Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Alive..alive...yes we are alive....

I am now 27 weeks. Sorry for missing the updates for 25 and 26 weeks. They were busy weeks trust me. Here is a pic from today of Henry getting ready for a walk. I figured since I have been holed up for a day and a half in bed w/ an ear infection/sinus infection that some fresh air would do me some good. Henry agreed! :)


Here is a pic of the lake in our neighborhood. We did 2 laps around the lake (2 miles) and I felt great after the first but half way through the second I wished I had stopped at one. LOL! What a wuss!


This is a pic from last weekend at an 80's themed birthday party for a co-worker. I do realize I am posting blackmail material here. Enjoy! I know you're giggling. If you look closely you will see the 'crimped' hair w/ top pulled into side ponytail...accentuated by the off-the-shoulders teal sweatshirt w/ contrasting hot pink tank under it...accompanied by leggings and bangles (the arm not pictured actually had about 10 rubber ones on it). I was the designated driver and was exhausted by the end of the night and feeling the beginnings of the approaching ear ache when I hit the hay.



The next 2 pics are my feeble attempts at self-portraits before my OB appt today.





This last one was done by the professional...aka Papa Bear....Much better quality, don't cha think? (p.s. the square belly is because of the belly band on my maternity jeans! LOL!)




Update on the Impending Boy: He is supposed to be about the size of a head of cauliflower, weighing in at over 2 lbs and more than 14.5 inches long! He is waking and sleeping, sucking fingers and toes, opening and closing his eyes and continuing to 'practice' breathing by moving amniotic fluid in and out of his lungs. As of this week, the Impending Boy could live outside the womb (w/ lots of medical intervention) if need be! Big step! I have also felt what I think must be baby hiccups as of this week. Cute but annoying! LOL!

Meanwhile back at the uterus, I have been having lots of leg cramps at night (but hey I'm already up peeing so I might as well jump around clutching my calves right?). And Brad has developed sympathetic ones for me, too. Poor guy! I swear we are both drinking plenty of fluids and I eat at least 1 banana a week and plenty of dairy (potassium and calcium deficits can cause muscle cramping). My ribs pain is less frequent in the last few days so maybe baby thinks he has enough room for now and can stop stretching my innards for a little while. :) I think that if I wasn't sick then I'd be enjoying my last week of the second trimester a little more.

Last Saturday, Brad and I attended our one day Lamaze class (9-530...long day...followed by that 80's party...yawn). It was a lot of info in one day but I think it was very helpful (and Brad thought so too) and we LOVED our instructor. Our instructor's name was Petu and she is from Finland..she was a hoot! To see a 60-something year old Finnish lady roll around on the floor and talk about pregnancy, and anatomy, and sex and labor was very entertaining. Best case scenario for an 8 hr class on those subjects. I think we got a lot of practical info for the labor and delivery. Brad is trying to convince me to 'just take the drugs' for labor and delivery. I still want to try w/o them and if I absolutely can't handle it then I will agree to use them. Mostly I really don't want to be induced and hope that the baby can make an appearance w/o help before the end of the year (how cynical are we for pushing him out for a tax deduction??).

During our Lamaze class, we also took a tour of the Labor and Delivery unit at the hospital where the impending boy will enter the world. They have a hydrotherapy room w/ a giant tub and a rocking chair which I plan to take advantage of....additionally they have feng shui (sp?) birthing rooms which I plan to point and laugh at until at some point in my labor crystals, water features, and fire all seem like feasible means of redirecting the 'energy' of child birth. LOL! We were paired w/ a couple who is also from our side of the river (that would be the Ohio River...and by that I mean the Kentucky side of it). They are due 1 month exactly before us, use our same OB group, and got pg w/ IVF w/ the same infertility doc! Pretty neat, huh? In fact, I ran into them today at the OB bc they had an appt w/ the same doc at the same time! And we are taking our baby care basics class w/ them on Oct 2nd! While we missed the opportunity to exchange info w/ them at the last class, I traded numbers w/ her (Amy) today. So at least I will be able to share first time mom jitters w/ someone in this area and may pick her brain for child care options in this town when I next see her. We are back to square one on that subject......

Ok. That was a lot of 'updating'. Can't promise a time frame for the next one.... In the mean time, I am feeling grateful for my loving husband, my impending boy, my family and home, and all the blessings of life in the U.S. Even when we've got it bad (economy in the crapper, natural disasters, war, bad foreign relations..etc)...we've got it good.


Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands,
because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have
we will not be happy -- because we will always
want to have something else or something more.

-----Brother David Steindl-Rast

1 comments:

Candi said...

Glad you are still alive and well!!