32 Weeks Tomorrow

So, this Friday we are going back to the special ultrasound place to have another "photoshoot" with baby bumblebee. At my appointment two Fridays ago, my belly measured large, which I find frustrating since I'm still only about 8 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight, but oh well. The midwife had originally said we should do an ultrasound at 36 weeks, but after the measurement, she decided to do it at 32/33 instead. Justin came with me for that last appointment, so it was nice to have a second set of ears to listen to the advice and procedures we have ahead of us. Basically, if the baby looks to be very large at the ultrasound, we'll likely be headed towards a C-section, but she also mentioned the possibility of having another ultrasound at 38 or so weeks, so we'll see. Other than that, things are pretty OK with pregnancy stuff. I get sore and swollen and uncomfortable by the end of the day and the Braxton Hicks contractions sometimes freak me out, but I know it could be much worse. Chasing 3 kids all day and then taking night classes twice a week is not ideal at 8 months pregnant (especially in this Georgia heat) but I thank my lucky stars every day that it's doable. I don't know what we would do if I had been put on bed rest, and as always, I'm very very appreciative that I'm in the home stretch and we will be having a sibling for Roxanne soon!

We have a LOT to do before baby comes, but I'm just not feeling panicked yet. I think having to focus so much on work and school makes it hard to think about the hospital tour and getting the baby's room all done, but I'm sure part of it is also just that this is our second baby. I know that in reality, the baby won't be sleeping in his or her room for a little while, so I can finish up some of these projects while I'm on leave. I'm planning to take a week off before my due date and then 8 weeks after the baby is born. So 9 weeks total. I'm also taking the semester off of school, although I'll still be registered for "thesis research" hours, which imply independent study and don't require any classroom time or graded materials. I'm hoping I can get lots of reading done for my thesis, and maybe even have a prospectus written by the end of leave. That would be amazing!

Roxanne is getting fairly excited about the baby, although I know it's still pretty abstract to her. She usually says she wants a sister, and she often wants to buy things like tiny tutus for it when we are out shopping. She has been playing with her baby dolls a lot more, and tells me she is a good big sister to them, and that her dollies can be "friend babies" for baby bumblebee. She also often puts the babies under her dress and then they "come out" and she takes care of them. She "nurses" them, but apparently that takes place through her knee. She is very curious about all of that stuff, and I'm sure it will get more intense once the baby comes, but I'm not worried about it. She usually asks funny questions of the midwife, like "is the baby going to come out through a door in Mommy's tummy?" or she asks me and Justin: "Have you ever heard of the name ___" complete with some really really weird combination of sounds. Although she has suggested "Felicia" several times lately, because she says it sounds like a flower. She will sometimes ask, "don't you love that name? Can we name the baby that?" and Justin and I always tell her we'll put it on the list of choices for the baby's name. Usually she is fine with that answer, but sometimes, she'll push and want to know why we won't just go ahead and pick that name as the baby's name. She spent close to a week pushing a name that sounded like "awful-cough" and still sometimes brings it up every once in a while. She definitely means well, and it's hard to tell her no!

Oh, and I'm sorry for the lack of photos. Our camera has been acting up a lot lately, giving this "lens error" thing and then shutting itself down, and from what I've read online, it is something we can keep temporarily fixing by banging it into things (I have not resorted to this yet...) or blowing out the lens cap until I feel woozy, and doing a little bit of rough handling with the lens as it comes in and out. But the bad news is that this seems to be usually a sign that the camera is on it's way to dying. Considering we've had it almost four and a half years, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. It was not a super fancy camera to begin with. Just like our Mazda, which is also breaking over and over and bleeding us dry, there is no money for a replacement right now. Here's hoping the special tricks keep working on this thing for a while. Or else we'll be taking baby photos on my Blackberry. :)

Oh, and just for fun, here's my 30 weeks pregnant photo at our old apartment when I was pregnant with Roxanne.
And here's me at 30 weeks with baby bumblebee. I guess my belly does look bigger... I guess I'm just confused because I always have been told that your belly is always bigger faster with your second baby. Better safe than sorry, I guess!

Baby Bumblebee Update

So here's my belly tonight. And my exhausted face after a day of work and a night of class... I am 29 weeks pregnant as of yesterday. I seriously thought I was 30, but after double checking in a half-hearted way, I guess it's actually 29... I have NO idea how I lost track of such an obvious thing, but I do remember that happening with Roxanne sometimes, too. I haven't been as good this time around about taking weekly photos (close to it though) or posting on the blog, so I have less occasion to "announce" or record things. I can say with certainty that I'm now on the every 2 weeks schedule for midwife visits. Once I'm 36 weeks, it will be weekly. Ugh. I had my last appointment last Friday, and my next one will be next Friday. Last week I had my second gestational diabetes screen, and I found out today that I passed! I'm very relieved, since it looked like I might not based on my borderline results from the first test. I also talked to the midwife about my due date and the shoulder dystocia/giant baby concerns. She told me that they would not let me go past 39 weeks, so I will either be induced or have a C-section by then. They will have me do a late ultrasound probably around 36 weeks to check on the size of the baby, and that will dictate a lot of the decisions about delivery. I'm sincerely hoping the baby looks to be a smaller size than Roxanne, and based on the fact that I've been measuring "on track" for where I am in the pregnancy, I think maybe I have room to hope...? I feel pretty sure that with Roxanne I was always measuring ahead. I've also gained about 5 pounds to date this pregnancy, although the weight gain has picked up and I'm having more trouble keeping it off. Partly because I'm starting to have some swelling, especially at the end of the day... But I swear I had cankles with Roxanne way before this point, so that has to be a good sign... The baby's heartrate was in the 140's, so not great for pin-pointing a gender, but again somewhere in the middle. Sneaky! I have to admit, in my mind, the baby is a girl. It just seems more likely. I'd be perfectly happy to eat those words, though! We'd be happy with either. I'm just hoping for a healthy baby. I'm still so relieved we've gotten this far. We feel very lucky. :)