24 Weeks

Okay, just to keep everyone straight, technically on 12/28 i'm 24 weeks and 2 days pregnant so although i haven't missed a picture i'm up to 24 weeks instead of the 23 you might have expected.

JT and i returned last night from Oklahoma where my parents and extended family gathered. We have a great time but were happy to make it home last night and sleep in our own bed!

The baby is over a pound and about a foot long. Although the baby vegetable comparisons seem to have stopped, they say that my uterus is about the size of a soccer ball now and the baby is growing quickly to expand into the space. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. 

Dr. Appt--22/23 weeks

I had a routine Doctor's appointment yesterday and realized that this counting of the weeks and months is quite confusing. When i post pictures each weekend i consider that the end of whatever week i've just finished. Technically that's not right, and i've already begun another week, but it's close enough. When i was at my doctors on Monday she told me i was 23 weeks and a few days so maybe things are a bit more off than i thought. I do know the due date is April 18th (or 17th depending on who you talk to) so i'll just continue to work from there.

Otherwise the appointment was pretty routine. I find that i have fewer questions now and when i do they're fairly random. The baby's heart beat was a nice strong 150 bpm and was laying right there in the middle of my belly-- fairly easy to find. At my next appointment in January they'll do another full round of blood work and do a test to make sure i haven't developed gestational diabetes. At my next appointment i'll be in my third trimester which i can't believe.

I feel like i'm normalized to being pregnant so it's such a hard thing to internalize that the pregnancy is temporary and a weigh station on to the child that i know will have such a profound change on our lives. It's easy to get caught up trying to really feel what things will be like, so i'm just trying to enjoy the process.

22 Weeks

We've finished 22 weeks and starting on the 17th, i have 4 months left. I started having sciatic nerve pain this week which comes and goes but isn't fun or comfortable. I'm trying to stay active and stretched out to help things-- hopefully it won't last for the rest of the pregnancy.

The baby is a little over a pound, and developing his lungs this week. His movement is stronger and more consistent now but i'm still not sure it can be felt from the outside. This weekend we went to a party where there were two other women that were 8 months pregnant. I realized i'm not quite as big as i think!

21 Weeks

Sorry for missing 20 weeks, but here is the conclusion of 21 weeks. I've had a cold this week and have been trying to lay low, so i'm finally starting to feel a bit better. I'm feeling the baby move a lot more now and i think it's strong enough where JT will be able to feel it soon as well!

The baby supposedly weighs almost a pound now and his ears are functioning and can hear sounds from the outside. We may have to begin testing to determine his music preference now.

After

After! 

Home Renovation

The Thetford Bloch Household has been busy this week. We're having work done on our home. And while the bathroom still looks like a war zone, the fireplace, mantel and ceiling fan turned out quite nicely i think. Here's a before picture, next i'll post the after! 

Well, as you might have noticed, i haven't posted a 20 weeks picture. JT's Boston trip was extended and he returns this Friday. So, without a remote for our camera, no belly shots. I did however buy and decorate our Christmas tree which i'm showing you here in the daylight. Happy Holidays! 

20 Weeks

Sorry folks, no picture at the moment. I just returned from DC this morning and after JT picked me up and we chatted while i unpacked, he was off to Boston for a work trip. So, no one to take my picture at the moment. He gets back Tuesday night so hopefully we'll have something on Wednesday.

I spent the week in DC for work, but got to see several friends and my parents while i was there. My friends Jen and Colin have a new baby and not only is she so cute and fun to hold, but she made me really excited for our baby's arrival. It's like the abstract became real, at least for a weekend. Oh yeah, and i got to sleep all night-- what's not to like!

Very disappointing, but no fruit or vegetable references this week. The baby is about 13 oz. and is putting on fat. I found out recently that a good friend of mine in Chicago is pregnant. So i have to retun the maternity clothes-- but our babies will only be 3 months apart which should be fun and very helpful!

20 week ultrasound

For those of you not used to interpreting grainy ultrasound pictures, what you have here is a front view of the face of our baby (looking a wee bit like an alien i have to say) with the fingers of it's right hand kinda resting on it's belly. It's mid-section is the perfectly round circle that looks like a snowman's middle. It's definitely a boy and everything looked fine. The baby is measuring 20 weeks 3 days. 

19 Weeks

Finishing out the 19th week, i'm now halfway through my pregnancy. Sometimes it seems April will come sooner than we think, but when i think that i've been pregnant since August, it seems like the pregnancy goes on forever. I've got another ultrasound tomorrow where we hope to confirm the baby is a boy, and ensure everything else is on track. I'll keep you posted. 

Conscious of time and space

Especially as we move into the holiday season, i'm highly conscious that this is our last thanksgiving together as just a couple, our last Christmas travel plans that don't involve major machinations, and the last time we're primarily concerned with each other. I'm excited for the change, but it's hard to know and not know what we're in for.

Luckily we have a number of friends with all different types of children. We've seen different strategies for parenting (and just coping at the beginning), and i've read a lot about parenting in general, and its effects on your relationship with your significant other and yourself. JT and i have talked about likely situations and how we'll deal with them, and unlikely situations and how we'll deal with them. Except for all the stuff we're supposed to buy (and the room i'll be putting together eventually) i feel prepared for the arrival of the actual child.

Except it seems you can't really be ready, just ready to be flexible and go with how demanding and new and absorbing everything is at first. And i can say i'm ready for that, but i think it will take just jumping in. So now is a bit of a wait and see as the baby becomes more real (i can feel him moving now) and we continue to intellectually prepare for his arrival.

Dr. Appt

I had another doctor appointment this Monday and everything is still going strong. I gained weight and the baby's heart beat is still a strong 140 bpm. My Doctor gave me information on birth classes and recommendations for pediatricians. I think we're going to take a birth class through the hospital that's offered in February so we don't forget all the important information. I have an ultrasound next week where they'll confirm it's a boy and take measurements to make sure everything is on track. I'll give you any updates.

18 Weeks

A clerk told me congratulations this weekend-- gesturing towards my belly. I'm sure i'll lament the start of public attention when a stranger tries to touch my belly, but for now it was a good feeling as i was identified as pregnant and not just thick around the middle.

Things are going just fine this week. I have a Doctor appointment tomorrow and an ultrasound next week. This week the baby is forming permanent tooth buds, refining its reproductive system, and possibly sprouting hairs. At six inches, it's about the length of a small zucchini!

 

17 Weeks

Here we are at 17 weeks. My appetite is picking up and I believe I've gained a little weight so that the Doctor will be happy when I go back in a few weeks. The baby is the length of a sweet potato which is my current favorite fruit or vegetable comparison.
 

Birth Shows

For those of you without cable or not in the market for birth shows, let me tell you what can quickly become an obsession for a pregnant woman-- birth shows. A friend suggested i watch some to get a sense of how things actually work in labor and birth. And i do think they've been extremely educational. I'd never seen a birth before (live or taped) and once you watch a number of them you start to see in general how things go and what can happen-- good and bad. I'm now prepared (at least in my mind) for 24 hours of labor as not out of the ordinary.

However, i'm starting to firmly believe that there's a real agenda behind the production of these shows. 90% of them are people that have planned c-sections or planned epidurals. I've watched probably 100 episodes of these shows and in all but one, the women that were planning for natural childbirth wound up with the epidural. I know from watching the shows that the pain was extremely intense and that's why women went for the epidural-- but for someone that is planning on natural childbirth, it would be nice to see a few more "success" stories-- i know they happen in America.

So, i don't feel tired from pregnancy, but that doesn't mean i'm not feeling exhausted. In preparation for the baby, and because JT is now gainfully employed, we're doing quite a bit of work on our place.

Phase 1 was the arrival of my new Ikea office furniture on Thursday night. JT was still in DC for work, and i couldn't bear to have 20 cartons of furniture lying unopened in my living room, so i started to work putting everything together. After 6.5 hours the first day and several more since then, i've gotten all my office furniture and two wardrobes assembled and set-up. The corrallary to the new office furniture was moving my office out to the nook off our living room which you can see in the picture.

Phase 2 involved moving the current guest room/JT's office to my old office space to ready the old guest room for the nursery. This was mostly achieved this weekend and has left me tired and my back a little sore. I'm looking forward to sitting at my desk all day this week!

Phase 3 will be the bathroom remodeling that our contractor is set to start this week. Along with remodeling the bathroom (which has required umpteen trips to home depot and other bathroom supply stores), we'll be installing gas logs and doing a few other small improvements around the place to make things even more livable.

I'll have pictures of each phase, but suffice to say all this work has tired me out! 

16 Weeks

Here I am at the end of my 16th week. I'm starting to fit into some of my smaller maternity clothes which is nice. I've been feeling really good, not nauseas and not tired-- in general pretty normal lately which i hope continues! The baby is the size of an onion by now and his ears are starting to stop lying flat against his head. The other major activity this week is hardening the baby's current bone structure from cartiledge to hardened bone. JT is sick with a bad cold which i'm trying my best not to catch. I guess we'll see in a few weeks.

16 Week Ultrasound

Compared to the 8 week ultrasound, this 16 week one shows the baby looking more like the baby. The picture is blurry, but the experience was wonderful because you could see the spine and the heart beating, and the lungs working-- all important details. Although the technician said she didn't like to call anything before 20 weeks, that she was pretty confident she saw something else that wasn't the umbilical cord, and that we're having a boy. She did say not to rush out and buy all blue clothing because they could confirm at my 20-week ultrasound. But, we're probably having a boy, and he looks just fine right now.

15 Weeks

I don't feel like i look more pregnant until i look at these pictures. I am hoping to start having more of a rounded belly than just a jelly belly, but i believe things are progressing. This week the baby is the size of an avocado!

Music Suggestions

A project i've been envisioning tackling before the baby comes, is compiling playlists of music that will come in handy for several baby-related activities. For example, soothing the baby with a bed-time ritual, middle of the night music, active time music, etc. I'm not looking for standard lullabys, or Raffi, but more along the lines of adult music that suits these needs.

I'd love to get everyone's suggestions for what they would put on baby playlists. Feel free to use the comments feature below to let me know what you think.

Registry Info

It's a big news day today, what with two posts. It's still ridiculously early, but i couldn't hold off on setting up the registry any longer. In part i'll rationalize it by saying that we registered at Babies-R-Us, and they are located out in a part of the suburbs that are very far away and i don't like to frequent. I was out there over the weekend arranging delivery of my new office furniture from Ikea, so i decided to just hop on over to the Baby superstore and get things going. Once you have the registry set-up in the store you can edit, add and delete, on-line so i hope to not make many trips back out there.

Other than letting you know you can find the registry information by clicking on the "baby registry" link on the right hand side, i also have to let you know about the experience. I was led to believe that even the most organized would be waylaid by the overwhelming selection and the salespeople that convince you of ridiculous needs.

I know this is no predictor of successfull parenting, but i frankly have to say i did a great, fast job setting up the registry. I already knew what i wanted and what i didn't and the color-coded layout of the store made it really easy. I asked one question of a salesperson and they answered it and moved on. Really, it wasn't the nightmare it was made out to be.

I did have to laugh however at all the promotional materials they give you when you sign-up. My favorite was all the materials and coupons targeted at the grandparents. Obviously it's a lucrative market, but it seemed a little brash to agree to fork over our parents mailing information.

The other thing that caused me a chuckle was when they print out your list after you've scanned everything you want, the last page lets you know what items you missed. It has some language at the top of the page and when i first glanced at it, i just saw the words "know best what's right for your baby." Without reading it, i assumed it said something like "obviously you know what's right for your baby, but here are a few things you might think about adding to your registry." I was thinking how smooth they were in their marketing deparment.

However when i actually read the text it had a much more blunt message. Something to the effect of "Babies-R-Us knows what's best for your baby, so don't forget to register for these missing items."

So, we're registered and now i'm free to spend more time eating per my earlier message.

Baby active, gain more weight!

I had my 15 week Dr. appt today and all is well with the baby. The heartbeat was still a strong 160 bpm and the little guy was very active. We frequently heard static which Dr. P said was the baby moving around.

I actually lost a pound since my last appt, which isn't completely catastrophic because i have gained 7 pounds overall which is right on track. However, i'm moving in the wrong direction, so we had a humorous talk about ways to gain weight. I'm supposed to eat more cheese, work whole milk into my diet, and cook with butter! At the end of the conversation Dr. P asked what i usually drink. When i said water, she told me to supplement with juice and that i "would be fattened up in no time."

So Doctor's orders-- more calories and fat!

Here i am at 14 weeks, with a new haircut, and trying to maintain good posture. *A note to my readers, i want you to know that i am wearing this outfit for picture comparison purposes only. Not only do i have more than this one outfit-- i wouldn't be caught dead outside the house this uncovered.* 

Chemical Imbalance

JT and i are working with a financial planner to get things in order while the money's good and the baby's on the way. One of the things we're doing is considering life insurance.

As we were discussing the medical exam required before a final life insurance offer is made by the company, i enquired if being pregnant affected the status. Our planner assured me that they take the pregnancy into account when evaluating your medical status because essentially, "pregnancy is a chemical imbalance they can control for."

I loved this explanation. I think i'm going to think of the remaining months as being in a perpetually imbalanced state. I think it explains a lot.

Here's a decent picture-- bit blurry since i took it with the autofocus feature. I'll have JT take a better one this weekend. 

New Haircut--New Attitude

Recently i've been feeling a bit schlumpy. I've gained some weight and my normal clothes don't fit well, but i don't really look pregnant. The fact that i work at home and keep warm by wearing a polar fleece sack, doesn't help. All of this was starting to take a toll on my self-image. Today, a spunky short hair-cut helped boost my image and should come in handy when the baby is here. Before and After pictures coming soon.

We wanted a cool rocker for our baby's room. I think we found just the thing and for quite a steal, on ebay nonetheless!

13 Week Belly

Not sure if my belly is much bigger this week, but more importantly, at 13 weeks the baby is supposedly the size of a peach-- or even better, a jumbo shrimp. I can't wait to find out what 14 weeks holds.

12 Week Belly

The start of a decent belly. I'm told the baby is the size of a lime this week.

Baseline Belly

This is the baseline 8 week belly against which all future pictures will be judged.

Here's the baby blob at 8 weeks. An 11-week doppler reading showed a strong heartbeat of 164 bpm. By the beginning of November we should have a 16-week ultrasound and perhaps a good estimate on the sex of the baby.