Week 25 - 100 days to DUE DATE!

100 days until our little lady could make her entrance into the world!  I can hardly believe it, or wait!  We are both feeling pretty anxious for her to arrive in so many ways, though we do have a fair amount to do to prepare still!

This was a fun week!  First in non-Framboise news:

New chicks!  We went out to the Bothell Feed Store on Wednesday and picked out three new little hens.  We went for Black Austrolorps this time.  They are supposed to be excellent layers and easy going.  Our plan is to get a couple new ones every two years from now on so that we won't have to suffer through another winter without fresh eggs!

No names yet, we will wait for their grown-up feathers to come in so we know who is who!

These girls are really funny!  They are eating a TON!  Every time we look in on them, they are furiously throwing food down.  We think these ones must have already been a few days old when we got them, because their big girl feathers are already growing in!  They are hanging in a big box in our living room this week, and as soon as we clear some stuff out of the garage, they will move out there for nearly 2 months.  I love having baby chicks in the house.  Their little cheeps are the cutest!

In Frammy-related news:

This week we had a midwife appointment.  I am measuring 27 centimeters across the uterus, which is just about on target!  Funnily enough, women generally measure within 2 centimeters of the weeks along they are.  So since I was 25 weeks, it would be expected that I would measure somewhere between 23-27.  Clearly she is growing just fine!

Our midwife also let us know that she is in the transverse position right now.  Nothing to worry about at this point, as she is still small enough to turn complete circles in there.  Basically, it means that she is laying down across my belly, rather than having her head pointing down toward the cervix.  She's just really chilling in there, and taking all the room I'll give her at this point.  Hopefully she will move into a better position in the next month though.  :)

Her heart rate was 140 bpm, perfect!  And my blood pressure was great, too!  Everything seems to be moving along very healthily.  Next visit I will take my glucose test to see if I have might have gestational diabetes.  I decided on the fruit punch flavor, hope it doesn't gag me too much!  I think I should be good, my weight gain has been very steady, and I have been eating pretty well through the whole pregnancy with just a few poor decisions days thrown in there (read: Red Robin...)

We also saw her move from the outside for the first time last night!  It was pretty surreal to suddenly have my abdomen lurch!  Provided excellent entertainment for the evening.

Yesterday, I hung out with a sick nephew while Adam, Erin, Eliza, and Kevin went to the Sounders game.  It was rough not being snuggly with him, and I am hoping I avoided his germs!  Erin also brought us another excellent load of baby clothes!  It was fun going through them this morning and remembering seeing Corbin and Ellie in them when they were babies!  Plus, the very first hat I knit was in there!  Then we had everyone and Kevin's parents over for a great dinner.  It was fun to have everyone here, talked lots about our girl, and had a good visit before K's folks take off for a month of travel abroad!

We also had another doula interview, which was fantastic.  It made our decision a bit tougher to have 3 super awesome people to choose from, but in the end, the right decision was obvious to us both.  We are going to use our sister-in-law, and I am beyond excited to have her here for the birth of her first niece!

Got in one good workout this week.  It was another CRAZY week!

How far along? 25 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +12
Maternity clothes? Need more!  Already tired of everything! :)
Stretch marks? Just the ones I already had!
Sleep: This week was not great.  My hips are starting to bug me, and it is hard to turn over!
Best moment this week: Seeing her kick from the outside!
Have you told family and friends: Yup
Miss Anything? Susan brought over some smoked salmon that I was pretty sad to have to pass on!
Movement: So much!  I love feeling the little pitter pats all day!
Food cravings:  Nothing stands out this week.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!
Have you started to show yet: I think I've officially passed into the "she's definitely pregnant" phase!
Gender prediction: It's a GIRL!!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? Innie. 
Wedding rings on or off? On.  No swelling at all so far!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!  Did have a couple moody days this week for the first time, but I blame that on an extremely stressful couple weeks at work.
Looking forward to: A quieter week!  We don't have anything on the calendar except Kevin's tutoring, and I am looking forward to so much needed down time with him the rest of the week!

Week 23-24

The last 2 weeks have been mostly about my belly expanding!  I'm officially looking like a pregnant woman.  I went to my favorite coffee shop the other day without my winter coat on for the first time in months, and the baristas were definitely taken aback!  "What...uh, whatcha got going on down there?" pointing to my belly!  It was pretty cute.

We went to our first Sounders game of the season yesterday (a late and very exciting win!) and I made the mistake of not going to the bathroom at halftime.  When we scored our last second goal, I definitely jumped around a leeeeetle bit too much!!  Yikes!

Kate (my sister-in-law/doula extraordinaire) mentioned it was also Framboise's first game where she could here it!  She definitely was kicking around the whole game, so hopefully she likes them, since she will be going to lots of them!

Kicking and squirming and punching are surely the name of the game now.  She doesn't stop moving most of the day, and has woken me up a couple times now with a well aimed kick!  Kevin is still loving feeling her every chance he gets, and talking to her.  He pretty much just can't wait for her arrival, and it's the sweetest thing EVER!  :)

We didn't make any progress on the nursery, but we did get a fancy new couch delivered this morning!  We finally decided it was time to get some more seating in our home, and got a great sectional at Macy's last month.  It is LARGE!  It's also super comfy and we are really excited that we can have friends and family over and not have someone have to sit on the floor!  Hopefully we will be giving it a big test run with Kevin's family this coming weekend!

Tomorrow we are celebrating my love's 32nd birthday!  I spent today making a big batch of Susan's meat sauce and will be compiling a lasagna this evening, and the carrot cake is cooling as we speak!  Finally he will have his special birthday dinner ON his birthday!  :)  I've been a bad wife for a few years!  We are also meeting with a doula tomorrow, our last interview before we make a decision on that.  I've been doing a lot more reading about labor and coping mechanisms, and am looking forward to our birthing class in May to learn even more!  We have another midwife appointment on Thursday, so we will get to hear her little heartbeat again, which is always super-exciting!

23 weeks!  Visit to Bainbridge was excellent,
my parents and Kevin's dad hadn't seen
us since Christmas!!

We have another busy busy week ahead.  One of these days we will make some time to get our registry put together and the nursery a little more organized!  But we have time...right?  :)

20 weeks in Tucson vs 24 weeks!  She's grown a good amount! :)

How far along? 24 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +10
Maternity clothes? Exclusively now!
Stretch marks? Just the ones I already had!
Sleep: Getting less and less comfortable, and getting up 2-3 times every night!
Best moment this week: Showing off the bump to Kevin's coworkers!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!  Funny one this week with a coworker of Kevin's who somehow hadn't heard about it til Friday! :)
Miss Anything? Still missing fried eggs, especially now that our girls are laying again!!
Movement: YES YES YES!  All the time and getting much stronger!
Food cravings:  Not particularly this week.
Anything making you queasy or sick: A pretzel at the Sounders game was pretty awful smelling, but Kevin thought so, too! 
Have you started to show yet: Yep!
Gender prediction: It's a GIRL!!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? Innie.  It's like an endless cavern.  I'll be surprised if it pops!
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Deciding on our doula and our midwife appointment!

22 weeks update

I can hardly believe we are now heading into the latter half of the pregnancy!  Every day brings a little more fullness, a more excitement, another wave of slight panic...Perfectly normal, right?  This week was a fun one!  Framboise is kicking up a storm now, and I feel her pretty much all day long.  It's so nice to feel her moving around, it's definitely the thing that has made this feel the most real to me.  Yes, I still have many moments where I think, "Really, we are having a BABY?  What?!"  :)  

This week found us putting together the crib, scoring a bunch of baby clothes and other gear from my awesome sister-in-law Kate, who will be keeping our girl in cute duds forever since she has 3 girls of her own we will be getting hand-me-downs from, and just generally basking in our enjoyment.  

Kevin trying on a baby sling at my brother's house.
The baby doll was named "Heavilyn" by my 7 year old niece!  Ha!
He looks good with a baby on him! 

The crib is up!  Now we just need to find places to put all the crap we have strewn about the nursery :)
I love love love how the crib looks with the orange walls, and the room is so cheery!

The biggest news of the week was that Kevin for sure felt her kick!  He had previously thought he might have, but wasn't sure if it was just me jolting his hand.  But this weekend, he definitely felt her!  It was pretty exciting for us.  

He is continuing to be the most amazing man.  He makes me feel beautiful and calm, and just about turned me into a big pile of goop this weekend when he mentioned how it's crazy how much he loves someone he has never met.  I'm truly a lucky woman to have found such an incredible partner.  :)

I also bit the bullet and bought some more maternity clothes this week.  I'd been struggling to get through my work week in anything comfortable, so it was great to go get a couple more pairs of pants.  A girlfriend who is about 7 weeks behind me and I decided that we will probably do a swap of clothing at some point in the pregnancies so we can mix up our wardrobes!  

Most of all, I found myself daydreaming a lot about my little girl, wondering what she will be like?  Will she have green eyes, will she have curly hair, will she be funny, what will her favorite food be, how crazy will she think her parents are (answer: extremely)?  I just am so excited to meet her and find out all about this little person who will be part me, part Kevin, and all herself!  

I also finally got back to the gym!  Ugh.  Even though we have been somewhat active, taking looooong walks, going hiking, etc., I've been feeling pretty slothy lately.  It was good to get back, and I am going again today.  While my endurance is definitely slowing down, just getting in an hour workout where I break a sweat makes me feel so good!  And finally gave me a chance to get a comparison belly shot!  I think this might have been the last week for the neon shirt, it was definitely riding up the whole time I was working out!  

Starting to look, feel, and waddle like a pregnant lady!

How far along? 22 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +6 pounds.  Hmm, guess I get to eat more avocados this week ;)
Maternity clothes? Yep!  I may never wear regular jeans again!
Stretch marks? Just the ones I already had!
Sleep: Mostly well, though having some strange late night dessert dreams!
Best moment this week: Kevin feeling her kick FOR SURE!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? Back to missing fried eggs like crazy!
Movement: YES YES YES!
Food cravings:  Not particularly this week.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope, it was a stellar week in the tummy department
Have you started to show yet: Yep!
Gender prediction: It's a GIRL!!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In, but my belly is definitely rounding out!
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: More growing and kicking!

Oh Oh, We're Halfway There!

21 weeks!  It's really starting to fly by now!  Of course, the biggest news of the last 2 weeks is that we are having a GIRL!!!!!!!!!  We are so thrilled and bewildered and excited and full of love and happiness, it's hard to put it all into words.  We went in for our 20 week ultrasound last Tuesday.  I had been feeling like it was a girl for a couple weeks, referring to Frammy as "she" and just getting an inkling.  But of course, I convinced myself that since I felt like that, then it MUST be a boy.  I was gonna be happy either way, but a boy just seemed like the logical option.  Dewey's and Shaffer's are good at making boys!

Waiting for the ultrasound to begin, full of excitement!

So we were in the exam room, and we had a great sonographer who asked whether we wanted to know the sex.  Of course we do, are you nuts?!  :)  First he puts up some shots of her face, and I just completely melted.  My baby was up there, and it was so so cool to see her little face, her hands hanging out, sucking her thumb.  It was magicical.  Then he moved down to the pelvic region, and in my mind, I'm thinking he's going to say it is a boy.  So when he said, "It's a...GIRL!" I let out quite the yelp of excitement and confusion!  He said, "Oh, are you surprised?" and I begin crying and laughing "yeah, really had convinced myself otherwise!"

Then we got to check her out for almost an hour, just gazing at our sweet girl and learning all about her!  She is doing great, everything is looking very healthy and normal, and growing at the right speed.  She doesn't appear to have inherited her father's giant cranium, so I can thank my lucky stars for that one!  :)

Unfortunately, they sent us home with a blank disc, so we don't have the video of her, but we managed to get a disc of the stills from them later.  Will have to get us through the next 19 weeks, since we won't see her again until she is born hopefully!!!

We also took off for a fantastic trip to Tucson, which will have to be shared in a separate post if I can get up the energy!  But more excitement with Framboise during the trip occurred!  We were snuggled in our hotel room one evening watching ice dancing on the Olympics, and I felt a distinct little kick in my tummy!  I didn't say anything for a minute, but then it happened again, and I told Kevin about it and he just had the biggest grin on his face.  I can feel my girl!  I've been feeling her lots more.  It feels exactly like you might imagine a tiny tiny human kicking you in the abs might feel.  I absolutely LOVE it!

In fact, I am pretty much loving everything right now.  I keep finding myself breaking into smiles and giggles.  I love being pregnant and seeing my body change and feeling my little girl growing.  I love the way it is expanding me and Kevin's relationship in ways we didn't know were possible.  I love thinking about what a wonderful daddy Kevin is going to be (and boy oh boy is he in trouble with 2 ladies he will love to pieces in the house!)  I love how Kevin has to look and touch my belly every chance he gets.  This is an adventure we really weren't sure we wanted to take for a while there, and now that we are headed down this path, I am so so glad that things have worked out the way they have.  I feel full of love and happiness, and while I may not be "glowing" on the outside, I sure am on on the inside!

This is as close to a belly shot as I have for the last couple weeks...ahem, yes I need to get back to the gym...

How far along? 21 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +6 pounds!  Umm, we ate, a lot, in Tucson... :) 
Maternity clothes? Pretty much exclusively now.
Stretch marks? Just the ones I already had!
Sleep: It's hit or miss these days.  My hips are really bugging me at night.
Best moment this week: Ultrasound! Kicking! Heartbeat!  How can I choose!?
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? A cold one in hot Tucson was very appealing...
Movement: YES YES YES!
Food cravings:  Gimme gelato!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Had another little puking this morning.  Weird things set me off.
Have you started to show yet: Yep!
Gender prediction: It's a GIRL!!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In, but Kevin says it's not as deep.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: More growing and kicking!

What's It Gonna Be???

Off to the 20 week ultrasound!

Thought it would be fun to list the old wives tales that I've tried out or noted during this pregnancy before we head to our 20 week ultrasound, where hopefully we will see a healthy baby who might reveal their sex to us!  For the ones that I have experienced, I've BOLDED.

1.  Carrying High = GIRL, Low = Boy

2.  Heart Rate above 140 = GIRL, Below 140 = Boy

3.  Craving sweets = GIRL, Craving salty/sour = Boy

4.  Chinese Birth Chart = INCONCLUSIVE, as we are not sure of the EXACT date of conception, but know it within one day!

5.  Mayan Calendar:  31 + 13 = GIRL

6.  Skin:  Acne = Girl, no acne = BOY

7.  Ring test:  Circle over belly = Boy, back and forth = Girl.  INCONCLUSIVE.

8.  Morning Sickness:  Lots = Girl, Little = BOY

9.  Dreams of baby = opposite.  INCONCLUSIVE, I had girl dream, Kevin had boy dream!

10.  Side you rest on:  Right = GIRL, Left = Boy.

So the total tally is 5 for GIRL, 2 for boy, and 3 inconclusive!  We shall see soon!!!!!  I'm so excited!!!!

19 weeks

What a week!  Kevin was off to Washington, DC, this week for another leadership conference (I'm ever so proud of him!) so I was on my own!  Which meant a whole lot of watching TV and trying not to cave into every pregnancy craving my body has so suddenly developed!  But, this week was also rather stressful, as my darling 5 year old nephew Jackson was at Children's Hospital all week with a crazy, unexplained fever!  It was pretty scary, though knowing he was at Children's did a lot to relieve some of my stress (don't know if it did all that much for his poor parents, though!)  He was finally released on Saturday morning after 6 days there, and we are ever so glad to have him on the mend.  They still don't know what was causing the fever, possibly a kidney infection, but we might learn more this week in his followup appointments.  My sister put it best though, that they were probably just keeping him there because he's just so darn cute!

I did a little more maternity shopping this week, grabbed some shirts at Target for way cheap which has been a great self-esteem booster.  I was feeling rather fat in my regular shirts!  :)

Kevin and I also got to visit with some friends and their little ones this weekend!  First up were Dana and Sonia, who welcomed Ethan into the world at the end of October.  And boy is he a cutie!  Had a wonderful visit, got to hear some of their birth story, got some cuddles in with a baby, and scored a bunch of gear they aren't using!  Sweet!

Then it was off to Kelly and Matt's to visit with their 21 month old son Emmett, who is pretty much the most smiley toddler on the planet!  He was seriously just Mr. Happy the whole time we were there, and is a total flirt.  I read him a story on my lap, got some really stellar advice from them, and walked away with a crib they are no longer using and a bunch of baby toys!  Let the avalanche of baby gear begin!

Now we just need to find somewhere to put all this stuff that's in the office, ahem, nursery...

And you know, the SEAHAWKS WON THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!  We enjoyed the game with friends Jeff, Jana, their 16 month old Zoe, and Tristan!  We ate far too much, giggled at the ridiculousness of the game, and had a fantastic time celebrating our team FINALLY winning the big show!  :)

I was a bad girl and did not go to the gym this week.  I've been dealing with a foot issue, and putting on my tennis shoes just hurt!  I'll be back at it this week though.  Gotta make sure I stay fit through this thing.  So, weird picture, but more of a true "belly shot" I suppose!  Next post will hopefully be with a new ultrasound picture!  We've got an appointment tomorrow to check on Framboise!

19 weeks: Just a bit of a pooch starting to show!

How far along? 19 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +1 pound!  I'm finally in the positive.  Now I just need to keep it slow and steady! 
Maternity clothes? Oh yes...
Stretch marks? Just the ones I already had!
Sleep: Not bad, though flipping over at night is getting a little more uncomfortable with stretching ligaments!
Best moment this week: Jackson coming home!  Plus, I got to babysit 2 of his step-sisters and see the third briefly, and I love them!!!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? Wouldn't have minded a beer during the game, but not too much...
Movement: Pretty quiet in there this week
Food cravings:  Still wanting sweets pretty much non-stop.  Only ate some Ben & Jerry's fro-yo Cherry Garcia, so win!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Had a random bout of dry heaving this week.  Not sure what triggered it!
Have you started to show yet: Yep!
Gender prediction: Still feeling like it's a girl.
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In, but Kevin says it's not as deep.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Ultrasound TOMORROW!!!