Thanksgiving and My 32-Week Belly

Well, it's the Monday after Thanksgiving, and I'm exhausted. But my long weekend was very nice, so I'm not complaining. Matt and I do a three-stop Thanksgiving each year - early dinner at my parents' house, later dinner at Matt's parents' house, and then we spend time with friends at Joe and Sarah's house. It makes for a very long day, but getting to see everybody makes it well worth it.

My pregnancy is going well for the most part; I still feel decent, though I do get tired faster than ever. I will see a hematologist next Monday because my platelet count is so low and has only continued to drop. Probably I'll be started on Prednisone to see if that'll boost my count, and if that doesn't work perhaps a transfusion will be in order. Low platelet count, or Thrombocytopenia, is hardly rare (it occurs in 7-8% of pregnancies), and since I have no history of this problem, it is likely due to the pregnancy (Gestational Thrombocytopenia) and will probably go away within a few months after I give birth. The baby isn't really at any greater risk because of the platelets being low; the main concern (at least for me!) is that if the count drops too low I won't have the option of getting an epidural during labor and delivery. There is also an increased risk of hemorrhage, since platelets are what help your blood to clot. But I'm hoping that the hematologist will be able to get my platelet count up so that by the time Odin is ready to be born, I won't have anything to worry about.

On Thanksgiving, I got Christi to snap a couple of belly photos since it has been so long since I've posted any. On Thanksgiving I was 32 weeks pregnant. (For the record, I don't know why it looks like I have sweaty armpits, because I promise you I didn't, even though my parents' house was as hot as an oven.)

 I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. Can you believe Christmas is only a month away?!

29-Week Belly...Best I Could Do

Although I am 30+ weeks pregnant now, the latest photos of my belly are from Mike and Katharine's wedding, which was on October 27th (when I was 29 weeks). First of all, I have to say that it was a beautiful wedding and I couldn't be happier for my 'little brother.' I'm so proud of him and I'm happy that he married a wonderful woman in Katharine.

Here's a shot of Mike and me taken just after the wedding ceremony. It's the closest thing I have to a recent belly photo, even though it's not taken in profile. Maybe once Mike gets back from his honeymoon in Hawaii (lucky duck) I can get him to take a proper belly photo for me.

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.

(Almost) 20-Week Belly

Since I will hit the 20-week mark tomorrow, I'm going to consider these photos a record of the midpoint of my pregnancy. Some days I look like I'm barely showing, and other days I look very pregnant. A coworker of mine has started referring to the baby as a 'turducken,' which made me laugh pretty hard because in a way it's sort of appropriate.

Now for belly photos (courtesy of Mike Scrivener - thanks, Mikey!):

20 weeks and counting!

Me looking 'very excited' about my belly

Everyone has been so excited for us, and Matt and I appreciate it very much. We have such great friends and family and have received tons of support and encouragement. Thank you all for that.

16-Week Belly

This will have to be short, but I wanted to post a 16-week belly photo. I promise I'll try to get better belly photos in the future, but for now this is what I have. It may not look like there's much difference between my 15-week photo and 16-week photo, but I assure you, that bump is definitely bigger!

Monthly visit tomorrow morning with my midwife, and some blood work afterward. I'm still pretty antsy to find out the gender of the peanut, but that appointment isn't until August 22, so I've got a few more weeks to wait.

16-Week Update

Well, I'm 16 weeks pregnant, and overall I've been feeling good. My belly seems to have a mind of its own; sometimes it's barely noticeable, and other times I look like I'm six months pregnant instead of four. I went shopping with my Mom over the weekend and got some maternity clothes, and I think the timing was right because I'm really starting to need them! My midwife said at my last prenatal visit that I probably wouldn't start showing until I was about 20 weeks along (because it's my first pregnancy and because of my pre-pregnancy size), but I had a strong feeling I'd prove her wrong. I know every woman starts showing at a different time, but I have to admit that I feel like I'm showing an awful lot more than I should be at 16 weeks. I haven't gained much weight yet, but I'm definitely expanding.

I'm working on putting together baby registries, and I've been asking friends and family members for recommendations on certain items. Now that my Neurobiology class is over I will have more time to focus on things like registering and working on the baby's room.

I'll post an updated belly photo in the next day or two, because it will look a bit different from last week's photo!

15-Week Belly

Alrighty, folks, here's the first belly photo. It's not a great photo, but it'll serve its purpose. I'm 15 weeks pregnant and as I said in the last post, I am showing a bit. I think I'm still in the "is she pregnant or just fat?" phase, but I have the feeling that in another couple weeks I'll have reached the "definitely pregnant" point and there will be no question.

I've been feeling pretty good; I've had a bit more energy (though not as much as I was hoping to suddenly have when I reached my 2nd trimester). Aside from needing naps on the weekend and my clothes getting tighter and tighter, I have no complaints. I actually ordered a couple pairs of maternity pants because my regular pants have gotten so tight. In the morning they're ok, but as the day goes on my belly just gets bigger - I know, it's weird. Onward!

Bumpety-bump

Whoa, belly...

I don't have a belly photo to share with you yet (soon, though!), but trust me when I say I'm starting to show. My pants have been tight in the waist for a while, but now if you see me in profile you can see a definite bump. I'm 14 weeks now, and from about 8 weeks on, by the end of the work day I would be tempted to unbutton and/or unzip my pants while driving home from work (and sometimes I did just that) because sitting was so uncomfortable because my pants were tighter. Up until very recently, in the morning I would wake up with a completely flat stomach, but as the day went on I would slowly but surely gain a belly and by the end of the day I'd be wondering where the heck that belly came from all of a sudden. At that point it was just due to bloating and water retention (lovely), but now I have to get used to the fact that a flat stomach will not be making an appearance again for a very long time (maybe not ever). It's an adjustment. So, before long I won't even fit into my old clothes (at least pants and skirts) and I'll have graduated to maternity clothes. BUT the cool part about all of the belly woes is that the peanut looks something like this.

Baby has made the transition from lemon-sized to orange-sized. Progress!