28 Weeks 2 days

Things are moving right along. I am still feeling great and looking, well, not so great. I do not have that nice basketball belly. Instead I seem to have an upper and lower belly divided at my belly button. Not very flattering. But I have told myself I will not be critical of my body while it is doing this amazing thing. I mean my body is making a human being. How incredible is that? I do remind myself of that often because it is just so amazing. I love feeling Jack kick and move around. I have just started to think about how much I will miss carrying him around in my belly. I am glad I still have the next twelve weeks to having him with me at all time.

We attended class one of the two-part natural childbirth classes yesterday. It was disappointing. Most of the information I already knew. The other participants were annoying. Everyone had to state the best and worst part of pregnancy so far. i could not get over just how much people were complaining about being pregnant. Do not get me wrong I know some people have it rough with morning sickness for 9 months, having to take insulin injections but these were just whining about my boobs getting too big. Really? come on. We may skip part two. My next doctors appointment is two weeks from today. After that we are on every two weeks. We are getting closer. It is exciting to think I will get to met you soon.

26 weeks 3 days

Things seem to be moving right along. Only 95 days (give or take)left. Time is going by so fast. I am not sure I will be feeling that way come December. But for now I can say I am really enjoying being pregnant. I am just amazed that my body is creating a human being. I love feeling Jack's kicks and movements. He seems busiest when I am sitting at my desk typing away and again in the evenings when I climb into bed. That seems to be his favorite time to play. D still has not been able to really feel those kicks. Just as he touches my belly Jack would decide to stop his movements and leave his Dad just a bit frustrated. I am sure as Jack grows stronger and bigger those kick and punches will be much more easily felt. Fr now I get to treasure these special moments between Jack and I.

I had my Gestational Diabetes test this morning. The drink was not as bad tasting as I had read. Just tasted like a flat orange soda. As I sat there waiting out the hour I did start to feel a bit of a headache. I am hoping that is not an indication that I am going to fail this test. I will only hear from the Doctor if I fail. So here is hoping for no news.

We toured the hospital on Saturday. The hospital was nice and newly renovated. They were incredibly busy and we were not able to view a postpardum room. All three floors were book. How crazy is that? I will say for all those patients, each one of the floors was incredibly quiet. I am a bit disappointed that there is not a tub in the room or on the floor. I was hoping to at least labor in water. I hope I am able to hold off going to the hospital and labor at home in my own tub. D was disappointed to find out there is no liquor cart for the dads:)

Next up is the natural childbirth classes...

23 weeks, 2 days

I had my regular monthly check up with Dr. M. this morning. For once his office was quiet and I did not have to wait at all. This is a first. All with me and Jack is just perfect. Although I wish my weight gain was less Dr. M. says it is fine. I have gained 21 pounds. In line with the 1 lb a week. But if you add in the weight I gained with fertility treatments I am up 27 lbs. Augh. I have 17 weeks to go. I was really hoping to keep the gain to the recommended 35 lbs. I know I could be eating better and now that we have finally moved (again!!!) into our semi-perm. digs I will hopefully be more able to focus on me and Jack.

Here is to a heathly 17 weeks

Normal

We received the results on Friday at 3:00pm est that Jack does not have downs syndrome. It was one of the more difficult weeks of my life. And I weep just thinking about it. The decision to move forward with the amnino was agonizing. We had fought so hard for Jack that to risk his life to have answers tortured me. We did not speak much about the procedure or the possible results during the days we waited to hear. Just before I made the call to hear the results it struck me as odd that we had not discussed it. We were not prepared to hear anything other than " the results are normal". And I am so glad that is just what we heard.

Amnio

Today we did the amnio. The procedure was over quickly. I would describe it as uncomfortable more than painful. There is just pressure. My Dr. has requested FISH results so we should know the results by Friday afternoon.

The best part of today was seeing Jack again. On Monday he was sleeping and not moving around much during the US. Today he was face up and moving quite a bit more. We were able to confirm again he is a boy. At one point it looked like he was waving to us. And we counted 5 fingers. Yeah.

Monday's post... And you are a ..............

BOY!!!!!!!!!!

Today was our big Ultrasound. We were surprised to hear the baby is a BOY. Even though I had two dreams that the baby is a boy everyone around us seemed to think girl. I think we started to believe it too after Dr. M. listened to the heartbeat and predicted girl. But I need to learn to trust my instincts and intuition more.

So Jack it will be. We are very excited about your arrival. We are still working on a middle name.

The US was not without concern. After two US techs viewed Jack the US Dr. came into the room. She told us Jack had EIF. EIF in itself is nothing. It is a calcification on the heart. It does not affect form or function. However it is a soft marker for downs. It has halved my risk factor from 1/1100 to 1/550. Our option is do nothing or have an amnio. While we believe Jack is just perfect we did not want to be preoccuiped for the next 5 months with wondering what if... So we are doing the amnio on Wednesday. I will be on bedrest for three days.

19 weeks

I need to do a few catch up posts. First.
Me at 19 weeks. See a difference. I felt baby move in the shower on Saturday, the 9th. Right before this photo was taken.

Mom and Kelly came into the city to spend some time with us. We checked out the Madonna Della Cava feast here in the North End. We had a great time. So, did Archibald. He was treated to vanilla ice cream and some sausage. We were treated to vomit later that night. Not so fun.