THIRD (and final) TRIMESTER

Welcome to the 3rd trimester! It seemed like this portion of my pregnancy would never get here...but it's here, it's finally here! There hasn't been a ton of change since last week, but I figured I'd go ahead and update the blog (even if the only people reading are my sister-in-law and mother-in-law) haha!

Looking back on pregnancy thus far, I have been incredibly lucky. I have felt great almost the entire time, have had very little stress over baby stuff and pregnancy in general, have had an amazing husband who has complied with all of my (obsessive compulsive) requests to get "baby things" done around the house, very supportive and excited friends & family, and I have never had to take a day off from work because of any pregnancy symptoms...

And have I mentioned that two of my best friends are also pregnant?!?! Seriously, I couldn't have asked for two better friends to navigate through pregnancy with. (It also doesn't hurt to have 2 other party poopers around who can't drink wine either!) Lucky I am!

Anyways, at 27 weeks, Remy is about the size of a head of cauliflower. She is around 13.6 to 14.8 inches and 1.5 to 2.5 pounds. She is still practicing inhaling and exhaling and is officially showing brain activity! I am starting to figure out her schedule a little bit too. She likes to bounce around after I eat and moves the most at night when I lay down to go to bed...particularly if I lay on my right side (even though the books say to lay on your left to get her to move) I usually wake up a few hours later (to pee) and because she starting moving around again...alot! Her kicks are getting harder, although they don't seem much higher than they were last week. I'm still crossing my fingers that she is moving her way up a little by my next appointment (which is next week already). Taking stairs is getting more and more painful by the day, because of my hips; otherwise, I am still getting around pretty comfortably. I also learned my lesson about standing in heels for extended periods of time. Ouch.

I am getting really excited about our baby shower coming up in February, which Julie, Kinsey & Lindsey are throwing for us! It gives me something to look forward to and also a reason to ease up on the baby shopping! :) I am out of control. We are heading to Kansas City this weekend to see our sisters, their families, and our friends...so I'm sure there will be just a little more shopping in my near future - and then I'll stop until the baby shower, I promise!

We went to another child birth class this week and this one was intense. I actually started to feel nauseous and if the look on Bryant's face means anything, he wasn't feeling very good either. It was terrifying...seriously, terrifying. I know that I said before that maybe knowledge would take the edge off of the fear, but HOLY COW! Now I just know more things to be scared of. Although I don't think it helped that the videos they showed us were of un-medicated women. Why would you do that to yourself? Really, why? We have one more labor class, which is when we get to tour the labor & maternity ward. After that we are going to go to the caring for newborns class. I am really looking forward to that one - it can't be as scary as the labor classes! :)

Until next week,

The Muirs

26 Weeks

We are in the 26th week and time seems to have suddenly stopped! I don't know why but I feel farther from the finish line than I did at 20 weeks. Obviously I am getting closer, but it just seems like everything slowed down recently. I am still feeling pretty good, with the exception of my hips. Because of my achy hips, I think I have already picked up the pregnancy waddle...not pretty. While my belly is getting bigger all the time it still doesn't seem huge and my clothes all fit comfortably. I am trying to enjoy what may be my last few weeks of comfort!

In baby news, Remy is still the size of an eggplant this week and has pretty much the same stats as last week. This week her eyes are forming and she may start to open them soon. She also has eyelashes at this point! (Which I'm sure she will use in the future to get whatever she wants from her dad!) My books and websites also tell me that she is practicing taking breaths...of amniotic fluid. Sounds awful. She is as active as ever and Bryant was finally able to really feel her kick hard yesterday (1/15/12). I think she is starting to move up, as I'm feeling kicks a little higher than previously...WOOOHOOO! :)

Here is a bump picture at Week 26. I am terrible at taking/posting these pictures...but for good reason. 1) I hate comparing the size of my bump to other people's bumps...depressing 2) It is nearly impossible to get a decent picture in any mirror in my house (they are all either too high, room is too dark, etc.) 3) Bryant does not have the patience required to take an acceptable picture (by my standards), so I have to take self-portraits...not easy, and finally 4) I'm lazy and forgetful! :) Anyways, I am averaging one picture ever 3 weeks.

I ordered Remy's baby book and it is A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E. Now that I have her actual book, I am considering forgoing the blogging and just starting to journal in her actual baby book. Bryant & I were talking about this the other day...is there anybody out there that reads this? Would my blog entries be missed? If you are in fact out there, post a comment & let me know! :)

25 Weeks

At 25 weeks Remy Elise is the size of an eggplant. This probably tells you how much I hang out in the kitchen, but I have no idea what an eggplant looks like. I know what color "eggplant" is because I bought a shirt in that color, but I don't know that I've seen an eggplant in real life. :)

Anyways, our little eggplant is somewhere between 13.6 and 14.8 inches long and is between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds. Getting bigger and bigger everyday. Baby info tells me that she now knows up from down and has a sense of equilibrium. She is also getting more fat and hair everyday.

I have actually started sleeping better the past week or so. I am trying to avoid taking any evening naps after work so that by bedtime I am exhausted and sleep better...seems to be working. I also figured out that the expensive pregnancy pillows don't really work for me. I actually just prefer to use a regular old pillow between my knees - REALLY helps my hips!

On Monday night we started our child birth class. Scary stuff. Hopefully knowing what to expect in the delivery room will take the edge off of being scared. (Although I think that after the first class Bryant is more terrified than ever!) At the end of the class we went over massage technique - awesome and practiced breathing. We have 3 more birthing classes, one breastfeeding class and a newborn class.

Until next week,

The Muirs (all 4 of us)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Can you believe it's 2012?!?!


2011 was a great year, I graduated from law school, we moved back to our hometown, I passed the BAR, we both started new (and better) jobs, we began the expansion of our family, and spent many hours with our family and friends! Our little family is in a great place right now and we couldn't be happier. We have loved every minute of living in Stockton and know that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. Neither of us really made any "resolutions" but we both have goals that we want to accomplish this year...obviously one of the main goals is getting Remy here safely and then keeping her that way! :) We both have goals for our careers and for our personal lives as well. Becoming healthier is a goal that we are aware of now more than ever. We both want to be active parents and know that it's important to get back to a healthy and active lifestyle so we can keep up with our baby girl. We also want her to learn healthy habits and know that we can't expect her to form those without having those habits ourselves.

I had my 24 week appointment with Dr. Hodny on Tuesday. He said that everything looks great and I am measuring PERFECT! Great news! :) I got to listen to her heartbeat again, which was 157. She is definitely consistent. While we were listening to her heartbeat we kept hearing another weird noise and I could feel alot of movement - turns out she was hiccuping! After finding out that it was hiccups that I was feeling, I realized that she hiccups all.the.time. Poor girl! Here I thought she just never slept, but turns out it's not "movement" but hiccups that I feel all day and night. Although, her movements are getting stronger and stronger everyday - she is quite the kicker.

During the appointment I talked to him about how low she is and how much pressure I'm feeling. He did some measuring and said that she is in fact VERY low and that there's not much room for her in my short torso to move up. He isn't worried about it at this time, but said that if she's still that low at 30 weeks (when she is heavier) we may need to increase the frequency of my appointments. He also wants me to keep an eye out for any amniotic fluid that may leak. Gross. Hopefully she will just move her way up and we won't have to worry about it. Keep your fingers crossed!

My next appointment is scheduled for January 31st, when I will be 28 weeks. They sent me home with the special drink for the Glucose test, so I will be doing that next time as well.

On Thursday night I had some spotting. I called Dr. Hodny's office right away and the on-call doctor told me to go ahead and go to Labor & Delivery to get checked out. Scary! It was our first time in that section of the hospital and we were both pretty nervous about what was going on. They did a Fetal Fibronectin test, which checks to see if I'm at risk of having the baby preterm - the test was negative - GOOD THING! They also checked to make sure my cervix was closed - which it was - GOOD THING! (This is something Dr. Hodny was concerned about happening at the 30 week mark because of how low she is.) They also monitored her heart rate the entire time we were there, which was also steady and consistent - GOOD THING! She moved the entire time, reassuring us that she was just fine, which was much appreciated by both of us. Finally after a few hours of anxiously awaiting some news, the nurse said everything looked good and we could go home. No explanation for the spotting, but they didn't seem concerned. WHEW!

Remy, you are already making us a nervous mess and you're not even here yet! Please hang out for a few more months and cook. Even though we can't wait to meet you, we're not ready for you just yet... :)

In 24 weeks news, Remy is about the same size she was last week and is still being compared to a papaya. Not a whole lot of internal stuff going on right now, but it sounds like her skin is getting more opaque and is putting off a pink glow. :)

Happy New Year,

The Muirs