24-Week Sonogram: Disappointment and Relief

Yesterday morning I had my 3-D sonogram at work, but unfortunately baby Odin wasn't in the mood to be on display. When we started the sonogram, Odin's head was on my left side and he was facing down and towards my spine, so there was no way to get a good view of his face. Plus, he had his face smushed up against the placenta, meaning there wasn't much amniotic fluid between his face and the placenta (the more fluid, the better the image you get). I tried to get him to change positions by rolling onto each of my sides and poking at him. And lo and behold, he did change positions, but we quickly realized that while his head was then on my right side, he was still facing down and towards my spine. And his face was still smushed against the placenta. Aargh.

It was a bummer not to get to see much of his face in 3-D, but the sonographer did take a lot of time checking Odin's anatomy in 2-D and he said everything looks good. But that baby just did not want to cooperate with us! At one point he had turned his head a little bit so we were looking almost at his profile, and he lifted his arm up in front of his face the way you would if someone shone a flashlight in your face while you were trying to sleep. He was determined not to let us get a good look at his face; I guess he wants to keep us in suspense until his big birth day reveal.

Odin's head measured at 26 weeks instead of 24 weeks, which only added fuel to my hunch that he is going to come early by about 2 weeks. I've had that hunch for a while - though I don't really know why - and after having two sonograms where the tech commented that he is a little big, I feel even more sure that he'll show up closer to New Year's Day than MLK, Jr. Day.

Here are the three images of his face we were able to capture (we never got a still image with nothing in front of his face; first it was the umbilical cord and then there were just random things blocking part of his face, as you'll see in the photos):

Forehead, eye, nose, upper lip. That's about all we got. He's definitely got Matt's nose.

An unsuccessful attempt at a more straight-on look.

I think he looks quite comfy in this one.

So while I was disappointed that I didn't get to see his handsome little face very well, I was thrilled that everything looked normal and I could see that he's still growing well in there. I can honestly say, though, that I hope he's not always as uncooperative as he was yesterday! Maybe he takes after Matt in more than just the nose department. :)

A Very Quick Update

I was supposed to have my 3-D/4-D sonogram this morning. However, it had to be rescheduled (major bummer), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will happen this Thursday morning. I hope to have images and perhaps a video to share with you all then.

In other news, I've decided on an art project for the nursery that involves me creating a number of canvas paintings (very simple ones, though!) for the room. We'll see how that turns out - I'm no artist by any stretch! I'll let you know whether I succeed or fail. Probably the latter, but I'm staying optimistic.

Also, why is it so difficult to find a rocking chair for the nursery that I like AND can afford? Good grief, what a hunt for a chair. As I said in a previous post about the nursery, I do NOT want a glider chair; I am looking for a much simpler, more modern-looking chair; something I'll actually use elsewhere in my house when it is no longer needed in the nursery.

Dorel

Of course this Dorel chair isn't available; I could've gotten it at Walmart for $90. It would have been so simple!

Jasper

This Jasper chair is available for $200, and I like the lines of it, but it is a tad wider than I would prefer. It's still in the running though; I haven't ruled it out just because of my width prejudice.

Holden

The Holden chair is available for $200 as well, and is clearly not as wide as the Jasper chair. The potential issue is that the back is reclined quite a bit; product reviewers noted that it is reclined way too far to comfortably feed a baby. Granted, I could always use a pillow behind my back to help with that issue, but the reclined chair back is the reason for my hesitation on this one. Otherwise I love how it looks.

Chevron

The Chevron chair looks a little wide as well, but it doesn't really matter because I am not paying $700 for a rocking chair for the nursery. Sorry, I'm just not.

Ikea Poang

The Ikea Poang chair would work if the back wasn't reclined so far. It's available for between $69 and $219 depending on the finish and the fabric. I sat in one of these a few weeks ago at Ikea, and decided it really did lean back too far.

There are a whole bunch of other examples I could show you, but the story so far has been the same - they're either not available, reclined too far, or too expensive. For instance, I found one I really liked, but then found out it was on sale for $1,566. A little steep in my book. My backup plan for if I really never find anything that is close to perfect is to buy a cheap wooden porch-style chair, paint it a fun color, and put simple cushions on it. But for now, the hunt is still on...

23-Week Update: A Look Back, Upcoming Sonogram, & Baby's Name

Tomorrow I will hit the 24-week mark in my pregnancy. It seems impossible that so many weeks have passed by already. It's strange to look ahead and think about all the things I need or want to get done before the baby comes. But it's even stranger to look back at my pregnancy experience thus far. I am so used to feeling the Peanut move now that I get paranoid if I don't feel him move for a while. I've gotten to the point where I've accepted the fact that I just can't lift heavy things and I need to ask for help when I'm working on something that requires more physical exertion than I can handle. Sleeping through the night is a completely foreign concept, and back pain is a daily nuisance. I don't mean to complain; I have not yet experienced anything that isn't completely normal in pregnancy, and I'm grateful for that. It's just interesting for me to think about the things that have shaped my pregnancy experience up to this point.

Speaking of hitting the 24-week mark tomorrow, I set up my next sonogram at work (which will most likely be the last one I have) for next Tuesday, September 25th. Just as I did when I was 10 weeks along, I have the opportunity to have a 3-D/4-D sonogram done here at the college. Now that I'm much farther along in my pregnancy, the images will actually look like a 'real' baby and not just a nub with arms and legs. I am, again, so excited for the chance to see what he looks like, and to just watch him move around.

Let us recall the images from previous sonograms:

8 weeks                                              10 weeks                                                    19 weeks

Who knows what the 24-week set of images will look like - all I care about is getting to see him! I will, of course, share images (and video, if I have one) here next week so you can all see him, too!

In other news, Matt and I finally agreed on a name for the baby (well, a first name - we're still working on a middle name)! We chose the name Odin. We like the way Odin sounds, and while it isn't especially common, we don't think it's especially weird either. For those of you who don't know, Odin is the name of a god from Norse mythology. In fact, he's Thor's father (I totally vetoed Thor for a name, but then suggested Odin instead). I've gotten some mixed reactions to the name (one person made a puzzled face and asked, "Is it a family name or something?"), but we love it and have been referring to him by name for about a week now. That's all the news I have for now, but check back next week for sonogram photos!

Belated 22-Week Update

I meant to post an update last week, but time simply got away from me and it didn't happen. My bad.

Check out my crib, y'all.

Matt and I did take a trip to Ikea over the weekend and were able to look at the potential nursery crib and dresser in person. It was definitely a worthwhile trip, because while we loved the crib (we've decided it's the one we want), we found that the dresser was too tall to be used as a changing table. So we're back to the drawing board on that one, but I doubt we'll have too much trouble finding something. Plus, since we know now that the one dresser won't work, we have plenty of time to find something else. Strangely enough, we actually left Ikea with only a trashcan. I don't think I've ever gone there and left with only one thing. I also looked at a rocking chair there, but the back of it leaned back so far it wasn't exactly a good fit for nursing. If all else fails, I'll hit up a Cracker Barrel in the dark of night and swipe a chair off the porch.

Baby has been moving a whole lot lately since he is still at a size where he has plenty of room, and being able to see him move in my belly is strange but incredibly cool. I love when Matt gets to feel the peanut move.

And, as promised, here is the latest belly photo, taken last Thursday when I was 22 weeks (thanks again to my surrogate little brother Mike Scrivener for the photo).

I'm hoping to get my 3-D/4-D sonogram scheduled here at work; I'll share some images/video when I get them in the next couple weeks.

Advice, Opinions, and Judgments

As many mothers will tell you, and as I've found out firsthand, when you're pregnant you get judged. A LOT. People just can't seem to help themselves. It's like people think a pregnancy belly means open season on criticism. Pregnant women also get plenty of unsolicited advice and opinions. Granted, most people who share the advice and opinions have good intentions, but that doesn't always make it easy to listen graciously. I'm sure it's more difficult than I realize for mothers not to dole out advice to moms-to-be. I certainly don't claim to have all the answers about pregnancy and motherhood; I have asked my mom friends a million questions already, and they've been wonderful about answering them. I guess it's just that when the advice is unsolicited it seems to come across as a bit condescending (not always, but sometimes), which is frustrating because while I know I should just be grateful that someone is sharing their words of wisdom with me (or at least what they consider wisdom), at times I just want to tell them to stop talking. I know, not the right attitude on my part. I'm working on it.

Now that it's obvious to people that I'm pregnant, I've started getting some pretty interesting looks and comments when people see me with my morning cup of coffee. Quite a few people have looked at me disapprovingly while I'm holding my coffee cup. I don't let their judgments make me feel bad, but I will say it is a strange thing to receive such disapproving looks and to know exactly what people are thinking. For the record, pregnant women are allowed to drink a certain amount of caffeine each day. And not that it's any of their business, but I only drink one cup of coffee each morning, and each one is decaf. As in not caffeinated. So as far as I'm concerned, the coffee-related judgments are silly, and I refuse to walk around defending myself for having a cup of decaf in the morning. And just for reference, making comments in a disapproving tone of voice like "Oh...You're still drinking coffee, huh?" or "That baby is gonna come out hyper" or "Should you really be drinking that?" isn't likely to change anyone's behavior. It will only serve to make the commenter feel that they are somehow better than you, which is really what many (I would say most) judgments are about.

Speaking of judgment, this one really made me angry. I ran out to the grocery store recently and was standing in the checkout line when I noticed that the woman in line behind me was glaring at me. I mean really glaring; I swear I could feel her eyes burning holes in the back of my head. After a minute, I turned around and the following conversation happened:

ME: Can I help you?
HER: No. But I'm going to pray for you. (said in the most judgmental tone of voice possible)
ME (super annoyed): And why are you going to pray for me?
HER (looking at my belly): Well you've clearly gotten yourself into a bit of a 'situation.'

[At this point I noticed that she had also glanced at my left hand, and I realized that I wasn't wearing my wedding and engagement rings (I had taken them off to put lotion on and hadn't put them back on yet). Things were starting to make much more sense, but understanding where she was coming from only made me angrier.]

ME (in my very quiet, "I'm really mad" voice): Are you really so arrogant that you feel the need to pass judgment on people you don't even know? I'm 32 years old and have been married for 5 years; you're judging me for having a baby because you assume I'm unmarried? Who do you think you are? You think you're justified in judging me because you're religious? Well then I think you're going to hell.

OK, so here's the thing. I realize I was harsh with her and that perhaps I should've chosen a more constructive approach in my response. But the reason her comments made me so angry is because I thought, what if I was unmarried or what if I didn't have enough confidence in myself to disregard her comments? What if I took them to heart and let them really affect and hurt me? You all might not agree with me at all on this, but I thought it was wrong of her to say what she said. She just wanted to look down her nose at someone. I honestly hope she doesn't do that to anyone else in the future.

I just needed to get that stuff off my chest - if any of you are ever feeling particularly judgmental, please consider keeping it to yourself. You might have the situation all wrong, and even if not, what result are you trying to achieve by sharing your criticism?

Next week I'll have a new belly photo as well as another post, so check back (not all of my posts are as negative as this one)!