February 2013 – Keeping up with the Hoffmans

friends & family, health & body, musings, pregnancy, pregnancy, week-by-week

30 weeks.

February 25, 2013 Keeping up with the Hoffmans

Can’t believe I’m in the home stretch. I don’t know why, but it feels like a big deal going from 29 weeks to 30 weeks. Maybe that’s because you often hear about babies born at 30something weeks. Obviously we want to keep him baking until as close to 40 as possible, but it wouldn’t be abnormal for him to come around 37 or 38 weeks, either. We’re in the 30s, folks. Just crazy to think about.

My parents came over on Saturday evening — their last night in town before they started their move to Texas Sunday morning. It was nice to spend the evening with them and to see them off, but sad to see them go. They’ll be back a couple weeks after the baby is born, though, which will be nice, and then I think we’re going to try to make it down there for Thanksgiving this year (baby’s first plane trip – yikes!). Thankfully they’ll only be in Texas for two years and then my dad will retire and they’ll move up here again permanently.

Had a nice walk around Greenlake yesterday with my friend Molly, whom I used to work with. She is due in just three days! They are also having a boy. It’s fun to be able to talk about pregnancy stuff with other people who are going through it. After I got home, I parked myself in front of the TV and ended up falling asleep for several hours! I almost never nap on the couch (I’m one of those picky sleepers who can only fall asleep in my own bed), but the long walk and the cold air must have really taken it out of me. I’m definitely feeling myself slowing down. I woke up a few hours later and watched the Oscar red carpet coverage, and then D got home from snowboarding and we watched the Oscars. It was overall a pretty lazy Sunday, which was nice.

Okay, here’s what’s going on at 30 weeks…

Baby is about 16-18 inches long and weighs about 3 lbs. He should be surrounded by approximately a pint and a half of amniotic fluid, though that amount will peak soon before it slowly starts decreasing as he gets bigger and takes up more room. Brain activity is picking up speed this week, and his eyesight is developing more, even though he can’t really see anything from his current point of view! I learned today that babies are born with about 20/400 eyesight, which means they can’t see much beyond a few inches from their face.

Mama is feeling large. As you can see below, I snapped a picture last week wearing the same outfit I wore in my 18 week photo. The scary thing is, I remember feeling large at 18 weeks, and looking back on that photo makes me miss my old body. Look how small I was! This distorted perspective actually makes me very scared of how big I’ll be in another 10 weeks! Will I be looking back at my 30 week photo thinking I was small?! Yikes! The sciatic pain seems to have diminished for the most part (knock on wood), though I did notice it came back on Saturday after vacuuming the house. Gained 1 lb. this week for a total now of 18 lbs. Still no stretch marks, but stomach muscles are still very achy, especially after I eat. On Saturday evening I sneezed and felt like I actually pulled a muscle in my side. Super painful. I think I’m just out of room. Hopefully my muscles loosen up at some point and allow me to stretch some more, since clearly I am going to get quite a bit bigger in the next 10 weeks!

health & body, house, pregnancy, pregnancy, week-by-week

29 weeks.

February 19, 2013February 20, 2013 Keeping up with the Hoffmans

29 weeks down, 11 weeks to go…

Baby is about 2 1/2 pounds and over 15 inches long now. Muscles and lungs are continuing to form, and he is putting on more fat. That translates into more energy, which I am definitely feeling. Not only is he kicking up a storm, but I also feel him flop around and stretch now too, which is a really strange feeling and a tad uncomfortable. I also felt my first foot (or hand?) all the way up in my ribs at my doctor appointment on Friday. That was a strange feeling. I pushed back on him and he moved out of the way. But he’s done it a few more times since then. I guess I should get used to it.

Mama is feeling large and uncomfortable. Did I mention I still have 11 weeks to go? I can’t imagine how much bigger and more uncomfortable I’m going to get. I’m up 2 lbs this week for a total weight gain now of 17 lbs. My belly button is officially an outie. My stomach muscles are feeling really stretched, as I mentioned last week. I just feel really achy. I had a prenatal massage on Sunday, which was heavenly. I’m definitely going to book a couple more before baby gets here. I still have sciatic pain, so it didn’t magically erase that, but it felt great anyway, and maybe the sciatic pain is something that would get better after a couple more sessions?

I had my glucose tolerance test on Friday, which wasn’t nearly as bad as I had heard it would be. I felt a little sleepy afterward and had a tiny bit of a headache, but it was honestly nothing I would have even noticed if I hadn’t been expecting to feel awful. And the great news is, I passed! No gestational diabetes for me!

In other news, I finished the nursery! I’m really happy with how it turned out. Now all we need is a name above the crib (which would actually require deciding on a name… ugh.)

friends & family, health & body, house, pregnancy, pregnancy, week-by-week

28 weeks.

February 12, 2013 Keeping up with the Hoffmans

We had our first baby shower on Sunday, which was a lot of fun. It was for family, and we had about 15 people at my house. We got a lot of really great stuff, including our crib and mattress from my parents, and our car seat from D’s dad and step mom. Feels nice to have some of the big ticket items checked off our list. We also got a lot of diapers, including six cloth diapers, so we are on our way to building up our cloth diaper supply! I really want to do cloth diapers for when we’re at home, at least. Our daycare will only take disposables, but the preschool/daycare we’re going to transfer him to once he reaches a year of age will take cloth diapers, so then we can be in them full time. Better for the environment, more cost-effective in the long-run (though pricey to build up your stash initially) – and plus, look how cute?! It really was a fun day and I know my mom put a lot of work into throwing the shower. That was probably the last time we’ll see my parents until after the baby’s born, so it was sad to see them leave at the end of the day.

Okay, here’s what’s happening with baby and me at 28 weeks…

Baby is now about 2.5 lbs and 16 inches long – or as one pregnancy blog puts it: about the size of a chihuahua. Crazy to think he still needs to gain about 4-6 lbs. Where is he going to fit?

Mama is stuffed to the max (side note, did you know the slang for pregnant in England is “stuffed?”). Still no stretch marks, thankfully, but my ab muscles ache every time I eat. I’m clearly running out of room for baby and all my organs, so adding any volume in the way of food just makes my body ache. Does that mean I eat less? Nah. I just complain about it more after I do. Weight gain for the week is .4 lbs. for a total now of 15 lbs. even. I know I’m doing well with my weight gain, but I still feel huge. I also think it’s starting to show in my face now, after seeing pictures from my baby shower. 😦

Sciatic pain is still there, but possibly less now than it was. I think the combination of sitting on an exercise ball at work and sleeping on a new mattress have helped things some. I was supposed to get a massage on Sunday morning, but that didn’t happen. I went through the entire process of checking into the spa, changing into my robe, and was sitting in the little waiting area feeling all zen like, when the receptionist came back to me and said she was sorry but my massage therapist just called and had a family emergency and wouldn’t be coming in today. Unfortunately, they had no one else that does prenatal massages, so they would have to reschedule. Uh… glad they told me this after I was already in my freaking robe?? They were super apologetic and said that they’d comp my massage and even upgrade me to a 90 minute, but still… I was really looking forward to that massage on Sunday! Super disappointing. So now they are trying to figure out when to get me in, since apparently that particular massage therapist won’t be working for them anymore. “Family emergency,” huh?

Speaking of family emergencies, I also got a call from my doctor’s office yesterday that my OB had a family emergency and won’t be back at work until April! I’m guessing this is a real emergency and I’m sad for her, as I can only imagine what sort of event would cause someone to take a whole two months off. 😦 So I’ll see either her nurse practitioner or another doctor in the practice for my next 4 appointments. This actually isn’t all bad, since I’ll be delivered by whoever is on call anyway, so it’s probably good that I meet some other doctors in her practice. I am a bit sad, though, as I really liked that doctor and I feel bad for whatever she must be going through right now. At least my pregnancy is going smoothly and I’m not too worried about anything in particular, otherwise I think I’d be freaking out right about now. And she should be back for my final month of pregnancy.

That’s about all that’s going on at the moment! Here’s a picture of D and me before the baby shower on Sunday, at exactly 28 weeks, in front of our new crib! Also a sneak peek at the nursery, which I am still planning to write a post on one of these days. I still need to make a crib skirt and get a rug to tie the room together, and then we should be pretty much done!

dreams, friends & family, health & body, loss, pregnancy, pregnancy, week-by-week

27 weeks.

February 4, 2013 Keeping up with the Hoffmans

A couple nights ago I had a dream that I went in for my 28 week appointment and our baby no longer had a heartbeat. It was devastating, to have to relive our loss all over again, only this time having to break the news to everyone. In my dream, I was in some sort of a school, and in each classroom were people from different areas of my life (family, college friends, people from work, etc.), and I remember just being numb as I had to go to each room and announce that we were no longer pregnant (in my dream, I had already had a D&C again by the time I told everyone, which is odd, since if I were to lose this baby now, I’d actually have to give birth this late in the game). In my dream, dealing with everyone else’s grief was one of the worst parts about the whole experience. Everyone cried and demanded to know why it had happened, and I had no answers. All I wanted to do was run away from everyone so I could actually address my own grief without feeling like I had to take care of everyone else’s feelings. I woke up and had that weird half-still-in-my-dream moment where I wasn’t sure if it had all been real or a dream. I felt the baby move, realized it had all been a dream, and then I just started sobbing. Even after I was fully awake and well-aware it wasn’t real, I just couldn’t stop crying.

On a lighter note, I had a very productive weekend working on the nursery. I bought some pegboard and painted it with a chevron pattern and hung that above the changing table, and I finished the crib mobile I started a few weeks ago. I also painted a canvas to hang on the wall with some song lyrics I love and started a few other DIY things that I’ll give an update on later. I was feeling super crafty and productive this weekend. Pretty much all we need now is a crib and a rug (and a baby, of course!). I know I keep saying this, but one of these days I am going to get around to doing a post on the nursery decor. I really am happy about how it’s coming together!

Okay, so here’s what’s happening with baby and me at 27 weeks…

Baby is about 2 lbs. and 15 inches long now. That’s almost as long as a full-term baby – now he just needs to beef up! His eyelids can now open and close (they had been fused shut since about 11 or 12 weeks), and he has all five senses developed. I’ve even read he can start developing preferences on taste, as my amniotic fluid (which he is constantly swallowing) will taste different depending on what I eat that day. Baby is is kicking up a storm and I’m still loving it. I read that now is when kicks can start getting painful, but so far they aren’t (knock on wood), though I wouln’t say they’re subtle anymore either! I wonder how much the non-painful kicking has to do with my anterior placenta. Next appointment is Friday the 15th, where I’ll take my Gestational Diabetes test. Let’s hope all the sweets I’ve been craving (and giving into) lately haven’t sent me into a diabetic state!

Mama is officially in the third trimester now! Crazy how fast time seems to be moving. The first trimester dragged on forever, but the second feels like it just flew by, and suddenly I am in the third. Wow! Countdown to baby is now just 90 days. And we still don’t have a name, thanks to D’s indecisiveness. I actually have one that I love but D didn’t initially like. We came up with about 5 others that we would both be okay with, but every time I try to talk to D about which ones I like more than others, hoping to narrow it down further, he freezes up and says he can’t make a decision, and that none of them really feel like “the one” to him. Though he did say that the one I liked most (that he initially wasn’t crazy about) might have “a slight advantage over the others” since I like it so much. I’m trying not to push him too hard to go with that name since he originally didn’t like it, but secretly I’m hoping it continues to grow on him. But honestly, I’d really be okay with any of the names we’ve narrowed it down to. I am just ready to make a decision already – or at least feel like we’re moving towards a decision. At this rate, we’ll be deciding in the hospital. Oh well — at least this way I can easily skirt the name question since we honestly don’t know. We don’t plan on sharing with anyone until after he’s here, anyway.

I’m still dealing with some pretty bad sciatic pain. Honestly, that has been my only major complaint this pregnancy. I haven’t gained too much weight (1.4 lbs this week for a total so far of 14.6 lbs.), I still have quite a bit of energy, no swelling, no stretch marks. Really, if it weren’t for this darn sciatic pain and a large belly, I’d hardly even notice that I was pregnant. I started sitting on an exercise ball at work last week, and I think that’s helping some. I’ve also booked a prenatal massage for this weekend, so hopefully that helps too. Speaking of the large belly, I’m starting to get more and more comments from strangers asking when I’m due, which for some reason always catches me off-guard. I’m still not used to the idea that other people can tell I’m pregnant, for some reason. I guess it’s because depending on the outfit, I still feel like I just look like I’ve had too many hamburgers. Plus, I’ve had numerous occasions where I’ve had to stand on the bus without anyone offering me their seat, so I do think that with my coat on, sometimes you can’t tell. Either that or people are just selfish. Although, I did notice last week that one of my jackets only covers about half of my belly. 😐 I guess I just never look at myself in the mirror after I put my coat on in the mornings, but last week I stopped in the bathroom at work before dropping my stuff off in my office, and realized it may be time to retire this particular jacket, even if I can still zip it. Not the most flattering look!