The Nursery is Done!

I feel a huge sense of relief with the nursery being done. I was feeling rather anxious about it. I was going to try to put the crib/changing table combo together myself, but there was just no way. So G came to my rescue. I did put a lot of it together on my own, but once I got to the main crib parts it got too awkward for me to handle alone. We still need to get curtains for the room because the blinds are old and starting to fall apart. But at least all the big stuff is done. So anyway, here are some pics of the nursery. By the way, the bassinet will be going in our bedroom, but I liked the way it looked in the pics.

Where Has the Time Gone??!!

I have 5 weeks left until my due date - 35 days!!!! Time is just flying by! Thanksgiving was great. I got to see a lot of my family that lives around the Bay Area, whom I don't get to see very often, since I don't have a car (and we're all busy). I also had my second baby shower on Saturday. My friend K's mom threw the shower for me. It was lots of fun. Great food, fun games, and awesome presents I must say. Now I just need to get through the rest of classes and finals in the next few weeks, then I can devote all my energy to getting Cole's things washed and put away and setting his nursery up. We ordered the crib yesterday and should be getting that this weekend or beginning of next week. We also bought a washer & drier that we should be getting on Friday. I am so happy that we are getting close to having everything ready. G said yesterday that he is starting to get butterflies in his stomach in regards to Cole's arrival. I've been feeling them. But it does seem like they're getting stronger the closer we get. I e-mailed my professor for my on-line class, explaining that I will be 37 weeks the day of our final, asking what I should do if I happen to g o into labor or I'm in the hospital that day. He told me to just send him an e-mail if I can and he would give me an incomplete so I can schedule a later time to take the final. I'm glad to have some kind of plan in place, but I've been telling Cole that he really needs to stay in there until after finals are over. And he needs to stay healthy!!

Here is a picture taken of me at my baby shower Saturday:

Plus here's one of just my big belly:

Only 10 1/2 Weeks Left

I can't get over how fast time is flying by! A lot of women are saying that time is dragging by for them, but so far I guess I've been lucky. Of course being in school full time and working part time helps keep my mind occupied. I have been really lucky that physically I haven't been very uncomfortable or had many difficulties. Knock on wood that things stay this way for the rest of the pregnancy! I know that as I get bigger, things will get more difficult, but, I just feel so blessed.

At my appointment last Monday, I had gained 12 lbs since my previous appointment. The nurse said I need to start watching what I eat, cut way down on the sugar, cut way down on the refined carbs and stick to complex carbs and whole wheat and stuff like that. So I think I've been much better about it, but wow does this kid have a sweet tooth! I have never had that much of a sweet tooth, but it seems like all I want are cookies and candy bars lately! With Halloween coming Saturday I may have to indulge a little. But I shall behave myself until then.

That's all that's going on so far. G took this pic of me last night:

Down to Two Digits!

As of today, I have 98 days left until my due date. Wow! In some ways it feels like time is dragging by, but in other ways it feels like time is flying. Yesterday I noticed some droplets of colostrum coming from my nipples. I know it sounds really weird, but I was happy about it. I thought, "My boobies are working!" I am 26 weeks today. Fertility Friend says if Cole were to be born now, he has 85% chance of survival. Those are pretty decent odds. Not that it matters. Cole needs to stay put until at least 39 weeks. I know they say 38 weeks is considered term these days, but I've also heard that boys generally need a little more time than girls to be fully developed. So, as far as I'm concerned, he needs to stay put until he is completely ready to come out.

It has been so wonderful feeling his kicks and watching my belly move around from his kicks and whatever else he's doing in there. Sometimes I'll play a little game with Cole where I'll push my belly right where he kicked and he'll kick back. We do that back and forth for a bit. It always makes me smile or laugh. It still scares me how attached I am to this little guy. I mean I knew in theory that it would be like this, but no one really knows exactly how it feels until they actually go through it. There have been a lot of women on my due date board on Baby Center who have lost their babies late in the game. It seems to me like the farther you get, the harder it is. I don't know what it's like to experience that kind of pain. I can certainly imagine it, but I hope I never have to know that kind of pain. It can be hard to strike a balance between being aware of everything that could go wrong and being able to enjoy what I have and the gift I have been given.

In school, in 3 of my 4 classes we have learned about prenatal development and reproduction. It's kind of fun to be learning about that stuff in detail while I am directly experiencing it. I've been able to share some of my own experience in class discussions which is pretty cool. I've still got to figure out what I'm going to do about spring semester. Hopefully that will all work out ok. I can't let myself worry about that too much. I just don't have the room in my brain for it.

Baby Shower

Next weekend I will be in San Diego for my first baby shower. My dad's wife is throwing it for me. I'm very excited about it. My dad called me this morning to ask me about some details regarding the travel system stroller I put on my registry. He apparently saw a nicer (and more expensive) one that he was thinking about getting me and wanted to make sure I didn't have my heart set on the exact one I had picked out for some reason. Dad, if you want to get me the nicer one, I am ALL for it! I will be 22 weeks when I go San Diego. I have gotten a lot bigger in the past few weeks since I posted my last belly shot. I saw a couple of my friends that I hadn't seen in several weeks and they were surprised by how much my belly has grown since then. Yesterday both G and my friend K got to feel the baby kick. It was pretty cool that others can feel him kick now too! Anyway, here's my latest belly shot, which K took yesterday at 22w3d:

It's A Boy!!!!

Today's ultrasound was quite an experience! Everything looks good and right on target. His heart, brain, stomach, spine, limbs, everything looked good. His face is formed properly - no cleft palate. He gave us a couple of great money shots too! Not a shy boy as far as that goes. He kept covering his face though, but we still got a decent look at his cute little nose and eyes. We found out that my placenta is anterior which explains why I haven't felt him move as much as many other women have by this point. I did feel a couple of good kicks on Tuesday, though, which was really awesome! My favorite part was when the ultrasound tech was moving the thing around my belly and the baby reached out and poked the placenta. It was so cute! So with out further ado I present to the blog world Cole Daniel:

16 Weeks

I have my 16 week appointment on Tuesday. It probably will just involve most of the same stuff as my 8 week appointment with the nurse. I'm hoping I get to hear the heart beat again. That would be pretty awesome. I am scheduled to have my glucose test. I was surprised that I'm getting mine done sooner than most of the other ladies on the message boards but apparently new research finds that it's better to get the glucose test done earlier. Here's the conclusion of Pub Med's abstract on the study they've done: Glucose screening at 16 weeks of pregnancy is a useful alternative to third-trimester screening for gestational diabetes. The negative predictive value of screening test results < or =" 110"> or = 135 mg/dL is 55%. This latter finding is superior to the 8.6-22% found during the third-trimester.
An article from Medscape quoted one of the doctors involved in the study: "Screening at 16 weeks is a better predictor of gestational diabetes," Gerard Nahum, MD, from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, says in a news release. "It's more sensitive than screening later, and allows us to focus earlier on women who are at greatest risk. It's also a more practical screening technique because blood samples drawn during early pregnancy for other tests can also be used for this purpose."

In other news I bought a couple pairs of preggo jeans today. It is so nice to be able to wear some jeans again. I was starting to feel very frumpy. Especially since my hair is badly in need of a cut and I hate my bangs and need to grow them out. That's not a very good combination. Luckily G talked to our hair-cutter for me and she said she good give me a side-swept bang look. I'll probably go in towards the end of August.

Next weekend I have some good friends from out of town coming to visit. It should be a lot of fun, but I have been way attached to G lately and it's not going top be easy being away from him all weekend even though we'll be in the same city. We all get together every summer and alternate between Northern California & Southern California, since 2 of us live up here in NorCal and the other 2 live in SoCal. This year it's scheduled to be up here, next year it's supposed to be in SoCal. I don't know if I'll be able to do it next year with the baby. I'm not going to drive with the baby and I don't know if I'll be able to afford the plane ticket to go down. Plus, don't know where we'd stay. If I'm still nursing I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the baby with G while I go down for the weekend. I suppose I shouldn't be worrying about it now.

I kinda feel like the outsider even more now that I'm pregnant. It was hard enough when I had quit drinking, but now it's more pronounced. One of the other girls has been sort of ttc, but the other two are not ttc right now. They both want to in the somewhat near future but are waiting until they have enough medical coverage for it. I am really looking forward to when they get pregnant too. I hear of so many women online talking about how all their friends already have kids, but for me it's the opposite. That's probably the one thing that made it easier to deal with taking so long to get pregnant. Now that I am pregnant I feel a bit alone. Luckily I have family members with young kids/babies that I can talk to.