33 Weeks

Okay, so the 33 week clothed picture isn't going to win any fashion awards, but give me a break-- i've come down with a cold. I've been around nothing but sick people for over a month so i've actually been impressed that i've managed to hold it off this long. I laid low all weekend but i'm still feeling under the weather. I'm planning to take Monday off from work and hopefully will start to mend-- we'll see how much vitamin C i can consume between now and then.

I'm also not sure that the polar fleece "tent" i'm wearing helps prove my point that i'm not really as big as the pictures look. This is Jt's pullover but one of the only things that still covers my belly. Oh well, 7 weeks to go!

The baby is supposed to be a little over 4 pounds and about 17 inches long. He's moving around all the time now and new and strange aches and pains make their presence known every day. I have another Dr. appt tomorrow with one of the other 4 doctors in my OB's practice. I've been doing a lot of reading about childbirth so i have a million and one questions.
 

Searching for a Pediatrician

A few weeks ago i started to tackle the remaining big tasks associated with having this baby-- finding a pediatrician, attending childbirth classes and locating childcare. Finding a pediatirican was the first thing i really tackled. Current wisdom is that you should interview your pediatrician before your baby is born so that you have "chosen" your child's care provider.

I was given a list of pediatricians associated with the hospital we plan to birth at. My first cut was to run each address through mapquest and determine how far each office was from our house. Narrowing the list down to those closest, i started calling around. One office didn't let you talk to the Doctors before your baby was born-- you were supposed to just pick one by name and then i guess make your decision after your baby had already been assinged to this doctor. Although this pediatrician practice was close by and had a parking lot, i moved on down the list.

The next practice was also relatively close so i gave them a call and was able to schedule an appointment. The practice is just one pediatrician and his physician assistant. When it came time for my appointment i did internet research on what i was supposed to ask and consider when making my choice.

The appointment consisted of me mainly talking with the P.A. and reviewing a whole packet of information they had. The majority of my questions which focused on things like office hours, procedures, availability etc. and were answered by the P.A. Then it came time for me to meet the Doctor.

Basically the point of meeting the Doctor is to sniff him out. But it seems you can't just chat with him and make your decision; you have to ask pointed questions. The only questions i could find were things like "what's your approach to breast-feeding" and "how often do you prescribe antibiotics." The second question actually provoked a good response but to the first the doctor jokingly replied "Breastfeeding is evel, I only support formula-feeding." He then went on to tell me that he had been a la leche league educator going back 15 years so i think he's fairly knowledgeable.

I liked the P.A. a lot and the practice seemed very efficient and the Doctor appeared to really like kids but also be good at keeping things on track. So, he became our Doctor. It was just a difficult process to go through since we don't even have our baby yet, let alone really know what medical care he'll require.

Dandy in the making

I think i mentioned that we were lucky enough to inherit our friends' two year old's wardrobe. This combined with the generous gifts of friends and family make for a very full closet. You should note that this is the boy's wardrobe for months 0-6. You haven't even seen the bins of clothes for 6-12 months, nor the sock or bib drawer. I figure even if we have 7 changes a day we should be in good shape! 

32 Week Ultrasound

As i mentioned, i had an ultrasound this morning. The technician was not my usual tech and wound up forgetting to tell me the things i like to find out-- heartbeat, estimated weight, etc, but she verified it's a boy and he's doing fine. She took this picture of the baby's face for us.

I've zoomed in a bit so that you might be able to make it out. You're looking at the face spot-on. You might be able to make out an eye on the left, the nose and his lips below. The blobby thing below his chin is his hand.

I think it looks a little like finding the Virgin Mary's face emblazened on a piece of toast. JT's reaction was that he looked ghoulish-- i was just happy he looks kind of chubby. I guess we'll just have to bide our time to see what he'll really look like. 

Showers!

2 weekends in a row i've been blessed with the good-fortune of attending baby showers thrown in my honor by friends. Last weekend while in DC, my friends threw a co-ed shower for me that provided a great opportunity to bring my friends and family together to offer best wishes for the new baby and lots of wonderful baby gear.

This weekend, back in Chicago for good, i had a small "ladies-only" tea shower at a local tea shop. We sampled the full high tea and then enjoyed playing a few "intellectual" baby games and opening all kinds of wonderful baby gifts.

Luckily the last shower ended by the early afternoon because i've been afforded a 3-day weekend to tackle wrapping up all the remaining baby item loose ends. We're down to the real odds and ends, but i'm looking forward to having everything on my list checked off. Of course i don't know what i'm going to find to occupy myself for these last two months-- hopefully the weather will warm up soooner than usual in Chicago so i can get outdoors more! I hope to have some baby room pictures up soon so you can see what kind of progress we're making in there. In the meantime, here's a picture from the shower in which i'm trying on the baby clothes for size-- looks like i've got some postpartem work to do to fit into the 6 month size. 

32 Weeks

During my last trip to DC i had many people comment that "i didn't look as big as i did on the website" or that i looked 'like a normal pregnant woman-- not as big as they thought." I decided that being adorned with nothing other than the incredible shrinking tank-top was skewing people's perception of my size. I decided to provide you a clothed shot as well as the standard belly shot so that you could see for yourself. Of course this weekend most of my shirts stopped covering my belly so it might be a futile exercise.

At 32 weeks i've learned the baby is approximately 4 pounds and that i can expect to gain a pound a week from here on out-- funny, i think that has already been happening! But, don't give me a hard time because i'm told that roughly half that weight goes straight to the baby.

I've also been told that the baby may stop moving as much because quarters are getting a little cramped-- however that change has yet to manifest. What is happening is the little sucker punches are coming harder and more in one spot so that now i can only describe what feels like being bruised from the inside-- something to query my doctor about next week.

I have an ultrasound, probably our last, tomorrow morning so hopefully i'll have one more picture to share in-utero. 

31 Weeks

Well, i've made it to 31 weeks and concluded the end of my possible travel period this week. My doctor told me not to travel after Feb. 20th in case i were to go into early labor. So after a last trip to DC for work, which i managed to tack a baby shower on to, i'm home for good until after the baby arrives! Things continue to go well.

I had a doctor's appt this morning and i'm measuring right on, the baby is quite active (hb of 166 while i was in the office) and my blood pressure is still nice and low.

From what i can tell at this point the baby is pretty much formed, just maturing his organs and fattening up. Supposedly he weighs a little over 3 pounds at this point. We have an ultrasound scheduled next week so i'll get another glimpse at him in uetero! 

30 Weeks

Here we are at 30 weeks. The baby is supposedly about 3 pounds and 14 inches long. That hair is growing if the baby has any, and he may have his eyes open part of the time. I'm still doing well but getting fairly tired in the evenings.

I leave on Tuesday for my last trip to DC before the baby is born. I'll have a chance to see everyone before we settle in with the baby here in Chicago and my good friends are throwing a shower which i'm definitely looking forward to.

Our childbirth class starts next week so we'll see how that goes and if we learn anything useful!  

29 Weeks

Well as you can see, my belly button is inching it's way outward. Most of the time it's just flat (there's no dip) but clearly this picture shows that sometimes it's pulled out too (i just ate dinner). This is the grossest thing that has happened so far in the pregnancy which i guess things could be worse. Still i'm not used to it and don't like to look at it.

The baby is growing brain cells rapidly which is part of why his head is expanding quickly. He's about 2.5 lbs and 15 inches long. I'm starting to try to find childcare and a pediatrician so i hope to post something about these searches soon.  

28 week Doctor Appt

Last week on Thursday i had my 28-week doctor appointment. I had to take a 1-hour gestational diabetes test to check for this type of diabetes that can develop during pregnancy. I just found out that my test came back normal which of course is good news. I also talked to my Doctor about my fears that i'm gaining so much weight. She looked over what i'd been eating and said that it looked like a very well-balanced diet and that I wasn't to worry about my weight-- i've decided to hide the scale in our house until after the baby is born and i can start exercising again!

Dr. P also said that i was measuring right on target for 28 weeks and that the baby's heart-beat was still strong (136). I start going to see her every two weeks and then for the last month will go each week.

I apologize for the late posting of a picture. I hope to get to it tonight. I was away this weekend and it put me behind in my documentation duties.