32 Weeks: School's Out for the Summer!

Sweet Freedom!!! The school year is over! The last month has been incredibly busy as the school year has been wrapping up. Between administering EOG (end-of-grade) tests, chaperoning the 3-day 8th grade trip to Williamsburg, planning 8th grade graduation, and generally just keeping the kids under control, I feel like I've just run a marathon. Amongst all the craziness, our teaching staff still found some time to have a little "baby fun". One of my co-workers, Rayna, is also pregnant (far right in photo). Everyone else got in on the fun with some help from a few watermelons. The funny thing is, it looks like I'm just carrying a watermelon under my shirt just like everyone else! On top of teacher duties, the last month has also been filled with more baby showers, lots of travel, and another crash of our computer. But now that life is slowing down and with the help of a new computer, we're back in the blogging business. I apologize for the hiatus. I did manage to find some time to have my blossoming belly henna tattooed, thanks to the skills of an OCS student's mom. Don't worry, Papa...it's NOT real and it's already worn off ;-)

We received GREAT news at our last ultrasound: The placenta previa is completely resolved. Since the placenta is no longer covering the cervix, we've been cleared for a natural delivery at the Birth Center. Eric and I both breathed a big sigh of relief when we received that news. Thank you so much to all of you who've been praying for the situation. We didn't get too much else out of ultrasound because it appears we have a stubborn little wiggle-worm on our hands. Throughout the entire ultrasound, Molly had her face jammed right up against the edge of my uterus. It was like trying to take a picture of someone's face while holding the camera about 2 inches from their nose. The ultrasound technician said it looked like she was trying to peek out at us. Her eyes were open the whole time as if she really did want to get a glimpse at the world outside. She was also showing off a bit for her proud parents. Several times, she took her entire fist and popped it into her mouth and then popped it out again. It's not a skill that will get her into any Ivy League schools, but we found it quite amusing.

For Memorial Day weekend, Eric and I traveled to Pittsburgh for a marathon weekend that included two baby showers (one for me and one for Eric's cousin) and an engagement party. Other than some swollen ankles and arriving home a bit tired, we survived the weekend and had a fantastic time visiting with many family members that we haven't seen since Christmas. Eric's mom hosted a fun baby shower on her back porch which looked like it had been transformed into baby-themed Italian cafe with bistro tables, flowers, and colorful tablecloths. I was overwhelmed by all the generous and adorable gifts we received, including our entire nursery set. Eric and I were both so excited that, as soon as we got home, we assembled the crib and set up all the bedding...dust ruffle, bumper, and all. It really looks like a nursery now and not just a guest room filled with baby clothes. It's hard to believe that in about 8 weeks there's going to be a little tiny person moving into our house and our lives. Sometimes it seems to have gone so fast.

It's a good thing that school is done because, as I'm heading into the 8th month of pregnancy, all of the third trimester symptoms have kicked into overdrive...fatigue, heartburn, swelling, backache, and an extremely active little girl who's running out of room and has taken to invading my ribcage as a means of enlarging her living quarters. I'm just thankful to be home in my air conditioning with my feet up, sipping a large glass of ice water, and spending some precious quality time with Eric as we await the new member of our family. As we start the 8th month, Molly is weighing in at about 4 pounds and is approaching her full-term length at around 19 inches long. My midwife is convinced we're in for a "tall" baby despite two petite parents because, when she feels Molly from the outside, her torso takes up nearly the entire length of my abdomen (which may explain the feet lodged in my ribcage). The genes for height are there on both sides...we'll just have to wait and see! As Molly packs on the pounds, her skin has moved from transparent to opaque due to fat accumulating under her skin. By the time she makes her debut to the world, she'll hopefully be a pleasantly plump little baby. I think my before-bed snack of ice cream may help out in this department. It's the only thing that really prevents night-time heartburn. That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;-)

28 Weeks and "Normal"

There's nothing more reassuring during pregnancy than hearing the words, "Everything looks normal." We had our first 3rd Trimester check-up this week at the birth center, which means lots of tests: hemoglobin, glucose tolerance, uterine growth, etc. and everything came back NORMAL. I assumed that it would but, as you're sitting there watching the blood being drawn from your arm, this doubt creeps into your mind and you wonder, "What if I'm doing something wrong?" But, "normal" was the word of the week and for that, I'm truly thankful. It makes it hard to feel confident when you constantly have friends and strangers alike saying things like, "You can't possibly be 7 months along...you're much too tiny." or "You're only 7 months; your belly looks huge!!" I'm learning to just brush all the comments aside and wait until the midwives at the birth center give me the thumbs up, which will be every 2 weeks now, instead of once per month, now that we're in the 3rd Trimester.

We're hoping for some more "normal" results this coming week as we head into UNC Women's Hospital for our 29 Week ultrasound. Tuesday's the big day when we get the verdict: Cesarean at the hospital vs. Natural delivery at the Birth Center. We're praying for the latter!!! At my 2nd Trimester ultrasound, I was diagnosed with a partial placenta previa (the placenta was partially covering the opening of the cervix through which the baby will have to pass during delivery). We're hoping that on Tuesday, they'll say that the placenta has moved up high enough that it won't interfere with dilation of the cervix or normal delivery. If it's still too close to the cervix, there's no choice; we have to do a cesarean. So, keep praying that placenta up up up!!! We'll keep you updated. If anything, we'll get another sneak-peek at our little Molly inside her dark, warm home.

Molly and I entered the 3rd Trimester this week and we're gearing up for 3 months of rapid growth and development. As of this week, Molly should weigh about 2.5 pounds and is about 16 inches long. She's beginning to fill up her temporary home and stretching out is becoming more difficult. I had the amazing experience this week of feeling what I believe was a tiny hand pushing out of my belly as she was trying to stretch out. It looked like she was waving "Hi" to me!!! She has learned a new skill this week that she'll add to her growing repertoire of activities which already includes coughing, sucking, hiccupping, and "practice breathing". She has learned this week to blink and can do so voluntarily or involuntarily when a bright light is shined on my belly. She has also started dreaming this week, thanks to the REM sleep she has started experiencing as part of her normal sleep schedule. I actually think I caught her dreaming the other night. As I was sitting on the couch, it felt like she was sleeping because she was so "quiet". All of a sudden, she sort of "spazzed out" and everything was going at once...arms, legs, knees, fists. It reminded me of when you wake up in the middle of a "running dream" or a "falling dream" and you start flailing your arms in your sleep. So, sweet dreams to you, Molly and I hope you don't have too many more running dreams...for your sake and mine :-)

Below are some pictures from the baby shower my Orange Charter School co-workers put together for Molly a few weeks ago and I never got a chance to post.

Good-Byes and Hellos: Weeks 26 & 27

We recently had to say good-bye to some very good friends. Valerie and Krzysztof are friends of ours from church that we've become very close to over the last few years. Valerie and I both shared our struggles with our earlier infertility and then shared our joy as we both found out we were pregnant within two weeks of each other. The four of us have swapped pregnancy stories and advice, laughed over odd cravings and "popped" belly-buttons, attended Bradley childbirth classes together, and even took our "baby-moon" vacation together to the Outer Banks. Krzysztof's job was recently relocated to Kansas City and we were forced to say our last good-byes. They were tough farewells, but I'm thankful for the fact that technology is shrinking our world, allowing Valerie and I to continue our friendship. Who knows? Perhaps we'll re-connect someday and Baby Molly and Baby Brandon can meet outside the womb for the first time.

To off-set our sad good-byes, we had a fantastically joyful "hello" this week as we welcomed our new nephew, Isaiah Wayne Brandon to the world on May 3rd. Born to my oldest sister, Jessica, and her husband, Lewis, he is their second son and Baby Brother to 3-year old, Corbin. Isaiah is perfect in every way, from his teeny tiny toes to his little heart-shaped lips. I think Molly enjoyed meeting her new cousin too. As I was holding Isaiah in my arms and resting him on my belly, Molly kept kicking him right in his little tushie. I guess that was her way of saying, "Hello!" It was so fun to practice "mommying" him while Jessica rested and recovered, although it has made the waiting for our own little baby even harder. Sometimes I feel like the next three months can't pass quickly enough. I just can't wait to meet Molly and welcome her into our family.

I think the "mommying practice" converged with my crazy pregnancy hormones and a huge growth spurt in Molly to create a lethal emotional trifecta this week. I have to admit, I've been a bit skeptical throughout my pregnancy of these rumored mood swings, crying bouts, and emotional outbursts. I chalked it all up to Hollywood hype that made for good screenplay, but wasn't really true. Well, I'll be the first to admit, I was wrong!!!

I dragged myself through this week, exhausted from head to toe. It felt like the first trimester all over again, except that instead of feeling nauseous, I was ravenously hungry...all the time, no matter how much I ate. I wished that I could take my food intravenously so I could catch up on my sleep while I ate :-) On top of that, I was a sobbing wreck. Everything made me cry: songs on the radio, my mom's voice on the phone, stress at work, even trying to decide what to eat for dinner. This wouldn't be so weird except that I NEVER cry, over ANYTHING! I don't think Eric knew what to do with himself because he'd never really seen me cry before. And of course, spending time with Baby Isaiah just made me want Molly to be here even more, the icing on the cake of this crazy week. So, in case you didn't believe it, I'm here as your witness: pregnancy hormones are for real!!!

I think my body has finally re-adjusted to Molly's new growth rate and things have settled back to normal, or as normal as they can be heading into the third trimester. At least now, Eric doesn't have to walk into a room and wonder if I'm going to bite his head off or cry on his shoulder :-) The new normal for Molly is "speedy growth." She is weighing in this week at just over two pounds and will more than triple that weight over the next 3 months. She is also over 14 inches long from head to toe and will add another 5-10 inches to her height before she's born. She is now able to open and close her tiny eyelids and can detect bright sunlight shining on my belly. She has regular periods of sleeping and wakefulness, although her constant belly-dancing has me convinced there's much more of the latter than the former. She's also busy "practicing" her breathing in her immature lungs by inhaling amniotic fluid and blowing it back out. All that practice can give her a bout of the baby hiccups, an occurrence I'm pretty sure we felt the other night as we were laying in bed. With our hands on my belly, Eric and I both felt a "bump-bump-bump" that was much too strong and slow to be a heart-beat and much too rhythmic to be just kicking. Practice makes perfect, Molly, so keep on "breathing"!

The Craziness Continues: Weeks 24 and 25

As the third trimester rapidly approaches, I sometimes find myself wondering how we're ever going to pull off this whole parenting thing, especially with the crazy busy-ness we've been experiencing the last few weeks. Between traveling home for Easter, school and work obligations, social engagements, church functions, childbirth classes, and appointments at the Birth Center, I feel as though the only thing our mortgage payment has gone to for the last month is a place for us to sleep at night. As I'm running to and fro, several times I've stopped and thought to myself, "How are we going to do this when we have Molly?" I guess we just won't do as many things as we used to. Truthfully, I'm kind of looking forward to it. It'll be nice to have an excuse to slow down, relax, and just hang out as a family for a while. I can't wait for August when Eric and I will both have the entire month off to just bond with Molly and not worry about anything else.

Our Easter week in upstate NY was a chilly one, but the time with family was long overdue. It was a wonderful time of laughter, fellowship, and good food with my sisters, parents, nieces, nephew, and old friends. We climbed to the top of the Grafton firetower, which overlooks the mountains and farmland of NY, Massachusetts, and Vermont. It was chilly at the top, but the view was gorgeous.

My mom and my sister, Jennene, hosted our first baby shower while we were home, an open house event attended by most of my extended family and several childhood and high school friends. It was so good to catch up with everyone, especially because we live so far away. We received lots of gift cards for Target and Babies-R-Us. I can't wait to go on a shopping spree and stock up Molly's nursery because, currently we have nothing but a few onesies, a bib or two, and a few pairs of shoes. It doesn't feel like a baby will be living here in 3 months!

On the way back to lovely, warm North Carolina, we got to practice many of the relaxation techniques we've been learning in our Bradley childbirth classes. We experienced a total of 1 flight cancellation, 2 delays, and probably about 6 hours in airport terminals. But Eric was a hero the whole time. He saw I was getting tired, tense and travel-sore so he whipped out our Bradley workbook and reminded me how to get into my relaxation poses. I have a feeling he's going to be a superstar during labor. I don't know how anyone goes through this whole process without a strong, close companion to love and and take care of them. Over the last 5 months, I've felt closer to Eric than ever before. Between doctor's visits, childbirth classes, and those special moments when we both feel our baby belly dancing just for us, I've realized there's no one in the world I'd rather share this time with. I'm truly blessed.

During all of our travel and busy days, Molly has been transforming from a skinny, wrinkly creature into the chubby, cuddly baby we've been seeing in our imaginations. She's been adding 6-8 ounces each week for a total of about 1.75 lbs and a length of about 13 inches. She's been adding layers of fatty tissue under her skin to give her that plump, less-wrinkly look. Over the last two weeks, tiny air sacs lined with capillaries have been developing in her lungs. They're beginning to produce surfactant, a substance that will help the lungs expand in the first moments after birth, allowing her to take her first breaths. Molly's tiny eyelashes, eyebrows, and perhaps a sprinking of hair on her head have fully developed and pigment has started to turn this hair a specific color, although this color could change before or after birth, or at any time during childhood. Everyone's been predicting a tiny girl with lots of dark curls...but I wouldn't be surprised if God used his sense of humor on this one and gave us a tall blonde with stick-straight locks. The genes are there...it could happen. We'll just have to wait and see.

Busy Times: Weeks 21-23

This photo was taken in the soon-to-be nursery at 22 weeks. Yes, the walls are orange! Eric and I both love bright colors and took a big plunge when we painted this room orange, but we LOVE how it turned out. It's a very bright and happy room, probably my favorite room in the house. We're decorating with ABC's and 1,2,3's, and lots of tiny critters (frogs, bugs, turtles, butterflies). I can't wait to see what it looks like when we're all done. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures.

Speaking of pictures, this blog post should have lots of pictures of our recent adventures. But, as you'll see, it does not. Unfortunately, our computer decided to die on us and has deleted every file we've ever saved, including hundreds of pictures. Fortunately, I have many pictures backed up elsewhere or printed out in hard copies. However, there are so many that have fallen through the cracks over the years and the only place I had them was on our computer. So a vivid description of the adventures of the last 3 weeks will have to suffice for now.

We took our first "family" beach trip to the Outer Banks 2 weeks ago. We went with another couple from church who are also 5 months pregnant! It was a lot of fun to be at the beach in the off season. The wind was cold and the waves were extremely wild, but the ocean had a different kind of beauty than you see in the summertime...the beauty of awesome power being unleashed over and over again. Both mornings we were there, we saw amazingly beautiful sunrises. I wished that Molly could be on the outside to see what we could see, to smell the salty air and feel the wind on her cheeks. I think it's a trip we'll definitely be making again in the future!

Last weekend, Eric's parents came down from Pittsburgh for a visit and we spent a great couple of days together. We went to the Museum of Science in Raleigh and saw tons of amazing exhibits. I think that one will become another family-favorite once Molly is here on the outside to enjoy it with us. This week we are in chilly upstate NY to celebrate Easter with my family. So far we've enjoyed a couple April snow flurries to remind us what Spring Break is really like in NY :-) All in all, it's been an extremely busy 3 weeks with lots of fun crammed in around our regular work weeks. I think Eric and I are sub-consciously trying to get lots of sightseeing, traveling, and eating-out done before July because we know how much harder it's going to be once we're a family of three!

While we've been doing a lot of traveling over the last 3 weeks, Molly's been doing a lot of growing and changing. She is now almost a foot long and weighs in just over one full pound! She is becoming very aware of the world outside her warm, watery home. She listens to the sounds of our voices, the music we play, the TV, and anything else we're doing, whether it's vacuuming the house or listening to the sermon at church. She can also sense the differences in my movements, whether it's dancing, walking, yoga, or sleeping. Pretty soon, my daily routines will affect her daily routines as she develops definite periods of sleepfulness and wakefulness. Right now, I feel like it's mostly the latter! She enjoys her exercise! The squirming that I could feel deep in my abdomen before has grown into full-blown acrobatics visible to anyone staring at my belly. Eric and I were both amazed as we were lying in bed on Saturday morning, belly-watching. We could actually watch her doing somersaults and rolling herself from one side of the belly to the other. It's better than TV! This week she is growing thousands of tiny blood vessels in her little pink lungs, preparing them for the big job ahead of breathing those first breaths in about 16 weeks. She's also beginning to fatten up a bit, making her skin a little less transparent and a little more chubby!

We're looking forward to next week: 24 week check-up and Daddy's first trip to the birth center! We'll keep you updated.