Mini-Jody in 4D

We had a 4D ultrasound done yesterday, but Connor was being uncooperative... He had the cord and his arm covering half of his face, and no matter how hard we tried, he refused to move his arm. We're trying again on Tuesday to see if we can get some better images. Even though these pics aren't great, I still think he looks just like Jody... definitely his nose. Because the cord and his arm wouldn't give us a clear view of his whole face, it makes some of his face look distorted in the pictures. Jody thinks he looks like the son of the elephant man, but it's just the way the pictures turned out. Poor baby.. I know he's going to be so cute, but Daddy was just being mean!

P.S.

I forgot to mention that on Friday we're getting a 4D ultrasound done... so you can look forward to pictures! I hope we get some good ones. :)

Preggo Post

Okay... after much request, here's an update on my latest experiences. For starters, some questions have been posed to me:
How do you feel?
Have you gained much weight?
Do you have any weird cravings?
Are you hormonal and emotional?
Are you feeling the baby move around a lot?
Is Jody getting excited/nervous?
Do you have a name picked out?

I've still been feeling pretty good, no major complaints. My feet/ankles have been having some slight swelling, but not too bad.... Just bad enough so that no shoe looks cute on my feet, and finding cute shoes that fit my fat feet is a bit difficult. When I wear my tennis shoes to work, my no-show socks in combination with the snug fit of the tennis shoes squeeze the fluid from my feet up to my ankles. So when I take my shoes off, my feet are normal size and my ankles are quite large in comparison. If I sit for long enough with my feet up, the swelling goes away, but any significant amount of time spent on my feet, and it's back again. I also have been unable to wear my wedding rings for quite some time now.. most of the time when I try them on, they are uncomfortably snug, so I don't really even try to wear them.

I'm not sure of the exact amount of weight I've gained because I try to avoid the scale these days, but my doctor says my weight gain is good (I'm right in the average range). I believe I'm right around about 25 pounds so far, and people have told me that I look like I've only gained baby. I guess it's possible they're just being nice.. I do think my butt and thighs may have increased in size a little bit, but I suppose that could still be just baby weight gain/fluid retention. I do have to say that my least favorite (least attractive in my opinion) part of my body is my arms, which have nothing to do with baby weight gain.. of course, I thought they were gross beforehand anyway.

I haven't had any weird food cravings.. I've had more food aversions, more like suppressed appetite. Strange, huh. Some of that may have to do with the fact that about a month ago I had some sort of stomach bug, and then a couple of weeks later I had another stomach bug. I think my GI system is finally now getting back on track... but still no major food cravings. One thing to say about food, though: I do love a good sandwich!

I have been a bit hormonal and emotional.. just ask my husband! It doesn't take much to make me cry... about half the songs that are played on the radio (especially country songs) will bring tears to my eyes if I listen closely enough to them! Anyone heard that new George Strait song, "I Saw God Today"? That last verse gets me every time!

I feel the baby move all the time.. he's a squirmy worm! One night when we were in the mountains, I'd just laid down on my side, and I swear he did a full body turn in there... I was like, "Whoah!"

I think Jody's pretty excited.. we both are. It's beginning to seem more real now that we're starting to buy some baby stuff and getting ready to move the furniture in. This weekend, we're moving out the furniture from our other bedroom so we can bring the baby furniture home and get the room ready. I guess we'll be setting up a nursery in this teeny tiny house, but maybe that's what it'll take to finally sell it. I don't mind doing it twice if it means finally getting out of this house!

We finally decided on a name this past weekend: Connor Joseph. (And NOT to be called "C.J.") It's the name we've had in mind all along, really... it just took us a while to decide that it was definitely THE name. Joseph is after Jody, my husband and baby-daddy, and he actually thought of Connor before I even found out I was pregnant. So I kinda feel like it was meant to be!

We got a couple of awesome gifts this weekend from Grandma Sandi...

The oh-so-cool Graco Pack-n-Play... it was fun putting it together! Then we took it apart and packed it back up. It's in the attic for now.
And the Lexus of carseats... a Britax! Connor will be riding in style (and ultimate safety)! It is also in the attic for now.

And here's another treat for your eyes... updated pictures of Preggers here:
This is while we were in the mountains (a spur of the moment, late-night desire to be photographed). I'm roughly 28 weeks in this picture.
Proud Mommy- and Daddy-to-be! We both have weird grins on our faces, and Jody thinks he looks as pregnant as I do.

This is from this past weekend... I am 29 weeks here in these pictures. (No, I'm not holding my crotch.)

Please keep in mind these pictures were taken at about 1am after being outdoors at a barbecue all evening.

Rafting ...from the River's edge

Last week, we spent a couple of days at the mountain home in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina. Jody and I are both short on vacation time at work and trying to spare as much as possible for the big event (coming in just two short months!), but we took a short little 4-day weekend to meet my parents in the mountains. Since it's a 9-hour drive up there, we were basically left with only 2 days to play while we were there. Jody had never been whitewater rafting, so one of the days we were there, Jody, my parents, and my brother went rafting on the Nantahala. I wanted to go, but wasn't sure it was in my best interest given my present "condition" (as Jody calls it) since there's rough water, rocks, and 50 degree water (quite cold), and you never know if or when you might fall out of the boat. So I got to watch and play photographer from the riverside.

Here they are braving Nantahala Falls, the class III rapid just before the take-out.

This is still Nantahala Falls, and Jody is getting a face-full of that big wave (you can only see his paddle in the picture). Apparently my brother (guiding the boat) had been trying all afternoon to get Jody wet, and this is where he finally succeeded.... Way to go, Ben!

This is the "post-Falls" picture... my, Jody looks refreshed! Glad to see everybody's still in the boat!

And one more picture for the road! Now Jody's ready to try a kayak, so hopefully next time we're up there, we'll have time for him to take some kayak instruction and see how he likes it.

I can breathe now

It's all done, finished, over with... bye-bye school, hello life!

Done, done, DONE!

I am DONE with all my work for school, and I'll never have to do schoolwork again! What a great feeling! I only have to go tomorrow evening, take a quick (and easy) test and make a powerpoint presentation. I am so glad that after tomorrow night, I won't have to focus on any more dang school stuff ever again... and now I can direct my focus on more important and exciting things, like getting ready for Baby to come!

Anyone up for a Glucola?

I had a doctor's appointment today, and this was the fun appointment where I got to do the glucose tolerance test to test for gestational diabetes. That means drinking the yummy (?) orange-flavored "glucola" and then having my blood glucose tested an hour later. The drink tasted like a flat Sunkist orange soda, but really wasn't as bad as I'd feared. And the good news is that I passed the test. Yay! I didn't, however, pass the hemoglobin test... my iron level is low (I'm anemic), so now I have to take iron supplements. Oh well... if that's the worst I have to deal with, that's great. No other fun stuff happened at the doctor today except for listening to baby's heartbeat with the doppler and measuring my belly. This was the first time to have my belly measured... I measured 29 weeks (I'm 26 weeks now), so doctor says he's gonna be a big baby! This marks the end of my second trimester, and now I'll start going to the doctor every 2 weeks instead of once a month. I can't believe that I'm already at the end of the second trimester! (And the house still hasn't sold!)