Some first attempts at "maternity pictures"

So... after the baby shower, Jason and I got inspired to take some "maternity pictures" before I get too huge to be the slightest bit "cute" anymore... :)

Here's just a little idea we had...

.... that we kept experimenting with ...

... and then Daddy had a goofy idea that ended up being absolutely hysterical! In order for me to get enough blocks balanced on my tummy for them to spell what Jason wanted, I had to push the top of my belly out as hard as I could... which meant I had to hold my breath so they wouldn't collapse. Well, I did pretty well... I only made a couple blocks fall off a couple times... Jason would set up the blocks, go back to the camera and then my light breathing would knock a couple off, so he fixed them... then it happened again... and again... so then the last time he was getting the camera more ready so I wouldn't have to hold my breath as long...and RIGHT as he was counting down to take the shot (3....2.........) Karson kicked and knocked like 5 blocks over... Jason got so frustrated (thinking I just was just trying to be a pain in the butt) and I started laughing, which made the rest of them crumble, which made me laugh more... and he was like "forget it... I'm done!" I was cracking up trying to explain that the baby kicked the blocks off... that it wasn't my fault... it was just really funny! Anyway, after a couple minutes, he wanted to try it again... conquer the beast, so to speak... here's how it turned out...

... next time we'll shoot for an essay.... I'll have to buy more blocks!

I think next time we'll also have Aunt Kacy come shoot the pictures too so that we can do some more cute ones with the two of us without having to keep running back to the tripod...

A Patiently Awaited Belly Shot...

For your viewing pleasure... here's me at 33 weeks:

Sometimes being a photographer is so annoying... It's so hard to take pictures of yourself! Daddy helped with this one....

Week 33

With midnight bathroom runs, heartburn, racing thoughts, and my basketball-sized belly, it's no wonder sleep is elusive. Third trimester insomnia strikes about three-quarters of pregnant women and I am TOTALLY one of them! Poor Jason is becoming one of the 1/3 of men who are also affected... :( I guess it's great training for both of us for those sleepless nights to come! The baby is still gaining weight (about half a pound a week), and he could grow up to another full inch this week. With that much baby inside my uterus, my amniotic fluid level has maxed out, which explains why some of his pokes and kicks feel pretty sharp these days with less fluid to cushion the blows. Antibodies are being passed from me to baby as he continues to develop his own fetal immune system, which will come in handy once he's outside the womb and fending off all sorts of germs.

This is pretty exciting: The baby's eyes are closing during sleep and opening while he's awake! SO COOL! (but it makes my eyes scratchy thinking about what it feels like to open my eyes under water...)

7 weeks to go!

Congratulations, Kace!

Aunt Kacy graduated high school on Tuesday! In some ways, I can't believe it! In other ways, I can't believe she's not almost done college! It's a very strange mix of thoughts!
Of course, as always, we're so proud of Kace! But, you should have seen my momma's face when the crowd heard how much money Kacy was awarded in scholarship money!
(such pride in her baby girl!) Over 95,000!!! Wooo Hoo! Go get 'em Kace! Featured below is Kacy's personal cheering section that turned plenty heads...
Momma and I didn't have to be embarrassed though, in the quieter (handicapped) section! Lol!

GREAT JOB KACY! Congratulations! You're finally outta there!!!

Week 32

They say that this week, my body may start prepping for delivery day by flexing its muscles — literally. I might feel my uterus bunching or hardening periodically, those are practice contractions, otherwise known as Braxton Hicks. These rehearsals are said to feel like a tightening sensation that begins at the top of your uterus then spreads downward, lasting from 15 to 30 seconds (though they can sometimes last two minutes or more). I haven't experienced this yet... but I have had some minor crampy contractions that last about 10-30 seconds.

Karson's starting to get ready for his big debut, tipping the scales at almost four pounds and topping out at just about 19 inches. In these last few weeks, it's all about practice, practice, practice as he hones the skills he'll need to survive and thrive outside the womb, from swallowing and breathing to kicking and sucking. Another change this week: As more and more fat accumulates under the baby's skin, he's becoming less transparent and more opaque.

I've definitely started feeling more squirming and tapping than huge kicks or jerks lately. Sometimes I think I can distinctly feel fingers or hands sort of grazing the outside wall of my uterus... it's pretty gentle and very strange.

I'm getting really nesty... but don't have much of anything to nest with yet! We're still working on finishing the baby's room... spackling and stuff so that we can paint! But we found flooring yesterday (or... JASON found flooring yesterday) on Craig's list! 1,000 square feet of laminate hard-wood flooring for free! No way!!! So we drove (an hour) to pick it up and brought it home! So, the baby's floor will be MUCH cheaper to finish than we expected! :) We'll start there and get a feel for installing the flooring and then when the baby's room is all set up & perfect, we'll (or more likely Jason) will work down the hallway and into the living room/dining room replacing the flooring out there as well! We're SO excited about that!

The flooring just has some spackle dust and drips on it that need to be scrubbed off, but with a little elbow grease, we'll be good to go!

What a great find! Daddy is quite the scavenger! :)

Okay so here's another one of my pregnancy inventions! For the working woman.... :(

The desk (top left) is conveniently shaped with a semi-circle pocket to fit the belly that is crushed by the straight edge of any normal-shaped desk!

But the CHAIR.... (bottom right)... this is my special creation! This chair allows for maximum breathing ability by allowing you to stretch out your abdomen... the bottom part is for your knees/shins to rest on so you're not sliding off of the chair or anything... this.....THIS is what I need TODAY!

I CAN'T BREATHE!

I can't breathe! It doesn't matter how I sit, lay, etc... work is becoming torturous because I can't sit at my desk! I squirm around and the stupid desk pokes me in the belly... they need to invent a special chair for pregnant people! ugh. The most relief I get is being on my side but that's about it! I do NOT know how I'm going to do a 6 hour car ride to Massachusetts for a wedding in a couple weeks! UGH!

This poor kid.... looking at this picture makes it VERY clear why breathing is becoming nearly impossible for me! Geez!

Neurotic Mommy

So, I had a bit of a scare this morning... I tried to talk myself out of it, but it just wouldn't go away. I was thinking last night that I hadn't really felt the baby move that much during the day... and then he didn't really move at night either. Jason tried singing and there was really just like one small movement that either of us felt. So I just figured he must be tired and went to sleep. Then in the morning, I was laying there expecting to feel him moving because he's been moving more often in the morning lately but ... nothing. I was getting nervous but I just told myself "okay, calm down just eat something and see if that makes him move...." and still nothing. So, I called the doctor's office and left a message... my mom randomly called me and of course she just sets off the water-works immediately. But, as I was talking to her, he moved and it was a pretty big one... so that calmed me a little. Then the doctor's office called back and said that since he's getting bigger, he'll start moving less because he has less room (which I knew)... but that I should be able to expect 4-6 movements after I ate... I told her I felt one... so she said to wait and eat lunch and pay close attention; if I didn't feel 4-6 movements after I ate lunch, I was supposed to call her.

So I ate lunch... and waited in angst! I felt a couple movements but not 4-6 and as I sat and debated calling, he moved about 5 -7 times in a row... it was like a jungle gym! So, I just sort of laughed to myself and took a deep breath! Whew.

I guess this is the beginning of my neurotic behavior as a fretting mother............. great.

31 Weeks

Okay so it's week 31 and I officially cannot breathe! The diaphragm is feeling a little cramped these days. It's weird to imagine your UTERUS pushing up on your diaphragm! It just seems like those things are designed to be so far apart from each other! lol! From what I read, my body is going to be spare on air until the baby drops near the end of pregnancy in preparation for birth. He should be weighing in at three-plus pounds and measuring 18 inches long, quickly approaching his birth length though he's got to pack on another three to five pounds before D-day. The baby's brain connections are also developing at an amazing speed! He's now processing information, tracking light, and perceiving signals from all five senses. He's also putting in longer stretches of sleep, which explains why I'm noticing more defined patterns of awake (and moving) periods and sleeping (still) periods. He's starting to move quite a bit in the morning these days, whereas I would feel the majority of his movements at night before. Jason is excited that he might be a morning person like daddy, after all! (although that makes me a little nervous! I'm SO not a morning person!).

He shoots! BRICK! Off the rib!

So, lately (meaning the past week or so) when the baby jerks or kicks, my whole body shakes... like sometimes when I'm laying in bed, I wonder if the bed shook or if it just felt like it from the inside. It's crazy!

Today I had another "first." At work, we had a meeting and I was getting really uncomfortable sitting there for so long so I kept changing positions. Well, one of the positions, he must not have liked because I felt a kick in my rib cage and it HURT! It actually really hurt! It sort of felt like a kick that sent a pinched nerve sensation across the front of my body... Some of the other women in the meeting who have had children knew by the look on my face and where I grabbed that the baby just kicked my ribs! I thought that was funny.

It really hurt!

Sunday Stretches

So today in church, Jason and I were holding hands and his arm was sort of on my leg but part of his arm was touching my belly. The baby decided he wanted to stretch and Jason was surprised to have felt him bump his arm but I was even more surprised that I felt him on the other side too! He like.... stretched out straight from one side of me to the other! It was so weird to feel him on both sides of my abdomen at the same time!

A New Experience...

So, we made a trip to the emergency room this morning (not the new experience, if you haven't guessed; I feel like I've been living at hospitals the past 5 months or so!). Kacy got clobbered in gym class playing volleyball and it was recommended she go get checked out.

After a CAT scan and other basic diagnostic tests, they ruled out any brain bleeds... she just has a minor concussion. BUT.... while we were waiting for her in the ER room, I had a brand new experience with baby!

You know that horribly annoying beeping that those machines do while you're in there... sometimes they're not on... but when they are that sound is just like SO unnerving. Usually, you can just tune it out after the first few "errrrrr"s happen since you're prepared for it and you know it's coming... but, when there's a little baby experiencing the world vicariously through your experiences, he doesn't really know how to just tune things out just yet....

Well, let me tell you! Karson does NOT like the "errrrr" noise at all! Before today, when my mom would tell me stories about how she could tell which types of music I liked in her womb on her hour long drives to work every day, I always thought to myself "well, how do you know I didn't like hard rock? Maybe I moved around more because I LOVED it!!!" I mean, it's believable because I still don't like very loud bouncy music unless I'm really hyped up for some reason, but I still wondered how could you possibly know the difference. Now, I understand.

His movements were so jerky and almost even panicky in nature. He was like punching my belly button and it was making me feel uncomfortable like I needed to leave. It was very strange, but also kind of cool in a way... being able to distinguish between feelings of enjoyment and agitation just by the type of movement. Nana (Minter) said he got nervous because he knew he wasn't ready to come out yet... lol.

Week 30

So, reading about this week, I've learned to be thankful for heartburn....

Yeah, sounds bizarre, I know but listen to why it happens! The same pregnancy hormones that cause your body's pelvic muscles to relax so you can deliver your baby also relax the ring of muscle that separates the esophagus from the stomach. The upshot? Food and digestive juices can head upstream from your tummy into your chest and throat — hence, the infernal inferno. Very cool!

The baby should be weighing in over three pounds now. Also growing daily is his brain, which is actually starting to look like the real thing with those characteristic grooves and wrinkles. And now that the little genius can regulate his own body temperature and turn up the heat, he'll start shedding lanugo, the downy body hair that's been keeping him warm up until now. Also very cool! No monkey baby! Unless, of course, he's like his mommy... who had dark brown hair in swirls all over her face and back when she was born. lol.

So, now I'm officially 7.5 months pregnant! Only 10 weeks to go already! CRAZY!

Renee's Baby Shower!!!

Renee's baby shower was this weekend! It was very fun to go and it started to make me more excited and made it more real that the baby is coming so soon! (because, I'm only a month behind her!).

This was my table having a blast............................................

We played JONAH (instead of BINGO)... and Christy won our centerpiece.

She cheats.






AND I FINALLY GOT TO MEET LITTLE NOA! She's so stinkin' cute and her eyes are so blue!
The next baby shower that will be reported on here will probably be mine! But, I had to make mention of some of these other little ones (like Noa, Jonah, and whatever Tina names the bun in her oven).... because these will be some of Karson's favorite playmates!!! :)