8 weeks to go!

Caleb is getting less hairy as all of his baby body fuzz starts to fall off this week. I’m still pretty convinced we’re going to have a baldy. He’s about 4 pounds and 16 1/2 inches long. I’ve only seen the vegetable of the week, a jicama, at Sweet Tomatoes all cut up, so I have no clue what a real one looks like. He’s also supposed to be gaining a half pound a week now and me a pound.

Last week I was getting concerned because I hadn’t gained any weight in about three weeks and he was measuring a little small. I kept looking at my 7 month picture and thinking that I didn’t look any different. But between Friday and Sunday, we both must have had a growth spurt because I gained three pounds and my belly gained about 3 inches. As you can see, I look noticeably different today, I even got a few of those lovely “are you sure there aren’t two in there?” comments at church. Sigh.

Today I had a few 20% off coupons for Babies R Us that are about to expire and a little extra cash on me. I couldn’t pass up a fun shopping spree at my new favorite store. Of all the great and wonderful things I could have bought I ended up with…. a breast pump. Seriously, I shocked myself to be so excited about getting something that could easily be mistaken for a torture device. But it’s on my list of immediate things we need to have before the baby’s here and I think I can muster up some courage to use that thing if I get used to seeing it in the closet for a few more weeks.

As far as his breech position goes, I’m afraid this poor baby has inherited his mother’s aweful sense of direction. Last Tuesday we found out he was transverse and he stayed that way for a few days. I was disappointed on Monday to feel his head back in his favorite place right under my ribs and him happily kicking away at my bladder once more. Last night, I think he turned sideways again and maybe was head down for a while today. It’s tough to be certain; all I know is that he was flip-flopping around a bunch today in class kicking me everywhere. I guess I’ll try not to worry and let him have his fun before he gets too big to somersault around in there.

9 weeks to go! Caleb is over 3 pounds and over 16 inches long. Andy and I both agree we feel cheated out on this week’s produce of the week: four naval oranges.

We had a doctor’s appointment today and got some questions answered. I’ve been a little concerned with the baby being breech this late in the pregnancy. I could tell by how low his kicks were and how he liked to have his head on my right side just under my ribs. One night this past week I thought he turned and have felt his kicks all over the place on top and on the sides. I told my doctor about this and he felt around. Turns out that he’s lying transverse (sideways) with his head on my left side and his feet kicking my right side (which totally makes sense to me now) so he’s not quite head-down yet but he’s on his way. I guess he likes taking his time. He’s been pretty laid back as far as fetuses go so maybe that will carry over into infancy. I wouldn’t mind a calm baby.

Other than that, We did the normal doctor’s visit stuff with the heartbeat and uterus-measuring. His heartrate was in the 150’s which is a little higher than before only because he was nice and awake. He even kicked the dopplar a few times trying to get it off. I measured 28 weeks but the doc said that was pretty typical for a transverse baby.

Ever since he turned, I’ve been getting these wierd sensations when he scrapes his hand or foot across me. The only way I can describe it is like getting tickled from the inside. I’m usually a very ticklish person normally especially on my side. Since his feet are right there, everytime he moves his foot across my side it makes me jump. This seems to be one of his favorite activities right now because I’m getting “tickled” several times a day.

The nursery is a little more complete. I was able to get the crib mattress and some sheets with the money from my baby shower repeats and some gift cards. So now the crib is basically ready. Once we get the rocker we’ll be able to hang some things up and really finish the nursery. Here are some pictures of the crib. And for all you who are worried about my set up, I will not have the bear, pillow or blanket in the crib when the baby’s in there. It’s merely for my aesthetic enjoyment right now.:

Here are some pictures from my baby shower on Sunday:

The baby shower was so nice. I got to see some long lost friends and family and we all had a lot of fun. My mother-in-law and little sis-in-law did a wonderful job with the decorations and games. I got a lot of stuff including two laundry loads worth of clothes. Andy’s aunt brought a homemade cake which was delicious. I wish I brought home more but then again, am glad I didn’t willingly subject myself to voluntary gluttony.

Wow. I think we can officially start a countdown. 10 weeks to go! As the light at the end of the tunnel becomes brighter, I’m starting to get pre-baby jitters. You know, the normal “how the heck am I going to pull this whole parenting thing off” stuff. I know this is pretty common for any first timer and just that fact calms me down a little.

Caleb is now 3 pounds and some change and a little over 15 inches (a head of cabbage). From now until 37 weeks, he will gain about a half a pound a week. He’s also practicing breathing quite regularly now.

Unfortunately, Strep throat has hit the Holloway family. We’ve both been feeling a little under the weather for about a week. Andy woke up last night with a fever and feeling horrible so we went to our faithful Medimin this morning to get diagnosed for what we thought would be a simple sinus infection. Just to be thorough, the nurse tested us both for Strep. I turned out to be negative for it but Andy wasn’t as lucky. Since it’s highly contageous, I probably already have it or soon will. So now we’re both on antibiotics and a whole battalion worth of treatments. We’ll be quarantined to the house for the next 24 hours until we’re no longer a hazard to society. Here’s how Andy has set up, organized and scheduled our various treatments:

Well, off to drink tons of water and spray my nasal cavities out. I hope everyone has a wonderful (and strep-free week).

I apologize for the late blog. Between school, Dr.’s appointments and presidential debates, yesterday was pretty hectic.

Pretty much from here on out, this baby’s just simmering. He’s getting fat and practicing breathing for the big day. He weighs over 2 1/2 pounds (butternut squash) and is over 15 inches long.

The doctor’s appointments are now every 2 weeks. Everything looked good this time. Heartbeat was 138 and I’m measuring 27 1/2 weeks (which is still normal).

I had some concerns going in that I asked him about. The first was that in both my 18 week and 4D ultrasounds, the baby was breech. He seems to prefer this position because I can often feel his head right under my rib cage and his kicks are pretty low. I asked the doc if this was a problem and right now, it isn’t. Once we get to about 36 weeks and he’s still breech, he will try to flip the baby by maneuvering my belly around. I looked up some exercises I can do at home to try to encourage him to flip on his own so I’ll try those every now and then.

The second question I had was if he recommended the flu shot, which he strongly did. I’ve never taken one before but many people and research encourage pregnant women to get the flu vaccination because it protects not only the mother from getting the flu (of which the resulting fever can harm the fetus) but it also vaccinates the baby until he’s 5 - 6 months old. Since Caleb will be here during the height of the flu season, I saw no reason not to get this shot.

Here comes the fun story: So on our way back from the doctor, Andy and I decided to be good parents stop at the Medimin to get this flu shot. When we were filling out our paperwork, the nurse noticed the insert of the flu shot warned that pregnant women should not get this shot because it has not been tested on reproductive animals (??). She got a little concerned and asked us to find another brand of the flu vaccine that has been tested. To make a long story short, about 2 hours later and several calls and trips to local vaccination sites, we realized that every brand of the flu shot hasn’t been tested and had that warning. Just to cover my bases, I checked with my OB, a local big wig doctor in the valley and pretty much any information on pregnancy and the flu shot. I concluded that since a new flu shot comes out every year, it doesn’t have time to be tested on pregnancy so it has to be labeled with that warning. But the CDC and every other medical expert would agree that it is safe and encouraged to be taken.

The end result to all this madness: I’m vaccinated.

I have my first baby shower this weekend which will be thrown by my dear mother-in-law and sister-in-law. We have all agreed this will not be one of those take-forever baby showers. 2 1/2 hours max; which I love. They have some pretty fun games planned and I will get to see some old co-workers, family and friends I haven’t seen in a while. It kind of saddens me that all of my family lives so far away and can’t be there for these little events. But we’ve been a “long distance” family for years and we always make it work between phone calls, emails and fun vacations. If we get pictures, I will make sure to post them up here for all of you who couldn’t make it.

We got some great pictures! At first, he was face down in the placenta and the cord was in his face but after some maneuvering and jostling, we got him bothered enough to turn around. The umbilical cord is still in a lot of shots, but at least we could see most of his face. Since we got 55 pictures total, I chose a few of the best ones to show everyone. Oh, and if the slideshow seems to be messing up, just refresh the page and that should take care of the problem. Enjoy!

Andy and I still can’t decide whose nose he has; it looked different in every shot. Andy thinks he has my mouth and I think he sleeps just like his daddy. He’s still breech which concerns me slightly b/c he doesn’t have that much more time to flip and seems to prefer being heads up. Who wouldn’t when there’s a nice squishy placenta to use as a pillow.

We also got a DVD of the whole thing but we need to edit out the boring parts and then we’ll post it on here. He did some super cute things that we couldn’t catch in the pictures so we’ll try edit the video down to a more manageable portion for your viewing pleasure.

Seven months today and I’m officially in the third trimester! People in my class are starting to comment on how big I’m getting. I did have a fellow prego classmate but she recently had her baby so now I’m the only one left to be picked on. As I have promised, here’s this month’s belly picture:

I’ve outgrown the rest of my regular shirts and am now outgrowing my fat t-shirts. Soon, I’m going to have to purchase some moo-moos in order to feel comfortable at all.

Caleb is now 2 - 2 1/4 pounds and looks like a Chinese cabbage. Yep. Didn’t know what that was either. Here’s an example:

Nothing much in the way of development besides building up brain neurons and baby fat. He’s got eyelashes now and is regularly opening and closing his eyes.

Hopefully we’ll be able to see some of that on Saturday when we have our 3D ultrasound. I can’t wait! Don’t worry, we’ll post lots of pictures. I’ve been drinking like crazy in order for the pictures to come out clear. So stop by the blog sometime Saturday afternoon; we should hopefully have them up by then.

We have a doctor’s appointment next Tuesday. They’re going to start happening every two weeks now that it’s getting close. I feel like we should be signing up for those childbirth classes but I’m just not feeling it. From what I’ve heard, they’re pretty boring and tell you basically what all the books do. I don’t know, I might regret it come D-day but I’m not seeing Andy and me in one of those classes unless they can entice me with chocolate cake.

I can’t believe this is my last 2nd trimester week! I’m already feeling the anticipation starting to build up inside me.

Caleb can now open his eyes. I’ve heard that if you shine a flashlight on your belly the baby can see the light shining through. I’m not sure I want to put him through that. Think about spending your entire existence in darkness and then all of a sudden having a bright light blinding you for a few minutes. I can’t imagine that to be a pleasant experience. I’ll let the doctors be the first to do all those mean things to him at delivery.

He can also recognize Andy’s and my voice although it may be hard to hear with all that vernix and amniotic fluid in the way. His brain is very active, developing at a faster pace than before. He’s almost 2 pounds and about the size of a head of cauliflower.

I just got my glucose test results back and it looks like I’m diabetes-free!! Not that I was losing sleep over this, but I have a friend who has gestational diabetes with her second child but never had it with her first. She is also about my size and doesn’t’ eat junk all the time. So I guess it’s pretty random who gets it. Upon realizing that, I began to grow a little more worried. But alas! I’m free and clear for this pregnancy!

The hiccups are still a regular occurrence and even a bit stronger than before. My Mother-in-Law actually got to feel him in the middle of one of his bouts the other day. He’s doing weird things to my belly. If I ever get the chance, I need to make a video of the various contortions and spasms that go on in there.

He’s also got a pretty solid schedule down pat. As soon as I get up in the morning and start moving or talking, he wakes right up and starts jumping around. I think he’s going to be a morning person for sure. that’s his most active time of the day. At night, he’s a little more laid back until I lay down. For some reason he loves to roll around when I’m on my back. I guess he has more room in that position.

Our nursery furniture has arrived and is set up in the room. Although I love it, we can’t complete the nursery until we get a few more things (like a mattress and a rocker) so we can move stuff around to make sure it all fits. This one thing is driving me crazy. I even set up the crib skirt and bumper in a mattress-less crib just to try to see what it looks like, but it’s just not cutting it. I guess I need to have a little more patience until we can get everything in there.

I was looking through the weekly Michael’s ad when I saw Christmas decorations on sale. Christmas decorations! Gracious, it’s not even October and they’re already thinking about Christmas?! Every time I see, hear or even think anything christmas I am reminded that sometime around then, I will be going into labor and giving birth. That’s enough to put looking at christmas decorations into a whole new light for me.

We had our doctor’s appointment today. Everything was perfect; the baby was even showing off to the doctor by moving around while he was measuring me. The heart rate was a lovely 142 bpm. Our next appointment is in three weeks and after that we’ll be going every two weeks. Yikes. That’s a big reality check for what’s to come.

Yesterday, I took the infamous glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. If I do end up having it, I’ll find out in a few days. I sure hope it’s negative, I’m just not ready to give up my sugar for three and a half months.

Developmentally, he’s well on his way. His finger and foot prints are finished and he’s putting on more fat. The nerve connections in his ears are increasing so he’s able to react more to sounds he hears. This week, he’s between 1 1/2 to 2 pounds and is about the length of an English cucumber.

He’s been getting the hiccups like crazy now. It seems like every time I eat something it sets him off. I don’t think he likes them too much because when he gets them, he starts squirming around like he’s trying to get comfortable The poor thing, he tends to get them three to four times a day now. But even with all that uncomfortableness, he’s exercising his lungs, which is a very good thing.

This weekend was spent transitioning the spare room to a nursery. Andy and I cleaned out the whole closet and moved everything to the office. I wish I had before pictures; I’m still amazed we were able to get everything out of there. Here’s one half of the closet with our growing collection of baby clothes:

Andy is finishing up the painting as I type this. I’ve decided to wait until it’s complete to take pictures because I’ll be tempted to photograph every little improvement and nobody wants to put up with that. So hopefully in a week or two (depending on when the furniture comes) we’ll have a beautiful completed nursery to display to the world.

Today is 25 weeks. I sure don’t feel like I’ve been pregnant that long. It’s kind of wierd knowing in less than 15 weeks (hopefully) we’ll have our little boy home with us.

Now that he’s pretty much developed, all Caleb needs to do is fatten up. And that’s exactly what’s started this week. Baby fat. As that happens, his wrinkled, little old man appearence will begin to plump up and smooth out. His hands are now fully formed and he can grasp anything in his reach; which isn’t much. An umbilicord here, a big toe there. You’d think he’d get bored of the same scenery for his entire short existence.

I think this week’s vegetable wins the most random, unused produce award: the lovely rutabega. And no Mom, you can’t use Dad’s “special vegetabe stew surprise” for this week’s recipe.

I’m convinced the baby went through a dramatic growth spurt within the past couple of days. From everything I’ve heard, babies tend to get pretty sleepy and inactive when they’re going through a growth spurt. Well, the last couple of days, he’s been really lazy. to the point where I would have to drink some juice and eat some sugar to get him to move. He was also lying really low to where I would only feel kicks below my belly button. Well, last night, all that changed. He apparently finished his growth spurt and decided to stretch out and do some gymnastics. I’m telling you, it’s like he turned into a beast or something. All of a sudden he was way up above my belly button almost to my ribs kicking the bejeebies out of me. Today was the same; he was moving around so much he was shaking me. Not enough that my classmates noticed, but I sure did. It’s a pretty wierd feeling having something jolt you so hard your body shakes from the impact.

With that, I do find comfort that he’s growing healthy and strong. Every kick and roll makes me smile knowing that he’s doing fine in there. It’s so wierd to worry and care so much about something that you have never seen before. Andy and I are always saying how we can’t wait to meet him. It’s neat to be able to make out little feet from the outside and try to imagine what kind of acrobatics he’s doing in there, but the real reward will come when we can actually see those little feet and meet him for the first time.

We’re six months! Yahoo! Our baby is now 15 inches long and a pound and a half (like an ear of corn). He’s getting his sense of balance and can tell if he’s up side-down or right side-up. Since last week he had a big growth spurt, gaining about 4 ounces. I, on the other hand, am still gaining about a pound a week. Here’s the belly and I today:

I’m carrying ridiculously low and I’m convinced It’ll be dragging on the ground by 40 weeks.

I can no longer slouch; I’m hungry all the time now, often waking up before dawn literally in pain from hunger; My back kills me at night and on top of that, I’ve got a healthy dose of heartburn. But all those wonderful symptoms aside, I’m really amazed by it all. Last night I was lying down feeling him move around and I could make out actual body parts sliding under my hand. Well, almost; it was either a head or a butt, but cute and fun to experience nonetheless.

School’s been going rather well. The commute is easy and very scenic. My main complaint is sitting in one room for six hours straight. We all get a little stir crazy in there. But my professors are wonderful and the workload is definitely going to be much lighter this semester. I start my internship tomorrow. I am so excited because I’m in a first grade class. I’ve been dying to work with the little kids since I started school.

Please excuse the day late update. Our A/C decided to poop out on us yesterday so we ended up camping out at Andy’s parents’ house. Hopefully we’ll have the problem fixed sometime today. It’s never fun to have no A/C when the average temperature is 110 degrees.

Big milestone this week: Caleb’s lungs have matured enough for him to have a chance at survival in the outside world. Although these thoughts are never ones we want to think about, it is comforting to know that this day and every day after, the rate of survival for babies at this stage increases dramatically. That said, he’s still much better off in the oven until full term. I’m happy to keep him cooking for as long as he wants.

He’s practicing to breathe now and building up his lungs for all that screaming he will bless us with one day. His hearing is also getting better. Research suggests that noises he hears often in the womb (like Toby’s barks or my professor’s droning lectures) won’t phase him later on. We’ve been watching endless episodes of House in order to catch up before season 5 starts. With as much as we’re watching it, I sometimes feel guilty that Caleb is starting to think Hugh Laurie is his daddy.

He kind of looks like a wrinkled old man right now. His skin will be too big for him until he gets all his fat to fill it out in a few weeks. He’s over 11 inches and weighs more than a pound. Andy and I both agree that the produce item of the week is a bit of a stretch. Has anyone actually seen an 11 inch long mango?

I am finally experiencing those wonderful braxton hicks contractions. They’re not painful by any means, but just… bothersome and catch me completely off guard all the time. On the upside, some people say the more braxton hicks you have, the easier and quicker labor will be for you. If that’s the case, and if I my body’s really going to be practicing for 17 more weeks, I better deliver this kid in record time.

For some reason, the even numbered weeks seem more of a milestone than the odd. I guess because for me, everything has happened on an even numbered week (i.e. when we found out, both ultrasounds, Dr.s’ visits, yadda yadda).

Caleb’s taste buds are developing this week and the nerves in his brain are allowing him to process his sense of touch, meaning he can make sense of what he feels. His eyes are completely developed but still fused shut for a few more weeks. He’s about 11 inches long and weighs about a pound. Weird comparative vegetable of the week: the spaghetti squash.

We had another monthly doctor’s appointment today. I mentioned my concerns with having a history of undiagnosed heart issues. As a response, they took blood to test for some thyroid problems. I’ll find out the results by the end of the week. The baby’s growth and heart rate are fine: 146 bpm.

I have my school orientation tomorrow so no more extensive free time for me. I am excited to see everyone from the last two semesters again after 4 months. I remember when we first found out we were pregnant it was the last week of school. I managed to tell a couple of friends so I actually have no idea how many will be surprised to see me waddling in wearing maternity clothes. I’m a little more nervous about school strictly because I will be taking classes at an elementary school in a more “urban” area. It’s not the safe little bubble of campus I’m used to. I will also have to drive pretty far to get there.

All in all, there’s a lot of change coming up in the next week. I tend to want to control a lot of it and want to know what’s exactly in store for the future. Since I can’t know for sure what this semester or pregnancy holds for me, I have to relinquish this anxiety and know that whatever happens, I am cared for by a very powerful and loving God.

A few months back Bri started talking to me rather giddily about a 3D/4D ultrasound.  At the time I didn’t know much about it, considering we hadn’t even had a good regular ultrasound yet, but finally I got to see what they are and it’s awesome!  We scheduled one for October 4th, and we’ll be able to get a DVD, high-res pictures, and see some amazing stuff (hopefully) and 100% confirm that Caleb is indeed a Caleb…

We’ll be sure to post them all on the site for all to see our little guy.  The picture above is an example of the type of thing we’ll hopefully be able to see!  Incredible stuff.  You can see more sample pictures of the place we’re going to by visiting their site at www.peekofyou.com

Caleb’s eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed now. He’s carrot-length at 10 1/2 inches. One of my books mentioned that he’s starting to digest sugars he takes in when he swallows amniotic fluid. I don’t really know why the authors found that important enough to put in the week 21 section, but I guess that’s a milestone of some sort.

These kicks of his are getting strong enough to keep me up at night. They’re not always the magical feeling everyone envisions either. Sometimes if I’m lying down or sitting he’ll do this little rhythmic jump motion that I can feel from top to bottom. I don’t know if it’s hiccups or what but it really hurts. It kind of reminds me of a sea bass thrashing around in there. I know, not a beautiful pregnant moment by any means. I’m not really looking forward to him doing that same motion at full term.