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I'm moving!

Well, the blog is.  Most of the blogs I read are hosted on Tumblr and with all of the issues people have had posting comments on this blog I figured it was time to make the switch to see if it helps.  I was able to import the whole blog onto the new tumblr site so the only thing missing is comments made on this blog.  Therefore - I will keep this one active, just update the other one.  Hope that makes sense :-)

New blog found here

Peace out blogger - it's been real.

Still stubborn! And also a crib update

  James and I returned to Prenatal Peek in Durham today for take 2 of operation see baby D.  He was...IN THE SAME POSITION.  Hand over face - followed by all feet and hands over face.  She did tell us that we should be prepared to snuggle as he appears to reeeallly like snuggling.  Um, no problem there.  He did move a bit and we got a few "sorta" pictures.  She tried for 35 minutes this time flipping me from side to side and shaking him around but he wasn't having it; he even stuck his tongue out at us at one point.  Apparently he wants to keep the entire picture of his face a surprise until December.  I suppose that will be fine :-)
  After the appointment I went to Babies R Us.  After thinking about it all day yesterday I decided that I simply couldn't get over not having the furniture I wanted, especially because I reallllly don't like the matching dresser.  So, I took the paperwork in and (politely) asked to speak to a manager.  She came over and I explained the situation - she went back to see if they had the crib we wanted in stock and they didn't so she ordered it.  She said they didn't have a way to deliver or set it up BUT I was able to order the dresser and we'll be able to make one trip back to the store to return the wrong crib and pick up the new crib and dresser.  Also, before I could ask she gave me a refund that ended up working out to about 25% of what we paid.  So, because we used a 15% off coupon to buy it and she gave us money back we ended up spending about $100 less than we planned.  I'LL TAKE IT!  Because we don't have to return the wrong one right away we can take our time this weekend to disassemble it and get it back in the box.  I'm satisfied with the outcome and definitely excited that we're going to have the furniture I want!

A little smile

Trying to talk to us...look at that little button nose!

 Puuuhhhhlease!  No pictures!

 The little white arrow is pointing to his tongue sticking out

 Wide open mouth

 A bundle of arms and legs blocking his face...this might prove my theory about him having 6 elbows and knees!

Braxton Hicks

  I left this out of my last update but I have started noticing Braxton Hicks contractions!  Last Tuesday we went to dinner with some friends who are moving away and they have a 4.5 month old son.  I was asking her what BH feel like and whether I would actually know it was happening.  She described it as a tightening feeling.  The next night when we got home the whole top part of my stomach (uterus...that thing is pretty much my ENTIRE mid section at this point...) had a very tight and hard feeling.  The only way I can describe it is the feeling you get when your back tightens and you want to stretch to release some of the tension.  It also felt like I had eaten too much and was uncomfortably full.  From what I remember it didn't last too long but I did mention it to James.  It didn't dawn on me until a day or two later when it happened again that it might be BH.  So, I looked it up to see how early it can happen and the get more info. on what it feels like.  Seems to be what I'm having!  It happened again once over the weekend and I described it to some of the ladies in my life group last night who all seemed to agree that it's BH.  They said it could be that I'm not drinking enough water or that I need to take it a bit easier.  I can see where (especially this weekend with the water drinking) either of those options could be the reason.  Generally speaking I drink a TON of water but if you'll recall, by the 3rd trimester my amniotic fluid is completely replacing itself every THREE HOURS!  I don't even know if it's possible to drink enough water to keep up with that but I'm trying.  So, not surprisingly my uterus has fallen in line with the over-the-top-crazy forward-thinking preparation mentality my brain suffers on a daily basis and is already practicing for contractions.  I wouldn't mind if this guy came a *little early* (read-December 1st-5th-ish) but none of us (ESPECIALLY him!) are ready yet so hopefully these practice contractions will continue being *just* practice for quite a bit longer.

Week 29

  Time is certainly moving faster than ever before!  I feel like I'm writing these weekly updates every few days instead of ... weekly.  My excitement about meeting baby D (who is STILL nameless...we are working on it, I promise) is growing exponentially at this point.  I no longer have the problem of not feeling connected to our baby.  He is SO active that it's impossible to forget he's there.  Seeing him (kind of) on the ultrasound last week doing cute baby things was a solid reminder that we'll soon be able to watch him do cute baby things whenever we want!  This week he is approaching 3 pounds and 16-17 inches long.  He is getting close to his birth length (I think I mentioned that last week) but will obviously fatten up over the next 11 weeks.  Weight comparison this week is to a butternut squash which I will happily tell you that I'm very familiar with.  Butternut squash "puree" is a mashed potato sub. in this house almost weekly - YUM!  He LOVES to eat (just like mom!) and I swear he knows when I'm coming downstairs for breakfast.  He starts rolling around pretty good as I'm preparing it.  It's been a while since I've given a weight update but I'm now up about 19-20 pounds which is definitely in the "good" range but it also means I'll be gaining more in the neighborhood of 30 pounds total (as opposed to 25) but it's for a good cause so everything will be just fine! :-)
  This weekend I had a GREAT visit in Atlanta with one of my bestest friends Meghan.  This was the last flight on my "catch up with friends before it gets much harder to travel" tour.  I got to see my cousin Travis too, who picked me up from the airport and then came over to visit (with his super cute GF Jenny) during halftime of the Georgia Tech/Carolina game we went to.  We also had some great food and Meghan helped me shop/plan for the upcoming maternity shoot.  She probably almost fell out of her chair when she got an e-mail from me the week before my visit REQUESTING to go shopping....as you all know I HATE shopping.  But she was a good partner and I feel we got a lot accomplished even through my whining and eye rolls.  Got to spend some time with her family on Sunday before coming home which was also awesome.  We realized that we've officially known each other for TEN YEARS (since our freshman year in college) which will make a person feel old really fast.

  Luckily all travel was uneventful and I made it home safely last night.  The only other point of interest this week is an irritation and adjustment I am apparently going to have to make.  James picked up the crib a week or two ago and did a lot of work this weekend while I was gone finishing the chair rail, touching up paint, cleaning up the baseboards and putting together the crib!  He sent me a picture message once it was put together and I was sooooo excited EXCEPT....notice anything "off" about this crib?

Okay, it's pretty (and how AWESOME does the paint and chair rail look?!) buuuuut, please remember that this:

is the crib we picked out.  Ugh.  The box the crib came in has the name of a different style of the same brand but the pick up sticker with our name on it has the correct style listed.  ALSO, the one we picked out (and PAID FOR) is more expensive than the one we received.  James likes the one we have now (I'm sure that's partially due to the fact that he's already put it together) but I'm having a hard time adjusting my "vision"...especially because I really don't like the dresser that goes with the crib we have now.  So, do I storm Babies R Us to tell them what a huge mistake they made and demand not only a refund for the overpayment but also more toward the dresser for the inconvenience all while being disappointed it's not what I wanted and trying to get over it?  Or, do I totally irritate the hubs by having him completely disassemble what he's already put together and go back to get what I want (and ask for SOMETHING for our trouble...I mean honestly, how hard is it to match up the style on the sticker with the style on the box!?)  I haven't decided yet but I know I need to soon and I know what James wants to do ;-P
  I hate to leave on a bitter note but that's all I've got today and I've worked myself into a frenzy over this again by writing about it so I need to go find my chill pills.

A peek(ish) at our baby boy

Sooooo, our stubborn little cuss sure was difficult today!  We had a packed house in the ultrasound room - James, mom, dad, Jill, Jordan, Christa, mamaw, Clayton and his mom Angie.  When the ultrasound tech rolled over his head he had his hand up over his face.  Shortly after that he proved that he can double his difficultness by contorting himself and bringing his foot up to his face too!  He was grabbing his foot which was cute, but blocking his face.  She had me move from side to side but nothing I was doing was making him move at all.  She moved up and down his little body - we got to see his heart (he also had the hiccups at one point - super cute) and got even more confirmation that we are indeed having a boy (see below...there is simply no way it's NOT a boy...heehee).  Finally, after I drank some cold water and ate some of Christa's goo goos (goldfish) and he still wasn't moving she told us that she didn't have another appointment for a while so we should go out and walk around a bit.  Jill asked if there was anywhere to get a candy bar or something with sugar and there just happened to be a pastry shop/gelato place right around the corner within walking distance.  So off we went and I got some mint chocolate chip gelato.  I inhaled it like it was my job.  It was super hard to force myself to eat it seeing how I hate mint chocolate chip ice cream but I took one for the team.  We walked back and he was still pretty much in the same position.  After moving side to side a few more times he at least moved his feet down and we got a bit of a face view.  HE certainly loved the ice cream - he was opening and closing his little mouth, sucking and then was licking the umbilical cord (which was funny because I had just told a story about how a friend of mine was just at this same place getting a 3D/4D ultrasound a few weeks ago and her little girl was licking the umbilical cord).  So - here is what she got below but the good thing is she offered to let me come back next week to try again!  So, next Tuesday and 1:30 James and I will go back in and hopefully get a better view of his face.  For now he looks like he has nice full lips and a little button nose.  And, for the record, Prenatal Peek in Durham ROCKS!

 All she could get before we went for ice cream (half a face)

 A bit better afterward

 Not surprisingly, he already has hair!

 Seeeee?  No question there!

Glucose screen...check

Bottoms up!  The timing yesterday was a bit ridiculous so I had to work backward from my appointment time to figure out when to eat breakfast (1 hour before drinking half the bottle), drink the Glucola (30 minutes before arriving for my appointment) and leave the house.  Breakfast a bit after 7, drink at 8:10, appointment started at 8:30 and blood draw was at 9:10 (I knew I'd have to wait an hour after drinking it to have the blood draw and wanted to make sure I had enough time for my appointment before it was time for the blood draw...I did).  The appointment was super short as usual but I was a bit tripped up because though I was seeing "Michele Quinn" a 20-something year old guy walked in.  Med student I think.  I don't do well with dude docs...they make me nervous and squirmy.  Luckily all he had to do was listen to the heartbeat and ask if everything was going okay (yes, it is...and even if it weren't I probably wouldn't have told him anything different...bad, I know).  Heartbeat is still strong and solid.  Had to wait a few minutes until 9:10 to get the blood draw which went well because when I said, "If you can just tell me when you're done that would be great" and she actually understood that I meant DON'T SAY "You're going to feel a pinch".  The results were just posted and my level was 107 mg/DL (reference # for normal is 70-140).  I do have mild anemia but most pregnant women have mild anemia so I'm not concerned about it.  It's very slight and I'm sure they'll call me if I need to add an iron supplement.  That's all for today!