baby shower, birthing class, and 34 weeks

i had a great trip out to see the family in the OC at the beginning of the month. my sister and mom threw me a baby shower and it was great! lots of fun items! baby girl has got some clothes! more than one baby girl deserves i am sure. between gifts and having girl cousins, we are really excited for the fun things to dress her up in! baby girl also has quilts and blankets galore - most are hand made and so so darling. we are really excited this little one will be kept nice and snuggly in the cold Eugene rain. and nate parents got us this sweet crib ...

i know ... i am obsessed with gray. it is just the right neutral - not too bland and boring, still a good base, but not too dominating. i just love it. i love the modern simplicity of it.

as i mentioned before, nate and i were going to be apart for 4 days for the first time since we have been married - we have our 2nd anniversary on Monday (woot, woot). i was doing fine on Thursday and Friday and even Saturday. but Sunday rolls around and i start getting sad about it. i had a hard time for the rest of the trip ... which i wonder how much is pregnancy hormones and how much were my real feelings. i haven't lived with my parents or in california in 10 years so its not like it had felt like home for a long time ... but i really really felt this time that this was not my home and that i actually did have a home someplace else ... nate is my home and my home is in eugene. i missed our small little life together and just seeing him. needless to say i cried when i finally got home at midnight on Tuesday. i love you babe.

in mom/baby health news ... this week starts the beginning of twice a week doctor's appointments - one for a mini ultra-sound to check the amniotic fluid levels and one for a non-stress test where they monitor baby girl's heart beat over a period of time. i saw baby girl yawn three times on the ultra-sound today ... her jaw was very easy to distinguish and it looked so crazy! she is moving around like crazy these days, especially at night (which makes me feel like she has her days and nights mixed up ... great). nate had his hand on my belly the other night and felt her doing her gymnastics and we were cracking up how dramatic the movements have become. we are amazed.

sleeping has headed into the challenging realm ... finding a comfortable spot is tough and sleep is starting to missed at odd hours ... guess that's all prep for when she is actually here! my nesting instincts are setting in and i have prepped the nursery for the most part. we only have one package of diapers so far (thanks Gennie) ... so i better get on that! its hard to stock up when you don't know how little or big this girl is going to be and what brand of diapers you will like! i have clothes ready to go by size all put away in the dresser and look forward to another baby shower here in Eugene in a few weekends.

we had a marathon birthing class last saturday. it was actually really good, contrary to what we had heard from friends. it was informative and good prep for us. it kind of gave us some confidence in the whole thing and was really good for nate. videos and all and he left feeling more confident in his roll of supporting me during labor and delivery ... i on the other had - being so close to giving birth - was just amazed that i was actually going to go through that. i am going to birth a baby. i feel a little more confident and hope that i can actually apply some of the stuff we learned on the big day.

in other news ... my OB thinks that the GD specialist won't let me go past 39 weeks ... we shall see what he says at my appointment next Tuesday where i will see baby girl again in 3-D. it feels to me that even just over the past week i have had a growth spurt - no, that's not a basketball under my dress these days ...

i did not intend on having the exercise ball in the picture as a reference point, but i guess it works. 8 1/2 months, I suppose this roundness is appropriate :) its especially crazy when you compare it to this 6 week shot:



side view at 34 weeks ... embracing the roundness that is me and my baby girl ... so excited to meet her!

we are also still playing the name game ... trying to decide a name is really intimidating! i know we are going to have to see her before we really decide but what if we don't know even after that?!

the most photographed baby in utero

as of today - August 8th - i am 31 weeks! just a week shy of 8 months pregnant. a friend asked me the other day how far along and when i replied - almost 31 weeks she replied - "oh, only 9 more weeks to go - that's not too long" .... and that is when i started to have a mini panic. mostly about labor ... sort of about having a baby to take care of ... but mostly about labor. i have had two friends here in Oregon that have recently given birth and all i can say is whoa. but they are recovering and doing great - bumpy roads to motherhood and all. and there are all of you ladies out there reading this that have done it ... some of you multiple times! so i keep telling myself that millions of women have given birth in the course of history and certainly i can do it too. i feel blessed to be counted among you ladies and i am very excited to join the ranks of motherhood.

baby girl has been moving and shaking a ton these days, which adds to the reality that yes - there is a human being growing in my womb. the 3-D ultra sound images below (taken today) also help to solidify the reality! she is 3 1/2 pounds already (she gained an ounce this week)! she was sort of shy and had her hand up to her face the entire time we were looking at her ... we even tried to poke and jiggle her into another position without much success. this is what she was doing most of the time:


i love how you can see the definition of the hands and fingers so well! here is another shot where it's either her hand moving (so its blurry) or its the umbilical cord by her face. the other shots pretty much look like the one above or below.

i may have shed a few tears when i saw this girl's face. its so amazing how something so precious will be ours to love and take care of. i felt really really blessed to be her mom in this moment.

the reason for this super spiffy ultra-sound at this stage of the game is because i recently was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD). not awesome. according to the doctors due to my family history i most likely will have it with any subsequent pregnancies (95% chance). i of course immediately worried that my pre-pregnancy weight-gain triggered my genes and the dietitian said that she didn't really think so. she said finding out this late in pregnancy was a good sign - keep the GD off as long as possible. of course losing the baby weight and the pre-pregnancy weight before another baby is desirable for all sorts of health and happiness reasons, it will at best delay the onset of gestational diabetes. with GD the pregnancy hormones keep my body from utilizing insulin to the best of its ability.

i get the joy of testing my blood four times a day with this little guy:



and have become quite skilled over the last four days. the trend thus far is that my fasting (over-night) blood sugar is high and so is my 1-hour post breakfast blood sugar (no matter what i do or do not eat). i can get my post lunch and dinner blood sugar down though with watching my carb intake (i love carbs of course) and limiting my fruits (so mean to a pregnant lady in the summer - right?) but we shall see. i might have to go on some medication at night to help keep the morning sugars low.

so they will be monitoring my blood sugar and checking up on baby girl via ultra-sound again in four weeks ... that will make a total of 5 ultra-sounds!

12 weeks - "are you really 14 weeks? nope you are 12 weeks" vaginal ultra-sound
20 weeks - "its a girl" ultra-sound - but she's measuring a tiny bit small
30 weeks - "just checking" ultra-sound - she looks good!
31 weeks - "gestational diabetes monitoring" ultra-sound - she still looks good!
next one - 35 weeks to check to make sure she is not getting too big

nate and i joke that she is the most photographed baby in utero on the planet.

the doctors won't let me go late for fear of the baby getting too big and if she is getting too big than they will induce early (eek!) so we will have a baby by October 11th for sure. Whoa.

anyway - since i gave you a shot of my insides, i figure its only fair to give you a shot of what we look like on the outside ... here i am in all my glory with baby girl at 31 weeks:

i wear dresses and skirts a lot these days ... so much more comfortable ... so i made sure to take a snap shot of me in one ... you know - for remembrance and all. my hair is getting so long and while i could definitely use a trim, its still really healthy and feels great. my skin - as i have mentioned before - is a whole other situation ... still awful.

i have a few other updates on projects i have been working on ... crib is up and running ... finally painted the baby's dresser/changing table ... and other projects ... AND i must show you the beautiful blankets/quilts made for me by some dear friends and family ... but all of these things need some photographs first.

one final note ... i am heading to So-Cal this thursday to see family and have a baby shower (yipee!) and its going to be the first time that nate and i have been apart since we were married 23 months ago. yeah we spend all day apart at work but never all day and all night. we are spoiled i know. i think it will be fine ... just weird. we aren't much of phone talkers so this should be interesting.