Stranger Danger

This week has felt extremely long. We're finishing up finals at school and the kids are done, the teachers are done, and everyone knows we're almost to the end. This next week I have two more days of classes, an exploration day (where we take the students out to do community service), an honors/disorientation day, and inservice. I think and hope it will go by more quickly than last week. 

A strange phenomenon has started to occur: strangers keep asking me to hold their babies. It happened on two separate occasions, in two different locations, during two very different activities. The first time happened while I was sitting at the raffle table for our Neighborhood Association Spring Fling. A man who wasn't wearing a shirt asked me to hold his son while he filled out raffle tickets. That time, it wasn't so weird (ok, it was a little weird that a grown man wasn't wearing a shirt in public, but the baby part wasn't that weird). The second time I was standing in line at the grocery store and this woman asked me to hold her baby while she went to go get another tub of ice cream. She did make sure to take her purse with her. I can only think of three reasons people are now asking me to do this: 

1) I look like I need the practice. 
2) I appear to be trustworthy. A pregnant woman clearly has no reason to run off with a baby, she has one coming. 
3) I look the same, but the parent figures if I do try to make off with their child they can probably catch me because I am clearly 7 months pregnant and can't possibly run that fast. 

Either way, I find this behavior bizarre and a little bit disturbing. I just can't imagine asking someone else to hold my child while I ran to get more ice cream. 

In other pregnancy news, I got the results back from my 3 hour glucose test, and they were well within the normal range. I wasn't too stressed about this because it turns out I was given twice the normal dosage of glucose for the 1 hour, and the mistake wasn't realized until I took a look at the lab sheet. Now, I know these things happen, but why do they always seem to happen to me?  In other good news, though, we had what will probably be the final ultrasound for this pregnancy. For once, the baby was exactly the size it should be given its age. The baby weights about 3 pounds 4 ounces, and is in the 44th percentile for weight. The estimated due date based on the sonogram is July 26, which is EXACTLY the same as the last two have been. (This date also happens to be my mother's birthday.) This week I haven't gained any weight, which is probably a good thing because I gained about 5 pounds over the previous two weeks. I think the baby had a major growth spurt and is gearing up for the next one. My nutrition and exercise has been exactly the same for basically the last 4 months, so I can't think of any other reason for that to happen. I've been showing a lot of side pictures, so I thought I'd take one from the front this week. Enjoy!

Babies!

This weekend Joe and I went to go see the new movie out called Babies. It was amusing and bizarre at the same time. The movie follows four babies from Mongolia, Japan, Namibia, and the US. There is no narration other than the babblings, cryings, and snifflings of said babies. They all appear to be healthy and happy. It was very much like the kind of show you would see on Animal Planet. Needless to say the Mongolian baby was my favorite. Seeing all the footage of the steppe and the interior of the yurts makes me want to go back. All in all, I'm not sure I would necessarily recommend this movie to anyone else, but I'm glad I saw it.

This week one of Joe's coworkers gave us a baby gift. She made a bouquet out of baby clothes and included some other small items. In the picture below Duncan is of course trying to eat the "flowers". Note the small hippopotamus piggy bank next to the vase. She gave us that as well, and I think it might be my favorite thing. The other picture is of all the things that were wrapped up in the bouquet, plus a few extra. I also enjoy the tiny red sneakers. 

And finally, I will 30 weeks on Monday. Only 10 more weeks left! This is a slightly terrifying thought because we really don't have anything other than the items pictured above plus the Mei Tai carrier. Our plan is to get as little as possible, seeing as we will be moving to Chicago shortly after the baby is born. We're trying to only get the true essentials, and we plan on starting that when I finish up with school. I went for my second glucose test this weekend. This time it was the 3 hour version that had to be taken after fasting for 8 hours. It was pretty miserable. Joe came with me and fasted for the same amount of time. He's much better at dealing with hunger than I am and he was very patient with me while I was mean and snippy. This week we have an ultrasound to make sure the baby is growing at the correct rate as well as check the position. 

Happy (belated) Mother's Day!

Being obviously pregnant on Mother's Day is a bizarre experience. People just aren't sure what to say to you. In the grocery store the clerk started to say it, then realized I didn't have any other small children with me and just kind of trailed off like I didn't quite deserve it yet. Some people have said "Happy Soon-to-be Mother's Day" which seems like it should be some sort of quasi-holiday of it's own. One person even said "Enjoy your last non-Mother's Day." I think that last one is a little harsh. Emotionally, I don't feel like a mother yet, but physically I feel like saying "heck yeah, I want to sit and do nothing today." So we ended up compromising in our house. I got to do all the cleaning and laundry I wanted (yes, I consider that a good thing) and then I got to take a break while Joe cooked me a delicious lunch of his famous grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. 

In honor of being done with Army (just about), Joe has decided he is going to start growing a beard. Here is a picture of one week razor-free. I like it. 

As for me, I am 29 weeks along today. I got the results of my glucose test back, and I guess it was a little bit high. I had a small cup of coffee with no sweetener in it that morning, so maybe that kicked it up. I find it hard to believe that I have gestational diabetes after spending 6 hours a day walking around school, at least 3 legitimate workouts per week, and eating piles of vegetables instead of junk food. However, I now get to have the pleasure of taking the 3 hour glucose tolerance test on Saturday morning. The first one made me super nauseous and I was allowed to eat before it, so this one should be super fun after fasting for 3 hours and then drinking the gross sludge. We have another Centering class this week. We will be beginning to talk about labor and all the different options at both the Birth Center and their affiliated hospital. 

This week we had our Centering class on Wednesday at the Birth and Women's Health Center, where we'll be having the baby (hopefully!). It's a group of five midwives and several delivery nurses that all focus on healthy, natural births. They are extremely strict about who is eligible to give birth at the center, you have to be in a certain age and weight range, have no complications, and begin labor by week 41. If you develop any problems during your pregnancy, you will have to give birth at their affiliated hospital, the Tucson Medical Center, that is 3 minutes away and a midwife from the Birth Center will still be your primary care provider during the whole birth. 

The Centering class is one of their prenatal care options. It is a group of women and their partners (or whoever else wants to come along) that are all due around the same time who meet together for prenatal appointments in the evening. We weigh ourselves, have our blood pressure taken, and have complete access to all of our medical records including correspondence from the ultrasound technicians and lab results. Each couple meets privately with the midwife for about ten minutes to listen to the heartbeat, do a general check-up, and measure the size of your belly. The rest of the time is spent in group discussion. There's usually a general topic, but really it's whatever is on people's minds. I really like it because I would never think to ask some of the questions that the other women do, so it has been really informative. It's also really cool to have all the men be there and be able to ask their questions and talk to each other as well. We have been meeting once per month up until now. As of this week it will start to be every two weeks, and then down to every week in the month of July. 

This weekend we went up to Phoenix because Joe had his final National Guard drill responsibilities, which included his Change of Command Ceremony. Horray for almost being done with the Army! His official service out date is June 4, but he's pretty much done with doing things for now. We stayed in a hotel we found on Hotwire, called the Indigo Hotel. It was extremely hip. The shower had a single pane of glass near where the shower head was, with a 1ft diameter whole cut in it. And that was it. No door, no curtain, just empty space. Somehow, water did not end up all over the bathroom like I expected it to. I finally figured out the hole: it's so you can reach into the shower to turn the water on without it getting all over you until it's warm. At least that's my best guess. Our door opened to the outside, and the sun was shining so as to cast a perfect shadow of us. So we decided to experiment with shadow pictures. They are deceptively hard to take, and this is the best of the bunch. 

The way my hair was sticking up reminded me of some sort of Dr. Seuss character, and then I figured it out: the Sneeches! I think it would be difficult to tell the difference between a Sneech and me if all you had to go on was the shadow we cast. 

Chicago it is!

Joe has finally decided to go to law school at the University of Chicago! We sent in the seat deposit to them this week. It feels good to have a plan. This week was pretty hectic, but I was still able to get about three real workouts in. I've been doing the Summer Sanders' Prenatal Workout a couple of times a week in the evenings when I get home, along with walking on other days. I basically walk for 6 hours at school each day, so I don't freak out too much if I miss a day or two. This video is pretty amusing, not too annoying, and I actually like the exercises. Starting tomorrow I get to start the Third Trimester workout, so new adventures lie ahead. Speaking of videos, Joe and I watched The Happiest Baby on the Block this week as well. Oh my goodness. The movie is cheesy and bad, but the technique seems sound enough. Also, I've gotten lots of personal recommendations for this book/DVD. But it's hard to take someone seriously when they say "Let's watch some crying babies as I shush them." Honest to goodness, he says that in the movie. I looked at the book this weekend and it's much less ridiculous than the video, so I might just stick with that. 

As of Monday, I will be 6 full months, or 27 weeks, pregnant and officially in the third trimester. Woohoo for being two thirds done! I just now realized that every picture of me is taken in basically the same spot in our kitchen. It's probably because I end up taking pictures in the morning before I leave for school and get dry erase marker all over myself. Next week we have Centering, so that should make for a more interesting post. 

Achoo!

This has felt like a very long week. Last night we went out for dinner and a movie. The movie theater we wanted to go to is in a shopping mall with a few restaurants that we've been meaning to try so we did a Progressive Dinner where we had different things at different restaurants. We had an appetizer of soft pretzels with green chili cheese dipping sauce at Thunder Canyon Brewery. It's a fun little place with lots of rocks in the decor. We liked it. Next, we moved to Cafe Tremolo for our entrees. I had a shrimp and avocado cocktail with a side salad and Joe, of course, ordered the prime rib. It was pretty good but there was a really horrible shade of yellow paint on the walls. Finally, we went to The Melting Pot for dessert fondue. We had the Flaming Turtle which is milk chocolate with carmel and pecans. It was delicious. Finally, we ended the night by seeing the new movie Date Night. It's hilarious and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good date movie. It's funny, sweet, and has an interesting plot. 

We had a wonderfully cool and wet spring here in Tucson, which means the wildflowers are spectacular right now. This picture is from our front yard. You can't see the ground most days because of all the different blooming flowers. However, so many flowers means wicked allergies. I can't be outside for more than ten minutes without having my eyes start watering and my nose running continuously. Even if I stay inside I'm pretty congested. We even put the A/C on as a means of trying to filter out the pollen from the house, but I'm not sure how well it's working. I've been taking some Benadryl at night, but I can't take it during the day because it makes me extremely sleepy. But the flowers are pretty, and as long as I'm inside it's manageable.  

On Monday I will be 26 weeks. At the end of next week I will officially begin the 3rd trimester. This week we noticed that when the baby kicks you can now see my belly move a little bit in that general area. It's kind of disturbing. My students at school can't stop asking questions about the pregnancy. Two teachers (and unfortunately two students) are pregnant, and the rest of the students just can't seem to get enough information about what it's like. One of my students asked me if I was having sextuplets because all of a sudden I am humongous. How do you respond to that? Technically I've been on the low end of healthy weight gain for the whole pregnancy, so I'm not really that big. They also can't understand why we have decided to not find out the gender. It just blows their minds that anyone would want it to be a surprise. 

Tomorrow is Joe's birthday. I bought him a Wii a couple of weeks ago and gave it to him early so we could register the warranty. (I had accidentally wrapped it before I realized there was a time limit to when it needed to be done.) We've gotten a golf game, a tennis game, a Mario game, Wii Sports Resort, and some sort of shooting/war game. I really like the Sports Resort, particularly the canoeing. This is the only game system that I have even a chance at winning things because it's completely unlike all of the other ones out there. Having grown up without a game system, I apparently didn't develop the synapses necessary to play traditional video games. But the Wii is different, and I can actually play it. We might make an ice cream cake tomorrow to celebrate, but nothing has been decided yet. That's all for now!

And so it begins...

This weekend I bought my very first baby item: a gorgeous used mei tai baby carrier. I made a deal with myself that I won't buy any more baby stuff until after school ends in May. I found it at Lil' Traders, my absolutely favorite place to go to look for maternity clothes. They sell gently used and new baby and maternity clothes as well as a smattering of random baby stuff, hence the mei tai. These pictures do not to it justice. The green panel is a luscious green Chinese silk embroidered with different colored flowers. The tan straps are a nubby sort of silk/linen/I don't know what. Duncan, the cat, loved being in it. I think he would have been content to stay there all day if I would have let him. It's hard to take self-portraits with an iPhone, let alone while wearing a cat, but these are the best of the bunch. 

As for other pregnancy news, on Monday I will be 25 weeks. Only 15 more to go! It feels like July 26th is forever away. So far, I have gained 10 pounds, but it feels like 50. My hips are sore all of the time. Standing, sitting, walking, swimming, lying down, nothing helps. Several people have assured me that this will either go away or get worse as the pregnancy progresses. Great. Other than that, everything is fine. I have lots of energy, I'm hungry all the time, and I look pretty cute in most of my maternity clothing.