I Passed! (Comps, not gas)
It’s hard to believe I’ve been pregnant close to 26 weeks! Lately my stomach has really popped out, which it was bound to do at some point. This afternoon, after finding out that I passed my comps (hurray, hurray!!) I went shopping for some more maternity clothes. I have been making do very well with what I’ve had for the past two months, but it seems that my belly has grown to new proportions and I finally need the kind of pants that come up waaaay over my belly button. I never thought I’d wear pants that look like they have the bottom half of a shirt attached to them, but boy let me tell you they are comfortable! They also make it a lot easier to do normal things like getting in and out of a car without having to worry about wardrobe malfunctions.
This week Uni has been very very active. I feel movement throughout the day now, and the kicks and rolls aren’t subtle anymore! Last night in our childbirth class I could feel a little foot close to my rib cage- quite a lovely feeling 
We have finally started the part of our childbirth classes that involve breathing exercises. Last night we practiced taking slow, shallow breaths and Jered had to time me- the instructors were shocked that I only took 4 breaths in a minute. I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing, but Jered says that once the baby is born I should take up an endurance sport- he thinks we could make a lot of money that way…
This weekend we’re having a celebratory dinner with some of our friends at our place. I’m making lasagna and raspberry tiramisu and we’ll probably partake in some non-alcholic peach bellinis too. I am so relieved to have passed comps! This means that I will most likely be on track to finish all of my comprehensives and be an official doctoral candidate and have defended by dissertation proposal (ABD) before Uni is born. Right now I’m right on schedule!
Filed under Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)Apparently blue is only for little boys
Over the weekend I decided to start knitting a blanket for Uni. As many of you have seen, Jered and I painted the baby’s room orange and baby blue. We figured these were nice neutral colors - and colors other than the traditional gender neutral green and yellow. Not that we have anything against yellow and green, but we didn’t want to limit ourselves to green and yellow just because we decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby. So Sunday I went out and bought some very cute orange yarn and a complimentary light blue yarn and started to knit Uni’s first blanket.
So, I’m sure some of you are wondering why the title of this blog post implies that blue is only for little boys. I had an interesting experience at school today that enlightened me to this apparent error in judgment on my part! I took my knitting with me to classes today because I’ve been a little anxious about hearing back about the results of my comprehensive exams (I still haven’t found out and it’s quite frustrating!) - knitting usually helps calm me down when I’m feeling anxious. After class today I was showing one of my friends the start of the blanket and the first thing she says is, “what are you going to do if it’s a girl?” What the heck?!?! I was pretty surprised by her response- I never knew that only boys are allowed to be covered by blankets with a little blue in them!
I’ll post pictures of the blanket when I’m finished- and hopefully, I won’t have to knit a whole new blanket come June, if so, somebody better buy me some pink yarn!
Filed under Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)Baby Notification System
So I have been thinking a lot about how to let everyone know when Esther goes into labor and when the baby arrives. Ideally, I would like as few steps as possible and I know that telephone trees don’t scale well. I have found a service, Pinger, that lets me record a voice message and then send it out to a group of people. They only catch is that Pinger sends a text message with the number for you to call. I want to test this before we get closer to baby time so down a little further is a contact from. Fill it out with your name and your cell phone number and I will add you to the test group. I am planning on sending out a test message March 1, so sign up before then. Remember, the phone number you send me has to be a cell phone, and you may get charged a couple of cents more on your next bill, but just think, you’ll know exactly when the baby gets here. You wouldn’t want to be left out over a few pennies right?
You are what (your momma) eats
Uni must be going through another growth spurt because I am suddenly ravenously hungry again. It seems like the hunger comes and goes in phases- I can go for two or three weeks and feel very normal and non-pregnant, eating what I normally eat, and then all of a sudden I’ll be incredibly hungry for a week or two at a time. I’m in one of those hungry weeks. The strange thing is that I’m not even craving food that’s bad for me, I’m wanting glasses of milk, bananas, walnuts, and cheeseburgers. Ok, so the cheeseburgers aren’t the healthiest, but other than having a hankering for beef my cravings have been very healthy. I’m sure this is a normal symptom of pregnancy, but I have to say it is strange to feel physically hungry even when I know I’ve eaten enough food!
Our childbirth classes have been going really well. We talked about the birthing process last week- thank goodness pregnancy is 9 months long, I don’t think I’m ready for it quite yet!!! (Not sure I’ll ever be, actually!) The second half of our class includes breathing and relaxation exercises- we’re hoping to learn a lot before June comes around. I really want to try natural childbirth, so we’re taking careful notes and doing research into relaxation techniques and all sorts of other methods that will hopefully make the pain more bearable. That being said, I am not ruling out medical interventions because I honestly can’t say I know what to expect, and I won’t know until I experience it. Better to be prepared and educated- the outcome, no matter what will be great as long as Uni is healthy!
Friday is our 24 week appointment- should be pretty low key, a little doppler action and the usual health checks- pee in a cup, arm in a cuff, step on a scale- I’m getting very good at all three! More updates later this week.
Filed under Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)A little kicker
Uni has become quite the kicker lately. I have been feeling actual kicks for about 3-4 weeks now, but they have gotten considerably stronger in the last week or two. This morning Jered and I got to see the little kicks (or maybe they were punches?) from the outside- it was so neat! Once Uni gets here those little feet will be put in these cute little bug shoes that Sarah got for us.
Until then, Uni can kick, kick away until June- hopefully not anywhere near my ribs!
Jered took some pictures of the baby’s room this morning, including some pictures of my belly, which is getting quite large. It’s hard to believe that Uni already weighs over a pound and is nearly 11 inches long!!! This pregnancy is flying by. Here is a shot of me looking quite pregnant.
There are more pictures on our flickr site if you are interested!
Here are a couple more shots of the baby’s room- this one is of three of the four paintings Jered made for Uni at Christmas- the paintings are sitting on the changing table we got at IKEA.
Here are a couple of shots of Uni’s room!
You can’t really see the crib well in either of these pictures, but it is very cute- even without a mattress!
Ninja baby
This morning I got a chance to feel something amazing, the baby kicking. During our lazy morning in bed, just after Esther woke up, Esther grabbed my hand a put it on her lower belly. She’s done that before, but when she would ask if I felt anything, I could only answer no.
Today was different. When she asked me if I felt something, I did. A very odd feeling, like flicking your tongue against your inner cheek while touching your cheek with your palm. Very odd.
I guess it will only get stronger and more noticeable as we get further and further along. Eventually we should be able to see the movement, which means we will haul out the video camera to capture it.
Filed under Dad's View by Jered | Comment (0)