Ty-isms

Several of my friends keep me entertained on facebook with quirky little "isms" that their kids say or do. Kind of a kids-say the-darndest-things type of thing. I figured it would be quite some time before I could start posting my own "isms." Little did I know that a kid doesn't have to be able to speak to make you laugh...in fact, he doesn't even have to be born yet! On Saturday evening, we were sitting in the garage at the neighbor's house, trying to digest the immense amounts of BBQ we had just consumed. Food comas are awesome by the way... We had the radio playing and everyone was talking. When there's music on, I tend to tap my foot to the beat...subconsciously most of the time. I would think with all that tapping going on, I'd be rocking little man to sleep, but instead, he was rocking out! I swear, Ty was bustin a move in the belly! I stopped tapping long enough to feel him and sure enough, he was kicking and moving all over. I even had Cooter come feel him getting his groove on. Gave me the greatest giggles! Do we have another musician in the family?!?

27 weeks...3.19.11

Cooter, me and Ty at the BBQ

irrationally relieved...and SO in love!

Cooter, me and Tyler

Over the past couple of weeks, I have developed some rather irrational fears about the baby. My life was plagued with such fears the first 16 weeks of this pregnancy, understandably so. For the most part, I have lived the past 10ish weeks in pure pregnant bliss. With his movements becoming more frequent and predictable (and strong!), I am constantly reassured of his thriving existence. Then about a week ago, I suddenly found the most random things to worry about. Mostly premature birth. I got excited a few weeks ago when my baby bible (What to Expect) said that the baby was potentially viable if it was delivered at that point. Not that I would ever wish a preemie into this world, but to know that we had finally made it far enough that our baby could survive was a huge mental relief. Skip a few weeks ahead and that's the focus of my worries now. It doesn't help that several of the girls on my What to Expect message boards have been admitted to labor & delivery, 4 have had stillborns in the last few weeks (which seems alarmingly huge), and one had her baby last week at 24wks (a surprisingly stable, beautiful baby girl). Well get off the message boards, right? I can't, its addicting. Plus its really a great source of information. Other moms share great advice on everything from pains we're feeling to what brand of bottle they like best.

So then the what-ifs started to scare me. Which is incredibly irresponsible to even let my mind wander there. A pregnant brain is so scattered, its ridiculous, but when you want to erase something out of your mind, it seems like its the first thing you focus on. From the fear of a stillborn, I started worrying every time I realized he wasn't moving, especially if it was during a time he's usually active (like when I lay down in bed). Then to top things off, as if I wasn't irrationally worried enough, I had a dream (oh and let me tell you, pregnancy dreams are surreal!) that my water broke. Oddly enough, they gave me 200 hours to safely deliver the baby LOL. We were ecstatic that he was finally coming. Hours later I realized I was only 26 weeks pregnant, its probably not a good thing if he's coming already. So all of this combined with the fact that the doctor was worried that baby was getting too big too fast caused unnecessary stress and wiped out my pregnant bliss this past week. It kind of makes me laugh now...

Here's me at 25w2d. I am WAY bigger by the evening. And that obviously isn't a maternity shirt...

26w1d belly

All fears erased (for now) and irrationally relieved, we have returned with smiles on our faces from today's appointment. I couldn't sleep last night. Cooter has been traveling a lot lately. Even his day trips have him coming home late. So about 11:30 he finally gets home from Corpus Christi, and I'm trying to stay asleep, but little man was just so excited. Think he could hear Cooter's voice? So I'm laying there until almost 1:30am feeling Ty do gymnastics in my uterus. Nothing painful, but definitely entertaining. He's been scooting around a lot lately...which I learned today is a foot dragging across the top of my belly. Freaky feeling, let me tell you, but so neat! Then he stuck his foot straight out just over my belly button so I had this knot sticking out for a while. Seriously, how do I sleep through all of that? Even if I could, I wouldn't want to miss it. Ask me again in 10 weeks how I feel about being woken up by kicks... As he finally settled down and I drifted to sleep, my appointment apprehensions floated right out the door.

I had the privilege of consuming glucola at 9am this morning. That's the glucose drink you have 5 minutes to chug in preparation to test your blood sugar. I have heard horror stories of this terrible drink. How nasty it is, how sick it makes you feel, etc. They gave me fruit punch flavor (although the orange was recommended to me by others, but I didn't have a choice). I was pleasantly surprised, however. Not that I would choose it for Sonic happy hour, but it most definitely wasn't awful. Kind of tasted like a sweet fruit punch flavored Hi-C. I finished it in about 2 and a half minutes, it wasn't near as big as I expected. Blame it on hunger (I hadn't eaten this morning so my levels wouldn't be high, and I'm always hungry in the morning), but it was do-able. Funny thing was I had to drink it in the LabCorp room with the nurse, as if I would pour it into a plant in the waiting room if they didn't supervise me. Good thing I didn't burp at the end or something. LOL.

Next, we had our ultrasound. The tech asked me if I knew why my doctor requested it and I just told her about the "hmmm, a little big" comment from my 24wk appointment. I always watch the measurements, and of course the baby, during the ultrasound. After having so many ultrasounds early on, I learned what to look for. She measured his head several times, and almost every time it measured about 29wks...I'm 26w5d by the way. His little body length measured about 28w6 days. His heart was ticking away at 138bpm. She measured his leg bones too and I kept trying to peek in between since we've already gone boy crazy. She asked if we already knew what we were having and I said, "is it still a boy?" That it most definitely is! I just needed to know if we need to change Tyler to Tyra or anything silly like that.

Little man is getting harder to see via ultrasound since he's getting bigger. At the end of the measurements, the tech let us watch his face for a little bit. He opened and closed his mouth and at one point his cheeks moved and it sure looked like a smile! Melted my heart!!! His right hand has been up by his face every time we've seen him, but not this time. This time it was his feet! He was holding his legs and his piggies were up by his face. Probably learned that from all the yoga I've been doing... He's head down. So at least now I know when I'm feeling punches or kicks. See the foot up above his nose?!? =)

The rest of the appointment was as routine as you get, which is so reassuring at this point. Weight...good! Oh, Cooter weighed himself when I went to do my urine sample in the bathroom and conveniently left the scale on 208, so when I stepped on it, he said, "208 wow!" Not that anyone would fall for it, but I blushed all the same. Blood pressure...good! No protein my urine! Belly is still measuring a little big for my dates, but in accordance to the baby's size, so its just something they will watch from here on out. That could all change once we know the results of my bloodwork. My weight gain was steady, but normal, so she knows I'm not just eating too much. He's just a growing boy! As Jeremy put it, "he's gonna be a beast!"

Next appointment...March 31. I go every 2 weeks now!

Cooter's parents moved into their new house this past weekend. We went up to LaGrange to help (well Cooter helped, I did very little). It was a nice trip though because the whole family was there. Laila ended up having a couple tumors removed Saturday morning (her vet is in LaGrange), so I spent most of the day taking care of her. She is our baby right now! We got some good family pics on moving day. Its hard to get everyone in the same place at the same time!

The Maxwell/Gonzalez Family

Justin & Emily with Aunt Cooter and Uncle Tip

When you point to my belly and ask Justin who that is...he says, "that's my cousin in there!"

Sis, Cooter, and Lindsey

Here's a couple cute ones of the kids. They are getting SO big now!

Emi LOVES horsies!

Holding hands...SO sweet. They did this on their own!

Sweet boy

Refrigerator! That's sign language for the refrigerator.

6 months preggo!

I certainly did not mean to go almost 5 weeks with no post...my apologies! When our appointments started stretching to every 4 weeks, it didn't feel like there was much to report. Thinking back on the last month though, its been quite monumental! First of all, we are 25 weeks tomorrow...what a wonderfully big number that is! Only 15 weeks to go...just a little over a trimester left! Seems like the first 12 weeks passed at a snail's pace, but the last 12 have absolutely flown by (no complains from me...I cannot wait to hold this baby in my arms!!!). I guess passing that 12wk mark significantly calmed our nerves and I finally started to enjoy being pregnant...doesn't help that I started feeling better around that same time!

Since we found out it was a boy, things have started feeling even more real. We call him by name, ponder his personality traits, hunting skills, etc. LOL. I have pretty much finished his nursery. I got all of his bedding washed and put in place. Yes, I know I will need to do it all over again before he gets here, but let me be! I am nesting in a bad way... He has wall decor, fit for a little boy, of course! Letters spelling Tyler are painted and ready to be hung on the wall...I LOVE walking in and seeing his name...he's real!!! We just have to stain a few shelves I bought and its pretty much done except for a few things I am hoping to get at a shower!

The infamous belly shot... Every time I post I comment on how big it seems, only to take back my previous words in an insert-here type situation. So I will say it again...within the last week or so, the belly has really popped straight out. Seriously...scroll down and look at 20wks and see how round it is now! I'm starting to worry about getting top-heavy. By 36+ weeks, I might just fall over. I love it though. I have waited SO long to rub my belly. And it doesn't bother me one bit when people ask me when I'm due...that means I must look like I have a baby on board!

Let's talk about little man...since he's kicking me profusely while I'm typing. Talk about active! When he's awake, he's on the move! He's pretty routine with his activity patterns. He moves a little in the morning (he must be hungry), then he chills back out for a while. Laila and I usually take a morning walk, so I'm sure that rocks him to sleep. My stomach hardly ever growls anymore...Ty starts wiggling around before it ever has a chance to tell me I'm hungry. I end up eating and snacking like 6 times a day to keep him happy. About 2-4pm in the afternoon he puts on a pretty good show. I'm usually working at the computer right about then and he likes to claim he existence while I work (as if I have forgotten about him). Then he chills until right before bedtime. He loves for me to sit back and relax...that's when he really gets busy!

Baby Ty made show of his existence to the outside world about 3 weeks ago. I was sitting in bed with my iPad resting on my belly (makes for a great tabletop). I felt him kicking and moving about and all of a sudden, the whole iPad shifted! I thought maybe I had a muscle spasm in my arm so I laid everything down and stared at the belly . Sure enough, a little bump poked up! SO neat to see him moving from the outside! Of course Cooter was out of town that night...poor guy had waited for so long to feel him move. Before he could get back home, I had to leave for 2 days...so finally 4 days later, he got to feel his son for the first time. I teared up watching that connection. He laid his head on my belly to listen and Ty kicked his face. Giggles all around...

Baby kicks are indescribable. I almost always feel him right at or just under my belly button several times a day. That's his sweet spot. But when he's on the go, he is everywhere! I'll call Cooter over to feel him, put his hand on my belly and then he moves somewhere else! He not only kicks, he punches! If he kicks me in the side, you can see it really well. Since I'm all belly out front, my sides are stretched much tighter so he's easy to see. Ty gets hiccups all the time now too! I wasn't sure at first, but after a few times, I figured it out...the same rhythmic feeling in my belly. WIthin the last week or so he's gotten big enough that the hiccups sometimes show from the outside. My belly will twitch every few seconds. Cooter got to feel them the other night too! It's such a reassuring blessing to feel life moving inside you.

We thank God everyday for Tyler.

24 week prenatal check-up... I actually went at 24w5d (we scheduled a late appointment so Cooter could get home from a business trip, but his flight got in within minutes of my appointment, so he missed it). Blood pressure is normal (yay...that was a slight concern at 16wks), weight was good (super yay...since the dr got on to me at the last appointment for that), and no protein in my urine. Momma's good! They gave me a 28 week to-do list to prepare me for my next appointment when I get to do the wonderful glucose test. Baby had a good, healthy heartbeat again...in the 130's, which is where it was for our 20wk ultrasound. I haven't heart that swishy thump-thump of his heart beating in 8 weeks! Such a sweet, sweet sound! The doctor came in to get her measurements (and I was all smiles, thinking HA, nothing wrong with me this time!). She measured my belly circumference for the first time. I have no idea what the measurements were, but all she said was, "hmmm, a little big." Then she said she wanted me to come back in 2 weeks for an ultrasound so we can measure the baby. I will be almost 27 weeks at that point. So, I will also be doing my glucose test early. Since my belly measured big, they will be determining if I have gestational diabetes or will rule it out. I'm not worried about it at all. I have measured at least a week big on ultrasound since Ty was 10.5 weeks. Since we were medically controlled to ovulate, I actually got pregnant about a week early than a natural cycle would have allowed me. The doctor's office still goes by the date of my last period, which I've corrected them...but they don't listen. I won't turn down an extra ultrasound...another chance to see my sweet little man?!? Yes, please!!! I might just start my 2 week check-ups a little earlier than normal. As long as I'm feeling good and he's moving everyday, then I refuse to let anything get my nerves going. I did enough worrying early on...its time to enjoy it all before its over!

Happy me going out to book club with the girls the other night...