Almost 38 Weeks - YIKES!

I've been told it's time for an update. :) I would agree, I've been slacking on my blog writing. Things have been pretty uneventful on the baby front. No news is good news!

I will be 38 weeks on Saturday (crazy, right???). According to the normal pregnancy calendar that would mean I'm nearly 2 weeks away from meeting Madeline. Of course I know she'll arrive on her own time, but just the thought that there are so few days left is nuts!

I had my weekly doctors appointment today. I am measuring right on track (well, at least my belly is). Last week my doctor sort of felt her through my belly and said she might be a little on the big side. We certainly make big babies on both sides of our family, so I assume she'll be a good sized little lady. We'll see though here in the next few weeks!

The good news is she is in the right position, with her head super low in my pelvis. Last week and today the doctor said I am dilated to 1CM. Like she pointed out today, that is 1/10 of the way there! It also doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of when Maddy will arrive or not. Women can walk around dilated to a 1 for weeks, and sometimes not even go into labor on their own. Still, progress is progress, so even though I'm not reading too much into it I find it exciting!

I haven't posted pictures of my amazing shower yet, so I thought I would post them now. My Aunt's Nan and Da threw me the greatest shower ever. I was overwhelmed by the love and kindness of all of my family and friends that day. I'm so happy that there are so many wonderful people in my life who are as excited as TJ and I are to meet our baby girl. So, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making my shower so wonderful!! Maddy's stuffed closet and dresser also thanks you all for the too-too cute clothes I have to dress her up in. ;)

Coming soon - maternity pictures!! I posted a link to the teaser pictures from Justine's blog on Facebook, but you can click above if you haven't seen them yet. I should have the full gallery of photos sometime this weekend to share! J. Shelton Photography totally rocks my socks off, I can't wait to see and share more with you all!

For now though I leave you with shower photos. I was 34 weeks the day of my shower. :)

Getting all of the lantern balls set up.

All set up and ready to go!

The table.

Props for all of the games, courtesy of Aunt Nan and Da.

One spoiled little lady (and mama)!

The best present ever. ;)

My Grandma wrapped up outfits that my other Grandma (Grandma Bessie) had made for me as a baby. My Grandma Bessie passed away when I was 2, so it was a really sentimental and emotional gift to open. The photo below is a picture of me in the exact dress I'm holding in my hands.

The beautiful dresser my Aunt Nan bought (and filled with cute outfits!!)

Proud Grandma's-to-be!!

We can't wait to me our baby girl!!

One load of laundry. . .she's gonna be super freaking cute!

29 Weeks

Can you believe I'm already 29 weeks?? I sure as hell can't! I feel like I keep saying it, but it's true: time has flown by! Things continue to go very well, I still have very little to complain about and most of the complaining is about my future soccer star and her perfected rib kicks. Or when she beats on my bladder and hips. She is super strong, and while I find it very cool, a lot of the time her kicking/hitting/rolling sort of hurts. I'm also finding that there must be no room for my stomach anymore, I can get about two meals a day in now. Anymore than that and I walk around with that uncomfortable I-ate-way-too-damn-much feeling.

I had my 28 week appointment with my doctor today. I start my bi-weekly doctors appointments now and I'm sort of in shock at that. Every two weeks. Only women who are close to their due date see their doctor every two weeks. I am now one of those women. Holy crap!! Since I'm pretty damn proud of how well my pregnancy is progressing I'll post my stats from my appointment:

29 Weeks 2 Days
Blood Pressure: 122/77
Weight Gain: 16lbs
Fundal Height (belly measurement): 28-29 CM
Madeline's Heartbeat: 150 BPM
Over All: GREAT! :)

The fundal height is right on track. I've managed to keep my weight gain down, and since I'm aiming for 25-30lbs total I'm right on track. Madeline's heart rate is right where it needs to be. My BP last appointment was a little high at first (when they took it again it was normal though), so over all I'm as healthy as a horse. I get to do the glucose test sometime before my next appointment. As someone who loved orange soda as a kid I hope that the rumors that the glucose drink tastes like Orange Crush is true. I go back to see my doctor August 5th.

TJ and I have started work on the nursery! We painted last weekend, and are waiting to buy and stain the chair rail and molding before setting up the room. Her crib and changer arrived a few weeks ago and they are still in their respective boxes. He doesn't want to take the plastic off the floor in the nursery, so we're waiting to get it all set up until after we get the chair rail up (next weekend).

I didn't think to take pictures of our progress (what little there is) until we'd already moved everything out of the room and painted two coats of primer. Originally the bedroom was painted 4 different (ugly and obnoxious!) colors - dark red, dark blue, green, and yellow. It took two coats of primer before we started painting. Below are pictures of day two, when the pink went on the walls.

Please excuse the mess, this was my craft closet before and we left my scrapbooking crap in there.

Finally here are the 29 week pictures I took on Saturday. I went back to blonde last week so I also put a new hair picture up.

26 Weeks - It's Your Birthday!

Well, actually, it's my Birthday. But, you are more than welcome to celebrate if you'd like!! As I told TJ at lunch today, when he ordered a beer (or 3), someone should drink on my Birthday if I can't! ;)

I was 26 weeks as of Saturday, and have had quite the wonderful Birthday weekend. My mom, dad and sister went in together and bought me the glider I wanted (YAY!). I can't wait for it to be delivered! We all went out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on Saturday night and I had the most amazing piece of cheesecake e.v.e.r. Red velvet cake, layered with cheesecake, layered with more red velvet cake, layered with MORE cheesecake and a cream topper. Like I said, it was the most amazing piece of cheesecake ever. YUM!

Before dinner on Saturday TJ took me for a Birthday date to the Woodland Park Zoo. We walked around the zoo for nearly 4 hours before I became too tired. By the time we headed out I was pooped, but it was great exercise! We got a front row view at the elephant house (up next to the open window), of an elephant. The trainers were taking her blood to see if she had ovulated as they are trying to get her pregnant. I sent her all sorts of good pregnant thoughts. Interesting fact we learned from the trainers, elephants are pregnant for 22 months. 22 months. Could you imagine carrying a baby ELEPHANT around for 22 months?? Yikes!

Sunday was spent with my mom and sister, laughing. A lot. We went to Babies R Us and La-z-boy to try out their rockers/gliders. I ended up liking a chair a BRU the best and it should be here in 10-12 weeks. I cannot wait!!

Today, after waiting around at the DOL to renew my license, TJ took me to Alligator Soul in Everett for lunch. Again, YUM! I discovered a new found love for hush puppies, fried corn bread. Heaven! The present he ordered for me was on back order, but he did tell me in my card what it is. I should be receiving my I-Pad in the next few days!! I really can't wait. After we got home we ordered Madeline's crib and changing table. Everything should be here within the next few weeks.

It's safe to say my 26th year has started off with quite the bang. I'm a spoiled girl. I cannot wait to see what the rest of this year brings, I have a feeling this will be one of the best years of my life!!

Below are 26 week belly pics from today. I did another comparison picture at the end, the same outfit (well, different jeans) 8 weeks apart. And, I was brave and did a bare belly shot. Actually, I wasn't brave, you are brave for looking! ;)

14 weeks to go!

23 Week Update

I figured that I was due for an update, and to deliver some more pictures of my ever growing belly. I have finally entered the "definitely pregnant" stage, and have been starting to get comments from strangers about when I'm due, or what we're having. I even had my first stranger belly rub today, and even though I thought I'd hate it I was so tickled that the lady knew I was pregnant and not just a little chubby.

Things have been going swimmingly on the pregnancy front. I have some back pain from time to time, most of the time it's minor and if it gets really bad it usually goes away when she moves. And boy does she move. I am growing a future soccer star, acrobat or the next karate kid I tell you. She is quite the little wiggle worm. I keep telling TJ she is nocturnal though, as I've been woken up in the middle of the night quite a few times with a good swift kick in the bladder.

I first started feeling movement at about 18 weeks. It was pretty infrequent, and it sort of felt like I was driving down a steep hill very, very fast. Now I feel it every day, all the time, and it feels like someone is kicking me from the inside. TJ and I were sitting on the couch Thursday night and I saw a kick from the outside for the first time. I felt a pretty hard kick so I looked down and a few second later my belly moved just a little bit when she kicked again. So stinking cool. Of course, when I told TJ to look she stopped moving. Which is pretty much what happens every time. I'm certain I can feel the kicks on the outside now, but by the time I put his hand on my belly she stops moving. I have a feeling she is going to be stuborn, lol.

I really can't believe I'm already 5 months along, the time has flown by and I feel like it's never going to slow down. We went out to dinner with TJ's brother last weekend and he asked how much longer I had to go. When I told him 18 weeks (and it's 17 weeks now, eekk!!) TJ looked at me with deer in the headlight eyes and said, "Thats it???? We have so much to do!" Haha, yes dear. Yes we do.

We go on our hospital tour on Tuesday and I'm pretty excited about that. They wanted us to take the tour before we go through all of the birthing/newborn classes at the hospital so we know where the classrooms are, so it's a little earlier than I assumed we'd take the tour. We start classes at the end of July, but their July tour fell on our anniversary and that isn't exactly how I imagined spending our anniversary. I'm having a hard time believing that the first week of June has already come and gone. Where has this year gone?

So, all in all things are great. Here are a few pictures I just snapped of myself.

Today, at 23 weeks. Getting bigger. :)

Front shot.

Momma View. . . well, sorta, I held the camera out a bit - it doesn't look that huge from where I see, lol.

11 Weeks

This week from The Bump we have a lime:

Your fetus currently enjoys a 1:1 ratio between body and head, and has skin so transparent that blood vessels show right through it. But fingers and toes are no longer webbed, and hair follicles, tooth buds, and nail beds are forming -- setting up a significantly more attractive future.

I need to apologize. I have been seriously slacking on my blogger duties! Not a lot has happened in the past two weeks to blog about though. I didn’t take pictures yesterday or today, but, imagine me from week whatever (when did I post pictures last??), and that’s me. I haven’t gained any weight, I still fit in my pants, and I feel wonderful.

With all of the feeling great you are probably thinking I’m just making this up, right? But I’m not, I swear. I had my second doctor’s appointment today. No ultrasound picture to share this time, but I did get great news. The nurse had me unbutton my jeans and lay back to try and find the heartbeat. She warned me that it still might be too early to hear anything. I lay there, expecting to hear nothing. She found my heartbeat right away, and then a second later found the baby’s. Baby McG’s heartbeat was around 160 bpm. I cried, and then wished that TJ didn’t have to work so he could have heard it too.

According to the old wives tales it is a girl. Supposedly a heartbeat over 140 is a girl, and less is a boy. And, the Chinese Gender Chart also says girl. I have a girl feeling deep down. My mom however would tell you she is 150% sure that I am having a boy. Hopefully we'll find out in the next few months for sure!

Until next time!

9 Weeks

I just realized that I skipped my 8 week post, and am about to skip my 9 week post also. Whoops. Annnnd, the battery in my camera is dead, so no pictures this week. I know you are all bummed that you miss out on my bloat baby! ;)

This week from The Bump we have a green olive:

Your little embryo has now officially graduated to fetus-hood. Adding to the excitement, a Doppler ultrasound device might be able to pick up the beating heart. With basic physical structures in place and increasingly distinct facial features, baby is kind of starting to look like...well...a baby!

So I am feeling Tony the Tiger Grrrrr-eat! Except for being tired at night, I still sack out at 7 o’clock on the couch. And the bloat. Ohhhh, the bloat! I had someone tell me last week I’m getting fat. Yes, pick your jaw up off the ground, that is what they said. Maybe not in so many words, but really, you shouldn’t tell a hormonal, pregnant, ragey woman that she needs to look into buying clothes soon. And you also shouldn’t give her the once over after you say such a rude thing. And, just so you know, rude person who I shouldn’t even care about anyway, I have LOST a pound since getting pregnant thank you very much! And you are a rude asshole. Ah, I feel so much better!

Back to the bloat! I will admit that even if the scale says I weigh less, my belly has this round little poochy thing that it didn’t have before. My mom and sister went shopping this weekend, they called me while TJ and I were out playing putt-putt golf on Sunday to say they were “Crazy Grandma/Auntie shopping.” My eyes lit up and I told TJ I was going to head over to mom’s house after golf and see what they bought. I scored! They bought me really cute maternity tops and two dresses (and some awesome baby loot, including a cute Elmo terry cloth robe with matching slippers. I almost died from the cuteness). Thanks to my friend bloat I am wearing one of my new maternity tops today, and it is sooooo comfy. My poor husband will never see me in a cute/tight/sexy top again. Hello muumuus and oversized shirts! Where have you been all my life?

We talked names a bit more this weekend. We are still trying to nail down a girl’s name in which we both agree upon. So far on our list of OK names we have: Lydia, Poppy, Allegra, Piper and Maggie. If it’s a girl we’ll probably use my middle name, Rey. We haven’t fallen in love with any of the names though, so I’m not sure we are quite “there” yet should Herme be a girl. Naming a person is super hard! Take my name for instance, I was never just “Jen/Jennifer”. Why? Because I was always Jen/Jenny/Jennifer C. My name was #1 the year I was born, and 25 –almost 26 –years later it is still in the top 100 baby names in the US. I don’t want my kid to have a totally outrageous name like Motorcycle (see previous name post and TJ’s bad sense of humor), but I also don’t want Herme to have the same name as half the other kids in his or her class. Don’t get me wrong though, I love my name and wouldn’t change it for the world, but I just don’t want to use something so popular.

I am 9 weeks and 1 day today, there are 216 days left to go (if this child should decide to arrive "on time").

7 Weeks

This week from The Bump we have a blueberry:

Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about one hundred new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place.

Seven weeks! Wow! It's hard to believe that we've known for three weeks already that I'm pregnant. I know in the grand scheme of 40 weeks that three weeks is nothing, but, it has still flown by.

This last week was my "goal" week. Friday I was 33 days past ovulation, which is the same point I was at when my miscarriage happened in September. It is an immense relief to me to be past that point. My new small goal is to make it to our first appointment this Friday.

I feel great most of the time still. My boobs are growing and hurt like hell still. I only started to feel a little sick-ish on Friday. I'm having some minor food aversions, sausage really makes me queasy. TJ made a sausage and bell peppers dish the other night, and just talking about it now is making me feel green. I made myself a bowl of Cheerios yesterday morning and ended up drinking the milk out of the bowl and leaving most of the Cheerios. It's strange things that make me feel a little queasy, but thank goodness I haven't been sick.

I am finding that it's harder and harder not to tell people. I hung out with my mom yesterday after work and I had to bite my tongue many times. It will be a relief to have a successful appointment on Friday and tell the world about Herme. :)

231 days to go!

7 Weeks 0 Days

6 Weeks

This week from The Bump we have a sweet pea:

Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks, and chin. Those little hands and feet -- still webbed like paddles -- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as yours!), and blood is starting to circulate.

It has been another great week. I am feeling pretty un-pregnant most of the time, which I am not complaining about. I keep hearing that at this point I should be tired all the time. Pure exhaustion. I will admit that at night I feel more run down than usual, but it hasn't hit during the day. And, as someone who prides themselves in their ability to sleep in with the best of them. . .not so much. I wake up in the morning earlier than normal and I'm up. I don't know if this is a pregnancy symptom, but it royal sucks.

The one symptom I am experiencing in full force is sore boobs. It hurts to wear a bra. Then it hurts to not wear a bra. I ran into TJ's elbow at the grocery store which made me want to stomp on something. I'm also extremely moody, just ask my poor husband. I downloaded Brad Paisley's "Anything Like Me" today and then cried. I am more snappy than usual, driving makes me red with road rage. My new poor attitude when driving usually comes out when I am in the fast lane behind someone going 30. Move over Grandpa, it's 55 through here!! Pregnant hormonal crazy woman coming through!

I feel more bloated than usual in my pictures today. It doesn't help that I took them later in the evening, after dinner. Usually I take them in the morning. So, awww, look at my food baby!

238 days to go!

5 Weeks

This week from The Bump we have an appleseed:

Your embryo, which doesn't look like much more than a tadpole right now, is actually starting to form major organs (heart, kidney, liver, stomach) and systems (nervous, circulatory, digestive). Baby's presence in your uterus triggers production of HCG (the hormone detected by pregnancy tests), which triggers the production of other hormones like estrogen and progesterone, which triggers all those great symptoms you've probably been noticing!

On Saturday I went to a paint your own pottery shop in Marysville to paint "I Love Grandma/pa" mugs for our parents. I pick them up in a week after they have been fired in the kiln, and I can't wait to see how they turn out! Picture to come once I have them in my grubby little hands.

I also can't wait to tell our parents. Things have been going so well that we are debating telling after our first appointment if we get to see/hear the heartbeat. If we don't at our first appointment then we'll probably wait until our second appointment. We are finding it harder as each day goes by to keep it in.

TJ and I learned on Friday night that his good friend Joe, who he has been friends with since 2nd grade, and his wife Candis are also having a baby around the same time! I am very excited to have someone to share this journey with. :)

I'm a day late posting the pictures, please excuse the nasty-Sunday hairdo I have going on in them. ;) Also, it looks like someone should have ran a few more miles before getting knocked up, eh?? LOL, oh well!

4 Weeks

I didn't start the weekly posts before, so keeping with the "think positive" thing I have going I'm starting NOW! I'm happy to report that I had no spotting at all yesterday, and none today. Things look good!!

So, from thebump we have poppyseeds. That is how big my baby is today (my baby, ahhh!!). As of today I am exactly 4 weeks, though a doctor would look at my LMP and say I was a little further along, but I O late. The bump states that:

Now safe in your womb, the ball of cells (blastocyst) is splitting the embryo (your future child) and placenta. Outside the microscopic speck, the amniotic sac and fluid are forming into protective cushioning.

I took a few pictures today and then realized that I took them in a mirror so nobody would be able to read what I wrote on my sign. So I think the pictures look a little funky mostly because I'm backwards in them, but you all probably won't notice.