LDB (almost) Week 33: Our Big Headed Boy

Today we had one more ultrasound to make sure LDB's little heart is all right (I have a form of Lupus that could have caused problems, but thankfully, his heart is perfectly fine!), and we got to have one last look at our little man before he makes his debut in 7(ish) short weeks.

Of course they do all kinds of measurements, and he is weighing in currently at about 5 pounds. His body is slightly bigger than average, but his HEAD. People, this boy's HEAD is measuring 5 weeks bigger than his actual gestational age! Next to the measurement on the screen, it said something like 97th percentile. His body is more like 60th.

When I think about it, we do have pretty big heads in my family. Bryan's family's heads are pretty average. We have decided this means he's gonna be hella smart. :) I am trying not to think of the implications this has for natural birth. :)

We also got the ultrasound tech to turn on the 4D ultrasound so we could get a more realistic picture of LDB's sweet big-headed face.

People, HOW CUTE IS OUR SON AND HIS LITTLE SMUSHED NOSE?!

LDB Week 32: 8 weeks to grow!

Yes, people, this belly is getting a little unwieldy. I look at it daily and think, "HOW IN THE WORLD CAN YOU HAVE EIGHT MORE WEEKS OF GROWTH LEFT IN YOU!?" Oh dear. :)

Everything is going well. It's hard for me to believe sometimes, considering at the beginning of my pregnancy there was so much talk of me being high risk for so many different reasons. That is, of course, not to say that I'm guaranteed to have no problems from here on out, but apart from getting more uncomfortable every day, I'm feeling good!

LDB has not slowed his dance practicing in there. I read the other day that this is supposed to be the peak time for movement, and from here on out he'll be getting so squished that he won't move as much. I'll believe that when I feel it. In true baby-in-utero form, he moves the most when I'm laying down and trying to go to sleep. And to be honest, it kind of freaks me out sometimes. It feels like an alien in there, trying to get out. Strange feeling. Aren't women supposed to feel their babies' movements even more in pregnancies after the first? Man, that must be bizarre.

The reality that in less than two months we're going to be someone's Mom and Dad is sinking in. I have never been one to claim I have any clue what I'm in for. Basically, I plan for it to be harder than anything I can imagine. I have moments where I'm totally overwhelmed by that, but generally, I can not wait to meet my son. MY SON! Holy crap. How'd I ever get old enough to be about to become a mother?!

My nesting instincts have certainly kicked in, but unfortunately this has coincided with every power station wife's favorite time of year, outage season! Bryan has been lucky enough to get a day off each week this month (in years past, sometimes he was lucky to get one day off a MONTH), although last weekend he ended up with a nasty virus that had him laid up in the bed and rendered him pretty useless to do any heavy lifting. And then when he's working 14-15 hour days, I feel bad handing him a honey do list on the one day of rest he gets. So we have made progress in getting the nursery together, but not a lot. We really wanted to get rid of some of the chaos in the house before LDB brings his own brand of chaos, so that has delayed the process a little bit, but for good reason. I'm glad we're not just tossing crap on top of crap to make room for baby.

So anyway, we do have his crib and dresser, along with all of the gear we've received from the baby shower. I'm hoping by the end of the month the room will be painted and his furniture will be in there. Once that's done, I feel like I'll be able to relax a little about it. :)

Next weekend is shower extravaganza! Saturday is my family shower, Sunday is my friends shower. I'm excited for both, and hoping that we will actually be able to find each other in the house amidst all the baby stuff when they're through. :)

LDB Weeks 28-30: Party time!

Weeks 28-30 were marked by LDBs introduction to the party scene.

Originally, our first baby shower, given by Bryan's mom, was scheduled for the first weekend we were back from Mexico. As it turned out, there was another snow storm coming that weekend, and while it actually didn't affect us or Bryan's parents all that much, the area between the two of us (DC, Maryland, Southeastern PA) got hammered. Bryan was ready to just go, but ultimately his mother and I decided we might as well just reschedule for the following weekend. Thankfully, the guests were available and the switch went pretty smoothly (at least as far as I know... :) ).

We headed up to PA the following weekend, where my belly was the cause for celebration. LDB got all kinds of wonderful things, including what turned out to be about a 2.5 foot tall pile of clothes once I unpacked everything. I knew babies take over your house, and I feel like I'm starting to get a little inkling of just how completely true this is! :) It was a lovely shower, and I'm so grateful to my mother-in-law for her hard work and to my in-laws for being so great! (Check out a couple more photos from the shower here.)

The next weekend was the Arthritis Foundation's annual black-tie gala, the Crystal Ball. Ever since I left there for VCU, I have been on the Crystal Ball planning committee. It's a very fun event and being on the committee allows me to still be involved in event planning, which I admit I miss sometimes. Bryan donned his tuxedo, and I managed to fit LDB and myself into a dress I had worn a couple of years ago. Normally I'm a bit of a priss about not reprising a dress, but why in the heck would I spend money for a maternity formal dress if I can avoid it?

We had a great time at the Crystal Ball. It's always so much fun to see all of our Arthritis Foundation family, and they were all thrilled to see LDB. :) You can see more pictures from our fun evening here.