Friday, October 31, 2008

The insanity

Last night we were watching TV when I realized I hadn't seen the cat for a pretty long time. She usually checks in with us every hour or so and at night she always sleeps on my lap while we watch TV. I went searching for her and still couldn't find her - then Tom suggested checking the laundry room and lo and behold, there she was. On top of the heating ducts. I dragged her down and she was nice and warm, which is probably why she was sitting up there to begin with. I've got to figure out how to keep her from getting up there.

28 Weeks

dear readers,

mommy is letting me give the weekly update today. i now weigh about 2 1/2 pounds and am almost 16 inches long! i've been practicing my rolling and kicking all week. i'm even able to reach mommy's ribs. i've started blinking and coughing and am breathing better every day. if i was delivered today, i would have an excellent chance of surviving since my lungs are very close to maturity. i still have a lot of growing to do, so i think i'll stick around for another 12 weeks before making my official appearance.

love,
baby merkel

Weekly pictures

TheNest.com


Parents.com (baby's the size of a pair of sneakers, though probably not Tom's sneakers)

27 Weeks, 6 Days


27 Weeks, 6 Days (side view)


28 Weeks Belly Shot


Dressed for work (minus my sweater)

Thursday, October 30, 2008

More fur baby

I am a woman obsessed...with her cat. At least that's how Tom describes me. I can't help taking tons of pictures of the cat when she's being so cute. Here are a few more shots of our little fur baby.

Squirming on the floor



I can has baby?


Sleepy time

Belly movie

I attempted to take a video of the baby moving around the other night. I tried my best to sit still and breathe slowly, so the majority of the moving is caused by the baby. I'll try to capture it on film again, but the baby doesn't always cooperate with me. Please don't be disgusted by my big furry belly. =]

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Belly coaster

That's right - not a roller coaster, but a belly coaster. That's the only way I can describe what's going on at night with my belly. The baby is really living it up in utero every night. Last night I watched my belly hop around for about an hour. Then Tom got kicked in the face a couple of times when he tried to listen to the baby.

I need to take a video of it so you can all see how bizarre it is. I'm going to play around with my camera tonight to see if I can get a video recorded. In the meantime, just imagine that my stomach looks like a bag of cats trying to get out.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Our fur baby

Our cat has always been really friendly and usually "checks in" with us every hour or so, but lately she's taken to following us around the house - room to room, right under our feet. The entire time Tom was away this weekend, she was attached to my side, literally. As soon as I sat down and got comfortable, she would hop up and arrange herself across my feet, rendering me immobile. And then she would settle herself at the foot of the bed on Tom's side every night and would give me the furry eyeball if I dared to creep into "her space".


Last night she was bored and decided to skulk around picking fights. So I decided to irritate the life out of her by taking numerous pictures of her in action. Here are just a few of the highlights from our battle. I only came away with a teensy scratch, so I like to think I won.


"You want a piece of me?"
"Keep dangling your hand over my face and you'll see what happens."
"No, I will not smile for your stupid picture."
"I told you not to dangle your hand in my face!"
"I'm tired of playing with you. Leave me alone."
"Ahhh, time for my hourly bath."
"I need to get that smelly human scent off of me."

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday Fun-day

I'm so happy Tom's home! It gets really lonely when he's not around (not that I need to be attached at the hip all of the time). And I'm even happier the Redskins won. We were hoping that Dallas would lose, but they somehow managed to pull it off. And the Giants are currently losing to the Steelers, but there's still a quarter left in the game.

We're going to pick up Loula at the airport around 8:00 tonight, bring her here to see the house and then go out to eat. Lucky for us she's staying at a hotel in Sterling. So convenient! I'll have to get a snack in soon so I'm not starving by dinner time.

I *think* but am not sure that I had a few Braxton Hicks contractions earlier today. I'm not entirely sure that they were BH contrax, but my belly did get hard and a lot uncomfortable. And they went away once I started walking around. I'm still waking up every night because of my bladder and rib pain. Although the past few nights I've been trying to hop out of bed like I used to pre-preg. Ha - not so easy now. I've got to do a kind of roll to sit up and then rock to get the momentum to get over my body pillow and out of bed. It's a fun routine and will only get more interesting as my stomach increases in size.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bored out of my mind

I hate the rain. And Tom's still in West Virginia for Joe's bachelor party so I have no one to entertain me. I've been watching DVDs and doing baby research online all day. I'm bored and losing my mind. I've already done the dishes, laundry, vacuuming and took out the trash. At least it's getting late, so I can call it quits for the night.

Friday, October 24, 2008

27 Weeks

Six months. How awesome is that? What's not so awesome are these stupid charley horses I've been getting. Everything I've read says that leg cramps are very common at this stage since my legs are supporting extra weight now. And the baby may be slowing down the blood flow to my legs which doesn't help. I'm going to call my doctor today to see if I can add a magnesium supplement to my diet for a bit to see if that helps. I know it's not a hydration problem, because I'm pumping my body full of fluids (so much that I'm up a couple of times each night to use the bathroom).

The baby's still moving around all of the time and the kicks keep getting stronger and stronger. I can also feel the baby rolling around and stretching inside me which is really cool. Tom's been trying to hear the baby's heartbeat through my stomach, but hasn't heard it yet. He blames all of my weird stomach noises and says I'm doing it on purpose. Didn't you all know I can make my stomach gurgle on command?

So here's what the baby's been up to according to BabyCenter.com.
This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) 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, your 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 just relax and enjoy the tickle.

And here are the weekly pictures.
WhatToExpect.com


Parents.com - it's the size of a sock monkey!


Belly pics


Typical pregnancy shot - hands in a heart - I couldn't resist!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Test results

So my doctor's office called today about my glucose test. I thought, here we go, I failed. Nope - they called to let me know I PASSED! And just as I was celebrating, they dropped the other news on me. My iron levels were 1/2 a point too low, so they want me to start taking a daily iron supplement. The nurse said I don't have anemia, but they want my iron levels higher.

This is just more proof that the baby is sucking the life right out of me. Every time I've given blood they have told me that my iron levels are great. The only thing that's changed since then is this little life- & nutrient-sucker inside of me. The baby's lucky I've grown really fond of it because I'm not even going to complain about having to take ANOTHER pill everyday.

At least I can still celebrate passing my glucose test! No 3 hour test for me!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

1 hour glucose test

I'm back from my glucose test and it really wasn't bad at all. I had read that the drink they give you is like extra syrupy flat soda, but it was kind of tasty. I was told to drink the bottle in five minutes and then sit for an hour. They need more comfortable chairs for tests like this - if I fail this I have to take the 3 hour test. Ugh - sitting in those chairs for 3 hours would be awful.

The woman drawing my blood asked how far along I am. When I told her almost 27 weeks, she told me I'm huge. Then started telling me how painful childbirth is going to be. Gee, thanks, lady. Really gets me excited about delivery.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Aches and pains

I was relaxing yesterday and all of a sudden my right leg started aching. I can't even accurately describe the pain - it was like a stabbing pain in my leg armpit and then a creeping pain in my calf. Then, my leg would go numb or just start tingling. I tried stretching, walking, massaging and nothing helped it. Finally it went away by the time I fell asleep. I thought I was out of the woods, but then I woke up in the middle of the night because I had gotten a charlie horse in the same leg! Poor leg. Needless to say, I was unable to wear heels today since it's still sore.

Tomorrow I go in for my 1 hour glucose test (yipee) and I'll post another update after that.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Pictures, as promised

Okay, so this is killing me to post these pictures when everything's not 100% how I want it. BUT I did promise I would post some, so here you go (and there are before pics so you can see all of the work we did).

Living Room (imagine a couch where the chairs are now)

Dinette (there will be a table and real chairs one day)

Formal dining room, otherwise known as our Library (We'll move the Big Kahuna [the blue recliner] to this room once we get a couch.)

Laundry and workroom (we're still working on the workroom part)

Loft area (we're planning on putting a daybed here for overflow guests)


Office (pretty much done, just need tie backs for the curtains)

Guest Room (done, thank God)


Craft Room (I want to get a drafting table for my sewing, scrapbooking and stamping. I'd also like to get some sort of drawers/organizer for Tom's guitar stuff.)


Hall Bath



Master Bedroom (We're still waiting for my bureau and the mirror for my vanity.)



Master Bath (We put in a roman shade and new medicine cabinet - all it needs is the other soap dish installed.)
I'll post pictures of the kitchen once the dishwasher and microhood are installed. And I'm definitely not posting pictures of the nursery until it's 100% complete. And we're still working on the yard (what we? I mean Tom.) so once that's done, I'll share those pictures. So, let me know what you think of the house so far.