It's time!

Sorry, just teasing... it's time for my 40 week photo, not that time yet.  I figure if I have to endure everyone asking me if the baby has arrived yet, then you can put up with a little mean humor from me. ;)

I have been trying to post daily though, if you haven't noticed, so you all will know that I'm not in labor.  If you don't hear from me for more than 48 hours you may have reason to assume something is going on.  Otherwise you should see frequent updates here (and on Facebook) meaning that nothing's happening....yet.

So, this is my last monthly photo!  I may try and get a photo before I go in to the hospital, if I think of it, but otherwise I KNOW I will not make it to 44 weeks, so this is the last one.  You can watch me grow from start to finish too!

And though I haven't been posting these all along, here's a bare belly one (I think the pink tee is a little restricting now!)

I made it to 40 weeks with no stretch  marks (except for some weird marks where my belly button was previously pierced...two separate times...).  I'm hoping Floodling will make his appearance sometime soon though because I don't know how much more my skin can take!!

Ding!

As has been typical lately my 36 week belly pic is late!  But despair no more because it has finally arrived... ;)

Again, check out the belly pic page (link in the right-hand column) to see the progression.  You'll have to compare to 32 weeks and see if you think he's "dropped"...  I don't really think I look any different.

And what do you think about this belly-button?  Am I done?

It's that time again!

It's been four weeks, so I'm "technically" in a new month.... month 7? (My discussion of my confusion with the months can be read here).

I forgot about the "pregnancy reflections" last month, so this month's reflection is a little longer... (questions come from www.babycrowd.com)


Buying maternity clothes was: fun, but frustrating too.  I bought them kind of early (while visiting with mom and sis) so it made it hard to know what would look good later when I was actually big.  I need to go again and get more spring stuff (I have mostly winter). I'm not looking forward to it as I'm getting to a point where I look at everything and just think "geez... I look pregnant!"

The biggest change in my body has been: my belly of course!  I can't get over how much it grows, and I'm terrified of what it will look like in three months!  I'm so happy to have a cute belly right now though!

My favorite change in my body has been: my clear skin! 

My least favorite change has been: my belly button!  It seems like I wake up to a new belly button every morning... how many changes can it go through? Right now it's practically flat (probably will be popping out by the end) but it has an extra "pocket".  Where did that come from??

I've started thinking about the nursery: We finally decided to go with the golf/argyle/blue/green theme. My mom and I are going to design/make the comforter.  I'm considering attempting to paint some wall art.... and my mom is going to paint the room when she is visiting next weekend! :D

I used to love food! Now I avoid: mostly I try to avoid foods that are "empty calories"... ie. I'm trying to eat healthy.  I am by no means perfect (I had ramen noodles for lunch yesterday! A girl can't be perfect all the time...) but overall I'm trying to pick whole grain, high fiber, high protein foods.... and I'm eating TONS of fruits and veggies! (I swear the grocery cart is probably half full of produce bags these days...and that's definitely not a bad thing!).

I never thought pregnancy would make me: so happy!  I mean, this is what I wanted, so of course I'm happy, but I expected to be an emotional wreck nonetheless.  I've technically been diagnosed with PMDD (basically super-PMS) and hormones tend to make me fly off the handle, but so far I've been really good.  I have to admit that I did spend this past Sunday crying ALL day for no apparent reason, but that was really a first!

I can't wait to: see who our baby most looks like! I can't wait to see if he'll have our curly hair, my brown eyes or Jason's blue eyes, whose nose he'll have... and I really can't wait to actually meet him and learn about his personality and what he'll be like!

At this month's prenatal visit I learned: about the circumcision process.  Yet another decision to be made, but I guess Jason has made it easy for me ("ummm... of course he'll be circumcised... dugh!").  That is if I can just let it be at that... but I'm sure you guys have figured out that I'm pretty obsessed with researching both sides of an issue...

My hopes: to keep stretch marks at bay with cocoa butter (at least it smells awesome!)

My fears: of getting so large that I just look...well... something like this. (Don't know if that's photoshopped, or if that woman is expecting multipes...but yikes!)

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Of course, be on the lookout for my new monthly belly shot... I know I'm horrible for always making you wait but you can blame Jason.  He's the main reason I don't do weekly shots... I can't very well take the photos myself (I've done the timer thing, but that involves moving things around so I have somewhere to set the camera) but getting him to take a simple photo is like pulling teeth.  He just doesn't understand the "why". So... when I actually convince him to take the photo it will be posted here!

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!