34 Weeks! (and stats update)

Woohoo! 34 weeks today! Only about 6 more weeks to go... wow! I can't believe how soon I'm going to meet my precious baby. So exciting!

So at 34 weeks, Baby is about 4.75 pounds, 17.75 inches long, and the size of an average cantaloupe! Mmmm, I love cantaloupe.

Baby - The waxy protective coating, vernix, is becoming much thicker this week as the lanugo continues to shed and may be almost completely gone by now. Inside your baby, the lungs are continuing to mature in preparation for breathing in the outside world.

Body - You might be feeling just like you did your first trimester, tire, and exhausted. Your body is going through significant physical strain, not to mention the overall discomfort of all that extra weight and difficulty sleeping are playing their toll. As your baby moves lower in the birth canal and exerts more pressures, some women have an uncomfortable sensation that the baby is about to fall out. Other women feel a pricking or tingling sensation in the pelvic area, also common and not something to worry about. The feelings may not go away until after you deliver. If you have concerns, talk to you medical practitioner.

I am definitely feeling tired again these days. Most days I take a pretty long nap... like 2 to 3 hours! I'm always irritated that I lost that much of my day, but glad I was able to get the sleep. As annoying as it is to "waste" so much time, I never try to fight it - if I'm tired, I take a nap.

I never feel like Baby is about to fall out!

Since I haven't done a Sunday Stats in a couple weeks, I'll give you my stats for today.

Weight: 141.5 pounds
Waist: 41 inches

So that's 2 pounds and 1.5" in two and a half weeks. Pretty good! I've been much happier with my weight gain recently. We've been going on more walks lately, so that's probably helping. We just moved and now live next to a nice big park. We take the puppies on about a 2 mile walk about 4 days a week. It's really good for all of us.

I had a nice prenatal massage last week. Thanks again, Mom, for the package! I'll probably get another massage late next week and another at week 37 or so. The massages really help my constantly aching back feel better.

Baby's movements have changed a lot lately. Now that his/her space is getting more cramped, it seems as though Baby is trying to stretch out more. I often feel a strong push on the upper part of my belly and a smaller push lower at the same time. I think the strong one is the heal of Baby's foot, and the small one is Baby's hand. It's a very strange feeling but I can recognize it as stretching.

Well, that's all the updating I have time for right now. I'll finish off with a belly pic I took tonight with a guest appearance from iPhone 4! :)

Sunday Stats

OH MY GOODNESS!! It's been over a month since my last update! I'm sorry :( Life got pretty busy, but I'm back now! My regular weekly posts we return and I also have some other topics to write about, like why we're cloth diapers and choosing a midwife.

Anyway, I'm 31 weeks and 3 days pregnant! Woohoo! (I think I use too many parentheses when I write for my pregnancy blog...) Only 60 days until Baby's due date... less than 9 weeks! It seems so soon. I'm getting excited.

Oh, this is a sunday stats post, isn't it? Ok, stats for today!

Weight: 139.5 pounds
Waist: 39.5''

So in four weeks I have gained 4.5 pounds and grown 1.5 inches. I am glad to have slowed down my weight gain. Even my midwife said during my last appointment that she would prefer if I didn't gain more than 10 more pounds (this was 3 weeks ago). That would mean I should gain less than a pound a week. Even though I've gained a little more than a pound per week over the last 4 weeks, I think I've only gained about a pound in the last 2 weeks, so that's good. I've been trying to walk everyday (my gym membership is expired now that I graduated) and been more careful about what (and how much) I eat. I know I was eating way more than necessary, so I've cut that back and I think it's helping. Don't worry, I'm not starving Baby... not even close! I'm just frequently hungry and was usually eating too much each time I was hungry. Now I just eat until I'm not hungry anymore, instead of when I'm full. I have gained a total of 29.5 pounds. Ideally, I wouldn't gain more than 35 pounds; but since I was on the lower end of my BMI category, as long as I stay under 40 pounds of weight gain, I should be fine.

My total waist growth is 13.5 inches! WOW! I am definitely feeling huge these days and can't believe that I still have 2 more months of growing to do. I'm gonna be huge!

Anyway, that's all I've got for today! Next midwife appointment is on Wednesday. Stay tuned for more pregnancy posts. I promise to write more! And here's another belly pic for you :)

Sunday Stats

Wow! It's been 3 weeks since I posted a Sunday Stats! I didn't really it was that long... sorry :(

Ok, so for this week we've got

Weight: 135 pounds
Waist: 38 inches

So, in three weeks I've gained 5 pounds and grown 1.25 inches. Wow! Baby is growing fast!

I haven't been able to workout nearly as much as I'd like :( but I was able to make it to the gym yesterday, so that's good. I'm gonna try to be extra good this week with going to the gym. It's important and I need to just make the time.

Updates will be more frequent once school is over! Promise!

Sunday Stats

I know, I know... I skipped Sunday Stats last week! I was busy making pie and homemade mac and cheese, so I totally forgot. I can't promise it won't happen again :P

Ok, let's just jump strait into the stats.

Weight: 130 pounds
Waist: 36.75 inches

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Leanna, the scale says 130.5. You're cheating and saying you're half a pound lighter!" Well, yes and no. My weight in the morning was 130, but when I took this picture, it was 130.5. I go by my morning weight... don't hate :P

So, that's a 4 pound weight gain and 0.75'' waist growth in two weeks. Weight gain is still more than I'd like; I should only be gaining about a pound a week. But I've been working out now, so as long as I keep that up, I'm not going to stress about my weight. Last week, I only worked out twice, but this week I've already worked 4 times and I'm hoping to hit the gym tonight as well. My goal is to workout 3-5 times per week.

Ok, so now for another belly pic. I'm actually quite proud of this photo and added it to the self portrait albums of the Photography Page and Flickr.

Maternity Self Portraits

I took some silhouette shots of my belly today. I was hesitant to share them because 1. I know some people I know who are a bit more on the conservative side might get all irritated that I'm putting these on the internet, and 2. because some people are just flat out assholes and will have some gross comment to say. Well, if you fall into one of these categories, please just stay quiet. I view a woman's pregnant body as absolutely amazing and beautiful. I like to think God was being artistic when designing women both in their pregnant and non-pregnant forms and there is nothing wrong with tasteful appreciation.

Ok, I'll shut up now. Here's the pics. I've also added them to the self portraits albums on the photography page and on Flickr.

24 Weeks!

24 weeks! That's 6 months! Only 16 more weeks to go! Time seems to be going by fast, but not fast enough. My back has been killing me and it's rather difficult to get comfortable these days.

Baby is about 12.5'' long, 1.25 lbs, and the size of corn! I would assume they mean the length of corn, not width... unless Baby is REALLY skinny!! I hope not... Baby needs some skin on his/her bones!

Ok, let's see what else BabyBump has to say.

Baby - With all the rapidly developing senses in your baby, he should probably be able to sense what is upside down or right side up. Your baby's respiratory system is also rapidly growing, lungs are developing in preparation for breathing, moving amniotic fluid in and out of the lungs. For now your baby still gets oxygen through your placenta.

Body - Your uterus is roughly two inches above your bellybutton. Around this time your medical practitioner may perform a glucose screen test to check for gestational diabetes which affects around 10% of all pregnant women. It can be a risk to you and your baby if left untreated. Gestational diabetes can make vaginal delivery difficult, causing a longer labor due to the baby's larger size, or it might make cesarean delivery required. However, the good news is that this condition often disappears for most women after pregnancy.

Health Tip - Between weeks 24 and 28 your doctor may recommend that you have a glucose screening test to check for gestational diabetes, a condition that can affect the fetus' blood sugar levels causing the baby to grow to large. The glucose screen test is offered to most women, especially if you are obese or have a family history of diabetes.

Um, ok. I think BabyBump went a little overboard with the gestational diabetes. Wish they didn't put it in two sections; it was too repetitive. On that note, I will be taking the glucose screening test at my next midwife appointment, next week. I'm not worried about it. Not only have I never been overweight, but I don't have a sugar eating problem.

I guess that's all I really have to say about this week.

Well I noticed that the picture of the inside of the belly provided by BabyBump actually changed last week, but I just noticed it this week. So here it is.

So it looks like between now and week 26, Baby should be switching positions to head down! I didn't realize that happened so early. I guess it makes sense, because as Baby grows, his/her space becomes more cramped. It would probably be hard to move to head down at the end of the pregnancy. Baby is already so smart! :) I'm sure I'll find out next Thursday if Baby is facing head down. The midwives are so good at being able to tell how Baby is positioned just by pushing on my belly.

And now, because I was a slacker and skipped Sunday Stats last week, I will share a belly pic :)

Sunday Stats

I can't believe another week has passed! Time for Sunday Stats again!

Weight: 126 pounds
Waist: 36 inches

Yay! Belly has grown 3/4 of an inch! But it feels like it's grown like three inches! I hate my rapid weight gain though. Well, I'm finally not sick anymore so I'm gonna start going to the gym again.. yay! (I will not get thunder thighs, I will not get thunder thighs, I will not...) I tried to go yesterday, but apparently Saturday is the one day a week my gym closes at 7p and I showed up at 7:30p :( They close at 11p tonight, so I'm gonna head over in a bit after my tummy settles from dinner.

Ok. Here's a new pic!

Sunday Stats

It's Sunday again, which means it's time for Sunday Stats!

Weight: 124 pounds
Waist: 35.25 inches

That's no change in waist, and two pound gain in weight. I'm still sick so I haven't been able to workout again :( That's two weeks of no workout because of this damn cold. It's so annoying. But I think it's almost gone, so I hope to hit the gym by the middle of the week.

What do you think about the above pic with the measuring tape? I may or may not do that every week. It was kind of a pain to take... we'll see. Here's a new belly pic!



Even though the measurements don't seem to be going up, I really feel like my belly has grown a lot. I probably just don't measure right...

Sunday Stats

It's Sunday which means it's time for Sunday Stats!

Weight: 122 pounds
Waist: 35.25 inches

Not much change in either, but that's ok :)

I wasn't able to workout at all last week because I've been sick :( I was really looking forward to working out this quarter and I've only been able to a handful of times because I have the never-ending cold! Being pregnant and sick is NOT a good combo. It takes forever to get better. I slept a lot today though which makes me think I'm finally getting better. All week, I wasn't getting much sleep because it was hard me to breathe through my stuffed up nose.

Feeling baby's movements has greatly improved this week! Yay for Baby!

Here's a pic. Excuse the hair... I was in bed all day.

Sunday Stats

Ahh! I once again forgot to do Sunday Stats until I was about to go to bed! My weight is still in the low 120s - I don't know exactly what because I prefer to weigh myself in the morning when I haven't eaten yet. I'll put down tomorrow's weight in the morning.

Weight: 122.5
Waist: 35 inches

Yay! My belly grew half an inch! That's a total of 9 inches of growth. I started working out again this week so I'm hoping my weight gain slows down a bit. I think a few of the pounds I gained were unnecessary. I would've gained those pounds even if I wasn't pregnant! That's what happens when you sit on your butt all day every day doing math! But I have more free time this quarter, so I'm going to make sure I workout regularly. Not only do I not want to gain too much weight, but I want to have as easy of a delivery as possible - which means I need to be in good shape!

Well, Thursday will be 20 weeks which means I'll be halfway there! Yay for Baby!

Here's a pic :)

Belly Pics

Well, there’s a first for everything, and here is the first time I show my pregnant belly without a shirt covering it! I’m not sharing these on Facebook, so only you special people you visit this site get to see these :)

I’m amazed that you can actually see a belly from the front! Below is a pic of my tummy when I found out I was pregnant next to my belly a few days ago. Sorry for the bad quality; I took these with my iPhone.



Yay for Baby! Today is 18 weeks and next midwife appointment is tomorrow! :)

Sunday Stats

Every Sunday, I will post my new weight and waist size as well as a new photo to show my progress.

These are my measurements the day I found out I was pregnant:
Weight: 110 lbs
Waist: 26’’

Today, I am little past 17 weeks pregnant.
Weight: 120 lbs
Waist: 34.5’’

I gained 10 pounds!! Today was the first time I’ve seen a 2 followed by the first 1 on the scale. And my waist has grown 8.5 inches?!?! Holy. Crap. The kicker is that Dave stepped on the scale after me... guess how much he weighs. Guess!! 123.5 POUNDS! I’ll pass him up in no time!

Ok, now for the picture :)



Grow Baby, grow!