27 Weeks Pregnant (just about...)

Tomorrow is the last day of the 2nd trimester. The "honeymoon" phase of pregnancy has escaped me until recently but it is turning out to be glorious nonetheless. My skin is clearing up (finally!) and my newly-cut hair is thick and shiny and awesome. My weight gain is distributing itself nice and more evenly, even if my thighs are a bit more jiggly than before... Days that I feel good I feel really good and don't puke, but sometimes I still have really rough days or mornings where I just ralph my face off. It's a trade, I guess.
I am happy and so, so in love with Shawn. I cried on my way to work yesterday thinking about handing him the baby for the first time... I cry a lot lately (hormones!) but that really choked me up!

This next week or two will be really busy! Monday we get our taxes done, Friday I have an appointment with the Midwife, and Saturday the winner of the Belly Cast competition will be announced! PLEASE, PLEASE vote for mine! Simply go here and "like" the photo to "vote!"
Sunday we are going to a Baby Fair to try and win lots of good stuff and mingle with other Omaha parents/parents-to-be. It should be fun!
This week in the mail we received baby's first all-in-two diaper from Cherry Blossom Babies turned out! It's so tiny!!!

I got my diaper cover making supplies the other day for our own diaper covers so after my friend's hoodie is finished I will start on those as well.

Hope your week goes by nicely; take care!

Baby Kicks Back!

Last week I mentioned posting a video of baby movements. I got a little one this morning to show you! It's just over 10 seconds long but you can see me find the baby's foot, poke it, and get kicked back in the belly button area a couple times. Take a look if you like!

We're almost at 27 weeks, the last week before the final trimester!!! How has time gone so fast?

26 Weeks Pregnant

 Everything is starting to really stretch out with the baby weighing over a pound now, especially in the positions s/he prefers to lie. At the first prenatal with the Midwife on Saturday, her nurse-practitioner (Midwife was actually delivering a baby and coudln't make it) felt my belly for baby's position and said it's already upside down!
YAY! Stay, baby, stay.
Baby has lately been hanging out either directly up and down with his or her butt behind my belly button (feels like my hips are breaking!), or to either side with his or her head in one side of my pelvis and the bum on the opposite side up behind my navel. I get lots of kicks to the sides of my belly and to my stomach and little punches down lower in my hips and bladder area. They're forceful and also visible to the outside. I might have to video this for you all to see.

As for me, I'm still puking. I have resigned to being one of the very few  women who puke the entire pregnancy. My mom even asked me if I was sure I didn't have the flu... Maybe baby-flu.
I can deal with it on a daily basis to my best ability but the thing that really sucks still is the lack of understanding from others in my community.
No one will help me and approve me for FMLA hours (that I EARNED all YEAR) for puking and the Midwife's office kind of didn't want to fill them out at all.  UM  I NEED THOSE so I can leave work for Prenatal Appointments that will occur during work hours... like the next one that is already scheduled. The Midwife's office doesn't know what kind of people I work with and this entire commuity has very little understanding of FMLA laws (especially for pregnancy).
For once in my life I am asking for what I need when I need it and I am refused help. WTF?
I told Shawn I hope I get a "warm-fuzzy" sometime at the Midwife's place or I'll only be slightly more comfortable there on baby's Birthday than I would at a good hospital.
I cry a lot lately and I blame hormones, sleepiness and stress. All the stress, it should be noted, is from trying to work full time while still having to puke all the time. The more stressed I am, the more I puke. And then I cry. It's getting vicious after 5 months of this.
I just want it to be May so I can have our baby and stop puking!!!

25 Weeks Pregnant

Baby has open nostrils now (they had coverings!) and can hear very well. I feel finger movements! Baby can control his or her reflexes better and better as the days go by.
We have done baby-related things everyday this week so far and it's getting more real that we'll have a baby soon... and sometimes I even believe that the baby is inside me now. I still have lots of denial, but it's fading. I mean, it's hard not to acknowlege an increasingly heavy and jabby-elbowed mass laying on your guts all night while you are sleeping. If you have cats you know exactly what I mean.

In the last week I have gone from the bizarre pregnancy sleep patterns which once plagued me to sleeping from 10:30ish PM to 5:30 or 6:30 AM. I usually only get up once to pee, maybe twice. I feel a lot more rested on the days I get to sleep until 6:30 or later than I have for a long time.
I am STILL puking.
Seriously.
Yesterday and today sucked for it, too. But it usually doesn't happen again for the rest of the day. Usually.
So I've had morning sickness this entire time and only now, when it "should be" gone, is it the intensity and frequency it should have been when we were back having fun with Zofran. Weeeeird.
I also finished yet another crochet hoodie for the baby.

Shawn and I are changing in lots of ways. We think about the baby a lot, and discuss how easy it is getting to give the bird to the nay-sayers we encounter when we are questioned about our choices. We're getting called stupid, receiving eye rolls and being laughed at when we are asked about cloth diapering, unmedicated birth and not finding out the sex of the baby quite often now. The only thing I can think of is that we're gaining a thick skin with which to defend our baby with before s/he is here and that it will be in place once s/he is born. Then we will be ready to stand up against anything for him or her.

It's Friday, I'm in LoVE! #42

I think I may have finally gotten that "second-trimester energy burst" as evidenced by my sewing projects and all the progress we have made with planning for baby. Too bad the third trimester starts in less than 4 weeks... maybe it'll last?

So today I love me because:

1. We went to the birth center last night. You guys... it's pretty. And warm. And clean. And it doesn't smell like hospital.
2. I trusted my instincts and went with the doula I love. She gives me more assurance that I chose the right woman everyday. When I told her we were bummed about no home birth, she framed it to me like this "We will transfer to the birth center at the latest time possible." So now in my mind, I'm having a home birth and transferring to the center.
3. I didn't puke today!
4. I'm in full-on production mode for making baby things. If I am wielding scissors and fabric, keep your fingers farrrrr away.
5. I made an appointment with the midwife to transfer my prenatal care over to her for the remainder of my pregnancy. I know I'll be more comfortable there.

Tonight we are doing a plaster cast of my belly for a local competition. I'm very excited to make one with Shawn!

What are you doing this weekend and what are you happy you accomplished this week?

*jabjab* Ouch!

The baby is kicking me now with an unexpected ferocity for something only as large as an orange! I know I'm the only one who can feel it right now but I wish Shawn could feel what I feel when I hurriedly grab his hand and place it on my belly; and my parents who are already so in love with their grandbaby (and fighting about which sex it will be) when I gasp or exclaim out with a particularly strong jab.
I came to blog about feeling this... it has almost been 2 weeks since I last posted! I want to share this and to record it to remember later for myself as well. It's amazing how the idea of the baby moving inside of me seemed alien at first. It still is quite strange to think about, but once I rationally accepted the fact that this is really how humans are made and brought into the world, it's become more matter-of-fact now that I have finally started to feel jabs and rolls.


Glowing and Round-faced!

I physically feel better than I have so far; the second trimester isn't my "honeymoon" period like it is for some pregnant ladies but it is definitely an improvement from how weeks 6-11 were for me. I haven't gained much more weight since my last appointment (just a pound) but my face is rounder... like my quickly growing belly! I have to wear maternity pants everyday so I have 2 pair (now 3; thanks Mom!!!) I rotate like I used to with my regular pants.
Last week I started sleeping better after Thursday or Friday. I wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and maybe between 3:45 and 5 AM to get sick once if I didn't eat anything in the middle of the night. Then I go back to sleep with a very active-feeling belly and wake up between 7 and 7:30 AM (but I feel like I could sleep all day)! I have to eat first thing when I get up or I get sick again; I usually have cereal. Cereal is the only thing I have craved for the entire pregnancy so far. Other than that I have gone through a mac n' cheese phase, an egg salad phase, and now a (heated) turkey sandwich phase. I've been obsessed with turkey for a while now that I think of it...
I have been able to start cooking more again and now I cook most of our meals! Yay! Shawn enjoys that, too; he missed my cooking quite a bit I'm sure. Shawn is amazing at helping me and making life as easy as possible. He cleans everything and does all of the dishes so that when I am hungry I don't have to clean a bowl or plate and gag from hunger at the same time; there's always a dish ready for me! All I have to worry about is being comfortable, getting enough rest, and feeding us all.

Our next appointment is Wednesday. They're just going to check on me and maybe listen to the baby to check in on him or her. The next appointment after Wednesday we will finally be able to see our baby for the first time since 9 weeks! I'm so excited and I'm sure Shawn is, too. Imagine how big I'll be then... :o)