Week 28: Overdue Musings and Art Update

Things have been busy, so I wasn't able to get it together enough to post last week. My most recent appointment with my midwife was a week and a half ago, and everything was right on target - my rate of weight gain, the measurement of my belly, and Odin's heartbeat were all perfect. Now, at 28 weeks pregnant, the weight gain is starting to show in my face, which is a bummer, but I really should just be grateful I went this long without my face blowing up like a balloon. Usually if I gain any weight at all, the first place it is noticeable is in my face, and unfortunately there's no disguising that.

The countdown is on - 12 more weeks before baby Odin is born. 12 more weeks of carrying around extra weight and bumping into things with my belly. I have to say, there are some pregnancy-related things I am looking forward to getting rid of, like back and sciatic pain, but I have really enjoyed pregnancy up to this point. I know I haven't hit the difficult/uncomfortable part yet and that it'll get worse before I give birth, but it has been a wonderful experience to see and feel Odin moving in my belly and to know that I'm protecting and caring for him until he is born. Plus, the whole pregnancy process is still so fascinating to me; it's bizarre and amazing.

While the nursery is still in a state of disarray, here's a look at the five canvases I painted to hang in there. As I said before, I am not very artistic at all, but I thought it would be fun to make some art for the nursery, just as a personal touch. I wanted something colorful but also simple, since my art skills are so lacking. I decided to pick up some cheap 8" x 10" canvases and paint background colors on them, then trace silhouettes of animals on them and paint them in different colors. It was pretty simple, but it took a bit of time since I had to go so slowly when painting the animals.

Here are the canvases with their colorful backgrounds (and a strategic photo-bomb by Oliver):

And here they are with the animals painted on them:

Not perfect, but the best I could do. Also, if you look closely in the upper right-hand corner, you'll notice a second photo-bomb, this time by Murphy.

There is nothing detailed about these animals, they are just the silhouettes, but I thought they'd be cute and add some color to the nursery. Matt thinks that because I deliberately painted the animals colors that they're not in real life that Odin will grow up thinking that elephants are green and giraffes are purple, etc., but I have faith that Odin will be able to figure it out.

New belly photo coming soon!

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...

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) 19-Week Update

I'll be 19 weeks along tomorrow. Almost halfway there! Matt and I have some fun and exciting things coming up, which is actually somewhat rare for us. This weekend we're going out to Oakland, MD to visit with Matt's Uncle Pat and Aunt Barb (we haven't seen them in years), along with Matt's parents and two of his uncles. It'll be lots of fun, I'm sure, and we are looking forward to it. Of course, next Wednesday morning we have the exciting sonogram where we should find out the baby's gender. Next Friday is Mirah's 12th birthday (I can't believe she's 12 already!), and also my cousin Lindsay, her husband, Jeff, and their son, Deacon (who we haven't met yet), will be in town so we'll all get to celebrate Mirah's birthday together. Then, over the long Labor Day weekend, Matt and I will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary (which is September 1st) by going out to western Maryland and staying at a bed and breakfast called The Castle (see photos below for the reason we wanted to stay there).


Looks quiet there, doesn't it? We're looking forward to getting away, even if it's just for a 3-day weekend.

Pregnancy-wise, things are good. The only challenges I have right now are back spasms, sciatic pain, and difficulty sleeping. I wouldn't have thought I'd have to deal with the back spasms and sciatic pain until later in the pregnancy when the baby is bigger and I have more weight to carry up front, but I guess I'm special because I get to experience it now. I just keep trying not to think about the fact that when I do actually have more baby weight to carry, this pain could get (much) worse. I'm sticking my head in the sand on this one.

I recently got another crib recommendation - for another Ikea crib. I didn't realize I knew so many people who had cribs from Ikea, but their feedback has been wonderful. I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd like to use either a mini crib or a very simple standard crib in the nursery. I certainly haven't decided on anything yet, but I do like this Sundvik crib from Ikea (it's simple and streamlined, which I love, especially since it will be going into such a small room):

I think a trip to Ikea to check it out in person is warranted. (A number of Ikea cribs have been highly rated for safety.) Oh, and I did go to the store to look at the mini crib I liked, and it was nice (again, pretty simple, though not as simple as this Ikea crib); the only thing I didn't like about it was that the whole crib is lower than a standard crib. It's only a difference of 4-5" in height, but the mini crib seemed really low in person. So, since I've heard only good things about Ikea cribs, I plan to grab Matt and go on an Ikea shopping trip soon. There's also a simple low dresser there (in the same finish as the crib) that looks like it would make a perfect dresser/changing table, so I'd like to check that out as well.

I don't have much else to report at the moment, but check back next week for a new belly photo and the gender announcement - I'm really excited to find out whether the Peanut is a boy or a girl!

Nursery Musings

In recent years, it seems like the trend for creating a nursery has been to excessively design the room, making it an elaborate production that often epitomizes form over function. Look through a magazine and you'll see massive cribs, huge wall murals/stencils/decals, and ridiculously overdone themes (often the baby's name is on a wall somewhere, too). And I'm not just talking about celebrity nurseries; 'regular' parents are putting in the time, effort, and money to create over-the-top nurseries. Yeah...I'm not doing that. Need an example of what I'm talking about? Here are two.

Oh for crying out loud.

I understand wanting to prepare the baby's room and make it comfortable, and that decorating the nursery is an exciting and emotional process. I also understand wanting to create a space for the baby that is soothing and calming, yet also engaging, inspiring, and stimulating. But it seems like parents-to-be (especially the moms) feel that not elaborately decorating their baby's nursery must mean they don't care enough. It's as if they need to prove to other people, to themselves, and/or to their future child just how much of a caring parent they are, and they feel that the nursery they provide is a reflection of their love and dedication. Are these super-fancy nurseries cute? Sure, but really, how much of the nursery's decorative merits are actually judged - or even noticed - by a baby? And how much time does a baby actually spend in the nursery when he/she isn't sleeping? I'm not suggesting that there's something wrong with decorating, I just think the "norm" had shifted to an excessive level.

Because a nursery just isn't complete without A CAROUSEL.

But lately I've noticed that many people seem to be getting on board with the idea that a fancy or elaborately designed nursery isn't a yardstick by which to measure how much you love your baby. It looks as if parents are now becoming more focused on creating a highly functional space that is still comfortable and provides visual stimulation for when baby is awake. This approach resonates with me. I'm pretty sure my attention and affection will matter more to my child than whatever hangs on the walls of his/her room.

Since the nursery I'll be decorating is very small, my focus will be on organization and keeping it as simple as possible. I plan to use either a mini-crib (normal crib, just smaller dimensions) or a very simple and streamlined crib in the space (I'm still debating which I'll end up with). A low dresser will serve double-duty as a changing table, and rather than a massive glider and ottoman in the corner, I'd rather have a simple, clean-lined (perhaps a bit modern) rocking chair for those middle-of-the-night nursing sessions. The walls will likely be gender-neutral - probably green, beige, or gray (though I already have a lot of gray in my house since it's my favorite color, so gray might get tossed from consideration) - and I plan to provide visual interest by choosing some great art for the walls, an area rug to cover the hardwood floor in the middle of the room, and some fun curtains. Other than the crib, dresser, and chair, the only other furniture will probably be bookshelves for storage (and books). There won't be an adorable hamper with woodland creatures on it, just a couple of small plastic laundry baskets that will live on the floor in the closet. Speaking of the closet, I plan to use some organizing products to get things as neat as possible, and put a disc light in there so I'll be able to see.

At this point, those are my ideas. Basic, yes, but I hope to make the nursery a functional space without too much furniture or unnecessary stuff packed into it. Going forward I'll report back to let you know if I have accomplished any of this successfully!

17-Week Update (Feelin' Groovy), Nursery Planning, & Flicky Spasms

I am incredibly grateful for the second-trimester respite. While I still get tired even faster than I normally do, I have much more energy now; I'm able to juggle more things, which is good because there's a lot to do before the baby comes. In fact I decided to take a break from classes while I'm in my second trimester so I will have time to get things done while I'm feeling good and not yet the size of a walrus. But I do plan to take one more class before my due date, just to knock out another 3 credits.

The future nursery is still full of random stuff - it looks more like a storage room right now than a bedroom (because that's basically how we've used it for the past 3 years). The nursery is also VERY small, so I'm planning to try to be creative in how I furnish and organize it in order to maximize the space we do have. For instance, I'm putting a lot of thought into how to organize the small closet so that fewer things need to be stored out in the room itself. I have the feeling I'll be glad to shut the closet door and hide a lot of things like clothes, laundry baskets, etc. - for me, the more I can hide away, the better. Too much stuff/clutter stresses me out. (I know, I'd better get used to it with a baby coming, as babies tend to require a bunch of stuff.) I'll be posting more specific ideas for the nursery soon.

According to BabyZone.com, this is what the Peanut looks like right now (he/she is about 5.5" long):

I can totally understand why the baby would start playing with the umbilical cord; it must get pretty boring in there. And claustrophobic. In fact, I'm surprised I wasn't born mid-panic-attack as I fought to get out of what surely was a claustrophobic living environment; I'm sure my "plump" size didn't help matters - I was over 9 lbs so there couldn't have been much room to spare in there. As cool as it is to see these kinds of progress photos and drawings, my first thought when I see them is, "Oh man, it's getting bigger. And bigger. And at some point it's going to have to come out of my body." Seriously, you guys, it's terrifying.

I recently began feeling Peanut moving around in there, which is a very cool experience. I've read all sorts of descriptions of how it feels when you first feel the baby move, and it's clear that it's very difficult to describe, and also it seems that the feeling is different for different people. For me it feels sort of like a tiny muscle spasm in my abdomen, or like I'm being flicked from inside my belly. Other people describe it as popcorn popping, bubbles, or butterflies in the stomach, but I think for me the best description is a tiny muscle spasm. If that kid really is flicking me from the inside, I fear I may have an ornery, Dennis the Menace type on my hands. Time will tell.