24 Weeks/6 Months

Here I am at 24 weeks and 6 months. I can't believe that there are only 3+ months to go.

It really looks like I'm carrying around a soccer ball instead of a baby, but I've heard the heartbeat each month, so I know that the baby is in there. Which is a good thing, because we don't have room for any more sports equipment! I finally just figured out where we would store the hockey bag! The baby is moving very frequently on most days and is a strong little stinker. I've already had a couple of nights where the baby has either kept me awake or woken me up from a dead sleep by tumbling around. I don't think this would be such a big issue if it weren't for the fact that I get so excited each time I feel it move. It's really become quite a distraction and I think I need to become a little more disciplined with myself before the baby actually gets here.

Luke's Birthday and a Garden too!

We got together with my siblings and parents this weekend to help create a vegetable garden in their backyard. Luke and I were particularily excited for this, as we don't have space for a garden. Even I got to help out, although most of the work was (thankfully) done by my Dad, Luke and my brother. It was a beautiful and sunny day, and we ended it with a delicious meal and birthday cake for Luke! That's right: Daddy is now the big 2-8, which as I keep reminding him is another blessed year closer to 30.

The baby and I are now at 23 weeks and growing by the minute. The great thing about this garden is that by the time the pumpkins that are planted are ready--it will be just in time for baby's first Halloween! (and I'm sure that all the other nutritious snacks we are growing in there will be appreciated too).

For his birthday, we all decided to get Luke a flaming pan of cake!

Mother's Day 2010

This year Brittany and I took our mom to a Mother's Day Tea at her church Holy Spirit Lutheran, and it was a really nice way to spend a Saturday. I helped decorate our table, and we got to dine on miniature sandwiches and brownies. We even got a portrait taken and had time after the tea to sit in the sun with the dogs on their deck and drink "virgin" Bloody Marys for a couple of hours. It was pretty much perfect, and I was happy to be with my mom and sister on such a special day.


On Sunday, (Mother's Day proper), I told Luke, "all I want to do today after church is eat, nap, then go for a walk!" And that's exactly what we did. We also found time to sneak in a few more belly shots:

After a walk that was absolutely lovely, but probably a bit too long for my ever widening hips...we decided on greek lamb wraps for dinner and shot up the hill in Old Town to the Met Market for supplies. I remembered a very funny "mama" (Lisa Ganung) telling me that they had an "expectant mother's" parking spot...it was worth checking out and cashing in on! Sure enough, we found it and it was vacant when we pulled it. I made my proud papa Luke take a picture, that I'm thinking might be a favorite of mine for a long time:

All in all, a pretty fine weekend. Although Luke and I both agree that I still have a lot of work to do before I'm a bonafide Mother on Mother's Day--we had a great time celebrating the little one who will be heading our way in a few months. I can't believe I'm already at 22weeks!

comic relief

My dear friend Kim found a book for me that has been an excellent source of stress relief and humor over the past couple of days. It's called "It Could Happen to You!" by Martha Brockenbrough, who met her husband in Tacoma, and now lives in Seattle. It's written in a loose "diary" style, and follows the candid observations of a woman and her husband through their first pregnancy. As I read from her chapter on the first trimester this morning, this passage gave me those old "warm & fuzzies":

Still, I was counting the days until I got to hear the heartbeat. And when the day finally arrived, I was thrilled...'What's it going to sound like?' I wondered. I grew less rational from there. 'What if we can't hear it? What if this is all some sort of mistake? What if something is wrong?' I felt myself get very cold as I lay on the table and waited...[then] the room was filled with steady drumming, like the sound a horse makes when it runs across hard ground. It's a dancing rhythm, filled with energy, a music that made my chest squeeze with joy. Then the nurse moved the probe to pick up my heartbeat as well. Mine was a slower, rushing rhythm, like moving water. Together this was the sound of two lives sharing a body, a curious, beautiful song that I could have listened to for hours while I tried to find the meaning within. Maybe this is why all human cultures have music. It's the way we bring our heartbeats outside and share them, and say, 'We're alive.'

20 weeks, 38 inch circumference and happy, happy happy.
The baby only weighs about 12 ounces and is about 7 inches long,
so we've still got a long way to go!
I feel great and am enjoying my 2nd trimester energy and attitude. Can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit so that I can get outdoors and play in the sun.

20 (ish) weeks and looking good!

We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning and it went so well that we had to rush some new pics on the blog right away. Our ultrasound technician was really great and so knowledgeable. She took her time and allowed us to simply watch the baby move around on the screen for quite a while. Here's a look of the baby's face. It's amazing how clear it is; you can see the eyes, nose, and lips!



Here is an adorable profile shot. The baby tried for several minutes to suck it's thumb. This was taken right before we think that the thumb sucking success was finally achieved. You can also see the outline of the skull and the spinal column at the bottom of the shot.





Here is another profile shot with a better view of the spinal column. You can also see just how curled up the little babe was for the entire ultrasound. Because of this, we didn't get an exact length, but the technician estimated somewhere just under 8" long. Weighing in at 12 ounces as well, we learned that currently our baby is in the 80th percentile for size. This may be due to an early growth spurt, or it may be that I am a little farther along than they thought. They are not moving my due date (technically), but the technician said that she would estimate a due date of September 1-4th instead of the 9th.


High Five Baby! This shot really got the technician excited because she said it is often difficult to get a picture of the hand opened up. You can actually count all the fingers! (and good news, there are 5!) The dark spot in the center of the chest is the heart, beating at 137 beats per minute.







Here we can see the left hand again very clearly with all its fingers and a beautiful little thumb in addition to the left forearm, right in the middle of the screen. To the left you can see the head and part of the umbilical cord.




As the picture clearly states, the anatomy most clearly seen in this shot is the left foot-as we are looking straight down on it. Again it was so fun to count the five toe knuckles on this little stinker. A shadow of the right foot is hovering right above it in the shot.

*pop!* *pop!* *pop!*

Well, I felt the baby Thursday for the first time. I'd love to say that it was amazing and magical and that it was full of gentle flutters and little swishes...but to be truthful, it felt like popcorn popping inside me, and I was pretty confused at first! My first reaction was (of course) to gently push back on the spot where I felt the popping and after I did, it responded and "popped" back, so that was pretty fun. Since then, I've been feeling the baby more and more. Last night I attempted (about 10 times) to get Luke to feel it as well, but the baby always stopped right when I'd get Luke's hand on my belly. Silly baby. It was actually really funny, because it was like it knew when Luke was there and it got all still. Then, when he gave up and pulled his hand away, "pop!"

Hopefully the baby will be kicking and moving a little stronger soon, and it will be really easy for Luke and others to feel. All in all, it's amazing how the activity just keeps on growing and changing. I'm so excited to meet this little kicker!