the results are in

i had my doctor's appointment on thursday.

the one i've been waiting for.

she measured me

and again, i was 4 weeks behind.

two weeks ago i was measuring 30 cm.

now i'm measuring 32 cm.

growth is good, so i'm really relieved that we are still growing over here.

however, since i'm more than three weeks behind,

its cause for a little concern.

she sent me to have an ultrasound done

and everything came back great.

my amniotic fluid is on the high end,

which was my #1 worry, so that made me happy.

basically, brette is just small.

her arms and legs are measuring somewhere between 34 and 35 weeks.

her little body is only measuring 33 weeks

and guess what...

ronnie was right.  she got the turner noggin.

her head is measuring at 38 weeks.

cheese and rice,

she might be a freaking bobble head.

 

but what makes me really happy is the ultrasound tech said

that she had gobs of hair.  she said she could see it

coming out from all sides of her head. 

i might just pack hair barrettes to take to the hospital.

that's going to be so cute.

 

right now she's weighing in at a whopping 5.5 lbs.

the tech told me that she will just be a smaller baby,

probably only weighing somewhere between 6.5 and 7.5 lbs.

no 10 pounders over here.

(which, hello, that's great news to me!)

 

the doctor came back and had the tech do a bio physical.

that's where they measure her breathing, blood supply, tone and movement.

she did great in all four categories.

wahoo!

i am going back on wednesday for another ultrasound

because she is so little, they want to keep an eye on her.

but right now,

things seem to be fine.

 

i'll keep you posted.

predictions

awhile ago ronnie's dad found a picture

of ronnie when he was born and gave it to me. 

i had never seen him this young.

his family had a fire and a lot of photos from when

ronnie was little were lost.

i am so happy they actually found this. 

and while i was in warrensburg over the weekend,

i also grabbed the first known pic of me.

its dated two weeks after i was born.

my parents don't have a good excuse like a fire.

instead, they forgot to put film in the camera

so all photos from the first two weeks are undocumented.

i blame it on the "second child syndrome."

my mom blames my dad.

 

ronnie and i have been studying our baby pictures

so we have an idea of what/who brette looks like when she comes.

ronnie claims i look like an old man.

i swear he looks half asian.

 

so maybe ronnie and i are getting an asian old man?
 

  

 

(and yes, i took a picture of a picture because my scanner is somewhere in the basement mess.

i hope to retrieve it one day during clean up.)

 

 

so tired

i had another amazing shower this weekend

in warrensburg at my parent's

but i don't have all the photos from it yet,

so i'm going to skip to sunday.

 

the day of rest.

 

except for me, it was the most work i've done in awhile.

i started the day around 7:30 going out mushroom hunting with my brother.

he said that he wasn't going to be gone for very long

and that the only part i might have trouble with

is crossing over a creek.

that didn't sound so bad.

 

but no.

 

"not very long" in brian terms

equals 4 hours.

4 hours walking and walking and walking.

we found 8 mushrooms.

 

and the "creek" was actually a river.

steep sides, muddy, hard to get down

and even harder to get back up.

especially 8 months pregnant.  

and the last time i crossed over it

water was up to our thighs.

i was soaked by the time we got back to the truck.

 

wet, tired

and only mildly successful.

 

 

but that wouldn't have been so bad except for i had

another looooong job waiting for me when i got back.

 

one thing i hear over and over again is how tired

i am going to be once brette gets here. 

how i may not have time to even shower,

let alone cook dinner.

so i thought the best thing to do would be prepare several meals

that i can freeze and have for this summer

so ronnie and i don't spend every night either starving

or going to mcdonalds.

 

after my hike with brian, my mom and i got started cooking.

5 hours later we were done and 20 meals were frozen.

it was very tiring and my feet/back were rocked.

i haven't been in that much pain in a long time. 

but i am super excited to have one more thing done

in preparation for baby.

the more i can do now, the less i have to worry about later.

a big shout out to my mom.  she stuck by me in the kitchen

while we finished meal after meal.

 

if you want to do something similar, here's my tip:

buy gallon freezer bags and flatten them out as much as possible.

you can easily stack them and take up hardly any room in your freezer.

 

 

and that was my day of rest.

good thing i had off monday too.

dinosaur tracks

as i was walking into the kitchen

i realized the water in my glass was

rippling with every step.

 

a lot like this:

and that's when i realized

i am now comparable to

the tyrannosaurus rex in jurassic park.

 

 

not cool, people.

not cool.

unanswered questions

 

 

i had a dr. appointment last week

and i'm still measuring "really small."

so small, that after she checked for the heart beat,

my doctor went back and remeasured me to be sure.
hmmmm, not good?

 

i asked her about traveling to st. louis for a wedding in may.

she said no.

 

i asked her about the swelling on my left side.

she said that brette was making her home on that side.

and that was the reason for the slight swelling.

nothing to worry about.

 

i asked her what i was measuring.

around 30, but i'm supposed to be around a 34.

(normally, however many weeks along you are,

is how many centimeters you are.)

so i'm off about a month.

 

but do you know what i didn't ask her?

what that meant.
so now i have no clue what the deal is
and once i was home i had a million questions.

what does this mean for brette?
what does this mean for my due date?
what growth rate does she want to see out of me in the next month?
is there something i can do?
 (my mom heard i should drink a gallon of water a day. 
try it. its super hard and you'll most likely spend the
majority of your time in the bathroom.)
 

my doctor said to come back in two weeks and get remeasured.

depending on what my measurements are then,

i might have to get an ultrasound to check the level of my amniotic fluid.

that could be the reason why i'm measuring small.

if its too low, its dangerous for the baby.

 

since my doctor didn't freak out and thought i could wait two weeks,

i am also not freaking out.  but i wish i would have asked more about

what she thought the reason for my small measurements were. 

i obviously have lots of questions and i'm trying to wait patiently for next week

when i will know more.

 

pray for lots of growth.

(just not the extreme kind that will give me stretch marks.)

owl love you girls forever

i had an amazing baby shower over the weekend.

my besties invited all my friends to come celebrate brette.

all the details were perfection.

 

(its a girl pink nail polish favors)

(mini cupcakes, fruit kabobs, parfaits, veggies, sandwiches)

(candy for everyone)

(owl theme, presents, wine)

 

(jaime and dana)

(reese, practicing future wine glass skills)

(owl tulips)

(my girlfriends from work)

 

(my gf's but i cut out jess)

 

(the hostesses and my best friends)

 

 

(me and brette)

(opening gifts while kass folds all my tissue paper)

(college roomies)

(my besties in all of our jean jacket glory)

 

just want to give a big shout out to my ladies.

owl love you girls forever,

thanks for making me feel so special.

 

 

what did i wear?

my chevron old navy maternity dress.

so comfortable. i love it.

(35 weeks)

 

 

update: 34 weeks

i'm thirty-four weeks.

weight? i haven't weighed myself in weeks.  i need to.  i don't think anything crazy happened like i gained 10 lbs, but i know i'm still growing. i'm not sure if this is true, but i feel like i get bigger as the day goes on.  by nighttime, i'm pretty uncomfortable and feeling huge, but ronnie (encouraging as ever) says its not as bad as he thought it would be.  so sweet. he could write greeting cards.
*** update: i weighed myself this morning and i've gained 21 lbs. totally on track.***



cravings?  this has not changed since day one.  i want a soda and something sweet.  and since i'm not having the one, i overload on the other.  did you know you can get three warm amazing chocolate chip cookies at mcdonald's for $1? life changing, i tell ya.

side effects? my back pain is still around but not nearly as bad as it was the last time i checked in at 27 weeks.  its much more manageable now. if i ever feel major back pain coming on i normally strap on my back brace and try changing positions. usually i can work through it.  my newest issue is i believe brette has taken one of her feet and wedged it between a couple ribs on my left side. i feel bruised there and i am constantly applying pressure to try to get her to move.  its not working. i also feel like my left leg might be swelling. sounds really pretty, right? its not bad and i don't think you would notice, but i can feel it. maybe something weird is happening because all my symptoms are on my left side?  hmmm.

baby? brette should be around 5lbs - - compared to a bag of flour and around 17 inches long.  holy baby.  she also has fingernails that have reached the end of her fingers, her eyes open when she's awake and close when she's sleeping and she has developed her immune system.  sounds like she is definitely get the final touches before she comes to meet us.  she is also moving constantly, but i'm happy to say she's pretty still at night. i'm hoping that means she does not have her days and nights confused. here's hoping. but her movements are strong.  they no longer feel like i'm riding a roller coaster, they feel like i definitely have a baby in my stomach flopping around.  it's weird.

preparations? the nursery is pretty much done.  i still need to buy a mirror, which i found, but haven't bought yet and ronnie still needs to make her a shelf. i picked a pediatrician and sent in paperwork to the hospital to get us set up for some classes.  i'd really like us to have infant cpr and i'm looking into anything else they offer. i plan on getting it all done in may, so all we'll have to do is pack a bag and wait. my baby showers are this weekend and the weekend after that, so that should help us get the important things we need like sheets, bath stuff, blankets, etc. i'm so excited to see what my friends and family cooked up. 
          

the best thing? um. its almost over. she'll be here and i can have my body back. and i'm really excited for the baby showers.  i like to feel prepared and i can't wait to have everything bought and set up for her arrival.

the worst thing?  the rib thing is pretty bothersome right now, but since my back pain is actually getting better, i can only be thankful.

so there it is.

me at 34 weeks.

 34 weeks

 33 weeks

32 weeks

some comparisons?

                                                                                      

    

go clockwise:

      17 weeks, 22 weeks, 27 weeks, 34 weeks