Thanksgiving Preggos

We had quite the Thanksgiving tour this year! We started in Buffalo, MN with a good Thanksgiving meal at my aunt's house. Here's a picture of the three sisters, Amy (due Jan. 28th), Bethany (not pregnant, hence the waist), and me.


We headed south to Forest City, IA Thursday night where we crashed at Jim and Roz's house. We were resting up for the trek to Iowa City on Friday morning, where we had a wonderful "Locavore" Thanksgiving at Peter's little sister, Jessa's house. Jessa and Eric are going to be parents for the first time really soon. We usually head up to the cabin in Hayward, WI for Thanksgiving, but that would be nearly a 10 hour drive for the Mittmans, a little far to travel when childbirth could happen any moment. Jessa is due Dec. 18th, exactly 2 months before our baby. I didn't feel quite so pregnant when I stood up next to Jessa!

I think this picture says it all. OK, it was a little staged, but still...that is a baby ready to be born!


Peter and I just got back from my 28 week checkup. It was a great checkup and everything is just as it is supposed to be. Every time I go in, I have gained exactly one pound for each week it has been since my last appt. This is normal, but I still hope the weight gain slows up a bit. I'm still working out at Snap Fitness 3-4 times/week and I am eating good nutritious foods every day, so I don't think I will start "watching it." Also, in the last week my upper back pain has vanished. I was suffering with that for about 2 months and I was beginning to think it was my gallbladder. Either it was tension and my sister Beth cured me with a really good back massage, or the baby moved and released some nerves he was pinching. Suddenly, I feel the little guy up by my ribs. It was pretty startling the first time I rubbed my stomach and felt an arm (or leg?) move. Now it feels like he's romping around all over, especially at night. I've been waking up with rhythmic kicks.
"He's gonna be a soccer playa...he is...HE IS!"

Officially Starting the Third Trimester

Yes, it's official. I am getting large.
Someone at work the other day (a customer) said to me, "Wow, you must be expecting a Christmas present baby." I replied, "Uh...try Valentines Day." Someone else said (Oh wait, like 10 people) ,"When are you do?"
"February."
"You're HUGE!."
My mom reassures me that I don't look like I am nearing full term, and I trust her opinion more than some old guy. I have decided that I am in the third trimester. It is never quite clear how to calculate where I am in gestation, there are 40 weeks in pregnancy, and that somehow equals nine months which somehow also equals three trimesters. How does that work? Am I six months pregnant? Seven? In the seventh? I'm 27 weeks, so if each trimester is 13 1/2 weeks, then I am entering the third on Tuesday, or so. No, last Thursday. I've been paying so much attention to the passing of each week that I really don't know how to comprehend the idea of having the baby early, which apparently is normal to be up to 3 weeks early (37 weeks), or worse, to have the baby late, which is also normal (up to 42 weeks). What??? My due date could actually be January 28th or March 3. My sister Amy is due January 28th! What if she's late and I am early! Oh, the zany nature of procreation. I can hardly stand it. What's the point of even trying to keep track. It's apparent, anyhow, that I am bigger today than I was yesterday so I AM moving forward in time.

26 Week Checkup

OK, this ultrasound photo is from 6 weeks ago, but I thought I should include it at some point, since I just started the blog, that time is now. He is so cute.
Today I went in for my 26 week checkup with Lynn Artibee NM (Nurse Midwife). It was a successful and positive appointment. I took the glucose test which consisted of me drinking a 1/2 cup of really really sweet orange soda-esque glucose then having my blood drawn 1 hour later. The idea is to see if my blood responds correctly to sugar, if not, I need to go in for a 3 hour test that will determine whether or not I am at risk for gestational diabetes. I must have passed the test because I haven't heard anyting from the Medical Center.
Baby's heartbeat was around 155-normal. Besides these two tests we were able to ask the Nurse Midwife quite a few questions about the birth. We have been working on our birth plan and needed to know what and who we are dealing with. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the standard protocol with the N.M.s is just what we hoped. For one, they have birthing rooms equipped with aromatherapy, dimmed lights, soothing music, birthing tubs, birthing (exercise) balls along with the other stuff, like a birthing bed... They also encourage the mom to deliver the baby herself (after the head is out) so she can immediately bring the baby to her belly, then the partner is encouraged to cut the cord once the placenta is out, then they rip my gown off and I move the baby up for his first feeding. Apparently the baby is ready to feed immediately, and if he waits longer, he will already be so exhausted for the next 24 hours that it will be more difficult for him to get a good first feeding. With that first feeding under his belt the baby is more likely to be a good breast feeder throughout babyhood. It was a good appointment. Now I start going every 2 weeks to get checked out.

Democratic Offspring

Peter and I (and baby) made a trek down to Iowa last weekend for the annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner, a big political event where all the big democrats stand on a stump to woo the Iowa voters before the caucus in January. We are big-time Obama supporters, and he didn't let us down! His speech was the most rousing and original, the 42 busloads of supporters from Chicago didn't hurt either to create a very Obamaish environment. The baby was kicking like crazy during Hillary's speech. Ha Ha.

We traveled from Hutchinson to Forest City where we jumped in the car with Peter's parents, Jim and Roz. Here we are all ready for the big event. Peter and I didn't dress up all fancy-pants, we thought we were going to be in the cheap seats, but it turned out we got to use some of the floor tickets after all, oh well, we were a little underdressed but no one seemed to mind.

Below is a picture of Peter's aunt and uncle Liz and Scott Brennan. Scott is the president of the Iowa Democrats, and he was in charge of this event. It was fun to see the two of them on the stage with all the big names-Nancy Pelosi, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Biden, Dodd, Harkin, Bill Richardson... There were many speeches...we didn't leave until after midnight.

It was a difficult trip for a mama-to-be, it's become really hard to sit for long periods of time, and we spent most of the weekend in the car, sitting and chatting with family, and sitting at this event. Nevertheless, it was a great oppurtunity and I'm glad we went.

23 Weeks

Wow, I don't feel like my belly looks NEARLY as large as it feels. This is my first pregnancy, it has been an adventure so far-both for me and for Peter. Since we are organic vegetable farmers, we do a lot of manual labor, and that was not in the picture for me in the first trimester. I had morning sickness about 1/2 of the time, morning, noon, night, it didn't matter what time of the day it was, I felt like death. Now I am feeling pretty energetic (though sleep is deep and wonderful when I get the chance) and the baby is pretty energetic, too. Peter successfully felt his first kick last week, at about 24 weeks. I am feeling movement throughout the day, and especially as soon as I sit down in bed to read at night, that's when the gymnastics start. I have a feeling this kid is going to be pretty wild, every time we have had the heartbeat checked with our nurse midwife she has a hard time finding him because he's moving back and forth within the womb constantly. The same thing happened during the ultrasound. Coincidence? I think he is always like that. I attribute it to raw milk from our organic dairy farm neighbor and all the organic produce this baby is growing on. Plus, Peter is always trying to force feed me chocolate, "Chocolate makes for a happier baby," he says.