davejenbarnes

31 week checkup –
102/68, up 16 pounds overall (gained 16 with James but started off 10 pounds heavier, gained 26 pounds with Lowell but started 5 pounds lighter, expected weight gain to be about 23-25 pounds total), TONS of movement, Braxton Hicks about 5 times per day, no complaints.

The birth is completely paid for.

Next appointment on Halloween.  I’ll be nearly 35 weeks (34w6d) on Halloween, and totally think I should be going every 2 weeks now… Same as last time then… We’ll go every 4 weeks or so then every week!  eek!  9 weeks to go!

But I have found some small pockets of time here and there to finish another layout.  This one took me all day on Friday.  Whew.

This one is a page with three random belly pics from my first pregnancy, with James. I think I got the date wrong on that last picture by 5 days as I have tagged his birthday and I think that picture was actually taken on his due date. He was a late baby.

David’s back in school and won’t have a day off until Thanksgiving Break (which is the week before our due date so if I go into labor earlier than our due date, he might get an extended Thanksgiving break!) then there are 3 more weeks and he’s off for Christmas. I’m hoping (though not counting on it) that he can find a “long term” sub for the 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m kinda shocked at the lack of a day off here and a day off there, but I will be glad to have him that whole week in November when I’m bound to be as big as a WHALE.

Speaking of big, I can hardly walk. My hips hurt so badly… Everything has really started loosening up on me all of a sudden! To quote Lowell, “Ow! Ow! Ow!” Tuesday is my glucose test. Hurray. I’m sure I’ll update on Tuesday at least if I’m not back with more layouts before then!

OH, and READ THIS if  you’re a mom of a young one and have/use a bassinet by Simplicity.  To quote the website:

Infants Strangled to Death in Simplicity Bassinets

CPSC is issuing this safety alert because SFCA Inc., the company which purchased all of Simplicity Inc.’s assets at public auction in April 2008, has refused to cooperate with the government and recall the products. SFCA maintains that it is not responsible for products previously manufactured by Simplicity Inc.

I had a LOT of baby movement on the drive today.  I can now jiggle my belly and feel a baseball-sized head up high, with many kicks down low (as opposed to up in my rib cage where they were earlier this weekend) so I’m pretty sure we’re breech.  Darn leaning back in the driver’s seat and poor posture.  One more four hour drive and we’ll be home.  I will be doing a lot of Bradley Method stretches and sitting leaning forward to get this baby to turn back over.  At my next appointment I will ask the midwife to do a belly map to help me visualize where all the baby’s body parts are.  So far, I’m only good at locating a head and the obvious kicks.  I hope there’s enough room in my belly this time to avoid the miserable belly-button bruise like I got from Lowell’s head when he was breech last pregnancy…

… and not just because I zoomed in with the lens, either.  It must be all those tootsie pops I’ve been having lately.  This is inspired by Alysia.  I took weekly pics with my 1st pregnancy… haven’t remembered to with this one on any sort of regular basis, but I did wear the same outfit for comparison.  Oddly, the only time those short shorts are anywhere near comfortable is during pregnancy.  Too bad they’re too small for going out in public… soo comfortable…

15 weeks — this was back in June sometime:

and tonight, 25 weeks along, end of August:

for grins, here is 25 weeks the first time around.

Nothing to report.  I don’t remember my blood pressure but it was, like, 106/60 or something close to that.  I go in on the 9th for my glucose test.  I’m up to 128, still 7 pounds shy of my unpregnant goal weight for my height, but at least I’m still gaining weight.  Being underweight is just as much a problem for me as being overweight is for others but people don’t like to hear about it.  Whatever.  I need to pack on the pounds, I know I do.  I’m trying.

The midwife asked me about 20 times if I had any questions for her.  It must be different to have a 3rd time mom in there than, say, a 1st time mom… especially one that went through all this just 18 months ago.  My only concerns were being hypoglycemic which I almost was last time.  She said just constantly be eating something, constantly be snacking, lots of fruit, lots of fiber, protein protein protein, nibble nibble nibble.  Back to the weight issues.  See?  They are issues for me.  Other than that I had no concerns.  Nada.  Zilch.  Easy-peasy.  David even came to this appointment.  It wasn’t very exciting, but he did get to hear the heartbeat.  130’s to 140’s which we already knew thanks to a friend loaning us her doppler.  (Thanks Amy!)  This pregnancy has been so uneventful… and I couldn’t even tell you how far along I am, other than when I’m due.  I simply don’t keep track!

I have officially been pregnant for two whole years of my life.

(41+39+24)/52=2

and baby, too.  I am really starting to feel some movement, but still not nearly as strong as some pregnant women I know about the same far-along-ness.  If you’re patient, and I mean really really rediculously patient, you can see it from the outside. My back has started hurting by the end of the day and I can no longer squeeze through normal “Jen-sized” spaces as I am the same width no matter which way I turn. (I am used to being able to get through crowds of people without hollering “EXCUSE ME!” but no longer.)  I get to see the midwives on Friday for my 24 week checkup.  Next month is the glucose test.  Last time I took it, I had borderline bad results, but the opposite of having gestational diabetes… My blood sugar levels were too low instead of too high — or something.  I’m sure there is a label for that but I am hoping for perfectly acceptable levels this time around.

James has turned into a copy cat.  It annoys me to no end, but sometimes it can be cute and usually makes me smile, at least once or twice.  Maybe I will insert educational things into my conversations for him to mimick.  He’s started finding an interest in spelling 3-letter words, but more as a game of sorts than to be able to spell the words.  It started with R-E-D and H-E-B (our grocery store, which he LOVES, crazy kid) but this weekend was C-U-T and C-U-P because we were sitting at the kitchen table and he was drinking from his cup and I was cutting fabric.  I’ve tried others such as C-A-T and C-A-R, B-E-D and R-E-D, and some others but those words weren’t relevant to what we were doing, so maybe that will work later.

Lowell is jumping on the word bandwagon as well and has added several funny words to his vocabulary.  Most recently it’s been “gas” and “baby” which both make James giggle every time.  “Applejuice” is becoming quite clear and he’s starting to copy anything you say in his consonant-deprived pronunciation.  Lowell does say his name but it sounds more like “Wooooaah-awl” with the emphasis that Wall-E has when saying Wall-E.  Lowell is the cutest little guy though and I’m finding myself wanting to soak up his 17 month cuteness so I can remember it when he’s handsome and tall at 17 years old, like, 15.5 years from now.  How special it is to get to be his mommy!

I kiss them both all day long, every chance I get.  Someday I either won’t be “cool” to kiss them, or they’ll be stinky and hairy (ew).  I know the day is coming when they say, “Mo-oom” and give me that roll of the eyes and shrink away from the momma-kisses.  Gotta get my smooches in while I still can!