A Boy and His Blog

Archive for April, 2010

Here is my latest belly picture. It doesn’t look like much growth, but looks are deceiving. I’ve gained about 5 pounds now (lost 5 in the first trimester, gained those 5 back, and now gained an additional 5) and the weight of the baby is starting to cause symptoms. My back and legs and pelvic area are all sore and my mobility is becoming more limited. It is a struggle now to climb stairs, get out of bed or get up off the floor (which I end up sitting on to play with Owen). I’ve also began to waddle at times, which is odd because I have the pregnancy waddle without the distinct pregnancy belly. By the end of the day I get sore when I walk around and sleeping is really uncomfortable now and I often wake up in pain. This all came on very suddenly; I was feeling great up until just this last week. I am not even in the third trimester yet, and I didn’t feel like this with Owen until the last week or two of pregnancy, so I am looking for ways to try decrease the pain and discomfort. My midwife says that the baby has likely dropped so low already that it is cutting off circulation below my pelvis, which is causing a lot of pressure and creating the pain and discomfort. Today she gave me some tips to help out with the issue. I need to elevate my legs above the rest of my body to get the blood to stop pooling, do a knee chest position (butt up in the air, chest to floor) to encourage baby out of the pelvis, drink nettle tea and take cool baths. I’ve also been trying to find a band of some kind to wear on my lower abdomen to lift baby up and increase circulation. My midwife said that the baby is doing what it supposed to do, it is just doing it really early. I think my pelvis just opened right up this time and baby dropped right into it. We took a walk today to get circulation going, and then I laid on the couch with my legs elevated for about 45 minutes. I plan to do that after my walk every day from now on. I also need to visit my chiropractor sooner than planned so she can make sure my pelvis is aligned properly. I may need to increase my visits there now to keep my pelvis aligned (it has a tendency to twist, which isn’t good when there is the pressure of a fetus inside of it). Whenever I have some time, I also want to look into prenatal yoga. I think that might help with the discomfort. It is only temporary though, so I can deal with it, it is just strange to me that I feel like this so soon this time. I really hope some of these things work and I can feel better because I have a few months to go still!

We got Owen a new captian’s bed off Craigslist and it came with a dresser and a nightstand. Our budget was $300.00 and we got all three pieces for only $200.00! We also had to buy a mattress (Ikea), a quilt (which we got off Ebay), and sheets.  We ended up going over budget by about $80.00, but it was worth it because now we don’t need to buy a dresser for us. We will just use Owen’s dresser because he is still using open shelving for his clothing needs. His room is all set up now and we have our bedroom off to a good start as well. We just need to arrange it a bit more. Owen likes his new bed, though he told us he fell out of it one night. I am not sure if she really did or not, because we never heard anything and he never came into our room and told us, but he insists. He never comes into our bed anymore as a matter of fact. Every now and then he talks us into letting him sleep with us, but other than that he doesn’t come in bed with us in the early morning anymore. If he wakes up, he just comes up to my bedside and tells me to get up. If I refuse, he goes back into his room or into his bed. I’m kind of glad, because I don’t want him in our bed with a newborn baby. However, it is bittersweet as well, as our lovely co-sleeping arrangement (which included many bumps in the road and was not always so lovely, but looking included more benefits than drawbacks) has finally come to an end. But, we will soon begin co-sleeping with our new baby (if baby is willing) which I am really looking forward to!

We are using the dresser in our room that came with his bedroom set for now. That cleared out the baby’s dresser and so I cleaned it and washed some clothes and put them away. I still have lots of baby clothes to wash and put away and we still need to set up the changing table and decide on if we will cloth diaper or not. There is lots to do to get ready, but we have plenty of time.

I am looking forward to this summer and spending time together with Owen before our new little baby arrives and before he is off to school this fall. We have plans to go the beach and park and to do things other than watch TV. In fact, I am considering having a TV free summer. I think I might limit that to just Owen hours though (so James and I can still watch our Netflix after he goes to bed before we put it on hold once the baby is born). I also need to limit computer time so I need to work out a schedule for that as well. Getting outside more and doing fun things will help. We are planning to have play dates with Owen’s buddies from preschool and we are planning to have beech dates with Auntie Berta and Lyric (and anyone else who wants to join) at Fort Snelling State Park. We will be looking for fun things to keep us busy this summer, until the end of July anyway when I have a feeling we will get quite busy

Here are some photos one Owen’s new bed, quilt and sheets, as well as his nightstand and the dresser which is in our room and not quite cleaned off yet:

I am now six months pregnant. The baby is somewhat viable at this point, though it would only have a 60% survival rate and would have a 75% chance of permanent disabilities if it were born today, so I am happy to let baby cook for a few more months.

The baby is moving around quite a bit. Daddy has felt the baby move, and Owen claims to have also but I can’t be too sure about that. Mama certainly feels the baby moving around though, and lately it has seemed to be awake more often than asleep. It is developing some definite wake and sleep times. Baby wakes up around 10:00 to 11:00 am and also around 10:00 to midnight and is the most active during those times. Hopefully we can push that schedule backward a bit once baby is born. Otherwise one of us will be up until midnight every night (and it ain’t going to be me – I will be on night feeding duty every night, so Daddy will take ‘walking cranky baby around’ duty). Daddy might have his hands full with this one.

I am still only slightly showing, but will try to get a new picture up soon. It’s a little frustrating to not show for so long, but with Owen it lasted much longer so I can’t complain too much. It would just be nice to have an obvious belly instead of people just thinking I am fat[er].

We have been discussing names for baby quite a bit and we have a boy’s name picked out, pretty much. I think it’s the best name of the bunch we’ve been considering. There is some disagreement in our house about the girl’s name. Owen and I like one name, Daddy likes another name. The name I like is short like Owen’s so would not require a nickname. The name Daddy likes is three syllabols and so it would really need a nickname. Therein lies the problem, because I don’t have to just love the name itself (which I do, it was orginally my choice), but I also have to love the nickname. There are several nicknames we could get out of this name and there are two I really like, but one is extremely popular right now so we can’t use it. The other is okay, but I don’t love it as much. I know it is frustrating to read about names when you don’t know what the names are, but we are still not sharing so you will have to deal with it 

I had a midwife appointment Thursday night. James and Owen came with me again in the hopes of hearing the heartbeat. The midwife found the heartbeat, but it was so faint that none of us could hear it. She said the heart rate was in the lower 140’s. I am measuring on schedule and everything else is going well. We had a little chat about the birth this time, and I feel like we are really on the same page with things which is reassuring. I think we are finally getting to know them better (the midwife and her assistant who will also be at the birth), which is good because they will be there during a very private and special time for our family.