37 Weeks

I had my appointment this morning.  It was uneventful and I opted not to get checked.  We decided not to stir up any trouble at this point – especially not ahead of the big Iowa vs. Iowa State football game this weekend 🙂  I will be getting checked next week at my 38 week appointment though.  That’s how far along I was when I had Chloe and I think curiosity will get the best of me by then.  As uncomfortable as I am at times lately – just check out my massive belly below – I’m really okay sticking it out for a couple weeks yet.  I feel like everyone else is more ready than I am!!

We’re still waiting on the arrival of the rocking chair for Devon’s room, I need to finish repairing the cloth diapers (the elastic needs to be replaced on all of them, since Chloe’s chubby little lets stretched it out) and the hospital bag needs to be packed.  Not to mention,  the house could use some cleaning and few more meals in the freezer would be nice.  However, we do have a crib, carseat and diapers and I am officially considered full-term, so we’ll be okay whenever he makes his arrival.

26 weeks

I had a check-up this morning, complete with the lovely glucose test.  I didn’t get any ominous phone calls from the doctor’s office today, so I assume that came out just fine.  My weight is up a total of 23 pounds so far.  (For some reason, that doesn’t sound too bad, but the actual weight itself freaks me out a bit, so we won’t talk about that.)  My blood pressure was fine and his heartbeat sounded marvelous.  My uterus measured at 28 cm. I think those are all the stats.  Here’s what the doctor said:

“You’re measuring 28, should be 26.  If you measure 2cm off, 2 appointments in a row or 3cm off once, there’s a 5% chance that something’s wrong.  That gives us a cheap way to get another ultrasound in, but usually everything’s fine.  You’re up 23 pounds. At this point, you should be up 16 pounds, plus or minus 5, so ehhh…. The normal range is 15-50, so unless I think you’re going to go over the 50 pound mark, I won’t yell at you.”

I think he even said that all in one breath – or so it seemed.  Then I blamed my additional weight gain on the discovery of ‘Stacker-mallows’ which lend themselves to microwave S’Mores.  My Dr. asked what kind of chocolate I was using.  When I said I was just using the standard Hershey’s, he said I needed to grow up, start being an adult, and use dark chocolate on my S’Mores.  Then he gave me my card to make another appointment in 4 weeks and we were done.

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure you’ll have to read it again if you read this frequently, but…  I know there are many women who would not appreciate his style, but I really like my Dr’s sense of humor and his straight forward, matter of fact presentation of information.  If I had questions, I know he’d answer them, but he’s usually pretty clear on what’s going on, so I’m not left with any gray area.

Here are a couple pictures of my belly, with comparisons to when I was pregnant with Chloe Mae.  Even before I measured big today (which I don’t think accounts for most of the actual size of my belly) I was feeling huge, and the pictures made me feel even bigger.  I was looking at a picture from when I was 37 weeks pregnant with Chloe and decided I’m at least that size now.  So we recreated that picture last night, and sure enough, I think I look at least the same size.  And I have a couple months to go.  Oy!!

Halfway there!

I’m 20 weeks pregnant today.  That means we’re at least halfway there!!  Chloe was born at exactly 38 weeks, so I’m counting on the fact that Devon won’t keep me waiting any longer than 40 weeks.  He might surprise me, but I’d rather spend the next 20 weeks thinking he’ll be out by then 🙂

Everything’s still going very well, all things considered.  I’m starting to have some heartburn at night and have ridiculous aches and pains in my lower back already.  I’m not feeling him move yet, but I was told at my ultrasound that I have an anterior placentra – which basically means it’s acting as a cushion between Devon and my stomach, so it’s not terribly surprising.  I’m hoping he’ll power through sometime in the next few days though!!

With all the excitement of finding out that we’re having a boy, I neglected to post ultrasound pictures or my belly shot from 18 weeks.  So without further ado…

18 weeks

3-D image of his face is on the right

His handsome profile 🙂

The ultrasound tech was pretty sure of herself!

I love you even though I have a crazy belly button now…

"I Love You."

A friend of mine posted a picture like this when she was pregnant and it definitely made me go “Awww!!”  I had to have one of my own…