Belly Diaries – Week 28 July 31, 2009

Your pregnancy: 28 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby’s growing:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She’s also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

See what your baby looks like this week. (Or see what fraternal twins look like in the womb this week.)

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby’s development.

How your life’s changing:

You’re in the home stretch! The third and final trimester starts this week. If you’re like most women, you’ll gain about 11 pounds this trimester.

At this point, you’ll likely visit your doctor or midwife every two weeks. Then, at 36 weeks, you’ll switch to weekly visits. Depending on your risk factors, your practitioner may recommend repeating blood tests for HIV and syphilis now, as well as doing cultures for chlamydia and gonorrhea, to be certain of your status before delivery. Also, if your glucose screening test result was high and you haven’t yet had follow-up testing, you’ll soon be given the 3-hour glucose tolerance test. And if the blood work done at your first prenatal visit showed that you’re Rh negative, you’ll get an injection of Rh immunoglobulin to prevent your body from developing antibodies that could attack your baby’s blood. (If your baby is Rh positive, you’ll receive another shot of Rh immunoglobulin after you give birth.)

Around this time, some women feel an unpleasant “creepy-crawly” sensation in their lower legs and an irresistible urge to move them while trying to relax or sleep. If this sensation is at least temporarily relieved when you move, you may have what’s known as restless legs syndrome (RLS). No one knows for sure what causes RLS, but it’s relatively common among expectant mothers. Try stretching or massaging your legs, and cut down on caffeine, which can make the symptoms worse. Ask your caregiver if you should try iron supplements, which can sometimes relieve RLS.

Card of the Day:

Ok, so I am counting 6 envelopes to be the same as one card. Trying to finish up some of these projects I have laying around. This is a set of 6 cards, two of each style.

Black and White Flowers (set of 6)

My ‘Bazaar’ Goal July 30, 2009

Remember when I told you about the Oakwood Bazaar? Did all you shoppers put it on your calendars yet? Have you vendors sent in your applications yet? If you need more information remember you can go to www.oakwoodbazaar.com.

So I’m sure you’ve guessed I’ll be doing a table there. I have gone back and forth about whether or not I will be including hand made cards in with my stuff. Final verdict = YES.

In order to have enough stock without feeling suddenly overwhelmed a week before the show I have set a goal for myself. I will make one card every day for the next two months. To help hold me accountable for that I am going to add a picture of the card I made to the end of my blog post every day.

Hopefully this will help me with a couple of things. First of all, I will have 60 or so cards ready for sale and secondly I will dramatically improve in my style an creativity! So gear up and get ready. Here come some handmade cards!

To start out I finished up a card set that I started last weekend. I know it’s a little early to start thinking about the holidays but a girl has to be prepared!

(maybe my photography skills will improve too! haha. today’s excuse is that my camera ran out of batteries and the new ones are in the room with a napping child.)

Christmas Snowflake (set of 5)

It’s Time July 29, 2009

Andrew left early Sunday morning with a group from chuch to do some mission work in Puerto Rico. I’m always sad when he is gone for any amount of time but am glad that he has the opportunity to go and be a part of so many things. Whenever he is leaving I always receive so many offers for help with the kids/house/whatever I might need. I am always so thankful for everyone’s concern but usually we get by just fine.

This week I had an especially large amount of offers for help. I’m sure that had a lot to do with the fact that Andrew has half the church’s youth group with him! We are very blessed to be a part of a wonderful church community that you can count on in any situation. And for some reason, I had a feeling I might need it this week.

So, Andrew left Sunday. The kids and I went to church, did a few things and then drove to Albert Lea, picked up two of my sisters and brought them home to stay with us for the week. Monday morning when I downstairs to watch the kids my feet squish squashed accross the carpet. This was not good.

Long story short. My water heater broke and it was not pretty. Monday consisted of me running upstairs, downstairs, cleaning up water, making phone calls…. and repeat. After a visit from a good friend confirmed the need for a new water heater two men from our church came to my rescue. They went to the store and picked one up, brought it over and installed it, pulled up my carpet, removed the padding underneath and got some fans going. Praise the Lord!

You can imagine all the wet towels I had from this fiasco right? So Monday night I put a load in the wash. Tuesday I put load one in the dryer and load two in the wash. Go to put load two in the dryer and guess what? Dryer is not working!

Don’t you think it is time for Andrew to come home?

Really though, I can not be more thankful. My sisters are here to help me and watch the kids when I’m getting things figured out. Friends come over and check on me, replace water heaters, bring over dehumidifiers, give hugs, come back over to fix dryers….

Top Things You Should Not Say To A Pregnant Woman July 27, 2009

Just in case you were wondering, these are a few pointers on some of the things you should not say to someone who is pregnant.

1. Wow! You sure look pregnant.

2. You’re nothing like your mom are you? You couldn’t even tell she was pregnant until she was 8 months along.

3. You sure have gotten big since the last time I saw you.

4. Yup, I can tell you’re pregnant now.

5. Are you having twins?

Belly Diaries – Week 27 July 26, 2009

Your pregnancy: 27 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby’s growing:

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.

See what your baby looks like this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby’s development.

How your life’s changing:

The second trimester is drawing to a close, but as your body gears up for the final lap, you may start noticing some new symptoms. Along with an aching back, for example, you may find that your leg muscles cramp up now and then. They’re carrying extra weight, after all, and your expanding uterus is putting pressure on the veins that return blood from your legs to your heart as well as on the nerves leading from your trunk to your legs. Unfortunately, the cramps may get worse as your pregnancy progresses. Leg cramps are more common at night but can also happen during the day. When a cramp strikes, stretching the calf muscle should give you some relief. Straighten your leg and then gently flex your toes back toward your shin. Walking for a few minutes or massaging your calf sometimes helps, too.

It may be the furthest thing from your mind right now, but it’s not too soon to think about family planning. You’ll want to have made some decisions about postpartum birth control before your baby arrives. If you’re considering a tubal ligation, be aware that most states require you to sign a consent form at least 30 days beforehand. So if you’d like the option of having the surgery during your postpartum hospital stay, don’t wait too much longer to discuss it with your caregiver. (You can still change your mind later.)

(from babycenter.com)