3D Ultrasound

He kept his arms up most the time so it was hard to get a clear face shot but below are some of the 3D photos we got of Jacob this weekend.


The right side of his head with a clear shot of his ear. You can also see a finger since his hand is covering the front of his face.











Front of Jacob's face with his right arm up over the left side and his eye.












His little grin














Open mouth shot, definite proof he has some of his daddy in him.

30 Weeks - 10 to go!

Things to note this week: 1) Last Friday I had the day off so that I could take a couple tests, one for continuing education and one blood test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. By Tuesday I found out that I passed both of them! And just to top it off they informed me that I'm not anemic either, so just an extra kudos.
The doctor was also the most talkative he's ever been with me during this week's appointment. For weight and belly size I'm measuring perfectly on the standard schedule. Beginning last Sunday I didn't feel very good so on Monday I wrote down symptoms and times throughout the day and gave the list to the doctor on Tuesday, he didn't laugh or just tell me not to worry, instead he actually took a minute to explain that I'm having Braxton Hicks contractions, which is a way the body prepares for labor and that I'm currently having one to two an hour so all is good, but to call if I start having four an hour.
Also, we finally rescheduled our birthing class for March 13. It will be cutting it close, but at least all the information will be fresh in our minds. I just hope it is more entertaining than the online portion.

* How far along?: 30 weeks
* Total weight gain: About 19 now
* How big is baby?: About 3 lbs and just over 15 1/2 inches from head to toe, about 2/3 of his birth length.
* Maternity clothes?: Yes!
* Sleep?: Back to normal, except now when I wake up in the middle of the night I usually need to go to the restroom.
* Best moment this week?: Finding out that I passed everything and didn't have to take the 3 hour glucose test
* Movement?: It is starting to slow down a bit. No more kicks or jabs, just mostly stretching and little movents. Early this week around 4AM he did the best imitation of popcorn I've ever seen, I don't think there was one part of my stomach he didn't hit.
* Food cravings?: Not really liking food this week - However the Pepsi Throwback is amazing
* Labor signs?: Braxton Hicks contractions, but not enough to be considered labor signs.
* Belly button in or out?: Even Michael notices that it is getting shallower each day. My stomach really feels like it can't grow anymore.
* What I'm looking forward to: The next ultrasound!

Cute Find!

Yesterday I felt the need to go to Target. Although I didn't find the stuff I remembered I originally needed, I did find the cutest piggy bank for Jacob's room.

29 Weeks

This week has been big for three reasons -
1) I've discovered there are a million things out there to drink besides just water with lemon. I need a break from the water, I'm fine drinking it at work, but it gets boring. Our fridge is now packed with Fresca, Hawaiian Punch Berry Lemonade, and flavors from Gatorade I never knew existed. Did you know there is a mango flavor? Also, kool-aid makes little tablets you can drop in your water for instant kool-aid. These should all keep me entertained for a while.
2) I was a big girl this week! Yesterday I went for my glucose tolerance test all by myself. I checked in, they gave me the bottle of sugary syrup to down in five minutes, then sat in the recliners they have hidden at the lab for an hour. This is where the big girl part comes in - I didn't call Michael to come to the lab when it came time for them to take my blood, and because they were so packed and busy at the lab I didn't even tell them that I have a tendency of fainting when someone takes my blood and needed to use the bed instead of the chair. It was the same lady who has been so sweet taking it before, so I just trusted her and went to the room with only a chair. The only bad part of not telling her I'm not good with needles is she used a normal sized one and it really hurt, but not as bad as taking the tape and gauze off my arm later. So, that is why I'm a big girl this week!
3) The nursery is ready! All painted, all furniture built, all ready! We need to add a little decor besides Michael's sports stuff that he's so happy to keep in there, but that is already in the works. Jacob probably has the most expensive decor right now including tons of signed baseballs and a bat, framed signed jerseys, a really cool UT print from when they won the championship and Astros thing with a piece of home plate and some other stuff from when we should have gone to the World Series, but Pujols stopped us. Below are pictures of the pretty final product!

View from the door, with the painted wall and trim.








View from the crib side of the room.








Scoot likes to lay in my lap and had kept circling around whenever I sat in the glider. When I went in to take pictures he decided he wanted to try out the glider. The movement freaked him out and it is a bit too small for him. Hopefully he realizes all furniture is not for him.




His closet is already starting to fill up! I finally found a use for those space saver hangers that I thought would help my closet. The wood bars in our closets are too big for tiny hangers, but these work perfectly.




* How far along?: 29 Weeks and 1 day to be technical
* Total weight gain: Still at 17 pounds
* How big is baby?: About 2.75 lbs and just over 15 inches from head to toe. He won't grow in length much more, but will keep put on weight at a steady pace. There's not much room for him anymore and my stomach feels like it can't stretch anymore. In fact this week I learned that the intense burning sensation I get right below my ribs on the right side is my ab muscles separating.
* Maternity clothes?: Yes! Yesterday I tried wearing one of my old tank tops with a button sweater over it and had to constantly keep pulling my jeans up and my shirt down to not show off my stomach to everyone.
* Sleep?: Back to normal, except now when I wake up in the middle of the night I usually need to go to the restroom.
* Best moment this week?: Working with Michael all week on the nursery. It was tiring, but a ton of fun.
* Movement?: The other night he was kicking/punching on both my left and right sides at the same time and then yesterday he must have been jumping up and down because I could feel him by my ribs and the bottom of my stomach at the same time.
* Food cravings?: Still a lot more beef than I ever ate before
* Labor signs?: Keeping a look out, but none. It's strange being far enough that I'm supposed to watch for this now.
* Belly button in or out?: Definitely getting shallow - I don't really want it to pop...I like my innie!
* What I miss: Nothing really
* What I'm looking forward to: Getting started on the online portion of our birthing class.

And just to make this post extremely long...
This week the hospital's educator department called me to say that our 2/6 child birth class had been canceled, but they could move me to one of the other February dates. The dates I had to chose from were 2/13 and 2/27, both shower days. I explained that neither of those worked for me, so they are supposed to call me back once the March schedule is done and hopefully I can get into an early one in March. I just would really like the hospital tour.

Picture Time!

Woohoo! I'm posting pictures!!
First a long awaited belly picture. He's definitely starting to take his toll on me and my belly is growing more and more each day. Hopefully I won't be giant by the end of this. Not the best of pictures, but it will work.
Secondly, we got some work done on the nursery this weekend. We cleaned out the whole room which made Michael happy because he found his Tupac CD and other amazing treasures. Michael was amazing and did most of the painting below because the smell of the paint made me exhausted. The colors look amazing and I'm so excited to get everything into place.

28 Weeks

There really isn't much to update on this week. We had an arctic blast come through, and although temps are back above freezing, it is still pretty cold and cloudy. I'm definitely ready for the spring to hurry on in so I can break out the open toed shoes again.
This weekend is busy with two birthday parties, picking out paint because we both finally decided we didn't love the color we chose first, putting together nursery furniture, and cleaning out the nursery. Definitely not a lay on the couch all day type of weekend.
However, there will be no cleaning except for some laundry because our housekeeper started yesterday and she is so amazing! I'm going to love coming home every other Thursday from now on :)
** I'm bad about taking pictures to post, but even Michael has started saying he wants to start taking them, so by tonight I shold get better about taking and posting some. **

* How far along?: 28 weeks - 12 weeks until the due date
* Total weight gain: Definitely gaining faster now even though I'm really cutting out the sweets. Up to 17 pounds now, still normal, but a bit scary.
* How big is baby?: About 2.25 lbs and almost 15 inches from head to toe. He's definitely filling up my tummy now.
* Maternity clothes?: Yes and normal sweaters a size too large
* Sleep?: I've been snoring this past week because I've been so stuffy; just glad Michael thinks it is hilarious. Otherwise, normal sleeping for me.
* Best moment this week?: We've spent a lot of time with friends this week, and I actually went to the bar last Friday night. It was nice relaxing and playing shuffleboard like we used to do. I'm so happy to have friends that changed their night to go to non-smoking bars so I could join in.
* Movement?: I'm very interested in how he is positioned right now since I fell most the movement on my lower left side and upper right. Not quite sure how he's hitting both sides. Not so much the crazy kicking movement of weeks past since it is getting tight in there, but I can feel most of his movement now. Last night he even tried to tell Scoot to shush by kicking every time he barked.
* Food cravings?: Still a lot more beef than I ever ate before
* Labor signs?: Keeping a look out, but none. It's strange being far enough that I'm supposed to watch for this now.
* Belly button in or out?: Definitely getting shallow - I don't really want it to pop...I like my innie!
* What I miss: Breathing
* What I'm looking forward to: I didn't think I was going to do this, but Carter's has a good sale going on this weekend and I'm really wanting to go and buy some outfits. So today at lunch, I'm looking forward to shopping for Jacob. Also, I'm really excited for my showers - it all just seems real now.

Welcom 3rd Tri (27 Weeks)

Officially Monday is the start of third tri, but I think this is close enough to celebrate.
This week we discovered another food that Jacob loves. Spaghetti! After we had it for dinner this week he bounced all around and ended the night with a hard as can be kick that even Michael noticed was harder than normal. Then after leftovers for lunch he spent the whole afternoon kicking around until I got in my car to go home. Nothing else this week has gotten him going like that.
There was a doctor's appointment, but nothing really happened at that. The heartbeat is 147 bpm, and my stuffiness is completely normal. It will just be nice when I can breathe again. Oh! There will be another ultrasound around 34 weeks. Our next appointment is January 26 and I have to go and take my glucose tolerance test a week before that. I can't believe we're in the final stretch.

* How far along?: 27 Weeks
* Total weight gain: About 14 pounds
* How big is baby?: I'm so confused on this, it changes with everything I read. I know he's just over 2 pounds though and perhaps around 14 inches with his legs stretched out.
* Maternity clothes?: Yes - With this bitter cold snap I'm layering everything possible to stay warm.
* Sleep?: If I could actually breathe then sleeping wouldn't be too bad.
* Best moment this week?: All the movement after spaghetti
* Movement?: Every day!
* Food cravings?: None really, just the usual I guess.
* Labor signs?: None now, but the doctor gave me information on pre-term labor signs to watch out for now.
* Belly button in or out?: It's stretching and getting shallow
* What I miss: Strong medicine, I never realized how much I loved instant relief
* What I'm looking forward to: Just getting things ready still. The whole weekend should pretty much be below freezing, so a good weekend to stay in and work on stuff.

26 Weeks and a few days

Not too big of a week. Just the normal I guess. My nails and hair are both growing extremely fast and strong which is amazing but starting to get on my nerves a bit. I feel I'm so overdue for a hair cut and constantly having to file and clip my nails.
Plus I'm extremely tired of the acid reflux that is just getting worse and worse. During the day Tums can handle it, but at night I feel like I'm going to burn a hole in my throat and the only thing I've found that can keep it down until I fall asleep is extra strength Mylanta. It tastes like spoiled milk, but is the best thing I've found.
This is my last week in 2nd tri. Next week I move on to the last trimester, otherwise known as the end of the honeymoon phase...which means I'm a little nervous of what's to come. I've been lucky so far with most of the symptoms, so hopefully we keep on track.
Tomorrow is another doctor's appointment and I can't wait to hear the heartbeat again. It should be a quick appointment since there are no tests scheduled, just some questions I want to ask about being sick for the past couple weeks and what symptoms I need to watch out for. Nothing big. We'll also fill out paper work for my gestational diabetes test that I guess I just come in whenever and do. Just happy it isn't tomorrow so I can still have strawberry shortcake for dessert tonight :)


* How far along?: 26 weeks 3 days
* Total weight gain: 13 pounds, right on schedule with the gain a pound a week from now on plan the books say I should be on.
* How big is baby?: Still about 2 pounds. I guess the measurement I was going by before was crown to rump, but everywhere I look for size now has crown to toes, so that is the reason for this giant increase...Jacob is about 14 inches long. Which explains why he won't get out of my rib cage.
* Maternity clothes?: Yes
* Sleep?: I've never been a good sleeper, so this just isn't a good question for me.
* Best moment this week?: He stopped moving a lot for a couple days, but is back to jiggling all around which makes me extremely happy.
* Movement?: In the lower part of my right ribs I can feel a mass of him just lodged there with movement every now and then. At night I can feel jabs on my lower left side. It would be nice to see his actual position.
* Food cravings?: Today is salsa
* Labor signs?: None for a long time
* Belly button in or out?: I think it might actually be getting shallower
* What I miss: Looking skinnier in pictures
* What I'm looking forward to: Our birthing class and registering for the hospital. We got the packet in the mail this weekend for the online portion of our class!