Minute Maid

Well this certainly threw off our whole guessing game of what produce would come next! I think this is cheating! All the same, by the end of this next week, Sam will weigh about as much as four navel oranges (about 3.3 pounds). Sam's beginning to move all parts of his body more (his head moves side to side and his limbs flail). I definitely am feeling this and it is not unusual that most times I sit down, we will get to see a show of body parts moving across my belly! It is SO cool!

The family I have been doing some babysitting for has a cat and as he has started to become more familiar with me, she seeks me out and sits next to me and nuzzles my belly! It is adorable! The mom has said that when she was pregnant, she always had one cat curled up against her and the other laying across her tummy!

I am starting to get a little nervous about how much Sam will start to grow pretty soon. Starting soon, I will gain about a pound a week! I have done so well so far (I am quite proud of myself!) and am hoping to keep it up! My favorite part of our doctor's appointment last week was when he said that my weight gain was just perfect! Women LOVE to hear that! Especially pregnant women :) I'm so proud, I will even document that I have only gained 14 pounds total so far!

29 1/2 Weeks

Kick Count

As of Tuesday we will officially be 30 weeks into this game! WOW! At our doctor's appointment last week, we were told that we need to do a kick count each day. We are supposed to write down a period of time (no longer than two hours) when we feel the baby kick ten times. While he has been much more active (except when I was in IL...hmmm...) it was like a switch flipped and he never sleeps now! It's like he knows we're keeping an eye on him. I do appreciate him being so helpful so that I don't have cause to freak out!

Two For Three Isn't So Bad

In the OB practice we have chosen there are five doctors. They "strongly encourage" you to see all five before going into labor since they cannot guarantee who will deliver the baby. We instantly loved the first doctor we saw and ended up seeing her quite a bit while I was working a more constricted schedule since she was the only one who stayed "late." "Late" = past noon... Anyways, yesterday we saw our third doctor and we LOVED him! I would be thrilled if he showed up to deliver Sam! We just got a really good vibe and I felt like he would have stayed there all day and answered any more questions I could have come up with. We are starting to find out that all of the doctors have their own ways of doing things. Some use different strategies when delivering, others have certain rules for their patients, and they even perform circumcisions with different techniques. It's making me even happier that we don't have a strict birth plan we want followed. While we have obvious goals in mind, I don't feel like we have any unrealistic expectations. We have two more doctors to see and we have heard good things about each of them. The one we saw so far that we didn't click with wasn't terrible (I would trust her to deliver my baby) but I don't feel like I would be comfortable asking her questions during a routine visit or take her answers as much to heart. We saw her once, that's all that's required, moving on...

We are also able to cross "find a pediatrician" off of our list! WOO HOO! I definitely felt like I was researching that so early and even going in for a prenatal visit because the books said so. I got a recommendation from a friend, went yesterday and was quite pleased with the results. I really liked the doctor I met with, liked everything I heard about the practice, so I see no reason to traipse around interviewing more doctors. The thing I liked best here was that there was only one location (growing up, so many times the offices furthest from our house were the only ones open. Sure there was ONE convenient location, but a long car ride is never what you want when you are the sick kid of have a sick kid.) and that they have fabulous hours (6am-8pm)! Sign me up!

The list is actually getting shorter of things we want/need to accomplish :)

Cabbage Head

And we have our second comparison to a type of cabbage...we still haven't seen a Chinese cabbage in the produce department at the grocery store, but by the end of this week, Sam will weigh about three pounds equalling the weight of a head of cabbage! There is also about a pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounding him, which explains the sloshing sensation I feel at times ;) A good example of how much babies change in the first few weeks of life is this: when Sam comes out, his vision will be 20/400! That's crazy! He won't be able to focus on anything too far away and will mostly notice changes in light.

Apparently I have new bouts of clumsiness and mood swings to look forward to. Poor Josh! I've been doing pretty well lately with the whole moodiness thing, but I'm sure it will spike again soon :/ I'm also sad that sleeping through the night is no longer an option. I suppose it's preparing me for the first part of Sam's life, but wouldn't it be more kind to let me just keep sleeping comfortably right now? I'm already carrying this little guy around everywhere I go--what more does he want?!

We have started childbirth classes and I think they will be really useful. Last week was the first week and some of the stories our nurse shared were really funny! It makes me want to commit even more to being a flexible person once I go into labor. I really want to start being a more flexible person in general and I am aiming to be the most flexible during that whole experience. (All of you that are laughing at me--I can hear you! I really can do this!) :P

P.S. The picture for last week didn't upload when I posted, but it is there now!

Squish Squash

We foresee squash as being Sam's favorite veggie once he starts on solid foods. This is the second squash that he has been compared to! A few weeks ago it was a spaghetti squash and by the end of this week he will weigh about as much as a butternut squash. Interesting that squash has the market cornered on prenatal comparisons...

Anyways, by the end of this week (week 29), Sam will weigh about 2.5 pounds and measure just over 15 inches! Our latest information blurb that we read said that because his nutritional demands are increasing, I will need to have plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, and iron. I definitely have felt a jump in how hungry I am (like ALL the time!) and I'm trying to make good decisions! Thank goodness ice cream contains calcium :) Apparently about 250 mg of calcium are deposited in Sam's hardening skeleton each day during this last trimester! WOW!

Bathroom Yoga: It WILL Happen to You!

I think this sounds like an excellent title for a book, don't you think? The title comes from two things. First, once I landed in Chicago, it seems my body moved into the next phase of pregnancy. A whole new round of things started happening and the biggest one was I could feel my hips spreading. I felt really dumb in restaurants just standing up periodically, but it hurt to sit for a long time! After my last shower (where I'd been sitting for a while) we went to visit my grandma who is recovering from knee replacement surgery and sat and talked with her for a while. My hips were killing me so on a trip to the bathroom I decided to try out some of the yoga stretches I know feel so good... while I was still in the bathroom. It did help! But, I also felt ridiculous! From then on, all the things I thought were made up, have started happening to me. It started with the hips and has moved on to not being able to lean over all the way when sitting down, not being able to tie my shoes, and having trouble rolling over in bed. I'm sure there's more to come and now I believe that anything can happen to your body while you are pregnant!

Trip to Illinois!

We recently got back from a wonderful trip home to see my family and lots of friends! I was so excited that Josh got to come too. He made it work at the last minute and it was really nice to get to hang out with people one last time before Sam gets here. The highlights of the trip were definitely our two baby showers :) I had one with friends from my old school and another with an assortment of friends and family. One thing is for sure, we might be living in Virginia, but our baby is destined to be a Chicago sports fan! We also made the rounds to favorite restaurants and other fun places. It also gave me a chance to really envision how our trip home for the holidays will work. We are planning to travel to Evanston for Christmas and New Years. It looks like I might fly home with Sam on my own so that we can stay a bit longer once Josh goes back to work. In all honesty, I'm really hoping to be that organized looking mom with the adorable (and quiet) baby in the airport...We'll see how that goes!

Chinese Cabbage Anyone???

We are completely baffled by what a Chinese cabbage is, let alone how it is much different than the size of the cauliflower from last week...Apparently, since Sam is approaching the size of a Chinese cabbage, he should weigh about 2 1/4 pounds and measure about 14.8 inches long! It is becoming more and more real to me that there is an actual person growing inside me who is beginning to be able to hear and see! I was outside the other afternoon and a fire truck went screaming by and it occurred to me that Sam was probably hearing that too!

Yesterday I had my glucose test and I'm not going to lie, the "beverage" you have to drink was TERRIBLE! It was especially bad because it had a strong resemblance to orange soda (one of my guilty pleasures) and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to drink orange soda again :( Hopefully I won't hear anything from the doctor, meaning I passed!

Cauliflower Head

Since I'm a little late posting this week's update, all of this info applies to Sam's accomplishments by Tuesday :) He will weigh almost two pounds (about the weight of a head of cauliflower) and measure about 14.5 inches long! He is awake at regular intervals (I can attest to that!). Since he started moving, Sam has been a fan of late-night, but now he is usually awake for a chunk of the afternoon! Today we saw him going to town across my belly for a good few minutes! We read that Sam's brain is very active now since more brain tissue has developed. I guess that's good! We do feel a bit relieved that if for some unknown reason Sam felt the need to come into the world now, he'd have a pretty good chance of surviving, but we are continuing our discussions about staying in for a good while longer :)

While I haven't officially entered my third trimester, I am feeling much more pregnant these days. I am definitely enjoying air conditioning and am feeling the need to eat smaller meals (but definitely lots of them) since there isn't as much room inside me anymore. We got a really good report at the doctor a week and a half ago and have our official start date for childbirth classes! YAY! I have my glucose test on Monday, but I'm not terribly worried about that. Hopefully that will show all is well too--cross your fingers :)