26 weeks

The third trimester is closing in on me! How exciting!
Sleeping has become a new challenge. Declan likes to kick me awake all night, little booger. I always want to sleep on back too. I wake up all night long on my back sleeping sooooo comfortably. I force myself to roll over and go back to sleep.
Good news, I am not spotting anymore! Except for being brutally tired I have been feeling great!
I went to JoAnn Fabric today, awesome. I forgot how fantastic that place is. I bought the wood letters for Declan’s name already primered, some little nautical wood cutouts, paint, paint brushes and a couple of iron on onesie designs for only $15. They have an awesome treasure chest that is ready to be painted for only $19.99. I am going to make it look like a pirates treasure chest and put diapering goodies in it. I love crafts. I am so incredibly excited to start doing crafts with Deco.
I finally came to the decision that I am not going to attend school next term. The end of term date and my due date are too close; I don’t want to risk it. I don’t want to push myself too hard either. I wont be under as much stress and I will be able to get everything ready before the baby arrives.
Tomorrow is the 1st so Jason should move all his stuff out and he should get the walls prepped for painting in a couple days. My friends Erica and Diane said they would help me with the paint. I am not very experienced and I want it to look good. YEAH!!

Here are some pics of the painted name. The letters are still wet and sitting on some wax paper. I am going to hang the letters with wire and attached the cutouts to the wall underneath with Velcro. I am still working on the pattern so the final product will look different I am sure.

25 weeks 5 days

It’s snowy outside. I totally didn’t see that coming.
Pregnancy hormones are working me over as the week progresses. It has become relatively easy to make me cry. Pregnancy brain is hitting me hard, I can barely remember my name much less the bodies entire endocrine system. Adrenocorticotropic hormone does what again? If I pass anatomy and physiology 232 this term it will be a miracle. It’s not that I don’t understand the material. In lecture whenever the teacher asks a question he immediately looks t o me for the answer because 9 times outta 10 I have it. I just suck when it comes to test time. I feel confident, think I am doing well and when the scores come in I see that I failed miserably. One thing I have learned from my test anxiety and stress management classes is that it’s okay if you don’t pass a class. It’s not the end of the world, I’m not going to die and I can retake the course.
I can feel Declan moving around a lot, sometimes it feels like he is doing summersaults. Crazy kid. It’s so cute, whenever Shane gets home at night he gets super active. I swear he starts up after he hears his daddy’s voice. If Shane puts his arm around me belly Deco loves to just start kicking him. I think he is just as excited to meet us, as we are to meet him.
I watched Brothers Solomon yesterday. It’s a cute, weird, funny having a baby movie. Then I watched a sad, inspiring documentary called Born Into Brothels. It’s about a group of children whose mothers are prostitutes who work and live in one of Calcutta’s red light districts. An amazing film, I recommend everyone watch it.

25 weeks pics

I finally got ran into the rude lady who asked how far along I am and upon hearing the answer she exclamed "Oh my god! Your huge! Sure your not having twins!" Then she conitued to tell me how much smaller her pregnant daughter in law is. Thanks lady! No woman, especially a pregnant one, wants to hear about how huge she is.

My baby is healthy and that's all that matters.

25 weeks

Wow, Declan is so strong now! I actually felt a foot the other night. He spends a lot more time awake and moving around through out the day now. It feels so weird when he pushes his leg up and then glides his foot across my uterus. I have been looking for new way to stimulate and play with him. I will respond to his kicks and we will go back and forth a bit. I also found that new things catch his interest like, placing a bag of ice on my tummy or something warm. In a dark room I can put a flashlight against my skin and feel him moving to check it out. It’s so cool! I am so excited to him.
I am terrified and overwhelmed by the spotting. My OB is concerned that it is still happening. He fears that I may have a mild abruptio placentae aka placenta abruption.
I thought after the ultrasound that things were fine, come to find out that there is only a 30-50% chance of seeing and diagnosing placenta abruption via ultrasound. In fact, most cases are not diagnosed until after the placenta is delivered. The amount of blood loss varies from woman to woman from none at all to massive hemorrhaging. This puts the mother and babies life at risk and a c-section inevitable. The amount of blood and nutrients that reach the baby are lessened and premature labor is a major concern. My OB said at this point we aren’t worried about miscarriage, but premature labor is a possibility. At 25 weeks or Declan only has a 50% chance of survival outside the womb.
The Doc told me to take is easy and now I am wondering what in hell that means. Taking it easy to one person may be pushing it to another. I am going to call on Monday and clarify, find out exactly what he meant.
I mean, the odds are low but the fact that our OB even thinks it is a possibility is absolutely terrifying. Wish Declan and I luck!

24 week pics

24 weeks 3 days

Last night was our first Bradley Birthing class! It was awesome! We are one of only four couples and another girl even has the same due date. It’s being held in a spare bedroom of the teacher’s house, who happens to only live like 5 minutes from our place. Last night was kind of an introduction class. We learned some relaxation breathing techniques, a few exercises and nutrition information. I am a little embarrassed that I had no idea the huge amount of protein I am supposed to be consuming each day.
I have made a few changes in my diet. I am keeping a food journal to keep track of my daily nutrition and to control my urge for sweets. It’s harder for my to eat that doughnut if I have to hold myself accountable by seeing the nutrition info right there in black and white. I finally bought fish oil supplements, super good for me and Deco. I have been meaning to for a while, but I would forget every time I went to the store. I am excited to see how they work. I have been told by many people that fish oil will help clear up psoriasis.
Declan is doing great, he’s just as active as ever. His punches and kicks are getting stronger everyday.
I am still spotting a bit, the Dr’s have no idea why. My OB does not think it’s related to the fall. When we went into see him on the 12th he ordered an ultra sound to make sure the placenta hadn’t separated from the uterus. Everything looked perfect. Declan is huge! He has space but boy, his room getting a little cramped.
I spoiled Shane and I this last week and I bought a fantastic new bed. We caught an amazing deal and got a very expensive mattress for 60% off MSRP. Sleeping is like a dream now.

23 weeks 4 days

This morning I experienced the scariest moments of my life. I got up at 8am to use the bathroom feeling very tired from little sleep the night before. When I was done I looked down and the toilet paper was saturated in blood. I immediately panicked and ran back into the room crying uncontrollably. I woke up Shane and we rushed to the hospital. They got me into a room in L&D with in 10 minutes of arriving.
I was so worried, Declan usually kicks around a lot at night when I go to bed and in the morning when I wake up. He didn’t kick at all last night or this morning. I though for sure we were losing our little man.
A nurse came into our room and hooked me up to a fetal monitor and she immediately found his heartbeat. I was there for about 45 minutes listening to his heart and him moving around. The Doc came in, felt around on my tummy and then I was discharged. Turns out I was really stupid to not call the Doctor when I fell down the stairs. They told me if I would have called they would have wanted me come to the hospital and be under observation for 48 hours. Since that amount of time had already passed and everything sounded good they felt comfortable with releasing me right away.
They figured the blood was caused by the fall and it took it a little while to come out. I am supposed to take it easy and call if I start to bleed more. I got a bit of a lecture, I am no longer aloud to take the laundry downstairs and if I fall again I am to call the clinic ASAP. Deco is being SUPER active tonight, lots of kicks and good stretches.

23 weeks 3 days

Sorry guys, this is a “poor me” blog. Read at you own risk.

This cold needs to go! I have been sick for 6 days now and I haven’t even gone through all of the stages yet. I entered a new phase of nose blowing, coughing, runny-stuffed up awfulness to add to the sore throat, aching head and overall shitty feeling.
I thought that all of my exercise was the reason my back felt so good, turns out it’s only partially the reason. The main factor is my lack of hours at work. I have only been doing about 10-12 a week. Bad when payday rolls around, good for my overall well being. Even my new super comfy shoes didn’t help with the crippling back pain. I walk around the mall for a bit after work with my sister trying to work out the pain but when I got home I endured intense pain that had me bed ridden for hours this afternoon. I couldn’t get up or roll over with out gasping an almost breaking into tears.
I took a spill last night that was really scary. I tripped and fell face first down the bottom 3 basement stairs while carrying a basket of laundry. My reactions were quick, I managed to drop the basket and grab the hot water heater to stop from falling straight onto Declan. I did, however, land on my leg and my knee jabbed into my stomach so hard it hurt for a bout 10 minutes. Thank goodness for all that amniotic fluid. I was still worried all night that I had like, gotten him in the head and injured him. To make it worse he wasn’t really kicking around. He has been active today so I didn’t see any need to call the Doc. I came out with just a couple scrapes I twisted my ankle and bent my big toe back, no biggie, I'm just a little sore today.

Good News

Our Bradley Birthing class starts next Monday! I am really exited I will about 34 weeks when the classes end. I will have to study and practice at home so I don’t forget anything in those weeks prior to labor :)
She teaches all 12 Bradley classes, in 10 weeks. She also includes labor rehearsals, nutrition, pregnancy exercises and how to stay low risk. She also discusses the best way to interact with hospital staff so as to keep their enthusiastic support in your birthing plan.

23 week pics

23 weeks 2 days

Things are steadily moving along and I feel great. No heartburn, no intense sciatica pain, no constipation or any of the other horrible things one suffers during pregnancy. Now totally unpregnancy related, I have a terrible cold that has turned into an awful sinus and chest infection. I guess all those years of smoking caused enough damage to my poor lungs that they are still semi easily infected.
My feet have grown an entire shoe size! So, I got a new pair of awesome shoes to go with my new feet. A pair of Keen Briggs! Thank you ovaries and yeah for relaxin, what a wonderful hormone you are. Not only are you making it easier for baby but you got momma the shoes she has been dying to own!
Pregnancy brain has made school really hard. I am really excited to go back after the baby and be able to take a few courses that are unrelated to biology or science. I want to take a couple history courses, abnormal psych, creative writing and maybe an art course or too. I have been so engrossed with prerequisite for nursing I have forgot all about all of these other wonderful courses. I think I am going to go back again in the fall.
I booked the baby shower location it’s going to be at a brick oven pizza place here by the house on April 4th. The pizza there is fantastic and the owner is super nice. I am sooooo excited!!Well it’s getting close to that time, class starts in an hour.

22 weeks 3 days

We got to see Deco kick last night! At 11:25pm while watching, get this, a kung fu movie, I felt enormous kicks behind my belly button. I pulled the covers down, waited a minute and their it was, my belly button bouncing around. Shane’s eyes got all big and I started to giggle uncontrollably. He is our future kung-fu champ! He continued with the huge visible prods for about 15 minutes then he simmered down a bit to start up again about 20 minutes later.
His sleeping a lot during the day and kicking a lot early morning, late night and through out the night, is a little worrisome. I hope this isn't his sleep schedule once out of the womb.

22 weeks 2 days

Our little Declan is getting so strong! He is no longer fluttering around in there. He is now beating momma with some ferocity. His little kicks pokes and jabs are enough to wake me up at night. He has become a lot more active. I am starting to notice a little bit of a pattern, if fact, he bashing around right now. It’s hard to even describe how it feels now. It’s so weird! I love it! I am sure if I were to look I would be able to see some of these kicks, he always does while I am in public or in bed after the lights are off. I think it is so adorable that could be doing summersaults and back flips.
Now that he tastes the amnionic fluid I hope he doesn’t mind all of the spicy food I am addicted to. It’s so strange because before I was pregnant I couldn’t stand spicy food. I was such a wuss about my mouth burning, now I love it and it takes a lot to get me really hot.
My sciatica has gotten better and worse. I know confusing. I don’t have the constant pain any more, I just get random painful nerve twinges like 20+ times a day. It’s weird, I will feel okay, but when I try to stand up after sitting my sciatic will hurt really bad for a few minutes and then simmer down again after I start to walk around.
I have really been trying to walk a lot lately. I am really beginning to get concerned with weight gain. Even though most of it has gone to the belly I am scared I am going to gain like 80 pounds by the end, which would be bad for both baby and me. My favorite walk is parking at OMSI, crossing the Hawthorn bridge, walking down the west side waterfront to the Steel bride, crossing back over to the eastside esplanade and then back to OMSI. This walk is a really pretty 3-mile gaunt that is fairly flat so I can do it with very little pain.
Work is getting more and more difficult these days after standing bending lifting reaching and all of the other random movements I do my belly starts to feel weird, really, really heavy, like my movements have forced Declan into a really uncomfortable position for both of us.
By how things look at the moment we are going to have to push the shower back a bit. Shane and I are planning a little escape, a babymoon, if you will. The only time we are going to have available is the same week we were planning the shower. So we are going to push it out to the first or second weekend of April. Finding a venue has been challenging but I think we have narrowed it down to two places, you will either be eating pizza or Lebanese food. I am hoping for the Lebanese but we are waiting on a price quote that I will get today.Shane is doing well, he has been working a lot at the office in Beaverton and not as much at the hospital. I am sure the change of pace is fantastic. He gets excited when he feels Declan’s huge kicks, we are both so excited to meet him.