26 Weeks

I'm a little late on the post this week, but I'll chalk it up to being busy (it's the best excuse).  I officially went back to work full time last week and it sucks!  I know boo hoo, right?  But I got seriously spoiled working part-time, getting to come home for lunch, hang with Henry and the cats, procrastinate on my writing... not that it's gotten much better at work because of the stupid IT people and their big-brother hawk eyes (they now do not want us using mobile media devices on our computers so I've been too scared to use my USB drive that is my life because I worry that they'll catch on somehow and remotely erase it), but even so I do tend to get more homework done there in general.  I've got one more week of taking class and two more weeks of teaching class then a short summer break before it's back to school again.  Henry is working remotely, doing some research and writing assignments.  It might be quiet for him for a bit as his boss is now in Austria for over two weeks, making me super jealous with all the wonderful Viennese deserts and beautiful music I'm sure she's enjoying.  The cats are excited, however, to have his undivided cuddling attention for a bit.

• What's the Baby Doing?: The hair on baby's head is longer and more plentiful and more fat is accumulating under the skin with each passing day.  The footprints and fingerprints are now formed.  All the components that make up the eyes have developed and the baby will open her eyes in about two weeks.
• Weight Gain: Yay!  A normal week; 1 pound.
• Showing?:  Definitely filling out those maternity clothes.  No picture this week (sorry!!), check back in a couple days for week 27 and I'll definitely have a picture.
• Symptoms: Hello Braxton Hicks.  Had them on Monday night really bad, but Henry took me for a walk around the block and they went away.  Ginny has been doing the Macarena in my belly for a while now; she doesn't ever seem to stop moving!  It's great though, especially when you can see the little kicks move my stomach around.  I've also hit the stage where I want to eat everything in sight.  It's like a constant feeding frenzy and I have to make sure to have a snack at least every two hours.  My new favorite thing?  Cereal before bed.  Don't know why but there is something magical about a big bowl of cereal around 9:00pm.
• For a while I thought the pre-bedtime cereal gorge was helping keep me asleep because I've had a couple pretty awesome nights this week.  But alas, I do still wake-up pretty often.  Now it's not just once to use the bathroom, but also because I'm not comfortable in one position the entire night anymore.
• Movement: ♫ Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena, Heeeeeey Macarena! ♪ Fun Fact: Did you know that song is actually a rumba? 
• Best Moment of the Week: I found out I passed my glucose tolerance test with flying colors.  No gestational diabetes for me.  Let's go get some cake!
• What I Miss: Hearing about a food (any food) and not wanting to immediately eat it.  Now I really want cake.  And cereal.  Henry has already been talked into take-out pasta on Monday night and is making me french toast this weekend.  I think he's still so happy I'm eating I could probably talk him into just about anything when it comes to food without getting the side-eye.
• What I'm Looking Forward To: Next week we enter... the third trimester.  The end is in sight!
• Milestones: I guess the Braxton Hicks, my body is starting to get ready for giving birth which means that at some point it will actually happen.  I have yet to decide if this is a good thing or not.
• Henry's Quote of the Week: My favorite: "You too could be right all the time, you just have to really think things through before you say them." Henry's favorite: "This line is ridiculously long for 8 o'clock at night, when I get to the front I'm going to sh*t on the counter!" (waiting in line for a ridiculously long time to pick up my prescription at Walgreens)
• I'm giving you an extra quote of the week from my friend Joselyne because it was extra funny.
• "I was so bored I couldn't even be confused."  I feel that way too Jos, a lot.

Until next week!  Or really, a couple more days.

21 - 25 Weeks

Well, Henry predicted it.  When I started this he said, "You know once school gets going you're going to stop updating your blog."  And unfortunately he was right.  I just got very bogged down in school and work, plus a bit of traveling, and well, unfortunately the updates kinda fell to the wayside.  I sincerely apologize to you guys who are actually reading this and especially to the ones who thought something had gone horribly wrong with me.  Here's the rundown of what was going on in our lives for the past 4 weeks:
21 Weeks - Not much happened this week so I really have absolutely no excuse for not posting. :-(
22 Weeks - Henry left on Monday morning, heading to San Diego to take the California Bar exam.  My mom picked him up an was gracious enough to feed him a few lunches and dinners while he was down there.  On Wednesday I went to the doctor's again to get more pictures of the baby's spine.  Everything looked great, Ginny was constantly moving and annoying ultrasound techs, but I love watching her.  I actually go to see and feel her punch me at one point which was amazing.  The only thing that was iffy was that they determined that she is measuring big and they want me to go in for another (yes another!!) ultrasound at 28 weeks to chart her growth.  I think that they just have her due date wrong.  She was always measuring "big" on the ultrasounds even when she looked like a sea monkey so neither Henry nor I are worried.
23 Weeks - Henry met me in Seattle after the bar was over and we drove to Tri-Cities to visit with Henry's family for a couple days.  This was our last big trip out to see family so it was nice to spend some time.  Marsha (Henry's mom) and Alma (Henry's grandma) got to feel Ginny kick which was really special.  We had a great time and it was very relaxing for me.  We also got to see Tracy, Shayne and Alexandra on our way to and from Tri-Cities, which was wonderful as always, as well as some of our college friends.  Henry's friend Nick and his wife, and my friend Jenn and her husband are also expecting so we had some fun trading pregnancy stories!
24 Weeks - Back in Chicago and no breathers before getting back in the game.  I went straight from the airport to class, then had to teach a make up class the next day and teach a regularly scheduled class the day after that.  Still going to work part time, but that's all ending soon as I will be back full time starting at 26 weeks.  Henry got a bit of a break as he didn't start working remotely for the Law Offices of Sandra Morris until this week.  He spent most of his time cleaning the house after the cats had it to themselves for the week we were gone.  Not he's super happy to be doing some real legal work!  We also bought our first piece of baby equipment this week, a pack and play with a bassinet which will be Ginny's bed until we move to San Diego and get her some real furniture.

25 Weeks - Had our appointment yesterday, we have one more four week appointment, then we start going in every two weeks until the home stretch after 35 weeks, at which point we go in every week.  Starting to inch up on the third trimester, only two more weeks to go!  Last weekend my nephew Billy came to visit us in Chicago.  It was his first plane ride and he did it all by himself!  We had a great time visiting the Museum of Science and Industry and the Field Museum and running around Chicago.  I am proud to say I held up pretty well, even outlasting the nine-year-old one day.  Henry had really been looking forward to seeing the exhibits himself, especially the one at the Museum of Science and Industry about storms.  They stood in a simulated tornado and made tsunamis and generally ran amok.  Lots and lots of fun!

• What's the Baby Doing?: The big news is that Ginny's lungs went through a major development these past few weeks and now she has a better than 50-50 chance of surviving outside if she had to be born today.  Every week the odds get better which is very exciting.  Her hands are now fully developed and she is exploring her surroundings now.  At this point, average babies are 15 inches long and weigh 1.5 pounds.
• Weight Gain: Sorry it's been too many weeks to come up with an actual number.  But I asked the doctor how I was doing and she said I was absolutely fine.  The nice part is that she told me to measure my weight gain from what I was when I got pregnancy, not from what I was after I lost the weight in the first trimester, so by that I really haven't gained that much.

• Showing?: Holy belly explosion Batman! 

• Symptoms: Feeling pretty good these past couple weeks so not many symptoms.  My lower back has been really starting to hurt, but thankfully Henry is very free with the back rubs :-)  I'm also getting a lot of stretching and pulling sensations around the belly but that's really not a shocker.
• Sleep:  On and off.  I find that when I eat a little something before bed I sleep a little better.  Strange that I get the most hungry around 9:00pm.
• Movement: Ginny is an active little one!  It feels like she's constantly moving and kicking.  Of course when we were visiting Henry's family she would stop whenever someone put their hand on my belly.  On days when I do a lot of walking, like when we were at the museums, she's pretty quiet but she wakes up as soon as I sit down.  Just one more sign that she's going be just like Henry and unable to sit quietly for more than ten minutes.
• Best Moment of the Week: I'm going to claim memory issues on this one and just say all the moving.
• What I Miss: Strangely deli meat has been a big one the last couple weeks because whenever I try to go grab a quick sandwich I realize I can't eat any of them because they all have stupid deli meat!  And now all I can think about is salami.
• What I'm Looking Forward To:  The third trimester feels so close now, which means that the end is in sight.  It will be very nice to meet the little thing who's main occupation right now seems to be kicking and punching me.
• Milestones:  As of 24 weeks Ginny is now able to survive outside of me which is major major milestone!  If she really really had to be born tomorrow there's a good chance she would be just fine which makes so much of my anxiety disappear.  However, I do think she should stay in there and cook a while longer!  :-)

New category starting!!  It's Henry's quote of the week, taken completely out of context and added here for your reading pleasure.  Henry would like it if you scooped up his wisdom like glimmering pearls of, well, wisdom.

• Henry's Quote of the Week: "It's okay, I didn't marry you for your math skills."

I promise to be more on track from here on out.  If not, feel free to harass me until I get my butt in gear!

 

24 Week Appointment

Time for the glucose screening for gestational diabetes!  Yuck.  Basically I had to drink a bottle of super-concentrated orange-flavored straight sugar, and then sit for an hour before having my blood drawn.  While waiting my hour we had our appointment.  As our doctor is part of a group, we're trying to see every doctor in the group at least once because if I go into labor outside of regular business hours we get whichever doctor is on call.  Hopefully I'll deliver sometime between 9 and 5 so that I can have my own doctor, but since that's not really something I can control, its best we see everyone so we don't have a stranger showing up in our delivery room.  So far we like most of them, but they all have very different personalities.  This one was not very excited for question and answer time, which was too bad for her since I actually had a bunch of questions, including the all-important "can I have a glass of wine at Joselyne's wedding?"  In case anyone was wondering, the answer was yes.  As far as the glucose test goes, I'll get my results later this week.  Fingers crossed I can still eat sugar and carbs!

20 week doctor's appointment

Well, we are officially having a baby girl!  Her name will be Genevieve Elizabeth Rau and we are already in love!  Our 20 week doctor's appointment went great, they took about a million pictures of her then we were given a bunch of papers on pediatricians, baby classes, and what to bring to the hospital.  Lot of information for only being half-way through the pregnancy.  Even with the hour long diagnostic ultrasound, they called us later to say they didn't get enough pictures of her spine so I have to go back in two weeks while Henry will be in San Diego taking the Bar exam.

Here's a picture of Ginny!

                                    

And now that we know, we just couldn't resist!

         

So although we want to try to keep the pink to a minimum, we're both very excited about all the cute little clothes that will be in our future.

20 Weeks

Okay so I've been very very bad about the blog this past week (or two) and I sincerely apologize.  In my defense... not a lot happened in week 19 so I think we can skip all that and settle into week 20.  Because a lot happened this week!
In personal news, Henry is still studying for the California Bar and I'm still taking classes.  I begin teaching my first class, Reading and Writing Historical Fiction, on Friday which is both nerve-racking and exciting.  I picked up my course packets yesterday and got a very satisfied feeling remembering how much I hated course packets as an undergrad.  It's good to be able to inflict them upon others now!  Plus mine says "Professor's Copy" on it, which is admittedly awesome.

And a big Congratulations!! to Lynne and Tom who got married last weekend in Seattle.  Lynne was, of course, an absolutely gorgeous bride.  I totally cried, and probably would have even without all the crazy hormones, and we're both so happy for them!  It also meant I got to go to Seattle.  Henry was sad he couldn't come too, but he's getting so close to the Bar it's really best for him to buckle down and having me out of the house for a bit probably helped with that.  I got to spend some time with my wonderful sister Tracy, her awesome husband Shayne, and their adorable daughter Alexandra.  I had such a relaxing and great time just hanging out with them, playing with Alexandra, and reminding myself that all this pregnancy stuff is totally worth it.  Plus I got to raid my sister's maternity clothes!  Does it get any better?  Oh wait, it did!  I also got to see my friend Nina and her son Holden, as they were miraculously in town at the same time.  Holden and Alexandra played together for a while, both doing a truly excellent job of sharing.  It was really too cute.

But of course I had to pay the price and this Monday we had a little issue.  It looks like I caught a stomach bug at some point over the weekend, the complications of which landed us in the hospital again.  We were released the same day and I've been okay since.  But as some of you out there know, dehydration causes contractions, and with the tumor I get extra pain really easily, so after a fun day-long trip to Labor and Delivery, I am now back to taking it easy and trying to drink lots of water.

• What's the Baby Doing?: Baby's skin is thickening and developing more layers, hair and nails are continuing to grow.  The baby is now 6 inches long and weighs about 9 ounces!
• Weight Gain: Four pounds in two weeks.  Ummmm, uh oh?  I partly blame Seattle and the excellent food my sister fed me (hello Cedars!), but it evened out in a not-good way as I lost some of it with the bug.

• Showing: Hopefully the pounds I kept were all belly.  I do feel a lot larger (in the belly) than before.  And heavy!  Everything feels heavier and firmer.  Yes, everything.

• Symptoms: I can't really call the events of Monday symptoms since they weren't normal.  Other than Monday when I couldn't keep anything down, and Tuesday when I didn't want to eat at all, I've actually been pretty hungry.  My new favorite food?  Yogurt covered cranberries.  Although I do still partake in the rampant onion eating.
• Sleep: Sleeping is starting to get uncomfortable.  I'm not supposed to lie on my back for long periods of time anymore, but I'm not the biggest fan of being on my side right now.  My belly is in the way!  It's in a weird in-between stage where putting a pillow under me isn't really that comfortable, but not having anything under me isn't great either.  Must go on hunt for tiny flat pillow.
• Movement:  YAY!!!!  The baby started kicking, like real big kicks, on Sunday!  It was amazing and hasn't really stopped since.  Of course as soon as Henry put his hand on my belly the kicks would stop, but I just think it's because he has a very calming influence ;-)  He finally felt them himself on Monday night and now the favorite bedtime ritual is to lie there with hands on my stomach and wait for the baby to start moving.  When I was in bed all day Tuesday and the kicks just kept coming, but as soon as I went back to work and school on Wednesday, the baby settled down a bit and I only felt a couple throughout the day.  I guess when I'm moving and active it actually rocks the baby to sleep.
• Best Moment of the Week: The kicking!! We can kind of feel the baby roll around too which is neat, but for me I love the kicks.  It feels like a little hello from inside.  Honestly, and this sounds weird, but it makes me feel even more connected to the baby.  Runner up moment of the week was Alexandra saying "Aunt Tori you look beautiful" while 'helping' me get ready for Lynne's wedding.  I just about died.  Second runner up was watching Alexandra and Holden play together.  They were just so cute!
• What I Miss:  Hmmm, I didn't really have a missing moment this week.  Although, Henry has been biking on the weekends and my poor bike looks so sad and unused on it's rack.
• What I'm Looking Forward To: Telling everyone the sex of the baby!
• Milestones: Again, the kicking.  It's a pretty big one.  Oh and I'm 20 weeks which means I'm half-way through!  Woo-hoo, only 20 more weeks to go!

18 Weeks

So I'm back at school again, and of course on my first day there were major thunderstorms in Chicago.  So bad that the tornado sirens started going off right as I was about to walk out the door.  Then the hail started, giant balls of ice pounding our window.  Well, well maybe giant-pea sized balls of ice.  But still scary.  Henry ended up having to drive me to Evanston which was a good thing because the lightening was striking so close to the car I'm sure had I been driving I would have flipped out and then spun out.  This weekend Henry went to the Family Law Institute here in Chicago.  He learned a lot and it was definitely time well spent.  But now it's back to studying full time and trying to keep the cats from turning him into a permanent pillow.

• What's the Baby Doing?:  This week the bones are beginning to harden (ossification).  The bones in the legs and inner ear are the first to ossify.  Now that the bones in the ear are developed enough to function, and the nerve endings from the brain to the ear are connected, the baby can now hear!  S/he may even be startled by loud noises.  The baby can now also swallow and is swallowing a fair amount of amniotic fluid every day.
• Total Weight Gain:  Big week!  I gained 1.5 pounds this week, which means I've made up for the slow gain in the previous weeks.  I'm supposed to gain 1 pound per week from now until the end of the pregnancy so I am now back on track.

• Showing?:  Wow, it's hard for me to tell the difference from one day to the next, but by the pictures it looks like it's getting bigger.  Right??

• Symptoms:  Lots of pulling low down on my sides this week, and pressure on my lower stomach area.  I'm assuming round ligament pain.  Also the cats are mysteriously passing over Henry to come cuddle with me.  It really started to freak me out because usually they won't even stay in the room with me unless Henry is there too.  The one exception was when I was stuck in bed with the tumor.  But even then, they weren't super cuddly, just wanting to be near by.  But today both cats have climbed up and slept on my lap.  Gosh, maybe I'm dying...
• Sleep:  Slept through the night twice this week!  Which was great because the other nights, right after I get back to bed from nightly wake-up, Dante decides it would be a good time to curl up next to me and purr like a motorboat.  Try getting back to sleep with a 20 lb (yes 20) cat purring in your face.
• Movement: Still not a lot of movement this week.  Felt a little this evening, but nothing like we felt a couple weeks ago.
• Best Moment of the Week:  Another Key Lime pie best moment!  When I heard that Henry's group at the Family Law Institute were going to Joe's Stone Crab for dinner I was insanely jealous because not only do they have delicious crab but they have the best (barring Henry's homemade) Key Lime pie in the universe.  So when I go to pick up Henry after his dinner, he had a huge bag with him.  He had ordered a bunch of crab claws and a whole Key Lime pie to go just for me!  Best husband ever!!!
• What I Miss: Not missing much this week.  I have felt a desire for diet coke this week and did break down and have one.  The caffeine is not such a big deal, but I'd rather not be drinking all the fake sweeteners right now.
• What I'm Looking Forward To:  Well, it would be nice if it was November already.
• Milestones:  The baby can hear!  Time to break out the Mozart!

Okay, no big parting remarks today, Deadliest Catch is on and I've got a baby blanket to finish...

17 Weeks

Congratulations to my brother Brett and his lovely wife Courtney on the birth of their baby girl!  Savannah Grace was born on June 20th, the day after Brett's birthday.  I'm so excited for them and can't wait to meet my new little niece!  Now I just have to hurry up and finish the baby blanket I'm making for them, but unfortunately I've got a ways to go. 
Well here we are going in to month five.  Things are going pretty well this week, I was able to go for a short walk down to the lakefront one day.  So much for my dreams of walking around the lakefront while Henry rode his bike on the weekends.  I guess that dream went the same way as the pregnancy exercise videos I was going to do in the mornings before work... oh well!

• What's the Baby Doing?: Hair is continuing to appear on the baby's scalp and eyebrows.  The baby is also continuing to have bouts of hiccups which I might even be able to start feeling soon.  Fat is also starting to develop under the baby's skin!
• Weight Gain: This was a very odd week.  For most of the week it looked like I had lost the half-pound I gained last week which started getting me a bit nervous and prompted Henry to agree to get me a box of cookies on Monday and to even let me have half of them before they mysteriously disappeared.  For those who know Henry (aka the cookie monster) sharing half a box is a pretty big deal ;-)  But then today when I weighed myself it looked like I gain a whole pound.  I have therefore resolved not to weigh myself during the week and just do it once on Tuesdays from now on.  It's just too confusing. 

• Showing?: Yep, and the bump is starting to move up a little.  You can now feel the hard part well above my belly button!

• Symptoms: Still on my onion kick.  I had to buy two jars of cocktail onions because I ate almost a whole jar last week.  Henry grilled some sweet onions this weekend, yum yum!  Other than that, the nausea seems to be doing a lot better, although it's still difficult to eat in the mornings.
• Sleep:  Still the same.  Waking up once a night, but starting to get used to it.
• Movement: Sadly I can't remember feeling any movement this week.  :-(  Hopefully as I get farther along the moving will get more pronounced.
• Best Moment of the Week: Hearing the heartbeat on the Doppler at our Friday appointment.  Always amazing!  And a relief to know that everything is still doing okay in there. 
• What I miss:  There seemed to be a lot of conversation about alcohol this week!  Joselyne and I were talking about all the great wine she's going to have at her wedding, I was looking at the cool new movie theater downtown that has VIP seating with food service and a bar, and my office starting talking about doing a summer happy hour outing.  I haven't really missed alcohol that much, but somehow during the summer it seems to be everywhere.  Henry was so sweet and made us virgin pina coladas with organic coconut and pineapple juice and we sat out on our balcony in the sun for a while this weekend.  It was totally just as good.
• What I'm Looking Forward To: There is so much cool stuff going on with the baby this month, so I have to say I'm really excited for that.  This is a really big growth and development month, by the end the baby will weigh over a half a pound and we'll get to find out the sex!
• Milestones: Well this week marks the end of the fourth month.  Five more to go!

To end here's a picture of Isis "helping" Henry study for the bar: