25 week status and belly bump

24 wk 3 da

How Big is Baby: the size of an eggplant.

Total Weight Gain: as of 2/4 i was up 23lbs. Baby T sure is growing quickly!

Maternity Clothes: check!

Stretch Marks: none yet

Sleep: still sleeping on my side, waking up to pee, having the weirdest dreams every.night.without.fail.

Best Moment this Week: D felt BT kick and got so freaked out he subsequently avoided touching my tummy like the plague!! welcome to my world!!

Food Cravings: lots of carbs today (yummy, mac/cheese and mashed potatoes)

Gender: boy!

Labor Signs: n/a

Belly Button: it's still shrinking

What I miss: being able to actually do a yoga class. i went to one on fri and spent half the class in child's pose. :)

What I'm looking forward to: my massage appt on the 10th, and our next dr appt on 2/25

Weekly Wisdom: every body is different, so i really need to stop worrying about what other people tell me and just experience my pregnancy my way.

Milestones: i just hit the 6 mo mark! woot woot!

Book Review: Hypnobirthing

i'm so proud to say that this book did NOT take me 4 months to read like my last book. here's my review...



great book! mongan presents a wonderful method of relaxation for those interested in giving birth naturally or in a stress-free environment. she believes that birth does not have to be a painful event full of fear and worry. she teaches the reader (with the help of a cd included with the book) how to enter into a state of calm and relaxation using visualization and breathing techniques. she provides several affirmations in the book for mom to say to help feel empowered and at ease with the birth process that will eventually begin. she gives advice on the different positions that will assist with birthing baby. and provides pointers on different things that can be done in order to make the birthing experience better for both mom and baby.

this book is a great book to read even for those not planning to have a natural birth. too often we are told that birth is something that needs to be feared (for various reasons), and reading this book may help calm mother and bring a new found confidence about giving birth to their babies. my favorite quotes from the book are: "The manner in which you labor and birth, and the atmosphere into which your baby is born, should offer the same love and care that you provided as you carried him," and "The birthing environment should have the same respect and calm as a place of worship." no doubt, there are situations in which it is not possible to have a completely calm, worry-free birth. but we need to make it a practice to listen to and trust in our bodies and their natural ability to give birth. and this book helps us to take that first step. i'm very glad i read it!

WTF?? 6 Months Already??

Let your spouse put an ear to your belly -- he might be able to pick up baby's heartbeat (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby's also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink -- perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes.

Source: the bump

system overload...

last night D and i attended a local "new and expectant parents" meetup group. and last night's topic was cloth diapers and babywearing. for those of you that don't know me (and can't tell from my blog), i'm a bit of a hippie at heart. and the idea of cloth diapering/babywearing just fascinates me. so i was super excited for the meeting! as was D because he would love to find a way to hold the baby and play his computer games at the same time! :)

but yikes! talk about system overload!! there are just SOOOOO many options out there, and it can be so overwhelming for a 1st timer, like ourselves. it took all of my will power not to run from the room crying with my fingers in my ears. but then again, i'm easily stressed out. that's just part of my personality.

we are registered at target, and surprisingly enough they do have a selection (albeit a small selection) of cloth diapers and slings/baby carriers.

i think the brand of CD that we decided to go with is bumgenius. as i already mentioned, target didn't have much of a selection, but i've heard good things about BG so that works out well. check out how cute they look - man, CDs have come a long way...

and now onto babywearing....

we got to see/learn about SO many brands of baby slings and carriers it wasn't even funny. the thing that originally interested me in babywearing was the you could keep baby close to you, while you did other things (i like to be efficient). but i learned last night that there are other benefits to babywearing:

1. helps baby with their transition from the womb
2. reduces crying (sign me up!) and colic
3. improves baby/parent bond
4. helps with baby's growth, physically, intellectually, and emotionally
5. ....and it keeps strangers from germing up my baby!! :)

the 2 that i really liked were the moby wrap and the mei tai. the moby is a bit more complicated to tie than some of the other wraps/slings/carriers we looked at, but it seemed to be (at least to me) the most secure and versatile. and excitingly enough, target carries it, so we've put it on our registry. luckily i still have time to learn how to wrap it properly before Baby T arrives. the mei tai, however is not carried by target, so we'll have to order that online ourselves. but no biggie!

moby wrap

mei tai

and some useful resources, for those interested:

1. the baby wearer
2. diaper pin
3. cotton babies

pics and stuff...

finally the pics from last week's u/s are here!! my wonderful coworker scanned them in (thank you, marisa!) since my hubby was being a *major* slacker (and i don't even want to hear that i could have scanned them myself - i'm already doing enough work!).

the proof that we're having a boy!

he's facing right at us in this one...

i call this one his "skeletor shot". he-man, anyone?

in other exciting news, i registered us for a bradley natural childbirth class. it's a 10 week course that starts on the 13th of this month, and meets weekly until apr 17th! i'm really excited about it!! i think it might help both D and i get better prepared for Baby T! for those of you interested in the bradley method, check out their website.

in not so exciting news, i just made an appt with a chiropractor for this afternoon. :( for the past couple of days my mid-back has been killing me. i was hoping to hold off until my massage appt next wed, but i don't think i'll make it that long. the pain really starts when i'm sitting, and guess what? i have a desk job! so i'm literally in pain all day. i've tried to put a cushion behind my back, and even brought in my heating pad today, but nothing is helping. why couldn't i have a job in which i lay in bed all day?

You Go Girl!!!

apparently supermodel gisele bundchen just gave birth to her son via water birth at her home! how awesome!! here is the article from People:

Gisele Bündchen is beautiful, successful and famous. Now, women everywhere have another reason to be jealous. She says giving birth to her newborn son Benjamin didn't hurt at all! It "wasn't painful, not even a little bit," the supermodel, 29, says in an interview with the Brazilian TV show Fantastico. "The whole time, my head was so focused – every contraction, the baby is closer, the baby is closer. So, it wasn't like, 'Oh, what pain.' It was, 'With every contraction, he is getting closer to me.' " Bündchen – who had a water birth on Dec. 8 at the Boston condo she shares with her husband, quarterback Tom Brady, 32, – also didn't use serious pain medication. "I wanted to be conscious and present for what was happening," she says. "I didn't want to be anesthetized. I wanted to feel." Her recovery was also remarkably quick. "The second day, I was walking, I was washing dishes, I was making pancakes in the kitchen," she says with a laugh. The only thing that was difficult was choosing a name. She and Brady spent more than a week trying to pick something that would work well in English and Portuguese – the Brazilian-born Bündchen's native tongue.

"I adore David [pronounced Davi], but he didn't like David," Bündchen says. "I liked Joaquim, but he thought it wouldn't be good ... We called him Benjamin. For me, there is no name. He is my benzinho [translation: my beloved]." Asked if the boy will be raised to be bilingual, Bündchen was unequivocal. "Certainly he won't stop being Brazilian," she said. "He's also Bündchen, he's not just Brady."

24 wk status and belly bump pic

23 wk 3 da

How Big is Baby: still the size of a papaya.

Total Weight Gain: as of 1/30 i was up 18lbs, so it seems my weight gain is level out now

Maternity Clothes: check!

Stretch Marks: none yet

Sleep: still sleeping on my side, waking up to pee, having the weirdest dreams

Best Moment this Week: well thurs of last week we found out we were having a healthy boy!

Food Cravings: nothing really this week.

Gender: boy!

Labor Signs: n/a

Belly Button: it's still shrinking

What I miss: my back not hurting every.day, and not having to lay on my back to put shoes on

What I'm looking forward to: my massage appt on the 10th, and our next dr appt on 2/25

Weekly Wisdom: every body is different, so i really need to stop worrying about what other people tell me and just experience my pregnancy my way.

Milestones: just found out we're having a boy! now the name hunt begins...