Baby Cookin' Update - 32.5

Thirty-Two(ish) Weeks                                           

Size of Baby - Honeydew Melon, about 19 inches and 4.5 pounds. This is insane. Ryann was 19 inches long when she was born. And at this point Clifton is packing on about half a pound a week!

Cravings - Fruit. My fruit obsession has had a recent uptick. Yesterday with breakfast I had two peaches and then with lunch I had an apple, peach, and an orange. I think I'm averaging around 6 fruits a day. Yikes! This is getting a bit pricey, especially since my favorites are peaches and nectarines.

What is different this time around - At this point with Ryann I was definitely getting anxious to meet her, but I was still fully enjoying being pregnant and didn't really want it to end. This time I'm on pins and needles. I still enjoy being pregnant, but I can. not. wait. to meet this little boy. I keep recalculating when he might come and am currently thinking that we may actually be welcoming a late-August arrival. Crossing my fingers!

Symptoms - By the end of the day I am absolutely dead. And I have fat feet. Nothing worrisome, just a bit pudgy. Definitely not my norm. I also have to keep snacks easily on hand, since my blood sugar and blood pressure crash so fast if I go too long between eating. The other day in the grocery store I started out just fine, but about halfway through Jared had to start push/dragging me through a step at a time. I just had no energy at all. I generally have quite low blood pressure and I was curious what it was at that point, since I was so zapped. We plodded over to the sit-down strangle-cuff machine in the pharmacy and were a bit goggle eyed when it notified us that my pressure was 97/68. I guess that explained how I was feeling! Or I'm just a crazy hardcore athlete.

Appointments - We have a checkup with our midwife this Friday, at which point Clifton will be 33 weeks baked. This past Friday I had my very first chiropractic appointment and I cannot rave about it enough! I felt about an inch taller walking out of there and literally almost walked straight into a wall when I stood up since my legs were actually the same length again! My back is not bothering me nearly as much as it had been and my hips feel so much straighter. Most glorious of all, my pregnancy waddle has almost completely dissappeared! I only wonder why I hadn't thought to go earlier.
                                                              



Please forgive the sad picture. I will make an effore to make Jared take some for 33 weeks and onwards.
The mirror in the bathroom at work is just not cutting it.



Hallelujah! No GD for Me!

No gestational diabetes for me! After I got out of my checkup I went on a triumphant grocery run and bought a cartload of items I had been dreading cutting back on -

• bananas
• peaches (2 bags)
• pears
• blueberries
• tomatoes
• avocados
• frozen peaches
• frozen strawberries
• apple juice concentrate
• sharp cheddar
• whole milk
• prenatal vitamins

The woman ahead of me in line had a couple cases of pepsi and some crackers and was giving me some pretty drastic side-eye.

One of my loves of summer are smoothies, but I absolutely abhor the cleanup. Washing kitchen gadgets is the worst. I also regularly use apple juice in my smoothies, but keeping it in the fridge just takes up way too much space, especially in our new teeny fridge. Recently I've found a way around most of these problems and so have been enjoying many more smoothies in recent days than I had previously. By making up several servings at one time, pouring them into separate serving size canning jars and keeping those jars neatly stacked in the fridge, I always have a smoothie that's easy to grab and go. It also cuts down on the number of times I need to wash the blender. I've also given up keeping apple juice in the fridge and instead use the resealable frozen concentrates. I spoon out just enough of the concentrate to sweeten the smoothie and just add water. Much more compact.

Flower Child

My little neice, Mei, hanging out in the flowers at the Lincoln Zoo. Complements of 'Unkie' or 'Un-too' Jared.

Have I mentioned how much I love having my sis and her family living in the same town? The best. Can't wait for little Clifton to join the party.



Perfect Quote

The other day, Jared and I were both struck by a conversation two characters had on one of our favorite shows. As soon as this little exchange took place, we turned to each other and both said something along the lines of 'Wow! That is so good!'. I think that whoever wrote these lines must have lost someone close to them. I was just stunned with how spot on these feelings are.

---

Kid (who just lost his mother) - I know it gets better . . .

Man (who lost his mother a few years ago) - I think what happens is it gets less. The weight will always be there.

Kid - Forever?

Man - Well, eventually you end up hoping so.

Wolfie

A few years ago, Jared was in a production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Jared was cast as the Wolf, and as such, had to sit for an intricate mask-making endeavor as well as affixing the heavy finished product to his face every night before the show. We've had the wolf mask sitting around our house ever since with vague plans as to what we should do with it. A few months ago I finally went out, bought a frame that reminded me of a huge fairytale book, and sat down to affix the head. Sadly, the glue I had on hand did not agree with the mask and everything kept falling apart. Yesterday I gave it another go and finally have my mounted Wolf head with the glossy black eyes ready to be mounted in Clifton's room. I have plans to eventually add big black eyelashes and possibly some teeth. But for now, I think he's looking pretty good.

 


The Wolf, attempting to seduce Little Red.



The Wolf can be seen front and center.



Baby Cookin' Update - 30

Thirty Weeks                                           

Size of Baby - A large head of cabbage. Approximately 3.5 pounds and although the averages state about 15 inches at this point, Clifton's measuring in around 17 inches already. I'm thinking we may produce teeny Hiscock girls and giant Elder boys.

Cravings - Still loving cheese and eggs and avocados. I'm eating a lot of fruit as well, but it's looking as though I may need to curb that. I failed the initial gestational diabetes screening and I'm not feeling hopeful that I passed the full test on Monday. If I do fail, that means severely curbing the sugars and carbs I've been stuffing in my pie-hole and upping the good fats and proteins.

What is different this time around - With Ryann, I passed the glucose screening with flying colors. Obviously not so this time. I'm slower and my energy levels are lower than last time. However, that may be due in part to us living in a hotter, more humid climate as well as packing up and moving at 7 months. This last Sunday was moving day for us and I am so beyond grateful for everyone who came out to help! We really couldn't have done it without you. As it was, by the end of the day it took me a good 10 minutes to make my way the 15 ft from our bed to the bathroom since both of my hips and my lower back were completely seized up. Luckily a good night's rest did wonders for them.

Symptoms - Heartburn, oh the burning! I'm on a regular schedule of popping Tums now and keep them within easy reach at all times. Still with the gimpy hip, but that's usually tolerable as long as I remember to not sit or stand for too long in any one stretch. I've also noticed that when I lay for very long on my right side I get terrible concentrated cramp in the side of my uterus. I'm guessing Clifton likes to jab a heel in. And when I roll over I have to push really hard on that spot in order to avoid it really cramping up. Clifton is now settled in head down and as a result I often find little feet jammed into my ribs. It does help with my posture, since he kicks me in my ribs when I let them squish him too much.

Appointments - We have our next checkup scheduled for next Friday, but we also had a 30-week ultrasound this past Monday. We were hoping for a great 3D shot of his face, but since he was already head down, along with apparently liking to keep his hands directly over his face and a leg directly over his hands, that wasn't about to happen. The only good shots he let us get was one of his foot (freakishly long toes) and one of his fully-extended-leg-in-front-of-face pose. The estimate of his size puts him right on track to be about 7.5 pounds when he's born, which is just what our midwife was estimating. About one pound bigger than our itty-bitty Ryann (6lb 11oz). At our last appointment with our midwife I also got my scheduled rhogam shot. Last time I got poked in the shoulder. This time I was not so lucky and had to drop my pants in order to get stabbed by a three inch long needle. For those of you unfamiliar with rhogam shots, they are an amazing medical advancement. For people like me, who have Rh-negative blood, our bodies will start to produce anti-bodies if we ever have a child who is Rh-positive. This generally will only affect subsequent Rh-positive children after birth, but would result in failure to thrive and eventually death. Can you imagine all the unexplained infant deaths that were simply due to unlucky blood types?! However, now they have a simple shot that all Rh-negative women get at about 30 weeks and again after giving birth that prevents the body from beginning to form these antibodies. Ryann was O-, like me, so there wouldn't be any worries for Clifton anyway, but it's good to know that these precautions are in place, since we've been screwed by genetics before.

                                                              



Just for a fun comparison, here I am at
about 30 weeks with Ryann.