February 28, 2004

We had a fun dinner with our friends Maya and Brian last night. They are 25 weeks pregnant, just eight days behind us. Isn't that something?! Here is our comparative belly-shot:

Latest in baby development news: the baby is now 1.75 lbs and 13 inches long, head to toe. Earlier measurements have been "crown to rump" but sometime in the last few weeks they start measuring all the way to their toes.

I think he or she sometimes takes his/her finger and specifically pushes out my belly button. It's not like that all the time - just sometimes. Funny little sense of humor, this little one.

February 26, 2004

Twenty-six weeks

So, I've been going to prenatal yoga since ridiculously early in my pregnancy - like ten weeks or something like that. Anyway, as I've mentioned earlier, most of this time I have sort of snickered to myself as Lynda, our instructor, would say, "spread your legs as far as you need to in order to fit your belly between them" (sounds weird, but it makes sense in yoga). I've also noticed over this time that I have been particularly flexible and strong, staying in squats with proud ease while others were coming out of pose early. Ha! Yesterday, in yoga, I was a grunting, whining wimp! Turns out that it wasn't my powerhouse strength that made these poses nice and easy for me, but my still relatively svelte belly. Now, with my very own big ol' belly, my grace has turned into FACE!

We have had two meetings with the builder this week about our remodel. It's looking pretty real, all drawn out on paper. We should have an actual bid by next week. Assuming the bid is similar to our expectations, we should be starting the remodel about a week before Baby is due... lovely timing, yes? Thank goodness for Jim's mom, Norma (for a thousand reasons and...), for letting us stay in her house located right next door to our house for the four to six months it will take to complete the remodel/addition.

My friend Terry, who I already loved even before she started doing massage, is in the Massage Therapy program here in Bend (and boy do I love her now!). Tuesday she gave me a fabulous prenatal massage (much better than the prenatal massage I got from a 17 year massage therapist about a month ago) and gave Jim a massage, too. Have you had a massage lately? If not, m-a-n, you must! Nothin' like it. Yes, nothing.

Remember how I said we'd have a belly picture about three weeks ago - before the last one? Well, we got the film developed in our usual timely manner. So, here's my five month belly (in white tank)... how does it compare to the six month belly (in blue top) from February 15? (It was windy that day, Tina! I didn't DO my hair like that!)

February 21, 2004

Twenty-five weeks

It's possible I'm giving the wrong impression with all my baby-worry here - I am having a fabulous time being pregnant. I love feeling the baby move and daydreaming about meeting this little baby. Plus, being pregnant feels special, in spite of the fact that millions of women have been doing it for centuries. Just want to clear that up since I've gotten some reassuring notes as a result of some of my writing. I still love reassuring notes, though, so keep 'em coming!

Lots of times, I actually forget I'm pregnant. Did I tell you about the time I tossed on Jim's pajama bottoms to go in the backyard and I couldn't believe how tight they were? I had this panic moment of, "Oh my gohd, I really must be getting fat and I didn't even realize it!" Then I remembered I was pregnant.

Pregnancy is like a whole underworld I never knew existed with all the maternity clothes and baby supply circles as well as all the perks of being pregnant. Yesterday, at Safeway, I was unloading my cart onto the belt at the check-out counter. I'm pretty sure I wasn't doing it wrong, but the checker says to me, "Would you like help unloading those items?" Who knew people get asked that?! I've certainly never been asked that, and there have definitely been times it was clear that I'd rather be finishing the People magazine article I picked up upon arriving in line than putting my groceries on the belt. I can only surmise it is because I'm pregnant. Anyway, as tempted as I was to read the latest sex survey in Redbook, I did the noble thing and said, "no, thank you", so as not to ruin the whole thing for pregnant women everywhere.

While I do love being pregnant, it's funny to what lengths I'll go to get the baby to move when I haven't felt her/him for a while. The fun thing is, they say eating makes the baby more active, and that seems to be true for our baby (shocker!) - so sometimes additional snacking is in order to do appropriate baby-checks. If I haven't felt her/him for a while, I'll just have a snack and lay on my side. If that doesn't do it, I'll start poking around at my belly and laying in various crazy positions. If that doesn't do it, I irrationally worry until I feel her or him move. I got a good tip yesterday from www.babycenter.com. They said to lay on my back and rock from one side to the other and see how the baby reacts. Our baby did a whole dog and pony show! It was fun! They also said to try tapping where the baby is kicking, or tickle his or her feet, but when I tried that our baby just stopped all activity. Pretty smart kid not reinforcing annoying habits - that would bug me, too, frankly.

February 15, 2004

Happy Valentine's Day (yesterday)! We celebrated Valentine's Day with take-out Indian food (yum) and Jim kicking my fanny by 100 points in Scrabble (romantic of him...) He did buy me a gigantic imported chocolate bar, so it all balances out.

Recent baby development info indicates our baby is about 1.25 lbs and 8.5 inches long right now, and working on his or her fingernails. Apparently, the skin is really wrinkly at this stage because fat is just beginning to develop. Don't worry, Kid - Mommy's taking it on for both of us.

Speaking of, here's us today on our hike-walk in the Central Oregon Badlands. See the baby?!

Jim is looking outdoorsy and slim, however.

We just watched For Better or For Worse, the documentary made by Aaron's boss. If you haven't seen this film, it's very, very cool - you should check it out. I'm going to show it to my Interpersonal Communication class tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning at 8am they begin busting into our walls to see if our house is structurally prepared for the remodel/addition. Cross your fingers.

February 13, 2004

Twenty-four Weeks

Our midwife appointment yesterday was pretty uneventful. Baby's heartbeat is normal - around 150 beats per minute. My fundus (don't worry, remember this isn't as private as it sounds - it's just pelvic bone to the top of the uterus) measures about 23.5 cm, which is just about right. So, all's fine according to Mickie. And, I feel pretty great.

Next appointment, at twenty-eight weeks, they check me for diabetes. They gave me free fancy 7up.

We got our camcorder yesterday! So, here's the first shot:

Maybe not what you expected, but it was what was available at the time. More this weekend, when we learn how to make it not so grainy.

Today I had one person tell me how fabulously your life changes when you have kids and another person said, "then your whole life changes - believe me", with all of the doomsaying nonverbal to accompany such a comment. I like the first person better, though I didn't really know either of them.

February 11, 2004

Sometimes there's just not a lot of interesting stuff to share. It's been a quiet week. A few random things...

I failed to celebrate and honor the one year anniversary of Jim's ownership of Quality Sweeping and subsequent organization of Open Road, Inc. on February 1st. In fact, I just realized it's been a year two nights ago. So, last night I made a variation on Chicken Cordon Bleu (here's the recipe I used as a foundation, creating various twists in my version) and a chocolate cake as a surprise celebration. The chicken was yummy. The cake was dry (I didn't have buttermilk - maybe that was it) but Jim insists it, too, was yummy. He's very generous. We had a nice conversation over dinner about what a leap his purchase of Quality Sweeping was and, overall, how well it has worked out for our lifestyle. And he's come a long way from those first anxious nights of business ownership!

I also got my haircut. It's pretty short. But that's not that interesting.

In yoga today we learned how to walk on each other's feet to do a Shiatsu foot massage. It's amazing! Try this: One person kneel on the floor facing the couch, so your elbows are resting on the couch. Have your feet laying top side down on the floor, so the soles of your feet are facing the ceiling. Have your partner face away from you and use the heels of their feet to literally walk on the soles of your feet. It is amazing! Really - try it. Go try it, now.

Tomorrow we have an appointment with Mickie, our midwife. We also arrive at 24 weeks pregnant. This morning I measured around my belly. It's 39 inches of pure baby - tee hee!

Have you seen the latest pictures of Miles (our nephew)?! Unbelievable! He's getting so big and even more gorgeous!

February 9, 2004

We signed a deal with the builder to begin exploring our walls, plumbing, under the house, etc. to see what we're really in for with this remodel. If it looks reasonably possible, we'll begin official plans. Here we go...

February 5, 2004

Twenty-three weeks

Met with the builder and designer again about our remodel. The price keeps rising but it's our own fault. We keep adding new things to the plan. You can't help but think, "Well, if we're going to be doing all this, we might as well..." I'm starting to think 'we might as well' move to Arkansas where we can actually afford the house we want.

After our last appointment, in a panic, I insisted we go look at houses in the neighborhood to see if we can just buy a bigger house. Not looking good.

On a more fun note, Baby seems to be able to tickle all sides of my uterus simultaneously. Must be using fingers and toes all at once.

February 4, 2004

Thanks to our friends Dave and Tamantha, we now have a vibrating bouncy seat, two infant car seats, a very cool portable play yard (I guess "play pen" isn't really appropriate terminology anymore) and a mobile for our baby. It's pretty weird-cool to see the accumulation of baby paraphenalia in our house.

I've also scored some awesome maternity clothes from our friend Maya, who got them from Sue. I love this whole pregnancy and baby supply circle thing - I never even knew it existed! Guess you gotta be "in" the baby crowd before you get the goods.

We watched the Super Bowl at Dave and Tamantha's and their sweet little two-year-old girl, Sequoia, kept lifting my shirt and saying "cute baby". Yep.

February 2, 2004

I'll leave out the more-than-you-want-to-know details, but I had reason to want to confirm that I wasn't leaking amniotic fluid today. So, I called our midwife's office and the Dr. on call said it was a good idea to check things out. So, at 10pm tonight we went to the hospital. Things checked out fine, as we thought they would, and it wasn't amniotic fluid. Apparently, sometimes it just feels like it could be... pregnancy isn't only beautiful, turns out.

I'm still just surprised at all the little things you are supposed to watch for during pregnancy. Jim is going to take away my ever-growing stack of pregnancy books for fear I will become obsessed with each twitch in my body. Hard to blame him.