7 posts tagged “belly pictures”

It feels like 2009 has been one big count down: Count down to March weekend get-away, to baby's ultrasound, to Will's 2nd bday, to June Cape May get-away, to "The Great Gregg Demolition" and finally, countdown to baby!" Even after that I have family vacation to look forward to, then many new milestones with baby number two. I often measure my life in forward glances, always looking ahead to the next big thing. I often caution myself that this is a dangerous posture because I risk missing all the special moments now if I'm too focused on then. And there may not always be something special to look forward to, though with kids, there's always something on the horizon. This is how I've always been though, so I'll continue to look forward to the next big thing, while being mindful that NOW is special, too.

US

This past weekend Sean and I enjoyed a relaxing time together in Cape May. My parents graciously took Will for the weekend and we enjoyed sleeping in and planning meals whenever we felt. We did lots of reading and walking, took in sunsets and dodged rain drops. Sean reigned victorious at Skipbo. I finished a book. We had ice cream every day. We started our christmas shopping at the cute little shops. We caught a movie Sat afternoon since the rain clouds stubbornly refused to clear away. It was a nice last fling before our family gets a little bit bigger, and before craziness starts in our house.

37 weeks 006

At 37 week 6 days I am officially considered term. If labor happens, there's no going back now, they won't try to stop me. I'm feeling like I have a little more energy to get through the day. Maybe this is the rush of energy women talk about that comes at the end when they all start nesting like crazy. All the nesting I've done today is wash another batch of Homer's clothes. In fact, they're still in the dryer. I should go get them and fold them before the wrinkles set in. I am continuing to feel pressure down below, especially when I have been sitting with my weight forward, as encouraged by the midwives and Bradley book. The pressure is usually very strong when I first get up from sitting, and gets milder as I walk it off. I definately have less strength in my legs now. It's hard to lift my leg to get into the car, and forget flushing public toilets with my foot. It grosses me out, but I've had to resort to the hand on the handle instead. Sean has proven useful in repositioning me in bed. I just don't have the strentgh in my hips to use my legs to roll side to side. It's very disconcerting. Still don't have food cravings that I can really identify. In fact, my appetite has really waned, but I'm wondering if that is due more to the heat that we've had here in Philly lately.

(By the way, Sean is useful in very many ways, but maybe helpful would be a better word to use. See prior post - he continues to work very hard to get ready for this baby. He finished the changing table this week! I'll post pictures soon - he is so proud of his work, and rightly so! It looks awesome!) 

I had a very encouraging visit with the midwife, Barbara this morning. Have I expressed our satisfaction and feelings of glee over our decision to switch to the midwives at Valley? The more I hear chatter in the natural childbirth community, the more I hear very good things about Barbara. Today I found out she know and considers Ina Mae Gaskin a friend. Gaskin's book was one of the tools that helped me begin to gather my confidence to make the commitment to myself and Sean that natural is absolutely the way I want to go with this birth.

I've been doing a lot of reading about birth and about how the Midwifery Model differs from the Medical Model of birthing babies. I'm not suggesting that one of the models is evil and the other is the enlightened "right" way to go. But I am convinced that the Midwifery Model is the way to go for me. It's more wholistic. It recognizes that our bodies were designed to do this thing called birth. Sean and I have turned to each other so many times in our childbirth class and mouthed to each other "intelligent design" as Jane, our instructor teaches us about yet another part of labor that "just works" without medical intervention. For example, the sort of heimleich maneuvre that occurs as the baby passes through an intact and uncut perineum. The force of the mother's skin around the baby's chest as he passes through the opening sort of "milks" the extra fluid and mucus out of the baby's lungs. The list goes on and on about why chlidbirth just works, and unfortunately, the list also goes on and on about how medical interventions sort of interfere with these natural processes.

At the appointment this morning my belly was still measuring small. But I learned something new. It measures small for 2 reasons: His head is firmly down in my pelvis. That explains the pressure and the waddling. Secondly, I have a long torso. WHO KNEW that anything on me could be called long! Seriously, as a short person, I never considered any part of me to be long. But because of that, he's just hiding in there, and not sticking out the front so much. Barbara thinks he's about 6lb 12 oz right now. I'm still hoping for a small baby.

Pregnant cousins at 29, 21, and 17 weeks

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate."

As I'm sure you can well imagine, my grandparents are having a very special year in 2007. Let me rephrase that. 2004 to 2007 has been a span of special years. In that amount of time they have seen their 6 oldest grandchildren marry quality spouses who love the Lord. (There are still 7 grandchildren who remain single - but they are all under the age of 13) In 2007 as a grand finale to 3 years of happiness, they will see the births of their first 3 great-grandchildren. Pictured here are my sister (middle) and cousin (right) on March31. We're due June, August and September. The birth of a child is always special and an excitement, but having grown up very close to these cousins, I am thankful that my son will have cousins close to his age with whom he can play and build memories.

Kudos and two enthusiastic thumbs up to my dear husband and father-to-be! He's worked hard at work this year and was rewarded today with a promotion to a senior position in his department! We celebrated with ice cream at B&R (since he doesn't drink and I can't while "with Bubba"). I'm so proud of his perserverence at work and glad he's been rewarded - especially since he left a job he LOVED to move half way across the county so we could get married 3 years ago.

I started the day feeling achy in my lower abdomen and back. I would think I was stretching and maybe sore from overdoing my walk yesterday by adding 3 loops of the big hills, but yesterday my nurse case manager educated me on the phone about signs of preterm labor. Menstrual-like cramps with lower back pain was one of the signs she mentioned. So I was a bit worried. Add to that the fact that I had been pulled to an ICU different from my own where I didn't feel comfortable sitting and putting my feet up for 5 minutes, or have my older and wiser nursing coworkers to confide in. I was comforted by the fact that The Bubba was doing aerobics all morning as I waddled around. Later when I returned to my home ICU to take care of a patient who was flown in from another hospital I confided my fears in Becky (bless her heart) and she assured me that I was probably stretching and to be encouraged by all the movement I was feeling. All the same, I plan to mention it to my OB at the next appointment Monday. I am still feeling rather crampy and sore in my lower abdominal region.

On a bright note, after a long walk yesterday I do feel much energized today. That's saying a lot after 12 hours on my feet at work without a single meal break. It's amazing how God gives me strength when I would expect to be completely exhausted.

Here are some belly pictures at 24 weeks. I feel like time is going very slowly... But I'm already nearing the end of the blissful 2nd trimester. I'll be holding my snuggly bundle very soon, I think.

To the few of you generous people who have commented assurances that my bum is really not so large, let me thank you and give a statement of clarification. Speaking from purely an observational point of view, the bottom in the belly picture protrudes farther from the trunk than the belly. I just used that as a measure of comparison... But thanks again, really. I should post another belly picture because from my vantage point I really think it popped out this past weekend. But I don't waddle yet. Thank goodness.

WEEK 7

The nose on my face is trying hard to upstage all 4 or my other senses. Think about your schnoz. How many times a day do you smell something? I think that in the past on any given day I've caught whiffs of smells here and there, usually more frequently at work. But I am definitely not used to smelling something 24-7. Yesterday at my mom's for dinner all I smelled the entire time was the broccoli and cauliflower. That was even over the chicken with tomatoes, basil and black olives.

The experience of such a powerful nose would be amusing, except that a large percentage of every smell makes me severely nauseous. Yes folks, the nausea has moved in and seems to be here to stay. It's worse when I need to eat, better just after I have eaten a meal. But finding a meal that will sit well is challenging. Nothing appeals. I'm better if I stick to bland things. Salt is a bad thing for my tastebuds, as is sugar. It's hard to find something that doesn't feature those two flavors in abundance.

I have a theory that this baby is going to be full of life. It is sure sucking the life out of me. I've prided myself for years on my physical fitness. It's something I work hard to keep at a high level. But since there's this little chick pea-sized neural tube deep in the dark recesses of my abdomen, I'm so easliy short-of-breath. Walking from the train into work this morning left me short of breath with a pounding heart. It took the first hour of my shift to recover. I usually climb the stairs from the cafeteria on the 2nd floor to our unit on the 5th. I just did that 45 minutes ago and I'm still huffing and puffing.

We told my grantparents and my sisters an brothers-in-law yesterday. My dad's mom knew right away. I didn't even get to finish my sentence and she asked: "are you?". She was excited and told me to stop working so hard. My other grandparents were tickled too, obviously. Now that they know it won't be long before the secret is out. We told my sisters and their husbands in a creative way. We incorporated the revelation into the course of a name guessing game that we sometimes play together. So they were taken quite off guard. Sean likes the playful ways of telling people because otherwise he thinks he'd succomb to tears in the telling.

We're looking for a good digital camera. We scoured the consumer reports yesterday and are on the search full force. Once I have the camera I'll be able to post belly pictures. This is a journal for posterity - it might be fun to look back and see the progress. Don't be afraid, it'll be fun.

I broke down and had a small cuppoJo last night at 3am. (Sorry little nrural tube) Now I want more. I'm so tired! Slept a little more than 6 hours after my last night shift. Now I'm wandering the house trying to make myself be productive or eat something. But only cool, wet lemonade is appealing to me right now. I have to figure out something to make for dinner but definately NOTHING peaks my fancy. I was going to make my dad's American Spaghetti. Too salty. Need fruit and juicy fresh produce. But I don't have the energy to run to the grocery. Hmmm, how can I creat something from the contents of my fridge?

At least I'm dressed in something other than sweats and my hair is done. And I have to say for the record, because this is probably one of the last times I'll ever say this, I actually look rather skinny in these Khakis that I'm wearing. Apart from the fact that my top half is bursting out of my shirt. No belly pictures of any interest yet in this pregnancy. We're almost to week 6. I'm in no rush.