How big will he be?

As I mentioned last week, one of my favorite activities recently has been staring at my stomach trying to decipher different movements and identifying possible body parts that jut out at any given time. During this time "bonding" with the baby I wonder how he's doing in there and what he's up to. Does he really hear our voices and does he know who we are?

I'm really looking forward to meeting baby G in a few months/weeks, and although I'm happy to let him stay in there and develop as long as he needs to, I'm anxious to see what he looks like -Will he look like me or Huge? Will it be apparent right away or will he look like the milkman? Will he really have a giant noggin like the ultrasound showed a few weeks ago? All of these questions, but the most important question is how big will he be?!? Clearly neither Huge and I are "petite" people, but Huge was a small to average sized baby and I can only assume I was too... so what will baby G be like?

At the baby shower my mom had for me in Boston back in January we posed this question to the guests and asked them to guess when baby G would be born and how big he would be. There was quite a range and the guesses for due date were between 4/2 and 5/6 (which, hopefully he'll come right in the middle of that -4/2 seems too early, but 5/6 seems much too late!) and for his size... I got 6lbs 7 oz all the way up to 10 lbs 2 oz. Let's hope for everyone's sake he's closer to the small side because, 10 lbs? ouch! As for length it ranged from 19.5" to 26" -that was my sister-in-law who claimed she had no idea how long babies were. But considering she's only 5" tall (and I'm being generous here) it would be pretty funny for my baby to be almost half her height at birth!

So what do you think? How big is baby G going to be and will he be early or is he going to make me wait to meet him?

Week 31-32

It's that time again -another weekly update!

Weight: a bazillion pounds. Ok, fine, that's an exaggeration, but at this point only slight. I'm up about 35 lbs to date.

Maternity clothes: Still in them, but some of the tops are getting smaller/shorter. Also, I look pretty hot when I go work out. I think I wrote about this in an earlier week's post (but I'm way too lazy to look it up). Anyway, I went to the gym yesterday and I was a hot mess -emphasis on mess. I wore Huge's shorts, so they were way too long and still big and then my regular t-shirt that was stretched over my belly. I should take a picture so everyone can get a good chuckle.

Baby Movements: He's definitely active, but it comes in spurts and then there will be a lull. His new favorite activities seems to be rolling around and stretching out so I can feel him on both my right and left side. My favorite activity this past week has been trying to identify baby body parts. When he stretches out there is a very definite bump that sticks out on my left and I'm not sure if it's his head, his butt or his back... sometimes I wish I had a home ultrasound machine.

Cravings/Aversions: Tons of sweets. I've never been a huge dessert person, I like desserts as much as the next, but now I have to have something sweet at the end of dinner EVERY.NIGHT. It's a little out of control. Also, I usually only crave chocolate once in a blue moon -now I could eat it all the time. I'm definitely blaming pregnancy on this. I'm also loving cold cereal right now. I don't know if it's the cold milk or the controlled meal size, but I feel like I could eat cereal all day.

What do you miss: Not feeling like I'm going to explode after eating meals. Haha, I just realized that I said this on last week's update -definitely not a fast learner. I may have to start eating cereal for dinner!

Other: Things are going. I started going through all the baby clothes this past weekend, but didn't get through all of it. It took much longer than I expected and it was a lot harder than I expected! I still have a few more weeks before the situation gets dire so I'm not too concerned. My fingers are starting to get a little sausage-y. I think it's just water retention, but my feet seem ok as I'm still wearing my shoes and heels. I don't think I'm waddling yet, but I'm sure that's just around the corner! Oh, and the belly button is still in.

That's it for this week. Here's this week's picture:

Bloggity blog

I always have these great tidbits that pop in my head in the middle of the night or when I'm on my way to work, but then I never remember to write them down and never remember to write about them -no wonder my blog is so boring right now!

Anyway, it's FRIDAY! Yea! I'm very excited for the upcoming long weekend -I feel like I really deserve it, it's been a rough week.

Let's see if I can remember anything... hm...

• I've been offered a seat on the bus now a few times. It restores my faith in humanity -although, to be honest, I hadn't really lost it yet. It's kind of nice, but I haven't taken it yet (mostly because I don't ride the bus for very long).
• What else... oh, I have a blind date tomorrow! Huge and I are looking to do a nanny share for the bambino when I go back to work in July, so I have a blind date with another expectant mom in the neighborhood. I'm a little nervous about it as I am not super friendly and small-talky on my own and I have (obviously) never met her, so I have no idea if we have anything in common other than we live in the same neighborhood and have babies due around the same time. I (of course) googled her, but wasn't really able to get a whole lot of info so I guess I'll just have to go and be surprised. I just hope I don't get stood up! That would be sad. haha.
• I find coming up with a blog title really hard.
• I plan on working on the kiddo's room this weekend so MAYBE I'll actually have pictures/updates soon.

Well this is lame. I'm even bored and I'm the one writing it! Hope you all have a great long weekend!!

Week 30-31: end of month 7

Wow, where has the time gone? Just a few short months and baby G will be here. I'm hoping to go full term, but just to be safe I'll plan to be ready in 7 or 8 weeks... that does not seem like a long time!

Weight: At this point I'm trying not to care, but it's getting hard. I'm hitting 32 lbs and with 2 more months to go, I'm thinking I'm probably going to hit 40... yikes.
Maternity clothes: Same as always
Stretch marks: Still none and belly button is still in -except sometimes at night when baby G is feeling extra feisty, he'll start kicking it out. He's gotten it about half out, but not all the way (yet).
Baby Movements: Still pretty active, but again, it's easiest to feel when I'm laying down or reclining. It's hard to feel him while sitting except for right after breakfast when I'm at work. Somehow it doesn't really happen on the weekends, but then again, I might not be paying enough attention.
Cravings/Aversions: Still eating a ton of sweets, but I'm trying to rein it in (so I don't go too far over that 40 lbs weight gain). I've cut out cookies at work and I'm trying really, really hard to get down to either 1 dessert or 1 candy serving a day... yah, it's out of control.
What do you miss: Being able to roll over comfortably. At times it definitely feels like the baby swings from one side to the other when I roll over. I also wish my tailbone hurt a little less and that I remembered to eat a bit less since my stomach has less room, but clearly I am not a fast learner.
Other: Nothing really to report. Walking/exercising has started to become a bit uncomfortable. There's a pulling/cramping that happens when I walk/exercise that's definitely not too pleasant, but I'm trying to push through it. I also did not do any work on the baby's room this past weekend, but this upcoming weekend is a long weekend so I plan on sorting through all the baby clothes and finally organizing it.

Here's the weekly belly shot. These were actually taken at night (after a full day of eating), so I probably look a bit more pregnant than usual -so don't be alarmed. Huge and I went to dinner and to go see Les Mis last night and I thought I looked so cute dressed up (and the bathroom at the restaurant was pretty) so I took my picture there. So here's a full length and then my usual close up -it's definitely growing!

Oh and in other news. One of my best friends from high school had her baby last Wed (Feb 10th). Happy birthday Mabel!

Week 29-30 -beached whale returns

Well hello! This week's post is a little late since I spent last weekend in sunny Florida. Not to rub it in, but the weather was gorgeous! While Chicago dealt with some extra snow and below freezing temperatures, the land of the retired (Naples) was sunny with temperatures in the high 70's/low 80's every day. Sigh, it was nice to get away and hanging out with old people wasn't so bad. I think I could do this retirement thing!

So this week's update:

Weight: Just over 30 lbs (I believe I'm at 31ish).

Maternity Clothes: I'm doing almost all maternity clothes except for pj's/bottoms with elastics. My t-shirts are getting pretty snug/not fitting at all so needless to say when I go work out, I am h-o-t.

Stretch Marks: Nope and my belly button is still in.

Baby Movements: He's pretty active but I can feel him best when I'm laying down or reclining. Much to my mother's chagrin he was pretty uncooperative in moving when she was around to feel it. I guess he was just really relaxed in Florida!

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing... still eating a lot of sweets.

What do you miss: I'm starting to feel uncomfortable when sleeping or sitting for long periods of time. My tailbone/hips are definitely expanding/moving so things are starting to get uncomfortable.

Other: Nothing really else to report. I'm definitely getting giant, which is funny because I pretty much feel ok so I kind of forget how enormous I am until I catch a glimpse of my reflection -and then it's like *bam*, who's that fat lady! I have about 10 weeks left, so I fluctuate between thinking that's a whole heck of a lot of time to thinking that it's not really enough. I'm feeling pretty good about things and not really freaked out about the actual baby, but more about the logistics -child care, costs, school, work schedules etc.. So maybe it's misdirected anxiety? Who knows. I'm also a little anxious to get our child care classes done, but we didn't sign up for those until March. I'm hoping this weekend to work some more on the baby's room and wash/organize his clothes so I'll update with pictures when I do.

Baby G update

This past Tuesday I had my 28/29 week doctor's appointment and another ultrasound to check on the growth of Baby G. Good news is that he's growing well and is currently in the 60th percentile clocking in at 2 lbs 14 oz and appropriately sized limbs. My doctor (and ultrasound tech) both pointed out that baby G's head is what was really pushing him up into the 60th percentile because his head is busting out in the 90th percentile! At the time of the appointment I was 28 weeks 5 days and his limbs were all measuring +/- 1 day... his head on the other hand was measuring 31 weeks! Ridiculous. I'm hoping that his head just went through a major growth spurt and will stop growing for a little while and let the rest of his body catch up because, otherwise, ouch!

But overall, I'm happy to hear that Baby G is doing ok in there. Assuming everything else goes smoothly, I don't have plan on an early 36 week eviction! All other factors we were watching seemed to have rectified themselves and we are good to go for April. We'll check again in March with another ultrasound to make sure he's still getting enough nutrients and oxygen, but I'm feeling pretty reassured that we can go full term.

In other news, Baby G's new trick is to squish up on one side and then try to kick my belly button out. It's pretty freaky to watch and even odder to feel. The other night he successfully was able to kick my belly button out, but once he relaxed and settled back in, so did my belly button. I know the day is coming closer where it's going to pop permanently, but I'm hoping to delay it a little bit longer. As he continues to get bigger I'm interested to see what other tricks he has up his sleeve!