More Pictures!

Last weekend, I was a volunteer model with a few other girls to help a friend with a photo shoot series she is doing with Goodwill clothes. Kim also came, to be a model as well as help with the photography. It was a great time, but we also asked her to take a couple of pictures of just the two of us so we had some good pregnancy pictures. Thanks Ellen!!

So here are a couple of my favorites. Yes, you can really see the belly. It looks nothing like our Christmas card! (haha)

Moving South

So, I think the baby started moving down. Wednesday of this week was the first day that I started sitting funny. Not all the time, but some of the time. My belly was suddenly in the way and I had to spread my legs a little to make it all fit. Weird. And then something else happened that I wasn't expecting - I swelled up after lunch. My feet, legs, and a little in my hands. I haven't had a problem with that at all. It wasn't bad, just felt uncomfortable with all the changes.

Thursday continued... My hands and feet/legs were just a little swollen when I got up, but as the day progressed, they got worse. And my "sitting capabilities" have again decreased. Actually, so have my walking capabilities. It took me quite a while to walk from my desk to the car after work on Thursday because there was so much pressure so low in my belly. It's weird how things change so quickly.

While I haven't changed my diet much lately, this week has been a little different. I'm thinking I need to eat more fruits and vegetables and see if that keeps the swelling down. Wednesday was by-far worse than Thursday, and the only thing I think I can attribute that to is my break-down at lunch (Fuddruckers) where I ate some fries and onion-rings. Maybe that was a bit much for me/Peanut.

We have our next Peanut appointment on Wednesday. I'm interested to see what Dr. Plimpton has to say about the baby's position. I really think we are heading south. I showed Kim my belly last night - it's shaped a little differently too - the main protrusion is much lower on me. Oh, and I feel like my belly gained about 5 pounds just last night. (It's probably all the extra water I'm carrying....)

Our First Pediatrician Consultation

Today we met with the only pediatrician in Fountain Hills. Kim has been to her before as she's also Internal Medicine (so full family doctor). We had several questions to ask, largely based on a questionnaire I found in a magazine. One of the questions my boss told me to add was to ask if she was a mom. I could see why, but didn't view that as highly important. Still I added it to the list.

We had a very nice conversation with her, and while she is the only person in the practice, her dedication was amazing. I felt so comfortable with her and her knowledge, judgement, and attitude towards our input and child-rearing views. The interesting thing we both found from the conversation was that during it, we found out she had a 6 yr-old son and was expecting her second child in October. From everything we discussed, we both felt the biggest impact of knowing she was a mom. I found that so fascinating - that looking at all the questions on this paper before meeting her, the "mom" question was one of the least important factors, and yet in the midst of the entire conversation, it was the one thing she said that made us feel the most comfortable. Weird, but cool.

And for my mom, I did ask her about how she performed circumcisions. While I know nothing about the various methods currently practiced, I did gather the information in case Peanut is a boy and I could put my mother's concerns to rest. She uses something called a Gomco Clamp. What I thought was most interesting was the way she presented the procedure to us. Instead of the answer just being "I use the Gomco Clamp", the answer was something like this:

"First, I lay the child down and apply a local anasthesia. Of course, we don't have to do this if you don't agree with that. Then, I like to give the child a sugar-coated pacifier. We also don't have to do that if you don't like the idea of pacifiers. Then I put the Gomco Clamp over the head and once it is on securely, I slice the skin. I prefer the Gomco Clamp because ..." (Sorry if this is too graphic.)

I just got a kick out of the fact that the first thoughts to come to her head for answering the question of "how do you do a circumcision" were the reassurance that the baby was as comfortable as possible during the whole procedure. This was prior to finding out she was a mother, but in some ways, you could tell just by this answer.

Kim likes her a lot because she walks around with a laptop, so she passes the "geek" standard too! hahaha Actually, we were impressed as she is trying to add an email service to her practice so she can answer patients' questions via email, but she needs a secure server to do that in order to comply with privacy laws.

She is also looking for a physicians assistant right now because she knows she will need help before October when she has her baby. I liked her attitude on Physicians Assistant vs. Nurse Practitioner. Kim had asked what the difference was. We found it was the 4-yr degree before the 2 years of extra classes. A nurse practitioner becomes a nurse first. A physicians assistant is more of a biology/science degree first. She weighed the trade-offs in her opinion to us and then basically said "the degree isn't what I look for, it's the personality and whether the attitude matches my own". Being an engineer and working with others that have similar, or even more degrees than I, I totally agree. The degree doesn't make a good engineer, but attitude and dedication play a very important part.

For a mother, a doctor, a single practitioner, and pregnant to boot, she puts my energy level and dedication to shame. To add to all of that, she has a wonderful, kind personality. We are happy to say, we found ourselves a pediatrician!

Week 34 Update

This morning was Peanut's week 34 checkup. We found the baby is 4 lbs 10 oz. The doctor still thinks we will have a 6+ lb baby when Peanut finally shows up. I however, lost 1 lb from last visit. Not sure how that worked, I feel like I've been eating a ton. Maybe it's the swimming. :)

Today's ultrasound showed a little peach fuzz on the head. Yay! We might not have a bald baby!! :)

The doctor showed us our baby in 3-D imaging. We have some pretty chubby cheeks on the face. Very cute!! Of course none of us can tell who this child looks like, so we'll just have to keep waiting.

The Exhausting, Fun Weekend

This past weekend was wonderful. On Friday, the girls from work threw me a baby shower. We had much fun, played some very hard games, and I was graciously honored with gifts that will help so much with our new little family member.

Friday night was also a 4oth birthday party, complete with 70's theme. Unfortunately we didn't get dressed up, but were astounded by the great costumes. For the short time we were able to attend, we had a blast. Interestingly enough, we did not leave because I was tired - it was because we had an airport run to pick up my sister-in-law and 9-year old niece. They were in for the weekend for Baby Shower #2.

Saturday was "Claire Day". (Claire is my niece.) So we went hiking and to the zoo, and then Sunday morning went "swimming" in the hot tub. :)

On Sunday, the "Lake Powell" girls threw me a baby shower. We had 25-30 women there, and let me tell you, generously showered me with gifts. We now have lots of stuff - all of which I will have to organize and figure out how to use. ;)

This weekend made me feel so blessed to have my friends and family. That's really what life is about, and I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by such loving, caring people.

The weekend did take it's toll though - between allergies and some sleep deprivation, I was dragging through Monday work. But nothing that swimming didn't take care of. Peanut and I did 500 yards (10 sets of 50) and then a set of 50 kicks. (Kim did much more - go Kim!) Now I have energy!!! :)

Doctor's appointment on Wednesday, so next post soon after. We'll try to work on more pics too. I'm sure I'll be able to find some from the baby shower(s) when the girls get them posted.

Week 32 Checkup and First Swim

This morning was our 32-week checkup. I gained a whole pound since the last appointment 3 weeks ago. The doctor made a joke that it was clearly all in my belly. Peanut is 4 lbs already! The baby is still head-down and now starting to move farther into the pelvic bone area. It's hard to make out much in the ultrasounds anymore because the baby is so big. Based on the head size, the doctor thinks Peanut will be around 6-7 lbs, which is perfect for me!

After work today, Kim and I decided it was time to hit the pool. Thanks to my friend Myleen who loaned me a suit that fits, it was time to see if Peanut enjoyed swimming laps. We got in the water and started swimming and I felt like a normal person again - couldn't tell I had a big belly on me cause I floated about the same. My goal was to do 4 50's and then a 50 of kicking with a kickboard. Well, I felt so good I kept going at the end of my first 50... 100 here we go!! But when I got to the 75, I felt a small cramp in my abdominal area. I decided not to push it, so I stopped at the wall. I guess that was a good thing because it got worse. A LOT worse. I was basically buckled over hanging off the wall waiting for it to pass. It took quite a while - like 2 minutes (which when you are just floating by a wall seems like a very long time.) I was finally able to swim my last 25 back to the starting wall. I rested a little and then decided I needed to stick a little closer to my original game plan. So I swam 3 more 50's, then kicked for 2 50's, then swam another 2 or 3 50's. I was so happy to get that exercise!! And Peanut did just fine. The fun part was then getting out of the pool with this big belly. I quickly realized I wasn't able to pull myself up the side (cause I tried and wound up back in the water). So I had to cut over 2 lanes and use the ladder. How funny is that!!! But I'm excited to have another form of exercise that seems to work well with Peanut, so we'll be doing that once a week.

Save My Back!

Well, I thought Peanut and I had an appointment today, but apparently when we scheduled our "every other week appointments", the girl didn't count right, so Peanut will be checked out next week. I decided to take the opportunity to go see another "doctor". I call him my own personal miracle worker. His name is Noel and Kim found him a few years ago. He's about the only person that seems to be able get my hips inline to relieve pain.

So today I went to see Noel. He said my hips were badly out of whack (which I assumed since I had such bad pains lately in my tail bone area.) My arsenal of tricks to realign my hips myself have been failing, and getting out of the floor positions apparently makes me look like an 80 year old woman that fell and is trying to get back up. (Graphical description courtesy of my husband!)

Noel worked on me for about an hour. He did what he could, but you know, there's a baby in the way so he can't exactly get to all the muscles he wants. He said he's hoping the hips will stay put, but at this point in the pregnancy there is no guarantee. Tonight I am finally home from work and icing my back. I'm hoping everything stays somewhat straight, but I have the feeling I'll be visiting Noel in another couple of weeks. We'll see. All I know is that I now look more like a 50 year old woman getting up after falling! :)

30 Week Show and Tell

Finally, we have some more pictures. Words can get so boring... :) So, here is the 30 week baby belly, and oh yea, the new hair. (Although I have to confess, this was actually one of those bad hair days.) Enjoy!


p.s. 2 days after these pics were taken I removed the belly ring.

Peanut is Still On Track

Today started our last trimester appointments, so we'll be seeing Dr. Plimpton every other week. Peanut is doing great. The baby has turned head down. I thought that was great - no breech, but Dr. Plimpton said the baby has room to turn back if it wants, so we'll just keep waiting to see.

Peanut is 2lbs 14 oz and is on track to be a 7.5 lb baby if we actually do deliver around May 20. So now I'm hoping for maybe May 7 or so. That should give us a 6 lb Peanut, right!?!?!? :)

I've gained 15 lbs so far with the pregnancy. This visit we asked more questions, like about circumcision if we have a boy. We talked about the Braxton-Hicks contractions I was having and if they were a sign of problems. (BTW, I have a great doctor. He said that throwing someone on bedrest isn't the best thing all the time, so he wouldn't have done it anyway unless the contractions didn't stop on their own.) We also talked about C-section for just in case - I wanted to make sure I had a good stitcher for a doctor! :) My glucose tolerance test came back normal, so no problems with gestational diabetes. We're looking good. Doc said I didn't even need him. I told him I needed him to catch. :)

The Buzz

I've done what is expected of every new mom... I chopped my hair. Call it a whim, call it "something to do", call it "wanting to have a very easy do for when I don't have time to really put in the effort", or call it "this is what happens when you come back from vacation".

I seem to change my hairstyle about every 6-8 months anyway, so this really doesn't seem like a huge thing. But it is a bit shorter than I'm used to wearing.

Here's my thinking... Kim and I just got back from a short vacation in Hawaii. We were there for a wedding. Well, the humidity in Hawaii makes it so I can't do much with my hair. It just curls the way it wants to go at the bottom, and the top just sags. Ugh! But, I managed to spend about 5 minutes or so a day on it and make it look relatively cute. When we got back home, I was spending a good 15 minutes or so a day on my hair only to find it just looked "okay". Granted, it was time for a haircut, so that didn't help. I decided that if I could spend 5 minutes a day and most of the time it looked cute, that would be a good thing. I mean think about it - you spend 15 minutes and you don't like your hair, what a waste. But you spend 5 and you don't like your hair, you just say "oh well - what do you expect when you only spend 5 minutes on your hair!".

All I know is now my husband now looks at my hair and calls me "fiesty". :)