Bump Update - Week 35

Very quiet week this time around. Not much going on. Things are all settled and it's been a real waiting game now. Just enjoying these last few weeks to ourselves before baby and family all join us. Ed is workin' hard and continuing treatments. We don't have another dr's visit for him until around my birthday so it's more of the same until then.

Recieved our second box from Full Circle, this time it's the size we'd really be getting, the small Seed box. Still seems like a good amount of organic food that would've taken a huge bite out of the budget otherwise. I'm pretty excited for the broccoli and rainbow carrots. We'll see how it holds up!

I'm reading as much as I can but, not finishing much. I keep adding more and more to my currently reading list. Right now I'm loving Billy Crystal's book Still Foolin' 'Em and the new Helen Fielding book, Mad About the Boy. 

I'm still determined to finish A Dance With Dragons so I've picked up the audiobook to help me ease into it.

I will defeat you!

I'm going to do a post about things that have happened to me during this pregnancy that I wasn't warned about, things I was warned about that didn't happen, or things that didn't go as I expected, so that's on the docket for future posts. Things like swelling, stretch marks, bigger breasts, mood swings, cravings, morning sickness, weight gain, baby activity, exercise, diet, supplement intake... lots of little things - not all pretty or exciting so feel free to skip over it if you're not interested when we get there. :)

Small aside... Why do people have such trouble listening? When I said I wanted a home birth, I was told maybe you should consider a hospital birth with a midwife. But... I don't want to go to a hospital unless something is wrong... When I said I feel like the baby might come early, I was told all moms think that - they're all so sick of being pregnant. But... I love being pregnant. Bring on 3 more months! It's just such a strange thing, this whole second guessing what people say. I'm certainly not the first lady to be pregnant, but not every pregnancy is the same, especially a woman's feelings about the pregnancy. When I said I wanted to do cloth diapers, I was told it's not worth it and it's too hard. And you know what, they could all be right. I could end up in the hospital and this baby could come late and cloth diapers might be miserable but, why even express that? So you can 'be right?' Whatever makes the person feel better I guess. It doesn't make me mad, but it does baffle me. I hope I can be a more conscientious listener in the future.

Anywho, I'll stop with the tirades for now and get to the good stuff. Bump update!

I'm obviously not nursing yet, but this nursing top is AMAZING. Glamourmom full bust long tank top. It has a built in bra that actually works. For those that have always scoffed at 'built-ins,' this one is a miracle. Hopefully it holds up once baby arrives...

How far along? 35 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? 18 in Honeydew melon ~ 5.25lbs

Sleep: Oh sleep. I miss you. Remember when we were close and you came easy and stayed for long, long periods of time? I loved those days. They were very, very nice. I'm well aware that those days may have left for many years.

Not having trouble sleeping here...

Best moment this week: Prenatal Village Care had a follow up session after our regular group where we got to meet with other moms and catch up with people who are no longer attending the village care. So nice to ask questions and see another tiny baby other than Emilia.

Movement: It's like a competition is going on in there... how much movement can we squeeze into the day and night.

Symptoms: Mostly the carpal tunnel like symptoms going on in my hands, mostly my right hand. Also a weird bout of dizziness... but things are still pretty stable. Still no visible swelling thank goodness.

Food cravings/aversions: I'm loving blueberry muffins these days. Weird because I'm not a blueberry person. Otherwise I find myself desperately thirsty but having no room for water intake. Often my mind translates that into craving juice or fruit, but thanks to all that dieting I did before hand, I'm pretty conscious of it just being thirst and not actual hunger. Figure I'm saving myself from some sugar bombs at least. 

Gender: Ed's nurse made a comment about how it must be a boy because girls don't kick and punch as much as this baby seems to!

Belly Button in or out? Maintaining that innie, although it is getting a 'lived in' look. I can't think of any other way to describe it.

What I miss: Fooood! All the foods and drink I haven't been having and large volumes of them. I crave pancakes but I know I could probably only eat one of the plate sized pancakes they serve at our favorite breakfast place.

What I am looking forward to: Everything! Things are ramping up - next weekend is a party with Ed's coworkers, the following is a work holiday party in San Francisco, following that is my birthday and our last group session before the baby's due date... it's all happening so fast. :) 

Funny moment of the week: At one point in group this week our midwife asked who the next 'due' ladies were and I was looking around for whoever that was. Turns out that it's me! Well, me and another woman who is due the day after me. So weird, I feel like we were the newbies just yesterday. But I look at these other women who are 16 weeks and 14 weeks and all I can think is that they have a looooong way to go.

Labor Signs: Nope nope nope. 

Weekly Wisdom: This little blog post I found on stopping the 'mommy wars' - http://herscoop.com/posts/empowering-photo-series/

Milestones: Finally looking down the barrel of the last month ~ 35 Days left. This pregnancy has flown by and I've already started thinking about how I will miss having this little nut kicking and dancing away in there. Even when it's a 3 am dance party. I think I had one or two of those in my life so baby's allowed to follow suit. When you think about it, you only get 4ish months or so of actually feeling the baby. Too too short if you ask me.

Bump Update - Week 34

It's been a roller coaster week here. Half of the week was really lovely with a visit from Dad and Debbie. The other half was a little sad. Everything is ok, but we received some sad family news. The details are not for sharing. But I want to say you absolutely must cherish every happy moment you have and remember how small your day to day annoyances are in the face of other kinds of loss and grief. That's all I want to say about that, so let's talk about the happy part of the week and then the normal baby updates.

Dad and Debbie stopped over for a quick two day visit and enjoyed some curry while Ed was getting his treatment. We essentially had a House Hunters marathon. Curry, family and house hunters? Sounds like my perfect night! :) The second night, they treated us to crabs! They had a practice run with the crabs while they were housesitting for us over Christmas so they knew the ropes. It was hugely fun and delicious. 

Thanks to Debbie for this picture and the delicious glass of sparkling grape juice so I could fit in with the crowd :)

The baby was shy for Dad but did put on a little show for Debbie later in the evening. It was a quick, but lovely visit. Strange to think of how much things will change and how these quiet, adult evenings will be very rare in 40 days or so.

Otherwise, we've been keeping to ourselves. Ed is enjoying being back at work and establishing his routine again. We went out for a food truck night that happens where Ed's shuttle drops him off on Monday evenings.

Delicious meatloaf sandwich - mashed potatoes included!

I'm sleepier than ever. We are still enjoying our childbirth class and our midwifery group. All in all we're both feeling good and very ready for baby. I've started having this feeling lately that baby might come early. Not scary early, but maybe a couple days? I can't explain why, but I just feel like this baby is already anxious to get out and make an appearance. And it's not that I'm eager for this pregnancy to be over - as I've said before, I've been blessed with an easy pregnancy that does not make me shout 'get this baby out' from the rooftops. I'm still enjoying every moment. We'll see how I feel in 40 days :)

Bump Update!



How far along? 34 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? 17.75 in cantaloupe, 4.75 lbs ish

Sleep: More vivid dreams and more nightmares unfortunately. I find myself laying awake and reading on my kindle lots and lots. 

Best moment this week: Eating delicious crabs with Dad and Debbie and facetiming with Mom, Ck and Emilia. Lots of good family time.

Movement: So much! Sometimes I lift up my shirt and just lotion up my belly and let it absorb. Ed gets to watch the baby do a little freak out and jiggle my whole belly. I feel like the movement is stronger, longer and more frequent than ever. Ed's been telling the baby how he/she is not going to be making an exit through my belly a la Alien, despite what he/she seems to be practicing.

Symptoms: New one this week - puffy joints and tingling in my hands. I haven't really had any swelling this pregnancy but it looks like it's starting a little, entirely in my hands. I'm still counting my blessings for how little swelling I've had overall and for how minimal my complaints have been... I feel very lucky.

Food cravings/aversions: None. I really don't want much food anymore. I still eat when I think I should be eating, but I'm only genuinely hungry about once a day and can be sated by a hard boiled egg. 

Gender: Whether it's a boy or a girl, it's an active hellion. I'm a little nervous I won't be able to keep up! I was kinda hoping this baby would inherit my sleepy genes :)

Belly Button in or out? Same situation here... can't believe it hasn't changed over yet!

What I miss: Being hungry. Not having cravings per se, just plain ole hunger. It's no fun feeling 'full' on nothing and knowing you still need to eat.

What I am looking forward to: Transitioning into the 'final weeks' activities. Some of them are not for sharing on here but there's a whole list. New foods to add in, stretches, household prep... Just can't believe we're already staring down the last month-ish. 

Funny moment of the week: It was a small moment, but when we were eating crabs, as you saw in the pictures, I suited up with an apron to protect my sizable self from debris and crab juices. It turned out everyone else at the table needed the apron more because my vigorous claw cracking resulted in everyone (but me) being showered in crab juice. I'm a real gem, I know.

Labor Signs: Just those crazy braxton hicks every now and then. Finally caught one for Ed to feel and he was a little weirded out. 

Weekly Wisdom: Give the people you love a huge hug and tell them over and over again how much you appreciate and love them. Be there for them when they are hurting and try hard to appreciate the little things.

Milestones: I am approximately as far from the end of this pregnancy as I was into the pregnancy when I went to the Dr. Just can't believe how much time has flown by!

Bump Update - Week 33

Been preparing a great deal, settling the dust. The nursery is 99% complete and labor supplies 90% collected.

Decided on a changing table, hung up some lights, added the mobile...

The remaining 10% is mostly the food and drink that we'll need to keep stocked in the last two weeks around my due date. House prep is coming together, installing more hooks to hang things and keep them off the floors, securing shelves to walls. I've been hanging out baby gear so it can air out or get cleaned. My new favorite activity is clearing out junk drawers. I have these beautiful glass containers we received as a wedding gift and since then I have crammed them full of workout gear, pens, pins, wires and chargers. I cleaned out those jars and 4 other boxes. While it's nice having all these clear spaces... I now have no idea what to do with them. 

I also gave a try to this organic produce delivery company, Full Circle. There was a living social deal so I figured why not! They only deliver to Alaska, Idaho, Washington State and the Bay Area - goofy array of places, I know. Organic produce can really kill your budget so I wanted to see if this was a more efficient (and seasonal) way of obtaining good food stuffs. This is the big 'harvest' box and we'd just get the smallest box option which is about a quarter of this volume. So far so good, quality is excellent as is the amount... we'll see what the smaller box looks like! Ed pointed out how I'll have to be a bit more adventurous based on what comes in each box. Looks like this box will force me to find a couple parsnip recipes :)

In other news, I was talking to Ed about how big a disappointment the whole 'camaraderie of pregnant women' has been. I say this in full awareness of my own strangeness, but pregnancy makes these women and men completely insane. I don't understand any of them. Obsessing over the perfect diaper, the perfect pacifier, the perfect baby sign language book. We've been doing our research and are making choices too, but I'd never claim we're choosing the 'perfect' things or even the 'best' - just what we're comfortable with.  Our midwife talks about it as a 'tribe mentality' where some women need you to agree that their way is the best so they can feel validated. I prefer reading these cross cultural parenting books to see how many different ways things can be done (see How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm and Bringing Up Bebe to name a few of the hundreds out there). There are 8 million ways to raise a baby, and nothing wrong with the majority of them.

I just thought with such a common experience, I'd find more people to talk and relate to - it's been the complete opposite. So far we've found some common ground with couples in the midwifery group (thank god), but in this childbirth prep class, online forums and even prenatal yoga... no connection, only misunderstanding and bewilderment. Still holding out hope that changes.

The birth class was pretty interesting. We're some of the younger people there. Poor Ed, he's been reading all the details in the baby books while I've been glossing over much of the nitty gritty, so he's getting a double dose of the information. I'm glad we're taking the class. At the very least, because it's a small group (only 6 couples), I'm practicing voicing more of my feelings and opinions without fear of of others judgment. It's all part of the Daring Greatly book I'm still reading and digesting. That's my goal for this year, to just approach things from a 'beginner's mind' and not to get so frustrated so quickly with things that don't come easily to me.

Enough talky, talky... Bump time!

How far along? 33 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? 17 inch pineapple, 4.25 lbs ish

Sleep: Still rising every 2 hours or so. Really hard to move around at a good clip. I'm getting pretty cumbersome. 

Best moment this week: All the boxes from Mom's house arriving! So now I'm inundated with things from the baby shower and I'm in laundry up to my knees, but it's wonderful. I was eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Movement: This baby has found my soft spot finally. It's the left side of my belly and boy, does Baby looooove to kick and wiggle right there. I've been pleading with Baby for more movement anywhere else to give me a break. It doesn't hurt, but it's similar to hitting your funny bone. Ed gets to watch more and more crazy movement from the outside. 

Symptoms: Tired, tired, tired. I'm ready for my first nap around 930 or 10 and for bed around 5pm most days.

Food cravings/aversions: No cravings or aversions, just no space. Appetite is definitely waning. 

Gender: What's the old wives tale about where I'm carrying? This whole pregnancy has been quite low. I'm a little envious of women who have those crazy high riding bumps that look like they just stick straight out. According to a list of old wives tales my dry skin, low carrying, meat/dairy cravings, and healthy hair mean I'm having a boy...

Belly Button in or out? The shallowest of shallow innie while standing, outie while sitting.

What I miss: This is a funny one, but I miss amusement parks. We watched The Way Way Back the other night (highly recommend, great movie), which takes place at the beach and largely at a water park. I realized that for the foreseeable future, I won't get to spend a day riding roller coasters, eating funnel cake, swimming in the wave pool and getting sunburned and sweaty. Makes me appreciate all those summer days with friends and school trips during Theaterfest so much more.

What I am looking forward to: Eating to my heart's desire and getting back to some hearty exercise. 

Funny moment of the week: There were several questions and comments that were so wild in our class that I wish I could share them here but I know I should keep them within the confines of the class. All of my hardest laughs came from the Golden Globes and from America's Funniest Videos - yes that show is still on and they play new episodes all the time!

Labor Signs: Nada

Weekly Wisdom: If you're taking measures for your health, you cannot stop when you see results. You've got to just keep on going. For me, it's taking baths and supplements. The aches and pains may feel "solved," but if you stop treatment, they're going to come back. Stick with the program!

Milestones: Nothing big for baby, but a big one for Ed! He went back for his first day of work this past Thursday! He's feeling good about getting back to old routines. He's not back to biking to work but he looks forward to when he can do that again. 

Bump Update - Week 32

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had an amazing New Year's Eve and is feeling refreshed and ready for the new year. I think I am. I finished my GoodReads challenge of 70 books for 2013. I feel a liiiiiittle guilty because a couple of them (5 I think) were guides or how to books. I did read them, but somehow it feels a little less fulfilling than if they were novels. I've got a couple things I'd really like to do this year...

- Sewing by hand and with a machine (I'm thinking burp cloths are a good first project for a novice)
- Write a few complete stories
- Return to regular physical activity (swimming, running, etc)
- Learn and speak more German (for counting pancakes with das Baby)
- Respond with greater care to emails and Facebook messages (and in a more timely manner)
- Keep up with my reading, whether it's audiobooks or physical copies (GoodReads goal of 60 - 2 down already!)
- Birth and start raising a kind, healthy human

Mostly, I just want to continue a lot of the good work I did this past year with my running and keeping my health in order. I know it'll be challenging with a baby but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try! 2013 had a lot of highs and lows and I won't be forgetting any of it.

Things have been nice and calm here. Ed is ready to head back to work and is just waiting on some paperwork to be filed, still doing treatments at home. Tonight is our first birth prep class. The house is pretty much baby ready. Just plodding along with life, all good things.

I returned to the Whole Body Salon for another pedicure because I'm finally conceding that while I can still touch my toes (thank you very much) it is not comfortable or sustainable for the time required to care for my feets. I'll take any time for spoiling myself while I can...

Also, I just have to add I can't stop listening to the recordings of Home Free from the Sing-Off. If you missed the condensed airing of it in December, you should really try to find it online or on demand. I could care less what genre they sing - the lead and the bass? They could sing to me all day, everyday and I would never get my fill. And tenors don't usually do anything for me! These two performances were hands down my favorites, but none were bad.

"I Want Crazy"

"Ring of Fire"

I am desperate to see these guys and to see Pentatonix perform live. That would just be incredible. Can seeing more a cappella be on my resolution list? In the meantime I'll just listen on repeat with my headphones on!


Bump Update! 

Post shower bump

A refresher pic of the last bump picture I took in this shirt (Oct 14th, 2013)

How far along? 32 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? 16.7 large jicama - large is certainly right, I'm feeling every wiggle in there

Sleep: The same - tossing and turning, bathroom breaks. Thank god the room is cool during these winter months! Also, I'm having weird dreams again. The other night involved a nightmare - I was caught in a house similar to the Winchester House mixed with a little of the hotel from The Shining but it was located in Texas.

Winchester House pre 1906 earthquake

Best moment this week: Organizing the nursery! Still have to wash everything aside from the diapers, but the clothes are all tucked away and the room is cleared for use.

Movement: Still abundant. All over the place and varied... still nothing painful, which I'm very grateful for, but, there have been some really bizarrely intense jolts that are just so big my whole belly shakes. Ed had his hand on me for the first one I'd ever felt and it was pretty weird. I think I can feel baby's back a lot. Both midwives think the baby is head down now.

Symptoms: 'It's just emotions taking me over'. The other day, my cat Rosie made me laugh so hard I started to cry. Not as in, I was laughing and tears were coming out, we're talking full on transition to crying and no more laughing. For absolutely no reason. Hormones are so. weird.

Food cravings/aversions: Less. No specific cravings anymore, just less hungry. With the baby getting so big, I'm starting to feel pretty crowded when I eat so I just try to eat much smaller meals.

Gender: I tied myself up in KNOTS trying to find baby caps that were not blue or pink. Is it really too much to ask to just have white hats? I love yellow too but I feel like that's all that I have now. It's amazing how that's the only 'gender neutral' option. I had to look this up to express to Ed how I felt about the lack of white hats:

Belly Button in or out? Strangely, no new developments here! Maybe we'll see some change after baby's growth spurt.

What I miss: Eating without worrying about the space. I miss my hearty dinners and big bowls of ice cream :) 

What I am looking forward to: Enjoying these last few weeks of routine. Reading, TV shows, cleaning house casually. Reveling in the feeling of being in control and on top of things!

Funny moment of the week: Making it to midnight on New Years Eve, and promptly hitting the hay 10 minutes later. :)

Labor Signs: Still very infrequent braxton hicks. Not much else. Baby is baking away in there!

Weekly Wisdom: Try to enjoy being a beginner. I'm reading Daring Greatly and trying to use it as a jumping off point for how I will approach things this year. I know we're in for some hard and often frustrating times ahead, and I'm hoping to practice the mindset of allowing myself to not know what I'm doing. I get so frustrated so quickly - I hope a little meditation on being otherwise will temper that reaction.

Milestones: Bought all of our diapers to start off - disposable and cloth. Felt pretty weird stocking up our hall closet with baby wipes and diapers. Pretty much everything is checked off on our prep list, including sheets and other supplies for labor. Along with hearing the baby is head down makes everything feel shockingly around the corner.