Family Musings

Today I am 25 weeks pregnant. Here is what Babycenter.com says about Baby Sabin: "Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — doesn't sound like much, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after he's born." Of course, this assumes our baby will have hair! Now that the baby's hair is recognizable, I have found that mine is thicker. I used to lose it by the handfuls in the shower, but for the last 2 weeks or so, it is only coming out a strand at a time. I wouldn't complain, except my hair is so long that making it extra thick is a tad annoying. I've mostly taken to wearing it up now. I just can't stand it on my neck for too long! For those of you who don't know, I am try...

In two weeks, as part of standard maternity care, my doctor has me scheduled for a glucose challenge test (GCT). Because I hate tests, especially ones that I don't know how to prepare for, I did what any connected woman of my generation does - I went to Google for answers. I found out that the GCT is a 1-hour test of my body's ability to produce insulin. I will be given a syrupy liquid to drink and then a simple blood sugar test 1 hour later. If I "pass," it means I haven't developed gestational diabetes. If I "fail" it means I have to take the longer, 3-hour, glucose tolerance test (GTT). A passing blood sugar level on the GCT is 135 or lower, though some doctors will accept anything below 140. I found a good article on BabyCenter.com which gives more detail about the condition and the testing. There is also a message board where people can ask questions or discuss the topic. I spent about 30 minutes last night reading these messages and just wonder if...

Well, here I am. 16 weeks left of being pregnant. I am very used to feeling Baby Sabin move now. If I haven't mentioned it before, Baby Sabin is most active about 15 minutes after I've eaten and as I lay in bed at night trying to fall asleep. I usually don't feel Baby Sabin in the morning before I get out of bed. Maybe just once if I lay there long enough. Of course, if you know me, you know I am not a morning person at all. I am hoping to have Baby Sabin pick up that trait as well. It will make all sorts of things easier as he or she grows up. I read a list called "5 most disappointing pregnancy products" this morning. It included things like a home heart-rate monitor and maternity underwear. Early on, I thought about getting a heart-rate monitor myself. Mostly because it was a little nerve-racking to be in the doctor's office and holding my breath waiting to make sure the baby still had a heart beat. Now though, as I can track the baby's progress via all...

I know some of you may be planning to buy a gift for Baby Sabin. However, I have found 6 things that you don't need to spend your money on. You can read about them here .

I was told that once I get pregnant and started showing, people would want to touch my belly. I actually didn't believe Angela when she told me this, boy was I wrong! Never in my life can I recall having an uncontrollable urge to touch the bulging belly of a pregnant lady. Apparently however, others can. And, they act out on that urge! I had no idea that when I got pregnant other people would suddenly feel that it would be okay to just touch my belly. Why is that? I really cannot relate to it. Hugs and questions are one thing, but just randomly walking up to someone and touching their belly before you even say hi? Are any of you belly touchers? Would you shed some light on the situation for me? What makes it even worse is that most people actually aren't even touching the place on my belly where the baby is located. They are touching my baby fat. My uterus seems to have pushed up what belly fat I did have so that I probably look more pregnant than I actually am. That also expla...

Well, here it is, the last picture of Baby Sabin before we can hold him or her in our arms: Is it awful of me to think our baby looks like an alien? You see the large eyes, pointy chin, and wide forehead? I may have to find out a little more about Bruce's past... just teasing! The baby was rather uncooperative during the ultrasound. Baby Sabin was head down, facing my back, with his or her spine in the front. This meant that, even if I had wanted to find out our child's gender, it would not have been possible. The ultrasound technician was unable to get every shot she normally would due to the baby's position. At least we are certain there is only 1 in there. The baby's heartbeat was about 133 beats per minute which is considered perfectly healthy. For all of you who want to pretend to know something, there is no way to know our baby's gender by the heartbeat. Dr. Spock says so. Just to keep you interested, here is another photo of our child; it is a picture of the...

Months 4 & 5 definitely left me no longer able to wear my regular, pre-pregnancy clothes. But that's okay, I have gotten together a nice little maternity wardrobe. Special thanks have to go to my mom of course, who helped shop for and buy most of it. I don't think I've spent 2 1/2 hours in a dressing room ever in my entire life. I probably tried on almost everything in the Motherhood Maternity store possible. My favorite part of this phase of being pregnant is feeling Baby Sabin move. It really started about 3 weeks ago, while I was on Spring Break. The first time I know for certain that Baby Sabin wiggled around so I can feel it, I was laying down on my stomach (I can't do that anymore!) and it felt like popcorn popping in my belly for about 30 seconds. It was so cool. Now, I know that Baby Sabin knows when I eat, becaues about 15 minutes later he or she is giving me friendly jabs and kicks. It is not quite wwhere Bruce can feel it yet, but I can't wait for tha...

Once we got through the Christmas season, we still wanted to wait until the appropriate time to share our news with friends. In the meantime, I had my first ultrasound at 10 weeks. Here is the very first picture of Baby Sabin: About the time we were ready to announce the growth of our family, another couple in our Life Group class (that would be adult Sunday School at our church) announced that they were expecting a baby of their own - and her due date was only 1 week later than mine. We decided to wait a week or so after that so she might get all the attention an expecting mom wants. I didn't want to "steal her thunder" so to speak. It is funny though, how many people we forgot to tell. I guess I assumed that if we e-mailed the Life Group that meant everyone in the church would know. Just a week ago I had someone come up to me at church and tell me she had just heard the news. And yet another friend was due yesterday but I had forgotten to tell her. I assume that since I...

First, we went out for a meal with each of Bruce's parents. His dad and Marilyn met us at Cracker Barrel for a hearty, Saturday morning breakfast. I think I ordered the french toast and ate every last bite of it since it was delicious (don't ask why that is relevant, I don't know, it is just something I remember). We gave them their Christmas presents, holding back none but one. When Bruce Sr. opened it, it took him a second to figure out what it meant. But once he did, you could definitely see the excitement on his face. Marilyn said she suspected that we were going to make an announcement, but I don't know how... we always meet them for a meal around the holidays. We also had a dinner with his Mom and Bud, but this time at Mimi's Cafe. I happen to remember that I had the chicken-salad sandwich on cinamon raisin bread (another winner). We repeated the process and it took Cindy a moment as well. She says it felt like forever until she got the message, but it really ...

Oh my... I've wanted to try and get into keeping a journal of my pregnancy for a few months now. However, I've just been too busy to take the time to sit down and figure out the best way to do this. I have a few blogs that I enjoy reading on a regular basis and I hope to emulate them, but with my own twist. I've been fairly occupied since January with working with the Cadet Colorguard at the school where I teach. It was so much fun working with all of the girls and well, re-living my own youth, in a way. Having a flah and a rifle in my hand brought back a lot of happy memories. The time committment was a few afternoons a week and several weekend competitions. Now though, guard season is over, summer is almost upon us, and I only have 17 weeks left of being pregnant. So it is time to get down to business, the blogging business that is! As of next Monday, April 16, I will be 23 weeks pregnant. I'll try to play catch up and tell you about my experiences so far. Month...