Third Trimester

And we were livin' it up in the Big Easy.  Tim and I took our last 'just the two of us' trip last week to New Orleans.  The weather was beautiful and we had a great time just walking around the French Quarter.  We got our fill of cajun food, with Tim even trying some crawfish.  My favorite was the red beans and rice. 

Baby Ferg got into the Mardi Gras spirit, but not too much. :-)

I had my glucose test the Tuesday before we left and it wasn't as bad as I thought.  The 'stuff' was kind of like flat Sprite.  I haven't heard back from the doctor, so I'm assuming no news is good news.  My next appointment is this Tuesday, so I'll be sure to get the scoop then.  After I was done at the lab that day I went to the doctor's office to make my next appointment and weigh myself.  I asked the receptionist if I could 'borrow the scale' and she gave me this look like I was going to actually take it.  I simply used it, and found out that I hadn't gained any weight in two weeks.  A relief.  Not that I don't want to or don't think I will gain weight, I just don't want to balloon up by 40 pounds. 
Baby Ferg continues to be a little roly-poly in there.  His new favorite place to play is underneath my right rib cage.  It makes any type of slouching a little uncomfortable.  It sometimes feels like he's trying to tickle me with his hands and feet by both of my hip bones.  Tim has yet to feel all the wiggling, which I'm sad about, because I get to feel it all the time.
My ankles are starting to swell more and I'm trying to cut down on my sodium intake.  It's hard!  It was especially difficult on our trip.  I try to eat one especially healthy meal each day.  Or at least have the majority of my snacks be healthy.  The nausea has reared its ugly head again, so I'm trying to eat smaller meals and revert back to my first trimester and, well, second trimester habits to try and keep it down. 
So that I don't end on a yucky note, I'll mention that our hospital offers a bunch of different classes and we've signed up for a basic childbirth class.  I'll be attending one on breastfeeding next week. 
I'll post again after my doctor's appointment and promise to include a baby bump picture.

26 Weeks

and only 14 to go.  So long as Baby Ferg decides he/she likes it in there for the full time.  Even though we've started to work on the nursery it is definitely no where near done, nor do we have anything for the little one, so I sometimes worry about Baby Ferg deciding to come a little early.  Or in this case, a lot early.  Then mild panic sets in and I feel more motivated to get things done.  So the end result is good, I suppose, just not how I get there.
Tim and I have already put at least two IKEA employees' children through college and I'm making another trip tomorrow to help out a third.  The whole organizing/purging/cleaning thing feels great and we're starting to make some headway in clearing out the nursery.  No pictures on here yet, because it's not quite ready for public viewing. (read: I'm embarrassed at all the random junk still in there.)
My doctor's appointment last Tuesday went well.  The scale and my chart conspired together to give me a weight gain of 13 pounds.  Yowzers.  Although the more I think about it, I think they might've started me off a little low for my beginning weight.  I'm at 125 right now, but was between 110 and 115 before Baby Ferg.  The majority of things still fit, albeit somewhat snugly.  But my barometer of how things are going is that if my doctor is happy, I'm happy.  And she was.  The doctor I saw had an in vitro fertilization procedure done and so we were able to chat for a couple of minutes about our respective stories.
Tim and I hope to get away sometime soon and take a last 'just the two of us' vacation.  We thought about the beach, but then I quickly realized that March is prime Spring Break season.  Um, yeah, I don't think so.  So we're still planning.
I started doing my registry today.  Holy smokes there's a ton of stuff!  I'm able to do it online, so I thought I would just register and browse a bit.  I'm amazed at everything available.  My Facebook friends have been very helpful with their advice of the top three things I should register for.  A boppy is by far the most popular answer.  I'm sure I'll be working on it for a while.  I'm registered at Target and Babies R Us, but not much is there yet, so don't get too excited.
Lastly, here's the Baby Ferg bump at 26 weeks.  Everyone-and I almost literally mean everyone-at church today was so excited.  "Oh!  You finally look pregnant!"  "You're so cute!"  It's fun.  And the belly-touchers are pretty much non-existent, which is wonderful.

Baby Dreams

I had my first baby dream last night.  We had a boy, but in the dream I had no recollection of going to the hospital or even actually having the baby.  The first thing I remember is being handed this little messy bundle and seeing that it was a boy.  I thought, "wow, that wasn't bad at all, and I didn't even have an epidural."  The nurse told me that I was in labor for only four minutes.  Weirder still, the baby was growing at this incredible rate and within a couple of hours looked like a 12 month-old.  He was also talking and said that he didn't really like either of the names we were deciding between.  Tim wasn't in the dream at all, but the baby had a friend who was an older boy and was teaching him to play cards.
I'm not one of those 'everything has a hidden meaning' people, so I just think it's funny.  Definitely weird, but funny. 
Baby Ferg has been bouncing around all day.  Starting at 4:30 this morning.  I was definitely more forgiving of her doing that than our cat, who decided that my pillow was a fun place to play at 4:30am. 

24 Weeks!

**Warning: super long post ahead.**
Baby Ferg is officially 24 weeks old today.  And he/she is growing strong.  The month since my last post (I apologize for my delinquency) has been filled with many exciting things.  This baby is a wiggler and every day is filled with bumps and nudges and sometimes it seems complete 360 degree rolls.  I guess there's still enough room in there for all that fun.  Thankfully, she (random pronoun) is fairly quiet at night.  Although I think I've been disrupting her sleep when I've gotten up to go to the bathroom the past couple nights because I feel a very definite kick under my left-side ribs as I roll over to get out of bed.  She definitely enjoys using my organs as trampolines and doesn't neglect any of them, bladder and kidneys included.  Earlier this week I didn't feel her until around lunchtime and I was trying not to be worried, but since she's always so active I was a little concerned.  I went to eat lunch with Tim at his office that day and apparently the tuna sandwich got her moving.
Speaking of food, I've had a relapse of all-day sickness for the past week or so.  It's a little discouraging, but I take comfort in the fact that I can really eat whatever I want right now.  How many times in your life can you say that?  So I munch on Life cereal, grapes, goldfish crackers, chocolate-covered raisins, strawberry jello, potato chips and dip, Spaghettios, soup, chocolate ho-hos.  And lemonade.  Tons of lemonade.  That's pretty much my 8am to 4pm menu lately.  I cook a decent dinner and have a pretty good appetite then.  Pizza is back on the menu now, thanks to the Zantac doing its job.

Baby Ferg bump

I'm still able to wear the vast majority of my 'normal' clothes.  Most of my pants need to be either pinned or fastened with a hair tie.  I was given a lot of maternity pants, but they're still a little too big.  Everyone at our church was so excited to see me in one of my maternity sweaters a couple of weeks ago.  (Ok, not everyone.  The Pastor didn't make me stand up in the service or anything.)  I don't feel too big yet, but my tight pants are a reminder that it's coming.  It might be my naivete peeking through here, but when I stop and think about it, it's pretty amazing how the body changes to accommodate the little one.  I mean, just the skin.  It stretches and stretches and then snaps most of the way back after the baby is born.  Not to mention the organs and what they have to do.  It is truly amazing.  Continuing on with the 'body' theme, my nails are growing super fast now, which is nice.  My ankles have just started to give me the indication that I've been on my feet for too long. 
Our work on the nursery is starting, albeit slowly.  I realized that we have to find a place for all the stuff that's in there right now, so I have to clean up 'that' part of the basement to move it there, but we need to organize first and then find a place for all of that stuff.  So....a trip to IKEA is scheduled for Monday.  Yay!  We love that store.
We've been tossing some names around and have 99% settled on a girl's name, but still haven't found a boy's name that both of us love.
My last doctor's appointment was January 23 and went well.  I actually had lost two pounds, but my doctor wasn't concerned.  She called the baby 'a little parasite' right now, just taking what she needs from momma.  I'll see her, well, one of her colleagues on the 28th.  I have to schedule a diabetes screening test after that.  I feel very blessed that everything is going really well so far.  The nausea is annoying, but it could be a lot worse. 
My new goal is to update every Saturday, as Baby Ferg gets one week further along.  Unfortunately the pictures are somewhat scarce now, but as the nursery develops and as my belly develops I'll be sure to post more.
Thanks for following!

A review of anatomy

Baby Ferg passed the anatomy test with flying colors today.  All the parts were there in all the right places.  He/she wiggled and shifted and rolled around almost the whole time, so the tech lady had a hard time getting all the pictures she needed.  I distinctly remember her referring to Baby Ferg as a 'little stinker' numerous times.  All that rolling made for a great first dvd, though.  I've been unable to upload the whole thing, so I tried to get the best screen shots to post here. 

Little Ferg feet (and a tiny bum)

You can see two of the four heart chambers.

What a cute little face!

Mid roll

Yummy fingers

Little ear

Tiny bones

We were both so amazed at the details we saw on the ultrasound.  It was so fun to get to know Baby Ferg a little bit more.  We're even more excited for him/her to get here!

Loot!

Baby Ferg, despite not being there, really raked in the goods at Christmas this year.

Steeler booties from Aunt Katie (much to the chagrin of Grandpa)

Big Cooper and Mini Cooper

Cooper, with gifts from Dave & Kari and Brooke & Tim.

We're already doing the mental calculations to figure out where everything's going to fit.  I suppose Cooper could hang out in this till Baby Ferg gets here.

Very cute Peter Rabbit plates from Aunt Katie

I also got some maternity clothes which I'm excited to wear.  Belly isn't quite big enough yet, though.  My next appointment and sonogram(!!) is Thursday.  Tim and I are excited to see how much Baby Ferg has grown.  I think-think-that I've been feeling him/her move in the past few days.  I'm not surprised, even though the doctor says it's on the early side, because the nurse always has a hard time finding the heartbeat at my appointments since he/she wiggles around so much.  I'm 19 weeks along today-almost halfway already.  I'm not trying to rush it, that's for sure.
A few random notes: I can eat pizza again, thanks to Zantac.  Spaghetti is still out, unfortunately.  Lemonade is my new love.  I've narrowed down the nursery decor and that's next on our to-do list.
I'll have a new picture to share on my next update and my parents will have a new computer wallpaper.

You'll shoot your eye out!

I love the movie A Christmas Story.  I can quote the majority of it and even though I have it on DVD, I'll still stop what I'm doing to watch it when it's on tv.  I laugh ahead of the funny parts, since I know what's coming.  And best of all is the 24-hour marathon showing!  However, this year I had a new reaction to it.

The movie was wrapping up.  It's Christmas morning.  The boys run downstairs in their pjs and immediately search for their gifts.  (Randy: 'Oh, boy, that's mine!')  Mom and Dad come wearily down the stairs after their late night of playing Santa.  I hadn't really thought about the movie through their eyes before, always having identified with Randy and Ralphie.  But as I sat and watched it this year I teared up during those last few minutes.  My perspective completely changed.  Sure, it was still funny, but I saw the love that Mom and Dad had for Ralphie as he opened his secret gift.  How they had a fun dinner as a family despite their ruined turkey.  I saw myself in that role instead.  And I can't wait.