Thursday, May 29, 2008

99 Days

I have 99 days left!! Actually, 99 days until my due date. Who knows when the little one will actually show up. I'm so excited that I hit the double digits. Obviously I still have a long way to go, but two digits seems so much smaller than three :-) Tomorrow I'll be 26 weeks pregnant and next Friday I'll officially start my third trimester. Oh, how the time fly's!

Last night Christina was kicking up a storm. She seems to do that a lot when I sit down on the couch to watch a movie. Oh, and cold water really gets her going. It's funny because I've heard of other pregnant women who drink Orange Juice to get the baby kicking, but my little girl gets excited over water. She's like her mommy already.

According to what I read, Christina should be about 9 to 10 inches long by now, although that doesn't include the length of the legs. It's very weird, but "they" only measure based on head to butt. I have no idea why.

She is now weighing in about 2 pounds, which is double what she was when I got my last ultrasound. From this point on, she is going to be growing very quick (or so I've heard).

Also, at this stage, my little girl now has her eyes open. That means that if I shine a flashlight onto my belly, she might react by moving away or kicking. I haven't tried this little experiement yet, but I'm sure I will at some point.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Cry me a river

I guess the hormones are really starting to get to me, because I'm having trouble holding my tears back on a regular basis.

I was watching the movie P.S. I Love You yesterday and I cried through the entire movie. I seriously don't think my eyes were dry at all. And then, when it was over, I downloaded five songs from the movie and played them over and over again, still feeling weepy.

Today I found out that a girl I know from a message board I'm on, lost a coworker in a motorcycle accident, and she left behind a three year old daughter.

Nik has said to me recently that he wants to get a motorcycle to save on gas (since the prices are through the roof). Of course I had to send him a long, sappy email about how he would break my heart if he ever got one. I couldn't handle losing my husband like the woman in P.S. I Love You. It makes me even more sad thinking that I don't think Nik will ever take these concerns seriously. When it comes to worrying, he is practically the exact opposite as me. My only saving grace is that I don't think he is serious about getting a motorcycle.

As if it isn't bad enough getting all upset over sad stuff like that, I am getting teary-eyed over happy things as well. Thinking about my daughter, the fact that I'm actually going to have a daughter, feeling her move around and kick, it's all too much to handle without shedding at least a few tears. And I am sad to think that she can't be here with me right now. Yet, I feel so guilty for even thinking that, because if she were to come early, that would mean very hard times for my little girl.

I was reading a blog this morning about family size. The blogger asked how do we know what size family is right for us. While I was reading all of the replies about parents who know they want to have big families, I started to get choked up again. Nik and I want to have a big family and thinking about all of the good times we have ahead of us is so sad in a happy way. Sad because we have to wait for that, but happy because it is going to be so amazing when it finally comes. I'm having a hard enough time waiting for this little one to come, and still it will be so many years before our family is actually complete.

I'm sure once Christina makes her big arrival though I'll be kept busy for awhile. I am so much looking forward to that.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

More Pictures

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. I definitely did. Here are some pictures of me over the last week or so.




Friday, May 23, 2008

Patience is not one of my virtues

Last night I went to visit my friend Marissa, her husband, and their 3 month old baby. Marissa ended up sending me home with a huge bag full of clothes that her daughter has already grown out of, as well as a baby swing! Her daughter didn't like the swing, so she passed it on to me.

When I got home I set the swing up in the living room right away and ever since then I've just been so happy. It's very weird, but having the swing out there, for me to see whenever I am home, just makes this so much more real.

Honestly I don't know how I'm going to be able to wait another 3 months (lol, as if I have a choice!!). But, I really am excited for Christina to come and I can't wait for the whole house to be filled with baby stuff. And I know it will!

Thanks Marissa and Tom!!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Daycare

Officially, Nik and I are dragging our feet on the whole pick-a-daycare thing. It is looking like we are going to have to send Christina to daycare three days a week once I start going back to work full time. This is not something we are looking forward to. In fact, we have always talked about me staying home with our children (even before we were married). But, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be a possibility due to our finances.

I did come up with a possible way that we can avoid daycare though. It is a tentative game plan that would require a lot of flexibility from both of our work schedules. I don't know if it's possible. I don't know if our companies will go for it. I don't even know if, realistically, we will try to implement this plan. But, it's out there for us as an option. At least to make us feel better about the whole thing I guess.

In the meantime, we really need to be visiting and choosing a daycare - just in case. Because I'd say that the odds of us actually being able to keep Christina out of daycare altogether is slim to none. We are lucky that we are able to figure out a way to only send her for three days a week I guess. That is what I keep telling myself.

Yet, I am still not motivated to go look at daycares. Plus, the whole idea is weird to me. There are like fifteen of them in our little town and I don't know how to differentiate one from the other without going to visit. That is going to be hard work, especially when daycares are really only open during regular working hours.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Our little family

My mom took this cute picture of me, Nik and Christina yesterday. I really can't believe how big my belly is getting. It's awesome and so amazing. Every day it is getting bigger and bigger.

By the way, did I tell you that we already named our little girl? So yeah, her name is Christina. Christina Corinne actually, CC for short. It works perfect for us because not only do we both like the name Christina, but it is my middle name and it is Greek (Nik is Greek).


Sunday, May 18, 2008

Poetry Corner

My step mom wrote this really sweet poem about my little girl. I'd like to share it here with all of you.

this pearl

this pearl
sleeps
hidden
in the
holy of holies

she
dreams of
her star palace
that shook
then split
to send
her on
this
earthbound
journey

she will
reveal herself
in season due
wanting
all of you

her fogged over
eyes will know you;
her mouth will
yearn for you;
her overwhelmed ears
will know your voice;
she will find rest
in her day of light
knowing you



Dallas Holsten 5/8/08



Thanks Dallas!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Picture Post

Want to see some more pictures of my growing belly? It's really coming along now, lol.



















And here are all of the ultrasound pictures from last week. You'll see some of the traditional ultrasound pictures, and some of the 3D one's.




I know, it's kinda freaky that you can see right through her.











Thursday, May 15, 2008

I need to VENT

Where is the book that tells me what I should be doing and when? Why is it that all of the baby/pregnancy books out there are telling me what I can expect from the baby (growth-wise) and what types of symptoms I can expect to be feeling and nothing else?

Where is the to-do list telling me when I should be researching birthing classes, when I should be taking them, when I should be taking a hospital tour, when I should be registering, etc?? My doctor seems to not want to talk to me about anything until "later", whenever that may be. Just because I'm only 24 weeks pregnant doesn't mean that I will never get to the delivery part. Why should I wait? Isn't it better to be prepared ahead of time? There is this thing called a birth plan that I may or may not need to prepare and I don't even know what is suppose to be on it. I don't know what my preferences are, because I don't even know what my options are.

Sorry for venting. If you know me though, you know that I am impatient, a worry-wart, and above all else - a planner! But, I've never done this before and I don't exactly know what to do. All I've been doing since I've been pregnant, is mentally preparing myself for this baby (I am sooo ready!), and figuring out the nursery. Well any moron knows that the baby is going to need a room, a crib, diapers, etc. But, it doesn't come naturally to know what kind of bottles are safe for the baby, and what kind of classes are beneficial to take . . plus, where in the world are these classes and how do I sign up??? At some point, I'm going to run out of time right?

I have another doctor's appointment in two weeks, and if I don't start getting some answers soon, I just might go crazy!

Friday, May 9, 2008

Commuting into the City

As if a two hour commute isn’t exciting enough, carrying around 15+ extra pounds and the heat that goes along with it, plus my heightened claustrophobia and tendency for panic attacks has made getting to and from my training class (in the city) an absolute nightmare.

My only relief is knowing that today is the last day and I hope to never have to do this commute again. Afterall, this is why I’m not working in the city anymore. I don’t want to sound like a big baby, but it seriously sucks. Luckily when I walked into class this morning and turned on my computer, I was able to take a look at Christina’s picture again (saved to my desktop) and that made me feel much better.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

3D Picture

I have a training class really early tomorrow morning and I'm dead tired. So, I don't really have the energy to get a real post going and I might not have time tomorrow or Friday since I have training both days.

So, just to hold you all over, here is one of the 3D pictures from my ultrasound today. How cool is it that you can see the details of her face. So cute!


I was wrong!

We had the big ultrasound this morning and everything went really well. The baby is very healthy and doing good. The baby also was very cooperative in showing the goods :-)

and we are having a . . . . .




GIRL!!!!!




We are soooo excited and so happy!

Tomorrow hopefully I'll get some pictures on here of the ultrasound. We were lucky enough to get a couple of the 3D pictures (even though we weren't expecting that). You can see her face very clearly. I think baby Christina looks a lot like her mommy. She definitely does NOT have daddy's nose, lol, so that's a good thing :-)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

What a beautiful day

The sun is shining, it's warm out and OMG I can hardly contain my excitement because tomorrow morning I find out if my little one is a girl or a boy. Either way, it's going to be one of the happiest moments of my life. I can't wait to tell everyone, to start calling the baby by his/her name, to start shopping and just overall completing the picture in my head of what things are going to be like once the baby comes.

At the last ultrasound, I was too awestruck to take a video of the monitor. Hopefully this time I can get myself to do it and stop staring for a second. I can't wait to see how big my little one has gotten. I know that generally at this point, the baby should be just over a pound and about eight inches long. That is a HUGE difference from last time.

Ok, well, gotta go. Big day today. But, I'll definitely be posting the good news tomorrow. So, stay tuned!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Happy May

I forgot yesterday to wish everyone a happy month. It's a tradition that Nik has in his family. It's kinda silly, but I have tried to follow it. I guess it's cute in a way. I'm just not use to it. But anyway, have a happy month of May!

May brings about many things this year . . . a change of weather (hopefully!!), a change in my body (continuing), baby show and tell (as my friend Danielle has put it), in with the new and out with the old in my condo as I continue to make room for baby, and two weddings.

One of my good friends is getting married today!! I'm so excited and happy for her. Then, later in the month, one my husband's best friends is getting married. They have been dating longer than Nik and I, and considering we are going on 9 years, that really says a lot! I think they've been together something crazy like 12 years or so. I can't even imagine how excited they are that this day is finally coming.

So congratulations to Lina and Isaiah today on their beautiful wedding day, and an early congratulations to Lisa and Jay! I hope you are all as happy as Nik and I are today.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Doctor's Appointment

I had another doctor's appointment last night, and it went great. The doctor said my weight is perfect, my size is perfect, my blood pressure is perfect, and most importantly . . the baby's heartbeat is perfect. Maybe perfect was just her word of the day, lol :-)

It was cute though, she asked if I was having any problems and when I told her no, she said that I'm just going to be easy. It's cool to know that everything is going so right with this pregnancy. Nik keeps telling me I'm the perfect person to carry a baby because I don't smoke, I don't drink caffeine (coffee or soda), I'm not a big junk food eater, and I'm all around very healthy. Plus, I was in pretty good shape before I got pregnant and in general I'm blessed with some weird ability to be thin and toned without working out. (Now let's see if that changes after child birth)

I feel a little guilty about what I eat though, because I don't eat red meat . . . like EVER. But, the baby does seem to like what I am eating. Pretty much everytime I eat, I feel him/her kicking around in there. I'm guessing that is a good thing, although I guess the baby could be thrashing around thinking Mommy, NO, not pasta AGAIN!!! hehe.