5.5 month update

2.5 months

3.5 months

4.5 months

5.5 month

 

Well, I weigh in now at 139 pounds - a mere 23 pounds heavier than my unpregnant body.  All that weight for a baby who weighs a little more than a pound right now!  I feel healthy and the leg cramps only visited me that one night!  I have no real complaints - so far!  I can still sleep on my back and sides (though belly sleeping is totally out of the question).  No swelling in my feet and ankles, so that's good!  I am starting to get random "tightenings" in my belly every day or so.  It feels like a muscle is turning to stone in my stomach.  They don't hurt, just feel strange.  I guess these are the beginning of braxton-hicks?  

Making a Baby Sling!

This morning with SLO County Mom's group, I made a baby sling for our unborn.   These type of slings can range anywhere from $50-100 - I made this first one from a silk curtain my friend had lying around and $4 worth of rings (from www.slingrings.com).  A group of moms (all with babies out of the womb) got together to make slings to carry their little precious mini-me's around in - whereas I only have a dog to try the poor sling out!  Here's a picture of Keeta being tortured (boy, she will be happy when the baby comes and we stop picking on her).

Sorry for the blurry picture - cell phone cameras are not our expertise! My photo snobbery almost didn't let me post this pic, but Keeta's compliant attitude was too cute to pass up!

the shrinking shirt phenomenon

The inexplicable shrinking shirt phenomenon is a recent occurrence.  Shirts I bought in December and January, specifically because they were long and I thought they would cover my growing belly, are suddenly shrinking and my lower abdomen is poking out.  This strange happening came just a week or so after I diagnosed the "belly is now bigger than the boobs" syndrome!  Ah, the joys (and jokes) of a growing pregnant body.

Cord Blood Banking

You might notice a new button on the right side of our blog - this is to donate to help us afford to bank our babies cord blood. The cost is about$2,000 upfront and then about $100/year to keep the blood banked. That sounds like a lot of money - and it is - but it is totally worth it when you learn a little about all that cord blood can do.

We are going to go with http://www.cordblood.com/ Here's some info I stole from their website:

Cord blood is the blood that remains in your baby's umbilical cord after the cord has been cut. Doctors have discovered that cord blood can be used in medical treatments. It can be used to regenerate healthy blood and immune cells in cancer patients and cure the following diseases: Leukemias, Lymphomas, other Blood Cancers, tumors, Inherited Immune System Disorders, Inherited Metabolic Disorders, Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Disorders, and Histiocytic Disorders.

Cord blood banking is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for parents to collect and preserve the stem cells from their baby's umbilical cord blood for potential medical uses. By saving your baby's stem cells with CBR, your child and family can have access to better medical treatment options or cures for cancers, as well as potential treatments for conditions such as brain injury and juvenile diabetes.

What's really cool is that if we are able to afford to bank our first babies cord blood, the cells in that one baby's blood can be used on all of her siblings!

If you decide to donate, I want to thank you right now. Having cute clothes and a nice high-chair for the baby is cool, but being able to save a life someday is really awesome! Thank you.

On being a Saint.

Being pregnant can turn a sinner into a saint! It is almost like making vows when entering a nunnery! No drinking, no smoking (this isn't hard for me since I never smoked, but still), no missed sleep (or your body will make you pay later), no hot-tubbing (oh, how I miss this), no unhealthy foods (all of a sudden you feel guilty for eating those saturated fat fries cause you know it is going to the baby), no more cute clothes (you have thunder thighs, a huge girth, and boobs so big none of your sexy bras fit anymore - and if you do buy something cute, you won't be able to fit into it anymore next week anyways), no wild sleep positions (only sleeping on your sides - stomach too big now to lay on it, and it's nearly to the point I can't lay on my back comfortably), no being self-reliant (you can't pick up heavy objects or move stuff or your stomach muscles will cry the next day. ), no coffee (how will I make it another 4 months!?!), no Tylenol sinus or decongestants when you get sick or a stuffy head, no surfing or snowboarding anymore (I couldn't get my fat self into my wetsuit), etc. Complete denial of the flesh.

Come to think of it, the only thing I can do is have sex, but that's what got me into this mess in the first place! Maybe I should become a nun. At least then I could still hot tub!

Leg Cramps

Okay, some pregnancy surprises aren't quite as great as feeling the baby move. Take this morning at 5:00am when I was suddenly awoken by sharp, intense pain in my calves. Did I have a bad dream where I was running for hours?, I thought. What could have caused these sharp pains? Well, I found out that this is a normal symptom to pregnancy!

I would love to hear what other women have done to help with these cramps. I hope I don't have more, but if I do, I want to be armed and ready!

POW!

Baby's first kick!

Last Monday, February 16th, I felt the COOLEST feeling of my entire life - I felt another human being move inside of me! This happened when I was in a total state of relaxation while visiting the acupuncturist*. Laying on the table, letting the needles do their voodoo work, I felt something inside that was "different". For the last couple of weeks, maybe even months, I had been feeling "things" but I just thought it was my body growing and readjusting. Well, this time it was an unmistakable punch! It was like the baby took her elbow and poked the side of my lower abdomen as to say "hi". Then I felt another movement, this was more like a gurgle - she must have been rolling over.

Since that day, I have felt her every couple of hours or so! It is so cool: you are just doing some menial everyday task when all-of-a-sudden you feel life inside of you move - it really has a way of putting things into perspective. Michael can put his hand over my belly and feel her she is that strong!

Men: you really are missing out on this one. This feeling is unlike any other sensation you could imagine. I think you would readily trade in 6-24 hours of labor for the opportunity to feel this just for a few hours.

*I found out just a couple of months ago that acupuncture is GREAT for pregnancy and baby's health. I really do believe it is. Every time I have an appointment, I feel so relaxed afterwards. Acupuncture can even be used to induce a late baby. I have a friend who was worked on in Herb Kandel's office, started contractions there, and had the baby 8 hours later. This was after she was already past her due date and was facing medical interventions.