34-35 Weeks... Birthday, Big belly, Ultrasound, Baby Shower, and More!

35 week belly! I don't think the picture really does my enormousness justice ;)

 Today I am 35 weeks pregnant, and it also happens to be my birthday!
26 years ago I was born four days after my mommy's February birthday, even though I was supposed to have been a March baby too ;) I have been celebrating all day with tons of contractions and cramping... Annnd I'm starting to get pretty nervous about the state of my preparedness for this child!

About a week ago we had our VERY LAST ultrasound (#5!) which went really well, as far as baby is concerned... Karl had to work and so my mom and Amaia (who just turned 6!) came with us. Evie was pretty good for most of it, but as we were trying to leave she threw an epic tantrum all the way out of the hospital and into the car and part of the way home... She's been doing that fairly regularly these days--I think it's because she's been skipping her naps :/

As for baby, he was measuring only about 2 days ahead this time around, but all his little body parts are looking perfect and he's not behind on his growth. The estimate is that he was weighing in at about 5 lbs 3 oz as of a week ago! He's currently head down (like he has been this whole pregnancy, good boy!), which is fantastic news.

We couldn't get a very good picture of his face this visit, however; silly monkey had one foot and a hand in front of his face! This is the best pic we could get :)

 

Saturday I had my first baby shower, thrown for me by my loverly visiting teachers, Carmen Cole & Amy Bingham :) Only about half the people I invited ended up being able to come (it was a little bit short notice, and for some reason lots of people were gone doing fun things that day!), but I actually thought it was the perfect amount of guests for my comfort level. It was a lot less awkward when I could kind of talk to everyone instead of worrying about all the people I couldn't get to or was leaving out.

Carmen did, however, have everyone play a baby shower "game" where everyone went around the circle and gave me a compliment and some parenting advice. I will admit, I was not super comfortable with sitting there making person after person say something nice about me while everyone listened... Just not sure what to do with myself! But, I did really appreciate all the kind things that people said. I'd been having a rough week, and an especially rough morning, so once I moved beyond the slightly awkward feeling, it really was a blessing to hear those things :)

And here are some beautiful pictures of that event, which I stole from Carmen:

And now for some symptom complaints ;) In the last couple weeks I've started to itch terribly... And I'm so scared it's going to turn into the nightmarish PUPPP I had with Evie! With her it started earlier, but it felt so similar to this! I'm just hoping I can have this baby before it gets to the same point it did with Evie (I was basically clawing the skin off of my entire body).

Also, ever since I started itching, I've gotten some new stretch marks! I was doing perfectly well just reusing the old ones, but they just started popping up where ever I scratched :( It's not too bad, I just have them on the top half of my belly now (the old ones were mostly below my belly button), rather than new ones all over my body, so I guess I should be thankful. I'm just irritated that, if not for the itching, I might not have had to get ANY new ones. Buuuuut, that's just the joy of having a momma's body :)

I have had quite a bit of cramping and contractions starting the past few days. I always have lots of contractions, but it's definitely gotten a lot more intense the past little while! With Evie I did this for about two weeks before she finally decided to be born... So we'll see what happens. I'm worried it's just going to get worse and worse over the next 5 weeks, but I'll still go all the way to my due date and just be miserable, lol! I DO want to keep this baby in as long as he needs to be in, but I would really appreciate it if my body would cut me a break, at least for a couple more weeks!!

Like I said, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens... Luckily we're getting close ;)

Starting after my appointment next Tuesday I get to be seen weekly from now on!! Only 5 weeks to go; we're getting there slowly but surely!

Hello 3rd trimester! Hello Baby!

Getting bigger! Can't believe we still have a ways to grow!!

I'm 28 weeks today; we've made it to our last trimester! YAY! So excited that we're getting closer!

In the last week or so baby has been moving a TON, suddenly lots of elbows and knees I think ;) I think he must've had a growth spurt, because it's been really hard to feel him from the outside up until this point, and it's been mostly random little kicks. These days he feels like he's wiggling all over the place! Karl's kind of felt him a couple of times in the past little while, but he REALLY felt him last night for the first time.

It's also been really weird because movements I feel super well from the inside can't be felt from the outside, but some that I can't feel at all are very obvious from the outside. I blame my anterior placenta... It really is annoying some times.

I did my glucose test at my prenatal appointment this week and PASSED! THANK HEAVENS!! I am still anemic, though unfortunately, so I've got to get on top of that better :/ I also finally got my results back about the whole infection thing, and they were negative! Yay!

The other awesome thing about today was that we got to go to our fourth ultrasound and see the babe!

Perfect little profile :) Little arm under his chin. Love that little nosey and those lips!

Evie and Karl came, and while I was getting checked in they were running around the lobby. The old lady at the information desk came up to them and Karl was sure they were in trouble, but instead she gave Evie a cute little baby doll... I'm glad people think she's so cute, I don't think she'd get away with most of her antics otherwise! When I asked her where she got the dolly she told me that Grandma Janice (Karl's grandma) had given it to her, which I thought was funny and cute.

Evie was also SUPER talkative today (maybe because she slept in??), she kept running around saying "I wanna see the doctor!" She got tired of waiting in the lobby and tried to go back all by herself, and was terribly mad when I wouldn't let her. When we got back to the room and during the ultrasound she talked the whole entire time. She kept saying things like, "Mommy sick, got hurt, doctor help her feel better!" and she was really enjoying seeing baby brother up on the screen.

Speaking of baby brother, he is doing really well! Fluid was good and there were no signs of any problems caused by the fall yesterday, thank goodness! He's also growing really well (which is one of the things they were worried about last time), he's measuring a week and four days ahead and supposedly weighs about three pounds, three ounces at this point. I knew he'd been doing some growing recently!

All his little body parts are measuring well and looking good still, and his echogenic bowel is almost completely gone, which is great!

After the tech checked everything, she said, "let me just change over to the other machine really quick". I figured that must mean just a machine with a different frequency or something (ok, I had no idea what she meant, but I just trusted she knew what she needed to do), but suddenly, THIS picture came up on the screen:

All cuddled up :) 3D pic... A little weird, but cool all at the same time, lol ;)

I didn't know they DID 3D ultrasounds at maternal fetal medicine, and since I wasn't planning to spend 80 bucks to get an elective one, I didn't think I'd be getting one. We were surprised, but it was pretty cool! Karl thinks baby looks pretty alien-ish but I think he looks WAY more like a baby than in his alien-demon-skeletor pic... That was pretty creepy looking.

Another side note, we saw a different maternal fetal specialist today, and when came in to check us out, she informed us that she had been the one who had done our ultrasound with Evie. She thought it was kind of cool to see her now on the outside, running around and chattering up a storm!

While I thought this was going to be our final ultrasound this pregnancy, apparently we still get to go in one more time to follow up, just in case, at 34 weeks. I guess I'm happy we get another chance to see him, especially since there aren't any major concerns at this point, but I do feel like I've spent an awful lot of time at maternal fetal medicine! Oh well, I'm just going to be glad I get to see him so often :)

Baby. Brother. Smith. ;)

21 Weeks!!

We've made it beyond the half-way mark!

I meant to do a 20 week post, buuuut it was right before Halloween and I was completely overwhelmed by costume requests... So let's just pretend this makes up for that :)

The last week or two I've been feeling a whole lot better appetite/nausea-wise; I actually want to eat again, YAY!! I've now gained 5 lbs total this pregnancy, thanks to Halloween candy and my renewed interest in food ;)

The awesome rib pain that I love so much has made an entrance, however, but the sciatica/pelvic pain has backed off somewhat, so I guess I'm doing ok in that department. I'm not totally incapacitated as I had feared I would be, anyway, haha.

I'm also finally feeling baby on a regular basis and I'm no longer just feeling flutters, but full on kicks and rolls! It's pretty amazing :) It's so weird that in just a couple of weeks I went from feeling nothing, to feeling random little "bubbles", to feeling such definite, regular movements!!

And now for a cute big sister story:

The other day Evie was in her room saying her name over and over again, "Evie. May. Smiff." and giggling about it. THEN she suddenly stopped, looked right at me, and declared "Baby. Brother. SMIFF!!!" It was absolutely adorable.

I know I say it over and over, but she loves this baby so very much! I love it!! Just hope she keeps loving him this much once he actually gets here ;)

16 Weeks and Feelin' Big ;)

This baby has officially made it's presence known to the world... Lol, definitely no hiding it now ;) Surprisingly, I'm still at my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm having a hard time gaining, though it certainly doesn't show, haha.

Also, while I'm here, I think I should mention a bit about cravings... This whole pregnancy I've only really wanted savory type things (well, during those brief periods when I've wanted anything at all), unlike Evie's pregnancy where what I wanted was all things SUGARY.

Right now what I'm going to call my cravings (but might be more like the only things I feel like eating), are J.J.B.L.T.s (from Jimmy John's) with cheese, onion, and oil & vinegar, and Starbursts (seriously, my favorite candy in the world right now).

Just thought I'd throw that out there, you know, in case anyone ever wants to make the the crazy pregnant lady happy... haha

Squishy Tummy

11 Weeks

All right, I feel like I've complained a lot in my posts so far (first trimester has been rough!) so I thought it was time for something cute. Annnd, by cute I don't mean my 11 week belly picture, but I need to get that out of the way too ;) I actually had intended to do a 10 week pic, for the sake of nice round numbers, but I'm kind of glad we did it this week since I feel like I have a bit more going on in the belly department this week. 

I asked Karl a few days ago, if he didn't know I was pregnant, would he think I was or would he just think I was fat? I probably shouldn't ask questions I don't want answers to, lol... He said if he didn't know, he'd think I was just a little chunky. *sigh* So not quite to the cute pregnant stage yet, still in the chubby stage. I know it's really early to be showing, but I'd much rather skip through the chubby and go right for baby belly ;) I guess I still have about a week and a half before I'm "going public", so waiting a little longer is ok. I just don't like feeling fat!!

Ok, NOW for the cute stuff:

Baby hugs!!

I really didn't have any specific plans for telling Evie about the baby, but it kind of just came out, lol. I also didn't think she'd accept the information as readily as she did (I mean, a baby... in mommy's tummy... weird), but she's super cute about it! There's a picture of me being huge and pregnant with her in our scrapbook that she loves to look at, so forever ago I told her that there was a baby in my tummy in that picture. She was totally fine with that, and so when we talked about there being a baby in my tummy now, she was very excited. 

She likes to run up to me randomly say "look, see, baby tummy!" and I lift up my shirt and she looks at and pokes my "squishy tummy". She likes to say, "Baby in there! Growing, bigger!" Then she gives the baby hugs or pretends to pick up the baby and hold it. She is such a sweetie when she wants to be, haha!

Changes...

Just for fun...

Me, August 2011

Me, August 2012

I can't believe how quickly and dramatically things have changed!  So crazy!!  And all I can say is, I love my life ;)

39 Weeks and Non-Stressed!

Soooo BIG

 Just hit 39 weeks today and due to some iffy blood work results, baby and  I got to celebrate by going in for a "non-stress test", yay!

Luckily everything looks fine, although Evie was napping and REALLY didn't want to wake up (the nurse used a little buzzer to wake her and she kicked at it once and went right back to sleeping!).  In other news, when the nurse was looking at the ultrasound she said "looks like baby has some hair there! At least, on the back of her head."  I'm not quite sure how she could even see hair (we looked and weren't even sure we were looking at her head!), but if she does have hair I'm really hoping it's on her WHOLE head, not just the back--just not that into the Danny DeVito look for my baby girl, haha.

I'm superly excited to finally meet this little character in person!  It's getting so close!!

Baby Loading...

Karl made a superly cute "maternity" shirt for me, so I thought I'd show off :)  PLUS I have to show off how incredibly big this child has gotten in the last couple weeks (I'm starting to have a really hard time rolling myself out of bed!!).  I'll have to post the how-to for the shirt and some pics of the other awesome shirts we made, but this will have to do for now :)

27 and a half weeks! 88ish days to go!!!

Old Wives Tales

Disclaimer: I'm a pretty scientifically minded person, and I KNOW old wives tales are mostly ridiculous and have absolutely no meaning what so ever, so this is just for fun :)

Now that we have that out of the way... During that 20 week wait to find out baby's gender (drove me crazy, no idea how some people wait 40!!) people had a lot to say about what THEY thought the baby was.  So, now that we know our little jelly bean is a girl, I thought I would see how this pregnancy measures up to all the gender old wives tales that are floating around out there!

 

• Heart Rate: The very first prediction I got was just after my first doctor's appointment.  Baby's heart rate was 160 bpm (and has been pretty much since then!) and apparently a high heart rate (over 140) means it's a girl :)

•  Nausea: This Old Wives Tale says that if you're really sick first trimester (and/or beyond), then you can expect a girl!  I would say I was pretty DARN sick at the beginning of this pregnancy so I guess that's another point for the old wives!

• Sweet Cravings:  Ok, seriously, ALL I want to eat with this little girl is SUGAR (can you say, Gestational Diabetes?)!! I constantly crave candy, pop, fruit, juice, cake, cookies, chocolate... basically, anything sweet!  We've decided that baby knows what she likes and has a fit if I don't give it to her (One day I got up and just ate some fresh cucumbers and tomatoes... and they promptly came back up again). The old wives say that sweet cravings mean a girl vs. salty and sour cravings that mean a boy :)  

• Citrus Cravings: A random one that I actually had never heard before is that craving citrus means a girl, which is really interesting because about the only thing I wanted to eat for the first few months was oranges!

• Carrying Baby: I'm pretty sure this is one of the best known gender myths: carrying low, round and in front (basketball) means a boy, carrying wide, and high (football) means a girl.  I don't totally get this one, but I would say I'm carrying pretty high, although I think that's because my torso is so short that baby has no where else to be but high!  Also, I guess she's kind of widening my middle a bit, but once again, I think that has way more to do with my body shape than anything! 

• Weight Gain: Another one I believe I've heard is that girls make you gain weight in your hips, thighs, and butt, and I will sadly admit that is the case (no stretch marks on my belly yet, but my dang hips aren't faring so well!).

• Mood: Girls are supposed to make you more moody and emotional than boys.  I know it sounds crazy, but I actually feel like I've been way more emotionally stable since I've been pregnant!  Sorry, old wives...

• Graceful or Clumsy: If you feel more graceful, that means you'll have a baby girl, feeling clumsy means a boy.  Maybe it's just that I'm ALWAYS clumsy, but I feel like I've done nothing but trip over things, run into things, and drop things lately :/

• Zits!: This one says that girlies "steal your beauty" and therefore if you're having a girl you'll have a bad complexion while you're pregnant.  The state of my face hasn't really changed since I've been pregnant, so I'm really hoping that doesn't mean I'm going to have an ugly girl, haha!

So, it looks like the old wives were eerily right on some things, lol!  What are the chances?

Halfway There!

As of yesterday, baby and I are halfway to our big day!  I'm so excited and happy right now, I feel like I'm driving everyone crazy!!  Anyway, in honor of this momentous day, I thought I would just recap what's been happening so far this pregnancy.

April 1st, I took a pregnancy test because I wasn't feeling quite right and I was a day late... and nothing... That was incredibly disappointing, but I think my body was trying to be funny and play an April fool's joke on me, because three days later, I got a positive test!!  I was so excited to see those two lines, I can't even describe it!!!

Finally POSITIVE!!

Fast forward a couple weeks... Morning sickness sets in!  I have to admit that my first trimester was the worst :(  I could smell EVERYTHING and the smell of EVERYTHING made me superly sick!  I couldn't eat anything, and at one point I couldn't even drink much with out feeling soooo sick.  On top of that I was incredibly exhausted.  I felt like I couldn't get out of bed for weeks!  When Karl and I first talked about how many kids we wanted (oh so many years ago!), we decided that five would be good, but it was about this time in my pregnancy when I really wondered if I ever wanted to do this ever again!!

Luckily, that didn't last forever, I've been feeling better and better since about 12 weeks!  Now that I can finally eat again, and have a good chunk of my energy back, and am not too huge, I'm loving being pregnant, and back to thinking five might be ok, haha.  Anyway, I managed to lose six pounds in my first trimester, and I'm just now getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight (yeeeah, I know I don't really look it... but it's true!)

Our first camping trip!!

This trimester has been really good so far (especially in comparison to the last one!!).  I have way more energy, I'm starting to like food again (and have recently developed an unseemly appetite!), and I'm starting to look a little less fat and a little more pregnant!  My only real complaints at this point are that I have heartburn every time I eat (bleh, but not a totally new thing for me), I have to pee constantly, and I get back cramps like crazy (I can't sit for more than a little bit at a time, or else...)!

And for the best pregnancy "symptom" I've had so far, I finally started feeling my baby move!!  It was really funny, last Friday I was playing around on my computer and I REALLY had to pee, but I was too lazy to get up and go, when I suddenly felt a little "blip" on my bladder that almost felt like a spasm.  I wasn't entirely sure if it was baby, but it was definitely different from anything I've ever felt before!  Then, on Monday, we found out that baby is feet down, VERY wiggly, and apparently doesn't like the invasion of space that happens when my bladder is full!!

Speaking of Monday....

Baby!!!

We got to see our baby for the first time!!  We found out that we have a very energetic, very acrobatic child (definitely takes after Daddy, Auntie Preah, and Uncle Jojo)!!  Baby was measuring great and looked healthy from everything they could see! Annnnnd.....

She's a GIRL!!!!

Yay for the bum pic!

We are so incredibly happy!  It was the most amazing experience in the world as we got to sit there, hand in hand, and see our little girl (I love calling her that!) moving around in there!  Everything just feels so much more real now.  I know we have a long way to go still, but it's going by so much more quickly than I expected!  I can't wait to meet our little one face to face!

Isn't she cute?  Chilling with her hands behind her head :)

My little alien baby!!!

Here she is curled up with her foot by her mouth, her arms by her head, and looking like an alien!