week or so we have been keeping very busy finding a doula. A great website www.doulamatch.net was recommended to me. I figured that 3 would be a good number to interview so I emailed 3 doulas to start and all of them emailed me back to say that they were already booked or we were out of there coverage area. I emailed 3 more and only one of them was available. I decided to email 4 more expecting that some of them wouldn't work out. this time all of them were interested. So we got to meet 5 awesome doulas and we loved them all. I made fact sheets for each doula that had their pros and cons listed to help us make the decision . We ended up going with a woman named Jennifer who we both really liked and felt really comfortable with. Her website is www.bellytobabies.com and a link to a snippet on doula benefits is http://www.dona.org/mothers/why_use_a_doula.php for those of you who might not know what a doula does. Tomorrow we will start the process of interviewing pediatricians.

Lots of nesting still to do with the house, but the nursery is almost cleaned out. Just have to find a few more nooks and crannies to put all the stuff that used to be in that room. Then we can start the setting up and decorating which will be much more fun.

The 33 week report: Buddy is over 4 pounds and around 17 inches from head to toe. His skeleton is starting to harden and he is rapidly gaining weight. I am also rapidly gaining weight now that you mention it, but I am still comfortable.

Stephen Says: Buddy is moving around a lot now, and when Lauren asks me to feel her belly I don't have to wait for 5 minutes for something to happen anymore. He stretches a lot and moves around a ton, and I can't believe she deals with that all day long every day.

That's all to report for now.

I should have more done by now.

I am 32 weeks today. That means I only have 8 weeks left. We haven't knocked much off the to do list, but we have a bunch of doula interviews scheduled this coming week.

Buddy is moving around like crazy! He pretty much only stops moving for the five minutes following me telling someone to watch my belly. He is around 3 pounds 11 ounces and 16 inches long. He hiccups a lot and steps on my bladder all the time. Other things the baby spends his time doing is blinking, grabbing things, making faces, peeing and listening to all the noises around.

I have gained 15 pounds, but I can't remember my belly measurement. My blood pressure is good. I passed my glucose test. And my hemoglobins are carrying lots of iron and oxygen to the baby. All in all I am feeling great.

30 Weeks!

So here is what I'm a little uncomfortable with... In 30 weeks the baby grew from the size of a head of a pin to about 2 3/4 pounds. Now in about 10 weeks the baby is going to gain about 4 3/4 pounds. Umm? That seems a little silly. I think maybe I will try to spread it out over another 30 weeks. That will give me more time to get the house in order too.

I am feeling fantastic! I haven't had any recurrences of back pain in months thanks to sitting on my yoga ball at work. I have had pretty much the worst heartburn ever, but that is usually manageable by either taking papaya enzymes with my meals or tums after the meals. I also learned a trick on some bulletin board online. You lay on your left side and breath in deeply so that you open your chest and expand the area around your spine. It takes a couple of minutes but works like a charm . May very well be psychosomatic, but if it works it works. I just started feeling the baby hiccup which is fun except when I'm trying to fall back asleep after getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and get a snack.

We have another few weeks of baby classes to go. This week we talk about pain medication and the postpartum. After reading the assigned chapters about the risks and inconveniences of the epidural and other regular birth medications I am even more set on a natural birth. Hopefully I can pull it off! The postpartum chapter wasn't much more uplifting. The changes that happen in the weeks following labor are more terrifying then the changes that happen while you are pregnant. If you have had a baby you know all about it, if you haven't... trust me, you don't want to know! I told Stephen he may want to only read the sections on depression and family changes. The following weeks are breastfeeding and newborn care. I'll be sure to let you all know how Stephen does changing the diaper on a doll.

Things still on the list:

1. Finish purging the babies room of extraneous office and craft supplies.
2. Buy baby essentials. We are so very lucky to have friends who are very generous with the hand-me-downs so we may not need much at all.
3. Finish painting the ceiling in the kitchen (yes it has nothing to do with baby, but I still really want to get it done).
4. Find a doula.
5. Find a pediatrician. I guess some most hospitals won't let you leave unless you have your first appointment scheduled. We haven't really decided where we stand on the vaccine thing yet so we need to find one that is open minded.

Instead of doing any of these things on my day off I am going to go plant some seeds in the garden and mow the lawn. Everything else can wait until after opening night.


Here is a video of the baby moving around from my perspective. It's a little creepy but I'm trying to learn how to use the camera/software before the baby arrives.

I hope I pasted the test!

Today I took a glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. I had to drink something called glucola which is a lime flavored sugar syrup and then get my blood drawn an hour later. It gave me one heck of a sugar high and then I was very sleepy a few hours later. I find out if I passed tomorrow. If I fail I have to take then three hour test which means I have to get my blood drawn 3 times over the course of three hours. Yuck! I don't want to spend that much time at the doctor unless I'm actually in labor.

Our appointment with the midwife this morning was really nice. I am right on track for weight gain and fundal height (the top of the uterus). We also got to hear more than just a heartbeat today. We got to hear the sound of his heart valves opening and closing. It was really cool.

We had our second childbirth class this week really enjoyed it. The instructor does a very good job of dividing up the class so that we don't get bored over the two hours. At the end of class we did a lot of breathing exercises. It reminded me of Bill Cosby. We had to read 9 chapters of the book before class and I barely finished. Stephen finished days before me. The first few chapters where about basic pregnancy stuff like nutrition a lot of dos and don'ts. I knew most of it from other books, but was amazed with how little I knew about labor. I had no idea that there are so many stages and how different they are. Even though I know it's not going to be the the most fun time of my life I am excited to experience it for myself. Stephen seems to be enjoying the class and the entire experience. I feel very lucky that he is happy to be involved.

We have a few major things on our to do list the next couple of weeks.

1. Clean out the room that is to become the nursery.

2. Find a doula

3. Find a pediatrician.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

Second Trimester Over

Today is the start of the third trimester! 92 more days to go! I am feeling great, but the last few days I've been a bit tired. Stephen says I'm not eating enough, but I think it's just the weather. We had a couple of weeks of awesome early spring weather and it has turn a little gloomy with no hope of a sunny day soon. I am very excited to be going to California for a few days to soak up some sun and visit the family.

We had our first childbirth class this week and they gave us tons of homework. Who knew? Luckily I have already read most of the book because a friend had recommended it to me, but there is still exercising and relaxation techniques that we are supposed to do every day. The relaxation is the hardest part for me because I can't stop thinking about all the things that I have to get done. Stephen is doing a great job with the reading and I am lucky to not be one of the few women in the class whose partners aren't happy about being there. I am also supposed to track what I eat for three days in a row before class on Monday. I guess when I'm done I need to remember what I have eaten today. At least I have been doing the exercises regularly.

Buddy is supposedly 2 pounds and 15 inches long this week. I am not sure how that is possible but when I look at my belly, but when I feel him wiggling around sometimes I feel like he is much bigger. At first I worried that the cord was wrapped around his neck and he was struggling with all his might to get it free, but then I read someone compare kicking to a rabid mongoose flipping out inside a burlap sack and I felt much better. Oh, he can open and close his eyelids, hear voices, and see bright lights.

I am doing very well and even though I am leaving what is supposed to be the most comfortable time in pregnancy I am hoping that it will stay pleasant for another month to make up for morning sickness into the beginning of the second trimester.

Due to lots of stretching I have been able to keep the back pain to a minimum and I haven't had any of the other weird pains yet, but oh the heartburn. It doesn't even matter what I eat. Toast can give me heartburn and even water sometimes will cause major pain. I've been taking Papaya Enzymes which help a lot when I remember to take them. I am just hoping it doesn't get too much worse as the baby grows.

That's all to report for now. I have my glucose test next week so I will report on the yucky drink and sugar high soon.

I thought you had to have a shower to get stuff.

I am so blessed with all the hand me downs and gifts that our amazing friends have been bestowing upon us in the past few weeks. While we still have a ton of stuff to do we at least have some clothing to put him in, a place to change him, and some baby containment units.

On Friday little Buddy turned 24 weeks old. That is a huge milestone medically because if for some terrible reason he decided he needed to come out into the world early, his little lungs are now developed enough that he would have a fighting chance at survival. He is also about a foot long. Ironically I think I ate 3 hot dogs that day which added up to about a foot (don't worry they were nitrate free organic turkey dogs that were heated until steaming hot).

Other milestones Buddy should have passed in the last few weeks:

His facial feature are already defined to the extent that if we got a 3D ultrasound we could find out whose nose he has.

He can suck his thumb and open and close his eyes.

His taste buds are developed and as he swallows amniotic fluid he can tell if I ate a lot of garlic or chili peppers (sorry little buddy).

He is also kicking a lot. Other people are able to feel it pretty easily now and I have been able to see it as well (I am a little concerned an alien might pop out of my stomach).

Now some things about me:

I am feeling fantastic except for a bit of back pain that has gotten much better as I follow the stretching regiment of my awesome midwife (I'm not as dedicated as I ought to be).

I am no longer able to wear my regular jeans even with multiple hairbands holding them together.

I still don't look pregnant to people who don't know me, but I feel like my belly is huge!

I am starting to get used to random tap dances on my bladder.

I am starting to feel like the baby may have to sleep in our room forever because eliminating all the stuff in the most cluttered room of the house seems like an never ending task.

I am looking forward to starting childbirth classes in a few weeks so that I can hear other people stress about the same things I am.

I am not looking forward to my next appointment where I get screened for gestational diabetes. Luckily I don't have to fast for this test, but I do have to drink a very sweet, yucky and not small beverage.

That's it for now. Below is a picture of a 24 week old preemie. Stay in there a bit longer Buddy!

Belly Progress

The belly is getting a little bit bigger.

Tonight we had our first meeting with a Bradley Birth educator named Emily. She went over nutrition and exercises. She also helped us to start thinking about what kind of birth we want to have and how to give ourselves the best chance to achieve it.

In other big news... While the little bugger has been dancing on my bladder for the past week, Stephen felt a kick for the first time tonight. I told him to come feel my stomach because I felt a few strong kicks in a row and he felt a big kick right away. There were a couple more soft kicks he couldn't feel then the baby went to sleep. I'm sure there will be many more kicks to come. Stephen says "It was cool, but a little bizarre". He is looking forward to feeling more kicks. I will try to post again after our appointment with the midwife next week.