Courageous

Last week Matt and I went to go see the movie Courageous (http://www.courageousthemovie.com/). It's been a long time since we'd been to the theater to see a movie, since we're cheap and usually watch movies from the big box that's red. But I'm so glad Matt said he wanted to go see this movie, and I think the timing of it was really good for us as we look forward to welcoming Baby B in a few short months. Basically, the movie explores what it means to be courageous, to stand up for and follow through with what you know is right. The main premise of the movie is what this looks like in the context of a family, what it looks like for a man to lead his family in Godly ways. It brought up a lot of good stuff that Matt and I talked about for several days afterward, and I'm sure we'll continue to talk about as we figure out what it means to be a family with a child.

As we were leaving the theater I looked at Matt and said something to the effect of, "I just didn't realize what a big responsibility you had." I mean, I know that it's Matt's role to lead our family. But I think I just didn't really comprehend what that looked like, what that meant, or what that could be, until seeing this movie. Matt, on the other hand, did a men's Bible study with a handful of guys from our church about a year or so ago, and this was one of the areas that they talked about during their study. He is really excited and really looking forward to being a strong role model and leader for our family. And I know he'll do a wonderful job. I'm so excited to see Matt as a father. I think now I'm trying to think about ways I can support Matt in his role, and help our child (and future children) grow to see themselves as beautiful children who are valued not only by us, but by their Father in heaven, and what that means for their life. It's a big responsibility, and while I'm looking forward to it, I also know that it will be challenging in so many ways. I'm sure we'll not only be praying about parenting and reading about it, but also seeking guidance from our small group at church and from other families in our community.

I would highly recommend seeing the movie if you haven't already. And even if you're not a parent or soon-to-be parent, I think there are a lot of things to take away from the film.

Great news from the doctor!

We had our follow-up appointments with the doctor this past week. Our first appointment Thursday was with the ultrasound technician to check on the location of the placenta. Good news! The placenta has moved up 1.5-2cm, and the doctor said this means we should be able to have a normal delivery, barring any other complications that may arise during labor that may necessitate a c-section. Yay! Baby B is already head down, which the doctor said may or may not change. There wasn't any sign of those pesky choroid plexus cysts, either. Baby B was moving around like crazy and the tech must have been enjoying talking with us because she kept moving the transducer around even after she checked everything she needed to. She even pulled out the 3D one and spent a few minutes playing around with that! Baby B had his/her hand in front of their face the whole time, but we got some great shots of their hand and half their face. On the regular 2D ultrasound we got to see Baby B open up his/her mouth, stick out their tongue, and gulp in some amniotic fluid (great for lung development). It was so fun to watch! We also got to see a bit of hair on the back of his/her head! Baby B looks healthy and is weighing in at 2 lbs 13 oz right now. His/her heart rate was in the 140s (I don't remember the exact number) and the levels of amniotic fluid looked good.

Then we saw the doctor, who said everything looked great and my weight gain was right on track. This was a doctor in the practice I hadn't met before, since mine is out on maternity leave for another few weeks. By the time mine comes back, I'll have met every doctor in the practice except one. This is nice because if it's time for me to deliver after hours or on the weekend, the on-call doctor will be the one delivering Baby B - so any of the five docs in the practice. Anyway, back to the appointment Thursday - after I talked with the doctor a bit, the nurse came back in to give me a flu shot and take some blood for my glucose test. I drank the glucola just before my ultrasound and that stuff was gross! It wasn't as horrible as I had geared myself up for, but it wasn't very good either. I had the lemon-lime flavor, so it tasted like really sweet, really flat Spr.ite. They were also running a blood test to check for anemia. Apparently I'm not anemic and don't have gestational diabetes, because the nurse said she would call on Friday if either of those tests came back abnormal, and I never got a phone call. Woo hoo!

Thursday night we had the second of our childbirth classes, which are also taking place at the hospital. We talked about the stages of labor and learned some comfort measures to practice at home. Can I just say I never knew that tennis balls made such good massagers? Seriously, Matt rubbing my lower back with that tennis ball was awesome. We stopped on the way home to pick up some tennis balls of our own :) We also have a paper with a bunch of different positions for laboring that we're supposed to try before next week so we can figure out what we like/don't like and we aren't trying to figure everything out from scratch when I'm actually in labor. Labor still kind of scares me, but I'm liking learning more about it and what we can do to help me manage the pain when it actually comes time for that (though there will be an epidural at some point).

I'll make another post soon about the little getaway Matt and I took this weekend (our "annual small town fall retreat") but I'll leave you with this 29 week photo from the corn maze we went through yesterday :)

27 week survey

How far along? 27 weeks 1 day
How big is baby? About 2 pounds and 14 inches
Total weight gain/loss? My best guess is that I'm up 14-15 pounds.
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep? Still so-so. I woke up Thursday night with an awful cramp in my left calf that had me gasping. I know those happen during pregnancy, but I'm hoping that does not become a frequent occurrence.
Best moment this week? The nursery is painted! And we got to attend a fundraiser cookout tonight for friends who are adopting two beautiful children from Africa. It was so encouraging to hear how God has provided for them thus far, and to see photos of their son and daughter.
Weekly wisdom: When in doubt, call the doctor. That's what they're there for. I had to call on Friday because Baby B hadn't really moved around much at all Thursday or Friday, and that's just not normal for me at this point, so I got concerned. The nurse was super nice and encouraged me to call any time. In the end, I left school right after dismissal (so about 45 minutes early), came home, drank some cold juice and laid on my side to do kick counts. Baby B finally decided to start moving around and we had 9 movements in one hour (I was told to call immediately if I felt less than 5).
Milestones: 3rd trimester! Oh, and I realized today that I can no longer see my feet if I stand normally.

The nursery is painted!

When we bought our house 3.5 years ago, we had plans to paint this room soon after closing. But then we got caught up with a few other house projects, and decided we would just leave it and decide what to do once we had kids. The previous owners had hand-painted this room for their first child, and we knew that it would cost a good amount of money to have someone do something like that, so we didn't want to paint over it right away in case we decided we liked it enough to use it for our child(ren).

Behold, the frogs and lilypads. (And yes, this has been called "the frog room" for the past 3.5 years!)
But then once we got pregnant and started talking about nursery ideas, we decided we didn't really want a frog-themed room. We wanted the experience of getting the room entirely ready for our baby, and we wanted to make it our own. So Matt and some friends of ours tackled this project last weekend. Matt primed on Friday night, and I think that's when it really became real to me - we were painting this room to get it ready for our little one!

We put a stripe along the top of the room. Doug, being the mathematical person that he is, was in charge of making sure the taped lines were straight.

Amy, Doug's wife, is an awesome painter. And has amazing tape-removal skills.

I obviously didn't help paint. I had seen some of the green, but none of the stripe. Matt had his camera ready to catch my reaction when I walked into the room and saw it completely painted for the first time.

The finished paint job! I love it! It's exactly what I had pictured in my head!

Our next step is to get new baseboards up. We had to take them out because one of our cats had decided the baseboards in that room were a nice place to use the bathroom. (That little corner nook used to hold both litterboxes - they've been moved elsewhere in the house now). The carpet cleaning company is coming in 2 weeks, and then we'll be ready to move the furniture in. Only 13 more weeks (ish) until Baby B gets here! Time has gone by so quickly!

Coming home outfits!

My mom has really been wanting to buy gender-specific clothes, which she can't really do since we dont' know if Baby B is a boy or a girl. So, I decided to let her help me pick out coming home outfits, since I wanted to have a boy outfit and a girl outfit ready for when we leave the hospital. Mom and I went shopping and picked out two adorable outfits. And let's just say, I'm fairly certain that once Baby B gets here, he/she will have a full wardrobe fairly quickly. Soooo many cute clothes!

If Baby B is a boy, he will be wearing this outfit home from the hospital:



Isn't it cute? And the little shoes...I love them!

If Baby B is a girl, she will wear this outfit home from the hospital:

Fun colors, fleecy and warm...cute!

Only 14 more weeks (ish) until we know which outfit Baby B will be coming home in!

26 week survey

How far along? 26w1d (picture from yesterday, 26w0d)
How big is baby? All the books say baby is about 14 inches long and weighs 1.5-2 pounds
Total weight gain/loss? I was up 13 pounds total at my appointment 2 weeks ago, so maybe 14-15 pounds total by now. The doc was pleased with my gain so far.
Stretch marks? Nope. And my mom said she never got them with me or my sister, so I'm hoping it's the same for me, since stretch marks are supposed to be hereditary.
Sleep? Decent. I'm getting a few hours in at a time.
Best moment this week: Picking out coming-home outfits (another post on that coming soon!) and painting the nursery (happening today!)
What I am looking forward to: Seeing the nursery completely painted (it's primed right now, and our friends are on their way over to help paint)
Weekly wisdom: People tell you that you "look great." I'm convinced people say this no matter what, as I feel like a huge cow lately. Seriously, the picture this week is enough to show you that I've suddenly become huge, especially when compared to the picture from 2 weeks ago.
Milestones: Air sacs are beginning to form in Baby B.'s lungs, and he/she can now open their eyes.

And here's the picture. I feel HUGE compared to where I was a week or two ago.