30 weeks

In some ways, it seems like I shouldn't already be at 30 weeks, and in others, it seems like I should already be full-term by now. I think it depends on how I feel that particular day. Today, I did NOT feel so spunky.


Yesterday, we spent nearly the entire day painting our office. Back in October, we painted Stella's room, and I felt well enough to paint quite a bit and really help. Yesterday, I spent most of the time sitting on the floor, painting along the molding. I even stopped a couple times to take short rests. I'm feeling pretty darn huge these days, and I think I'm starting to look absurdly pregnant. Here's my latest belly shot - please forgive the pajama look. I couldn't stand wear real clothes any longer this evening:

Yes, I know. I look tired. I look bloated and puffy, and I feel exhausted. It's not good to feel this way. We have maternity photos at the end of the month on the 26th, and I'm scared I'll hate them because of how revoltingly large I am.


Okay, okay. Enough complaining. It's hard to not complain, though, and yes, I feel like a terrible person for just wishing this was over already. Today, I was looking at ModCloth, and I kept remembering the wonderful feeling of having a waist and being able to run and just looking generally better than I do right now. Okay, I said enough complaining. :(


On to more positive things: Stella has been quite active lately. She moves so much, and it's shocking what she can actually do now. She's very strong. I added a new ticker (in case you didn't notice) to the top of our blog since the fruit/veggie thing is no longer amusing. Okay, a squash. Then, we've got a cantaloupe and then a watermelon. Not a lot to expect from that in the coming weeks. I figured the updates on her development might be more interesting. :)


I definitely believe that she's strong enough to grip a finger because some days it feels like she's trying to bust out of my belly. She'll kick really hard or just starting moving like crazy. Her movements really wake me up now, and on Sunday, I woke up at 4:30 am. I managed to wake Derek up with all of my shifting, and I looked at him and said, "Are you awake?" He said, "Uh... kinda." I said, "Well, your daughter is keeping me awake." We laid there for about another thirty minutes before he got up and made me chocolate chip pancakes and started getting ready for the early Mass. I have a wonderful husband :)


Lately, I've been having a few Braxton-Hicks contractions. At first, I was a little confused by them, but now, I'm just like, "Eh, another one of those." When we were picking out paint at Home Depot on Saturday, I just started having one right there. I was like, "Welp - okay." They're more annoying than anything. They happen at work a lot. I've been having more stretching-type cramps. Go ahead - say it: "How could you possibly get any larger?" Well, I'm not sure, but I guess we'll see. I'm sleeping okay, save the occasional wake up calls from Stella's feet. 


I check in with the doctor on Monday, and I'll be in there a lot more often now. I don't think I can say this enough: she can come as early as possible. I am so ready to be on the road to getting this weight off - I can't wait to finally run again! - and just to have her here. I've spent a good amount of time complaining in this blog post, but I can't say enough just how excited I am to finally meet our little girl and to finally see what she looks like. I just sit and look at her stuff in her room and imagine what it will really be like. I can't wait :) 


So to end on a positive note: I am so ready to for this to be over not only because I'm uncomfortable but also so I can get to the real business of getting to know Stella and just loving her and being the best mom I can possibly be. And, I cannot wait to finally see Derek with her. I think he's going to be an amazing dad. :) Is that the mushiest thing I've said in this blog to date? Probably. I've been getting really emotional lately. :) 

Gettin' the baby deals!

We've recently made quite a few purchases for Stella, so I thought I'd share them.


Here's the first recent purchase:

If you remember, I bought another one of these for the nursery a couple months ago. I liked it so much, I thought I'd add another one to make it like a set. I wanted to get some more pink in Stella's room, and I really loved this one. It's from an Etsy store called Maple Shade Kids, and the woman who makes everything uses all-natural products and a tree is planted in honor of every purchase. I totally recommend it! 

On to more practical things :) 

I just got a sweet deal on a high chair. I had been planning to put this purchase off, but when I saw I could get one for the low, low price of fifty bucks, I went for it. Most of the ones I've looked at are around 80-120 dollars, and my co-worker recommended one that's $230 - you know, those crazy Stokke ones? Here's the one we ordered:

It's not pink and fabulous like most of Stella's things, but this will fit in nicely near our bar between our great room and the kitchen. We usually eat dinner there anyway, and it will be perfect. The best part of it is that if we want to attach it to our dining room chairs like this: 

We can. It'll be nice to have both features in a single high chair. It also becomes a booster seat for when she's older. Very happy with it! 


Now, I need to give mad props to my Mom and Mother-in-Law. My Mother-in-Law is purchasing our breast pump - thank you, Kathi! - as our baby shower gift. I'm so thankful for that! My Mom has offered to purchase a swing for Stella, and I'm also very, very thankful for that. I had one in mind, and Mom told me to go ahead and order it. Here's the one I picked:

I think it's absolutely adorable, and it lights up! I love it! 

I'm so thankful for both of them doing everything they've done. They're both hosting our Portsmouth baby shower next weekend, and I think it's so sweet that they're doing this for us. Then, they're going to drive down with everything on February 18th. I'm very excited for both of them to visit, and I'm so thankful. Derek and I didn't expect family to buy anything for us, save a few clothing items, so this is a huge treat. I've already had several inquiries about "good gift ideas" from our families, and that's also very sweet - we love you all so much! 

I need to get to errands! Derek and I have a lot to do this weekend! :) I'll post again soon, and I need to take another belly picture. I swear, I look like I'm about to pop! 

A Squash!

After weeks and weeks of being the size of an eggplant, we finally have a new fruit/vegetable comparison! A squash is pretty big!


I can tell Stella is getting bigger and bigger, too. Her movements are really painful at times, and even when they're not painful, they're so strong that they completely arrest my attention. I usually stop and go, "Oooh." She somehow managed to get herself in my ribs yesterday, and it was killing me. It wasn't her feet - just like she had pressed all of her weight against the right side of my ribs. It was really uncomfortable, and I kept trying to coerce her to move. 


Overall, things are going really well. Derek and I finally can check off a huge to-do from our list: get another car. We had sold our Outlander over the summer to save up for moving to Ohio - which we all see didn't happen! - so when we decided to stay in the South, we just kept it with one car, figuring it was more economical anyway. In October, we traded in our Corolla for an older Explorer since we knew we needed an actual "baby wagon." It's really big and perfect for transporting a ton of Stella's stuff. 


We continued to research different options and we wanted something both economical and practical, so we decided to lease a Civic. With our smaller cars, we seem to trade those in more often, so we thought it better to lease than to buy. Since we're expecting to only have one child, we figured the Civic would be certainly big enough for our needs. It has four doors and a huge trunk, so there's plenty of room for everything we need. We're both really relieved to have finally taken care of that. Phew! 


Yesterday, I went and bought a flip-top garbage can for our wet bag, and I got a small basket to hold Stella's laundry. I also bought an organizer so I can get all of her stuff in one spot in the closet. We still have a lot that we need, but we're making progress.


Right now, we need:


1) A Glider/Rocker
2) A Swing
3) Bouncy Chair
4) Breastpump
5) A Floor Lamp
6) A Bookcase (or some other type of organizer for her room)
7) A Highchair
8) More cloth diapers... and more cloth diapers
9) Bottles and milk storage 
10) Cleaning tools for the bottles 
11) Pacifiers, toys, and of course, activity-related gear
12) A sling/Moby wrap/Baby Bjorn 
13) A jogger 


Now, that's not necessarily in order of importance, but rather in the order in which I can easily remember it. We recently received our hybrid diapers from Gro-Via, and they're awesome. I'm very happy with those, and I do hope we can get more before Stella gets here. 


I know the jogger and highchair can wait since she can't really sit in a jogger until she can hold her head up (say 6 months-ish) and she can't eat solids for a while either. Mostly, I'm worried about the breastpump - so expensive! - and other necessities like cloth diapers and the bottles. 


We need some more clothes, but those are so cheap that it's easy to just buy some here and there and we'll have more than enough before she gets here. 


Today, I hope to go through and do some more organizing in our kitchen and move some hazardous things to above our washer and dryer in the laundry room. I'd like to get some safety latches and all that pretty soon, but that may be a project for next weekend. Derek will have to install all of those locking latches for our cabinets, so that might take a while.


Derek seems to think that the toilet lockers aren't practical and one should just keep the bathroom door shut. I told him that one of us may forget or something and we should have them anyway. Now, I realize that she won't be crawling and walking and getting into things for a little while, so we just want to get the basics for now. Any opinions on those toilet lockers?


I still feel like we have so much to do and so much to get! It's just crazy. We have 11 weeks until my due date, and about 7 before she COULD arrive. Time is really going quickly. 


And speaking of which - I had said in my previous post that my hair appointment was a simple trim. I had been thinking for about a month to cut my hair shorter, but I just hadn't grown a pair and gone through with it. Well, yesterday I decided it was time. I really wanted something that would be easy to maintain and something that I can wash and let air dry. My hair has a crazy texture and it goes everywhere, so having my hair cut to accommodate that is so much easier. I'm not sure if the picture on facebook really captured it - it's not a bob. My stylist (who is awesome - go see Melissa Gower at Park West) pretty much razor cut all of it and it's really choppy. There are some longer, random pieces around my face. I was really trying to avoid a "mom" cut. I guess my reasoning for doing it makes it a mom cut, though. I had been spending anywhere from 30-40 minutes everyday straightening my hair, and I knew that once Stella got here, I wouldn't have that luxury anymore. 


Either way, I'm really happy, and Derek really likes it, too. :) Anyway, enough about me! I need to get get organizing my kitchen before this sweet little girl gets here! :)

This really feels like the third trimester...

So the past couple days have been pretty rough to say the least. My feet are swelling again, and I honestly don't know why - well, other than just being pregnant. My desk is so low that it could be used by a "little person," and I'm drinking plenty of water every day. Still, they swell and swell. It sucks. I ran out of my Protonix, and I need to get a refill. With that said, I've had some horrible heartburn. I've also had so much pain my tailbone that it feels like it may snap in two. In other words, this is really feeling like the third trimester. 


Okay, I got all of my complaining out in one paragraph! It's just been rough lately, and I keep thinking, "I have up to 12 more weeks of this?!" Moving on to positive things, I have been feeling much more energetic - thank you, crazy iron supplement! - so I was even able to make it to the gym and walk our dogs a couple times this week! It's nice when I can workout and feel better in general. Also good news, Derek seems to be all healthy again. He's still chuffing and coughing, but for the most part, he seems to be much, much better. 


He was able to get a relatively clear shot of me, so here I am at 28 and a half weeks:

yay pajamas! 

That's Derek's t shirt, so you can tell that even his clothes are getting tight on me. My belly is pretty darn big at this point, and the other day, a coworker jokingly said to me, "You're having twins - right?" I was like, "Uhm, no. Definitely just one in there." Although, I have to agree with her. My friend Jessica is expecting twins, and size-wise, we're pretty similar. On the bright side, one of my former students from fall quarter saw me, and she goes, "You look really good!" It's always nice when you hear that, rather than, "Damn! You're as big as a bus!" 


Anyway, we finished our last "Baby Basics" class last night. It was a great class series. We learned about the 5 Ss, Infant CPR, diapering, bathing, and even some safety product tips. I am glad to be finished since that means we won't be staying after work until 8:30 again. The infant CPR was pretty hilarious. Of course, Derek's a natural since he did all that combat medic stuff. I'm like beating the doll's chest with two hands and I forgot to support it when we did the choking stuff. I was basically smacking the doll against my knee. Derek was cracking up. He goes, "Uh, you.. uh," and pointed at my knee when he realized I wasn't supporting the baby at all. It's hard, people! 


We have our next class on February 5th, and that will be our "Prepared Childbirth" class. It's all day long, and I'm glad we'll get a tour of the labor and delivery area of Memorial Hospital. Then, February 22nd will be our last class, "Breastfeeding." I'm looking forward to that one since I am very nervous about getting breastfeeding right. 


From what I understand, my mom and mother-in-law will be hosting our Ohio baby shower on February 6th. I feel so badly that we can't be there, and I really wish I could be. There's no way I can take time off work, and I can't just fly in for the weekend - too far along for that. I do plan to call in and thank everyone for being so sweet and kind as to think of getting gifts for Stella. Speaking of which, we ordered a couple books for her today. Books for children ages 0-2 are so cheap - they were like 5 bucks a piece! If only her future textbooks could cost that much... 


Altogether, February is going to be a wacky month for us: Childbirth class on the 5th; Valentine's Day Weekend (our last one alone!); Moms visit on the 19th and I have the Southern Regional ACIS from the 17th-19th; then on the 22nd our Breastfeeding class; then our maternity photos right after that on the 26th. Crazy! 


Our plan for the rest of this month includes getting things organized. After our infant CPR and safety session in Baby Basics last night, we've decided that we need to relocate a lot of the cleaning supplies and generally hazardous stuff in our house now while we have time. We're going to reorganize all of that so it's out of Stella's reach. Then, we're going to organize her closet and our closet so that it's convenient and easy to keep neat. We may invest in some organizers. I'd like to find a small bookcase that we can keep her books in, so we'll probably search for one of those, too. We're still in need of a floor lamp, but one thing at a time. On top of all of this, I have a hair appointment! Nothing exciting - just a trim. :) 


I can't believe how quickly time has passed! Some days, it seems like I just realized I was pregnant. Our friends Neil and Lindsay in Ohio are now at 36 weeks, and I'm so happy for them! I can't wait to finally be at that point! :) Time really flies by! :)

Hello, Third Trimester!

Finally! It's here! The last stretch! 

It doesn't make much sense to me that for over a week I've had less than 90 days to go but I wasn't "technically" in my third trimester. Whatever - here I am!

And oh my goodness does this feel like the third trimester. Lately, I've been getting some vicious kicks and punches, and I think she's been using the right side of my rib cage as a pillow on occasion. I wasn't totally ready for that. 

Stella is laying in a "transverse" position which looks something like this:

Unlike this baby, though, Miss Stella has her feet pointing outward toward my belly button (remember that crazy triangle-type shape she likes to make?). Sometimes, I imagine her stretching out completely, kinda like Maggie's signature stretch:

Or maybe she's taking after her mother and doing yoga, i.e. Paripurna Navasana or "boat pose":

Either way, it's hilarious when it happens. This morning, Derek looked at my stomach and went, "Woah.." You could feel her feet pushing against my skin. I never imagined a month or two ago that she'd be making me this uncomfortable at times. Physically, I feel okay, and my desk was lowered (to an almost ridiculously low position) at work to reduce the swelling of my feet. It helps a lot. I haven't been sleeping much. I'm usually awake between the hours of 2-4 which makes early morning workouts nearly impossible because I've just fallen back asleep by the time the alarm goes off to get up. I've been rather "lazy," in my opinion, lately since I haven't been hitting the gym as often, but since my weight is good and I still make time to stretch and do yoga poses, I won't beat myself up too much about it. I need sleep. 

Oh, and I should add this tidbit of information - I got a call from my doctor's office. No, it's not that - the glucose is fine. It's my hemoglobin. I guess I'm terribly anemic again - argh! - and I have to be on a prescription iron supplement and was given orders to eat beef, yuck. I'm used to this, and honestly, I usually ignore it. Since I'm concerned about Stella and our well-being during labor and delivery, I have to heed their advice. At the store yesterday, I felt as though I was on a beef-buying frenzy. I bought a "meat lovers" pizza, meatloaf, and some meaty lasagna. It was pretty ridiculous.

The prescription I have to take is really odd. It works like birth control in some ways. For 21 days, I take one kind of pill and then for 7 I take another that helps with absorption. They smell funny, and I swear, they are so large that I think they were intended for larger mammals. If I have to take it for our baby girl, then well, I'll do it. Me and my iron issues... sigh.

Things seem to be going just fine otherwise, and I'll post another belly picture soon. Derek was sick that night, and I didn't even want him bothering with the picture. He insisted, though, and, well, you saw the results. He was coughing and shaky from medicine, so the pictures were total crap. I'll take another really soon and I'll try and wear slimmer clothing, too. 

Oh, and speaking of photos: I'm happy that I've started making the arrangements for our maternity photos! I'm very fortunate to have  Liza Crowley Judson as a friend, and she's going to shoot our photos in late February. Liza is an awesome local artist in Savannah, and I've purchased some of her work - it's my favorite art in our house. I love it! :) She's awesome, and I'm really looking forward to it! I imagine I'll be REALLY enormous by then!

Welp, I'm going to get back to enjoying my three day weekend with Derek, watching Lost repeatedly and eating puppy chow (yay for passing the glucose test!) :D 

Stella in 3D!

I have so much to blog about! I don't even know where to start! 


I'll go ahead and post the pictures since I'm sure that's what most people really want to see:

In most of the pictures, she's sucking on her hands

I think this one is hilarious! It makes me think she's saying, "Good Grief!"

This picture didn't take as well. It's hard to get a good shot of it. This is the one that I think shows she may have hair. Derek and I both have widow's peaks, and I think you can see that she has one. 

It was so amazing to see her! She moved a little in 3D - flailing her arms around and things. It was adorable! We weren't expecting to get an ultrasound, let alone a 3D one. When I first got to my appointment, Derek and I waited, and the nurse came out and said, "Aren't you supposed to get an ultrasound this time?" I said, "No." She said, "I think you are." I said, "Well, I certainly won't turn one away!" When we got in the ultrasound room, the technician said, "We just got these new machines, so I thought I'd try it out." It was a very good appointment :) 


Here are some of the regular 2D ultrasound pictures:

Those two are of her face

That's her leg. Apparently, this is what's been morphing my belly into crazy shapes!

I always get this big lump near my belly button, on the left side. Sometimes, it turns my tummy into this crazy triangle-type shape. Apparently, those are her legs stretching out to get comfy! Her head is near my ribs on my right side, and oh my goodness, she was all up in my ribs on our way home from work! 

Overall, the glucose appointment wasn't as bad as I expected. The drink was disgusting - end of story. It was like drinking a really, super concentrated melted orange popsicle. It was so sweet that it burned my throat as it went down. Bleck. Derek wanted to smell it, and one of the receptionists saw him smelling it. She said, "Hey, no sharing!" I was like, "I know, I know!" I seriously doubt ANYONE would voluntarily drink that. Bleck! After my appointment, we drove through McDonald's (healthy, I know. It was the closest thing to the hospital), and I had a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. It was easily one of the most delicious things I'd eaten in a while. Typically, I'd never do that, but I was desperate. I would've eaten anything savory.

They said they'd let me know how it turns out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I didn't eat anything, and the night before, I had cottage cheese to keep it as low carb as possible. And, I am so happy to announce that I have weighed in at +18lbs! I only gained 2 lbs since last time! That makes me so happy!! Oh, and Miss Stella is weighing in at 2.5lbs! Derek and I both were like, "What?!" I had been expecting to have a little baby, but now, I'm beginning to wonder if she's going to be a whopper!

Here's how I'm looking these days:

My face isn't in the picture because Derek just kept taking pictures of me, over and over. We couldn't get decent lighting for some reason, and this one seemed to be the only one that wasn't terribly blurry. My face has started to clear up so don't think I'm trying to hide it - haha. My nurse practitioner said that my torpedo-like belly is because I'm petite and I have a short torso. That's her excuse, not mine!


Overall, things are going very well. Stella moves so much anymore! She's moving right now, and they aren't little teeny movements anymore. These are big, big movements - jabs and kicks! 


And for Derek: he's back to being sick :( On the way home, his fever was back, and he's now in bed. I'm trying to convince him to stay home tomorrow, but he's being stubborn. On the way home he said the cutest thing: he's sitting there shivering from fever chills, and he said, "I had so much fun at the doctor today!" He's too cute :) 


Anyway, I can't wait until we meet our baby girl! This was so amazing, and it makes it so much more real! Oh, and they did confirm one more time that she is a baby girl :) I had been worried about that! :) 

Last Week of my Second Trimester!

Here we are at 27 weeks!


I haven't had a chance to update lately because of how busy I've been. On Friday, I felt so badly at work that I left early for the day. My feet were insanely swollen, and I was having a lot of cramping and back pain. All of this was on top my exhaustion. I'm guessing it was because I hadn't been sleeping well all week and had been extremely busy. Now that I've had a couple days to rest, I feel better. No swollen feet! :) Although today, I've been busy with caring for Derek who now has the flu :( I kept telling him to get a flu shot, but he wouldn't listen...


I feel really badly for him. He has chills, and he's having a lot of muscle aches. He definitely has a heinous fever, and I keep giving him Theraflu in the hope that it will break his fever. He's resting for now, so that's how I even got the chance to sit down and blog.


As for how things are going: things with Miss Stella are going just fine. Her kicks and movements are CRAZY! Sometimes, it actually is painful! She morphs my tummy into crazy shapes a lot more often now, and I swear we could feel something small, like a foot or hand or elbow, resting up against my skin yesterday. It was just crazy! She's crazy strong!


For me, I'm waddling - I know because my coworkers mention it - and my belly is just huge. I need to take some photos soon, but the ugly pregnancy acne has reared its head again - worse than ever! I think it's from hormones because I just received a new thing: the ever-so-lovely linea nigra. I was not happy to discover this. Apparently, it's common among darker-type folks, and while I'm not especially dark right now, I can get a mean tan when I want one (I just never really want one because I don't think anyone in their right mind wants to look like those Jersey Shore ho-bags). Regardless, it's there. It's faint right now, but it's still there. But hey: still no stretch marks! *knock on wood!*


I haven't weighed myself lately, but I'm guessing I'll clock in at up four lbs from last time - so around 20lbs or so. My glucose test is on Wednesday, and I am nervous. I'm trying to low carb it up while I can to try and curb any kind of last minute damage I can do. This is how I handle everything - procrastination! haha. I hope I pass, so *fingers crossed!* 


Derek is going to go with me since a lot of people I know said they got really sick after the test, and I think that's a good idea. One of my coworkers even said she passed out and was throwing up. We'll see how it goes for me... I just hope Derek's all better by then! 


Overall, things are good. We got our pack and play set up, and our eyes are now set on ordering some GroVia diapers and one of these. I think this will be perfect for when we do want to put Stella in bed with us. We don't really want that to be a very common thing, but when she's sick or something, we'll want her close to us. It will still create a separation between our bed and hers, and it will prevent any crazy blowouts from getting all in our bed. I think it's really important that children don't get the idea that it's okay to sleep with their parents, so we're making sure we do everything we can to prevent that from happening. 


I've started on our baby books. I started with Child Behavior: The Classic Child Care Manual from the Gesell Institute of Human Development. It's really interesting. It's explaining that children, and well, all humans, go through cycles of equilibrium and disequilibrium. So when a child is super sweet at 5 and then a monster at 6, it's just part of normal development. It's explaining all the natural reasons for those typical outbursts (i.e. the child won't listen but that's because she's finally realized she's independent, etc) and best ways to handle to those temperamental moments. 


Anyway, I need to get to back to caring for my sick husband. I'll post more after my appointment on Wednesday! 

We've got some reading to do!

So I figured I could go ahead and do my usual update on how everything is going since we are now at 26 weeks! 


She could come as early as 10 weeks from now - which is crazy to think about. I wouldn't mind if she came as early as possible, but we don't want her any earlier than mid-March. We want her to be ready, too!


With her arrival not so far away, I decided we need some more books on childcare, child development, and parenting. We have Nurture Shock, and Derek finished that about a month ago. I still need to read it, and I think it's a good book for realizing your overall goal for raising your children. We need more specifics, like references. Regarding that, I only have Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5 and it's a great book. It has a lot of information about breastfeeding, injuries, etc. 


In an effort to build a better "baby library," I've ordered these books:


1) Child Behavior: The Classic Child Care Manual from the Gesell Institute of Human Development - I got the tip on this one from thebump.com.
2) Touchpoints: Your Child's Emotional and Behavioral Development, Birth to 3 -- The Essential Reference for the Early Years - another thebump.com recommendation. 
3) The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer - This one was recommended to me by my coworkers. They said it's simply amazing, and Dr. Karp has videos to help with swaddling and shushing. 
4) What to Expect the First Year - This one seems obvious. I was given What To Expect When You're Expecting when I went to my new OB appointment back in August. 


Obviously, I've been trying to review websites as well. I've been following BabyCenter.com   very carefully. I like it a lot better than thebump.com. It seems to be more intelligent (I hope that doesn't sound elitist). Thebump.com seems to be more of a social site than anything, and it's nice for generating those cute little trackers. Most of the stuff I've read on there, though, hasn't been very informative. I've also subscribed to Parents.com, and that's been really helpful, too. That site actually shows you what your child looks like in utero, so that's been really cool. 


Our pediatrician's office recommends healthychildren.org, and I've loved it. It's so helpful, and it's actually affiliated with the American Academy of Pediatrics. It's helped me a lot with the cloth diapering. Apparently, there's some concern that cloth diapering can lead to a greater risk in diaper rash since it's not as absorbent as plastic diapers. That's one of the reasons why I've been looking into GroVia diapers to supplement my cloth diaper collection. However, cloth diapering is better for potty training since the child can actually feel the wetness and know when to ask for the potty. 


I hope this is a good start. It's been hard for both of us to read a lot beforehand. I'm busy working on a paper for the American Conference for Irish Studies Southern Regional in February, and I have my next class (yay! for grading!) on January 4. Derek's been very busy with schoolwork. One of the books we ordered with our shipment of baby books was Introduction to Databases: From Biological to Spatio-Temporal. That one definitely has nothing to do with Stella... at least for now. Maybe she'll be into databases and things later on, haha. Even though we're both busy, we're really trying to know as much as possible before she gets here. 


I'm looking forward to our classes, and I think they'll really help. I've babysat in the past, but Derek's never been around a newborn at all. I don't have much experience, other than a couple neighbors at Fort Stewart. I think the classes will be really great. 


As far as how things are going, everything's going fine. This morning around 4:30 am, Stella woke me up and I was trying to fall back asleep. She got hiccups, and so I laid there and waited it out. Derek was even able to feel her bouncing around. She's definitely getting stronger, and some of her movements are really intense. They aren't totally painful yet, but they're definitely getting there. One night, I was convinced she was trying to escape through my bellybutton... 


My next appointment is on January 12, so Wednesday after next. That's the dreaded glucose test.. dun, dun, dun! :( I'm really not looking forward to that. I did weigh myself about 2 days or so ago, and I had only gained 2 lbs since December 12 - my last weigh in recorded. I was happy about that. We'll see if it holds up at the doctor's office next week! I think I'm around a total of about 18-20 lbs at this point, and I figure that's not that bad. I've heard you don't gain as much in the final weeks (like 36 plus) since you just don't have room for a lot of food. I'd like to level off at 25 lbs, but I doubt that will happen. I'm thinking I'll be around 30 lbs, and depending on when she gets here, maybe the 35 lb upper limit. 


I'll be glad to get this baby-weight off, though. I'm already scheming and plotting on how I'm going to accomplish it! Anyway, this post is long enough without me ranting about my weight. If anyone has any recommendations for good baby books or websites, please send them my way!