There is an alien in my belly. . . .26 weeks!

 

Indeed there is an alien in my belly. People told me that when they were pregnant that they could visibly see baby moving around. . . .to be honest I brushed them off, thinking to myself "whatever." But I experienced it first hand this week. I can see baby girl moving around in my belly and it sure does look and feel like there is an alien in my belly. I don't even watch that many "sci-fi" movies. It is creepy and weird. But on a good note, it makes me feel more bonded to her. I have been disconnected this whole pregnancy. Not really accepting the fact that there is a being growing inside me. But when I could see with my own eye her moving, it clicked. In general, I have always had a difficult time visualizing things that I couldn't see or touch. Now that I can see baby girl it drives me even more to want to get ready for her. I want to "nest" and work on her nursery. I've been working hard on getting my ducks in a row. . . .looking for a pediatrician, making appointment to view labor and deliver wing at hospital, researching birthing classes, and purchasing necessary items for baby girl. So much to do and only about 3 months to go. . . .

Baby girl is 26 weeks. Her eyes are beginning to open this week. Her iris' are still developing (the colored part of the eye) and will continue to develop until she is 6 months old. I have read that I can try to shine a light on my belly and see if she will respond. I haven't tried this yet because she moves enough. Her brain wave activity is kicking in, which means she not only can hear noises but will respond to them with movement. I played a variety of music for her this week and will continue to do so for the rest of her life. I hope she will like music as much as I do. She is about 9 inches in length and weighs about 2 pounds.  Now this is all estimated, there is no way to know for sure. I feel like she is running out of room in my belly but I know she has at least 5 more pounds and 10 more inches to grow. . . .ouch!! It's bad enough that at night I feel a great deal of pressure on my belly. It's almost as if she is trying to push her way out or stretch my belly out. What a little rascal!!

I completed my first week of working 8 hour shifts instead of 12 hour shifts and I love it! I feel SOOOO much better. I still have aches and pains, as I believe will continue until the end of the pregnancy. But I don't feel as much pressure in my round ligaments and sciatic nerve. I walk into work now with my head held high instead of walking into work dreading my day. I am able to leave work at a decent hour (4ish pm) instead of 8ish at night. I get to go home and take a nap or just kick my feet up. I am so glad I made this decision. I am hoping this will help me to work until the end of the pregnancy. I am still trying to decide when I want to go out on maternity leave. There have been nurses on my floor that took 2 weeks off before their delivery date and then some that worked up to 2 days before delivery date. I have a month to decide until I have to put my official notice in.

Johnathon got placed this week for student teaching. He will be teaching US History at Slater Middle School. I am very excited for him and this opportunity to work with this age group. I know that he really wants to educate at the high school level, but I think this will be a great experience for him to have under his belt. Middle School is a tough age for kids, they go through a lot of "changes."

Well I don't have any picture of me or baby girl this week. I'm going to try and get a video of her moving around in my belly this week. We'll see if she will let me capture the moment. So I will end this week's post with the infamous Brutus the Beast Muchow. . . .who likes to "prune" my plants for me. . . .

Growing. . .Growing. . .Growing. . .24 weeks

We had a little hiccup in our blog this week. My computer hasn’t been working all that great so I used Johnathon’s Macbook to do last week’s update. Well somehow by using his Mac, the Mac html language didn’t work together with the blog site. So if you were using Internet Explorer you couldn’t see my blog. I was scared I had lost all my hard work, but it is back up and running thanks to my dad figuring out the problem. Lesson learned. . . .backup important data that is on the computer! I apologize for anyone who missed last week’s update. You are able to view it now.

Baby girl and I had our 24th week appointment on Monday. We are measuring where we need to be. My uterus is 24 cm in length, which is spot on to being 24 weeks pregnant. Baby girl’s heart beat is still strong and she is moving around like crazy, she is a wiggle worm. She is moving more and more each day. She has me jumping out of my seat sometimes with her strong kicks. This morning I was cuddling with Brutus on the couch. Brutus was lying right next to my belly, and baby girl started kicking Brutus hard. . . .but I was the one feeling her strong kicks not him. . . it didn’t feel so good. I feel like my belly has doubled in size in the last two weeks. Carrying an extra 18 lbs in the mid section is hard on my body. I think the hardest part of being pregnant right now is how much my body is changing and growing. I’m already so uncomfortable and miserable. I still have 16 more weeks to go. Ugh! I did get a note from my doctor to limit my work shifts to 8 hours instead of the current 12 hour work shifts I have been working. I’ve found it to be harder and harder to give quality care to my patients after being on my feet for more than 8 hours a day. So to protect myself, baby girl and my patients I’m going to reduce my hours worked. Hopefully that will help my discomfort.
 

John has started his 2013 rugby season. He was unsure at first whether or not he was going to play this year, but has decided that this will be his last year playing fulltime rugby. His first game is this Saturday against the Diablo Gaels. I’m looking forward to going since I finally have a weekend off. I’m going to take our little Brutus and socialize him.

I’m so happy my blog is up and running again! Sigh of relief. . . . . I’ll leave this week with a picture of a cute hand-me-down onsie I got from a friend. It put a big smile on Johnathon’s face.

 

A happy 23 weeks. . . .

2013 will be an exciting year for Johnathon and I. . . . a baby girl. I can’t express how excited we are! It’s fun to say “baby girl” and not just call her an “it.” Baby girl is growing and growing. One of the coolest things I have been able to experience is feeling her foot push through on my tummy. I was rubbing my tummy and all of a sudden I felt this hard bump in my stomach, I felt around a little more and came to the conclusion that she was pushing her foot on my stomach. It didn’t feel good but it was awesome to feel her body part with my hand. Our little world will be changing very soon. . . .

We are now 23 weeks, the length of a spaghetti squash. . . . yummo! John said the squash is bigger than his hand. She is 1.5 pounds. I have been told that she will double that weight in the next month. Wowsa! Time is going by fast. I have just about 6 months done and 4 more to go. So many things to do and running out of time. We got our crib and dresser set delivered today. And I have been blessed to get hand-me-downs from friends who are done having kids. So we are getting a pile of baby goodies built up in our garage. But there is still so much we need. I did my baby registry with the help of a good friend, and at the end of the day I was so overwhelmed with all the items I needed. It’s crazy how a little person needs so much. I was able to register at Target and My Baby News here in Santa Rosa. I thought it would be a fun experience and it ended up being an experience overload. In a couple months we will start to put the nursery together. I am really looking forward to that. One of the coolest items that is a hand-me-down is the cradle my little sister had when she was an infant. Another is a quilt that my Grandma Newton cross-stitched when she was pregnant with me dad. Then her family made it into a quilt. . . all hand stitched. Something I will treasure always!

This will be a big week for me. I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday. I haven’t been to the doctor’s office for about a month. So it will be interesting to see what they have me do now that I am actually showing. Also, my nurses union is going on strike again. . . . It’s not a good time for the hospital I work for. One good thing out of the strike is that it will keep me out of the hospital when there is a contagious stomach virus going around called the Norovirus. To all my friends and family please wash your hands with soap and water when you are out in public. There is a very nasty virus going around in Sonoma County.

All my love! Until Next week. . . .I’ll post a 6 month belly picture!