25w4d

It's starting to hit me. There's a very good chance that this baby could come around 37 weeks, which means less than 12 weeks until our lives change. Less than 12 weeks. Holy reality check, Batman.

Kiddo is still doing well, as far as I know. I think he went through a growth spurt these past couple of weeks, because I've noticed a lot of big changes. For one, I'm feeling him move ALL. THE. TIME. and everywhere around my belly now. Last Saturday, The Hubs actually got to feel him kick for the first time, which was exciting. The Hubs, of course, would have been much more excited if the ONE time he actually felt something hadn't come after about 300 times of me saying "There!" and "That was a big one, you didn't feel it?!" and him feeling nothing.

It's getting to be very entertaining to watch my belly dance. It's really easy to see if I have a t-shirt on or something, when Mr. Man is on the move, my t-shirt will just "jump" out of nowhere. It's quite entertaining, and something that I didn't think I'd be able to experience quite so early, being overweight and all.

I've felt a more pronounced "heaviness" in my belly over the past week or two, which makes me think that he's gaining weight like a champ in there. The round ligament pains are so. not. fun., and I get to experience them every single morning when I wake up, and at random times throughout the day. Imagine if you will, a bowling ball being held in place by rubber bands. Except, the rubber bands are two belly muscles. Every time the bowling ball moves or you shift positions, those rubber bands get stretched to their limits. How do you think those rubber bands feel? Yeah...

I've noticed a lot more swelling lately too. It's not so bad in my hands, but my feet are starting to look like tree trunks. It's not pretty. What? You want evidence? You're evil.

Paint it green and call me Shrek

I'm getting more and more concerned that they're going to put me on bed rest. I have no idea what my blood pressure is, but since they're so worried about it, I feel like they're just going to say 'better safe than sorry' and throw me on bed rest at 28 weeks.

I really don't want to be on bed rest. Especially without cable TV.

I have my next monthly check-up appointment this Friday, so we'll see what Dr. H. says. It's been so long since I saw her, that I'm really interested to see what her take is on everything that the other million doctors in between have said. I'm hoping she's on the same page with the last Dr. about inducing, and I'm hoping that she'll agree with inducing sooner rather than later.

I also have some questions for her which deal with my own ignorance. Dr. H. is Muslim, which is perfectly fine by me, I couldn't care less what religion she practices. She's an amazing woman and an incredibly capable doctor. However, I am wondering about her take on my whole wanting to have Logan before Christmas thing. Obviously, Christmas isn't a factor to her, but I don't know if there are Muslim holidays around the same time that might be. We have also decided to have Mr. Man circumcised, and I am interested to find out if there are any religious constraints on her end that would prevent her from performing that procedure. These all might be completely silly questions that have no effect on my labor and delivery, but I'm curious.

I also want to know how concerned she is with my blood pressure. I'm stressed about that, which is funny, since I've NEVER in my life had high blood pressure. Pre-eclampsia is SCARY for pregnant women. A high school friend of mine just had her baby at 28 weeks because of severe Pre-E. I so don't want my rising blood pressure to be an indicator of that.

On another note, preparations-wise, we've been TOTAL slackers. The Hubs was studying for his Cisco Certification for a while, so he was busy with that, and I've just been tired and lazy. I'll have to take a picture of the current state of the "nursery", which is currently used as The Black Hole of Useless Items, and The Hubs' Office. Suffice it to say that we've got A LOT of work to do.

We scheduled our classes with the hospital, though. I've chosen (whether to my benefit or detriment, we'll see) to forego the "usual" classes like Childbirth and Breastfeeding. The Childbirth class, because I feel pretty confident in my internet and book research as to the process of what happens, and I've also had several moms tell me that once you're actually in labor, you forget anything you learned anyway. Plus, the doctors and nurses are there to guide you through the process as you go, so it's not like you'll be stranded in the stirrups all by yourself. I'm not taking a Breastfeeding class because {1} the hospital has certified Lactation Consultants that come visit you in your room anyway, and {2} the plan* is that I will breastfeed only until my milk comes in, and then I will exclusively pump. Maybe one day, I'll write a post that delves deep into all of the reasons for that decision, but today is not that day.

At any rate, we are taking an Infant Care and Safety class on our two-year wedding anniversary, October 18th. We signed up for it mostly for The Hubs' own piece of mind. I feel like it's stuff that will come naturally, but he's a researcher. So, we're doing it for him, and if I come out of it with useful info, then great! From the hospital website: "This informal three-and-a half hour class will provide expectant parents with practical, hands-on information about how to care for mom and infant, and safety topics. The first two hours will be spent covering what moms should expect after delivery and the care infants will need once at home. Expectant parents will learn hands-on how to bathe, diaper, dress, hold, comfort, and feed an infant. A pediatrician will also be covering medical concerns and answering questions. The last hour will be devoted to safety where expectant parents will learn hands-on about car seat safety and home safety."

We're also taking an Infant CPR class, which I think should be a requirement before you're allowed to take your child home. And, we're taking a Happiest Baby on the Block seminar. I asked around to a bunch of mothers to find out what their thoughts on HBOB were, and not a single one had anything bad to say about it. I kept hearing phrases such as "lifesaver" and "couldn't have made it through without it", so we decided to go ahead and sign up for the seminar. I'm hoping it's as helpful as these moms have made it sound.

And, on another another note, my three baby showers have been scheduled and invites sent out for two so far. (And, yes, I said three. I'm very lucky.) The BFF is throwing me a "friends-only" space themed shower on October 16th, my Step-Mom's family is throwing me a shower on October 24th, and my MIL is throwing me a shower on November 13th. I'm incredibly grateful that so many people want to come together to celebrate Logan and to help us prepare. I'll (of course) post recaps of all the showers.

And, I guess that's it. I'll leave you with a belly pic, as I just realized that I haven't posted any pictures of myself on this blog...

25 week bump

Until next time, friends! :-)


* From this point on, any time you see me type the word "plan", please realize that it is always intended to be in quotation marks because I realize that no matter what my "plan" is, my body and my baby may have a completely different idea in mind. In no way are my "plans" set in stone, but they are more of a guideline as to how I would like to do things. We shall see.