We're Back!

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Things we have been up to:

1. Not unpacking. The house is a disaster zone but we love having a house! Maybe someday we can get rid of all the boxes.

2. We hired a doula (labor support person) after doing a couple interviews. We really felt that this was important even though we have a great midwifery team. Specifically, we wanted someone that could help Taylor support me and we feel like we picked a great person. Her name is Stacey and we will also be taking a childbirth prep class with her. http://www.mothertreebirth.com/doulas-sb.html

3. I had a fabulous gestational diabetes test, instead of having to drink some nasty drink I had a finger poke and was instructed to go eat waffles and syrup and protein and walk for a half hour and then get poked again...to see how I metabolize real food. Apparently, I do just fine as the test was a success...and the cornmeal Belgian waffle was so so good.

4. I am officially in my third trimester, I will feel better after this week is over since I had that whole "higher risk of miscarriage" in the second trimester due to the bleeding in early pregnancy. The baby is moving all about and Taylor plans to take a picture of the belly this weekend so you can all see the growth, and there is a lot. Basically, I don't fit into anything anymore. The pregnancy stores tell you to buy your pre-pregnancy size which is a bunch of crap considering my breasts are three times their pre-pregnancy size!!! Clothes are not easy to find and I have resorted to shoe looking slippers for comfort and to support my poofy feet.

5. We started a hypnobirthing class last week and it is really interesting. Taylor managed to keep the horror on her face to a minimum when watching the birthing videos and I think it will be a good class. It is odd to be the only same sex couple and even though the instructor is sensitive it feels a little exclusionary at times. I just did a guest lecture for culturally competent care for LGBT clients for the midwifery school so maybe I am just hypersensitive. :)

Back to prepping for the class we are teaching!

Megan

Gifts are optional!

So I feel mildly guilty and greedy for posting this but people have been asking so there you go. On the left side of the blog is the list of gift ideas/registries. We did cave to peer pressure (mostly co-workers as both of our works are throwing baby showers for us) and registered at Target and Babies R Us. Again, we are much more interested in your good wishes, homemade gifts, used gender neutral clothing w/no cartoon characters! and anyone who wants to come over after the baby is born and clean the kitchen or feed us gets major points. :) But if you can't come over and are more into gift certificates we have links to the diaper service that we will use (as there is only one) and a fabulous personal chef service. I am especially excited about that because if you know us you know Taylor avoids the kitchen like the plague and I am not that fond of cooking either. I e-mailed the chef to make sure she is queer friendly and she seems great so feel free to get gift certificates from her!

In other happenings, I would like to thank Amelia, Mandy, Melissa, Sarah, and Travis for helping Taylor paint this weekend (and Jessica, Brinsley, and Brooklynn for keeping me entertained). I think there are some painting touch ups needed in the bathroom and kitchen and then we are done! We hope to move the heavy furniture this Sunday 9/28, so again if you are around and available let us know.

Have we mentioned that we are co-teaching an Intro to Queer Studies class? I think it is going well but it does make me appreciate the support our family feels from all of you! :)

Megan

Rutabaga

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

Thus concludes the week of Taylor yelling "baby corn!" at my belly!

Moving Corn

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

I definitely am feeling a lot of movement starting a couple weeks ago, Taylor has even felt it three times but has to wait for the baby to be really active and sit there with her hand on my belly for awhile. I believe she described it as "cool and creepy". I would say I think about the same, I am loving feeling the movement but it is a little creepy to have something you know is separate from you moving inside your body! I am really enjoying being pregnant though. I am taking a pregnancy yoga class and we are starting a hypnobirthing class in October, I think we will end up taking two childbirth classes but haven't decided on what the other one will be yet.

The 22 week ultrasound was fine although they did see an echogenic foci. I have copied the wikipedia definition of that here.Echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) is a small bright spot seen in the baby’s heart on an ultrasound exam. This is thought to represent mineralization, or small deposits of calcium, in the muscle of the heart. EIFs are found in about 3-5% of normal pregnancies and cause no health problems. EIFs themselves have no impact on health or heart function. Often the EIF is gone by the third trimester. If there are no problems or chromosome abnormalities, EIFs are considered normal changes, or variants.

We have no other risk factors and may have another ultrasound later in the pregnancy but after talking to a number of people we feel really confident that everything is as it should be.

Our prenatal appointment last week was good with my uterus measuring as it should and my blood pressure was good (I had a little ankle swelling but not much yet). I also got a 20 minute leg massage....gotta love midwives! :)

Megan

House News!

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of post...everything is fine with the baby we have just been busy. I think I am going to start making small posts so that at least something is updated and I don't avoid posting because I feel it has to be a long analysis of what we are up to!!

We bought a house! It sounds odd but it was rather unplanned and if you had asked us 2-3 months ago we would have told you we had no plans to buy. We are slowly moving in and Taylor will be painting this Saturday 9/20 if anyone is in the area and wants to help out. Feel free to give her a call. :) It is a tiny dollhouse with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath but a great open feeling and really nice backyard. It is also in the same neighborhood we are in now which we love and only needs some cosmetic stuff (mainly painting) and is move in ready.

Wish us luck and please let us know if you want to stop by to see it. :)

Megan

Halfway there!

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

I promised a picture so here you go!! You will just have to imagine the banana. This week the e-mail update tried to tell me that I have gained about 10 lbs....HA HA HA...bastards...I'm sure that they meant 10 lbs in just my boobs b/c that would be a little more accurate.

We are well on our way to owning our own home. We had an inspection of the house last Thursday and it went really well, we are just waiting for the mortgage appraisal..and then I assume there is more paper signing. Good times! We also had a prenatal appointment on Thursday which was good; the heartbeat was strong and we are having an ultrasound next week to check amniotic fluid, position, etc. and yes, we are holding firm to our decision to NOT find out the sex.

I think I might have felt the baby move this weekend but am not 100% yet...it is low in the uterus and apparently the sharp pains that shoot through my vagina are the result of it hitting my nerve endings...but in addition to that funness I really think I might have felt it move. It is supposed to feel like bubbles, popcorn, butterfly wings or gas (or all of the above) or so people tell me. So I felt it move or I had more gas brewing...side benefit of pregnancy is that it is hard to know the difference! Not to downplay our excitement about feeling the little one b/c you know we are ecstatic. More updates as they come...

Spontaneous or Crazy?

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, taking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom --about the size of a heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Never let it be said that we aren't spontaneous. In direct violation of our midwife's suggestion to reduce stress (sorry Laura!) we have decided in the span of two weeks to buy a house. Two weeks ago we had dinner with Taylor's friend and collegue, Pam and her fabulous husband Jeff who were very convincing about the idea of purchasign a home in the current market. One week later we met with their mortgage person, Dianne just to discuss what that might look like for us and since there was a program we qualified for that closes 10/1 we thought that we would look at a couple places. We went to one open house that weekend and confirmed that we needed guidance. Our friend Ingrid hooked us up with our great realtor (who we totally recommend) Bonnie and we all (Ingrid included!) went to see a few places on Friday. We found a house that we absolutely love and put an offer in on Saturday, it was accepted on Sunday, and we have an inspection scheduled on Thursday. We will see what happens but we are optimistic. Okay, really we are just terrified and stressed about money but we are trying to think long term and enjoy the idea of our own home; for us and the baby.

I still haven't felt the baby move but have been having a lot of ligament pain as my uterus gets bigger. I have more of a tummy now but it is still not completely obvious I am pregnant. However, that doesn't stop everyone from work guessing...the guess seems to be a girl since I am not carrying in front but around...this is a nice way to say that my ass is expanding. We still like Embry for a name but are open to suggestions. :)