Twenty-Eight Weeks!

~Welcome Third Trimester~

We made it to the third and final trimester.  It was off to rocky start with my glucose testing.  Long story short, my arms were poked a lot but I do not have gestational diabetes. Hurray! This is going to be the most exciting trimester; there is so much to look forward to: showers, maternity photos, finishing the nursery, lots of shopping, picking her name, and of course the big delivery day.  Ready or not, here she comes.

28 weeks and 2 days.

Travis and me at his industry auction.  The theme was the roaring 20s.

Travis went shopping for her... he got a little excited. :)  

I went shopping too! 

Quick updates:

Weight gain: officially 20 pounds (even though I know I'm supposed to be gaining weight, it is still hard looking at the numbers rising on the scale at the doctor's office)

Nursery: not completed... but getting closer!  I will post pictures once it is completed.  Work in progress pictures aren't any fun. 

How I'm feeling: Still pretty good.  My lower back is starting to ache, but working out and stretching helps.  I'm still sleeping well for the most part.  

Stretch marks: nope!  :)  

Most excited for: family snuggling sessions. 

Names: we have a short list, but nothing official.

Twenty-six and twenty-seven weeks!

90 days until her due date.  I feel like it is just around the corner!  Our nursery is a work in progress.  While I was away for the night in Corvallis for the OSU dads' weekend with my dad and Sadie on Friday, Travis surprised me and put together her crib.  He's such an amazing husband.  When I got home, the boxes were still in the garage so I didn't even think it would be put together.  Then, when I went to put away all the cute OSU baby clothes my dad bought, there it was!  It is beautiful and just what I wanted.  We have an armoire that goes really well with the crib and a dresser from the guest bedroom that will double as a changing table.  I will post pictures when it is all put together.

~~~ Quick Updates: ~~~
Wearing wedding ring: yes!
Weight gain: about 17 pounds
What I miss most about not being pregnant: clear skin
We are most excited: to see how Josie reacts when she isn't the center of attention
Movement:  she's moving all the time, I think all of the Halloween candy I've eaten in the past week has given her some extra strength, which is convenient since she has found my ribs. :)  She has hiccups regularly every day.

Pictures from the past couple of weeks.

My friend Katie and me at her shower.  She is having twins is due 8 days after me. 

Last week's chalkboard.

Twenty-five weeks!

25 weeks and still pregnant.  Nothing too exciting going on.  All the extra girl hormones are kicking in and I've had a couple miner melt downs brought on by 1.) being overwhelmed at Babies R Us where I think they need to give every pregnant lady that walks in a snack and a glass of wine.  and 2. getting the last spot in a birthing class (January 11 and 18) before our due date (February 1) which is cutting it closer than I'd have liked.  But Travis is a trooper and has handled my emotions this week very well.  When your pregnant wife is crying... tell her you love her by driving to downtown Portland and bringing back her favorite ice cream from Salt and Straw!

The story of how I told Travis, "You're going to be a dad..."

Waiting to take a pregnancy test was a killer.  I learned that I have less patience than I thought.  I told Travis I was going to wait until Friday to take the test because that was the earliest the box said I could try.  However, I woke up early Thursday morning and couldn't resist.  I was assuming it was going to be a negative since it was a little too early to test, but I didn't care.  I peed on the stick, realized I didn't have my glasses on so I held it up so I could read it easier and I got an error message!  WHAT?!  Error?  What kind of error could there be, it is a simple pregnant or not pregnant.  I went and put my glasses on, came back to read the box, and read the key instruction that said not to hold the tip up.  Oooops.  Well I had hardly any pee left in me at all and the box said it should be the first pee of the day, so I squeezed out what I could onto test stick number 2.  At this point I had very little hope since I was testing early and had a limited urine supply.  But sure enough I read the words "pregnant"!  Shocked and very excited I snuck out to Starbucks where I had the barista write "Mom" and "Dad" as the names on our cups and explained to her what I was doing.  When I came back home to wake Travis up with a morning Starbucks he was hardly interested, said thanks and rolled back over.  I had to be a little insistent that he drink his coffee immediately and held the cup in his face with the word Dad facing him.  :)  He caught on quickly!

Pregnancy test attempt #2 of the morning

How I told Travis.  Josie photo bombed this picture.

Big sister's shirt to help tell Mimmi and Aija (a-ya), which is Finnish for grandpa).

We also used it to tell Uncle David, who didn't believe us for a few hours.  

Twenty-Four Weeks!

                --Quick update--

Weight gain: 13 pounds

Wearing my wedding ring: absolutely! Not too tight at all.

Pregnancy symptoms lately: The calf cramps have gone away for now and have been replaced with acne (gross!)

Cravings: still none, but I think I might start telling Travis I'm craving Salt and Straw so he'll go get me some.

Looking forward to: Dressing her in all of her cute outfits.  It's like having barbies and American Girl dolls again!

Biggest fear: There is a snow storm when I go into labor and we can't get to the hospital OR we get there too late and I can't have an epidural. 

Twenty-One & Twenty-Two Weeks!

Our baby girl has been very active lately.  The day before we were 21 weeks, Travis felt her move for the first time.  She is most active when I'm home and Travis is around, especially in the evenings just before we go to bed; she's a daddy's girl already.  It has been lots of fun feeling all of her jabs, kicks, and flips.  

We started working on the nursery this week.  Mimi (my mom) came over while we were at work to paint the background color of the nursery.  We are going with a pale pink all over the walls, then we will be adding a chair railing and painting stripes underneath it with a pink that is a few shades darker then the rest of the walls. 

At 22 weeks...

We've started her shoe collection

She weighs 1 whole pound

Went to our first OSU football game pregnant 

Still wearing my regular pants, but can't button all of them and have to do the rubber band trick

No cravings

Learned 5 hour canoeing field trips and pregnancy don't mix

Having more intense calf cramps at night

Still LOVING being pregnant

Twenty Weeks! It's a...

Girl!!!

We had so much fun with our family and closest friends today!  I couldn't have asked for a better support group.  On Thursday we had our long ultrasound to check that everything was progressing normally AND to check the gender.  Our ultrasound lasted about 45 minutes and every time they looked "down there" our technician had us look away.  When she was finished she wrote the gender in a card and sealed the envelope shut.  Travis (because he is way more trust worthy than I am not to peek) took the envelope to a bakery where they filled a cake with pink or blue frosting.  We waited 48 hours to find out with our friends and family.  On Friday, my class voted 21 boy to 6 girl and then some of my previous students came in and evened out the votes.  At 2:00 on the dot we cut the cake!  I am so excited to be halfway through my pregnancy and that much closer to meeting our baby GIRL!! 

Nineteen weeks!

Last week of calling our baby "it"!

What's your vote?

We are so excited to stop calling our baby "It" and find out what we are having!  Thursday morning we have our 20 week ultra sound.  The ultra sound technician will not be telling us what we are having, but instead will write down the gender and put it in an envelope.  Travis (the more trusted out of the 2 of us) will be delivering that envelope to a bakery where they will be making us a pink or blue cake to cut into at our gender reveal party on Saturday!  Our guests will be coming dressed as their guess, either a princess or a superhero.  Mommy is dressing as a princess and Daddy will be in a superhero costume!  But all we really want is a healthy baby.  Other news this week, my students were very excited to learn that I am having a baby!  I shared the news with them last Thursday.  Questions that were asked: "Is the baby coming to school with you after it is born?"  "Since the baby can't come, instead of having a substitute can we come to your house for school?"  "Can we name it?"  I'm having a BLAST with my class this year.  Feeling very lucky to have such an easy and fun group.