30 Weeks - Glucose screening

This week the baby should be around 3 lbs and approximately the size of a head of cabbage - which is apparently not to be confused with the size of chinese cabbage of a few weeks ago. I am including the best picture I could get of my belly considering I had to take it myself. Any bluish tints that show up are purely the effect of the camera. I can assure you my stomach is not blue.

So this next week will be fun and exciting. At 28 weeks we took a glucose test and my levels were too high. Which might mean nothing, and might mean I have gestational diabetes. So lucky me, I get to go back to the doctor on Wednesday and take a super duper 3 hour long test. I have to fast for 8 hours before I go (thank goodness for morning appointments) and then they will take blood samples four times. The first time will be when I get there. Then I will drink an extra large portion of glucose drink (last time it tasted like fruit punch - this time who knows). Then they test my blood once every hour for the next three hours. If my blood sugar spikes up too high on any one of those tests, then I definitely have GD. :(

The good news is, on the preliminary test, if you score over 140 they make you do this long test. If you score over 200 you definitely have GD and they don't need to do the second test. My score was around 144 I think, which is awfully close to normal. So I may be just fine. Michael is taking wednesday off to go with me to the hospital. It will be good practice for when I am in labor and we need to entertain ourselves there. So we will have ample time to explore the good hallways and sample cafeteria food (once the test is over).

On a brighter note, Anika will be full term in 7 weeks. Although she is likely to take around 10-12 weeks to decide to come out, in 7 weeks she should be pretty much ready to go. So we are down the home stretch!

Today our new sheets arrived (our old ones were pure white - and not very baby friendly) so we are working on getting the "nursery" set up for her. Of course she doesn't actually have a mattress for her bed yet, but all in good time.

Week 29 the countdown begins

Now the baby should be about 2.5 lbs and roughly the size of a butternut squash. In 8 weeks she will be full term and it should be safe for her to be born with no need for the NICU. Of course, she is more likely to take 11-13 weeks to come out, but as long as she takes at least 8, we'll be just fine.

We had our planned shower yesterday which was a lot of fun. My friend Erin put a lot of work into it and I think it was lovely. We even had shower games, which I wouldn't have thought I wanted until I had another shower and we didn't play any, but they were really fun. I'm glad we had them.

Of course we now have lots of clothes for the baby, who can resist buying all those cute clothing items? I took my glucose test on friday to test for gestational diabetes. We won't know until the results come back, but I am not very high risk so I am not too worried about it.

I also had the joy of my first Rogam shot. (spelling might be way off). Apparently my blood is negative, and Mike's blood is positive. Which means if the baby has positive blood and her blood comes in contact with mine, my body will build antibodies against positive blood. Which probably won't effect her. But if any future babies are positive I may miscarry since my body will see them as an infection. So the Rogam prevents me from making antibodies to positive blood. I'll get another shot at birth just to make sure.

So that's all we have. Ani (ah-knee) and I are doing fine. She is kicking a lot stronger now, so that is a good sign she is getting bigger and stronger.

:)

Welcome to the Third Trimester!

We are down the homestretch! Already 28 weeks along, the baby will be full term in approximately 9 weeks. That's just barely over 2 months. Of course, since she is a first time baby she will probably take at least another month after that to finish "cooking", but we are definitely nearing the end.

This week the baby is approximately the size of a Chinese Cabbage. I am not sure what is different about Chinese Cabbage vs. other kinds of cabbage, but this week I am being culturally insensitive and referring to her as my little fortune cookie. It just sounds cuter than chinese cabbage.

My belly button, as can be observed in my previous post, is now spending a majority of its time as an outie instead of an innie. Not all of its time, interestingly enough, but most.

And finally, we have begun telling people the name we picked out. Let me preface this with the knowledge that until I sign that birth certificate we reserve the right to change our minds at any time. That being said, we think we will be naming her Anika Sage Phillips (that's AH-nick-uh - not Ann ick uh). Anika means gracious or graceful and sage meaning wisdom. So her name would mean gracious wisdom. We thought that was kind of pretty. I suppose we will call her Ani for short.

So that is your reward for reading the blog through to the end. More to come I am sure on another day.

My Mother's Day Locket

Here is a picture of the locket that Michael and the baby got me. Thought you all might want to see how spiffy it is. And for good measure, the last picture is a shot of my feet, as I see them now. You might notice there is something getting a teensy weensy bit in the way. :) Cheers

27 weeks and my first mothers day

Now we are 27 weeks. One more week left in the second trimester. In theory, the baby will be full term 10 weeks from now and could be born anytime after that. Of course, in reality, she'll probably take 15 weeks to show up, but I am hopeful nonetheless.

Baby center says she is roughly the weight of a head of cauliflower this week. So I am referring to her as my little flower. That should be almost 2 lbs, and approximately 14 inches long if she is average. She is certainly kicking a lot and has increased the pressure on the bladder in the last week or so.

My first mothers day was very nice. Mike and the baby went in together and bought me a locket made of silver and turquoise. Inside it is a picture of her at our latest ultrasound that says "I love you, Mommy". So now I can look at her whenever I wear it. It was very thoughtful and I love it.

We took a trip to Virginia Beach and played in the pool and walked on the Boardwalk. It was a little too cold to go in the ocean, but maybe later in the summer we will go again so I can dig a hole in the sand and lie on my stomach. Since this mothers day also falls around our 7 year wedding anniversary, we celebrated them both this weekend.

Why there are some strange items on our registries

I have had several questions about some unusual items on our registries, so I thought I would take the time to explain how some of the unusual items are really baby supplies.

1. The magic bullet - this is a mini blender that I think will be really useful for making baby food. We currently don't own a blender, because we just don't have the kitchen storage room for another large appliance, but this little blender will be easier to store and clean and should make baby food making possible

2. duvet cover - currently our bedding is all white. White sheets, white comforter. As we will now be sharing our room with a poopy, spitting up little person, it seemed practical to register for some darker sheets and a duvet cover for our bright white blanket.

3. small flat screen tv - alright, I admit this one is more marginal than some of the others. The thought was that at 3 am when the baby has woken both of us up to eat or be changed, and we can't get her to sleep, it might be nice to have a tv in our room while we all try to get back to sleep. And, it might be useful in providing soft lullaby music while mom and dad watch some other program in the living room.

4. flameless candles - these are purely a selfish Julie item. I really want to have soft candles during labor, and the hospital does not allow an open flame in rooms where oxygen is dispensed. So I thought some flameless candles would do the trick. Also, once baby comes, these might make nice nightlights.

If you are curious about any other items, leave a comment and I will explain what on earth we were thinking when we registered for that.
:)

26 Weeks

For all you faithful readers who anxiously await the fruit of the week update, we are 26 weeks into this pregnancy, which means the baby is approximately the length of an english hothouse cucumber.

The baby should be developed enough now that if something went wrong and she was born, most likely she had developed enough to live after some time in intensive care. So I am definitely the mother of a human being now, rather than just an idea.

Got a card today addressed to Mom and Dad Phillips.

That was weird. But I suppose I will need to get used to that.

Baby Showers and Registry Update

Today was very exciting. Glynn threw me a surprise baby shower, which was very fun and exciting. I can't say it actually came as a surprise by the time today rolled around, but I appreciate the sentiment just as much. In fact, it enabled me to put on a little makeup so hopefully I will look cute in the pictures. If you didn't get an invite, do not dismay. There will be a planned baby shower to come and invitations will go out for that one.

And, I discovered two things.

1. Lots of people really care about us quite a bit. A group of them even went in together on a crib. And even though we will have to exchange it for a different one that meets our specific needs, it was very impressive.

2. not one person used the myregistry.com website, perhaps since they don't plan enough in advance to account for shipping time.

So... we have registered for more things at babiesrus so that people who are shopping last minute can pop into the store and grab the stuff they want.

So now we are registered at target, babiesrus, and myregistry.com

And the things we really need still are:
stroller
car seat
changing pad
baby carrier/sling
breast pump

though there are oodles of other things on the registry to choose from if people want to get away from functional.

New symptoms!

So now, it appears that sometimes my fingers or wrists go numb for no reason. Books say this is completely normal, but I have never seen a woman on tv or in a movie complain about numbness in her fingers. So I thought I would share.
:)