Tuesday, September 18, 2012

30 Weeks!

Pregnancy Update September 17, 2012




How far along: 30 weeks! The final "decade" of weeks! :)

Size of baby: 15.7 inches, 2.75 lbs. - A "Cabbage" 

What developed this past week: He's just growing and growing! Everything about him is developing further -eyes, lungs, all organs, etc!

Weight Gain: 24.8 pounds.

Maternity clothes: All maternity, otherwise... not attractive. lol hillbilly belly hanging out from my normal shirts! So bizarre to see such a big belly on myself still...

Gender: HE'S A BOY! "Bryson Nicholas"

Movement: Still moves often, though last weekend seems to have been an anomaly (when he moved all day, every day for a few days straight). Now he's getting big enough that we try to figure out what body part is sticking out when we feel it! So fun!

Sleep: Mostly sleeping well. Biggest complaint still is the back pain (and rib pain, but that's not when I sleep). I keep a heating pad by my bed though, so I just flip the switch to on and lay on that - helps pretty well! I haven't had the "pregnancy insomnia" I hear so much about yet... hoping that holds off as long as possible!

What I miss: Bending over and easily putting on my shoes :). I'm glad I didn't ask Caleb to do a lot for me when I really could still do it for myself... now I don't feel guilty asking him to pick things up for me, or help me up, or carry something, etc! I tell myself that it's a good way for him to take part in the pregnancy! :)

Cravings: Loving heated apple cider right now, but that's not a craving - just a fall thing! MMM!

Best moment this week: Feeling hiccups for the first time on Friday, September 14th! FINALLY!
I was laying on my side in bed trying to get motivated to get up for work when I felt what I thought was normal movement or kicking/punching happening over and over again. I assumed Bryson was just irritated with me for leaning forward on my belly a little bit, so I thought, "OK! OK! I will move! Stop kicking me!" lol... Then I turned on my back and it kept happening! The thought crossed my mind that it could be hiccups, but I was only feeling the little thuds way down low, and I assumed my whole belly would shake with the movement of his body jumping. So I put one hand on the bumping point, and used my other hand to see if I could feel the rest of his body jolting.... it wasn't.
So I thought that maybe I was just feeling my heart beating.... I put one hand on the carotid artery in my neck and kept the other on him... the beats didn't match! And I knew it was too slow to be his heart beat. So my amazing powers of deduction left me with HICCUPS! :)
This left me wondering if he was head down, since I was feeling them so low...
He got them again after lunch that day, and 2 of my coworkers, Lynn & Joyce, got to feel them! I also emailed everyone in my family to tell them the exciting news... then I realized that I hadn't even told my husband, and other people were feeling them first! OOPS! :) I like to tell him things in person after work usually, so I didn't even think about it until it was too late. Luckily, when I told him later, he responded with, "Well maybe that's what we were feeling the other night!" OH YEAH! I forgot that a couple nights prior to this, we were laying in bed and Caleb felt Bryson bumping around pretty rhythmically, but we just assumed it was my heart beat he was feeling... it never even crossed our minds that it could be hiccups! So good news - Caleb WAS the first to feel this amazing pregnancy phenomenon! :)

The other highlight of the week, if you can call it that, was Childbirth Class #2. We watched the video... the dreaded video that makes you want to cross your legs and stay pregnant forever! :)
Actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... it was done well and focused more on the stages of labor and what happens when. Only a very short part was actually watching the birth. Altogether, good information to know. 
After the movie, we were taught some massage techniques so the coaches (Caleb) can help us pregnant girls (me) relax, now through labor. I was VERY grateful for this little lesson, as Caleb doesn't like massages and therefore doesn't really know how to give one either. Since the class, he's rubbed my back multiple times, and it always feels good! YAY!

We got another thing accomplished in the nursery this week. On Saturday night, my sister-in-law, Erica, came over and helped me sort through all the clothes Bryson ALREADY has! We separated by size, and oohed and ahhed at each outfit - so much more fun than sorting by myself or with Caleb (who doesn't have the same appreciation for cute clothes! :))
Bryson is not lacking for anything blue or football themed! AND I LOVE IT! :) I'm debating buying him this:

SO TRUE!!
What I am looking forward to: Getting to see my relatives this weekend! Haven't seen most of them since July (20 weeks pregnant), and a few them since before that! My mom is throwing a family-baby shower at my Grandma's this weekend so that my aunts and cousins don't feel like they need to drive out to the shower we're having in October. Going to be a fun-filled weekend!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Family Gender Reveal Party

We decided to do something fun for the gender announcement...
So we sent out invitations to our family members that asked them to wear pink or blue, according to their guess on the baby's gender.

Caleb's whole family and half of mine - missing my sisters and their spouses.


I decorated the house in pink and blue and tried to come up with as many pink and blue foods as I could - we had watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, pink lemonade, blue water (a couple drops of food coloring), strawberry creamcheese pie & blueberry creamcheese pie (which ended up a little purple - I did my best! :)). I even had my nails done in pink and blue the night before the ultrasound.


Almond Joy & Mounds... know the difference? ;)

While everyone was hanging out waiting for dinner to be done, we had them play a little fill-in-the-blank game. We gave each person a printout of 20 or so old wives tales and they had to guess boy or girl for each one. Many of the theories no one had ever heard of before, so it was fun! My sister-in-law, Kristen, got the most right!
  
Boy's room

 (Funny how even in families, the boys go to one room and the girls hang out in the other! See above and below...)

Mostly girls room
Dad Winn & Laci

Emilie & Rylie

Drew & Addie

Mom Farrell & Leah

Crystal admiring the sonogram banner I made


Laci and me!

Though everyone was mad that we didn't announce the gender at the beginning of the night, we had come up with a surprise way to announce after dinner. We made up a poem, wrote it onto thick poster board, and cut it up into puzzle pieces. It was hard to write a poem that wouldn't give away the gender if you just saw one or two pieces, but we wanted to make sure everyone would find out at the same time - at the completion of the puzzle. We should have kept a few key end pieces out even, but oh well! They finished the puzzle and FREAKED OUT!



"DADDY CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE HIS TOYS"
IT'S A BOY!!

As soon as everyone was assured they guessed boy correctly, they wanted to know his name. If you remember back to my 19 week post, I told how Caleb and I hadn't 100% decided on the middle name, because I wanted to use a family name and he wanted "Alexander", just because he likes the name.
So when our family asked, I wasn't sure what to say - Caleb jumped right in and said that we're naming him Bryson Nicholas! I cried. So special to me to use my Grandfather's name.
Everyone was so excited! Hugs all around!
Then I got out the clothes we bought at Kohl's and showed everyone his first outfits!
















After we told everyone the baby is a HE, I was able to add the 3rd letter to my "family" necklace! YAY! I love personalized things, so this necklace is one of my favorite possessions.
These pendants have since been discontinued, so it looks like I'll have to give all my kids names that start with a B, C, or N! lol


Overall, one of the most fun & exciting nights of Caleb's and my life!
We are ecstatic to be having a baby BRYSON!