Lane has been born!
Lane Thelonious Howe
6 lbs 14 Oz
20 and 1/2 inches long
Born 12:40 6/24/05
Week 31
It's week 31, and BabyCenter says:
This week, your baby measures about 16 inches long. He weighs a little over 3 pounds and is headed for a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and he's beginning to accumulate a layer of fat underneath his skin in preparation for life as a newborn. As a result, his arms, legs, and body are filling out. He's probably moving more than ever before, too, so you may even have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and rolls keep you up at night. If you're having this problem, comfort yourself with the knowledge that your baby is active and healthy. You may also start to feel your uterus contract every now and then as your body gears up for delivery day. These Braxton Hicks contractions aren't the real thing, but if you get more than four contractions in an hour, give your doctor or midwife a call to make sure it's not preterm labor.
Well, I haven't had much in the way of contractions, but they're right about him being very active! Greg and I can tell that Lane is going to keep us both -very- busy after he's born, given the amount that we feel him moving around these days. He seems to like rock and roll and classical music most of all - and just about anything that his Dad plays on the guitar makes him have a little dance party in there!
I saw Dr. Kulbida on Thursday last week, and we've shortened my visits to every two weeks. In the meantime, I've been regulating my diet per what the dietician recommended, and it seems to be helping a lot - I have less of a tendancy to get tired or hyper.
I've also been checking my blood sugar regularly, and that backs up my feeling that I'm controlling the gestational diabetes pretty well just with my diet. I have discovered that I can't let too much time go by between having a snack and having a meal, because if I do then my sugar dips and then swoops, ending up still being a little high when I test it two hours later.
We were given a Graco Pack & Play by a friend of ours this week, which will come in very handy when travelling to Scotia or Duxbury to see grandparents!
We've also been offered (and happily accepted) an Evenflo high chair from Greg's coworker Flip. I'm thinking that we need to crown Flip and his wife Beth the guardian angels of our pregnancy, as they've offered us so much, from maternity clothes to chairs and accessories!
All in all, things are going very well... and in 9 weeks, we'll have a happy, healthy Lane Thelonious Howe to show for it!
Week 27
BabyCenter.com tells me that this week Lane probably weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. The way things have been progressing, though, that probably won't be an issue for us to worry about.
I'm feeling him every day, and he's such an active little kid! He loves to kick and squirm around, and has recently gotten into the habit of pressing the top of his head up against the top of my uterus - it doesn't hurt, but it is kind of funny to feel his hard little noggin right there! His favorite kicking/punching spot is still the inside of and right around my belly button, which Greg can attest to.
BabyCenter also mentioned an achy back being a possibility, which is definitely the truth, but I've been lucky enough not to be having leg cramps. I had a brief problem last weekend that seemed like the tendonitis in my shoulder (which I got from high school softball) was starting to flare up a bit,, but a bit of cutting back on my carrying/lifting at work and one or two Tylenol helped so that now it feels back to normal.
Last week my wonderful Mom-in-Law (Hi Thana!) was great enough to not only help me do some errands while my car was being fixed, but went with me to Bellevue Hospital so I could get my glucose screening for gestational diabetes done. They had me drink a cup full of this liquid that tasted like Sprite that was SUPER heavy on the syrup, wait an hour, and then they drew blood.
I got a call from my doctor's office this week saying the results came in, and that I'd failed. Naturally, I'm a little worried; but they told me I should go in for the three-hour test to confirm it or not.
So today I went into Bellvue for the 3-hour test... it was a lot more rigorous! I had to fast for 12 hours beforehand. When I got in, they drew blood right away, then had me drink the glucose beverage again. Then, at the end of the next three hours, they drew blood - so I had four needlesticks in all. My arm is sore! It's all worth it, though, to find out whether I've got the gestational diabetes or not, so that I can adjust my diet as I need to.
I've got another appointment for a checkup coming up this week; hopefully they'll have the results for me by then. In any case, it'll be getting me on track so that I can have my apointments every 4 weeks as we approach Baby Day, and then every two weeks.
Today is the 8th of April - so there are three months left! It's almost like Christmas... it seems so far away, and at the same time feels like it's coming on us so fast! We're so ready to meet Lane.
Week 21
We're officially past the halfway mark now; Bunny is about three quarters of a pound and roughly ten inches long!
It's been an exciting week; on Monday we went in for the ultrasound and saw... Lane! It's a boy, and he's doing great! Everything is developing the way it should, he's nice and active, spine is on the inside, etc. Thursday I had a regular checkup with the Doc, and while we were listening to the heartbeat there was the swish of that, and the static of Lane in motion... and all of a sudden I felt a movement and a thump! - Lane punched at the heartbeat monitor, or maybe kicked it!
The doc also told me to sleep whenever I am tired, and I kinda laughed about it... but I'm taking it to heart, and have been lseeping whenever I have the chance when I'm tired. It scared Greg a little, because Normal!Bliss NEVER sleeps during the day... but two days ago I had an hour nap, yesterday I napped for two hours, and last night I had another full 11 hours of sleep. Too bad I can't save up some of these extra hours of sleep to keep me refreshed after the little bugger's born.... :D
He's already being a help, though... I slept right through my alarm on Tuesday morning (I chalk it up to getting up at 6am for a meeting, having the ultrasound, and then working a full evening shift that kept me up till midnight the night before), and he was good enough to give my innards a solid whallop about 20 minutes before I was due to show up at work - hard enough to wake me right up!
Greg and I are excited and pleased by the generosity we have found in people; one of my coworkers is going to check and make sure she has all the pieces of the crib, and if so pass it on to us. I'm hopeful about it, as it sounds lovely - cherry wood, slight sleigh style, and the top secton of the front has two latches and flips down rather than the whole front being the lift-nudge-slide kind.
19 weeks to the arrival of Lane... and counting!