Week 35

This week Peanut will reach about 20 inches in length and weigh in around 5.5 pounds...keep packing on the fat little baby! I had a doctor appointment today and the baby's heartbeat was 149 bpm. Everything is looking good and I'm hoping I go into labor before or right around my due date since my doctor is due exactly one week after me!

Week 34

Peanut now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like a good sized cantaloupe) and is around 18 inches long. The baby's lungs are continuing to mature and the good news is that if I went into preterm labor for some reason, babies born between 34 and 37 weeks are usually fine and do as well as full-term babies.

My mother-in-law threw me an awesome baby shower on Sunday at her church in Dothan, AL. It was so much fun and the women who attended were so generous (I had only met most of them one or two times before the shower!).

Here are three of Michael's favorite gifts:

FYI: The Alabama onesies will be Peanut's second/third favorite outfits (the UW outfit is #1).

Some photos of the baby shower (the petitfores had baby booties designed on top!):

Week 33

7 weeks to go! Peanut is approximately the size of a honeydew melon (average size: 17.2-19.7 inches, 4.2-5.8 lbs). The baby's growth will begin to slow next month, but in the meantime Peanut is packing on some lbs and accumulating more fat on that cute little body.

Peanut's favorite outfit (thanks Mom!):

Week 32

Here I come 8th month! Only 2 more months (61 days to go until the due date)! Peanut weighs almost four pounds and could be up to 19 inches long. Overall I'm feeling great, except I've been having bad sciatic nerve pain down my hips and legs. But it's all worth the aches and pains!

A strange thing that I've been experiencing these past few months has been VERY vivid dreams. I typically never remember my dreams (unless they're nightmares), so it's been fun to wake up and be able to give Michael the play by play of what just happened in my messed up dreamland. It must be all these hormones passing through my body. Did you know that the hormone hCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) increases from 5.0 mIU/ml (non-pregnant female) to 3,640 - 117,000 mIU/ml (third trimester female)? When I found out about the massive hormonal increase it made way more sense to me why I am tired most of the time, have weird cravings, vivid dreams, and have a weird brown line running down the center of my abdomen (called linea nigra).

And we start childbirth classes next week. I'm so excited...not sure if Michael is though since I've told him that we will be watching recordings of actual births and learning about the nitty gritty of the whole birthing process. Hopefully the instructors will teach and encourage the fathers to give back and shoulder rubs in the final few weeks...and during labor!

From my point of view:

Yes, that big white blob is my stomach :)

Spring is Here!

Spring arrived this weekend here in the Gulf Coast! High 60s-low 70s + no humidity = perfect.

Michael and I spent time in Fairhope and walked around the pier looking for Henry the famous pelican, but sadly he didn't make an appearance this time. This is a special pelican because he was injured in hurricane Katrina and a local fisherman took him home and rehabilitated Henry in his bathtub. Henry now loves humans and always hangs out on the pier. BUT I just found out that Henry might actually be Henrietta! Some of the fishermen think he might actually be a she since the male pelicans constantly surround Henry/Henrietta and try to mate. Hmmmmm....one wonders...

Here is Henry/Henrietta (taken another time I visited the Fairhope pier):

Week 31

Only 9 more weeks (give or take) to go!

I had a doctor appointment earlier this week and little Peanut is doing great. Heart rate is 151 bpm and my belly was measuring exactly at 30 weeks. The baby movements have been a bit different lately...more pushing and stretching instead of the acrobatic tumbles, kicks, and punches that I was feeling before. I've been told this is because the baby is getting bigger and can't move around as freely. Peanut is about the size of a squash (average size: 15.2-16.7 inches, 2.5-3.8 lbs) and is practicing using all 5 senses. There have been many hiccuping episodes lately, which are caused by swallowing amniotic fluid (not air like with our hiccups). Peanut can also open his/her eyes, perceive light, and can apparently recognize the sound of my voice! So cool!

And my food cravings have become very strange. For most of the pregnancy I was craving pickles (totally cliché , I know) and extra-sharp white cheddar cheese. But all of a sudden I now crave grapefruit (weird) and Cherry Pepsi! So I've been trying to only have a small glass of pop when I have my carbonated sugar water cravings since I know caffeine isn't great. The one craving that hasn't changed throughout my pregnancy has been chocolate milk...I have one BIG glass around 9pm every night! Love it!

Two Year Engagement Anniversary

Michael surprised me this past Sunday morning with a big bouquet of purple and yellow flowers (Go Huskies!) since it was the 2-year anniversary of our engagement (even though technically our engagement anniversary only comes every 4 years because it only falls on leap years). It was fun to reminisce and talk about the day when Michael proved to me that he is a really good actor. He lied to me (very convincingly told me his car broke down and then when I arrived he was pretending to work on his Nissan with all of his tools pulled out as props)...then he wanted to walk out to the middle of Mr. Bob's (the old man he lived with in Massachusetts) snow-covered lawn to look at the winter wonderland...and then he proposed! Although we had talked about marriage and even talked about engagement ring styles, I was so surprised! Then Michael took my phone away and told me I couldn't call/email anybody until noon the next day. It was awesome to just spend the time together the rest of that day and start to plan for our BIG day.

So thank you my dear Michael for proposing to me, marrying me, and being my baby daddy :)