Belly Shot for 34 Weeks

Taken today so about 34.5 weeks. Brian makes me smile goofy when he takes my picture :) I can't believe how big little Chloe is getting in there. I feel like she's fighting me for space in my body most days!

34 Weeks

How your baby's growing:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

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Update on me:

• I've been feeling very energetic and "nesty" in the mornings, and by the evenings completely exhausted and in need of laying down.
• I've been getting a lot of cleaning/organization type household stuff done, but am still having little to no motivation to finish up the few business tasks I have left to check off my list (taxes, burning photos to dvds, new terabyte storage drives to format, clearing memory cards, invoicing my last client, getting settled into gigbooks)
• We have Chloe's playpen set up in the dining room, makes it all seem very real!
• I am still having upper abdominal tension, stretching and rib pain, but I think I'm just learning to cope with it
• I've been sitting on the exercise ball a lot. Good for the body, giving baby enough room to be in the head down position, and good for my core to prepare for birth. I roll off it sometimes though :-)
• We are enjoying our childbirth class with Carol Peterson. I've learned SO much about childbirth that I never knew. I'm so excited that I have a midwife who will subscribe much more to the philosophies I'm learning at my delivery. Carol is also a doula, and it would be really nice to have her or another doula at my delivery, but unfortunately it is a bit costly for us and we are pinching every penny at this point so it's not in the cards.
• I'm starting to wonder how the cats are going to do with the new addition to our family... all we can do is try to prepare them a little. I think in general they will be ok. They are very curious kitties and they think the whole house belongs to them so that will be a shift, but I'm going to trust it's going to be ok.
• I noticed my first stretch mark on my tummy yesterday and it's getting bigger. eek.
• I am getting so excited to hold my baby!!!
• We had an awesome photo shoot with Danielle. I posted my favorite pictures on facebook, and I will post some here soon, too.
  

robe/nightie

I really want this robe/nightgown ... and not sure whether I can get it though. Either way I can't get it until February. Every purchase we make these days has to be weighed carefully. its so weird. not bad, we are totally blessed. just weird.

And... we are going to need so many more diapers. It's insane!

Chloe Grace

(pics by Mindy Jobczynski :))

Well, it's pretty much out everywhere now after my baby shower this week displayed it proudly on cupcakes, embroidered on a blanket, and written in a book! We decided to name our coming-very-soon daughter Chloe Grace for 4 reasons. 1) we loved the name Chloe and liked it's meaning "Blooming," and that a Chloe who housed some disciples was mentioned in the Bible (1 Cor. 1:11) 2) It was the only one we really liked that we could totally 100% agree on, 3) Grace is after my grandmother on my father's side who passed away this year, and it is also my sister's middle name - and let's face it - always beautiful and always a quality you hope for a young girl to have! 4) I felt Chloe Grace was a name that beautiful and young for a baby, cool for a teen, yet also traditional and can grow with her well and wasn't too little-girly forever! It's certainly a popular name in the US right now, but in my circle not used very often.

So.... Chloe Grace ... blooming grace.... really liked that idea.

Hopefully our sonographer was right, and we are truly having a girl - because we are drowning in pink from our amazing shower this weekend. I hope to post more pictures soon when amazing Danielle gets a chance to get them all downloaded (she generously snapped away for me so I could enjoy the memories!) My mother, sister, aunt, friends and mother-in-law went over and above in making this shower (and the Maryland one) unbelievable and beautiful. I'll talk more about it in detail when I have photographic support :)

We were so blessed by all of the generosity - were able to purchase all of the remaining large items (playpen, breastpump, highchair) with gift cards and cash gifts we were given as well as a few returns on duplicate items ... and we received our car seat, big stroller, bouncer entertainer/exerciser, baby sensor/monitor, diaper bag, and activity mat at the shower plus tons and tons and tons of blankets, towels, washcloths, toys, etc. I also got 2 beautiful handmade gifts, a blanket and a little pillow. At my Maryland shower I also was blessed with bottles, washcloths, the toddler car seat, some stuffed animals, and tons of other goodies. I don't know what we would have done without all the help, not to mention the awesome friend who's been giving me all her baby clothes and stuff (including a co-sleeper) since I was basically 10 weeks pregnant.

It feels so selfish and so frivolous to be showered with all this love and "stuff" with the tragedies going on in Haiti and so many other mothers who need so much. I certainly have a surplus so I hope I can give what I don't need to those who do in some capacity. I want to give to my friends too but most of them are having boys and all I have is extra pink :-)

Either way, Chloe, I am just getting so desperate to meet you - I can't wait.

33 Weeks

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

At this stage in fetal development, your baby could grow a full inch more this week alone — especially if he or she has been on the shorter side. Weight gain can range from a third more growth to a full doubling before the big debut.

The level of amniotic fluid in your uterus has reached its maximum at 33 weeks pregnant, making it likely that you have more baby than fluid now. That's one reason why you're probably feeling lots of nudges and pushes — there's less liquid to cushion the blows. (Of course that means you're even closer to your baby now!)

If your uterine walls had eyes, here's what you'd see: your fetus acting more and more like a baby, with his or her eyes closing during sleep and opening while awake. And because those uterine walls are becoming thinner, more light penetrates the womb, helping your baby differentiate between day and night (now if only baby can remember that difference on the outside!).

And good news! Your baby has reached an important milestone about now: The development of his or her own immune system that (along with antibodies from you) will be able to provide protection from mild infections.

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Quick me update: Still having upper nerve/abdomen pain, lots of groin pain, and I think I'm starting to waddle. I'm having at least one Braxton Hicks contraction a day, I believe! It's crazy. I'm tracking her kicks daily using this kick counter. Lot of interesting movements of limbs inside me. Still having trouble determining sometimes what body parts are what. Can't wait to see her face!

32 Weeks

THIRTY TWO WEEKS FOR REAL.

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) (a large j-WHATMA??) and is about 16.7-19 inches long total, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

You may be feeling strengthening Braxton Hicks contractions which are just your body's way of prepping for the real deal. I've definitely felt a few of these!

If only we were all as skinny as the babycenter illustration lady.

intercostal neuritis

That is my diagnosis of all the upper abdominal/chest pain that I have been having for over 2 months. The burning, stretching, tingling, screaming pain that is now preventing me from doing things, sitting for long, standing for long, stretching to high, basically anything and everything. The midwife/chiropractor believes it is a compressed or pinched nerve in the area between the ribs, caused by out of place ribs and causing all the radiating pain. Truthfully, there's not that much information about it on the internet, so I'm not sure it's very common problem

I'm getting chiropractic care now - but I'm not convinced it's the whole problem because the pain seems more central and close to my skin. And after 3 treatments I'm seeing no improvement. In fact Sunday was the worst day I've ever had and I almost couldn't sing the second set of songs at 11:00. I don't know. It's too late for any sort of nerve block injections or anything like that because baby is too high up. Sometimes her little feet hit me in the area of the pain - which doesn't make it any better or worse. I try ice occasionally and it feels good while on it but doesn't last long. I can't take any anti-inflammatory meds like ibuprofen during pregnancy.

Anyway ... there's an update for anyone who might be interested. If you could lift up some prayer for me, I would really appreciate it. It's very frustrating and overwhelming to feel so helpless and in pain so often. I know my baby is worth it and I will of course persevere but I would love some relief from this! And at least knowing that it will go away once the baby is born, that would be some good knowledge too - but you never know... with these things there is no guarantee!