The 8-Week Countdown!

We just concluded 32 weeks of pregnancy today and begin our eighth month! I am increasingly amazed at how fast this pregnancy has gone by and increasingly anxious about having this baby! Our childbirth classes are helping in that department; with every class, I (we) become more confident in the whole birthing process and that helps decrease the fears I have about it. I still have much fear--well, more like nervousness--about being a mom but I suppose we have to take it one thing at a time: first deal with childbirth and then deal with the child!

Speaking of the child, here is he/she today:


Even though I still feel like I am more boobs than belly, there is a healthy baby in there! At our appointment on Wednesday, I was measuring 33 weeks--pretty much right on time! So, while my belly isn't the typical basketball looking thing, there is a normal-sized kid in there! I am constantly reminded of this reality; his/her movements are very strong and frequent! Our NP said that baby is head-down already--in the perfect spot to deliver nice, swift kicks to my ribs! Thankfully, I think I feel elbow jabs most of the time; the kick-in-the-ribs often knock the wind out of me! I have also continued to feel hiccups...Doug even felt them, recently! Everyday is an adventure with this little one and I can only imagine what it will be like when he/she is with us on the outside!

Doug and I are really enjoying our childbirth classes and, particularly, our meditations that are a part of the hypnobirthing program. I have had some trouble sleeping lately but last night, after doing the meditation, I slept all the way through the night until 5 AM, got up to pee, came back to bed and went promptly back to sleep! I have struggled all week with not being able to go back to sleep once I got up, and even having to get up and eat something because I was awake long enough for my body to think it was breakfast time! So, not only am I preparing for a satisfying birth experience, I am already reaping the rewards of hypnobirthing! Whoo hoo! We are also learning good relaxation techniques in our Tuesday night class; Doug learned how to simulate contractions on my thigh so I can practice breathing through them and--at least with the simulated contractions, the breathing works! Incidentally, because of my allergies, I discovered that I need to back on Claritin (according to NP, safe for the baby) so I can breathe...

We embark on a new adventure tomorrow...the baby shower! My dear pal Tracy and dear sister-in-law Catherine are hosting it...they are the best. :) I am really looking forward to celebrating this pregnancy with friends and family. I hear there is a special dessert as well...can a pregnant lady ask for anything more? Family, good friends and dessert!?!?! I will make sure to post about it when we get back...

Have great weekends and see some of you tomorrow!

Nightmares, charlie horses and stretch marks

Yes, folks...I am officially pregnant. Very pregnant. While many people still look at me and shake their heads ("You don't look that pregnant! You barely look pregnant!"), I assure you that baby is right on track development-wise and I AM pregnant, complete with nightmares, nighttime charlie horse calf cramps and, even, yes, stretch marks.

We had the first of our every-two-week appointments with our OB/NP yesterday and, as I said, baby continues to grow inside of my ever-expanding belly. My uterus stretches up to under my ribcage now and have felt the occasional rib-kick. Baby is about 3 lbs now and is still performing amazing acrobatics, although not as crazily as before (less room for him or her to ricochet off the uterine walls, I guess). I feel him/her pretty much all day long, even in just the littlest of movements. I think I felt hiccups the other day--I was expecting it to be "cute" little thuds but they were frankly somewhat violent! Poor kid...I understand...I hate the hiccups, too.

We also began childbirth class on Tuesday! There are eight other couples besides ourselves and so far, we are pleased with the teacher, her philosophy, etc. She is even incorporating some hypnobirthing methods, which is great--considering we begin our hypnobirthing class on Sunday evening. Never heard of hypnobirthing? Here's a good link:

http://www.hypnobirthing.com/

We'll share more about it once our classes begin!

As for the Tuesday class, it is offered through our OB's practice and is a combo of many different methods. What is sort of funny is that Doug and I seem to be the oldest couple there; so many of the couples seem so so young! A couple of gals, especially, seem no older than about 20...wow. I know that we are not "old," per se but I felt somewhat old, sitting in that room with all of those bright and shiny faces. We'll see how the rest of the 5 weeks go!

So about the nightmares, charlie horses and stretch marks: those have been just a few of the fun experiences the third trimester has brought. I knew about stretch marks (figured I get them at some point) but I did not previously know that nightmares and charlie horse leg cramps are normal occurrences during pregnancy. I wake up nearly every night out of a deep, disturbing sleep at about 4 AM...having had some crazy nightmare-like dream. They are all stress-related, according to what I have read. My brain is apparently trying to work out the stress I feel about birth, being a mom, etc. and thus I have dreams about running from gangs of murderous thugs or (and this one is my most recent and pretty obvious) trying to get somewhere but missing the plane because I was trying to get everything ready and I had too much to pack. Don't need to be Freud to interpret that one. :)

To add insult to injury, when I wake up in sweaty panic, I am usually dealing with a charlie horse cramp and the intense need to pee...ugh! At least it is still only once a night, we learned in childbirth class that as soon as the baby "drops" (expect that to happen anywhere around 36-37 weeks), my bladder will be able to handle about a tablespoon of pee. I suppose I should be thankful around that time...at least the nightmares will go away because I won't be sleeping--just peeing every hour or so.

And stretch marks...they finally appeared about a week ago. I just have them right under my belly and am trying to keep them under control with Burt's Bees Mama's Belly Butter. I am not too heartbroken...no one will ever see them other than Doug and as I mentioned before, I was expecting them. They are frankly the least of my worries....I'd take the stretch marks over the crappy nightmares, any day. I really hate the nightmares.

I must also share the general dinginess/distractedness I have increasingly experienced also during this crazy third trimester. To put it into perspective: tomorrow is the last day we can say we have double-digit weeks until the baby is born. When we wake up on Saturday, we are less than 10 weeks away from his/her arrival. Yes, we are excited but as it gets closer, the more terrified I get and the more distracted I am. It is extremely difficult to think about anything else other than BABY. As I was sitting in my only class last night, I caught myself at least twice not paying attention at all...I was not able to recall anything anyone had just said. I don't do that...I am an extremely attentive student but I seem to have lost my edge. This is somewhat depressing; I always pride myself on having something meaningful to say but lately, well...my contributions are mediocre at best. I am still putting in all of the work and trying my hardest but, man, it is just really hard. How do other women show up for 8-hour workdays? My hat off to them...wow.

That's enough from me...for now.

Third Trimester...can you believe it?!?

Last Friday, we reached a major milestone in this pregnancy: the third trimester! We had our 28 week appointment with Dr. Beingesser and everything looks great: no gestational diabetes, baby's development is good, my weight is good...all is going perfectly! The baby him/herself seems happy; he/she is movin' and groovin...we can finally see his/her movements on the outside of my belly now! I have also noticed his/her routine: his/her most active times are 10:00 AM and 10:00 PM--and when I wake up to pee one-three times a night, as I fall asleep, I can feel the little one kicking away.

With only 12 weeks to go, we have put preparations into high gear! We are signed up for childbirth classes: one with our OB's group and another with a local hypnobirthing coach. We just selected our doula--she will support both Doug and I throughout labor, birth and will also serve as our lactation consultant. Jacque is highly recommended by EVERYONE...including our OB! We are so excited that things seem to be coming together...

Speaking of which, take a look at these photos! Tracy and Mike came to visit this weekend and together we made major progress on two of our major house-projects: the bathroom and the baby's room! The baby's room is definitely looking like such, particularly with the addition of his/her crib:


With the addition of the crib, it makes our impending parenthood that much more real, to say the very least. We still have a lot to do to prepare for baby's arrival but having a crib in the house makes his/her arrival seem so, so close. I still sometimes stop and in a semi-panic think, "is this really happening?" For the most part, however I am just so excited to meet him/her. I have a feeling that he/she will seem to arrive in no time: the next couple of months are shaping up to be busy! We have three baby showers to attend, childbirth classes to begin, my grad class to finish and just our regular lives to lead: work, friends, church and maybe some more frequent date nights before time together becomes a bit more limited.

The excitement continues...

Pregnancy goes on...

And on and on...just like the heat...which, by the way, is not a good mix. We have had some of the hottest weather here lately, almost every day has reached over 100 degrees. I was never a big fan of the heat but Fresno heat...I could handle. Not anymore. I rarely go outside, in fact! On day, I realized that I had only been outside to take out the recyling and that was bad enough. Again, I thank my lucky stars that I don't really need to go anywhere most of the time...I do my work from our lovely, air-conditioned home. I am not the only one, by the way, exhausted from the heat and this pregnancy:


One good thing about the heat is that the paint in the baby's room dries extra-quickly and as a result, it is nearly done! Here is a picture of the room, in progress:

The difference between the old room and this one is remarkable...just a couple of new coats of paint (see the old room here) changed it completely. Doug continues to paint...I think he will be done fairly soon! We received our crib last week, which waits to be set up after all painting is complete.

As you may see, we are progressing! I am getting bigger and bigger (although still not too big...when you start out pretty big, a little baby doesn't make too much of a splash, I guess) and the baby is more and more active. He or she is constantly moving, kicking, turning...I don't actually know what he or she is doing but sometimes makes such a ruckus that it nearly stops me in my tracks. I was trying to explain how it feels to Doug but could not adequately express: tickling? vibrating? girgling? Like right now, I feel kicks at the bottom of my ribcage that are almost bubbly...like as if I had to burp, sort of. While I am not one of those women who praise the miracle of pregnancy everyday (most of the time it is too exhausting), feeling the baby kick and tumble makes the whole thing more than worth it. Here we are at week 25:


Even if I don't really look it...I do feel six months pregnant and sometimes I can't remember what it feels like to NOT be pregnant. Soon enough, however...it will be over and I'll have bigger fish to fry than sensitivity to the heat and wanting to sleep all of the time. Well, maybe the sleepiness will persist for awhile...

Behold the Belly

Finally, the belly shots!

We'll be doing weekly shots and posting them here until the baby is born so you can all see the progress.

I had to get this photo in, especially with this shirt that Jenn gave me for father's day. I admit it, I am responsible!

Getting Ready!

It's just amazing to me that we'll be 24 weeks pregnant tomorrow! If this pregnancy follows family tradition, we really have only about 12-14 weeks before we welcome Baby Mayer into the world. I think back to when I was 12 weeks pregnant--when we began to tell the world our exciting news--and how I thought I had all the time in the world before we'd actually meet our son or daughter. The gap is closing very fast and while I am trying to really enjoy the present--the pregnancy--I am getting increasingly excited to meet our little one! Of course, I am also getting increasingly nervous--I still cannot completely believe that Doug and I will soon be someone's parents.

Because time is getting short, we set aside last weekend to clean out our second room and prepare it for baby. Doug's mom and bro came over to help us organize, clean, prep and paint the baby's room! It looks like a baby's room now--a pleasant light green. The baby's Aunt Catherine and Uncle Dan gave us the green paint over a year ago--it wasn't quite what they wanted for their own bedroom but, as Aunt Catherine suspected, it is a perfect baby's room color. Thank you, Dan and Catherine!

Room Before

Sharon (Doug's mom) and Chris (Doug's bro) provided incredible help! Since I had to stay away from primer and paint (not to mention the wall-cleaning solution), they helped Doug tremendously and the room looks so good! More than that, it FEELS SO GOOD to have such a major project done! When we walk in the room, we can imagine a crib against the wall and soon, a baby sleeping in that crib in the brightest and cheeriest room in our home. We could not be so ready without their help--thanks SO much, Mom and Bro! We will post photos of the nursery-in-progress soon! Doug received a fantastically fancy camera for his birthday but had to return it. It had some pixel problem. Once we get the replacement, we'll make sure to add photos!

I had my second-to-last monthly appointment with our OB today. All looks good! Dr. B saw the baby move across my abdomen as she was listening for his/her heartbeat--this little one is SOOO active! I am sure he/she is simply getting bigger and stronger, and therefore I feel him/her so much more. Last night, as I was falling asleep, he/she just thumped, thumped, thumped relentlessly--I wonder how much more crazy his/her movements will become as he/she gets bigger! I know that my body is finally feeling the strain of the kid--I have pretty constant lower back pain and have gained a total of about 7-8 lbs--hopefully I am about halfway through the weight gain (I honestly shouldn't gain more than 15-20 lbs total).

And I must share that Dr. B thinks the baby is a girl! She doesn't know and, in fact, no one does! I had her check the chart to see if anything indicated sex. She said no. So, what I thought might have been a slip on our NP's part, wasn't a slip! NP thinks the baby is a boy, and Dr. B thinks girl! For the longest time I was sure it was a boy, then a girl, now--I just don't know. My mom had a girl first, my grandmother had a girl first (well, only a girl), and my great-grandmother had a girl first (out of 4) but I don't think that means much! Sharon was her parents' first child yet she had a boy first. Looks like we are back to honestly not knowing--just where we want to be. Hooray!

School begins next week! I am taking one class and continuing my research work. I am excited about getting back to school--this is my last class and hopefully I can begin writing my thesis next semester and graduate perhaps next fall. We are also taking a childbirth class, beginning in October. I'll hopefully finish both classes (English and childbirth) right before Thanksgiving--just in case the little one (following family tradition) makes an early entrance. We'll see!

The Long Lost Dad

Sorry about the absence from the blog here, but, as usual, I've been fairly busy. Between work and home, I wonder how I will ever keep up when the baby comes. From what my friends and workmates have told me, they also had the same fear. The consensus seems to be that, like everything else, you just do what you need to do.

In the post below, Jenn related our unplanned trip to the hospital and what that entailed. I wanted to wait until she said something before I chimed in on that evening as I think it was her story to tell. As for me, I was also frightened, but I had the feeling that nothing was really wrong. Everything up until that point indicated that the baby was healthy, developing normally and that we couldn't hope for a better pregnancy. With those thoughts in mind, I just couldn't bring myself to believe that, suddenly, something was amiss. However, I wasn't fully convinced until the moment the nurse applied the fetal monitor to Jenn's belly and we heard that now familiar fast-beating heart. I knew then everything was alright.

One thing in particular that was not alright about that evening (besides the general scare of being at the ER) was how I felt I was treated by the attending nurse. By the time we left the hospital it was around midnight, we were exhausted and I didn't think much about it. I mentioned it to Jenn on the way home, but didn't really start thinking about it till the next day. Now, I was extremely happy about the way Jenn was cared for and treated while we were there, so I have no complaints in that area. However, I felt I could have been an inatimate object for all the attention that I was paid during our nearly two-and-a-half hours we were in the room. In that whole time the nurse spoke directly to me twice -- once to say something I can't remember and the other time to tell me there is a remote control for the tv on the bedside table.

Justifiable or not, this irked me. As if I was just going to sit back, relax and watch the tube while my wife was laying not two feet from me worrying about the health of our baby. Jenn was, rightfully, the focus of attention that evening and like I said, I was very happy with her treatment. But at the same time, I would like to believe that my presence serves some purpose and I want to be involved during the pregnancy. Unfortunately, the nurse did not even include me in any of the conversations she had with Jenn while we were there.

I don't know...maybe it was just that particular nurse, or maybe she wasn't really trying to exclude me, or maybe that is standard procedure and it really bugs me because I want to be involved and even though I'm not pregnant, I am still a part of this event. Anyway, sorry about the mini-rant...I'm just hoping that night was not indicative of our future visits. Hope I'm not being a prat.

I finally started reading "The Expectant Father", which was loaned to me by Tracy's brother, Dan. I'm a little late starting into it, but I had to finish reading Harry Potter! The book is great so far, although it is going over many of the things Jenn has already been through, but it is still very informative. I was a bit hesitant to start reading these parenting books, mainly because it would make me realize how much I don't know and then I would freak out and feel like I need to ready every parenting book I could get my hands on. That is the classic engineer in me -- I need to know exactly how to do everything. I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I'm just going to have to wing a lot of stuff from here on out!

Oh, and how cool is it to feel the baby kicking mama's belly?! Such a trip.