Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Twenty-Six *and* Twenty-Seven Weeks

Two weeks for the price of one, coming right up!

Week 26


Highlights from the week included progress on the nursery, the beginning of a crafty project for the baby (and her parents), and another trip to the west coast!
  • R made some significant progress on the nursery during Week 26. For starters, he finished installing the new recessed lights and replacing the ceiling fan. The bright, modern feeling in the room is a refreshing change. R is really proud of the lighting and can't wait to install new lighting in our room next (maybe this weekend?). He also started painting. One wall of the nursery is "Iris Bliss" and the other three are "Violet Pearl." (Coincidentally, these are both names we're now considering for the baby. KIDDING!) The colors are so lovely! 
 
R started with the gray color and was surprised/dismayed to realize it had a hint of purple to it. His reaction: "Well now it had really better be a girl. I just kept thinking if we were surprised by a boy, I would only have to repaint one wall!"
  • For some reason, out of the blue, I decided that it would be nice to make something for the baby's room. (Mom says I'm nesting. Maybe I was envious of R's efforts in the nursery and wanted to leave my own mark?) I got my heart set on making an afghan to curl up with while rocking the baby in the glider, so there was only one thing to do: teach myself to crochet! I ran off to Crafty Planet and bought balls of yarn in the perfect colors to complement the nursery. 
Before I knew it, I was on my way. I'm now officially hooked and spend some time most nights working away on the blanket. It makes me really happy to imagine wrapping up with the blanket while snuggling my sweet little girl late at night. The very thought keeps me knotting away night after night. 

  • Baby girl and I zipped off to California last week for a business trip. That long flight and the accompanying two nights away from home weight more heavily on me each time I go, so I'm looking forward to my last trip in the near future. My feet and legs swell so badly, I feel like a little sausage lady! Two noteworthy stories from this trip include meeting a woman at MSP who - with no encouragement - asked me when I'm due. She's due in March with her first, and it was fun to be someone else's "further-along pregnant lady"! Upon my return home, a woman who was trailing me out to th eparking ramp announced to me, "Say hon, you look just darling. I love pregnant gals and you just look so adorable." I've said it a hundred time, but I cry easily these days, and that woman's sweet comments made me cry once I made it to my car - such a simple gesture, but it was so powerful.

Week 27
  • Upon arriving back from CA, I needed to hit the grocery store to make sure we had food in the house. R told me he didn't need or particularly want anything, so to just go ahead and pick up whatever sounded good to me. Apparently fruit sounded good, as I left the store with two bags of organic grapes, a giant tub of cubed organic watermelon, organic heirloom tomatoes, a Sweet Tango apple, and orange juice. What's more, I ate the *entire* container of watermelon on my way home from the store. Yikes!
  • R finished painting the nursery this week, and oh, but it is so beautiful! We also ordered the decal for the purple wall from LittleLion Studio. It should be here next week - we can't wait! Photos coming next week!
  • My parents arrived in state this week. They're staying at Grandpa & Grandma's to help with the re-shingling project happening there this week, but Mom came up on Saturday to help pick out fabric for the nursery projects she's taking on. She's making crib sheets, a crib skirt, a pillow for the glider, curtains for the windows and curtains for the closet. Most exciting of all, though, is the quilt she is making! Our fabric shopping trip (also to Crafty Planet) was an adventure, and we totally hit the jackpot! Here are the fabrics we picked out:
  • Mom also went shopping with R & I to the Room & Board Outlet to finish furnishing our new sitting porch. We had fun picking up the perfect items to round out the space. The room came together perfectly and it is among our most loved spots in the house now - so relaxing and comfortable! I will post a photo here this weekend when we get a chance to snap one.
  • We spent Sunday down at G&G's house visiting with family and feasting during a big shingling effort. It never fails that times spent with my big, extended family are some of my favorite times and memories, and this trip was no exception. 
  • I made my maternity leave plans official today: 12 weeks of leave followed by 8 weeks of phasing back (part time, rather than jumping in cold turkey). It's starting to hit me that this huge life event is sneaking up on us, and looking at a calendar today to figure out the dates in question was really eye-opening. Baby Girl will be here before we know it!
  • Finally, not to end on a down note, but I've been hurting lately. The pelvic pain I'm dealing with is pretty extreme and is radiating into back and leg pain as well. I hobble around like someone considerably older than I actually am, and I tire out fairly quickly. I feel the third trimester sneaking up on me - it begins in just a few days now! The time is certainly coming to slow down and take it a bit easier as we near the end of the pregnancy and the beginning of parenthood.
Okay, time for the tracker before I fall asleep (again)!


Weeks: 26 & 27

Weight: +13 so far (as of our Week Almost-25 official doctor weigh-in) 
Baby is the Size of a(n): English Cucumber (26 - length) and Cauliflower (27 - weight)
Symptoms: still always hungry, twinging round ligament and general "growing" pains, really achy pelvis (SPD), tailbone pain, shortness of breath, mental lapses (I traveled to CA without the power cord for my laptop - *sigh*), wacky dreams (woke up crying from a dream this week about people butchering poor Oliver in order to eat him), and moodiness (noteworthy breakdown: I already mentioned the crying jag after the lady at the airport was nice to me)
Current Obsession: watermelon, oatmeal, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, all the vegetables from our farm share, apples, applesauce, peanut butter, Greek yogurt, milk, and lemonade
Current Aversion: not much, but seafood is still not my favorite
Thinking About: who our little girl will take after; what her personality will be; working on the nursery; finding a pediatrician; getting maternity/newborn photos scheduled; choosing a hospital for delivery; and still pondering names (I have a feeling this will be true until we meet our little girl!).
Picture(s):



    Wednesday, September 21, 2011

    Twenty-Six Weeks: Coming Early in Week Twenty-Seven

    I am late posting the Week 26 post, but I have so many things to tell you about! I'm traveling for work until Friday and will get this post up at that time.

    Until then, just know that this week Baby Girl was the length of an English cucumber. That's a big baby, and we have had a big week! More on that soon.

    Edit: Obviously I'm still behind in posting Weeks 26 & 27, but it's coming! I might or might not have fallen asleep on the sofa tonight after a busy weekend and a long Monday... In the meantime, here are a few photos to tide you over:

    Wednesday, September 14, 2011

    Twenty-Five Weeks!

    Oh dear. Late posts are becoming an unfortunate habit around this blog! Here we find ourselves again at the end of a gestational week and I have to try to quickly recap the week before collapsing in an exhausted heap.

    Luckily, bit's been a fairly uneventful week with one noteworthy exception: we started working on the nursery! Over the weekend, R and I emptied out the guest room (*insert impressive flexing here*) and laid out our plan for the baby's room. Oh wait - have I shared a photo of the crib we just ordered? Check it out:
    The biggest undertaking in the nursery is a lighting project, wherein R is upgrading from a standard ceiling fan/light combo to a more modern ceiling fan with some added recessed lighting. Given the awkward need to climb around in the eaves of the attic and dig through the blown-in insulation to access the nursery ceiling, it's been no small task. Add the fact that R doesn't get home until late most evenings and you can understand that this project is a work in progress (it also explains why this post is just now being written and there isn't yet a photo attached)! 

    We'll be attempting to wrap up the lights and tackle (some of) the painting this weekend. I think we'll be going with pale gray walls and one plum accent wall, along with small, bright pops of color as accents.


    We're really excited and it's extremely meaningful to know that this room we're pouring our hearts into will be the cozy little haven for our daughter's first days, months and years. I will post photos as the nursery takes shape! With that, let's just get to the tracker:

    Week: 25
    Weight: +13 so far (as of our Week Almost-25 official doctor weigh-in; +4 pounds in 4 weeks, so right on track!) 
    Baby is the Size of a(n): Eggplant
    Symptoms: still always hungry, increasing round ligament and general "growing" pains, really achy pelvis (SPD), tailbone pain when sitting for awhile, shortness of breath, mental lapses (pregnancy brain is REAL), wacky dreams (anxiety dreams this week about the dogs getting away from me while riding on a train and being trapped with a friend in an overseas orphanage), and moodiness (noteworthy breakdown: cried in the grocery store for an embarrassed mother battling a frustrated and hysterical child, as well as for the future me who will likely deal with her fair share of situations like that!)
    Current Obsession: watermelon, oatmeal, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, all the vegetables from our farm share, apples, apple pie, peanut butter, Greek yogurt, milk, and lemonade
    Current Aversion: not much, but seafood is still not my favorite
    Thinking About: who our little girl will take after; what her personality will be; working on the nursery; finalizing leave of absence plans; finding a pediatrician; getting maternity/newborn photos scheduled; choosing a hospital for delivery; and still pondering names (I have a feeling this will be true until we meet our little girl!).
    Picture(s)

    Wednesday, September 7, 2011

    Twenty-Four Weeks!

    Week 24 has come and (almost) gone, and it was another busy and eventful one! I can't believe we've been on this journey for six months already, but I also can't believe we still have four months to go! It sounds like a lot, but I am getting the feeling it's going to go quickly! Here are some highlights from this week!

    • Up, Up & Away: The baby and I did more than our fair share of traveling this week, and she's definitely earning those frequent flyer miles right along with me! In two days last week, we flew from Minneapolis to San Francisco to Phoenix and back. *whew* It was relatively uneventful travel, except for getting through security in Minneapolis. I was selected to go through the new full-body x-ray scanners (you know the ones I mean), but refused because I didn't want to expose the baby to unnecessary radiation. My consolation prize: a full-body pat down. Whoopee! It was very professional and no big deal, so it was a small sacrifice to keep the baby safe. The only real casualties of the trip were my feet, which suffered some tremendous swelling! To me, they looked like little loaves of bread by the time I made it home - ouch. It'll be a few weeks before I have to travel again, thank goodness!
    • One Last Hurrah: The day after my business trip, R and I dropped the puppies at their favorite boarding facility and took off for Michigan. We spent the holiday weekend with R's family, including a little shopping, a big family dinner, a late-night donut run with K, a visit to Grandma at the hospital, and a former colleague's wedding. We had a lovely time and tried to make it count, as unless things change, the next time we visit we'll have a new baby in tow! Because they're so darn cute, here are some images of the outfits we bought the baby:
    • I'll Pass, Thanks: I had my monthly OB appointment this afternoon, and in addition to the regular fun and games (more on that momentarily), I had to do my oral glucose tolerance test. For those unfamiliar, the test involves fasting briefly, drinking 10 oz. of a lemon-lime glucose solution (think super sweet, flat Sprite), waiting around for an hour, then giving a blood sample in order to have my blood sugar levels checked. My OB practice considers a result of 139 or less to be an acceptable level (a pass). A result of 140 or above would require a subsequent 3-hour test and could result in a diagnosis of gestational diabetes - no thanks! My result was - *drumroll* - 139!!! I just barely passed. I'll take it, though!
    • Oh, My Achin' Pelvis: Also at my appointment, I received a diagnosis for my extremely achy pelvis: symphysis pubis disfunction. In this fun turn of events, the area at the front of my pelvis where the two sides of the join meet is spreading a little too much and too soon. In short, it hurts to sleep, stand, walk, and especially to put my weight on one foot or the other. There's not much the doctor can do, so she recommended a pregnancy support belt (a girdle!) and taking it easy with no pounding or irritating activities. 'Take it easy' is a nice prescription!
    Okay, it's late and I'm falling asleep, so on to the tracker:

    Week: 24
    Weight: +13 so far (as of our Week Almost-25 official doctor weigh-in; +4 pounds in 4 weeks) 
    Baby is the Size of a(n): Papaya!
    Symptoms: still always hungry, increasing round ligament and general "growing" pains, really achy pelvis (thank you, SPD!), tailbone pain when sitting for awhile, shortness of breath, sinus congestion (especially at night), wacky dreams, and moodiness (noteworthy breakdown: very nearly lashed out at someone who was fast-walking right behind me yesterday - just walk around me if you're in such a hurry!!)
    Current Obsession: watermelon, oatmeal, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, all the vegetables from our farm share, apples, apple pie, peanut butter, Greek yogurt, milk, and lemonade
    Current Aversion: not much, but seafood is still not my favorite
    Thinking About: who our little girl will take after; what her personality will be; working on the nursery; finalizing leave of absence plans; finding a pediatrician; getting maternity/newborn photos scheduled; choosing a hospital for delivery; and still pondering names (I have a feeling this will be true until we meet our little girl!).
    Picture(s)