34 Weeks!

Randy and I both agree that something has happened over the past week or so and all of a sudden I'm so much bigger. He likes to say that my belly looks like a torpedo when I'm walking around and that I look like a buddha when I'm sitting down. Luckily I don't take offense to either of those. There's no doubt that little Blake is growing right along in there. He's weighing almost 5 pounds now. My 34 week appointment was on Monday and the heartbeat sounded great. I'll go in 2 more weeks at week 36 and then every week after that to see how things are progressing. Hopefully nothing will be progressing until week 40. We want him to come as close to his due date as possible so that his birthday is not too close to Christmas.

Even after our childbirth class I wasn't really that nervous about the delivery. We didn't watch any crazy videos and they told us what to expect from labor, where to go, who to call, etc. I only got one "Is she kidding? I can't do that." look from Randy when they talked about labor and how the father could watch the birth. So all was good...and then a couple of nights later I was looking through this magazine they gave us that has pictures and descriptions of each month of pregnancy. I'm flipping through, flipping through, and I get to month 9. Big mistake! There was a picture of a woman lying down, spread eagle, giving birth with just the baby's head sticking out! To hear all of these things about the birth was one thing but to get a visual was a completely different thing! I don't know what scared me more - that there was a baby coming out of her or that she was lying there exposed for everyone in the room to see! I know women do it every day and somehow I will too but still, I regret looking at that magazine. And thank God for epidurals! Oh, and I immediately told Randy not to look at that magazine.

32 Weeks!

It's now December and I can officially say that we're going to have a baby next month! Woo hoo! 32 weeks already! Time is starting to go faster, in part I think because of the holidays and just being a busier time of year. We decorated the house for Christmas this week. Randy had to put up the outside Christmas lights by himself and get all of the boxes down from the attic by himself. Definitely not easy but he never complained. Such a good husband. Well, I say that, and then there's this....I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and, in all seriousness, he told me I could get him some noise cancelling headphones so he could watch TV while the baby was crying. If you know him, you know this is a typical Randy comment - just saying whatever comes to mind and not really thinking it through...like that this might possibly imply that he wouldn't be actually trying to help calm the baby but that he'd just be sitting on the couch watching TV. So of course I give him a look and he realizes he better fix this so he grins real big and says that it would be for me too, we could trade off. I don't really know what to think of this....

The baby is weighing in at almost 4 pounds now. I can't believe his weight will still almost double in the next 8 weeks. I already feel so huge! I don't know where he's going to go! He gets the hiccups almost every day or so which is kind of funny to think about his little body pulsing in there. He's still moving a lot but they say that will slow down some as he runs out of room. I wish I knew what the bulge in my stomach was at times. Sometimes one little area will stick out and I don't know if it's an elbow, a shoulder, a foot? I'm still enjoying his little kicks and punches, although I must admit there's been a couple that have been less than fun. My doctor said no more sleeping on my back unless there's a pillow under my hip so I'm finding it harder to sleep now since I can only rotate from one side to the other. I also keep having dreams that I'm running or ice skating (where does that come from?) or that I'm back in drill team. Walks with Cooper are better than nothing but I think I just really miss a good workout on the elliptical...or even just being able to hop up out of a chair to go get something. Only 7 1/2 weeks or so left though and then he'll be here! Our all-day childbirth class is tomorrow so that should help us learn what we're in for!

30 Weeks!

A lot has happened in the past 2 weeks..I passed the second glucose test, the nursery is really coming along, and we had a shower in Marshall and a shower in Austin. Thanks to our generous and thoughtful friends and family, we now have lots of cute baby clothes, bibs, and socks and many of the necessities like the car seat, pack n play, swing, bouncer, bottles, and bath stuff! The bedding is now set up in the nursery and it's time for the fun part of adding shelves, a lamp, pictures, and all the finishing touches!
The baby weighs about 3 pounds now and still moves around a lot. I don't know what he's doing in there but sometimes my whole belly just rolls and shakes! I was telling Randy that, as excited as I am to meet Baby Smith, I will really miss being pregnant. I'm just so in awe of the whole idea of pregnancy and how this little life grows from something so small to something that weighs 7+ pounds and has a heart, brain, lungs and can see and cry and hear! It's so amazing to me and I'll really miss feeling him move around. I still have about 10 more weeks of that left but I know he'll be here before we know it!

28 Weeks...3rd trimester!

We finally painted the nursery! Well, almost. All the walls are painted but there's still some finishing up to do around the ceiling and I think I still want to do some things to the crib wall. The furniture also came in today so I can't wait to set up the bedding to see how everything looks! I'll post pictures once everything is done.

My first baby shower is this weekend in Marshall so I'm really excited about that and am looking forward to hanging out with friends and family that I don't get to see often enough.

I'm officially in the 3rd trimester now and still feeling pretty great. Below is a sonogram pic from our 28 week visit on Monday. His eyes are open now which you can see in the picture, if you can make it out. It looks like he's peeking out. You can see the whole right half of his face. Up until now the baby has been measured from crown to rump (head to butt as I explained to Randy) but now they start measuring from head to toe. The baby now measures over 15" long and weighs in at about 2 pounds 5 ounces! As he gets bigger his movements feel different too. I still feel kicks and pokes but also feel big plops in my stomach like he's just rolling over and all his weight is falling in one area. He's also big enough now where I can tell where he is. Sometimes the bottom or side of my stomach will be a big bulge and get really hard. He's still head up so I'm guessing that's either his back or his little bottom that I can see and feel. I also took the glucose test on Monday and unfortunately I failed. My doctor told me that it's not caused by diet, it's just that some placentas don't handle the balance of sugar well. I have to go for the 3-hour glucose test on Monday to see if I definitely have gestational diabetes or not. I'm hearing from more and more people that they failed the first test and passed the second test so I'm hoping, praying, holding my breath and crossing my fingers that holds true for me. It's just cruel to expect a pregnant woman to go through the holidays with NO sweets!

The wall is blue! :)

26 Weeks!

All of our furniture is in - the crib, dresser, and glider!! It wasn't scheduled to be here until December so I'm SO excited that it's already here! I finally picked out some bedding too and it's also here so now all that's left to do is paint! I think that's actually going to be harder than it sounds because I want to do stripes on the wall that the crib will be on. Every time I tell someone that they say, "oh, stripes?" But I really don't want just 2 colors in there. I really want 3 - a lighter blue, a darker blue, and a chocolate. As hard as it is for me to make decisions these days, I've finally made this one and I'm sticking to it! So, we'll see how this goes. 3 of the walls will be easy because they'll all be blue. Randy is going to get started on those this weekend. The crib wall will be the hardest. A little nervous how this will turn out but the good thing about paint is that it's easy to re-do.

There's only about one more week left of the second trimester and then it will be onto the last and final one! The baby weighs almost 2 pounds now and measures a little over 9 inches. He moves all the time, especially in the morning and at night. I was telling Randy how I don't see how women ever get tired of that. It's just the best feeling. He said he's going to remind me of this in a few weeks as the baby gets bigger and is packing a little more punch.

People keep asking me if I have any cravings but I really don't other than eating 2-3 bowls of cereal a day. Cooper and I are still going on our 2 mile walks most days and I'm still doing my pregnancy pilates and yoga videos. All of that is supposed to make things easier after having the baby so I hope that ends up being true.

Here's a 26 week belly picture, steadily putting on the pounds....


And a picture of the bedding. It's mostly blue and brown with a few orange monkeys or polka dots. The first one is a sham that will cover a pillow and go in the glider. The second is a picture of the crib skirt. Kind of hard to get the full effect but the nursery will be finished soon and then I'll post better pics.

24 Weeks!

I find it ironic that hormones cause women to be indecisive and forgetful at a time when you need to be decisive about daycares, strollers, car seats, cribs, nursery colors, etc. AND need to be remembering the stuff you're reading about feeding, sleeping, and what to do with this brand new life when you bring him home! I've always been indecisive but I can't even seem to make decisions about the smallest things lately. Randy and I spent an hour and a half at USA Baby while I migrated from chair to chair trying to figure out which one was the most comfortable, debating whether we needed a recliner, an ottoman, or neither, and trying to convince myself that I should choose the more comfortable one even though it didn't come in the fabric I really wanted (chocolate brown with white cording). Randy tried to be helpful but since I'll be spending the most time in it he wouldn't tell me which one to get. After about 80 minutes though, he told me we were leaving in 10 minutes. So of course I called my mom and she helped me make a decision. :) I went with the more comfortable one which doesn't recline and is a solid chocolate.

We also registered at Target and Babies R Us a couple of weeks ago but good luck finding our registry. I'm the 33rd Amanda Smith to register in Texas at BRU and the 31st at Target. At least you can narrow it down by the city at BRU. Luckily there's only a handful of Randy Smith's at both places though!

We had the big 24 week sonogram today which is a 25-30 minute anatomy sonogram to look at all the organs and make sure they're all measuring as they should and doing what they're supposed to do. Everything looked great and we counted 10 fingers and 10 toes! A couple of times they flipped the sonogram over to 3D mode so you can actually make out the face pics below. He weighs about 1.6 pounds now and is about 8.6 inches long. Right now he will continue to gain about 6 ounces a week. I on the other hand should be gaining about 1-1.5 pounds a week!

He has his left hand up to his face in this one. Looks like he's thinking about something. :)


This one's a little scarier. He's just getting to the point where he's starting to put on fat so he still looks a bit skeletal here:


I purposely chose a shirt that I could wear in all pictures from beginning to end, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to be able to wear this for another 16 weeks.

22 Weeks!

Randy was finally able to feel the baby move last night! I've been feeling him move regularly for about a week now but he usually stopped right when I would grab Randy's hand. He was pretty active last night though and Randy felt him moving all around. He just kept grinning and saying how weird it was that there was a little person in there.

The baby weighs about 1 pound now and is about 8 inches long. His fingernails, eyelids, and eyebrows are now developed and he can tell the difference between light and dark. I read that we could shine a flashlight on my stomach and that might make him move to turn away from the light but that seems kind of cruel to me. Something to keep in mind if we get desperate for activity though I guess.

I've been trying to stock up on maternity clothes for the past week which is kind of fun since I can just sit on the couch and pick what I want from gap and old navy.com. :) On the other hand, even though I've been buying things I never feel like I have anything to wear when I'm getting ready every day so that part is not so fun.

I'm still feeling pretty great at week 22. I've noticed it's a little harder to roll over in bed and to sit up only because I get the sharp round ligament pain in my stomach. (That's the pain caused by all of the stretching that's going on in there to make room for baby.) As long as I move slowly like an old woman though, it's fine so I can't really complain.

We're planning on starting to register this weekend and ordering a glider. I also ordered a fabric swatch of bedding and am hoping it will come in and be the right colors. We want to do blue and brown but are having a hard time finding bedding that's the right shade and pattern. Hopefully it will all come together soon and you'll see the wall behind me in this picture start to change colors!

2 more weeks until the 24 week appointment which will be a 15-20 minute sonogram so we should get a new video and some good pics of the baby if he cooperates.

This is Cooper's first appearance on the blog... :)

20 Weeks!

20 weeks this week - the official halfway point! I had my 20 week appointment this morning and it's still a boy! Good thing too because I can't imagine having to come back and tell Randy it's not a boy after all! (They normally don't do a sonogram at the 20 week visit so Randy didn't come to this one but they ended up doing one anyways.) I won't post any pictures this time because I figure no one really wants to see the baby's thigh bone and the other pictures didn't turn out that great. He did yawn while we were watching him on the screen which was pretty cute. I have definitely started feel him moving around a little, especially at night after dinner when I'm laying down. It's not enough for Randy to feel yet but hopefully within the next few weeks. The baby is measuring about 14 ounces now and is about the size of a cantaloupe, right on track.

We ordered a crib and dresser last weekend so the next step is to start looking at bedding and paint colors. But that will have to wait until after our trip to Grand Cayman! We leave tomorrow and get back next Tuesday night. It's our last hoorah before we either won't have a little one with us or a little one at home to worry about and miss. Should be a lot of fun although definitely different than our previous beach vacations. :)

19 Weeks!

I just received my first batch of maternity clothes in the mail and they are SO comfortable! I don't know why I held out for so long. That belly band got me through for a while but it just became uncomfortable. It's so nice to have some stretchy clothes!

I went in to hear the baby's heartbeat last week but it was a slow day at the doctor so they offered to do a sonogram so I could see him. Of course I didn't pass that up. It was hard to get a good picture of him because he kept moving around but after a lot of pushing on him he finally looked right at us as if it say, "Okay here I am! Now leave me alone!" :) The picture didn't turn out as good as it looked on screen but if you're really good at looking at these things, maybe you can make it out. He is still facing my back for the most part. Sometimes I think maybe I feel him moving him around but I'm not sure if that's him or not so it's nice to get to see him just to know he's still okay in there.

We headed out for round 2 of crib shopping last weekend. I think we've narrowed it down to 2. The first trip was a little overwhelming for both of us but since then I've been reading this book called Baby Bargains. It's the best! It has a section for everything you'll need to buy and then within each section it tells you all the features and options, which ones you need and which ones you don't, all the brands, and then rates them based on safety, quality, and whether they're worth the price. I must say I was disappointed to read that Pottery Barn furniture got a C rating! The C rating was because it's not made of solid wood and because it should be given the price. Surprisingly, they don't have any I like anyways. We're looking for a white crib and most of theirs that I like are dark wood. Not to worry though, they still have good nursery decor and accessories to fill the room. :)

Here is a 19-week belly pic. I've gained 7 pounds so far. I'm okay sharing that right now but don't expect to see that number published once I hit double digits!

IT'S A BOY!!!

56% of you were right...IT'S A BOY!!!

Instead of having the doctor tell us, we decided to have him write it on the sonogram picture so that we could find out once we were alone. (Plus I was scared that I would be so distracted after finding out that I wouldn't hear anything else the doctor told us at the appointment.) Of course, we only waited until they left the room to read the sonogram:


Little foot!



You can't see his head in this picture but you can see his spine along the top. He has he knees tucked under him and is facing my back....he's giving a hug! :)


He's a little hunched over in this picture. You can see his rounded spine that looks like little railroad tracks and you can make out his right ear, right eye, and nose.


I thought I would be the first one to make a purchase after finding out it's a boy but Randy already hit up Target today and bought a few boy toys - a Tonka truck and GI Joe:



Adding yet another boy to both of our families of predominantly boys but we couldn't be more excited! He'll be here just in time for the Superbowl!



Brad (Randy's brother), gave him this helmet a few years ago. It's for display only. When I saw Randy with it I have to admit I got a little worried that he thought we might actually try to put it on the baby. He assures me he knows that won't happen. I'm glad I asked though because I have found that Randy knows very little about babies. Typical of a lot of men I guess but it's pretty comical how little he knows. It will be interesting once we have to start buying things for the baby. Take diapers for example. Randy just found out HEB makes diapers and naturally assumes they're cheaper than Pampers or Huggies so we should buy them. Little does he know how important it is to have a good diaper. Rather than letting him find this out the hard way I'm going to make sure diapers is not an area in which we choose to cut costs.

I'm sure diapers will not be our biggest challenge though because now that we know it's a boy I'm anxious to start looking at furniture and other baby things and get started on the nursery. I'm sure it's pretty common for the women to understand how much things cost and be okay with spending a little more and the men not understanding as much and wanting to spend a little less, but if you know Randy you know he's...hmm...we'll say "cost conscious", so we'll see how this next part goes....


Also, here is a 16 week belly shot.

WEEK 14

Well, I’m now in week 14, the first week of the 2nd trimester! They say this is the best trimester because the nausea and fatigue go away and so far that’s been so true for me. I’ve also gotten my appetite back and can stand to eat salads, veggies, and chicken again. I know there’s a few of you that are disappointed to hear that I am off of my fast food kick now. I’m still keeping Pepperidge Farm in business with the goldfish though. I try to tell myself it’s cheese and they’re made with whole grain, but at the end of the day, it’s still a cracker and I’m going to have to cut back.

The baby is now about the size of a clenched fist. I told Randy this and he asked me, “Whose clenched fist?” Good question, I don’t really know, I assume it’s just the average fist. :)

My doctor’s office (who I love) offered to let me come in between appointments if I ever wanted to hear the baby’s heartbeat, just for reassurance that everything is okay. I think they may regret telling me that because I already took them up on it and went in this week to hear it! All is good! Now just 2 more weeks until we find out whether it’s a boy or girl! I have a feeling it’s a boy, Randy’s in denial that it could be anything but a boy, and my parents think girl so we’ll have to see who’s right...

BABY SMITH!!!

We are super excited to share with our friends and family that we are expecting a baby around January 26, 2010! Wow, 2010! Seems so far away but it's only about 6 more months and I know it will be here before we know it!

Here is a picture from the 12-week sonogram. He or she is quite a mover! Stay tuned for more pictures and news...4 more weeks until we find out the sex! The baby's heartbeat is on the fast side, which some say means a girl, but I also read an old wives' tale that if you crave calories and not sweets and chocolate then it's a boy. Since I've had more of an interest in Chickfila, Whataburger chicken strips, and McDonalds hamburgers and not much interest in cookies or sweets, Randy is choosing to believe that it's a boy. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on his part...

And, the 12-week belly pic...yes there's only one in there.