Making Progress!

Dear precious baby girl,
There is so much to tell you about this week! First, your daddy has been working hard to get your nursery painted, and finished it today! It is such a pretty soft green color, and we can't wait to put all of the furniture in and get it decorated the way we want. We've been looking through the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, and found so many cute things that we're excited about putting in your room :).

Second, I got the results back from the diabetes test I had last week. And... YAY! We passed! This is a good thing, because if I had gestational diabetes, you would grow to be really big- so big that you would probably have to be delivered early by C-section, which is something I would prefer to avoid if possible. Also, if I had gestataional diabetes, I wouldn't be able to eat a big 'ole mound of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup whenever I want. So, YAY! No diabetes!

Most importantly, this week, your daddy and I finally picked out your name!!! It's the name we both liked from the very beginning, but we wanted to be absolutely CERTAIN it was the best name for you, so we each read through a book that has 100,000 baby names in it. We created separate lists of our favorite names that we didn't share with each other until both of us had finished the book. Surprisingly, we had alot of the same names on our top 10 lists, but your name was still the at the top for both of us. Your grandma B is SO excited, because she's been calling you by your name for over a month, now, certain that it would be the name we picked. You have one wise grandma, you know :).

You've been having a lot of progress this week too! You are now about 3 pounds, and 17 inches long! From here on, you will be gaining about a half pound a week, woah! Your permanent teeth are all grown (even though we won't see them for another year or so), and you can also recognize my voice already (based on ultrasond studies that show babies turning their heads towards the sound of their mother's voice but not to other people's voices). If you were to be born at this point, you would be able to keep yourself warm because now you have enough fat on your body, you would be able to breathe on your own, and you would have a 90% chance of survival. Of course, we would prefer if you stay patient and in my tummy for the remaining 10 weeks so that you are FULLY grown and prepared for life out here in the world. This is kind of what you look like right now:






















and amazingly, if you were to look inside my uterus, you would look something like this (except obviously you are a girl, and this is a picture of a boy):




















Everyone keeps asking me how I'm feeling, and for the most part, I am really feeling great! I still have bad heartburn, but am now taking Zantac which has helped a LOT. My feet are starting to swell during the day, so I put them up regularly, and I still have a hard time sleeping because my big belly keeps getting in the way. But I keep telling myself that it's just preparation for the lack of sleep I'll have after you're born. And, I've started having small contractions called Braxton Hicks contractions. These aren't anything to worry about, it's just my uterus practicing for the REAL contractions that'll come later. But they are still really weird-feeling!

Next week we will be in New Mexico for your cousin Andrea's wedding, so we probably won't be posting a new message until after we get back. But at least we'll have lots of pictures to post!

Love,
Mama

Week 29 update

Dear precious baby girl,
Today you went with your daddy and me to your first volunteer activity. The Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Walk for the Cure was held today in Seattle. Your daddy and I wanted to help out in some way, not only because it is a great organization, but because this year your aunt Marie was diagnosed with breast cancer, and your grandma Murphy is battling it for the second time. They are both doing great right now, though!

Today you are officially 29 weeks old. I cannot believe how quickly time is passing, and how much closer we are to meeting you in person! You must be growing a LOT, because you're moving around in my tummy all day long. Sometimes you even wake me up in the middle of the night! My belly is getting bigger every day, it seems, and it's making it more and more difficult for me to move around like I used to. I constantly wonder how big it will get in the next 11 weeks before you're born. I think your daddy may need to start carrying me around in a wheelbarrow soon if you keep growing so quickly!

Our doctor told us this week at our appointment that everything seems to be great so far- we got to listen to your heartbeat again, and it is nice and strong! I took my first glucose test this week, which is a test for gestational diabetes. I had to drink a bottle of a really sugary drink (it was gross) and get a blood test an hour later. We will find out next week what the results are, and we're hoping it comes back negative (since gestational diabetes would mean that you'd probably get too big too quickly and we'd have to have a c-section before your due date).

Your daddy and I have been taking a lot of childbirth classes lately, and last night in our class, we learned about all the different stages of labor and ways to cope with labor pains. Even though watching all the birth videos makes it look really painful (all the soon-to-be moms cringed when we watched the babies being born), we are going to do our best to have a natural childbirth without any interventions. Of course, your mama here is kind of a wimp when it comes to pain, so we'll see what happens. :)

We have been busy lately, getting your nursery started and finishing our baby registry. Your cousin Katie, aunt Cathy, and aunt Janie were nice enough to offer to host a baby shower for us when we go to New Mexico for your cousin Andrea's wedding. We are really looking forward to it! Your grandma B wants to put your name on all the favors, but we haven't picked your name yet! We'll have to figure that out soon, I guess!

Love,
Mama

28 week update

Dear precious baby girl,
The last two weeks have been SUPER busy for your daddy and me. Your daddy was out of town for a week for his work, and then I was in Boston for a week for my work, so we haven't had much time to post updates.

You are 28 weeks old now, can you believe it? That means that you're about 15 inches long, and weigh about 2 1/2 pounds already! Your brain is growing leaps and bounds, you can now open your eyes and see what's around you, and all of your features are now fully developed. From here on out, most of what you'll be doing is putting on some fat and growing a few more inches. We are officially in the third trimester now, which we almost can't believe!

My belly is getting much bigger this week- check it out:























The strangest thing for me right now is that in addition to feeling you kicking, I can now feel you wiggling around inside my tummy! If your daddy puts his hand on my belly, it feels like a little golf ball rolling around. It's incredible to me that you're getting so big that we can feel you actually MOVING, instead of just kicking. It is such a bizarre feeling inside my tummy when you do that, but so neat at the same time.

Today is father's day, and I just want to let you know that you have such an amazing daddy. I cannot wait for you to meet him, and he is SO exited to meet you too! Every day, he talks to you and kisses my belly, telling you how much he already loves you. I am really looking forward to sharing parenthood with him, because he is incredible in so many ways: he is kind, patient, intellectual, loving, and honest. These are just some of the qualities that I hope you inherit from him. You are so lucky to have him as your daddy.

Love, Mama

26 Week Update

Dear precious baby girl,
Your daddy and I got back from our honeymoon a week and a half ago (I know, we're so lazy in updating your blog!), and we had SUCH a good time! We started out in Santorini, which was absolutely, stunningly beautiful- the blue water, white-walled architecture, and relaxing atmosphere were exactly what we needed! On Crete and in Athens, even though we both picked up a nasty cold while we were there, we did a lot of exploring and visited a number of ancient sites, which was fascinating! Your daddy and I said that we would be sure to bring you there someday with us because even we can't wait to go back again!

In the last few weeks, you have grown leaps and bounds! You are now almost TWO POUNDS and are about 14 inches long from head to toe. You can now hear things that are happening in the world, like when your daddy talks to you every day and tells you how much he loves you and can't wait to meet you. You're really working out your lungs now too, by practicing breathing movements all the time. In fact, you're replacing all the amniotic fluid in my uterus about once every hour!

What's most exciting (to me, anyway) is that now you can open your eyelids and check out your surroundings! Plus, because you're getting so much bigger and are accumulating more muscle and fat, your kicks are REALLY strong! Not only can you see my tummy jump when you give a swift kick, but sometimes your kicks stop me right in my tracks. Ow! I can't believe that we're already at the point where we're at the end of the second trimester. Woah. Right now, you look like this:

















(image courtesy of babycenter.com)

At this point in the pregnancy, now that my belly is starting to grow much faster, it's getting more difficult for me to move around. I'm even starting to get that pregnancy "waddle" when I walk- yikes! Sleeping is getting uncomfortable too, because I now have a hormone in my system called "relaxin" that causes my joints to loosen up. This means that when I sleep on one side, my hips and legs start to really hurt, so I toss and turn a lot from my right side to my left side. This seems to bother you too, because every time I change positions, you start to kick me as if you're saying "hey, I'm tryin' to sleep in here!".

You're probably noticing too that I am only eating tiny little meals a lot of times during the day, because you are growing so fast that my stomach is all scrunched up and can't handle much food at one time. If I eat too much, I get REALLY bad heartburn and acid reflux, and let me tell ya, there aren't enough Tums in the world to help out with that!

This past week, your daddy and I started getting things for your nursery! We decided to paint the room a light green and white (we'll accent it with green and pink accessories), and went out and bought the paint. Your daddy has already started to paint the walls, and we're also looking for furniture that we like. Of course, your Nina B has already sent us some things for your nursery, so in the next few weeks we will get it all finished and decorated. We can't wait!

Love, Mama

Off to Greece!

Dear precious baby girl,
Tomorrow your daddy and I are going to Greece for our honeymoon! We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time- in fact, we planned it before we even knew we were expecting you! We'll be gone for 12 days, so there won't be any posts until we get back, but we'll definitely post some pictures for our friends and family once we return.

In the last week, you have been REALLY active! It seems as though you can't stop moving around in my tummy, kicking me all the time to let me know that you're still there. I am still in complete awe about the fact that I can FEEL your little movements. You must be growing quite a bit this week, because not only can your daddy and I feel you if we put our hands on my tummy, but now if I'm sitting really still we can see my belly move when you kick! I can't believe it! Someday we'll take a video of it to post here so other people can see it too.

At this point, you are now about 12 inches long, and you weigh a pound already! I can't believe how fast you're growing! Your hair and fingernails are growing rapidly, as are the little buds where your teeth will be someday. You are probably practicing sucking movements with your tiny mouth, and you can now feel things with your hands! In about a week, if your daddy and/or I poke my tummy, you will start to respond by kicking us back! It is so amazing how quickly you are growing and developing, I can hardly believe it. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to each and every week, when I know you'll be doing something new inside of me.

We love you so much already,
Mama and Daddy

Week 21 Update

Dear precious little girl,
This week, you've grown from a banana to a carrot (in length, that is)! It's kind of funny to compare you to fruits and vegetables, even though your daddy keeps telling me that we're having a BABY, not a FRUIT SALAD. Your daddy is a funny guy, and also a little bit sarcastic (kind of like your mama too, actually). You'll discover this soon enough :).

You have been kicking up a STORM this week, and we are now starting to feel you kicking from the outside of my belly. You seem to pick the most interesting times to kick and punch my insides, usually at around 5:00am, 9:00am, 4:00pm, and 11:00pm. I'm told that your active periods in my tummy will coincide with when you'll most likely be awake and active after you're born- pretty interesting, huh? Most of the time, though, you're just sleeping and growing in there.

Yesterday, your daddy and I went to the Skagit Valley tulip festival with your aunt Marie, uncle David, and cousin Mary. We took a lot of funny pictures in the tulip fields, and we couldn't stop talking about how cute it will be when we will be able to take you with us next year! Your aunt Marie kept taking pictures of my belly so that she can send them to your grandma in New Mexico, because now I'm REALLY looking like I'm pregnant. Because it's been almost a month (I know, we're so bad!) since we last posted a belly picture to illustrate the very pregnant-looking mama you've got here, we took another picture tonight for all the people who keep asking for them:


















We promise we'll post more regular belly pictures in the coming weeks, especially because you are really going to start growing a LOT from here on out!
Love, Mama

Week 20- Banana Anyone?

Dear precious little girl,
We're officially halfway through our pregnancy at this point, can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday we were calling all of our friends and family to give them the good news that we were expecting you! This week has been pretty busy for you, after having your big ultrasound where we found out you were a little girl, and having a doctor's visit where we were told that you were doing GREAT. From here on out, we'll only see the doctor once a month, at least until the month before you're born (when we'll see her every week).

I also took my very first "taking care of baby" class last week! It was all about infant safety and CPR. I learned a LOT, and am now encouraging your daddy to take the class too. I was surprised to hear about all of the things that are marketed to parents that are really not safe for infants! I also learned the best way to introduce you to your furry canine brother and feline sister. I am really looking forward to the rest of the classes that your daddy and I will be taking this summer- we signed up for 16 of them, and they're about all kinds of things, including breastfeeding, childproofing your home, carseat safety, caring for your baby, and there's even a class just for new daddys. :)

One of the most exciting things that's happenned in the last week is that I can feel you kicking and punching my insides like crazy! Your daddy and I are convinced that you're going to be a world class soccer player. Unfortunately, your daddy can't feel you on the outside of my tummy yet, but he's been trying! Every night when we go to bed, he lays down next to me and wraps his arm around my tummy, hoping that he can feel you kicking (since this is when you seem to be most active). And sometimes during the day when I can feel you, he rushes over to try and feel it, but I think you're still a little too small to kick hard enough for him to feel you. I'm told, though, that in a week or two, we will not only be able to feel you from the outside, but we might just SEE your little kicks and punches poking out of my tummy. How weird (but exciting) that's going to be!

You've been doing a lot of growing in the last week too! You're now about 10 inches long (about the lengh of a big banana) and you weigh about 10 1/2 ounces. You're starting to swallow all the time, and even though you're just swallowing amniotic fluid (yuck!), it's good practice for after you're born. You can hear a lot of sounds now, and even though I can't see it, if there's a loud sound near me, you will instinctively put your hands up over your ears (wow). Your hair is growing, and you're even starting to get eyebrows now, and also- your fingernails are starting to grow! This is what you look like inside of my tummy right now:


















(click image for larger photo)
(image from childbirthconnection.org)

My tummy is getting bigger and bigger every week (I'll post a picture soon), and my belly button is almost flat(ack!) because my growing uterus is moving farther up in my belly. I really look pregnant now- there's no mistaking it! From here on out, I will be gaining about a pound a week (yowza) which sounds easy, but that's a lot of extra food! I will admit, though, that it's awfully nice to be able to eat anything I want and not worry about gaining weight, because hey- it's for you!

Love,
Mama