week 31 & baby shower

Today marks the end of week 31. Overall it was a great week!

Here is my big belly. It's getting so heavy!

The biggest news to report is that I did get to go home for my baby shower! I was a little worried about the weather preventing us from traveling, but we made it to and from eastern Washington just fine. Dawn & Jenny hosted a great party for me and I was more than just a little spoiled!

I had a great time seeing family and it was nice to spend a few days relaxing. Here are a few pictures from the shower:

Here's the cake that Dawn made. It matched the invitations she sent out and tasted great!

Some of new onesizes. Jackson better be ready to play dress-up for the first 6 months!

Jenny and I are about 3 weeks apart and both having boys!

week 30 recap

I went in for my prenatal check up yesterday and baby and I are healthy and doing well. My blood tests for glucose came back normal and my weight is back on track. I only gained 1 pound over the last 4 weeks! Hallelujiah! I went in feeling especially heavy (just having eaten a foot long subway sandwich) and thinking that I'd gained at least another 8 pounds and expecting to be in trouble again. The doctor said I should continue gaining about 1/2 - 1 pound a week from here on out.

Jackson also had a good strong heartbeat; about 142 bpm. It was cute... when the doctor first put the doppler on my belly, Jackson kicked at it a few times! I bet he just can't wait to stretch his legs.

Speaking of stretching... my uterus is now measuring about 30cm, which means it is ballooning up under my ribs now. It's no wonder why my ribs feel bruised and hurt when I press on them ... Jackson lives under there now. There isn't much I can do about the discomfort unfortunately.

My next check up will be in 3 weeks and it will also be time to pre-register and tour the hospital. This is getting very real now!

In other news, I'm still feeling gigantic and wobbly and I can barely put on my own shoes. Sean had to help me put on socks last night, haha! Heck I can't even see my feet when I'm standing. I also found out this week that I can't park my car in compact spots anymore because there isn't enough room for me to sqeeze out of the car! Pregnancy has definitely taken over my brain... I even rationalized scurrying (scuffling) to get in line before someone at the grocery store so I wouldn't have to wait any longer. It was one of those awkward moments where you make eye contact with the person and you both know you are headed for the spot... yeah well I had no shame at all!

This weekend, Sean, my friend Ashley, and I are going home for my baby shower. I can't wait to get away for a few days and spend some time with family!!

here is the week 30 baby bumb picture:

Big Mama

Well week 29 is over and all I can say is that I FEEL HUGE! I honestly feel like I am the size of an elephant and the most awkward human being alive.

It's not just the mental aspect of knowing that my face is round and my stomach enters the room before the rest of me, but my belly is so heavy that I have a hard time standing up for a long period of time and it hurts to lift my legs or get out of bed. Even rolling over in bed is hard too!

In baby news, Jackson has been a sweet little guy this week, keeping himself busy squirming and pushing around inside of me. Even though the jabs in the ribs kind of hurt it's also reassuring to know it is a sign that he's doing good. Both Sean and my co-workers are getting use to me saying "OOH hey!" and they know it means baby is bouncing around.

I think Jackson can feel when Sean or myself put our hands on my belly because he either starts going wild or gets really shy. Sean snuck up on him last night while I was sleeping and put his hand on my side. Jackson just started kicking and pushing like crazy and Sean said he felt a foot or maybe an elbow moving underneath my skin. I fortunately kept sleeping! :)

Another thing I've noticed this week is all of the random parenting advice and questions coming from strangers. In my job I meet with and interview a lot of people. All of a sudden my meetings started going longer because people want to ask me questions about my theories on parenting or give me tidbits of advice. Just today a woman was telling me how Jewish children on the eastcoast are raised. I just do a lot of nodding and saying, oh how interesting!

Thank goodness no strangers/interviewees have reached out to touch my belly! I would freak out! Oh, and I also hate being called the words "preggers" and "prego". If a candidate for a job calls me that they are automatically off the list to get hired!

Until next week, here's a picture of me on the futon in all my glory:

movin' and groovin'

Hello again! Just finished my 28th week and things are pretty much the same as the week before. I've been very tired and my back and ribs are hurting from all the extra weight I'm carrying around. Right now Jackson should weigh about 2.5 pounds and is going to be growing rapidly from here on out. I already feel like I'm stretched to my limit!

Just last night I started feeling Jackson squirming around and dragging his foot along the inside of my belly. I put my hand on top of where his foot was and I could feel him moving around. It was a new and very bizarre feeling... not to mention how weird it looked from the outside seeing the heel of a foot moving under my skin! (If you need to see what I'm talking about, check out this video I saw on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKnoPvQWIBU )

Today at work I was able to show my coworkers his kicking. He was active enough that you could see my shirt moving up and down. He did more of the pushing and squirming up above my belly button, which is new territory for him since he usually likes to kick down low. On the drive home I experienced the first kick in the ribs. Ouch!

Here's my weekly belly pic, I'm getting huge!

Kelly = exhausted

Another week flew by again and I feel like a zombie. My daily routine of going to work, coming home and making dinner, spending time with Sean, walking the dog, studying for my class, going to bed and waking up to do it all over again is really becoming a challenge. It's no wonder the weeks are flying by... I'm in a haze and the days all mush together. I really could use a vacation, but now is not the time. Gotta save all my time off for when Jackson gets here!

I am really looking forward to the baby shower my families are putting together at the end of March. I can't wait to show everyone how big my belly is! I feel enormous already and I know the little guy still has to triple in size before he's ready to come out.

Jackson is kicking and moving pretty much all day long now and unfortunately gets really active when I lay down to go to sleep. Some of his kicks are very strong and make me jump in my chair a little bit. I still think it's so cool to see my belly move as he is jabbing me in the sides.

Not a whole lot of other updates for now, except I'm so thankful that the temperature outside has been cool and it's not late summertime right now. For someone like me who isn't use to sweating or even needing to wear deoterant (really, I don't ever sweat or smell!) I am getting overheated all the time now and using anything in sight to fan myself off with. It's funny becaue one of my co-workers wears her ski jacket all day long and then there is me, wearing a short sleeved shirt and red in the face!

Until next time... here is the week 27 belly shot.