10 weeks to go!

8 weeks to go!

A baby boy at 32 weeks.


Wow! Just think, back in February, I was thrilled to be 8 weeks along because I was able to go to the first doctor's appointment and get the first glimpse of baby boy. Now, here I am, beginning month eight of pregnancy, well into the 3rd trimester.

So, how am I feeling now that I'm in the third trimester. Well, it depends on the day and time.

For example, if you ask me this question first thing in the morning, I'm likely to say "tired." It's very difficult to sleep because I have to switch sides so often - who knew that rolling from one side to the next could be so exhausting and time consuming? It's seriously a long process to wrestle with the pillows, gather the energy to roll, and then get in a comfy position where my arms won't fall asleep and I can breathe (baby boy is crowding my lungs). Then, once I'm comfortable in my new position, baby boy spends a few minutes squirming and kicking into a new position to fit mine. It's quite the dance every hour or two. Not only is it difficult to get comfortable, I don't stay asleep long because I have to pee five to eight times a night. Thank goodness I can walk straight from the bed to the bathroom, pee, wash my hands, and come back to bed all without turning on a light.

Other times, I feel uncomfortable. The growing belly makes it difficult to get around these days. I walk slower, have trouble bending over, and have lots of body aches by day's end. Plus, sometimes I just feel so enormous - like I might burst any second!

However, there are times when I feel energetic. Like tonight, for example. At about eight pm, I got a burst of energy - enough to take Rosco for a walk around the neighborhood, come home sweep the floors, and then scrub every little spot of dried paint off the hardwood floors in the baby's room (done by scooting around the floor on my bottom with a scrubby and sponge).

Mostly, though, I feel hopeful and excited. Jared and I spend hours a day talking about the baby and wondering what he'll look like and act like. We can guess that he will be active as he is VERY active in the womb - kicking, punching, squirming, and wiggling (especially when he hears daddy's voice). We are anxious to meet him!

But, we're also nervous about the whole labor and delivery thing! Jared and I went to the childbirth class a few weeks ago. That was interesting to say the least, we certainly learned a lot. We spent a lot of time going through the stages of labor and watching our over-enthusiastic instructor "moan and groan" as she modeled for us how to breathe through contractions and push. We watched a few videos, including the one of baby's head crowning (which at that point, I wondered why I ever thought having a baby was a good idea). We also were able to tour the hospital which was impressive. By then end of the eight hour day, however, we were so babied out though that we didn't want to see, hear, or talk about babies and birthing for at least 24 hours.

Now, though, reality is setting in that in a few weeks, we will be birthing and raising a baby boy. I'm already feeling Braxton-Hicks, or practice, contractions regularly. Today, at my doctor's visit, she said baby boy is already head down and told me the position of his body. A couple nights ago, as Jared and I watched baby reposition himself, we wondered what body part was lumping out on my stomach. As it turns out, the body part we consistently feel and see is none other than baby boy's bottom. =) On occassion, we feel an elbow or knee (quite pointy). And, of course, there is the consistent thumping by the feet.

What's New...

We have been very busy lately, thus the long time between posts. Jared and I bought and moved into our first home at the end of June. It's a 3bedroom house in south St. Louis city. We have a nice fenced yard, 2 car garage, and a mostly finished basement with a studio for Jared. Although the house was already painted nicely, we changed the colors and in the process painted nearly every room. Now that we've been here a couple weeks, it's starting to feel like home! Rosco's getting used to the hardwood floors (at first she wouldn't walk on them) and even goes up and down the steps (wouldn't do those for awhile either). The neighborhood is nice - very quiet with a great location close to all that South Grand and South city has to offer. Another plus is that I've cut my drive to work in half and can completely avoid the dreaded 270 North traffic. Hallejuah!

The baby's room is coming along. Previously, the room was Sesame Street crazy with neon yellow walls, a sesame street border, "Elmo's World" painted in neon pink, and even an obnoxious sesame street fan! It took us awhile to get all the wallpaper decals and stickers off the walls along with at least one coat of primer before painting! The sesame street border came off relatively easy, but in the process, we discovered that was covering another border (purple and pink flowers). The hidden border was not so easy to get off since the previous owners had painted over it! So, we got as much as we could off, but will have to put our own border up to cover the previous ones. Oh well, it will just add to the decor of the room. Here's the theme:

Once we put up the border, put the furniture together, and add some finishing touches, we'll add a picture of the actual room.

The way our families have helped us out with the move and preparing for baby have made us truly grateful. We feel truly blessed to have such great family!!!

update on Noah

We finally received more test results for Noah. Unfortunately, they're still mixed results. The doctors just don't know if the tissue still remaining inside Noah is positive or negative. At this point, the doctors advise against putting Noah through chemo. They suggest waiting and following up with future scans and tests. Noah has to have another scan done in three weeks to see if things have stayed the same, been reduced, or spread. Most likely, this type of wait and see, test and follow-up routine will continue on a frequent basis for the rest of his life.

As you can imagine, this is difficult news to hear as the cloud will be lingering over everyone's heads for awhile. Fortunately, though, Noah is young enough that he doesn't understand the gravity of the situtation and can just be his happy, adorable self (letting the adults do the worrying for him).

Please continue to pray for Baby boy's cousin, Noah. I know that Jared and I can't wait to have the two play together and be buds for life!

Our new pastime - belly watching...

Even right now, as I'm in the middle of writing a paper for grad school, I can't help but be distracted and amazed by the movement within my belly. It seems as though belly-watching has become our new favorite pastime.

Most evenings, when the day's work is done and I'm able to lay back and relax, baby boy seems to think it's time to play. So, he begins punching, stretching, kicking, flipping, and twisting - exercising his rutabaga-sized body within my belly. I'm sure he's been doing this for many weeks now, but only within these last two or three has it become so apparent to daddy and me.

When baby boy exercises, we watch with joy at his strength as my belly ripples, rolls, and bounces! As soon as I feel him start to move, I give Jared a nudge and we watch closely hardly daring to breathe - waiting for the next movement. Sometimes, we play back by giving a gentle poke or prod to see how baby boy reacts. He usually responds to our play with another kick or punch. Then, we laugh out loud - such force for a little guy that weighs less than two pounds!

Last night, Jared climbed into bed well after I was asleep and as always, began rubbing my belly. Baby boy must've recognized daddy's touch and began to play with him by kicking and punching - bouncing daddy's hand right off my belly!

Although we can't actually see our son, I'm sure this is the beginning of endless hours of watching him in amazement. Only in a few months, we'll go from belly-watching to baby-watching! We can't wait.

Baby Bump weeks 12 - 23

Feeling apprehensive...

For the first time in a long time, I feel totally terrified about being pregnant! I felt that way at the very beginning when I wasn't sure how daddy was going to take the news and when I thought about all the ways life is going to change. But, for the last 15 weeks or so, I felt happy and truly excited.

I'm not sure what caused this sudden feeling of apprehension. It could be the fact that I feel Baby Boy move all the time (making this more real), the rapidly expanding belly, or the fact that I'm one summer away from delivery. Yikes!

The other day, Jared was inspecting my baby bump and actually felt his son kicking. Jared was super excited, but kept asking if I think it's weird that there's another being growing inside of me. At the time, I was just happy that Jared can finally share in the excitement of movement. But, now that I'm thinking more about the fact that there is another being growing inside of me - it does kind of freak me out a little! =) Especially since right now, I'm the one soley responsible for Baby Boy's health and well-being.

Wow! That's a lot to think about!

Praying for Cousin Noah

What a tough week it has been! Last Thursday (5/22), we found out that baby's cousin, Noah, had a tumor (neuroblastoma) that needed to be removed. Friday morning, he had surgery and the tumor was removed successfully. Uncle Jon, Aunt Sarah and Noah spent the Memorial Day weekend in the hospital as Noah recovered. He finally got to go home on Wednesday, but is still recovering and undergoing follow up tests to see if the cancer spread anywhere else.

Please keep Noah in your prayers for a full recovery and a LONG, healthy life!
Noah in Jan. 08

It's a healthy baby....

boy!

I know we said we weren't going to find out, but once we were there and it was time to look at those parts, I couldn't keep my eyes off of the screen. Both grandmas and Jared closed their eyes or looked away, but I couldn't help it. So, I knew as soon as I saw the parts! I cried because I knew how happy Jared would be.

Both grandma's and Jared said they knew by my reaction (happy tears), but we said we weren't going to tell anyone. They put the picture revealing the sex in a sealed envelope. Jared waited until we got in the car and then exploded into a happy dance/yell! He actually shed a few tears of joy. It was such a special moment.

So, not more than a few hours later, we found ourselves telling people. Of course we wouldn't be able to keep it a secret until September!!! We're so excited! We would've been fine either way, but we both really wanted a boy.

Oh, and the doctor said everything looks good. All the measurements were good - nothing too small and nothing too big. The heart looks fine. The doctor said he's going to be an athlete because of all the "leaping, kicking, twisting, and turning" he was doing. It was such a special moment to see our little baby on the screen with his long arms and legs, long fingers, and cute little profile. This is a truly exciting and blessed day!

Why the picture of Bob Marley?

• So, you may be wondering why there is a picture of Bob Marley on the baby blog. Well, it turns out baby loves Bob Marley! I was shuffling through songs on my ipod on the way to work this morning. A Bob Marley song came on and shortly after, baby started moving - a lot! So, I listened to Bob the rest of the ride to work and the baby danced the entire time!!! Keep in mind this was a good 30 minutes, the most movement I've felt at one time so far. No kidding! It was the craziest feeling ever.

• What's funny is Jared suggested the name Marley if we have a boy. We decided on the middle name a long time ago - Robert (after Jared, Jon, my dad, his dad, my grandpa, etc.). I was thinking about it and if we went with Marley for a first name, the name would be Marley Robert or Marley Bob. How funny would that be!