LOL!

Week 24! That's "technically" month 6, though I say technically because we all know that every month (except for the one that we're currently in) is longer than 4 weeks.  Various books, websites, etc. all proclaim that month 6 starts at various different weeks, but I've more or less been going with the 4 weeks per month thing.  Of course that means I can expect my pregnancy to be about 10 months long as the "average" pregnancy is 40 weeks, but you know....

Floodling has still been very active this week, though still not as much as he was on Wednesday!  I'm still curious what he was up to!  Maybe I'll find out at my next ultrasound that he managed to change positions (since he was upside down at the last one).  My best friend Stacey did finally get to feel him though!  She made me laugh so hard... she's been trying desperately for quite a while to feel him moving, even before I could really feel him well.  And a few times she's had her hand on my belly and I've felt him and asked "did you feel that!?" and she hasn't.  She started to say she thought her hand was broken.  Well, Floodling started wiggling after dinner the other night (we go out to dinner every Thursday for trivia!) so I put her hand on my belly and just kind of pressed it there.  And FINALLY he gave a good kick where her hand was!  She shouted and had many people in the restaurant looking at her!  That made me laugh so she could no longer feel him but she did have the joy of experiencing the weirdness of my belly button! (My belly button gets hard and pokes out when I cough or laugh... it's very odd).

On that note, I've been thinking I want to laugh more these days.  Have you seen videos of laughing babies?  Not just giggly babies, but babies that have a good ol' hearty laugh?  I think it is sooooo adorable, and I want a happy laughing baby like that.  I've started wondering if those babies come from moms who laugh a lot.  They say you should talk to your baby, and even sing and read books, so laughing would have to be a good sound for them to hear, right?  I also wonder if if babies would like the sensations of the rocking and shaking too.  And not only that, but doesn't laughing release endorphins? Do you think baby gets a little kick of that too?  I've been wondering this for a while... along with wondering if he gets a kick of adrenaline if I get scared, or feels any of my other emotions.  So many emotions seems to be tied into chemicals that are released in our bodies.  What are your thoughts? Does Floodling feel my emotions?



and...


How can you not laugh and smile when you watch those??

I've started thinking since I don't have weekly fruit pics anymore for size and growth that I'd like to put up a pic of what baby looks like in the womb at this point.  I'm having a hard time finding something to my satisfaction, but this will work.  On a side note I discovered it was me that was mistaken last week, not the website.  I commented that the website claimed baby was the size of a mango but they had a picture of a corn cob for that week.  Turns out I grabbed the wrong pic, the corn cob should have been for this week!  Oops!

 

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Keep an eye out this week for my monthly belly photo!  I also may be posting some thoughts on some books I'm reading these days...

Wiggle Worm

I don't know what has gotten into Floodling today but he has been a little wiggle worm, from first thing this morning!  Right when I woke up this morning he jabbed me right on the side I was laying on.  It was so strong I jumped right up because it startled me!  I rolled over to my other side and he started jabbing me on that side!  I definitely haven't felt him that strongly before.  Felt something like this....

Kidding... I'm sure it will feel more like that later on, but he's seriously been kicking big time today!  Even when walking around today I could feel him, normally I mostly feel him when I'm sitting. On my drive home he was poking me higher than I've ever felt him.  He's getting close to my ribs!  And the last hour or so I've been watching my belly jump around....  I'm curious what's gotten into him all of a sudden?  Did I eat something yesterday? Is he just getting that much stronger?  I've been enjoying feeling him so much, just hoping everything's okay in there! And hoping this doesn't say a lot about what's in store in the coming months... ;P

Added later: Seriously!  What is he up to??  I just saw my stomach poke out probably half an inch! I had my arm resting on my side and he apparently didn't want it there!  I moved my arm but he continued to squiggle and I can't believe how much he was moving! Even Jason got to watch him up to his antics... is he redecorating in there??

Feeling good!

Posting a little late today, sorry!  I decided to get up and get going this morning rather than laying in bed as I usually do, but it's during my lazy laying in bed time that I usually post my Saturday weekly updates.

It's been a long week since our Tahoe trip brought us back home at nearly midnight on Monday night, putting me to bed around 1 before getting up at 5am (yes, I get up at 5... I have to be at school by 7:15, it's a 40 minute drive to get there, and I have to do meds, etc. before leaving).  Starting off a week that way generally leads to a very long week.  And it certainly did!

So, I am thankful to have a restful weekend this weekend.  I say I got "up and going" this morning, but I neglected to mention that I didn't wake up until 9 and would have slept even longer if it hadn't been for the lovely Charlie Horse I got in my calf.... ugh... hoping that's not going to become a frequent thing as I've had a couple in the last week or so and I keep reading that at this point they become fairly common in pregnancy.  I think it was from not drinking enough water (for me it tends to be from dehydration).  I slept so solidly last night that I didn't wake up once.  I usually wake up thirsty as a camel several times throughout the night, but I didn't wake up at all so I didn't drink a drop!  Thankfully that means I didn't wake up to go to the bathroom, but it apparently also left me somewhat dehydrated.

Even with being as tired as I've been this week, I'm thankful to say I have been feeling a lot better overall.  The achiness in my sides and belly has seemed to go away.  My back has been hurting, but not as frequently as it had been.  I'm really thankful for this as I had been starting to wonder why people say the second trimester is the most comfortable.  I kept thinking "if this is the best it gets, how bad is it going to be later!?".  Hoping the last month of the second trimester will continue this way... :)

I had fun shopping today with my gal pals in Athens.  My friend Lisa is getting married in September.  She's very busy finishing up in vet school so she's trying to pace herself in wedding planning and is trying to get things done as she can.  She ordered her dress a few months ago and it arrived this week, so she went for a fitting and for Sarah and I to try bridesmaids dresses.  Obviously I couldn't really try anything on right now, which makes me sad!  I love trying on dresses!  I will also have to order the dress by May, which means it will be a guessing game as far as sizing.  I'm hoping I will have dropped my weight by September (that gives me about 3 months), but I guess we'll see! They recommended buying a size larger than I normally wear (pre-pregnancy) that way it can be altered smaller if necessary but I won't screw myself over by having a dress that doesn't fit at all if I don't loose the weight.

For whatever reason, the site that I get my weekly development blurbs from (babycenter.com) says that at 23 weeks our baby is the size of a large mango, but the picture for 23 weeks from the same site is a corn cob... strange.  I was using two different sites before for my pic and development update as I liked the pics from another site better (thebump.com) because I liked how it showed the week number, and approximate weight and length, but that site only had a brief development blurb.  Anyways.... since I can no longer use the weekly photos from thebump.com as there are no weekly photos anymore, this is what I've got! :)

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With his sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that he's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see him squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze him when he hears them outside the womb.

I've been saying it for a while now, I'm glad that the baby gets used to sounds now.  I was scared for a while that my frequent coughing would constantly wake him up or scare him.  I'm glad to know that he should be used to it by the time he gets here!  Maybe he'll also be used to our loud cats! They are worse than our dog!

So I haven't been imagining things...

Yay!  Finally, after 4 weeks of feeling the kicks myself, I finally got someone else to feel Floodling!  I was laying down this afternoon after returning from some Tahoe sight-seeing and, as usual when I'm still, he started kicking.  Jason was going to head out to the casino to waste $40 and came over to give me a kiss good bye.  I decided to grab his hand and put it on my belly (I don't even try half the time because whenever I do he stops kicking).  Well, within seconds Floodling kicked and I knew Jason felt it because I saw his eyes open a little wider.  Then he kicked again, a big kick, and Jason broke into a big smile and went "oh yeah! I feel him! That's weird!".  I was really happy to see his reaction... while he's very excited about the whole pregnancy, he doesn't get excited about the typical stuff.  He was very "meh...." about finding out the gender (he said it didn't matter either way, which it didn't, but it was still exciting to me).  And he just doesn't get as happy as I do seeing the ultrasound scans.  He did point out though that he was the first to run out and buy an outfit, and that we just show our excitement in different ways.  So... in any case, I didn't think he'd be all that excited about feeling kicks, and he really hasn't been eager to try, so I was really pleased to see him look so surprised and happy! :)

AND, since Jason had gotten to feel him, I decided to call Laura over to try.  He had kicked a few really big kicks after Jason left, but of course as soon as Laura put her hand on my belly I felt nothing.  She sat there for a minute and nothing... so I took her hand and poked around a bit.  Still nothing... then finally a little one, then a bigger one!  Laura's face was awesome too!  She thought it felt really cute, like a little "nudge".

So I haven't been making it up or imagining things!  There is definitely something growing and moving around in there! I have definitely been feeling him more and more these days.  For a little while I would feel him a lot one day, then not at all the next (which would worry me).  Now I feel him every day, and though some days are still stronger than others, overall it is getting more frequent and stonger.

P.S. Stacey- I know you'll be jealous but hopefully this means you'll get to feel him soon too! ;)

Travelin' baby!

We're here in Tahoe!  Woohoo!  Floodling is going to be well traveled before he even arrives!  He's already been to Milwaukee WI, Chicago IL, San Francisco CA and now Tahoe NV!  Actually, he's even traveled to the beach in Jekyll Island GA.  Maybe he'll catch my travel bug!

Yesterday was a miserably long day!  The flight out to SF was 5 hours long.  We picked up Laura (yay!), got to see her place in the city, did a wee bit of sight seeing (Lombard St., Golden Gate Bridge), had some In N Out for lunch, then hopped in the car for another 4 hour journey.  It should have been much shorter than that but we hit pocket after pocket of traffic.  I was in soooo much pain by the time we got to our resort.  My back just can't handle being in cramped positions like that and not being able to stretch my legs out.  I find it funny that I am much more comfortable as long as I am up and walking around as opposed to sitting, it seems sort of backwards to me....  for that reason though it's a good thing I'm a teacher and don't have an office job!

I think Floodling wishes as much as I do that I could be on the slopes today!  He's been wiggling all over the place... "Mom! Let's get moving! Let's DO something!"  I've been hoping Laura would have a chance to feel him, but it's so hard.  He seems to stop moving whenever there's a hand (even my own) on my belly.  Not to mention it's hard for others to distinguish the movements from my pulse and breathing... it's kind of like "I think I felt something!" and I'm like "no... I don't think so....".  Jason has yet to feel him move too!  He's a shy guy I guess.

I do LOVE skiing and am really wishing I could be out there too!  Jason is snowboarding at Heavenly, which is one of the biggest ski resorts here in Tahoe.  He said the slopes were actually quite clear today.  We thought it would be busy with holiday travelers.  He said some of the runs take 10 to 15 minutes to get down!  Besides Mt. Baker in Washington, most of the resorts we do are in NC or VA and while they're nice, they're definitely not the Rockies!  As much as I'm wishing I could be out there too, I know why I'm not and that makes it a little easier.  Next winter though... I think someone will be getting Floodling for a few days while we take a ski trip that I can actually ski!! Any volunteers? ;)

Floodling is now the size of a papaya.  The website I've been using only gives weekly sizes up to 21 weeks.  From 22 onwards it's monthly.  I may be searching for my own pics from here on out... I guess we'll see.  Right now the papaya is for the rest of month 5- weeks 22 to 24.

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

Hi Guys!

 

Hi guys!!!

(Head is on the right this time, btw... when the tech said "oh, nice side profile!" I was like "huh....?" until she pointed it out... I was expecting his head to be on the left side I guess since that's where it was last time.  And does anyone know what the thing in the middle is? Is that his arm? If so, where are his fingers?)

Surprised? I almost was!  I almost completely forgot that I had an appointment today, which is totally unlike me because I'm usually counting down the days until each appointment where we get to see our Floodling.  My mind has been like a sieve lately though, as I hear is pretty typical.  Thankfully one morning this week it occured to me that it had been almost a month since we'd found out we were having a boy... which meant it was about time for another appointment with the high risk docs.

I have to see the high risk doctor monthly for scans to check Floodling's growth.  Because of my CF and the possibility that I'm not getting enough oxygen they want to make sure that he's growing properly.

Thankfully things look great right now!  He weighs about one pound, which is completely average for 22 weeks.  In fact I got my "Your Belly at 22 Weeks" e-mail today which told me he should weigh 1 pound exactly! I asked this time how they get the weight- she said it's based on an estimate from measurements of the head, belly, and thigh.

Everything else checked out too... cerival length, location of the placenta, amount of amniotic fluid were all great.  If you haven't figured it out by now I am by nature a worry wart, and having been through one miscarriage already really doesn't help that aspect of my personality.  It was great to hear that all those things were normal because at various points in time I have convinced myself that they are not.... yeah... I'm great at doing that :P 

I did find out that Floodling is kind of upside down down right now.  She said it was nothing to be concerned about, but asked me if I have had to go to the bathroom a lot lately.... and I totally have!  The urge to pee was pretty bad up until the beginning of the second trimester when it seemed to ease a little (I've read that's normal... as baby kind of "ascends" into the abdomen he doesn't press on the bladder as much any more, until the space is just too limited again).  Well, lately it seems that I have to go all the time!  The other day I noted that I went three times within one hour!  The urge seems to be worse if I'm up and walking around as opposed to sitting- I can hardly make it through a half hour walk at the gym without needing to run to the restroom!  The tech said that he'll hopefully (for my sake) wiggle himself out of that position eventually.

And just in case you were wondering, we're still 100% sure he's a boy.  Unsurprisingly I started to worry about what would happen if they were wrong last time.  I hear stories of that happening, and people on a forum I read post pics asking if the "stuff" is actually a penis, or just the umbilical cord.  Well, the first thing the tech this time said was "oh yes, he's definitely a boy! You can see the scrotum and penis right there!".  So I'm pretty convinced now that we're 100% okay going ahead and painting in blues and what not.

On a side note, I'm wondering how long my belly button is going to last... and by that I mean how long it will remain "innie" before it "pops out".  It feels so tight lately and there's really hardly a belly button there... it's so shallow!  Curious if my mom "popped" too.... I hear not everyone does.

Another foot pic... I can't resist!  Baby feet are too cute!  I think this is what has been bumping my belly button lately!

Am I going to be a bad Mommy??

I am feeling pretty horrible and guilty right now.... and it's a long story, so bear with me...

In October we put one of our two cats, Jibs, outside in hopes of making him an indoor/outdoor. I already disagree with cats being outdoor cats knowing that it puts them in a lot of danger from cars, diseases and other animals, but we had been struggling for over a year with him spraying (ie. peeing) around the house. The final straw came when he began doing it on our counters. We had tried SO many things to combat the problem that we were just at our wits' end and could not continue with the unsanitary conditions with me being pregnant and then of course for when baby gets here.

What did we try? We tried getting larger litter boxes, we added litter boxes (I've heard that typical litter trays are too small, and I've also heard some cats like to have separate boxes for each bathroom function). We kept the boxes very clean. We tried Feliway plug-ins, similar to a Glade plug-in but with cat pheromones that are supposed to calm cats and help stop unwanted marking behavior (like scratching and spraying). We did that for 6 months, with additional pheromone spray on areas that he repeatedly marked (curtains, for example). We took him to the vet and there was no medical problem, so it was determined to be behavioral. Our best guess was that it started when we got our dog Lucy. The vet prescribed anti-anxiety medication. We tried that for a month but the problem got worse as we frightened Jibs every day trying to chase him down to give him the pills. We tried putting it in food, we tried varying the time of day (so he wouldn't suspect what was coming and run away), but we just couldn't get him the pill consistently enough for it to function. In fact it was making the problem worse.

So, finally, we put him outside, put a bowl of food out there, and expected to see him shortly. Days went by, weeks went by, and finally months and we didn't see tail nor whisker of our Jibs. Until this past Saturday... we got a call from a "neighbor" (she lives in a neighborhood behind us but we can see her house from our bedroom). She had been taking care of Jibs for about a month, feeding him in a back shed along with numerous other stray cats. She wanted to bring him back to us!

So, we got Jibs back on Saturday, and he was in bad shape. He had gotten his collar stuck around his leg/shoulder area and it had been cutting into him. (It was a break-away collar so I don't know how that happened!! If it had come off though we would have likely never seen Jibs again... so was it unfortunate or a blessing??). His tail had gotten caught in something and was missing fur and bleeding and he was all skin and bones. He threw up any food we gave him, so we worried he had worms, and who knows what else.

We took him to the vet and they kept him over night to run some blood work and clean him up. It turns out his tail had been cut down to the bone, so they had to amputate about a half inch of it! :( He had lost 7 pounds (almost half his body weight). They couldn't get a stool sample so they didn't know if he had worms, but they're treating him for it.   But otherwise he had no other funky diseases, which is good considering he was apparently around a lot of strays.

I feel absolutely horrible! All of this happened to him because we put him out, so it's our fault! We obviously paid a hefty price for it, but that's not enough to assuage the guilt. Am I going to be a horrible mom, and give up on my child if I get frustrated with a behavior? How can I call myself an animal lover after all of this?

And now what do we do if the problem doesn't go away? We can't give him to somebody knowing of his problem! They'd just give him to a shelter, and who knows what would happen then... no one wants a grown cat...and especially not one missing part of his tail :( We're hoping maybe the break helped him release some stress, and that coming back into the house with a cat and dog already here he may be able to cope better... but what will he do when baby arrives???

I'm at a loss for what to do. I feel horrible and guilty. My poor kitty is running around with a cone on his neck and a short tail. He's been so affectionate since he's been back and it just makes me feel worse. He slept curled up half on me the first night he was back. :( At the moment he's trying to rub his cheeks along corners (as he usually does) but is instead just running into everything with the cone. He's been doing this for 15 minutes and hasn't figured it out yet... it's so sad! :( :( :(

 

Me trying to "scritch" Jibs so he can stop trying to rub on things

The "little" things

I'm starting to notice the "little" things that are changing right now as my body is growing... and wondering how things will be as my girth continues to expand! For example, when I wash my face before bed I lean over the sink to splash my face with water. It's already getting hard on my back and I feel exhausted by the time my face is clean! What am I going to do when my stomach is even heavier? I've also found myself getting "in the way".... another example: I like to stand half way in my classroom door so I can watch students in the hall at the same time as students getting seated in my room. Well, I'm beginning to block the doorway now!

I saw a commercial where a man tapes a watermelon to his midsection and goes through every day activities with his large belly to see what life must be like for his pregnant wife. Among other things he knocks over a blender, gets his belly stuck under a trash can lid, and spits his toothpaste out on his belly. Will this be me??

For your viewing pleasure:



As big as my belly is getting, little Flooding is only the size of a banana (or carrot) right now. How does that happen after being a cantaloupe?? Again, think "length" not "area" in this case I believe.

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like he's practicing martial arts as his initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to his activity as you get to know him better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now!

Month Five Reflections

Just to clarify, I had found these monthly pregnancy reflection questions on another website, and thought it would be fun to do each month.   It was kind of more exiting at first because I combined a couple of month's questions into one, so there was more to say.  Now it's only a couple of questions, but still fun to think about.

The first time I felt baby kick: I can't really pinpoint an exact first time because I felt a lot of flutters here and there and I wasn't sure if I was feeling actual kicks or just gas bubbles.  I now know that they were actually little kicks.  The first time I was certain I felt kicks though I was sitting doing my medicine (at 6:00 am) and was surprised by how bouncy my tummy felt!  I was sad that I was the only person awake... not only in the house, but that I couldn't really call people.

It felt like: I would describe it as muscle twitches or spasms, kind of like an eyelid twitch (when you're stressed) but much bigger!  That is the big kicks, of course.  Everything else feels like flutters in my tummy or gas bubbles, as mentioned above.  That's what I feel most often and still get excited when I feel bigger kicks that I can feel from the outside.

The strangest food craving I've had is: either Texas Pete pickles (yes, they're pickled in a brine that has hot sauce added, yummy!) or steak!  Steak isn't a strange food craving exactly, but it is for me after having been vegetarian for almost 7 years!  This is part of what made me think I might be having a boy... all the meat and cheese cravings!

This month's prenatal visit taught me that: I need to ask my questions, even if it makes me feel stupid.  I have a right to know what's going on with my body and my baby's!

My hopes: That we'll eventually find some suitable names that we both like!!  We have one we like, but we're just not certain.  I'd like to "meet" baby before making a final decision, but I'd also like to have a narrowed down list of choices before then.

My fears: That we won't get everything together in time.... feeling overwhelmed by all the decisions that have to be made- crib, car seat, stroller, high chair, baby monitor...... what kind of diapers and wipes???  Oh my....

On that note, I've been trying to kind of settle on a nursery theme.  I really don't like how all the sets you find are so matchy matchy. (Side note: if you press ctrl while clicking it will open the page in a new window rather than navigating away from the blog.)  And I also don't like very typical boy themes: cars, sports, and even jungle/animal themes.

I like the idea of kind of solid or simple colors, like brown and green or brown and blue, then adding some touches here and there of a theme we like.  With the above being said, we're kind of thinking of dinosaurs, or golf.  Both fit into those themes that I don't like, but I guess the uniqueness of them make them okay to me.  They're also both "passions" of Jason's, so that makes me enjoy them as well.  Jason is a very avid golf player, and apparently loves dinosaurs (his all-time favorite movie is Jurassic Park, it took me a while to realize that the dinosaur thing went beyond the movies).

It's hard to find bedding in either of these themes, but this is what I've found so far for dinosaurs.  Again, I'd take a piece or two to add to some solid colors or a simple pattern.

For golf I haven't found anything specific, but I really like the green and blue argyle in this photo... my mom says she could make some bedding, which would definitely be a nice touch.

So, I want your opinions.  What do you like? Golf? Dinosaurs? Or something else, like turtles?? (I think this would be really cute too!)

P.S. Floodling already has a cute dinosaur outfit, and a cute golf outfit!! :)  Actually, several dinosaur outfits (one thanks to Bad Aunt Laura!).  The golf outfit was from my mom!  Grandma Simpson I guess.... :P

Half way there... is my belly going to double???

As usual, I am somewhat surprised by the difference... I keep thinking I look the same as I did at 12 weeks.  I guess it's perception, but I do believe these photos make me look bigger than I do in regular every day clothes (I don't think I looked this big in the photo I just posted on Facebook that was taken this weekend).  I did take a class at the gym today though, and I had a pretty good view of myself in all those mirrors.... and I honestly didn't think it was pretty. I feel like a hippo... already! I think it's partially the "carrying low".... I don't think it looks like a cute bump... more like a funny lump... but I'm sure a large part of it is just not being used to seeing my body this way.

6 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

16 weeks 

 

20 weeks

 Coming later this week: 5th month pregnancy reflections, and room decor ideas (I need your help!)