lily vids – first roll!

merry christmas

lily's monthly updates – 2 months old

november – december: 2 months old

lily learned how to giggle. she loves playing on her play mat and grabs and touches her toys. she's becoming more interactive which is really fun. she took her first plane ride to Florida in november and did really well :) we held her while she dunked her toes in the gulf and floated in the pool in sanibel. lily loves to coo at things she recognizes like your face or a light switch. :) still sleeps well for us (thank you god.)

2 month doc appt:
weight:  12lbs 7 oz
length: 23.5 in
head: 38.5 cm

happy holidays from the prathers!

lily's monthly updates – one month old

october – november : one month old

lily is more and more awake. she started to smile when she saw familiar faces early november she was probably about 6 weeks. lily loves to be bounced and swaddled for bed. lily sleeps through the night for us about 8 hours. lily is still in the 85% for weight and height.

1 month doc appt:
weight: 9 lbs 3 oz
length: 21.0 in

lily vids – loves her playmat

lily's monthly updates – newborn

september – october : newborn

we're new parents! holy moly we have no idea what we're doing. learned how to change a diaper and laughed at a couple blowouts :) lily slept most of this month and barely opened her eyes. she still kept us on our toes and made sure we knew when she needed to be fed—that kept her happiest. she slept for 5+ hours during the night... in her swing! we took her to an apple orchard and got some great fresh air. 

our lillian zofia's birth story

I'll give you the option of the long or short version...

long story short?

doc called me on sunday the 18th to go to the hospital to get induced that night. I was given cervadil that night, then 12 hours later I was only 1cm dilated. they broke my water (super awkward) and started the pitocin at 7am. after a couple hours of hard contractions that started to bring me to tears they checked me at 2pm... 1cm dilated. :( I couldn't get the epidural so another 2 exhausting hours went by and doc checks me only to tell me I'm 1.5cm and mentions c-section. I cry. not what I wanted to hear. I take an hour to feel better especially after I talk with susanne (sis-in-law who's also an OB.) I get prepped for surgery. I get the spinal. I feel nothing. there's pressure and I hear our lily screaming at the top of her lungs. she's here! 6:32pm.

all the details :)

thankful

welcome to our world lily!

happy birthday mom :)

lily vids – new voice

40 weeks, 6 days: hopeful

every curve/peak on the right is a contraction,
left is baby's heartbeart

went to the doc this morning and I got hooked up to the monitor. my contractions were showing to be a lot stronger than tuesday—going over 60 vs the 30 I was getting before. dr. perlis came in and was like "could you feel that?" and I of course again did not feel the contraction. she just like you will, it should feel like a lot of pressure. I'm like nope I feel just as normal when I'm not having one—tricky contractions. so from that monitor baby's heart beat was fluttering up and down but didn't drop when I was was having a contraction which is a good sign.

she checked my cervix and yet again CLOSED. geez do I have a cervix made of steel? although it would have been nice to be dialated a bit dr. perlis was still very confident i'll go into labor on my own. nothing was showing her that I needed to be induced so she said it's always best for your body to go naturally if you can. mark was hoping i'd be induced today—sorry love :)

I also got an ultrasound and she said I still have plenty of fluid and my placenta looks great. so medically everything looks normal to her even though yes I'm 6 days past my date. dr. perlis is on call at the hospital this weekend so she said sunday morning she'd give me call if by then I hadn't gone into labor. she said she would induce me then if that's the case.

I'm totally fine with waiting until then—two days away! I actually feel great and feel normal so another two days I could handle. it's also wally bear's (dad) birthday so if I could give him a really amazing gift then I'm very patient to do so. so that's where we are at right now.

please pray for us that all goes well and I go into labor tomorrow night on my own :) that would be perfect! if not just a prayer or happy thought to keep baby and I safe and healthy! xo

40 weeks, 3 days: doc appointment

baby's lil nose on the left and hand in the center :)

went in to see dr. perlis this morning. weight gain was a pound (fine), blood pressure perfect, protein levels good... cervix still closed... hmmmphf. she said it really doesn't mean too much since you really could dialate from nothing to 10 cm in a couple hours. since I am past my due date I needed to have my contractions monitored and fluid levels checked.

so my belly and I got hooked up to this machine to monitor her heart rate and contractions. I got to hold this buzzer/button thing to press every time I felt her move. I really wasn't sure what to look for but when I doc came back in she like it looks like you are contracting on you own as she pointed to the sheet that was printing out. every once and a while there was a curve. she was like could you feel them? and I was like no :) so she left me alone for a while to keep monitoring.... now I knew where to be looking... the the peak of my contraction was at about 30/31 which I think was on a scale of 100, but of course I still wasn't feeling anything atleast anything that was uncomfortable. so finally after a while my contractions zeroed out and it sounded like baby's heart beat got a lil slower (about 116bpm) she came back in and was like looks like she fell asleep. lil stinker.

next I was taken to have an ultrasound to check my fluid levels. I am still amazed how much a doctor or specialist could see on these screens because I barely could make things out. but lil one is faced downwards and to the right, which is good better than upwards :) my placenta still looked good, no idea how she could tell but I'll take her word for it. but fluid still looked really good too.

so after talking with dr. perlis she made it seem she would prefer to let me go naturally without being induced, because I was contracting on my own and everything still looked just fine. I apparently didn't show my impatience well enough. she asked I come in again friday morning to see if anything has changed—she's on call at the hospital this weekend so that would work out perfectly if that's the case. of course we'll see what happens over the next couple days. I asked her when I'd get induced and she said it would be after I hit the 41-week mark which is saturday.

so i'm trying to be as patient as possible. mark is too. I'll update again after my appointment friday... or maybe she'll be here before then!  :) who knows.

40 weeks: alright girly time to meet mom and dad

now I really really hope this to be
my last pregnant picture :)

yep. stillllll pregnant.

so our lil peach is being a real peach... apparently, our lil girl didn't want to give daddy an early birthday present. this waiting is not fun. i know her due date was yesterday and technically she should have waited until now, but geez the past 2-3 weeks have really been hard.

we're still really excited and waiting patiently, but it's hard because both of us thought we'd be holding her by now. kissing her lil fingers and toes and seeing her beautiful lil eyes look back at us. I told someone this last week, but it kinda feels like you're going to disneyworld for the very first time and someone keeps postponing it... it's slightly aggravating and sad but at least we know we're still going... VERY SOON.

my last baby check up was on wednesday with dr. salus. I hadn't seen her since the beginning and she's a really nice doctor... when she told me I was only dialated a fingertip I think she saw the disappointment on my face because she was like don't worry you'll probably go next week and it's progress from last week :) yeah it's progress... I was just hoping for a baby a lot sooner. if I happen to still be pregnant by 41-weeks (saturday the 17th) then I'll be induced the following monday (19th). I really stinking hope baby doesn't hang out that long.

saying that we found a list of "natural ways to induce labor" and thought we give some a try. this list is anything from eating spicy foods to walking a lot to eating chinese or other things I will not mention. just want to say it's a bunch of bologna—none of these have worked for us. I'm gonna go do squats and gallop like a horse. maybe those will work.

sorry for the blehhh post. I'm bored of being pregnant and just want her here ASAP. my next appointment is tuesday morning with dr. perlis maybe I could convince her to induce me earlier :D

I promise to update everyone once we're at the hospital (if we get there this week)—I'll need lots of prayers and happy thoughts sent my way :)

cravings: no idea. i'm bored of eating.
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
it's hard to say for sure how big our baby will be, but the average newborn weighs about 7 1/2 pounds (a small pumpkin) and is about 20 inches long. her skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. this so-called "molding" is the reason our baby's noggin may look a little conehead-ish after birth. rest assured—it's normal and temporary.

39 weeks: any day now

I really hope this is my last pregger pic I post!

went to the doc this past tuesday and I lost a pound! it had to be the scale that was off last week, because I really didn't change anything. I rewarded myself with a raspberry hot fudge sundae :) hehe.

not dialated yet, but dr. perlis said I really shouldn't be yet. she said that most first time babies start momma into labor about 3 days AFTER my due date. what?! I keep hearing all different opinions on this so I'm frankly confused as to when nugget will make her appearance. I'm not counting on her being late—hospital bag is packed and ready to go. I like to plan ahead and be prepared... this whole not knowing part is kinda making me crazo. I'm quite content having a couple more days baby-free, but we're so close it's hard to relax about it. like mark would say, "so many women have done this, you'll be fine." yeah he's not the one pushing out a watermelon... I will be fine... just hard not know what to expect.

I was really hoping that this weekend it being labor day, baby would decided it's her time. but it being almost 5:00pm I'm thinking she's not about to change her mind. so here we are inching closer and closer to the 10th of september... she still could come before then, but we're just patiently waiting :) my pelvic floor is a bit sore almost feels like I rode a bike for 1,000 miles so I'm walking even more funny these past few days. every once and I while I get a sharp pain that stops me in my tracks—googling it the only normal information I get from it is that it could be my cervix dialating/effacing. I'll ask the doc on wednesday.

got to see baby's bff caela yesterday which was really fun—love seeing that baby girl. :) aubrey was giving me some much needed details and advice—still need to get that hard candy. love having her to tell me exactly what to expect without any holding back. chris had some funny details to share about his experience which mark appreciated.

also got our dresser this saturday—hallelujah! it came fully assembled which I'm pretty sure made mark's day :) now we're hanging up art and finishing up with the decor in her room. siri brought over the rocker on friday (thank you!) so that's all set up and ready to go. she said we could reupholster it—not sure if we will just yet.

5 days till d-day. :) everyone pray to give me strength and help our baby have a safe delivery. can't wait to hold her! xo

cravings: iced tea (unsweetened) and water
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
our baby's waiting to greet the world! she continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) the outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

38 weeks: 4lbs...

yeah... I gained 4lbs... IN ONE WEEK! no idea what happened here and really have no idea how that's even possible. I didn't eat anymore than normal. I was in a different room, which the doc said the scale might be a bit off, but even so I was quite surprised. my hands and feet have been a bit more swollen this week so that could be a part of it too. anyway, I have no control over this, but everything else looked good. not dialated yet although my cervix was soft... so we're getting there!

this week really has been uneventful. nursery is getting there, but waiting for that dresser to finally come in is a big part of it. once that's in the room we'll be able to put most of her clothes in there and set up the changing table part of it. I'm crossing my fingers we get that this next week.

I'm still feeling well. nothing to complain about here. clearly this bump looks HUGE, but doesn't feel that way. I mean yes it's big and I'd like to be able to fit in a normal shirt again, but I'm 9.5 months preggers so it's expected. I can't wait to be able to lay on my belly again. Oh the lil things in life...

so when will she get here? 14 days till d-day. will she come before or will I have to be induced? mark and I both think before. mark is thinking 9/6 and I'll say 9/7 because of lucky number 7. maybe i'll do jumping jacks that day :) hehe.

cravings: chocolate, fresh fruit
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
our baby has really plumped up. she weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). she has a firm grasp, which we'll soon be able to test when we hold her hand for the first time! her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

wondering what color our baby's eyes will be? we may not be able to tell right away. if she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. if she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. that's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

bubbly

i guess i'll just deal with the pain, can't wait to celebrate!

madi my design assistant

so comfy on my pregger pillow.

37 weeks: ding! this bun is done!

FULL-TERM!

yay! i'm so happy we made it this far and baby has been content to finish fully growing and developing her lungs and immune system. good job baby girl :) although, we're ready for her arrival my goal is for her to keep staying content till 39-weeks—september 3rd. not that I have any control over it but just want her to be as fully finished growing as possible.

today i've also started working from home. going to be great change of pace not commuting into the city and then walking a mile to the office... under regular circumstances i loved the walk, but lately i have to walk so slow to be comfortable that it was driving me crazy and worrying me. too many "what ifs" crossed my mind. being near the hospital if baby girl decides to come early gives me peace of mind, allows me to sleep and extra hour and helps avoid a 3-hr/day commute all together. at this point 3 extra hours a day is golden.

last week my upper abdomen, right below where my stomach is now was really sore. and with every baby kick I cringed at the sharp jabs. her kicks usually don't bother me—they make me smile most of the time, but for some reason I was sore and not a happy camper when she was active. deep breaths :)

grandpa wally is already spoiling his grand daughter :) went to carter's with me this weekend and had a bit of fun. love seeing my dad pick out cute lil girly outfits. love him so much.

no other changes at this point. I see the doc again tomorrow so maybe I'll be dialated?! i'll fill you in on my next update.

cravings: can't think of anything specific.
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
at week 37, pregnancy is considered full term, meaning baby is likely to thrive after birth. baby spends these last weeks in preparation for the outside world… meaning careful refinement of the blink, suck, inhale and exhale. meconium, which we’ll probably find in the first diaper, is accumulating in the intestines. if I worry about giving birth, I need to consider what it’s like for the little one. during the journey out of my womb, baby will produce more stress hormones than any other time in life.

this moment is life

36 weeks: baby daddy here

hello everyone. sorry I have been neglectful of my posting duties. so what is going on right now from my perspective? hmmm, well, we have a baby on the way—not sure if you all knew that. so I guess I will start with my thoughts on this topic and we can move on from there.

when we first realized we were pregnant, I was a little worried. so many thoughts cross your mind. how do we pay for a baby? do we start saving for college now or pay off our own college loans? how do we find a babysitter? how are we going to make room in our condo? basically every thought imaginable.

then everything settles in and I got a bit excited, but was still worried with all of the unanswered questions. everybody we see says, "oh how wonderful, congratulations", "you better get some sleep", "this is the end of your life as you know it" and so on. it gets crazy because you don't know what to think.

so this is what my current thoughts are now... I am extremely excited! the anticipation is a lot like our wedding last year, except now I just want the little baby girl to come because I am really tired of having to wait for her. we have had all of our showers so in my mind we basically have everything we need so that we are not horrible parents. I'm ready and sort of tired of waiting and just want to meet our lil girl! good news is that michele is ready too.

I don't really know what else to say, possibly why I do not contribute as often as michele does. next week we will talk about our fantasy football picks... get excited!!!

36 weeks: one month to go!

wow, last month...

we're ready for this lil girl to get here. mark put together her crib on saturday and stayed patient with the stroller :) that thing was crazy. we're slowly getting her nursery together—can't wait for her dresser to come in! it'll be helpful to put things in drawers once we get that. I got her bedding from potterybarn, but found it on clearance so I'm pretty proud of my find. it's the morgan collection and found really cute turtle sheets to put with it too :) other than that i've been slowly packing my hospital bag and making sure everything is set for when she decides to make her grand appearance!

had another check up today... gained 3 lbs. I am completely baffled on my body's ability to gain all the weight so fast—it's quite amazing I must say. dr. perlis checked me too and although I'm not dialated yet she said baby's head is pretty low (almost -1) so she's making her way down! we'll see if anything changes at next weeks appointment. :)

overall, baby's been kickering around and my belly really hurts from all the stretching. it feels almost like sore bruise. I have been feeling a bunch of braxton hicks contractions lately—and those aren't too fun. but if it helps my body prep then awesome. thankfully none of these have been as bad as pms cramps (sorry tmi) they hang around for a few minutes and go away which is nice. I wonder what a real real contraction will feel like though. I guess I'll find out soon!

that's all for now :)

cravings: hmmm. cereal and super cold milk really makes me happy.
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
our baby is still packing on the pounds—at the rate of about an ounce a day. she now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. she's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. our baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

at the end of this week, our baby will be considered full-term. (full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) she's in a head-down position right now.

love sea

35 weeks: waddle waddle

I feel like a lil penguin when I walk... waddling my way down the street. it's funny how much I sometimes need to use my arms to propel myself forward—makes me laugh. with all this waddling my hips have obviously loosened up—getting ready for baby. she's also been pressing more and more against my bladder, so especially when I'm up walking around I feel like I'm running to the bathroom every 15 mins. can't wait for this to get worse!

had my doc appointment tuesday. everything looked good again. gained 2 lbs, blood pressure 114/52, measured 34 weeks and her heartbeat sounded good. I go back in two weeks and then I'll be having weekly visits!

mark painted baby girls room saturday and it looks wonderful! we decided to go with benjamin moore's morning sky blue and we'll decorate with a pink, navy and light blue nautical theme. can't wait to get the crib and dresser delivered so we could arrange the room and start hanging things on the wall :) that'll be this week's project!

we also had our last baby shower and just want to thank all our family for the amazing and wonderful gifts. this lil girl is so loved already and we just can't wait for everyone to meet her—going to be such an amazing day! BIG thanks to my sister and poppa bear for organizing the shower and getting everything together! :)

overall, I feel good. just a lil more tired than usual—not sure if it's the disruption of sleep to run to the bathroom couple times a night or if I frankly just need to go to bed earlier. baby is definitely growing!

oh, mark and I celebrated our first anniversary together today too! can't believe a year has already flown by—love him more and more each day! <3

cravings: I wanted fried calamari on my birthday...
aversions: I thought the above was a good idea—yuck.

what's baby up to?
our baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. most of her basic physical development are now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

growing older

34 weeks: birthday, anniversary and showers... oh my!

it's going to be a great week—well at least a fun one :) baby momma is turning 27 wednesday... whoa. years are just flying by and this birthday just snuck up on me—must be because all I'm really thinking about is baby girl's birthday!

enough about just momma... mark and I's 1st anniversary is sunday. now that's a year that flew by! so much happened since last august, but overall I'm looking forward to celebrating with my wonderful husband and digging into delicious frozen 1-yr old cake... yum.

baby girl has been showered in love (and cute outfits) the past two weeks. mark walked into the closet last night and said she officially has more clothes than I do. :) he especially loves the tutus. thank you sue and carrie for the lovely shower last sunday and everyone else who came! also aubrey, tatum and amy for a fun girlfriends shower—always great getting everyone together! love all our family and friends so much for the advice, smiles and love. our girl is pretty lucky to have such wonderful people to grow up with. our last shower is this sunday and can't wait to see all my family :)

nursery update: painting didn't happen this weekend... but there was progress made. the room is at least cleared out now and prepped for painting. I would have loved for it to be done but won't complain since I'm not the one who has to take on the not fun job :) love you mark! mark plans on doing the ceiling tonight, walls another night and trim another night. then we should be all set to start putting her room together by the weekend. saturday we're celebrating our anniversary a day early (since the shower is sunday) so hopefully we'll be done by then so we could have a fun date together!

that's all for now! just trying to stay cool!

cravings: embarrassed to say this but t-bell... baja chicken chalupas to be exact. :)
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
our baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. her fat layers—which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born—are filling her out, making her rounder. her skin is also smoother than ever. her central nervous system is maturing and lungs are continuing to mature as well. good to know that preterm babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. they may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

remember to forget

33 weeks: 9-10-11

this week has fairly gone by pretty quickly. I have a feeling this will be a theme for these last 7 weeks :)

had my baby check up on tuesday. gained 3 lbs :/ (I was hoping for just 2) but what could you do :) I'm up 21lbs now which just sounds crazy but there are a lot of uncontrollable reasons that cause weight gain other than just what you eat so I'm not too worried. I was measuring a bit small for dr. ghandi so we had a quick ultrasound again—yay! little miss was measuring in the 58th% percentile (about 4.5 lbs), fluids looked good and still head down. so again, she's just helping momma out to not feel any bigger than she has to :) also, I guess my original due date wasn't calculated correctly so dr. ghandi said her actual due date (not that she really will be born that day) is 9-10-11 rather than a day later! fine with me!

mom and dad prather are in town this week so it's been fun seeing them and can't wait for the wedding tonight and baby shower on sunday!

other than that the heat and humidity has been awful in chicago. ugh. so glad it finally rained a good amount to cool everything off a bit. staying hydrated on my walks to work is key, but I'm really avoiding the outdoors as much as I can. still haven't heard back about the ultrasound on my abdomen, my only guess that whatever it is is a non-emergency since it's been a week and I haven't heard anything.

painting the baby's girls room next weekend! can't wait to have her room ready :)

cravings: with all this hot weather water seems to be the only satisfying thing.
aversions:

what's baby up to?
baby’s senses are continuing to improve—when light peeks in through my (extremely) stretched belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. and, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs… time to start practicing our lullabies! growth (at least inside my womb) is starting to slow, and I may notice baby descend into my pelvis at the end of this month.

our mantra

32 weeks: ready for this

mark and I had our childbirth education and lamaze class this weekend and it was quite good and reassuring. i've been reading several books over the course of this pregnancy (mayo clinic guide to a healthy pregnancy and the baby bump guide are my faves) so a lot of the information was review but I still got a lot out of it. obviously breathing techniques, what to look for when you think you may be labor, when to call the doc are very good to know and training dad to help with that when labor comes. :) mark also has been reading be prepared and really likes it—it's written perfectly for a guy! having this class definitely helped prepare both mark and I for what's to come even though at times I felt overwhelmed and anxious. as long as mark is there coaching me on I know I'll do just fine!

overall, we both just want her here. and from the videos we viewed we'd like her here healthy and hope with no emergency situations. so say a prayer for us as we reach month 8 :)

now although we are very ready for her to be here we've went back to square one on naming her. we want the perfect name and I don't think mark was 100% sold on the last one—so we've been going through and making a list again... I told him she needs to have a name (or two) by week 35. I don't want to get in the situation where I'm in labor and then we have to decide because by then I'm sure I'll name her pickle or rocky road and we'll just have to live with it! haha kidddddding. and if she comes out and we need to decide then that's ok too, but I need the list to be a lot more narrow and my husband to not over think it too much :)

had the ultrasound test done friday to my abdomen but don't have any news yet. the tech at the hospital was new so she did everything from my gall bladder to my liver to my kidneys. she had to have the other tech look everything over and they said these would be sent to the doctor to look over. I don't know for sure whether it is my gall bladder but the new tech may have slipped and said she didn't see anything there—while the other tech said technically she's not supposed to say anything until the doc reviews. so still waiting to hear about that. for the most part I didn't feel anything painful all week—a bit on monday when I was walking but I got relief the rest of the week. now saturday it slowly was coming back and sunday it hurt a lot of the day. so overall, it's a bizarre unexplainable pain right now.

tomorrow I have another OB checkup with dr. ghandi (dr. perlis is on vacay this week) and mark and I will be looking into pediatricans to interview this week. other than that looking forward to a fun weekend that includes our first baby shower with the prathers :)

cravings: i love chocolate... too bad my husband regulates me. :)
aversions: tuna casserole served at good shepherd.

what's baby up to?
by now, our baby weighs 3.75 pounds (like a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in my uterus. i'm gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to our baby. she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. she now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

you get what you need

31 weeks: side pain and prego brain

so another week has gone by... about 8 weeks to go!

so my check-up last tuesday went well. baby was measuring 31 weeks, blood pressure was normal, and gained another 3 lbs. I brought up to dr. perlis this pain i've been having on my right side. I first felt it when we were in maine at 25 weeks, but it went away after a few days so I didn't want to sound the alarms then. but in the past two weeks it's been flaring up again—the one thing I do notice that each time it happens i'm either walking slowly for a while or standing more than usual.

at first I kept switching the side my purse was on—definitely not the problem. then I tried just putting pressure on it by holding my side, but that didn't help either. getting off my feet for a while by laying down or just sitting comfortably did eleviate the pain though. the pain is felt only on my right side about half-way down my rib cage and I could feel it from the front through the back. sometimes it is a dull pain other times it feels like i'm getting jabbed with a knife. unpleasant.

so when i mentioned to dr. perlis she immediately thought it's my gall bladder and asked if it hurt more when I've had greasy food. I honestly could not say yes/no to that because I haven't caught that pattern. I'm not perfect with my eating habits but for the most part I try to incorporate more fruit and veggies vs greasy fried foods. so, she said whatever it is I'll just have to cut it out of my diet. so wrote me a referral for an ultrasound of that area so once I get that scheduled we'll know more. sunday it was really bad, i bent down to plug something in and literally was brought to tears so I got a second opinion from susanne. she agreed it could be that, baby's jabbing me/running out of room, or I need to get my blood taken to make sure my liver is functioning correctly.

since sunday I've avoided anything with high fat. monday for breakfast I had a vegan muffin and ff milk, lunch a blackbean vegan burger (gross) and side salad (light vinagrette) and dinner was a roasted veggie lasagna from trader joes. and yesterday I felt pain in the morning on my walk to work and then again when I was taking madi out after work... not as bad as sunday but still feeling it. I had the same for breakfast today and was feeling it on my walk again. sitting for a while has made it go away. we'll see what the ultrasound shows, but for now I'll do my best to avoid anything high in fat.

on to funnier things... I have prego brain. it's hard to admit because I usually pride myself on remembering things and thinking clearly but there have been quite a couple instances where I have no explanation of how I possibly have done the things I did.

the first one happened a while back. I was coming back from picking up groceries and parked my car, dropped my keys in my purse (or so I thought) and locked my door with the button on the side before closing the door. my door lock quickly popped back up and I was like great my door is broken so I clicked it again same thing happened, so then I manually pushed down my door lock. then i went to pop my trunk with my keys only to realize I left them in the ignition! seriously, my brain is not functioning correctly. my dad still has our spare key so he came to save the day. second instance is a dumb thing on both mark and I's part. I went to take the dog out for a walk before bed and asked mark to come with since it was a really nice night. so i grabbed the dog and said I'd meet him outside. as he walked out our second door he's like do you have keys? I'm like no just go get them... so he runs back up only to realize he's locked our front door. ugh. wally to the rescue again. I don't know why I didn't grab my keys I guess I assumed mark would... again never has happened in the two years living there but happens now.

third instance... I was in a bit of a hurry but mark needed something from target so I volunteered to go since I like that store :) I grab my green bags and coupons and am on my way. as I pull in to target I realize I forget one pretty important thing... my purse and wallet. seriously again I have never done this. last thing happened this past week. mark and I were having turkey meatball subs and I went to clean up the counter afterward and put everything away. the next day we were going to have the same thing and we could not find the mozarrella cheese... wasn't in the drawer it should have been in or anywhere else. I'm like I swear I put it away! well yes I did... in the bread basket! seriously embarrassing and dumb experiences that usually don't happen to me... but I'm just going to say it's PREGO BRAIN and laugh about it in the mean time. :)

we finished up painting our room this week, so now we just have baby girl's nursery to do! it's a relief to have another one done. other than that we have our childbirth education classes this weekend—it'll be a jammed packed session of info. can't wait to have more anxiety of whats to come!

baby's weight is about
three navel oranges.

cravings: i like chocolate and blts.
aversions: none.

what's baby up to?
this week, our baby measures over 16 inches long. she weighs about 3.3 pounds and is heading into a growth spurt. she can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. she's probably moving a lot, too, so I may have trouble sleeping because our baby's kicks and somersaults can keep me up. all this moving is a sign that our baby is active and healthy.

30 weeks: fireworks in my belly

happy birthday aubbie and happy 4th of july!

had a great fourth of july weekend with friends and family. mark and I just watched about 30 firework displays all at once on palatine hill—it was so fun. good thing I got my fill after 10 mins because the mosquitoes were incredibly getting after us. next year we'll remember the bug spray :)

saw all of the bradley crew at b&t's and it was nice catching up with the girls and everyone :) everyone was drawn to the belly and rubbing it—it was kinda funny but of course I didn't mind it just made me smile. then sunday was a relaxing day ending with s'mores by the fire.

back tracking a bit to monday I slightly started freaking out a bit. right as I was about to leave work the thought just popped into my head that hmmm haven't really felt baby today. then I tried to remember the last time that day when I felt her and I just couldn't. I didn't want to think the worst but all I could think about is please kick please kick please kick. and at that time I was walking so it would be hard to notice. on the train I kinda felt a light tap, but still wasn't satisfied :)

so when I got home I ate and laid down on my left side and started counting. it took 14 minutes to feel 10 movements, which is not as quick as she normally is but still normal. so my panic subsided, but I wasn't completely ok. mark convinced me enough not to worry—but it's the first thing I thought of when I woke up the next day. she wasn't super active so I texted susanne (mark's sis-in-law) to just ask her if this is normal. she reassured me, but said if I was worried to go in and be monitored. since I was in chicago already and on my way to work, I was just going to see how the morning went. around 10:00am she started jabbing me and phew felt such relief and it continued all day. so lil miss was just sleepy or I was just too busy to notice her yesterday.

ever since then she been really active and there have been a couple times her kicks have completely moved me. so funny how strong she is—our lil firecracker. :) i love looking down at my belly and seeing her taps since they are so much more prominent.

the prathers too are having a baby shower for us toward the end of this month :) can't wait to see everyone!

tomorrow I have another check-up with dr. perlis. hopefully she's measuring 30 weeks—or if she isn't it'll be fun to see her on the ultrasound again. :)

cravings: everything I probably should avoid. but I love chocolate.
aversions: psh. nothing.

what's baby up to?
our baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). a pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in my uterus. her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. when she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision—which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (normal adult vision is 20/20.)

29 weeks: healthy and on track

had my 28-week check up on tuesday which included a fun glucose test for gestational diabetes. had to drink a sugary orange drink (basically tasted like melted pop-ice) and have my blood drawn exactly an hour later. so while I was waiting for my timer to go off I got my weight taken and I lost a pound! good news since I had a nutty gain the last time I was there—so that averages me out a bit. overall, I'm up 14lbs which is on track. while the nurse was drawing my blood dr. ghandi was trying to distract me by measuring my fundal height and listening to baby's heartbeat. she said I was measuring a bit small, so she wanted to take a quick ultrasound.

I probably turned white, and immediately had a million things run through my head, but I was curious and kinda of excited to see baby, since the last time was at my 21-week appointment. I knew she was moving around just fine, but wondering what could be wrong if something was. she took all of baby's measurements and happily said well baby is measuring at the 45 percentile—and that you can't really get anymore average than that. baby was estimated to be about 2 lbs 9 oz. she said I was just hiding it well which kinda made me laugh considering I feel so big. I was happy to hear lil babe was good though—phew! oh, doc also said she was head down and most likely won't flip, maybe switch which way she faces but for the most part she's ready to rock and roll. her lil feet are on the right side which is where I feel a majority of baby's movement.

overall, still feeling pretty good. there are some days I just wake up exhausted and really for no particular reason. I usually fall asleep at a decent time, it's just my entire body just feels drained. then other morning's I'm like up and ready to go at 6:00, but unfortunately mark is not. :) I just try to listen to my body and if I need to lay down for a bit (which usually for me is a no-no) I will.

we have a "great expectations" baby class this thursday which is an intro our childbirth classes. should be interesting—mark is really excited. :)

other than that I'm trying to prepare myself for what's to come without psyching myself out. it's all quite overwhelming, but there's not turning back now! we're so happy in a lil over two months we'll have a new member to our lil family of two + madi girl.

cravings: cold things and fruit salad.
aversions: none.

what's baby up to?
baby’s energy is surging, thanks to the formation of white fat deposits beneath the skin. (kicks and jabs to my ribs tipped me off ) baby is also settling into sleep and waking cycles, though—they don’t necessarily coincide with my own. also this month, all five senses are finally functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developments.

28 weeks: third trimester... really we're here already?

oh wow... we're in the last stretch of this baby marathon. 12 weeks (or less) and lil baby girl will be here. I just can't wait to meet her and start this new and exciting part of our life. she is going to be the star of our show called life and am so thrilled to have such a great daddy-to-be on my side. not everyone knows this but one of the great reasons I fell for marky was when we were watching our family friends' kids the first summer we started dating. I saw how much fun, goofy and attentive he was with payton and gracie and it was hard not to think and smile wow I'm a lucky girl. I still remember the moment like it was yesterday. :)

happy father's day to all the wonderful fathers out there! (especially wally and ron)

there's been a lot of activity with baby this week. I literally can feel her turning, and I just stare down and can't believe something is alive within me. most of the time I feel great and almost forget I'm pregnant, but then I try to bend over and tie my shoe and I'm quickly reminded of the babe. overall, I've had lil aches and pains on the sides of my belly—but I think those are growing pains. when it happens my stomach is really hard so my only guess is that my skin and uterus are stretching to make more room. (no stretch marks yet... thank god and knocking on wood!)

we have our next check up on tuesday where we'll meet the last doc in the practice (dr. ghandi) but most likely we'll have dr. perlis for the rest of the pregnancy. hopefully she's on call at the hospital when lil miss decides to come out meet us!

baby is the size of a pomelo or
chinese cabbage. click to see the full image.

cravings: still loving on the la croix. I had a brownie the other day from panera and I literally could have ate the whole platter on display–luckily my husband was there to limit me to one.
aversions: none.

what's baby up to?
by this week, our baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. she can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. with her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through my womb. she's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

guiding light

happy early father's day to our dads, my soon-to-be dad marky and all the other great dads we know!

27 weeks: baby belly

so my belly has been in slight pain—nothing to worry about but the I could feel it stretching which isn't a pleasant feeling. it's not like it hurts, but it's not like a feeling of wow that feels great! I was thinking this past weekend that it's hard to remember what it feels like to not have this belly. clearly all my normal jeans don't fit but I don't feel "heavy" by any means. I've said this before it just feels like someone inflated my belly—I'm sure it'll feel different when baby gains a few pounds, but for now I just have this round bump that sticks out.

this morning she was really active. for the most part I haven't been able to feel her from the outside. usually, it's been more of a tap that only I know is happening unless you stare at my stomach for a while you'd be able to see my shirt move a bit. I put my hand on my belly when I was sitting at work and I could actually feel her kicking—I can't wait to show mark when I get home later!

I had the most frustrating shopping experience looking for a maternity bathing suit this weekend. to summarize think of suit shopping on a normal basis and then add a big belly. it's hard to feel awesome. so I have a really sweet preggers one-piece—can't wait to wear it. hah.

also, got to see aubbie's caela on sunday and it was a lot of fun. so exciting to see her grow and play with her. she has a lil personality and was so fun to hold and see her lil expressions—those few hours flew by! and I definitely have prego brain because I thought it was her half-birthday, really just her 5 month! I told her I'll teach her how to count when she's a lil older :)

overall, i've been hitting my 10,000 steps each day and I actually feel great. I was at 8,300 after work and I'm motivated to just keep moving to hit the mark. madi is benefiting from this too, so it's a win-win. :)

babe is about the size of a cauliflower.
click to see the full image.

cravings: I really like la croix, I know it's not food but I enjoy it. found a new flavor too! coconut! which is perfect for summer. I of course would love to have ice cream and cookies on a normal basis, but if I give in I just have a little or else I just try to avoid it. (no need to add non-baby weight.)
aversions: none.

what's baby up to?
this week, our baby weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. she's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. with more brain tissue developing, our baby's brain is very active now. while her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning—with a lot of medical help—if she were to be born now. chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so I'm just to just relax and enjoy the tickle.

ghandi's 10