Category Archive

In other words, we’re almost there!

We had a wonderful winter storm today. The college closed early so A and I got to go home and cuddle up. I took a long nap with my cat while A read. We drank hot chocolate and watched the snow fall. It’s beautiful! Tonight A washed ALL our baby clothes, bedding, and blankets! It’s like we’re really gonna bring a baby home in a matter of weeks! Wow. Here’s my 34 weeks belly shot and also a picture of the washed and put away 0-6 months clothes. Everything else is washed and put away in another closet.

The weeks are passing like days…

When I think back on the day we found out I was pregnant and how the first trimester dragged on, I just can’t believe how quickly these final weeks are passing. I go between totally excited and can’t wait to have this baby in our lives and freaked out about how everything will change. We’re trying to enjoy the quiet time we have.

I had my first almost-anxiety attack the other night. I was laying in bed and became overwhelmed with what is about to happen. My chest tightened up and my heart began pounding. I am no stranger to anxiety attacks, so I knew what was happening and I managed to tell this one to go away…and it did! I think it’s natural to freak out in the final days of pregnancy, and I am glad I was able to immediately calm myself down.

Here’s my belly today…at thirty-two weeks!

9 weeks till full term…11 weeks till my due date…13 weeks till we will absolutely have this baby!

Here I am today at 29 weeks:

Time is flying…we’ve made a lot of progress on all the things we need to do before birth but still have a heap of name change stuff to complete, and also need to get working on filling out all the second parent adoption paperwork. But for tonight, we’re cuddling up to watch a birth video recommended by our doula…I really hope this is a good idea!

Today marks 27 weeks and the start of the third trimester according the website I’ve been going by. Where has the time gone? We’re busy getting things checked off the to do list and I am starting to push myself to become a little more prepared for childbirth (aka read all the books I’ve been ignoring). I’ve found meeting with our doula helps to center me and guide me as I start the real work of empowering myself for childbirth through education . We’ve also continued other, more fun, getting ready for birth activities, like assembling the crib we’re borrowed from A’s co-worker. We decided to wait until after our move to buy one since she offered to lend us hers and this way we’ll have one less thing to move. I am slowing down and run out of energy much quicker than before. But over all I feel great and am sleeping well. I treasure these moments as I know, things will get harder as the weeks pass, for now I can deal with tired. And now, here is my 27 week belly shot:

p.s. Glucose test is tomorrow…wish me luck!

A. suggested I do a 7 week comparison…holy belly now at 25 weeks!

Things are moving along and I can’t believe I only have 15 weeks to go! I am so excited to meet Moon and I am also pretty excited to not be pregnant. It hasn’t necessarily been a bad experience, but I am not one of those women who love being pregnant. I had one co-worker tell me she never felt better than when she was pregnant! I am ready to have my body back…and as much as I love when Moon kicks or moves, I won’t miss the acrobatics in the middle of the night (oh, but then I’ll be feeding in the middle of the night…).

Here is my 22 week belly shot:

Time continues to fly. I am so glad we’ve been taking pictures every other week. It’s so much fun to compare the difference every other week.  My belly sure is growing - as is my appetite! I can’t believe how much I can eat these days. My increased appetite is one of the things I love about being pregnant.

AKA my 20 week belly shots:

I  can not believe we’re half way to meeting Moon. The time is going by so fast!

It’s time for my ‘every other week’ belly shot. Today I am 18 weeks pregnant. And I am starting to show for real. I think I managed to hide my belly long enough to be the one to tell my student interns when they arrived this past Monday…at least they all seemed surprised when I told them. but even since then my belly seems to have gotten bigger. Still no movement, but I am not rushing it - I know once it starts I will long for the peaceful days when the baby does not kick me all the time, especially when I am sleeping.

We’re flip flopping on finding out the sex again…shocking I know! We really have to figure this out before our ultra sound on the 12th of September. And with out further ado here’s my belly:

7 weeks & 18 weeks

Somehow 16 weeks have passed. The last week has been a turning point for me. I am feeling bigger and I think showing a little. And internally, I can tell things are happening. My uterus feels more crowded, and when we press with our fingers, we’re able to feel what feels like a mass that could be the baby just below my belly button. I continue wake every 2 to 3 hours to use the bathroom at night…and I am pretty exhausted from being back at work.

Here’s the progression:

7 weeks & 16 weeks

Not much is new. I have less than a week before I go back to work. I guess I am ready. I just want to fast forward into the second week of September. That’s when things will settle down.

I’ve already vowed that I won’t put in 18 hours a day six days a week as I usually do in August. It just isn’t healthy for this baby! My co-workers will just have to deal. My Assistant Director will have to do more. What a fun year this will be… I am going to talk to the midwife at our next appointment (a week from tomorrow) about how to go about talking to my boss about how I just can’t do what is expected for this school year’s opening. She just can’t expect me to put in the hours that I usually do. I’m not sure how that conversation will go… I also want to meet with our human resources department so I can get a grasp on my maternity benefits. And to do a little poking around about my rights. I am not sure how my boss is planning to work out our on-call rotation that I will NOT be in while on maternity. But I fear she will expect me, in “fairness” to others to make up all the time I will miss during the spring while I am still working in the fall. I am pretty sure this is not cool. And it would make me crazy. So I will brave the dreaded HR department in hopes of seeking some clarity/support. Oh yeah and I can’t wait to see everyone’s faces when I show up pregnant- they don’t know!

I spent some time today melting wandering around the Noho side walk sale - the temperature read 99 degrees at 4pm. I didn’t buy anything but there were a lot of good deals and cool stuff. I wish I had myself together enough to start holiday shopping.

Before heading to the sidewalk sale I found a great kids consignment store in our town that sells kids clothes, toys, accessories, and maternity and nursing clothes! I got three shirts and a jean skirt for $12! We will be back there once this baby arrives! And I am sure I’ll go back to check on maternity clothes from time to time.

Our cats have been driving us crazy and the orange one tried to sit on the black one twice yesterday. Not sure what that’s about and I had to break it up each time. Today they cuddled in the window. It’ll be two more years before they touch each other again.

I will play along to We Are Fambly’s tag, but I am thinking about my eight things…I swear I’ll do it! (What else do I have to do since I am not working?)

I think we’ve decided to find out the sex of moonbeam. It’s been a struggle and I’ve changed my mind almost daily. I’ve tried to answer to myself what was preventing me from wanting to find out. And I really can’t figure it out. I think it mostly has to do with the social construction of gender and knowing that if we find out our baby will only have dodged the forced gender crap for only five months in utero as opposed to nine/ten. But I think I’ve come to terms with the fact that once it’s here, the World will see it as girl or boy and treat it as such. So really I’m not protecting it from much by finding out four months before birth. But honestly this could all change before the ultrasound.

And I’ve saved the best for last. Today a total stranger on the street asked me when I was due?!!! I am showing to people who don’t know me! I think the fun part of pregnancy is about to begin! Today is also our 14 week mark! So for the third week in a row we get to celebrate entering the second trimester! This time there is no question, all sources agree that by 14 weeks, you’re there! And this is what I look like:

seven weeks and today at 14 weeks!