Bubs in 3D

Had a great time- I'll post details later, but wanted to share the pics now. Bubs was all smiles!









(the last pic is hard to make out, but it's Bubs sucking its thumb)

Week 26

Again, my apologies for the lack of blogging! I told ya'll before, it's all or nothing with me :) Now that I'm here, I have at least 1,000,000 things to say.

Today marks the 26th week. I feel really good. Last week I started working out on the elliptical machine (walking outside or using the treadmill is rough on the joints, so the elliptical is perfect). I also started doing light weight training with my arms. Since I'm convinced we're cooking a 13 lb baby, I thought I had better start preparing my arms for the postpartum baby holding. I'm working closely with one of the providers at my office to do exercises that specifically target the arm muscles I want to develop. I use 3 & 5 lb dumbbells for 3 sets of 8 reps 3-4 times/week.

I also bought a workout ball (the big ones that you sit on). Debbie told me that sitting on those help develop the pelvic muscles which will aid in delivery. Gotta be careful on that, though. My balance isn't what it used to be ;)

Bubs is making his/her presence known more often these days. It is still only a handful of times a day that it moves/punches/kicks, which is fine with me. We had some severe thunderstorms roll through town last week and while laying awake that night, Bubs rolled or flipped or something strong. It made me queasy just for a second. Then it felt kinda cool. I bet Bubs moves more while I'm sleeping, I'm just so passed out that it doesn't bother me.

We don't have too much to do around the house to get ready for the baby. The nursery is set up, but not decorated. There is a very specific type of wall shelf that I'd like to hang, assuming we can find it in stores. My BIL and SIL have one hanging in Searcy's room, but apparently it came with the house. It's a large white single shelf that hangs on the wall and has several pegs. It's similar to this, but the one I'd like is BIG (not the smaller ones you find in Target, etc):

If we can't find it in stores, my plan is to go to Doug's house and permanently borrow it out from Searcy's room. They're moving out the house soon; the owner won't miss it, will they :)

We don't currently have any decorations planned for the room. I've looked into those wall decals that you just rub-on, found some cute ones, but Hubs doesn't seem too hip on them. We'll see.

Two weeks ago we had a second U/S since the tech couldn't see the baby's face during the 20 week U/S. Dr T wanted us to come back for a second look to make sure everything on the face was growing as it should. Although this U/S wasn't as in depth as the 20 week, we saw the best pics of Bubs during this one. Bubs didn't cooperate at first, it was face down and didn't appear to have any intention of moving so we could see it's precious face. That was fine b/c the tech just played around, taking other measurements, such as the head. It was at that point where she said, "oh, OH. Wow. You sure cook babies with big heads."

Oh dear Lord. Really? Hubs grabbed my arm and then nicely said to the tech, "please don't tell her that." Even though I was already lying down, I'm pretty sure I still passed out.

Here is Bubs in all of it's baby beauty:




Everything looks great!

She also told us that Bubs was measuring 11 days head of schedule. Dr. T, based on the usual 40 weeks from your LMP, says I'm due Aug 26th. Because I know exactly when I ovulated, my own due date is Aug 22nd. The U/S is dating the baby at being due Aug 15th. So, who knows! A few days difference doesn't seem like a big deal, but an 11 day difference? I'm not sure I can handle that. Hopefully as we get closer, Dr T will adjust my due date.

I have my birth plan, which I'll save for another post. I'm hesitant to post my birth plan because people have such STRONG opinions about birth. My feeling is this: just as each pregnancy is different, so are births. However, to be honest, my birth plan is very straight forward. Stay tuned for that post.

Until then, XOXO...

And then it happened

This was a great week to be pregnant! Although it hit a rough patch, it ended on the highest of notes.

I feel good. I had this big long post planned out in my head about the craziness we endured on Wed evening, but I've decided to minimize the negative and focus on the positive.

Wed evening highlights: puked on the bedspread, two rounds of prenatal pills, bedspread in the washing machine which triggered the circuit breaker to flip off, no power in our bedroom Wed night, Hubs cleaned up a washing machine gone wild, battery powered alarm clock died.

I slept great! And Hubs is my hero for cleaning and fixing while I kept falling asleep mid-crisis.

I ate ZERO protein on Wed, which I sense played a large part of the late evening pukeness. I didn't intentionally avoid meat. It just happened that everything I ate during the day was healthy veggies :)

Veggies taste SO GOOD to me right now. Truth be told, I could probably live on Imo's side salads and Subway Veggie subs for the next 5 months :) Yum.

Onto more important things: WE FINALLY GOT TO MEET BUBS!! We had our 16 (well, almost 17 week) appt on Friday. Hubs and I were reluctant to ask for the ultrasound but my lovely mom went with us and she asked.

You see, I have this thing about not wanting to be "that" patient. It's hard to describe and people think I'm crazy, but I don't want to be the high maintenance patient that has a set of demands at every visit. I don't want to call the doctors office at the smallest sign of a potential problem (that's what my mom, Jennie, Debbie, Martha, Amy, and well, all of my friends are for) and I just want to be a good, easy going, low maintenance patient. My dad is also pretty well known in the community and I'm always aware of the fact that if I ask for something "extra," people can misinterpret that as me thinking I'm entitled to it b/c of who I am. And, I'm not like that, at all. Call me crazy, but I just want to be another patient on the doctors schedule.

Having said that, we REALLY wanted to see Bubs. We had gone 16 weeks without seeing Bubs and we certainly could have waited another 3-4 week until the REAL U/S, but my patience was wearing thin (I guess I really am "that" patient, I just don't want to be perceived that way :) ).

Initially, Hubs hadn't planned on being at this appt. When we scheduled it, we knew it would be a very routine, very quick visit. Hubs is a busy psychologist so anytime he's not at work seeing patients, I feel a little guilty so I gave him the a-OKay to skip this visit. As the visit neared, I realized I never want to attend an OB appt alone. As much as it SHOULD be a routine visit, you just never know, so I asked the next best thing to my husband to attend...my mom. She's awesome and always puts me at ease so I was very glad she could go with me.

A few days before our appt, my BFF had her OB appt and they couldn't find the heartbeat, so they did another U/S. I told this to Hubs and he began thinking, "what if they want to do an U/S at our appt and I'm not there...." so he rescheduled a few patients and made it to the appt.

I may have dropped a few hints to my mom that maybe she should inquire as to the possibility of seeing Bubs during this appt. And, she happily obliged! As it turns out, she and my dad will be on vacation during our 20 week appt and the REAL U/S, so she politely asked Dr. T if Gramma could see the baby today since they won't be here during the next appt. Dr. T graciously agreed and well: World, meet Bubs :)


Many of you know how awesome this experience is- after nearly 17 weeks of knowing you have this baby inside you, it is unreal to finally be able to SEE the life you've created. It's amazing (and ya'll know I don't use that word liberally).

My blood pressure at the appt was perfect, again (120/77). Seriously, it doesn't get any better than that. Again, I can thank my friend, Magnesium, for the healthy heart and the efficient muscles that are helping me through the physical changes.

I also got online to Target and set up a baby registry. We'll eventually go into the store and use the scanning gun to fine tune the list, but to be honest, I'm kinda dreading that part. You see, one of the few fights Hubs and I have ever had occurred during our wedding registry process. It didn't have anything to do with the scanning gun, but more of the fact that Hubs, who is normally pretty indecisive, all of a sudden had an opinion about, well, damn near everything. Where was the easy going, indecisive gentleman I had been dating for 6+ years? :)

(In case you're wondering, the only other big arguments in our nearly 12 year relationship involve Brown Bagger (a former friend of mine) and White Castle.)

I figure if I can keep our baby registry list updated online, we can minimize any potential differences of opinion and remain married during the pregnancy :)

Of course, I'm not kidding. Hubs has already given great input into our purchases thus far (mainly the furniture), so I'm confident we'll make it through the baby registry without any major uprisings.

Oh, as an update on the nursery, we've decided to switch baby rooms. We originally were going to use the smaller room for the nursery, but Hubs talked me into using the bigger room. It makes more sense and will require less moving and rearranging (over the next few years). We spent this morning cleaning out the closets and deciding where the existing furniture will ultimately end up. Now Hubs just needs to bribe ask our male friends for a few hours of their time one day so we can get it all moved about the house. With the three males he has in mind, it'll take just an hour or so to get it all moved.

The furniture arrives in May, so the room needs to be ready by the end of April. We already have some of those weekends committed to social events, so time seems to be limited. I'm not sure Hubs realizes that is just around the corner ;)

I'd like some of your thoughts on the set up of the nursery, but I'll address that in the next post.

In the meantime, I have a favor to ask. I know several people in the trying to conceive process who could use some prayers. Having been in their position for some time, my heart goes out to them. The testing, the doctor visits, waiting on results, wondering why your body isn't acting like it should...it is a very draining process. We know it well. Those friends and their situations are never far from my mind. Please say a quick prayer that their faith be strong and their prayers be heard. It would mean a lot to me if you'd do that.

Until next time, XOXO....