32 weeks

trucking right along and already at 32 weeks! nothing specific to report about our little man this week, but as you'll see below in my weekly maternity quiz i've been fighting not just regular pregnancy congestion (as i originally thought) but what was apparently a full-blown sinus infection. the symptoms started way back during week 30 and i dismissed them as plain-ol' pregnancy congestion, possibly made worse by the crazy texas weather. but after suffering several nights of sleeping for only 2 hours at a time for lack of air through my nose, i figured it must be something more. add to that the fact that my symptoms didn't improve but actually continued to worsen and this non-medication diva was practically crying for some antibiotics. fortunately, after two days on amoxicillin (which, yes, is safe for mom & baby), my symptoms had already reduced themselves to a manageable amount. by day 4, i was actually able to breathe through my nose and could smell things again! a special thanks to alexander fleming for discovering penicillin(s) for us and making my life better in the 21st century.

no additional pics, but here's the quiz:

How far along? 32 weeks

Weight gain/loss: ~19 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Yes!

Stretch marks? None so far

Sleep? A horrible sinus infection = no breathing through my nose! Pregnancy didn’t keep me from sleeping, but congestion did :(

Best moment this week? knowing that pregnancy is a piece of cake compared to sinus infections

Food cravings: I just wish I could taste my food this week!

Gender: little boy!

Belly button in or out? In for now

What I miss? This week: being able to enjoy being pregnant and not sick

What I'm looking forward to: maternity leave is starting to sound pretty nice

Weekly wisdom: I love being pregnant, I hate being sick. And I really dislike that sometimes people consider them in the same category.

Milestones: we’re at the end of month 7 already!

31 weeks

here we are at 31 weeks! baby continues to grow and move like crazy in there, and every day i am more and more amused at how much he can shift the entire contour of my stomach when he decides to change positions. he continues to be most active around 5pm (when i'm headed into work, usually) and around 5am (when i'm ready to leave work...but still have a few hours to go). according to the growth charts our baby is "about the size of a squash." translation: he should be about 15.2 - 16.7 inches long and weigh around 2.5 - 3.8 lbs!

we did get to go to another appointment this week and everything checked out perfectly. the best news? the midwife told me that she thinks it feels like he's in a head-down position. while he still has plenty of time to flip back and forth, at least we know he can get where he needs to be for the delivery. and with him running out of room in there, hopefully he won't do too much flipping anyway!

How far along? 31 weeks

Weight gain/loss: ~19 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Yes!

Stretch marks? None so far

Sleep? Still no problems sleeping, but I have to be on my sides now...i am a stomach sleeper usually and I haven’t been able to get away with that for the last few weeks!

Best moment this week? getting to go to a second OB visit this month

Food cravings: nothing specific…

Gender: little boy!

Belly button in or out? In for now

What I miss? Hugging my husband “like normal” (although it’s totally worth the awkward hug to know I’ve got a little person in the way!)

What I'm looking forward to: a less busy schedule in February to work on the nursery

Weekly wisdom: just enjoying every day

Milestones: baby is in a head-down position!

AKUC baby shower

today was a first for me: i was the guest of honor at a baby shower! my wonderful friend rachel and the ladies of acute kids urgent care organized and attended an amazing baby shower for me at la hacienda restaurant. not only did i get to enjoy the company of family and friends, i got to eat some tasty tex-mex food and get cute gifts for our little one! it was so much fun, i wish it could have lasted even longer! also, rachel got the most *amazing* cupcakes ever...i really wish you could sample them via blog, but you'll just have to take my word for it or ask someone else who attended! i also have to say thank you to my hubby for not only wanting to be a part of the shower and all things baby-related, but who acted as impromptu photographer so the ladies could enjoy the shower and helped my mom and sister keep all 6 of our nieces and nephews entertained and polite during the shower. thanks, honey!

and big thanks to rachel, for organizing such a great shower! many thanks to everyone who attended and made it so memorable. baby king says thanks, too!

AKUC baby shower

30 weeks

30 weeks already? amazing! nothing new to report on our little man, except i can tell he's starting to run out of space in there. he's a very active baby and now i can feel and watch him move all the time, not just during his more active periods. on sunday night i had to laugh out loud when we were at mom & dad's house watching the playoff games: matt was laying with his head on my lap/stomach and i could tell the baby was not happy about this -- he kept kicking matt in the head. i didn't think matt could really feel it, so i didn't really think anything of it. (on a side note: i do know that our little boy doesn't like people encroaching on his space because he gets very upset when i cross my arms across my stomach and kicks then, too). i finally had to laugh aloud when i saw matt's head start jumping because the baby was kicking so hard. i no longer wondered whether matt could feel the *subtle* hints our baby was sending him to get out of his space.

we did get to go to our bradley class this week and were lucky enough to be able to hear a birth story from some recent graduates of the class who had the first baby born in allen this year! i think the classes so far have been wonderful, hopefully we'll remember all this stuff when the baby is ready to arrive!

also, i apologize for looking a little sickly in these pics...my congestion has been a bit horrible this week and i look sleepy in every picture! hopefully that will clear up (again) soon so i can get back to sleeping, eating and breathing like normal!

How far along? 30 weeks

Weight gain/loss: ~18 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Yes!

Stretch marks? None so far

Sleep? Congestion returned this week, so sleep is tricky

Best moment this week? AKUC baby shower!

Food cravings: we had to go get a jake’s hamburger on Sunday, fortunately my husband agreed after some arm-twisting ;)

Gender: little boy!

Belly button in or out? In for now

What I miss? Ziegen Bock beer, chuy’s frozen margaritas, and cookie dough!

What I'm looking forward to: our next appointment

Weekly wisdom: trying to enjoy every kick and special moment, my pregnancy will be over in another 2 months!

Milestones: we’ve moved to bi-weekly (instead of monthly) OB appointments

week #29

here's my belly at 29 weeks! our little man is continuing to grow and move like crazy, and all things at our last check-up indicate that we are both healthy (dad is doing fine, too, in case you were wondering). i did, fortunately, pass my glucose tolerance test (YAY!), so i do not have to have another one done (double yay!). they also checked my hemoglobin and hematocrit to make sure i wasn't anemic and i'm doing pretty well on that front, too. my weight gain has steadily been a little behind what they were expecting -- i'm not complaining about this -- but they say that my measurements are right on track so we have no reason to be worried.

so, passing the GTT = baby's not too big.

measurements accurate for we gestation = baby's not too small.

that means he must be just right :)

we were a little sad we were unable to go to our bradley class this past sunday because of the snow, but it was nice to enjoy a lazy day at home, too. hopefully there won't be any other hang-ups and we will be at all the rest of the classes.

How far along? 29 weeks

Weight gain/loss: ~18 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Yes!

Stretch marks? Notta one (thank you to my mom’s genes)

Sleep? No problems right now.

Best moment this week? finding out I passed my glucose tolerance test!!!

Food cravings: had a craving for cookie dough earlier this week, but that happened even when I wasn’t pregnant…

Gender: little boy!

Belly button in or out? In for now

What I miss? Ziegen Bock beer, chuy’s frozen margaritas, and cookie dough!

What I'm looking forward to: the AKUC baby shower

Weekly wisdom: I love my body, because I love my baby!

Milestones: third trimester!

snow days in texas

the view from our front porch

oh, how i love snow in texas! on sunday we were surprised with a cold front and winter storm that dropped 2-3 inches of snow on our little house in plano, tx! fortunately, matt and i were both off work so we were able to enjoy a day snuggled inside watching NFL playoff games, baking cookies and watching the snow fall. the only sad thing was that our bradley class was cancelled for the day, which means we'll have to figure out if/when we can make it up before our little one arrives in march. after the snow had stopped and the roads had cleared up we headed to my parents' house to enjoy dinner, a roasty fire and watch a movie.

true to texas form, we *had* to take pictures of the snow, since it is such a rare occurrence around here, but we didn't make a tiny snow man this time. lexi enjoyed it a ton, though, since she is our cold-weather dog (see pics below), and it made me think of those snuggly days in ohio when i could sit and watch the snow fall for hours!

happy snow day!

the back yard

our little snow dog, tearing it up in the back yard

AKUC christmas party

matt and i got to enjoy a night out with friends on saturday night courtesy of my part-time job. as most of you know, i work for an urgent care center that is an absolutely *wonderful* place to work for because the work is fun, the hours are great and they treat their employees really well -- including a "holiday" party every year in january (because winter time is always a busy season for emergent/urgent care pediatrics in addition to the actual holidays). so we got dressed up and headed out for a casino party with great food, fun and prizes. and as an added bonus matt got to meet a lot of the people that i get to work with and the doctors that are responsible for making AKUC a reality.

we had a great time and are reminding ourselves to enjoy being able to go out without having to worry about child care arrangements ;)

at the blackjack table with our dealer, blake

gary (one of the doctors behind AKUC) helps out at the table ;)

some of the big winners: laura and brad (each ticket was worth "$1000" in chips)

the gift to the doctors...we couldn't afford an actual vacation for them, so this was the next best thing

two of the beauties and brains that keep things running smoothly, sunshine & christie

sunshine and me -- she was my preceptor at MCD! (and yes, i am that tall, and she's...not)

28 weeks

we have officially made it into the third trimester! all things are still going well and we have no problems to report -- yay! baby is still moving around in there like crazy and is getting bigger all the time. while i still have many people tell me i look "tiny" for being 28 weeks, i'm starting to feel much bigger. i especially felt this way after looking back at my 17, 19 and 21 week pictures...omg! i thought i had a bump back then! fortunately, all the weight gain seems to be confined to my baby bump currently, and i'm trying to continue eating healthy, exercising and getting enough rest to keep it that way.

in other news, we started our bradley classes this week and had a great time talking with other parents-to-be and enjoying the education of our wonderful instructor (who i knew before we signed up for the class).

maybe now that we are in the third trimester, we'll get around to doing more with the nursery!

How far along? 28 weeks

Weight gain/loss: ~ 16 lbs. total

Maternity clothes? Yes!

Stretch marks? Notta one (thank you to my mom’s genes)

Sleep? No problems…I’ve always loved to sleep, though!

Best moment this week? starting our Bradley classes and getting to meet other moms and dads that are as far along as we are

Food cravings: none currently

Gender: little boy!

Belly button in or out? In for now

What I miss? Ziegen Bock beer, chuy’s frozen margaritas, and cookie dough!

What I'm looking forward to: the AKUC baby shower

Weekly wisdom: enjoying these last few months of “freedom” and being able to keep my baby safe and with me at all times

Milestones: third trimester!