29 weeks

I feel like every week I can't believe I am at the point, and yet it still feels like I have a ways to go. I can definitely tell Baby E has grown the past two weeks...compare the belly shots. So exciting! It's fun to be able to look back at pictures because sometimes I feel like I stay the same size.

Major accomplishments the past two weeks: we finally got to register last Friday. What an exciting and yet completely exhausting task. I am so thankful to be able to check that one off the list, and so thankful we brought my friend Amy along because by the end of the day, I just needed someone to tell me what they liked. Also, competing the 3 hour glucose tolerance test. It was a killer not eating or drinking, but I survived. I haven't heard back from the office yet, but I think I passed it.

Scary moments: I feel like for about the past week and a half I have been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. I felt like they were all the time...resting, standing, laying down, whatever. Actually, I would wake up in the middle of the night feeling them. Very disturbing. I was trying everything I know (drinking water, keeping my bladder empty, trying to rest as much as possible, etc), all to no avail. I finally called my doctor (I put it off because I have this secret fear they will put me on bedrest...not the end of the world but would be difficult with work), and the nurse told me to take extra calcium since the uterus is a muscle. I was slightly skeptical, but the contractions are MUCH improved since I started taking the calcium. I am oh so thankful because it definitely caused many restless nights.

Looking forward: We're starting our childbirth classes on Wednesday which I'm excited about. I will post pictures of the nursery soon...pretty bare so far but we are making progress. We're so excited for Baby E!

Failed

That's right, I found out yesterday I failed my 1 hour glucose tolerance test. For those of you who haven't experienced pregnancy and don't know what I'm talking about, to check for gestational diabetes, they make you drink this disgustingly sweet potion (mine was fruit punch) then check your blood sugar after 1 hour. Since my glucose was higher than normal, I have to go back in the next week for a 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I can have nothing to eat or drink after midnight, then they make me drink TWICE as much of the sweet stuff. They will check my glucose 4 times: fasting, after 1 hour, 2 hours, then 3 hours. Aren't you jealous?

It is such a shock to fail something you can't control. It actually feels like my body has failed me in a way. I have no family history of diabetes, exercise 5 days/week, am not overweight, and really have no risk factors for having gestational diabetes. I don't want to jump to conclusions because I know my next test could be okay, it was still so surprising. But I keep thinking, even if I do have to give myself injections of insulin daily and check my blood sugar 4x/day, it is TOTALLY worth it!! I can't wait for Baby Girl to be here, and I can only be thankful things have been relatively uneventful so far.

So here's to 2 glasses of overly sweetened fruit punch...

27 weeks

Wow, it's hard to believe (and yet so exciting) we are at 27 weeks! According to What to Expect When You're Expecting, Baby Girl is 15 inches long and just over 2 pounds, approximately the size of a large eggplant. She is getting so big! 15 inches sounds really long to me, but of course 2 pounds is still really small. We're going to work on fattening her up as I go into this last trimester.

I'm still feeling pretty good with no major complaints. Occasional back pain when I stand for a long time, still sleeping great (although somehow I always end up on my back multiple times during the night...pretty amazing), maybe a little reflux (it doesn't seem like typical reflux to me because I don't actually have the acid taste in my throat it just feels like something is caught in my throat). I'm still able to do the elliptical, bike, walk, and I have loved doing pilates! However, I am noticing that any maneuver that requires me to hold my body off the ground is getting more and more difficult (planks are especially killer). There is a girl in my class that actually came to class the day before she delivered (like a 9lb baby without an epidural)...she is my inspiration.

Decorations are coming along for the nursery and Kev painted this weekend. It's so exciting to see it come together! Super exciting purchase we made today...our stroller!! It's amazing how excited I was about a stroller...oh how my life has changed. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself and I will post pictures soon! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Now the beautiful belly pics!

Weekend with the fam

We made the drive to Borger this past weekend to visit my family and go to our brother-in-law's graduation. It was great to be home. There is something about going home, even when you're an adult, that makes you feel like a kid again. You have such few responsibilities, someone's cooking and deciding on all the meals, no chores...we don't realize how good we have it until we're gone.

The one thing I didn't remember was how boring graduations are...no offense Marcus. I was frankly surprised at how long and boring it was, now that we are hopefully finished with any type of graduation ceremonies in both our families.

Fun times during the graduation.

Lacey, Marcus and his family.

Our family (minus Anja and Josh...we missed you guys!). Marcus, you make the rest of us look so short!

Truman with Vadar in the background...you would be surprised how hard it was to get their picture together. Truman looks so happy in this picture to me!

Truman loves cousin Vadar. They play really well together and totally wear each other out!

Can't beat Texas panhandle sunsets!

100 days

100 days and counting! It is hard to believe! Kev and I are reading a Psalm a day (we started with day 150), and it is exciting to be 1/3 of the way done!

Week 25, day 2

Here they are, the oh so beautiful belly shots. For some reason, I felt incredibly huge today. I kept asking Kev if I looked bigger this evening than when he saw me this morning. I don't know if Baby Girl had a growing spurt, I was bloated, or what but I just felt uncomfortable all day. I can only imagine that it will get much worse. To make matters worse, it is getting very difficult to button my lab coat...it's only a matter of time before they know (by they I mean patients).

With all my complaining, I am really very happy to see myself grow because it means our sweet Baby Girl is growing too! So exciting! I think I'm just realizing that I am going to have days I feel uncomfortable. I guess I felt like maybe I would escape that, wishful thinking I know.

I feel like my belly looks so weird from the front.

Productive

I must say, I love productivity, and I feel like my productivity has definitely decreased since being pregnant. However, this weekend I felt like we accomplished so much and it felt so good. There is unexplainable pleasure in crossing tasks off a list...I love it.

You probably don't really care what we accomplished, but I'll share anyway. Probably the most exhausting task was cleaning out our office since it will be the baby's room. Our spare bedroom is now our office/guest room, but there was lots of stuff we have to store in our shed or get rid of because there is just not enough space. Of course, to put furniture items in the shed, we had to organize/clean out the shed first (by "we" I mean Kev). It was quite a fiasco. Baby E's room is now basically empty ready to be painted and decorated.

We also got to look at paint colors (I think we picked the color we want) and pick accent fabrics. We are also on the verge of being able to order our glider/rocker for the nursery. We also got to make a quick visit to my good friend Jen's house to try her stroller, see the nursery, and sit in her chair. It was so much fun! After looking at her stroller, I became slightly obsessed and poured over reviews of strollers, and I think I've about decided on the one we want.

I also got to go to pilates, watch Kev play soccer, hang out with friends, and we had date night. What more could you ask for? The one downer of the weekend was on Sunday during church I started having pretty severe abdominal pain. I figured it would just go away, but it persisted through the end of the service so I left immediately so I could lay down at home. Even after I got home, it went on for another 30-45 minutes. I was starting to question what I should do, and then it stopped. I was so relieved. Overall, wonderful weekend.

D.C part 2

Finally, the long awaited pictures from D.C. that prove that Kev and I were actually there together (and some strange man wasn't just taking my pictures).

Pizza Paridiso...aka the best pizza place in Georgetown (in our opinion).

We LOVED Zaytinya's, a Mediterranean restaurant. Why can't they build more restaurants like this in Oklahoma?

Right outside the capitol...no you can't see it but the flowers were pretty.

Us and Abe.

Kev in his quest to take the perfect picture.

I am planning on posting belly pics soon. I keep forgetting to take a picture on the actual week mark (which was Saturday), so it will have to be 25 weeks and 2 days I guess.