In preparation?

"So some of my new third trimester symptoms includes a stubborn digestive system. This is not helped by the iron pills that I'm taking to combat my anemia--they tend to cause things to slow down even more.

The other night I was uncomfortably awake with intestinal pains, Braxton Hicks, and a lot of movement from BITB. Some were indistinguishable from the others, and some times I could feel all three at once. I tried to deal with this as best I could by imagining that this was helping me prepare for contractions. NOT that contractions are anything like gas pains, but I figured if I could mentally try to relax with this uncomfortable situation maybe I'll be more capable if and when contractions hit.

Since my water broke with Jackson and they put me on Pitocin, I have never felt a "natural" onset of contractions and that scares me a bit. Well, quite a lot."
--Clare

More dreaming

"About a week ago I had another baby dream.

This time Ross and I were in bed and BITB started moving. We both looked at my stomach to see a foot push outward, making a complete foot impression on my skin before it retracted. Then a hand on the other side of my belly. Then a face was visible and a little startling.

Next thing we know our baby has been born, a girl, and we're in my bedroom at my mom's house. Ross and I are trying to swaddle the baby and having a bit of trouble (we were never good at it with Jackson either). Then everyone started to arrive with their babies to welcome ours. And when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE. Not just family members or friends but tons and tons of people we didn't know. . . ."
--Clare

Two down, one to go . . .

"Well, I have officially entered the third trimester! I swear this second half of the pregnancy is going fast, fast, fast. And I think I'm starting to get anxious for whenever "due" date arrives because I realize I've set January 1 as my goal date to achieve all pre-baby prep work. HA! We'll see if that happens.

Here is what babycenter.com says about this milestone: 'You're in the home stretch! The third and final trimester starts this week. If you're like most women, you'll gain about 11 pounds this trimester.

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.'

I think BITB is lodged at an angle within my uterus because for the past few days all kicks have been aimed at my right side. They are getting stronger and I am a little sore there. 'Hey, BITB move around a bit, that hurts Mommy.'

I thought to show Jackson the movements in my belly, but decided that might not be a good idea, it can be a little freaky and he might not be ready to witness it. I do wonder if Jackson feels the kicks from BITB when he sits on my lap as we read books together. He hasn't said anything about it so maybe not.

Still experiencing a lot of Braxton Hicks, which I guess increases and can start to become painful during this last leg of my pregnancy. No pain yet, they just make me uncomfortable. And not just in my belly either, when ever I feel a B-H my face gets all hot like I'm embarrassed. Maybe it's from the increase in my blood volume? It's strange to say the least."
--Clare

All that worry . . .

"for nothing.

Just called my Doctor's office to find out the results of my glucose test, and just like with Jackson I'm slightly anemic.

I should have listened to myself more about that possibility but silly me was convinced I was doomed!

Iron pills here I come! Twice a day to be taken with juice (not milk---doesn't allow for iron absorption) for the next three months. I think I'll eat some red meat and spinach too!"
--Clare

Jackson's choice for a name

"Yesterday, we were all playing in the living room with Jackson's trucks and Baby Doll. Jackson mentioned that Baby Doll was his sister/daughter. I asked how old his daughter was . . ."two". . . and how old he was . . ."two" . . .so I think right now daughter and sister mean pretty much the same thing. I then asked Jackson what his sister's name was. "Maggie."

I thought that was pretty cute. Don't know if he knows any Maggies . . . OH, except for from the Simpson's (yes, and it's all Ross's fault!) maybe that's it. Took me until now to catch on."
--Clare

Too many cookies?

"Well this last doctor's visit went well, though I'm still waiting to hear about my glucose test . . .

BITBs heartbeat is still going strong, and my belly measures 25 cm versus my 27 weeks gestation so possibly this baby is going to be smaller, late in delivery, or really going to grow in the next 13 weeks. THIRTEEN WEEKS??? Ahhhhhh

Generally, a pregnant woman's belly will measure in cm the same as her weeks in gestation. A few digits off isn't a bad sign, but it will be interesting to see how much more it grows in these next two weeks before I head back for another check up.

My appointments are now going to be every two to three weeks instead of once a month. All these signs keep pointing out that the end is near. And getting closer . . . eeeep. With the holiday's coming up and our traveling for Thanksgiving my next two appointments will be in two and in four weeks, I'm interested to see belly growth and weight gain.

In this past appointment I gained another 5 pounds. In total that's 15 lbs. so far. Half of what I gained with Jackson. At this rate (7 lbs in 4 weeks, 5 lbs in 3, approximately 1.71 pounds a week . . .) it's possible that I'll gain 22 more pounds???? Totaling 37 all together. Maybe I'll stop eating all that candy (it's almost all gone anyway), especially if I'm measuring small in the belly, but weighing more on the scales . . .

Speaking of all that sugar. I am a little nervous about this glucose test. I took it on Thursday. On Friday I went up to Seattle to see my sister-in-law's wedding dress (so beautiful) and the store clerk struck up a conversation with me about having kids, pregnancy, etc. Well, turns out she had gestational diabetes and that her doctors suspected right away when she said that the orange drink they give you to drink wasn't bad at all. . . I got worried because with Jackson it was a pain to gulp down in 5 min, and this time I did just fine. It still tasted sweet to me, but not as terrible as I remembered. Is that an indicator for me? Or maybe I just hyped the bad taste of the drink up beyond what it really was.

Here's how Babycenter.com describes the testing process: 'To screen for gestational diabetes, you will take a test called the oral glucose tolerance test. This test involves quickly drinking a sweetened liquid, which contains 50g of sugar. The body absorbs this sugar rapidly, causing blood sugar levels to rise within 30-60 minutes. A blood sample will be taken from a vein in your arm 1 hour after drinking the solution. The blood test measures how the sugar solution was metabolized (processed by the body).

A blood sugar level greater than or equal to 140mg/dL is recognized as abnormal. If your results are abnormal based on the oral glucose tolerance test, another test will be given after fasting for several hours.

In women at high risk of developing gestational diabetes, a normal screening test result is followed up with another screening test at 24-28 weeks for confirmation of the diagnosis.'

I checked our phone for messages last night and there was a call from my doctors. Very uninformative (but I guess leaving medical information on an answering machine is not allowed) and only saying, please give us a call back. Ahhhhh! I immediate jumped to the conclusion that I failed the test and all that candy I ate and cookies I made did me in.

But then I remembered that my nurse also took blood to check for anemia, which I ended up having with Jackson, and THAT could very well be what the call was all about. Unfortunately, I have to wait until Monday, 8 am before I can find out the real reason they called . . . and in the mean time I'm staying away from sugar and eating lots of iron fortified foods! I should have been doing a better job with my diet anyway, sigh . . . "
--Clare

Late-morning

"While BITB and I were waiting to vote, Stacey and baby Gus exited the polls. What a cutie. Since it was chilly we parted quickly but I stopped by to have a more formal introduction at their house after I voted.

He is very sweet and starting to really be inquisitive about the world around him. It was almost lunch time so Gus made it known that he was getting hungry. That sound, that little baby boy cry almost put me over the edge. I started tearing up and knew I had to leave soon otherwise I'd embarrass myself by sobbing. He sounded so much like Jackson when he was a baby.

No offense to BITB if s/he turns out to be a girl, but I would love another baby boy. In a very strange way, babies aren't babies to me unless they're boys. But I'm sure when and if I have a girl I'll sing a different tune. Baby boys are all I know right now.

Oh, it was so sweet. I can't wait!"
--Clare

Mid-morning

"It's election day, and while BITB has 18 more years before s/he can cast a ballot, s/he kept me company while I waited a little over an hour to vote.

Apparently those 18 years might be needed to garner some excitement about the voting process as BITB slept though the whole thing."
--Clare

Early this morning

"I detected BITB's first noticeable case of hiccups today.

In utero hiccups feel like tiny, rhythmic, isolated tapping. It does not feel anything like the jabs, kicks, and somersaults I normally feel. They are so delicate and sweet.

I love this feeling, I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's such a human experience that I get a kick out of knowing my little BITB is experiencing it too. Jackson had them often so I'm excited that I'm finally feeling them with BITB.

I think too, that the hiccups thrill me so much because hiccups are a clear sign that BITB is something that I helped create, that BITB is a part of me, who I am, where I come from. I know I'm only half of the formula for this baby, but Ross rarely burps, and I don't think I've EVER heard him have the hiccups.

And, well, I'm prone to those things . . . often. Our children will get other unique traits from Ross, the hiccups are all me."
--Clare

It just keeps growing

"Here is the November belly shot. I'm 26 weeks along.

From this angle it doesn't look incredibly large, but my view from up top is starting to diminish. I could only see about half of Jackson's head from above (and with his Norwegian noggin that's saying a lot). I do think BITB and my belly get bigger every day.

To the growing list of pregnancy symptoms that have returned, I'd like to add difficulty breathing (as BITB rises up due to my lack of torso and inhibits my lung space) and inability to think (this proves very difficult in many many ways).

Also with the increased size comes larger movements from BITB. The other night I swore s/he was doing somersaults and the kicks have started to move out towards my sides as well. Maybe with my lack of torso this baby is trying to gain as much room as possible by enlarging my belly horizontally as well as vertically . . .

Jackson has noticed the growing size of my belly and has started to heed his dad's words by telling me, "You can't do [insert activity] with Baby in your Belly." Very chivalrous and yet, a little bittersweet.

I have my glucose test this coming Thursday and hope that I pass it. I wasn't able to ignore all the sweets around our house that accumulated for Halloween. Hopefully that wont be enough for me to develop gestational diabetes. Last time my glucose test showed that I was slightly anemic, so I'm half expecting for that to happen again, especially since I can't seem to get enough salt in my diet (don't actually know if that has anything to do with iron deficiency but my mind is convinced it does). I'm also really hankering milk, which is a bit better than wanting to salt everything, and surprisingly it helps with the acid reflux. It's a win-win combo of calcium and indigestion calmer, yum."
--Clare

We're tied at 2

"I have a correction to make. The baby count is actually tied at 2 girls and 2 boys. I forgot to mention our friends Erin and Brian just found out that they are having their first boy in March. Very exciting. So, 2 girls and 1 boy have arrived, 1 boy is in the "oven", and the rest of us aren't finding out or are too early in the game to do so. Which reminds me, I just found out another friend (Joanna, who had her son Ron 6 weeks after Jackson was born) is expecting in April. If that one is a singleton, the babies-in-waiting add up to 9! Wowzers . . . this is starting to get out of hand!"
--Clare

It's a boy

"One of my mommy-to-be friends has added a boy to the baby count (Girls-2, Boys-1, unknown-9).

Congratulations to Stacey and Jake who welcomed Augustus "Gus" William on the morning of October 18! What a sweet babe. This precious one might look little, but he arrived weighing in at an amazing 11 lbs., 4 oz., and 23 inches long!!!! (Gus knocks Boden out of biggest baby we know by one pound and three ounces. WOW!) I will note to those reading this that new Daddy Jake is a foot taller than Stacey, and I think might be the reason Gus, only two days late, was so sturdy.

Everyone is doing well, recovering nicely, and enjoying the transition into a family of three."
--Clare