30 weeks down, 10 to go!

Wow! I can't believe that I am 3/4 of the way through this pregnancy. It's a little sad to me. I've had a GREAT pregnancy so far, and the realizations are there that I'm going to be someone's MOM!
There are only 2 complaints about the pregnancy. (I don't want people to think that it was too good to be true!) #1. I had round ligament pain for about two weeks halfway through the second trimester. It's when the ligaments in your pelvic area stretch out to accomodate the baby. It hurts like...I don't know, but it hurts a LOT!! #2. is sleeping recently. It hurts right at my hip flexor. (or where my leg joings at the hip if I'm not using the proper term.) It has started recently, and I'm sure it has to do with my growing belly. If I lay on one side too long it will get sore. So, during the night I wake up and have to switch sides. That'll work until the next time I wake up, and then both sides hurt! When I woke up at 5 AM, I put a pillow under my hip, and I think that helped. I'll have to try it again tonight.
Now, The picture that Erik took today makes me look huge! I'm not sure if it's all me or if it's me and the shirt. Maternity clothes definitely make you look bigger! I think that women can hide their bellies in big t-shirts. But, why not show off my stomach while I actually want to do it?!?! Enjoy! :)

Doctor's appointment

I have my 29/30 week appointment today. The main concern for this appointment was whether or not my placenta had moved up over my cervix. I think I said before, but I'll say again, that if the placenta is low, the chances of having to have a c-section is a lot greater. I had an ultrasound, and the tech said that everything looks great! The baby is doing well. She must have been almost asleep during the appointment, because her heart rate was only 124 bpm! That's a good resting rate, so nothing to be concerned with. We could see that her hand was by her mouth, so I have a feeling that she could have been sucking her thumb. Too cute! Her head is still down by my right hip, so I guess she really likes it there!
The best part of the appointment (besides the ultrasound) was finding out that I didn't gain any weight between the last appointment and this one. Remember that before I had gained 7 lbs in a month, and I didn't like that at all! I understand that you are supposed to gain weight while pregnant, but I have been trying to do it in a healthy way. I can't say that I haven't indulged in yummy treats whenever possible, but I'm not over doing it when I have a treat.
As you may remember, last week was spring break for me. One day I went to Target, and found this super cute outfit! Even though Erik says I shouldn't buy too many clothes (we're depending on you all to get them for us!), I had to buy this outfit! Everyone always talks about the "going home" outfit that the baby wears, and I definitely think this one is it! I know that it's kind of an Easter-y type outfit, but I still think it's going to be okay for her long 5 mile trip home. :) It says, "Just hatched" in case you can't read it!

French doors

Well, I think that I have accomplished almost everything on my Spring break to do list! The only thing that I didn't get enough of was sleep. I am very relaxed, though, and Erik and I are just hanging out for the night. He's been watching basketball, and I'm (obviously) playing on the computer.
One of the things that I wanted to accomplish this week was getting french doors put in. We had a sliding glass door in the dining room leading to the back yard. We had a friend from church come over today to take out the sliding glass doors and put in the new french ones. I think they look great! The only thing that we didn't get done was putting the trim back up around the door. The guy that was helping had to leave because it's his mom's birthday today and he and his wife were having his parents over for dinner. He is going to come back Tuesday night to finish the job.
The other part of the job that he will help with is putting in a new doggie door. We had one that attached to the sliding door, but no longer works. We are going to cut a hole in the wall (yikes!) and put in a new doggie door for Ginger and Tracy. They are already driving us a little crazy with having to be let in and outside. Plus, they have gone pretty much their whole lives with us being able to come and go as they please. I love having the doggie doors so that I don't ever have to feel like I need to rush home and let them out because they've been stuck inside for too long. They like to run outside and bark at people/things, too!
As soon as the doors are completed I'll get pictures for you to see. I'll do a before and after shot on here, and then post the in between ones on snapfish.

Childbirthing classes

Thursday night started Erik's and my childbirthing classes. We'll have them for the next 5 weeks. We are the babies in the group, meaning that we're the last to have our little one. All of the other women are due in May. I think that there weren't enough women due around when I am to have another class, so they stuck us in this one. Don't get me wrong--I know that a LOT of women are due in June, but maybe not a lot signed up for the birthing class! And, everyone is really nice, so we feel welcome. The first class started with meeting and greeting people. One of the ladies there is the mom of a former student. Weird! She's not pregnant, but came with her neice or friend whose significant other couldn't make it. Luckily, I like the son, so I was able to say nice things about him!
Back to class--after introductions, the instructor talked to us about different terms that we'll need to know, and what happens to our body both while we're making the baby and while we're having the baby. Then she talked to us about a couple of massaging techniques (for the coaches) during labor, and we did one relaxation technique.
There was, of course, one guy trying to win the label of "class clown". He had something to say about everything! Maybe his wife got annoyed with him and said something after class. We'll cross our fingers that he quiets down a bit!
In two weeks we'll go with the class on the hospital tour. I think that'll be the class that I most look forward to!

Things to do during the break...

Here are my plans for this week. If you read the next post, you'll understand that it's spring break, and I'm trying to enjoy the quiet while I can!

To do list:
1. SLEEP!!!
2. Read
3. Finish the NYC scrapbook that I started in OCTOBER!! (I only have a few pages left!)
4. Get a tan. I know that it's been winter for too long when I no longer have tan lines!
5. Catch up on day time television.
6. Put in new french doors. Okay, I'm not the one actually doing this, but we are-hopefully-going to get them installed this weekend.
7. Play on the computer

Somewhere down the line, there's cooking and cleaning. I just don't want to add them to my list!

Spring break!!

I am sitting around enjoying my spring break, maybe a little too much. I can look around the house and see everything that needs to get done, but here I am playing on the computer! I can't help but think that this is my last vacation alone for a LONG time!
Erik and I took a trip to South Carolina last weekend. We left on Friday and first stopped in Savannah, Georgia for a couple of hours. Erik has wanted to go there for a long time, and it really is pretty. We didn't get to see as much as we would have liked because we were there with all of the St. Patrick's Day revelers. The streets were crowded, and it was almost impossible to find a parking spot! We had lunch there and walked around a bit. Actually, we walked around because we had to get to our car! Poor Erik had to keep slowing down for me. I can't walk as fast as I used to! From Savannah, we finished our driving to Edisto Beach. It is a place to go if you want to get away from it all and do a whole lot of nothing! Luckily, that's what I had in mind. We were there for just the right about of time--from Friday to Monday. I went from enjoying one vacation to enjoying this one! I can't believe that it's Wednesday already, and that the week is half over! I need to get my housework done so that I can really enjoy my break!

THIRD TRIMESTER

I can't believe it! I have officially made it to my 3rd trimester! Only 12 more weeks until we meet baby! People say that the second trimester is the longest, but looking back, I don't think it was too bad. I would say that the first one was the worst, only because of worrying about having another miscarriage. The second trimester was great because I started to show, and I started to feel the baby kick! Not to mention the fact that we found out that she's a she!!! I also think that the pregnancy has been fun for my students, because they didn't get to find out that I was pregnant until I was starting to show. So, they didn't know that I was pregnant without seeing anything. They've just gotten to see me grow these past couple of months.

For those of you who may be interested in seeing all of the 4D ultrasound pictures, you can access them on Snapfish. Go to www.snapfish.com Login cruisephotos@hotmail.com and password june19

I have another doctor's appointment on 3/26. This will be my final ultrasound. I get to have this last one (it's a regular one, not a 4D) because when we found out the sex, the nurse said that my placenta was sitting low. The ultrasound on the 26th will make sure that the placenta has moved up to a better position. The doctor isn't worried about it, she said that it happens all the time. But, women with low lying placentas (called placenta previa) are more likely to have to have a c-section.

More pictures!

Here are a few more pictures from our ultrasound yesterday. Baby was MUCH more cooperative, although she still likes to only show you one side of her face. We have now learned that she likes to suck her thumb, and is partial to keeping her head down by my hips. One picture is of her yawning. I'm sorry that we're so boring to her already!!

Baby name poll

Here is a Poll for all of you to help us with the name. Please vote for the spelling you like the best.

FYI

I got a call from the OB yesterday canceling my 4D appointment today. The technician has "pneumonia". I put that in quotes because it's questionable. No, I really believe this doctor's office. The last girlie doctor I went to probably lied all the time. It was a horrible practice, and it is rare for me to hear good things about it. But I digress...my appointment was rescheduled for Monday at 3:30. Hopefully baby will continue to cooperate!

27 weeks

I was going to wait until next week to post another picture of myself. On 3/14, I will officially start the 3rd trimester! Anyway, I think that I have hit a definite growth spurt in the past 3 weeks and am showing more than before. I am starting to get a lot more comments about how I look and questions about when the baby is due. People really are nicer when you are pregnant. (or when you look pregnant!!!) I enjoy the attention, but not the touching that I get. So far, I have only had one (1) person ask to touch my belly! I am getting used to it, though. I just don't understand the fascination with people wanting to touch pregnant women! It's not like they can feel the baby or anything! I don't even know if what I'm touching is baby or belly. And, if I am touching baby, I don't know what I'm touching. Oh well...

Check up

Hi,
I just wanted to let everyone know that I had my monthly doctor's appointment yesterday, and all is well. I'm a little ashamed to say that I gained 7 pounds last month! I really think part of it is that the appointment was in the afternoon, and I was STARVING all day long, so I ate more than I should have. Can you tell that I'm rationalizing? I've still only gained 14 pounds, I think. Gross! That means that half of the weight I've gained happened in the last month!! Great, that didn't make me feel better at all! Needless to say, I'm hitting the gym again starting today! I haven't been going recently, and now I feel badly that I'm paying for something that I'm not using.
Back to the baby--The doctor said that she's probably between 2 and 2 1/2 pounds. She measured my fundus for the first time. I had to ask her what it means, because, while I've read about it before, I didn't really know what it was for. She said that she measures from the top of my pelvis to the top of the placenta (around my heart). The measurement in centimeters should be the same as how many weeks I am along. I measured 27 centimeters, and I'll be 27 weeks tomorrow (Wednesday 3/7). The heartbeat was 140 bpm. Not bad. She's really calm! Last week at the 4D ultrasound her heart rate was 144 bpm.
I'm waiting until week 28 to post another picture. I might have to do it sooner, because I have definitely hit a growth spurt in the past couple of weeks! Don't forget that Thursday is the next ultrasound, and I'll be posting some more pictures!

Seaside Half Marathon

Erik and Drew can now officially say that they have run a half marathon. For those of you that don't know, a half marathon is 13.1 miles, and Drew is a teaching friend of mine who runs with Erik. The race was run in Seaside, Florida, a small beach town between Panama City and Destin. Drew's husband and I went as cheerleaders for the two. We dropped them off at the race Sunday morning, went to the condo where it was warm for an hour or so, and then waited for them at the finish line.

Erik and Drew ran the race is 1 hour and 54 minutes. I'm sure that there were some seconds in there, but I don't know what they are! Erik beat Drew by 10 seconds, which really isn't bad considering the fact that halfway through the race Erik stopped at a port-a-potty for a quick bathroom break. Somehow he was able to catch back up with Drew, and then they raced to the finish line at the end. As you can probably imagine, Erik's legs are longer than Drew's, and I'm sure he used them to his advantage.