24 weeks - Make My Day

Only 107 days to go! And boy oh boy is this belly ever expanding. I've just started my seventh month, what the heck will it look like by the 9th!?!? Remember this cute little bump.....

16 weeks

well, it's turned into this gorgeous lump-o-baby! I've been giving it a daily slathering of belly butter and so far -- not a stretch mark in sight. My vanity is most grateful...

24 weeks

I remember thinking to myself, "how do women do it!? how can they carry all of that weight!?". And the answer is -- you get used to it! It's awkward and uncomfortable but manageable. I absolutely love it! And so does Jay. He'll come home from work and go straight for the belly. I have to remind him every now and then, "yo, babe, I'm up here!"

On another note, I've been "awareded"! Thanks Joyce!

Now I'm supposed to “Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.”

My Make My Day Ten:

• Easy Way Out
• It's the Hormones
• Not An Artist
• My Sensitive Girl Hole
• I'm Not Bad...
• Purl This
• Unplumbedshallows...
• And She Knits Too
• My So-called Anonymous Life
• KoKopalooza

Baby Kicks and Aqua Bellies

Jay's been waiting and waiting and waiting to feel the baby kick. He'll sit next to me on the couch with his hand on my belly, like he's waiting for a sign. He'll sing and talk and try to coax a kick, but nothing. Until this morning! Papa Jay felt his first kick! He claims that it was a flying backwards scissor kick that made contact with his palm. A move she learned in the cervix, back when she was semen first class. I have a feeling that it was just a poke. And Jay has a vivid imagination. I'm so glad that Jay is finally able to share in the fascinating world of the moving-growing-inside-the-belly-baby. Kicks, pokes, tumbles and all!



On the exercise front -- I took an aqua bellies class last night and it was quite the experience! Most of the time I thought I was gonna drown! I learned quickly to stay as close as possible to the shallow end, but with 14 preggos jumping up and down, creating waves and currents against my 5 feet nada frame I thought I might get pulled under at any moment. I kept one eye on the instructor and the other on the lifeguard at all times! Maybe next time (if there is a next time) I should strap on some sort of floating device to keep me from going under. Don't get me wrong, the class was excellent. And I'm so glad that I gave it a try. We used flutter boards to work our butts and noodles for our abs and these Styrofoam weight things to work our upper bodies - a very thorough workout. But it just wasn't for me. I like floating around and relaxing in the water or cooling off at the beach on a hot day, but I'm no mermaid. I'll embrace my granola side and stick with the yoga. A true A-blood type-Taurus, I need my head relaxing in the clouds and my feet firmly planted on the ground.

Workin' It!

Week 23 - Workin it! The bump just keeps expanding like some sorta crazy human water balloon! Except that it's not jiggly. It's hard and taut and oh-so-strange. I thought that tummy rubs from others would drive me nuts, but I'm actually not minding it so much. As long as they don't try to lift my shirt. Yes, someone tried. I threatened to grab her breasts if she tried it again. Sheesh! But I understand, it really is such a curious and fascinating "thing" I can see why people just want to reach out and touch and rub and talk to it. Jay will just grab it and start singing to it and Katie-Oh insists on speaking to the bump in an Irish accent, just to be sure that the baby will know that it's her when they finally do meet.

The body's expansion has me worried about weight gain. Although our doc has reassured me that I'm gaining at a very normal rate, being 5 feet nada has me a bit concerned. The yoga has been great and yesterday I braved the gym where I hit the elliptical and then the pool. Very nice. And tonight I will give this one another go....



Prenatal Fitness Fix with Erin O’Brien is great. She starts off the DVD with her side profile and a Hitchcock imitation. Ah the belly jokes! She's 7 months pregnant so it's amazing to watch her go. She's so energetic and motivational and conscientious. She stops for water breaks, constantly reminds you to breathe and even takes a pee break half way through. too hilarious! There's also a partner workout section where her husband acts as the nautilus machine for weight training. Jay and I have yet to go there.

I feel that, not only am I carrying around another little human that I am completely responsible for (thanks to Jay for all of the delicious and healthy meals) but I'm also training for a marathon aka LABOUR (!!). I intend on being fully prepared!

A Special Note

Jay and I received the most wonderful note today....

from Cousin Ben

We must admit, our nephew Ben was not thrilled with the prospect of us having a girl. Ben had guessed Boy and was pretty adamant about it. But we have recently learned that regardless of the baby's lack of testosterone he is still glad that there will be a brand new cousin for him to play with. Thanks Ben, we're glad too!

Maaaaaaa

We went to our first Baby & Me yoga bellies class on Wednesday. Karen the instructor/child birth education/doula/hypnotherapist lead a wonderful prenatal yoga practice. It felt awesome and I'm sure baby enjoyed all of the movement and breathing. I loved being surrounded by all of these strong women and there bellies of various sizes. And I kept thinking how amazing it was that for each woman there, there was a little human growing inside. At the end of the class, just after meditation (my favourite part) we formed a circle around, Kelly, one of the mom's to be who was at 41(!!!) weeks and we did our final chant of 3 ma's (one for the ma's to be; one for the baby in the belly that may be a ma one day and one for all of the ma's that came before us) and then we each sent Kelly a wish. I have a feeling we all wished her the same thing - that her labour come soon, that it be quick and without complications and that mom & baby stay healthy. Namaste.

I bow to you

Thanks for playing!

Thanks for playing the guess-the-baby game. What a buncha good sports. It was great to watch people guess. Some wouldn't think twice and just blurt it right out, others would make me stand up and check me out from different angles while rubbing the belly and some would get so stressed out it looked as though their heads might explode. We don't have a set tally. Although I think there were more boy guesses than girl. I will not keep you in suspense and longer.....

Love Me Tender

Now, would you like to guess the name!? lol! We're at week 21 and feeling great. Although yesterday I was so exhausted I felt as though I was back in the first trimester. We had a doc appointment this morning and we went over the results of week 19's ultrasound and all is fine. We learned that the baby is currently head down and that the placenta is in front, so baby may have to really jail house rock it in order for papa to feel the kicks.

Guess!

What an awesome holiday! We had a very merry x-mas and an awesome new year's eve spent with family. On Christmas Eve we had our 3rd ultrasound at 19 weeks. We were blessed with the most amazing technician ever. She was so friendly and easy going. She even typed "merry x-mas!" on the ultrasound pic she gave us. The session was quite lengthy. Lotsa measuring of limbs and skull and torso. She had quite a time getting to all of the info with the baby being so active. And her murmurs of "excellent" and "perfect" made me want to lay there all day, staring at our bustling baby. We got a fist and a high five and a flip flop or two. And we also got this...

Ten Little Piggies

Hanging ten! Look at those little feet! Don't you just want to nibble on those tiny toes?! When we first walked in, she asked us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. We had tossed around the idea of having the technician throw the "answer" into a sealed envelope that we could open at Christmas dinner with my family later that evening. But then we kinda wanted to see it "live". So we asked her to let us know, we wanted to "see". We were thrilled. We would have been thrilled no matter what. We still took a sealed envelope to my parents place for dinner that night and we had our 12 year old niece Kassidy do the honours. We passed around the ultrasound pics and let everyone have a look as she took a poll. And once the numbers were in, she ripped open the envelope for the big reveal....

Baby Flores-Holz

It was such a fun way to get the family involved. Everyone was into it. Everyone had their own old wives tale way of determining the sex. Everyone was very happy with the outcome. Care to hazard a guess? So far there have been 13 guesses for a girl and 12 for a boy. What say you?