New House Pics!

Some pictures of our new house!

Sadness

It is with regret that I inform you that on Saturday, October 21, my belly button ring ceased to exist. It got infected due to the expansion of my belly button, became infected, and the only solution was to remove the entire ring. As of now, Sunday morning, the hole has already closed. I'm sad, but I know it was for the best. It is one of many sacrifices I'm sure I'll have to make to be the mother of this child!

We have a house!

I think it's safe for me to officially post that we have a house! We've been house-hunting for quite some time now, and after about two weeks of going back and forth with offers and waiting on signatures, the contract was officially executed yesterday and that means we have a house! It's in The Woodlands in a newish neighborhood- the house is 3 bedroom/2 bath and is a PERFECT little starter home! And the best part is the backyard is *huge* compared to every other lot we looked at, with lots of mature trees. DH and I are so very excited- we plan to close mid-November and do some work (minor work- paint and cleaning) and then move in the weekend after Thanksgiving. The house is empty right now so we don't have to worry about the homeowners first moving out.

So now since we have a house, I've contacted the closest Catholic church which also happens to be one of the most popular in The Woodlands, and we've scheduled ourselves to attend Baptism preparation classes in November (since they're not offered in December) and we'll have Bethany baptized on January 21. It's really wild to be doing all of these things at once- preparing for a baby and buying/fixing up a house, but I'm generally feeling good still and we've had numerous offers from friends to help us move. My Dad has even offered to come help us fix up the house using some of his vacation days, so we've been very blessed to have others looking out for us as well. Since I can't be involved in any painting, I'm going to stick to packing and unpacking boxes and some of the lighter cleaning. I think that'll be really hard for me since I want to be involved in this so badly, and I'm not really the kind of person to let other people do work, especially on my house, while I just sit around. So I will have to find something to do! We already have a huge to-do list, and I'm sure things will also pop up as we go.

It's so nice to see things come together like this. Thank you Lord, for answered prayers!

Rolling Movements

We have moved past the kicking stage into the rolling stage... Now, instead of feeling little flutters, it's more of a rolling sensation- does that make sense? I think her rear end is under the right side of my rib cage, since I tend to feel a hard bump at that place pretty consistantly and movements are generally everywhere else. At this point only a few of her movements have hurt or made me say "Ow!" but mostly I enjoy just staring at my stomach and watching and arm or a leg or elbow or something pass from one part of my tummy to the other. I can't hunch over at all because then I can't breath, so my posture is having to improve! Tomorrow means I'm 31 weeks pregnant, which is 9 weeks away from our due date! I already feel like she's so squished in there, I don't know how much bigger I can strech!

30 Week Dr. Appointment

Yesterday morning I had my first doctor appointment with my new ObGyn. Can I just say now I love him? Even their office staff was nicer. Everything is looking good... I had my glucose screen to check for diabetes and I don't see what the big deal is with the orange stuff they make you drink... I've heard people complain about how gross it is and it was basically just about 3/4 of a can of flat orange soda. I drank it in less than a minute, no big deal. So then the dr. comes in (his name is Dr. Strong, lol) and he's caught up on my information since I'm new to him- just the basics. He measured my belly and said I'm measuring between 28-31 weeks (good) and we listened to her heartrate- about 150 (good), and too my blood pressure, which is also good. He then told me he wants to see me every two weeks since I'm at 30 weeks, and I think in late November sometime we'll switch to every week. So our next appointment is in about 2 weeks, and we're having another ultrasound done! He wants to peek at the baby since he didn't see the first ultrasound, and I want to peek and make certain little Bethany actually IS a Beth and not an Ethan! This was the first appointment DH wasn't able to come to, but he will be there for the rest! Especially the next one- the ultrasound #2. :-)

My Belly Button is Gone

Well, it's still there, but it's officially an "outie" now instead of an "innie". I still have the ring in, and despite that pushing down on the inside it's poking up even more now, it makes DH laugh. I'm feeling little Beth each day and still very obviously. The movements continue to grow- last night, while driving, I felt the hardest punch/kick yet. I laughed out loud for a couple of minutes because it was just so amazing.

28 week photos

Just a couple of photos from 28 weeks. Dare I say? No stretch marks yet. :-)

God "parents"

I forgot to add a couple of weeks ago that we asked my sister and DH's brother to be Bethany's Godparents. Actually, my sister will be the Godmother and my brother-in-law will be a "Christian Witness", since there are certain requirements to be a Godparent to a Catholic baby. Since he's not Catholic, he'll basically be her Godfather but technically, a witness. They were our Maid of Honor and Best Man in our wedding, and we're really excited that they'll both have another important role in our lives!

Here's more information on the Godparent/Christian Witness thing: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2Y.HTM and http://catholicism.about.com/cs/sacraments/a/godparent042303.htm

This weekend we went house hunting again and didn't find anything. I did, however, realize that my feet and hands are majorly starting to swell- I couldn't pull my rings off my hand and it felt like all the blood that went to my feet just stayed there. After getting in and out of a car, hot weather, hot houses, in and out of the backyards- I almost fainted once, I'm not sure if it's related to the swelling or the fact that we were just having a very busy day! I was walking back into one of the houses and suddenly I started to walk crooked and blacked out, luckily I was able to catch myself on the door and sit down before I passed out. The realtor got me some iced water and I just sat down for a bit before we continued on... I was fine for the rest of the day! Who knows?

On Wednesday we're going to a new OB. We're just going for an interview at this point, I've heard great things about him but we're going to check things out before we make the official switch. After that we'll probably house hunt some more- wish us luck!

Lamaze Class

Tuesday night we attended our first childbirth class. It was a Lamaze class (www.lamaze.org), held by a certified Lamaze instructor in her home. We were there with 3 other couples- two first-time parents and the other couple on their third. The teacher was wonderful! She's almost 60, but the youngest most peppy 60-yr-old out there! She's been teaching Lamaze for a VERY long time and is really dedicated and really believes in the method. Tuesday night was mostly an introduction of sorts, we talked about the method of Lamaze (it's not just "breathing") and also a quick rundown of the phases of labor. My DH told me afterward he learned more about childbirth in those 2 hours than he has in the past 6 months! He's also coming to understand *why* I want to have a med-free childbirth, and is fully supportive of us switching to an OB who is more commited to having a low-intervention birth and also of hiring a doula. I am very excited! :-)

Yesterday, after getting a recommendation, I called a new OB and set up an informational interview. I've heard he's very low-intervention, stepping in only when medically necessary, and a really pleasant doctor to work with. DH and I have just felt really pushed aside by our current OB, we barely get the time of day from her when we see her. Hopefully this transition will go smoothly.

I've been reading several books on childbirth- The Birth Book by Dr. Sears, Birthing from Within by Pam England, and now the Lamaze book she just gave us (I don't remember the name!). I want to get Natural Childbirth, the Bradley Way next, hopefully the library has it! These are great books, and I recommend them to anyone who will be having a baby anytime, ever.

I've never been the type of person to use the word "empowered" because it always sounded so feminist to me, but I have to admit that Tuesday night was the first time I think I've ever felt truly empowered. It's nice to be reminded that childbirth IS a natural thing- women have been doing it for thousands of years! My body was MADE to be a host to this baby while she is forming and preparing to enter the world, and my body was built to birth her and then feed her. And birth is not such a terrible, horrible experience, otherwise why would women continue giving birth? Because the outcome is worth it!

It's been awhile...

Ok so I know it's been awhile since I've posted. Oops.

Yesterday marked the first day of my third trimester. Another milestone!

Here are some pictures that DH and I took with an amateur photographer on the 16th. We were ouside for about an hour, and honestly I thought I was going to die because of the heat and humidity. We were a bit disappointed with the way they came out- my hair was horrible because of the humidity, DH felt a bit awkward with the photographer, I think I should have worn different clothes, and I wish the photographer had a bit of a better eye for some of the photos. In most of them, I don't even think I look like myself. But maybe that's how I do look?

Not much is new on the baby front. I still feel Bethany moving every day and I'm still getting progressively more and more uncomfortable. It's near impossible for me to lean over and touch my toes now- or at least tying my shoes is a lot more difficult. I'm just so excited that she's getting bigger and bigger! Not too much time left now!

House Hunting

Today we went house hunting, though looking at our "schedule" I'm not so sure why since we're not ready to officially close yet. But I guess we're getting a good feel for what's out there... Unfortunately not too many beautiful houses in our budget! Several houses we looked at were a waste of time, it was our realtor's first visit to most of these homes I think so he wasn't aware that there were issues with some of the houses (exposed studs without drywall?). We're hoping to find something this might need a little bit of easy work initially, and then we can fix things up as we live there longer and after we have a bit more money to put into it.

We did see a couple of houses we liked, but one was priced out of our budget (we can always offer though, right?) and the other had a few things I didn't like (like a wet bar and it had no utility room). But, the thing is, like I said earlier, we're not ready to close yet so I don't think we're ready to make an offer. If those houses are still on the market in another few weeks, we'll go from there.

Last night and today we saw some of DH's old friends that he (we) haven't seen in years. It's really great being able to catch up with old friends, I really hope we have the opportunity to stay in touch with them and others along the way. :-)

In the middle of the night...

I haven't slept one full night in at least 4 weeks because I have to go to the bathroom. I think this means I won't be sleeping through the night for the next 18 years.

Just a thought.

26 week doctor appointment

Yesterday DH and I had our 26 week doctor appointment. Basically, we have to go every four weeks, so this was just a routine pee-in-a-cup and hear-the-heartbeat appointment. Unfortunately we had to wait in our room for about 45 minutes until a nurse came in and told us that our OB was delievering a baby and would be in soon... So the appointment took a bit longer than it should've! It stinks that every time we visit our OB I like her less and less. She seems very arrogant and barely gives us the time of day- once I had to chase her down because she ran out of the room before I had a chance to ask her questions. Yesterday she told DH, who isn't yet sold on the idea of having a doula attend our birth, that doulas are in her opinion, unncessary. Especially if you have a good relationship with your OB. Well, that didn't help my case any. Luckily DH takes everything she says with a grain of salt since she's not really the best doctor in the world. The good news is she hasn't tried to tell me I need botox or other sorts of beautifying services she now provides... *sigh*

At least the whole experience makes the decision to switch OBs if and when we move quite easier. Since we *hopefully* will be moving in November, we'll have to find a new OB before then and start seeing her hopefully sooner than later, to develop some sort of relationship with her.

The update: my waistline is now 39 inches (measured right under my belly button) and I'm up 14 lbs. And since Bethany is kicking the heck out of the inside of my belly now, I'll take that as a hello from her. :-)

It's official.

I look pregnant.

Before today, I've not had a stranger ask me when I was due straight up without my mentioning that I was expecting (except one guy, but I'm pretty sure he was on something and had no sense of tact). Today I've been outwardly asked at least three times, without my prompting. And I'm wearing a black shirt that makes me seem less big, in my opinion (see picture below). But nevertheless, I've reached that stage where people are confident enough to ask about the baby without hesitating or wondering "Is she pregnant or just a little chunky around the middle?".

The answer is most definitely, pregnant. Though when I'm stting down and slouching the chunky part is up for debate.

24 week photos

Ok so I'm not quite 24 weeks yet, but close enough. :-) These pics are of me in my new birthday outfit from my best friend in New York, and one of DH and me from a wedding we went to this weekend.

Pinched Nerve...I think

I think I have a pinched nerve in my lower left back, right where my back dimples are. (By the way, I found out today that those dimples are called rhombua of michaelus, and apparently they move apart during labor.) I have back pain, and then there's the pinched nerve feeling... I don't know what to do about it. It really exaggerates my pregnant-lady waddle I have going on, because when I stand up it really hurts then decreases the more I keep walking. Tonight I'm going to spend 30 minutes on a treadmill (walking quickly) to see if that aggrevates it or improves it. That and a heating pad. And my hips are starting to hurt, but I can't do anything about that.

During mass on Sunday, Beth was going nutso, I don't know why. My sister was next to me and she could not only feel but see the kicks... They're getting stronger and more frequent these days!

I promise I'll post some pics tonight from the wedding and anything else I can find. It's time for a 6th-month pic, since I am now officially (well, according to my little book) in my 6th lunar month of pregnancy. Yay!

My birthday

I had the most wonderful birthday ever! Which was really nice because I wasn't expecting anything major for boring old 24. :-) Little things happened throughout the day that really reminded me of what a lucky person I am to have such wonderful people who care for and love me. I had so many people come to dinner to help celebrate with us- it's nice being surrounded by everyone you know, even if they don't know each other! The only down side is I wish I could have spent more time with each person, and there were a few very important people that couldn't be there as well. They know who they are...

But back to the point of the blog. :-) I am starting to have major back pain as a result of I don't know what. I've decided that I WILL get back on my walking and stretching routine, which *should* hopefully help my back. I'm telling you, I'm okay sitting here, but walking hurts like the pain of a thousand knives. Is that from a movie? I don't know. It really hurts though.

I received a gift card for a massage at a spa, which part of me wants to wait until I get a little bigger but now I'm thinking would be a good time for a massage. If I wait too much longer they might have to wheel me in in a wheelchair. I also received a gift card from my boss in an obscene amount to the maternity stores (Motherhood, MiMi, and Pea in a Pod- all owned by the same company). I went into MiMi Maternity and figured I could buy $60 shirts or pants there, or I could head to Motherhood and buy $20 shirts there. So I chose the latter. Today, I lost track of time and went crazy like I haven't done since my parents paid for my clothing. I wound up buying a white tank that says "baby", a green dress, a cute sweater that ties right over my ever-growing belly for "cold" weather (yeah, right), some gray capri pants nice enough for work, and a pretty black and white shirt. I think that's all I got, but I might be forgetting something. I went $18 over the limit though, but it was worth it. I haven't shopped like that in forever, and I think I got it out of my system!

DH and I have decided to take birthing classes starting in late September since we're not sure when/if we'll be moving. We'll do the classes, which are for three consecutive weeks, at our current hospital and if we do move, then we can take a "refresher" course around Thanksgiving. I suppose it's better to be over-prepared than under-prepared, though I've heard once you get in the L&D room, everything you've learned goes out the window...Anyways, I'd like to think we're preparing!

We're heading to Austin this weekend to attend a wedding of two of my high school friends who are marrying each other. I expect I'll see some people I haven't seen in years who don't even know I'm married, let alone pregnant, so this could be interesting!

Braxton Hicks Contractions

They've officially started. I thought I had one at around 16 or 17 weeks (don't remember) when I visited my grandfather in the ER, but I wasn't positive. Last Thursday and Friday I definitely had one on each day. It was weird, all of the sudden my lower stomach got rock solid and it stayed that way for 15-30 seconds. Then it stopped. It didn't hurt, but both times just caught me off guard!

Birthdays

At the request of Dr. Storm, I am updating my blog. :-)

Last Saturday, the 19th, was DH's birthday. I had plans to buy him concert tickets to go see one of his favorite bands with some of his guy friends (I'm a good wife) but unfortunately the concert sold out. I even resorted to calling the radio station that was giving away tickets and begging- on air. It was interesting. Luckily DH heard me on-air and decided that was funny enough to be a good present, because they didn't give me tickets! So we went to vist DH's parents instead. We spent the weekend with them, grilling and relaxing with them and DH's brother and brother's fiance. I helped them mow their front and backyard on a riding lawn mower- with me, DH on a push mower and father-in-law on the weed eater, it took us a record 1 hour 15 minutes. So you can imagine how large the yard it! Bethany enjoyed the riding mower- bumping up and down for an hour was apparently like an amusement park ride because I REALLY felt her kicking me for the rest of the weekend!

We watched V for Vendetta Saturday night- I enjoyed the movie for the most part. I liked the plot, could have done without the slow-mo gore action.

Yesterday, Monday, I felt pretty miserable. It was like I was back in my first trimester again- no appetite, tired, headaches, nauseous...I left work early and went home to sleep. My brother was planning on visiting that night so I willed myself to perk up a bit. He showed up and we had a nice visit (DH had class that night). We made a cheesecake (yummy) and he took me to dinner for my birthday tomorrow, then we went to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the museum (link not working... http://houstonbodyworlds3.com/). VERY cool. My brother, being the nerd that he is, was naming parts the entire time and I learned how small a uterus really is to start off with... And now mine is huge... They also had a baby that was 21-22 weeks pre-born. I'm 23 weeks tomorrow so it really gave me a good idea of what Bethany looks like right now. Basically, a perfect little tiny body, about 7 to 9 inches head-to-rump.

Tomorrow is my birthday, I'll be a whopping 24-years-old. This is the age I will be when I have my first child, buy my first house, celebrate my second wedding anniversary. 23 was a fabulous age, I hope 24 is even better. I am meeting with friends to celebrate at the Cheesecake Factory- I am sooooo looking forward to some avacado egg rolls!!! And since we have plain cheesecake at home, I'll be indulging in some major cholocate tomorrow night as well. Mmm... Avacado and chocolate...

Feeling kicks!

Honestly, I've been feeling kicks for about 3 weeks now (since around 19 weeks), but now they're very obvious. She's a very active little baby! Last time I measured, my waist was 38 inches, and she's about 7-8 inches big right now (and she was measuring big). So I guess it's very possible for me to be feeling these kicks pretty strongly.

Ok honestly, I was bored at work so I kind of laid back in my chair and pulled up my shirt a bit and stared at my stomach (she's really going to town in there right now). I promise you, I SAW several kicks or jabs or pokes or whatever, right to the right and about an inch below my belly button. VERY obvious movements that didn't involve my bodily functions. :-) She's going nuts in there right now, and I don't know why! Maybe I should go eat? I haven't had any caffeine this morning. Regardless, this is one of the best feelings in the world, knowing my little baby is swimming around in there right now!