34 Weeks

Sea Monkey: has decided s/he would like more room, please, and the best way to do that is to push those big things called my ribs out of the way. Those aren't needed. Think of all the extra space that could be used if they weren't there!!

I: may end up having very good posture by the end of this. Sea Monkey pushes on my ribs, I automatically sit up straighter to try and keep my ribcage away from the amateur architect who is desperate to move them out of the way.

Sea Monkey is probably around the same weight as a cantaloupe now- 4 3/4 pounds. Last week, s/he was just over 4 pounds, now s/he's almost 5. That's crazy. Also, good news, if Sea Monkey were born now (don't do it!!!), s/he would most likely be just fine, as long as there weren't other health issues. Apparently babies born around now may need slightly longer hospital stays, but typically do just as well as full term babies. But I haven't had any signs of preterm labor, so I don't think that's going to be an issue. Hopefully.

I think I have this subconscious goal to develop a new language for trolls, or something. I want to sit down, so I grunt. I want to stand up, so I groan. I want to roll over in bed, so I grunt, groan, and sigh. If I'm sitting on the couch and want to pick up my glass of water from the coffee table, I sigh, push myself forward, groan, grab the glass, groan, and try to get settled again. There's also a large variety of words like "blarg," "blugh," "eurgh," and "guh" floating through my vocabulary now, too, and they sometimes replace the grunts and groans.

Zach thinks it's funny. He tried to kiss me last night when we were standing in the kitchen and he just got too close and ended up pushing the baby into very important parts (who needs lungs??), and I said something like "ugh!" when he kissed me. Then he laughed and I threatened to punch him in the face (in a good way).

He laughs when I drop something too- I just kind of stare sadly at whatever I dropped and then he gets it for me. It's all part of my secret plan. If I look sad enough, he'll do whatever I want.... this is how I plan to rob a bank- just look sadly at the tellers and hold out my money bag. They'll feel pity for the sad, sweaty pregnant woman and just fill my bag. Best plan ever.
(Except it'd never work, because first I'd have to actually get up the gumption to do something like that, which is very unlikely to ever happen, and second because I'd probably crack up laughing in the middle of trying to look sad. Oh, and I guess the bank tellers would not be quite that obliging. But hey. This is my hypothetical story, I can say what I want.)

Zach's parents have been here this past week and it's been very fun to see them and hang out. =) My mom and sister get in tonight, the baby shower is tomorrow, then my dad comes, and then everybody leaves on Sunday. And then I get to do baby stuff! Wash clothes and diapers and organize things.... That'll be exciting. =)

So we have 6 weeks until the due date. We're getting so close!! 

33 weeks!

Less than 50 days until the due date!

Sea Monkey: is a pineapple. Around 17 inches and just over 4 pounds. Also, s/he has begun kicking or punching me in the ribs, which feels really, really odd. It feels sort of like how I imagine the Portkey in Harry Potter feels (being tugged along by your navel), only in your ribs.

I: apparently have a psychotic sense of smell now. Yesterday Richard and Karen were making bacon and eggs for breakfast and the smell that drifted upstairs was definitely that of chocolate fudge pop-tarts. So bacon and eggs = chocolate pop-tarts...... ?

I'm having a hard time adjusting to cooking at the stove with a big belly in front of me. I'll just be stirring away, not paying much attention to what I'm doing, and then realize my belly feels really, really hot, and have to try and stand as far away from the stove as I can while still being able to stir stuff. It's awkward. Also, the other day, I decided it'd be a good idea to push the belly against the side of the hot wok that I was cooking in. That was a good plan.
 
I realized the other day that July is half over, which means the disgustingness of summer is almost gone and fall is almost here!! I love fall weather (I do NOT like summer). No more humidity, but it's not freezing yet, and the trees are changing colors.... And soup! Oh, the soup. I'm so excited to feel ok with making soup again, because eating soups and stews in the summer just doesn't seem right. Once its cool enough for it, I end up making soup just about every day of the week for the first week or two of cooler weather. Zach is not exactly thrilled with this because he does not share my obsessive love of soup. He likes it, but not in a highly exuberant "I must eat this deliciousness every DAY!!!!" sort of way, like I am. He's more of a "mmmm, soup." sort of guy. But anyway... the best part of fall coming is that I'm going to have an itty bitty baby to snuggle with, and it will be adorable. =) I am very excited. And I get to wear tennis shoes and jackets and long sleeve t-shirts.... =)

Zach's parents will be here today! I'm very excited. And next week is the baby shower! Also very excited. Also, very, very soon, we're going to start buying baby stuff!! I'm thrilled. And very soon I'll get to wash baby clothes... =) Lots of good things coming up. =)

Belly picture:

You're Invited!

The baby shower is in a week and a half!

If you live in the area and would like to come, let us know! Email me (hhammer87@gmail.com) or Karen, the hostess of the grand event (karen@nlightonline.com) and let us know you want to come.

If you don't live in the area and want to come (or if you are in the area and can't come), you can still take part in the festivities (but not the food).  We'll be live streaming the shower, and you can watch here. And Karen has come up with games that you'll be able to participate in! You don't have to do anything to watch, but if you want to chat, you'll have to sign up for a (free) account.

If you live anywhere and would like to give something to Sea Monkey, you can view our registry here or donate to our "baby fund" here. This is, of course, not necessary, but very appreciated. =)

We're looking forward to the shower and hope you'll be able to join us, whether in person or online!

A supremely boring appointment update

Boring is good..... 

At 32 (and 1/2) weeks, I am measuring just fine, my blood pressure is lovely, I have no swelling, no protein in urine, my weight gain is right on track, and Sea Monkey's heartbeat is great. Haven't had any contractions or any other less than happy symptoms. Val said that she can't improve on me. =) She was really excited that I have stretch marks on my belly now. I think she's weird.

Zach took pictures again, but they are on his phone, which is in his pocket, and he's downstairs being a boy and melting things, so I don't have them right now.

I mentioned my mom's fast labors to Val today, and she was pretty excited for me- that's apparently something that passes down through families (or can pass down, anyway). She said I should call when I think I'm in labor (5 contractions in an hour, I think is what she said), and then she'd come over to our house and see how I'm doing. If it looks like I'm progressing quickly or getting close, then she'll stick around, but if things are going slowly, she may head out and come back a while later- just depends.

At the next appointment, I'll be offered the Group B Strep test. Val said that in the past, they (a general they; not Val specifically) used to test only women who had symptoms. After a massive study, it was found that women who had been screened had better outcomes, but it was such a small percentage that was better having gone through the test that it doesn't make much of a difference. 2 out of 1000 babies actually get infected. She did say that in the event that we have to go to the hospital, the pediatricians are a little more willing to let the baby be released earlier if everything for the test has been done and taken care of, but that's really the only benefit. But we won't be going to the hospital (I'm determined, darn it!), so nothing to worry about. I'm going to look into it more, though.

Also, it's time to write a birth plan. =)

The exciting part about today is that our next appointment (July 27) is at my house! Every other appointment has been at Kim's house, where the midwives are currently running their practice, but this time, they come to me. That means we're getting really, really close! The point of them coming to my house is so that they know how to find my house in the dark and so that we can sort of plan how to set things up for the labor/birth. I'm very excited. =)

That's all. Here's to boring appointments!

32 Weeks

Sea Monkey: now weighs approximately 3 pounds, 12 ounces, which is roughly the same weight as a jicama. Now. Does anyone actually know what a jicama is?? Because I certainly don't. There's a picture of it on the babycenter size/weight thing, and all I know is that it's a very large and ugly looking thing. But apparently it's just under 4 pounds. Anyway.... Sea Monkey is around 16 inches now. Also, s/he's supposed to gain between 1/3 and 1/2 of his/her birth weight between now and... birth. So we're looking at another 4-ish pounds in the next couple months. Go Sea Monkey!

I: well, I really don't know what to update about myself. Things are the same. I'm tired and I have heartburn (it's 9 AM... and I have heartburn). The update says that since my uterus is putting pressure on my abdomen, I may be experiencing heartburn a little more often. Oh. Really?

My belly is beginning to be taken over by stretch marks. I was very sad when I realized this (I can't actually see them; they're below my belly button, so I only see them in the mirror). It's not like I wasn't expecting it, though; I just hadn't realized how depressing it would be when they finally showed up. Maybe that was just a particularly hormonal moment, because I knew they were coming.

Something else mildly depressing (this is a GREAT post, huh?): I am almost constantly wanting a chocolate shake. BUT if I were to get one, the chocolate would just aggravate the heartburn. So it'd be wonderful while actually eating it.... but then the heartburn would just ruin the chocolatey happiness. Bah.


I feel like I'm getting grumpier (I'm sure you hadn't noticed). Between the very poor sleep I've been getting and the heartburn, I am not exactly a very happy camper right now. I really try to be positive and not complain about the less-than-thrilling parts of pregnancy, because I know lots of women want to be dealing with sleep deprivation and heartburn and various aches and pains, in exchange for being pregnant but just.... can't get pregnant. And I know it can be very painful to read or hear about women who ARE pregnant complaining about it. I remember how sad it made me to hear people complain about being pregnant, when it was the thing I'd been waiting for, praying for, and I spent countless nights crying on Zach about it because it just wasn't happening. 

So I try to keep positive about it, and when I do complain, I try to always say something to remind myself that this is soooo worth it. But it's hard. And I still have around 8 weeks to go. That feels both like an enormously long time and "ohmygoodness, there's only 8 weeks left???"

Anyway.... I do believe it is time for a nap. Maybe Mali will snuggle with me (probably not, because she is a snob. What happened to my sweet kitty??).

Belly picture:

We didn't start the fire....

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning....

Such is my heartburn.

Maybe not, but it certainly feels that way. It's there when I wake up, there when I eat, there when I sleep.... it's not pleasant waking up at 4 in the morning feeling like you're about three seconds away from turning your bedroom into kindling (my inner child wants to be a dragon when she grows up).

I don't know if this is in the realm of normal, heartburn wise (because before pregnancy heartburn was pretty rare for me), but when I get heartburn, it feels like there's a literal flame in the back of my throat. If I don't drink anything every couple minutes to try and keep it at bay, or pop back a couple tums, it gets more persistent and I start to feel like I'm about to vomit acid. And that's highly uncomfortable.

I was feeling lousy this evening, so Zach looked up foods to avoid when you have heartburn, and found out that pretty much everything we eat causes it. Which was highly depressing. So I ate a very bland meal of rice, a little chicken, and some veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots) for dinner, and all of those are supposed to be good for heartburn (or at least not make it worse). And I'm about to take tums for the 4th time today.

I think this is the worst part of pregnancy for me. I can handle not sleeping well, and feeling emotional all the time, having an incessant need for chocolate (mmmm....), but this... this is no fun.

But it'll be worth it. I may just eat bland food for the next 2 months. Bring on the rice!

31 Weeks

It's July (please hold for a moment of my monthly obsessiveness). I'll be at "term" on August 13, which means it's feasible to say I may have a baby next month. Whoah. I'm not expecting Sea Monkey to come that early, but it's a possibility. I don't mind waiting until s/he is ready, though.

So... 6 weeks until term, 9 until due date, 10 until I'd actually expect the kid to show up.

Rambling obsessiveness aside....

Sea Monkey: is about 16 inches, 3.3 pounds (4 navel oranges, apparently). S/he's plumping up (yay!). His/her nervous system is developing, too, which means there are spurts of non-active-ness (this freaks me out every time, but then I lay down and do my kick-count and it's just fine). Val also mentioned something about me not being able to feel everything as much because things are stretching... I don't remember what she said, exactly, but everything's normal.

I: am always tired, and always sleeping terribly (it's ok, though, some of my dreams are so ridiculous and funny that it makes up for it). Also, I've discovered that (attempting to) bend over shortly after eating is not such a good plan. But it makes me laugh to think about it.

We had our appointment this past Tuesday, and it was such a boring (good boring) appointment that I didn't even bother to update. So here's the short (and late) update: things are going well for both Sea Monkey and me. Val couldn't tell exactly how the baby was positioned, though, and I was minorly bummed, because I've been very curious to know what's been kicking me where.

We had our 2nd to last childbirth class last Saturday, talked mostly about how to take care of newborns, talked a bit about cloth diapers (I think all 8-10 couples in our class were interested in cloth diapering, which was pretty cool), and about what happens to the mothers during/after birth. Talked a lot about post-partum depression. Tomorrow is our last class, and we'll be talking about breastfeeding and having celebratory "we're finished with class!" snacks. I'm excited. I love food.

This past week, I've been making a list of things I need to have done by when (I'm a list/countdown/scheduling maniac). It's both very nice to see everything I need to do all there, nice and orderly, but somewhat depressing that I can't do anything yet. We're waiting until after the baby shower (which is in 3 weeks!) to buy any baby stuff, so there's nothing I can sort/wash/set up yet. I can just plan to do that stuff sometime. Which is entirely unfulfilling, because I want to cross things off my list!! Maybe I'll add "make a list of things to do and by when" to my list, just so I can cross something off.

Also, we (the entire Ham-thews household [Richard, Karen, baby Zach, my Zach, me, and Sea Monkey]) are probably going to be moving in the October-ish time-frame. That's exciting. It's been a fun year and a half sharing the house together, but I think we're all just ready to sort of move on. So we're trying to find somewhere to live in town that we can afford and that's not all crime-ridden (because wow, some of the apartment buildings that we could afford have horrible reviews online about nothing ever being fixed, things being stolen and shootings..... yeah, that's a great place to raise a kid). So... we're looking. And I'm sure when we're a couple weeks out from moving time I'm going to want to punch myself for planning to move a few weeks after having a baby..... but that's why I have lists!! And Monica on Friends did it (nevermind that it's a scripted television show and she didn't actually have babies), so I can too, right?? So if you live in the area, I may be recruiting you to come help. And maybe even if you're not in the area, I'll try and recruit you for help. I'll give you cookies...... and you can see a really cute little baby! That's a good deal. Hours and hours of moving boxes and furniture and stuff that we think we need in exchange for cookies and seeing a newborn..... who wouldn't want to do it?? (If you need more motivation than that, I'll also give you a gold star.)

...That picture looks massive. I don't feel like I'm that ginormously huge.....