Another Week Has Gone By!

Yay! I'm getting so excited about having this baby, especially after my childbirth class. But I'll get to that in a minute. Newsletter first:

This is day number 206 and you're 30 weeks pregnant!
You have 74 days or 10 weeks left, and are 75.0% of the way there.
Baby's age since conception is 192 days or 28 weeks. You are due on 6/9/2006.
You may already be experiencing some hardening and contracting of your abdomen. What you're feeling are called Braxton-Hicks contractions. These early contractions usually last about 30 seconds. Some you may not feel at all, while others may become uncomfortable for you.
Your baby now weighs around 3 pounds and is about 17 inches from head to toe. An ultrasound image may show your baby yawning or even sucking its thumb, and you may also notice that your baby does not move at all during your Braxton Hicks contractions. This is because your muscles tighten and constrict his or her movement. By now your baby is probably more used to Braxton Hicks than you are.

75% of the way there! But 10 weeks is still so far away, when you think about it. Matthew is getting stronger and stronger. He can kick (hit, knee, elbow, etc.) me anywhere from way down low so that it feels like he's literally kicking me right in the...ummm...birth canal, all the way up to my lower ribcage. What's really weird is when he moves his whole body and I feel it in two or more very different places at once. I am also getting Braxton-Hicks fairly frequently - usually 5 or more a day - and my hips are starting to bother me quite a bit at night again. I didn't sleep very well at all last night between the baby kicking, hip pain, trips to the bathroom and cat walking all over me. I tried to see it as practice for when the baby comes and I have to wake up several times a night for feedings, but I still got pretty irritated by morning.

The childbirth class on Saturday went very well. I'm so happy that hubby and I decided to participate in one, as many people don't really think they're necessary. I suppose they're not, but it sure helps to know what to expect! The hospital I'll be delivering in is fairly progressive, I think. They do not do routine IVs (although they do put in a heparin lock - look it up if you really want to know) unless you have an epidural or some complication. They have a rocking chair, birthing ball, squat bar and hydrotherapy tub in every birthing suite, so there are a number of positions to choose from to try to cope with contractions. I'm going to try to go for as long as I can without any medication (all the way, if possible, but I'm trying to not be naive about the extent of the pain!), so it's important to me that I have a lot of options. They also do not take the baby to the nursery unless you request it. Which is good also, because from my understanding it is important to get breastfeeding established early if you're going to breastfeed, which I definitely am. The hospital encourages skin-to-skin contact between Mom and baby for the first full hour after birth, so that will be a good time to get the first "feeding" in. Even if baby doesn't quite get it, at least the routine gets started. And my husband and I practiced all of our breathing and relaxation techniques. I discovered that shoulder massages do relatively little to distract me from pain (did you know that attaching a plastic clothes pin to the top of your pinky finger hurts pretty bad?), but light neck and scalp massages work wonders. He will be very busy during labor :o)

Anyway, I said last week that I would have a lot to write about, and I guess I did. But I better get going - almost time to go home! I love how time kinda flies these days. I won't like it, though, during my maternity leave. And I'm sure that once I'm back to work time will slow way down while I'm waiting for the day to be over so I can pick my baby up from daycare. So I'll enjoy this time while it lasts!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Well it's not rainy, but it's Monday again. Which sort of got me down, but only for a while. My pregnancy newsletter came again (funny how predictable they are)! So here's the latest on my fetus growing:

This is day number 199 and you're 29 weeks pregnant!
You have 81 days or 11 weeks left, and are 72.5% of the way there.
Baby's age since conception is 185 days or 27 weeks. You are due on 6/9/2006.
This is a good time to learn to "power nap" during the day. Practicing how to nap now is a good idea because you will need a nap almost every time you put the baby down in the beginning. Learning to make the most of naps can minimize fatigue and keep you well-rested and feeling great.
Your baby is now about 16.7 inches from head to toe, and weighs about 2.7 pounds. He or she continues to be active and grow; however, you may be feeling fewer kicks and punches. This is because even though your baby is getting larger and stronger, he or she also has less space in which to gain momentum for these movements.

Ha ha hee hee whoo hoo *Wipes tears from eyes* Almost lost it there. Power nap? Who are these people kidding? Somebody (me, me!) works full-time, thank you very much. Bosses frown upon walking by offices and seeing employees snoozing in front of computers. And even if I didn't work, power naps are short right? I actually layed down on Saturday for a little nap. I woke up about 40 minutes later, wiped the drool off my mouth (which I honestly rarely have to do, just pointing out how out cold I was) and proceeded to go back to sleep. I slept for about 1-1.5 hours and would have continued on if hubby hadn't called. Which was good, because by then it was getting time to start dinner. So, yeah. "Power naps" are sort of a foreign concept to me.

I have noticed as my pregnancy progresses that I've been getting a little more tired lately. Which I guess is normal as delivery grows closer. I pee all the time (Matthew likes my bladder - it's his personal teddy bear/trampoline) and have started with the Braxton-Hicks contractions. I actually started having one every couple days or so a few weeks ago, but last Friday I had to have had at least 10. The last 2 Fridays I have felt sort-of crappy, which I guess shows that the weeks are harder on me now than they used to be. My Braxton-Hicks contractions seem to be "normal" in that they are painless and only last 20-30 seconds or so. But they are annoying. If I have one when I haven't been to the bathroom in a while (which would be an hour for me), I get the urge to pee *right now*!. That's usually how I know I'm having a contraction. Although sometimes I just know because of the tightening sensation. Like I said, not painful, but I would say definitely uncomfortable and vaguely unpleasant. But I guess I shouldn't complain. Once I go into labor I'll be wishing for uncomfortable and vaguely unpleasant!

Anyway, enough for now. If I don't post again this week which, let's face it, is pretty likely, I'll have some good stuff to talk about next week. My husband and I are attending an all-day childbirth class at the hospital on Saturday, where we will get a tour of the labor and delivery department and I will be scared sh*tless, no doubt, by a childbirth video. But that's ok. Be prepared, I always say. Well, I don't, but it's still a good motto.

Monday Again

Another day another dollar. And more information from my weekly pregnancy newsletter (yay!):

This is day number 192 and you're 28 weeks pregnant!
You have 88 days or 12 weeks left, and are 70.0% of the way there.
Baby's age since conception is 178 days or 26 weeks. You are due on 6/9/2006.
Starting next week, you will probably visit your OB more frequently as he or she will be keeping a closer eye on your progress. You still have another 10-12 weeks, but your baby is probably strong enough at this point to survive a premature delivery. "Preemies," as premature babies are lovingly called, are relatively rare thanks to modern obstetrical care.
Your baby weighs approximately 2.4 pounds and is about 10 inches from crown to rump, or a little under 16 inches from head to toe. He or she has been gaining weight steadily during the past 27 weeks as its stem cells develop into organs, blood and immune systems, and bones. However, from this point forward, your baby's weight gain will be due to increasing amounts of body fat. A quick way to predict your baby's birth weight is to average the father's and your birth weights.

Well, that would mean that Matthew is going to weigh approximately 6 pounds, 15 ounces. Perfect! Of course now that I've said that, he will weigh 9 pounds. If that's the case, I may be traumatized and never get pregnant again! :o)

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was pretty good. My boss had a dinner at his house that I went to on Saturday. I get along with him really well so it was a good time. My husband didn't go because he had tickets to some ultimate fighting event. I'll watch it occasionally on TV, but I'd rather not go to an actual fight. I can only imagine the winners in that crowd of spectators! Not the type of environment I feel I need to be in right now. He had a good time, though, so good for him. Now, of course, it's Monday and the weekend is gone again. But at least Monday is almost over! And the weeks are going by so fast that it will be Saturday again before we know it. Hopefully!

Don't Faint...

...but here's another post. That's 2 in one week! I couldn't not give an update about my doctor's appointment. I mean, come on. I'm obsessed, remember?

Well, everything was "fine." Seems to be the operative word at my appointments these days. My pee test - fine. My weight - fine (even though I gained 8 pounds in 4 weeks for a grand total of 15 so far!). My blood pressure - fine (even though it was 100/80, which is the oddest blood pressure I've ever had). The baby's heartbeat - fine. My measurements - fine. The only interesting thing is that I am now measuring a bit small for my dates. As you may recall, I was measuring large for my dates a few months ago, which caused me to be scheduled for an ultrasound. However, I was assured that being a little small was not a bad thing, because I don't really need an 8 pound baby. Which is true. I am rather small framed and can't help but be a bit concerned about delivering the son of a man who is 6'4'', 300+ pounds and very large framed. I have already had one nightmare about delivering an 11 pound child. Let's just hope that me being a little small means a nice 6 or 7 pound baby. That I think I could handle. Of course, Matthew Lawrence (which is the baby's name, by the way, for those of you who don't know) has 3 more months to grow as big as he wants before his due date. Think small, Matthew, think small (at least until you're born)!

Well, I feel a bit boring lately, as I rarely post and never post about anything other than my baby. So I was going to write about other things in my life - but then I realized that I have become so absolutely absorbed in my pregnancy that there isn't much else going on in my life! I'm working as usual, but there's really nothing to report there. My husband and I are doing fine, but there's really nothing to report there, either. We did get over to Chicago (about 90 miles to our west) last weekend for a nice little vacation. We went to the Field Museum and stayed in a pricey hotel. Kind of a last little break before the baby comes. And before I get too humoungous to want to travel anymore. Ack! See, more baby talk. It's all about the baby. I'll give up here and just end the post now. It's better for everyone :o)

Entering the Home Stretch

Well, I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, but I decided to post today anyway. I am now in my 27th week of pregnancy! That means as of Friday, I will be entering my 3rd trimester. Yikes, only 13 weeks to go! It's weird how everything went so slowly in the first trimester when I was so sick and worrying about miscarriage, and now that things are really looking like I am going to have a "normal" healthy pregnancy and baby the weeks just fly by! I'll be in the worst pain of my life before we know it. But that's ok, because when it's over my little baby boy will be here and I can hardly wait to see him!

I get a pregnancy newsletter every week, so I thought I might share the interesting parts with those of you who may care :o)

This is day number 186 and you're 27 weeks pregnant!
You have 94 days or 13 weeks left, and are 67.5% of the way there.
Baby's age since conception is 172 days or 25 weeks. You are due on 6/9/2006.
As you mark the days of your third trimester off the calendar, your body will continue to change and grow. You will gain weight more rapidly than in your first or second trimester, and your breasts will increase in size and weight - up to four times larger and heavier. By the time you deliver, your total weight gain will probably be between 25 and 35 pounds if you are carrying a single baby, 40 and 50 pounds with twins, 50 and 60 pounds with triplets, and between 65 and 80 pounds with quadruplets. Your baby needs you to gain this weight so it has plenty of nutrition to develop and grow. If you skip a meal, so does your little one. Keep in mind that your weight gain is not just the baby; about 75 percent of your new weight is due to increased bodily fluids (such as blood), the placenta, and the increased size and weight of your breasts.
Your baby weighs approximately 2 pounds and measures about 9.6 inches from crown to rump. His or her facial features are almost fully developed and synchronizing enough that he or she may make faces that are visible on an ultrasound. Your babys skin is becoming thicker and fleshier and increasingly wrinkled, thanks to the amniotic fluid. The skin will remain wrinkled for the first month or so after birth just think about how your hands or feet look after you have been in the water for just 30 minutes! During this week, the brain continues its rapid growth, and the lungs continue to develop.

Yes! I've always wanted huge boobs! I have already increased to a C-cup, which I am so thrilled about. Well, at least I would be if they weren't also covered in purple stretch marks You can't win them all. Anyway, that's enough baby talk for one day. I am getting very excited, though, can you tell? I think the baby is getting excited, too, because he just got the hiccups. So cute!