26 Weeks 2 Days

How Far Along:  26 weeks, 2 days.  
Size of Baby:  2 pounds! 

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  At my doctor's appointment this past Wednesday I was up 11-12 lbs.  I should expect to gain about a pound a week from here on out.

Maternity Clothes: Maternity pants and a mix of maternity/non-maternity shirts.  My mom is awesome at supplying me a new shirt/pants every couple of weeks.

Movement: Yes - and of course mostly in the evenings. If that is any indication of us having a night owl, I'm a little nervous! But I will gladly take all the kicks, rolls and punches right now.

Sleep:  Definitely have been very sleepy the past week or so.  I don't know if it's starting to get close to the third trimester or low iron (just started taking iron in case), but I am a sleepy one! 

What I miss:  Not much this week.  I am quite happy and thankful to be pregnant.

Cravings: Finally fulfilled the french fry craving with Chic-fil-A this weekend with Lucas.  It was delightful. 

Symptoms:  Increased tiredness, still some itchiness (but not nearly as bad as it had been). 

Best Moment this week:  Had a good doctor's appointment on Wednesday.  I am measuring all on track and the babe's heartbeat was very consistent to what it has been (between 145-155).  On a non-pregnancy note, taking a HUGE load of stuff to Goodwill yesterday was so great.  Lucas and I may have differing opinions on what things we should save/not save so it is great to have a cross country move in our future to start purging! 

Random Updates: Signed the lease (see previous post).  Lucas has this week off of work so he is going golfing and helping paint a family's house from our church to keep him busy.  We're also going to start posting some Craiglist furniture to try to get that out of the house while he is home.  

Pics for the week (including a bare belly shot).  Lucas predicts my belly button has two weeks left as an innie so we'll see if he is right! 

We have a place to live!

As of June 15, we will have a place to call home in NY (signed lease is in the mail)!  As crazy as it seems to sign a year lease on a house that we've never actually seen, both Lucas and I are surprisingly relaxed about it.  Perhaps it is just the alternative that stresses us out more (not going out to look for housing until the end of May, just a few weeks shy of our move date).  Either way, we are happy and think that, even though it is another "older" home, it's 40 years newer than our current home and has many more upgrades.

Living room and my office

Baby's nursery/guest room (we'll see how everything fits!)

An updated kitchen with...a DISHWASHER! Thank God!

The best part of the house is that it is only a mile from the hospital that Lucas will be at most of the time and one mile to the beach (right next to a huge reserve with lots of trails...I'm already dreaming of my running routes with a jogging stroller in tow).

How far Along: 25 weeks and 2 days


Size of Baby: Over a pound and a half, 13 1/2 inches in length.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  Total weight gain at this point is about 10 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Maternity pants and a mix of maternity/non-maternity shirts.  My mom is awesome at supplying me a new shirt/pants every couple of weeks.

Movement: Yep- very regularly scheduled it seems like too.

Sleep:  I love sleeping right now.  I think I typically sleep walk to the bathroom (it doesn't even phase me waking up for that any more).  

What I miss:  We went to Santa Barbara this weekend and I was dying to go for a long run along the beach (my old route)!

Cravings: Still haven't fulfilled my french fry craving.  However, satisfied a big one this weekend with TWO trips to Blenders.  Gummy candy.

Symptoms:  Still having some weird itchy patches. 

Best Moment this week:  Lucas and I's trip to Santa Barbara.  It was so wonderful to get away and see good friends.  Also, as much as this was not a good experience, going to labor and delivery and hearing the babe's heart beat for over an hour is always a great thing.  I don't think I could ever get sick of that sound.

Random Updates: Still planning a move, starting to get a little nervous that we only have about 7 more weeks here!  Getting our registry all ready to go for two upcoming May showers! 

My old running route...not running, clearly.

Why oh why did we ever leave!?

Bentley stayed the weekend at Roxy's house...this is the aftermath when he returns home.

Drama Queen/King

Yesterday I had my first trip to labor and delivery. Nice, huh?  24 weeks 3 days.

Seems like we may be cooking up one of these...

Johnny Drama from Entourage

Just a plain old queen of drama

It all started on the weekend when I noticed that I never felt the babe move all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday.  I felt a little bit of movement Sunday evening, but not nearly with the same intensity that I have been, nor could it be triggered with my usual tricks (a glass of OJ etc). Noted, but wasn't overly concerned.

For the past two weeks, I have developed weird itchy patches that suddenly appear (mostly at night) and turn to a strange rash.  On Sunday night, I was itching so badly on my leg that it nearly started bleeding.  I begged for cortisone (which Lucas and I weren't sure was safe with pregnancy) and decided I would call the nurse Monday morning.

Cue a casual phone call to my nurse to discuss said itching and changes in movement...and five minutes later she called me back saying I needed to go to Labor and Delivery immediately.

Luckily Lucas was in class and was able to escape so he was actually at the hospital before I was.  Unlucky for us, the wait for triage was about 90 minutes, followed by sitting in a triage room for 45 min sans nurse, followed by being hooked up to the monitor for over an hour and waiting to be discharged...Yes, that's a total of 4 hrs that we spent at the lovely LLU L&D department.  And of course the babe began kicking up a storm the second they put the monitor on me.  And the rash?  Well, I have to keep an eye on it and make sure that it responds to cortisone (they believe that it may just be an allergy I am developing).  If not, they'll run some other tests to make sure my good old gallbladder is doing it's thing.

All that to say, we're all doing well.  Hoping not to have to set foot into labor and delivery again until sometime in July when we will be able to leave with a baby.

24 Weeks 2 Days

How Far Along:  24 weeks and 2 days 

Size of Baby:  All these fruit descriptions sound the same... so we'll leave that out this week! Baby King should weigh in at about 1lb 4-8oz.  

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  I don't think I've gained any since last week.  Up for a total of probably about 7lbs (sure doesn't look like it though).

Maternity Clothes: Maternity pants and a mix of maternity/non-maternity shirts.  

Movement:  Yes - Baby King likes to hang out right below my right rib these days.  Lucas has felt the babe going wild in there a couple of times.

Sleep:  Loving my sleep right now

What I miss:  A cold wheat beer - I will definitely be excited to enjoy one with Lucas once the babe arrives.  

Cravings: French fries? Haven't given in to this temptation yet, but watch out this week.  

Symptoms:  Itchy patches - ewww. I don't know if this is pregnancy related or what.  Also, we hit 90 degrees last week and my feet were definitely doubling in size.

Best Moment this week:  24 weeks is considered "viability" - ie. if the babe were to come, there is a good chance he/she could survive (of course after a long NICU stay).  Obviously we would like the babe to stay put in there and cook for at least 13 more weeks (this mama's gotta move, mmkay?), but it's great to know that he/she would be given a chance even with an early arrival.  

Random Updates: PLANNING PLANNING PLANNING. We are finalizing a moving company, thinking about logistics of actually getting everyone across the country, and starting to inventory our house for craigslist/garage sale/goodwill.  And lastly, we likely found the house in Stony Brook that we will be in for at least the next year.  More to come once we sign the lease (from afar...are we crazy? possibly). 

24 weeks 2 days

A self take - Lucas needed to be included! 

Bye bye moped

SOLD! One thing off the list before the big move...

Baptism

On March 21, Lucas was baptized at our church here in Redlands, The River CRC.  It was such a cool service - not only did they welcome new members and do profession of faith, but also had several baptisms....AND A WEDDING.  Yes, a wedding! A couple at our church were struggling financially and the River offered to pay for a wedding and have it done at the end of the service.  It was a huge testimony to God's redeeming love as this is a couple that had struggled for years with drugs, alcohol, prison etc.  If you're interested, you can watch the service online by clicking here (March 20th morning service).  

After church we had lunch with lots of friends at Olive Ave Market (my favorite here in Redlands).  It was such an encouragement to know that God has blessed us with great friends in Redlands even in such a short period of time.  I cling to that and His faithfulness that He will provide all that we need as we make the transition to New York life.