27 Weeks... almost done with 2nd Trimester!

The first Tri dragged on so slow but all of a sudden we find ourselves in the home stretch and entering the 3 trimester after this week! Cornbread has a REAL name now but we are not announcing it until her birth. The poor girl will be called Cornbread by Damen and I as a nickname for the rest of her life though, hehehe! She is still kicking strong and her most active is late afternoon and 2-3:00am where it feels like she is following a Tae-Bo workout in there! Damen is away TDY for a week and will be back the day before we have to leave for a wedding in Denver for the 4th of July weekend. This will be interesting flying and being pregnant! I normally dehydrate myself cause I hate the cramped nasty bathrooms on the plane but I have to drink plenty of water in my condition so I am soooo not gonna like this! That small bathroom is gonna suck even more with a belly in my way!

AT 27 WEEKS PREGNANT:
This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

On a not so happy note, we are dealing with some family drama a-g-a-i-n and true to form, my MIL feels like making demands and being selfish and belligerent to get her way on something so ridiculous rather than being understanding towards our needs at the time of the birth. Her inability to see past her own selfish emotions and her verbal attacks on Damen and me when she is angry for not getting her way is beyond immature, inappropriate and abhorrent... borderline emotionally abusive! She even sank to a new low by calling my mom with ulterior motives of getting info from her to use against us and see if she can get her angry at us too! She is out of line and there is no justification for her behavior.

Being a active presence in the family we are building is a privilege NOT a right and with that privilege comes responsibilities. It requires being respectfully of our decisions and respecting our boundaries as parents and as husband and wife. You violate that basic requirement and your are not welcome in our home. If you see this as unfair or uncaring, seek some counseling because you have a warped sense of what a loving relationship should look like.

I am sad for Damen. He has to deal with the brunt of her verbal venom because he is protecting me from the added stress and emotional strain. This was not how he pictured things to play out when he envisioned have kids. It's heartbreaking.

Bought the bedding...

So we are waiting until July 4th sales to buy the furniture from Babies 'R Us (BRU). I really really wanted a different more modern looking set from a local baby store but opted for the discounts and sales + coupons I could use at BRU for a version made by the same company but less style options at chain stores. It still looks nice and got great reviews for sturdiness and safety. It's a convertible crib and converts to a full size bed so she can use it for the next 18+ years.
The bedding was hard to find because all girl crib bedding seems to be pink only! Yes I could have gone neutral but whats the fun in that since we knew it was a girl... I wanted girly but not overly common pink... so we went lavender:

We only got the crib bedding set and window valance, not all the matchy matchy extraneous stuff. We won't be painting the nursery walls because we don't feel like having to paint it back when we leave in 3 years. They will stay a neutral latte color like the rest of the house. With color form the bedding and drapes and some stuff to put up on the walls like letter decals and maybe some wall art from Target or Marshall's, the room will be super cute!

At 25 weeks, the baby is kicking stronger and more frequently. She definitely is almost on a regular schedule... kicking for an hour then resting for 2-3 hours and then back at it again. Her kicks are higher up now and can be felt at the top of my belly above the belly button and she has moved to kick more on the left side (depending on which way I am laying down) which she used to just kick to my right. My belly is bigger since last week and its gotten hard to bend over and pickup things on the floor. I have also lost the ability to see and sometimes reach my nether region in the shower LOL! Painting my toe nails is also an impossible task without making a mess of it. The WORST part so far is the going poop! Constipation is a biotch! I was in practice labor for an hour yesterday trying to birth one out! Hurt like hell and was almost impossible to flush just to give you a sense of the size of it! Yeah, yeah... TMI but deal with it, it's a fact of life... we all poop! I am sure Damen is sick of hearing my poop stories though LOL! It's my way of getting him mentally ready for the messy finale in September!

24 Weeks Mark!!! ...and a recent scare!

We are now 6 month along and have reached the viability date!  If Cornbread were to be born now, she would have a chance of survival outside the womb but she better stay in there until September or else!  You hear me young lady!?!  (LOL)

We had a bit of a scare last Sat while playing mini golf.  I felt some liquid run down my leg and wen to the bathroom to find some leakage which didn't look to be urine so we ended out put-put game to go to the emergency birthing center and get checked out incase it was amniotic fluid leaking.  I was so scared and was crying because I was in such a panic since it was way too early for birth.  Viability or not, she would have such a struggle being born this early!  Damen stayed calm and kept reassuring me everything was probably fine and tried to calm my nerves and prevent the tears from flowing.  He later admitted he was so scared but didn't let me know it until we got the ok that everything was fine and sent home.  Luckily, it was not amniotic fluid and was most likely she was pressing on my bladder causing the leak.  It didn't look or smell like urine which was why we went to the hospital just to make sure.  They ran some tests and looked internally to see if they saw any amniotic fluid leaking and if my cervix was closed... all looked ok.  We were told that next time to put a pad on and is the pad gets soaked and I am leaking more and it didn't appear to be urine, to come in with the pad and get checked again. They agreed its always better to be safe than sorry.... though they kept asking if we were first time parents... cause confusion and panic is expected then I am sure!

Anyways, while we were waiting for the doc to see us, Damen had his hand on my belly trying to calm me down and jokingly was telling our little girl to stay in there and hang tight.  He felt her kick for the first time while he was doing it!  Finally he had the right timing to feel her!  I have been feeling and seeing her kicks for 4 weeks now but it wasn't until the past week that they have become so regular and stronger.  When I get Damen to put his hand on my belly, she stops and then he gets impatient and moves away before she starts again.  When he felt her, he said he thought he felt something similar before but wasn't sure.  now the kicks are more pronounced and he was sure he felt it.  YEA!

So that was our crazy weekend.  My next checkup will be on my birthday the end of this week.  It is just gonna be a weigh in and measurement of my belly and glucose test for gestational diabetes.

We have picked out our crib and dresser and will be ordering that on the 4th of July (waiting for the sales!).  I'll post pics and stuff soon.

What a kick!

21 Weeks Pregnant

Until now it has just been nudges and weird swishy, turning motions in my lower abs... it is really hard to describe. But Just now, as I was looking down at my laptop, I noticed a popcorn like pop of my tummy and I could actually see my tummy bounce up really quickly! It was one quick pop of a bounce and I thought I felt that yesterday afternoon after coming home from work as sitting watching TV but wasn't sure if I was seeing what I was seeing. But it just happened again a few minutes ago and this time I saw the motion as well as felt it! I had my hand over my belly button area trying to see if I could feel it if it were to happen again... but no joy, there was no repeat performance.

Damn it! Hubby isn't home this week either! Uggg! Totally would have had him over to come feel if he can feel it! Hopefully by the end of the week when he comes home it will start to happen more regularly and gets to see it too. This is so exciting!

So far as of last week's appointment, I have gained a total of 20 lbs. I blame 5 lbs of it on constipation though! ;o) That's not bad at the halfway point. I need to get walking more often though but its so hard to get up early to walk before work and the heat of the day since I am not sleeping through the night any more... have to get up 1-2 times each night to pee and its hard from me to fall back asleep. Then after a full day's work and the long commute, I am too tired to do much of anything. I need to try harder to keep my weight gain within a reasonable range.

As soon as Hubby gets home with the camera, I will post a first belly pic. I am also trying to learn how to rip the DVD with our last sonogram on it to post a video of little Corn-Muffin in motion.

1 more week untill the big Ultra Sound!!!!

Sooooo excited! We find out the sex of Cornbread 1 week from now! We are now 19 weeks along and I am still feeling the occasional nudges and pokes but only notice them after eating when I am sitting still or lying back for a bit. I can't wait until they are more pronounced and Damen can feel them from the outside too.

My BFF, Emily, is due to pop in 3 weeks. Its crazy we are having our first child only a few months apart! Time seems to have flown by but at times (more so the first 3 month of this pregnancy) it seem to creep by. I am starting to feel the pressure of getting started on the nesting phase to get baby ready by the next couple of month. I want to be ready if the baby decides to come a little earlier than expected. Once we find out the sex... its a green light on shopping... FUN!

So Cornbread is the size of a mango. All the organs are in place and the sensory functions are now developed so the little one is just starting to hear sounds and can taste hints of the flavors of what I am eating in the aminiotic fluid. From here on out, Cornbread wiwll be mostly focused on growing and maturing his/her organs and gaining more weight.

Welcome to the 2nd Trimester!

2nd Trimester started midway last week. Counting down until I feel the first flutters of movement... many sources it happens between 15-17 weeks! Not much has changed since my 12 week post. Still no baby bump other than some bloat and the pouch I acquired from our "fun" time in Kansas.

D has been away for the past week and isn't due back until maybe the 9th of April. I hope he comes back soon cause I am board talking to myself and our pup at night.

Started looking at maternity clothes this weekend. I feel silly shopping for them when I am not showing fully yet but my pants are becoming more and more uncomfortable specially when sitting at all day at work. Even with the belly band, there is just too much pressure on my lower abs. I think I am going to stick to buying mostly skirts and dresses rather than jeans cause I will be full on buddha belly in the heat of summer... pants aren't as cool as a flowy skirt. Only 6 months left until show time... CRAZY isn't it?!?