Baby Update - 35 weeks

I am HUGE!  Look at how puffy my face is, not the most flattering photo!

Even with the discomforts of the third trimester, I am still enjoying this pregnancy.  The baby is pretty active, and I love feeling her move throughout the day.  All of my prenatal appointments have gone well, and there have not been any concerns.

I have quite a bit of heartburn, some leg pain that is probably due to sciatica, and I seem to be awake more than I am asleep at night lately, but none of these things bother me much.  It's all worth it in the end!

My only real craving has been ice cubes!  I think this is the weirdest craving ever.  I chew ice all day long.  The funny thing is that I typically don't put ice in my water; I prefer room temperature water, but lately I can't get enough ice.  My husband jokes that he always knows where I am in the house because he can hear the ice jingling in my glass!

Everything is ready!  The baby will sleep in our room (much easier for breastfeeding) for a few months, so everything is set up in there.  All of the necessities have been purchased, washed, and organized.  Most importantly, the car seat was installed by our local police department.  There are several officers who undergo special training (I believe it is forty hours of training!) to learn how to properly install car seats.  We have always had them install our car seats, and I will not let anyone remove the seat until it's time for a new one!  Oh, I haven't packed my hospital bag yet - so, I guess I have to do that over the next few days.

My hope is that I do not have to be induced for this baby.  I was induced for T (because of preeclampsia) and for R (because the doctor was concerned about her size), and my labor and delivery for them was not as enjoyable as my labor and delivery for C who arrived without induction.  I already expressed this desire to my OB/GYN.  She actually laughed because I referred to my labor and delivery with C as being more "enjoyable" than the other two - I guess she isn't used to people describing the experience as "enjoyable".  I'm not saying that labor and delivery is easy or fun (not saying that at all), but I really do enjoy the experience - I think it is truly amazing that our bodies are capable of doing what they do!

I do not expect this baby to arrive before the due date (September 9th), but I will continue to post any updates here.

A Baby or a Smiley Face?

C drew this recently.  Do you see the blue peanut shape in the middle?  That is supposed to be the baby in my belly! 

He drew it so that when you turn the paper, you see a smiley face instead of a baby!

Do you see the blue eyes and the red smiling mouth? 

Pretty clever!

Baby Update - Hello Third Trimester!

That is a big belly!  I didn't realize how big it was until I saw this picture - maybe it's the stripes!

Today is the first day of my third trimester.  I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going by, but I am really enjoying every minute of it.  

The baby still moves around a lot; she is definitely a very active baby girl and this makes me happy.  I love to feel her move. 

I am feeling pretty good.  I still have leg cramps at night; sometimes they keep me awake for hours.  People have recommended bananas, stretching, and leg massage; I have tried all three, but nothing has helped.  I also get unsightly varicose and spider veins every pregnancy, so my legs aren't pretty right now, but they usually don't bother me much.  So, just a couple of minor inconveniences - all worth it in the end.

Last week I had the glucose test to check for gestational diabetes.  I drank eight ounces of fruit punch syrup (gross, but better than the other flavors that I have had for past pregnancies), waited an hour, and had blood drawn.  I have not heard from the lab or my doctor, so I assume that means the test was fine.

That's about all I have to report!  

Baby Update

It's about time for a baby update, right?  As you can see, I am the baby is growing.  She is moving around and hiccuping (LOVE that) quite regularly now and I LOVE every minute of it.  I am completely over the morning sickness and I can even brush my teeth without feeling sick.  Typical for me in pregnancy, leg cramps are keeping me awake at night, and you should be happy that you can't see my legs in this photo because they are covered in unsightly spider veins and varicose veins.  I'm not complaining though; it's all worth it in the end.  I have not had any heartburn during this pregnancy, so I am guessing that I will have another bald baby.  R has been my only baby born with any significant amount of hair, and the only pregnancy that I experienced any heartburn.  If you think that is an old wives tale, I recently read that there is scientific research linking heartburn during pregnancy to hair on the baby.  My craving for mashed potatoes seems to be gone, and I haven't really experienced any other cravings - there is still time though!  You may have also noticed how dark my hair is now; I don't like to highlight my hair when I am pregnant so what you see is my actual hair color with a few remnants of the old highlights here and there.  I am feeling pretty good and I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy is going by - the baby isn't even born yet and she is growing up so fast!

Baby Update

I had an ultrasound today and it was great.  The technician was very thorough and showed my husband and I everything.  The baby was very active.  Can you tell what the baby is doing in that ultrasound photo?  Yawning (see the open mouth?)!  How funny that we were able to capture that moment; I love it.  I think it is my favorite ultrasound photo ever.  The baby's hand is up by the side of the head, and my husband joked that it looks like the baby is talking on a cell phone.  The only bad part about the ultrasound was drinking sixteen ounces of water an hour before and then having to wait all that time to go to the bathroom! 

After the ultrasound, I met with the midwife and she told me that everything looked good on the ultrasound.  The baby's heartbeat registered at 154 beats per minute. 

After the appointment, we met my mother-in-law, C, and R at our favorite cafe for lunch.  They were very anxious to know the gender.  I had them close their eyes and I placed a mini foil wrapped Reese's peanut butter egg in each of their hands.  I told them the color of the wrapper would tell them the gender.  They were all very excited to find out that we will be welcoming a little girl to our family (the wrapper was pink, obviously)!!!!!!!!!!!  It will be even around here - two boys and two girls.  There is just one problem, according to C; we have a female dog.  Oh well, we are not getting another dog anytime soon; that will just have to remain out of balance.

Baby Names

I know you are reading this post thinking that I am going to share our baby names with you.  Sorry to mislead you with the post title, but I don't plan on sharing our name choices anytime soon.  As a matter of fact, we haven't made any definitive decisions about names yet.  I will tell you that my ultrasound is scheduled for tomorrow morning and we do plan to find out the gender, and I will share that information with you when I have it.

So, the reason for the title of this post is to share R's baby name choices.  R loves television.  If we let her, she would watch it for hours and never move from the couch.  C, on the other hand, could really care less about the television.  He likes to watch, but he rarely asks for it.  I am rambling again.  Anyway, R's baby name choices are from two of her favorite television shows. 

For a girl, she has chosen Keiko (from Little Bill) or Rosie (that would be Caillou's sister), and for a boy she has chosen Andrew (also from Little Bill).  We will not be using any of these names.  I told R that she should save them for when she has her own children someday.

It's little things like this that I don't want to forget, so that is why I am posting this!

Baby Update

16 weeks, 4 days

 This morning I had my 16 weeks prenatal visit.  It took a few minutes for the midwife to find the heartbeat, but she found it and the heartbeat is in the 150s.

I am still dealing with morning sickness.  Brushing my teeth always results in gagging and often results in vomiting.  The midwife offered to give me medication for the morning sickness, but I think I am dealing with it fine enough that I don't need anything.  I am usually feeling fine by lunch time and I'm one of those people who tries to avoid prescription medication whenever possible.  I don't even like to take Tylenol.  I am like this all the time, not just when pregnant.

I have decided not to do the AFP quad screening.  I had the screening with my other three pregnancies, but after a false positive during my pregnancy with R, I decided that I would never have the test again.  The false positive caused a lot of undue stress for me and I really want to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy, even the queasy minutes!  I wasn't sure how my midwife would react to my decision, but she told me that she does not like the test and thinks it is a good decision.  Also, an ultrasound is a better indicator of any potential problems.

Speaking of ultrasounds, I scheduled mine for April 20th!  We have found out the gender every time so far, and we will find out this time too.  I thought it might be fun to see what you think I am having!  Here are a few details to help with your guess:

• I have two boys and one girl
• This pregnancy has come with more morning sickness than any other 
• I had no heartburn with either of my boys and a lot of heartburn with my daughter; I haven't had any heartburn during this pregnancy
• The heartbeat has been in the 150s/160s each time
• The ultrasound I had at 12 weeks and the doppler today both picked up a lot of movement; this is a very active baby!
• I have not been overly emotional this pregnancy, just a little grouchy
• I crave mashed potatoes
• C and R both think I am having a girl (C's reasoning is that it would be fair - so like him to think that way; R is just hoping for a sister)

I don't know that these details mean anything, but I thought I would share them just in case they help with your guess!  So what do you think, is it a girl or a boy?  

Mardi Gras Beads

We are currently studying the state of Louisiana as part of our Fifty States Project.  After school yesterday, C and R made beaded necklaces using Mardi Gras colors. 

The colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green, and gold and they symbolize justice, faith, and power, respectively. 

C made a Mardi Gras necklace for me and R made me a Mardi Gras crown; here I am modeling them (I thought it was a good excuse show off the little baby bump, but the horizontal stripes make it look smaller than it typically looks):

I look like a giant because C took this photo!

Baby Update

This is the last week of the first trimester for me.  There is still a touch of morning sickness, but it doesn't last all day long like it did for a few weeks.  Brushing my teeth is the worst trigger of it right now.  I have a lot of food aversions, but the worst is Mexican food.  I love Mexican food, but not now.  Oh, and don't even mention the word chicken, please.  I am all about plain foods right now - Cheerios (plain, not even the multigrain kind, just plain), plain oatmeal (no flavoring, just some nuts and fruit), and plain potatoes.  Funny thing is that I can eat anything chocolate - no problems there. 

I had my twelve week appointment this morning.  When the midwife was unable to detect the heartbeat with the doppler, she sent me to the lab for an ultrasound.  The twenty minutes between the midwife telling me she could not detect the heartbeat and me seeing the heart beating on the monitor felt like hours, but everything looks good.  The heartbeat was good (I think she said 166 or maybe 162, my mind was foggy at the time), the baby is measuring right where he or she should be measuring, and the baby was moving all over the place.  The technician actually said that the baby was probably too active for the doppler to pick up the heartbeat.  What a relief. 

I have gone back and forth about whether I should post my ultrasound photo.  I think the photos are a bit creepy myself, but since I have this blog put into book form every three months, I decided to post it for my own scrapbooking purposes.  So, here is the baby (12 weeks, 3 days):

The Little Things

I am so grateful for my three children and lately they have been doing little things that I just don't want to forget.  I have been tired and irritable and not exactly the most pleasant person to live with, and they have been very understanding and very helpful.

T (13) has reviewed C's homework, helped C review his weekly words, and  assisted C with Spanish homework.  I am especially grateful for the help with the Spanish homework.  I took four years of Portuguese in high school and it is not the least bit helpful when it comes to C's Spanish.  T has been taking Spanish for a few years now and he is the perfect helper.  I also think it is a great way for T to review what he has learned in Spanish, but I'm still very grateful for the help!

C (6) has been super helpful teaching R to read.  R has been working through the BOB books and when I don't have the energy, he will sit with her and offer help when she needs it.  He has also been a great bedtime story teller lately; he makes up stories for R and this week he brought home a Dora and Diego book from his classroom just to read to his sister.  So sweet!

Now just because R (almost 5) is the youngest (for now) and does not have a younger sibling to help doesn't mean she hasn't been super helpful.  She LOVES to help with household chores and will grab the Swiffer duster or the mop and do her absolute best.  Last week she made me laugh so hard; she said, "Mom, snuggle up under the covers and watch Rachael Ray; I'm going to clean the house for you".  She is the sweetest child and she is going to be a wonderful big sister.

These little things make me so proud of my children.

Books About Babies

I may still be in the early part of my pregnancy, but my children are very excited about the pregnancy and they are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new sibling.  They are constantly asking when the baby will be born and what the baby will be able to do when he or she is born.

My sister sent the perfect book to address a lot of those questions.

There's Going to Be a Baby by John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury follows the swirl of questions in the mind of a young child anticipating a baby sibling with excitement, curiosity, and just a bit of trepidation.  The book begins with a mother telling her young son that there is going to be a baby.  This statement is followed by the boy's questions and the mother's answers over the entire pregnancy.  He asks questions like, "When is the baby coming?" , "What will we call it?", "What will the baby do?", and even says, "We don't really need the baby, do we?".  The mother's answers are perfect; I am keeping them in the back of my head!  At the end of the book, the young boy is on his way to meet his new sibling with his grandfather.  We aren't reading too many books about babies at this point, but this is the perfect book to read from the time of the announcement to the time of the birth.

Of course, when you tell a young child that there is going to be a new baby in the family, one of the inevitable questions is, "Where do babies come from?".

How You Were Born by Joanna Cole is a Reading Rainbow Book that uses photographs, diagrams, and straightforward text to answer that question and all related questions.  The book explains that a sperm and an egg join together without giving too much information about exactly how that happens.  It's enough for my children to know that it takes a man and a woman.  The book goes on to explain what is happening to the baby inside the uterus and finally how the baby is born.  You don't have to be expecting a baby to read this book with your children.  We have read it many times over the past year, and it is a great book to help your child understand how he or she came to be.

I'm sure we will be reading many books about babies as the due date gets closer.  Do you have a favorite book for a child expecting a new sibling?

I am linking this to What My Child is Reading at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.
 

Still Looking for a Remedy

The morning sickness seems to have worsened over the last few days.  I went to Whole Foods this morning and bought everything I could find that claims to help soothe the queasy stomach.  Notice there are no crackers in this picture.  I now associate crackers with being sick and the sight of a cracker turns my stomach.  Just in case you were wondering, a grocery store is really no place for a pregnant woman who gags (violently, even in public) at every smell.