A Flood of Posts

You may have noticed the HUGE gap in posts. Well, first I wasn't getting pictures off my camera (lazy). And then I had a baby without taking a quarter off grad school (I basically mentally am still in October. I missed November almost entirely). I'm trying to amend that as quickly as possible, thus lots of pictures will be posted without much narrative, similar to the last one. But it's currently after midnight and if I'm lucky I'll get 4 hours of sleep before I wake up again, so the rest will need to wait... hopefully not too long.

Summer Pictures

I was going to add captions to these, but I think I'll leave them as is. Maybe I'll add them in later...

Salmon Fishing:

4th Anniversary:

FBC Baby Shower:

 Fair:

 Baby Prep:

Hawaii

Survival Tip #20: If you didn't before, start using sunscreen. You're base tan will fade.

Summer has found Washington. While much of the country experienced a heat wave, Washington kept herself temperate. Lots of people have said this was a terrible summer, but I feel like I remember last summer being not as nice as this one. Maybe I've just adjusted to the climate, or lowered my expectations. Or maybe it's because I'm pregnant and running hotter than before. Regardless, it has been beautiful here.

You may remember me mentioning in previous tips that the weather being bad here is a perfectly good reason to travel, but that is not the only good reason. Louisa graduated from High School this June, and to celebrate, the girls in the family (minus Shawna :( ) took a trip to Hawaii to celebrate. Originally this trip was scheduled for September, and I would not be able to go, but the date got changed to August, and I was able to go! I had never been to Hawaii before, and with Baby on the way this seemed like potentially my last chance for a while to be able to go. So I got permission from my doctor, copies of my chart notes and refills of my prescriptions and was off!










We went to Oahu and stayed at the Ko Olina Marriot resort. It was fabulous and beautiful! At first when we landed at the Honolulu airport I was a bit disappointed; I thought it looked unfortunately similar to Southern California. But then we began to drive away and things began to look tropical. It was a week that was both busy and restful. We went to Pearl Harbor, the North Shore, and the Dole Pineapple Plantation, and spent LOTS of time tanning, floating, resting and reading at the resort's pools and lagoon. It was heavenly. I took advantage of my lack of stretch marks and wore a bikini. I read "The Help"and loved it! And it was amazing to see all the birds and wildlife in Hawaii. I can't even describe how cool the trip was, and I can't wait to tell my daughter someday about how she went to Hawaii before she was born :) AND I can't wait to come here with her on the outside, and Vander sweating in the humidity beside us!

I still need to get pictures from Emily, but here are a few I have.

at the beach restaurant where we ordered lots of frozen lemonades :)

The Disney Aulani, about a month before it opened. A short walk from our hotel.

At Pearl Harbor

Sunset

Pipeline, off season

mini pineapple at the plantation

Sunset on our last night.

Goodbye Lagoon, I'll miss you!

32 weeks

Survival Tip #19: If you are discouraged, find people whom you identify with.

We are seven months into this pregnancy... only two more to go! It feels like time is passing so fast, and so slow at the same time. Baby is doing great. She is measuring within expectations (which means ahead but not beyond the margin of error for a fundal measurement). I now feel her up in my ribs, down really low, and have had a few Braxton Hicks contractions. She moves a ton and is so strong. The other day she kicked me and I saw my whole belly reverb from side-to-side. Crazy! Sometimes I feel like she is pushing so hard it hurts. Other times I feel the gentle push of a little hand/foot/elbow and she'll leave it there long enough so I can touch the little spot. It's almost like holding her. I am so excited to meet her and see what she looks like! Will she have my nose, or Vander's eyebrows ;)? I started throwing up more again, so the ARNP has me taking my Zofran every 8 hours regardless of how I'm feeling. I'm also now taking Zantac for heartburn and an iron supplement. All this makes me feel like maybe I wasn't made for pregnancy and can be discouraging. I'm so thankful for how supportive Vander is through all of this though; I don't know how I'd do it without him... although I suppose I wouldn't be in this state without him either :). In addition to Vander, several women have come up to me and told me they were also really sick with their pregnancies. Hearing them helps me to not pity myself. I always thought I would be the type of girl who is at her best when she is pregnant. That has clearly not been true. Yet every time I meet a woman who had a hard pregnancy she tells me it was totally worth it. Most of these women have multiple children so I believe them. :)

   I realized about a week ago that I have been so focused on the idea that Baby will probably be late (the average gestation period is 40 weeks, 3 days), that it never even crossed my mind she could come early! I'm suddenly freaking out that we are not going to be ready for this baby because I'm counting on 9ish more weeks before she comes, when really she could come whenever God wants! In some ways I know this is ridiculous, but there are still a few things to take care of. We have done our hospital tour but still need to do our birth class. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on that might help me understand how to care for our daughter. I watched "Pregnant in America" and "The Business of Being Born". We have a crib now (a hand-me-down from Vander's co-worker/mentor), thank goodness! Some of my sweet friends are throwing a baby shower for me in September and after that we will pick up anything else we need. I need to figure out childcare for her while I'm in my internship (8 hours a week, but don't even get me started; I hate the thought of leaving her!). I know that really, I don't need to worry, I just need to slow down my racing mind, and enjoy where I am now.

With that all said, here are a few monthly progress pictures to catch up:

Little Wiggler

This was taken with my iPhone. Sorry about the quality. Baby was moving so much today I was able to get a few video clips. I think I wrote before about how shocked I would be if Baby started moving (like this) and I somehow didn't know I was pregnant yet.  If your stomach just started moving like this how would you feel? :)

24.5 weeks down...

Survival Tip #18: Summer weather means summer clothes! Just because you don't live in California does not mean you don't get to wear those cute dresses and tank tops you once loved!

*So I needed to think of a Survival Tip for this post and was struggling to do so, but I found a way to make it work! In the summer it gets warmer, even in Washington, and the longer you live her the more acclimated you become. So with that warm weather comes the opportunity to wear summer clothes! It's this pregnant woman's dream! I love being able to throw on a dress and leggings for the day! Way easier to get into/out of than jeans, and it just adds to the feminine feel of being pregnant. So there, the tip is done, and now I can add a baby update without trying to connect it to WA living.*

5 Months Down! Took this a few weeks ago now...

When I checked this picture to see if it was blurry I was shocked at how big I'm getting! Oh my goodness! And it's just going to keep growing too... And I went to Target to look for this shirt in a bigger size so I can keep taking pictures of it in October... and they didn't have it! Eek! Let's hope it's stretchy enough, or comes back in stock!

I have this funny back-and-forth feeling about being pregnant. I feel a little bipolar. At times I love it so much, and then sometimes I hate how uncomfortable I feel. It is odd because one moment I will find myself hating the heartburn and thinking "How can I do __ more weeks of this!" and then Baby will move and I forget all those feelings in a blink.

I love feeling Baby Girl move around inside of me. She is big enough now that I can touch my stomach and know she is right under my hand. For example, right now I have the laptop on my stomach and I can feel exactly where she is. And she literally just kicked to prove to me that is true :) Baby definitely responds to pressure (will touch where pressure is applied) and some times I wonder if she is doing this to say "Give me space!" or perhaps she is trying to snuggle up to the pressure source. I hope I'm not giving her a complex, touching my stomach all the time. Anyways, I more often find her on the left side of my body and she likes to touch my belly button area. Two new developments in movement: I can now feel her kick/punch/whatever in multiple spots simultaneously AND she has started doing this funny thing that feels like she is pushing her foot/fist/whatever along my stomach. From the outside it feels so alien-like, if I did not know I was pregnant I would freak-out. When Vander felt her moving this way he looked almost scared. Even though it can be freaky, I love feeling her move.

At my last Doctor's appointment we found out that Baby is totally healthy and measuring in the 80th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for all her limb lengths. This means she is measuring big, just as we expected. The NP who saw me (I'm trying to find a new doctor because mine is moving to TX with her re-stationed Army husband), said that sometimes they will do ultrasounds to see how big baby is closer to the due date and possibly recommend C-Sections or inductions if the baby seems to big. I really hope that isn't what happens for us. I want to give Baby and me a chance to do everything naturally, and I really don't want to be told I can't have a baby vaginally because she might be too big (btw: ultrasounds are not a great way to predict birth weight as much as limb length). If my mom had my sister and I (10lb 4oz babies) vaginally, I think I should be able to try. And the reason my mom needed a C-Section with brother is because he was 24 inches long and was basically too long to move into a birthing position, but even then she still tried. And I don't see my desires as a prideful thing, but rather I just don't want to take care of a baby and a C-Section scar. I'm just practical I guess. :)

As for me, I am still throwing up occasionally. Since the last baby post I had one week where I only threw up once, and then got food poisoning the next day. Cruel. Besides that week, my average has been 3 pukes a week now, and it is way more manageable! When I throw up it isn't followed by constant puking the rest of the day, and because of this I haven't taken my Zofran in two weeks! Yay! I love when people ask how I'm feeling to see how they react when I respond "I am only throwing up 3 times a week! I feel great!" Something that has become tricky is now when Baby wiggles around it sometimes feels similar to a queasy stomach feeling. I just try to calm myself down when this happens and remember I have thrown up a million times now, what is one more if it does happen, and to appreciate feeling her move.

Well, that is all for now. I'll try to keep updating more regularly, especially as we get closer to the EDD!

Pictures of Summer: A post without words...

Summertime in Washington: Go Big or Go Home!

Survival Tip #17: Summer is beautiful here. This is one of the best reasons to live in Washington, so don't let it pass you by!

So, before I visited Washington for the first time I remember wondering in the world would anyone live up here? My friend Eric (a Californian, turned Washingtonian, then returned Californian) would talk about missing living in Washington and I thought he was crazy.  I mean, what is the point of living where it rains so much when you can enjoy the warmth and sun virtually year round? 


To be truthful, I was so ignorant living in California that I did not even recognize our lack of seasons. In the Bay Area we get a mild Winter with rainy and cold days, but the closest we get to feeling wintry is overcast skies and a couple frosty mornings. Spring arrives and passes in a blink and then Summer hits without a rainy day from July to October. Then the weather cools enough for the leaves to turn brown before it rains again, signaling Winter's return. I remember complaining if it wasn't warm enough to wear shorts by June. I genuinely thought my skin was brown because of my natural complexion. Now I have come to see this was just 20 odd years of base tan building up. 


Living in Washington has virtually stripped me of any remnants of said tan, but has developed a lot more character in its place. In California when it rained I raced to cover myself and begrudgingly hid inside, waiting for the clouds to pass. In Washington, you cannot do that. It is literally impossible. I remember being shocked seeing people jogging in the rain (perhaps even with their kids in strollers!), walking without hoods in the rain, even barbecuing in the rain, with little care for the precipitation they were being subjected to. Now, I understand that just because the weather isn't ideal, doesn't mean life stops. One must find a way to make the most of circumstances. I noticed that a lot of my Survival Tips sound something like "If the weather is bad, Do this..." Sounds repetitive, but it is just life. If you can't do something you would ideally want to do because it's raining, find something else to focus on.


All that being said, when it is Summer in Washington, I find myself thinking of a quote from Arrested Development:

"When life gives you the chance to be with someone special you just... grab that brownish area by the points and never let go no matter what your mom says!" -Buster

Buster wasn't wearing his glasses when he met a girl (who happened to be his mom's neighbor) at a party, and I love how this translates to Washington Summers. We go all out, and even if it does rain (because that happens here in the summer), we keep going hard! That being said, summers are absolutely gorgeous here! All that rain keeps it green here through most of the summer. The weather gets warm but generally not sweltering except for a week or so sprinkled throughout to keep things interesting.  And Washington seems to be a land of a thousand lakes. If it strikes your fancy your can go for a dip in a lake, or in the Puget Sound if you can brave the cold, salt water. And really, what sounds better than spending a summer on a lake? I love it.


In WA it seems you can't count of summer arriving until July 5th, but we have had a lot of nice days this year. We already took our annual June camping trip and had a mix of rain and sun. There have been several opportunities to wear cute flowy dresses (my pregnant body is grateful!) and when it gets cool/wet, I've just slipped on leggings and a cardigan. There have been several fun graduations and graduation parties to attend, and a wonderful wedding to participate in (Congrats Nate and Shawna!!). The weather was not ideal for many of these events, but it was hardly even mentioned.


As June, my MIL, says we have all Winter to hibernate and recuperate. Why waste a sunny minute of summer?


I've done so much writing I don't want to add too much more, so look for pictures and a baby update soon! (and soon doesn't mean in a few weeks).

Bump Pictures and Gender Revealed

 Survival Tip #16: A picture really does tell a thousand words.

So, here it is! My bump pictures! In honor of tomorrow marking the half way point of my pregnancy, I thought I would finally share our pictures with you. Vander has been taking a monthly picture of me and I finally uploaded all of them and made a collage. This has been a bit difficult because I hate using the flash on my DSLR because it washes everything out, but it has been SOOOO continually cloudy this spring there was not much sun to help things out. So forgive me for that :). Anyways, let's start with month 1.

Month 1

I had no clue that if you find out you are pregnant the day of your missed period, you are already 1 month along! Crazy. So this is a few days after we found out. Look how happy I am!

Month 2

Ugh. Can you see the look on my face how sick I feel. I tried to smile, but look how pale I am. That is not just Washington weather. That is constant puking for you. I had actually lost 6 lbs at this point. Boo.

Month 3

Okay, feeling a bit better. This was actually a week into the fourth month. I had been on Zofan for one week and it was remarkable! I was finally able to eat and keep food down. At my 3 month appointment I had lost another 5 lbs. so there wasn't any gain in padding, but I had just popped a bit. It was funny because it just happened all of a sudden. I thought it would be a slow, progressive thing, but one day I was really bloated, and then 2 days later the bloated feeling went away and the bump stayed!

Month 4

Remember what I was saying about everything just popping up? Yeah, that continued this month. It feels like every weekend I get a bloated feeling and then I get bigger. I LOVE my bump! It makes me feel more maternal, even though it is a totally physical thing, and it not related to how I interact with the baby. It makes me feel more pregnant, and not just sick.

So here is the collage of all four, to see them side-by-side.

Gender

   And the results are in! We had the best ultrasound appointment. Last Wednesday the anatomy scan took us an hour and we soaked up every minute we got.  Before the scan I had been feeling like we might be having a girl, but I thought that was probably just because I am a girl and I don't understand what it is like to be a little boy :). Then we got the appointment and I started to think we were having a boy. I mentally began to think of the baby using the terms "he" and "his". We found out the gender pretty early in the appointment. I was looking at the screen and thought I saw some boy parts, and started to get a little anxious.  While I was staring at the screen the tech said "See right here (gesturing with the cursor to an area I was not looking at)? That means this is a little Girl."(Did the pictures give it away for any of you?)

    I instantly burst into tears. It was such a primal, out of body urge to cry. Later a second tech came in to confirm the first tech had all the right photos and get a few more. She was looking at Baby and said "Oh yeah, that's a little girl!" At one point I looked over and told Vander that I thought he was going to be the best dad to our little girl. He looked at me with the saddest face and said "I just know she'll break my heart some day." It was so sweet and tender. I really can't wait to see him parent our daughter! 

    We are going to keep her name a surprise for as long as we can, hopefully until she is born, unless we let it slip. Please pray for our daughter as she continues to develop. We cannot wait to meet her!