Baby bump - 26 weeks

This is the last week of my second trimester - at 27 weeks I'll be officially in the third trimester! The little guy enjoys kicking me all throughout the day and night. Pretty soon I'll have to count the number of fetal movements in an hour and make sure he's sufficiently active. My eyes have been getting dry and irritated at night, but I've read that is normal.

The generic weekly email I get says he is weighing around 2 pounds and the size of 3 russet potatoes. Average length is 13-14 inches.

It still amazes me that a big ol' baby this size is swimming around inside me!

Earlier this week I preregistered downstairs at the medical facility where I work. Our situation is a little complicated since technically I am a contractor here and my insurance prefers the other facility across town. I managed to get an insurance waiver (cross your fingers that my workplace honors this & writes off the difference in cost!) and the admitting girls worked hard to make sure all my info was entered correctly. Now all we have to do is go straight to Labor & Delivery when our baby is ready to arrive.

I DO NOT want to give birth at the other place across town (although it is where I was born waaaay back in '77). The place is a baby factory - churning out at least 2x the number of babies that my workplace does. You can't labor & deliver in the same room and most of the aftercare suites require moms to share a room with another woman (and share a bathroom - yuck!) Here at my facility you labor & deliver in the same private room, and then the baby goes with you to a private recuperation room on the Mother/Baby unit. The other facility does have a higher-level NICU than we do, so if anything goes wrong I will have no choice but to admit there.

I made an appointment with a well-respected pediatrician practice on December 2nd. There are two docs and two nurse practitioners, and I will meet with each of the docs that morning to see if they are a good fit. A couple people I know use these pediatricians for their kids and one of the physicians even has a radio show on the Alaska NPR station.

Busy Sunday

Our first major snowfall arrived this weekend, specifically early Sunday morning. I usually avoid driving on the first snow day but I had made plans to meet a friend at Babies R Us. She walked me through the store and helped identify items I should (and shouldn't) register for, which was supremely helpful! She has two little boys and I really appreciated her expertise.

Afterwards I scooted home for a bit and then prepared for my first prenatal yoga class. It was a good experience - lots of mamas in the class at varying stages of pregnancy. I really worked up a sweat throughout the 90-minute session. Will probably attend next Sunday as well. I expected to feel sore afterwards but so far no pain!

Baby bump - 25 weeks

Not a lot of change this week. My doctor's office called again with an update on my Vitamin D levels - looks like they have improved quite a bit since this summer. I was previously very low and consequently was put on 1000 IU daily. Now I can go off the supplement but am thinking I may stay on since winter is coming and the sun will shine less and less everyday. It's pretty common that Alaskans have a Vitamin D deficiency.

Talked with one of the nurses at work and she thinks I may have sciatica caused by the pregnancy. Looked up the symptoms and thought, yup! Still having trouble sleeping but most of the time I get caught up on the weekends.

Looking forward to D coming home tonight. I miss him more and more during the week as the months go on. But he's lucky to be working during the winter so we will deal with this inconvenient schedule! Risha is currently back in San Jose for a quick visit but will be back on Monday, so Drift and the 4 cats (my 2 plus Risha's 2) are having a quiet week for the most part. I had dinner with friends on Tuesday and Thursday so it was nice to get out of the house. Have a great weekend everyone!

Chili recipe

I've been making this "Big Game Chili" recipe for at least a year now, maybe two. It came from the backside of a can of Bush's Chili Beans. After making a big pot the other day I came to the realization that "Big Game" does not in fact refer to bear, moose or caribou like I thought, but game as in football or basketball. Shows you where my frame of reference is! Depending on what we have in the freezer, I have used either caribou or bear - last week's pot included bear and it was delicious.

Bush's BIG GAME CHILI recipe: found here 

(I made a couple tweaks...)

• Prep: 10 Minutes
• Cook: 25 Minutes
• Total: 35 Minutes

• 1 pound lean ground beef (or any big game meat, haha!)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 (16 ounce) cans BUSH'S^® Chili Beans
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup beer or more, to taste

• Garnish:
• Chopped green onion
• Sour cream
• Shredded cheese

1. In large pan, cook beef, onion, and green pepper until meat is browned. Drain excess grease. Stir in remaining ingredients, except green onion and sour cream. Bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish with green onion, shredded cheese and dollop of sour cream.

Test results

My blood work came back and everything looks good! Iron level is 11.6 and the glucose level is 101, well under the cutoff limit of 130. Phew - I was really worried about having to possibly take the glucose tolerance test. Not fun when you are hypoglycemic and cannot fast without passing out!

24 week appointment

Short prenatal appointment today, but a long wait. They had me do the usual pee in a cup and blood pressure (131/76) and then drink a very sugary orange concoction within 5 minutes. Then it was about an hour wait before taking my blood. Hopefully everything looks normal with no sign of gestational diabetes! Baby's heartbeat was good at 146.

My belly measurement is 27-28 cm (slightly bigger than average). I'm bummed because I have also added a few more pounds than I expected - currently at a 22 lb weight gain. The whole weight thing has been really difficult for me. I love this baby and everything that goes along with helping him grow, but seeing my body morph and change (and SPREAD) is still a big adjustment. Exercise is harder now because of pain in my lower back and hips, so I'm hoping prenatal yoga will help readjust me. If this continues I'm thinking about seeing a chiropractor.

My 28 week appointment will be Tuesday, November 22nd at 1 pm. We'll have another ultrasound that day - yay!

Take this job...

I try not to complain about work too much because for the most part my job is great and really, it's better to think positive, right? Negative thoughts and energy just bring a person down. Sometimes though, it feels like my efforts are majorly under-appreciated. I learned a long time ago that you are the only one who has your best interests at heart when it comes to the workplace. The company's concern is the bottom line and that's pretty much it! My boss is great at protecting me from most of the BS that comes with this job but she can only do so much for our little department of 2.

My workplace has seen a lot of changes in the past couple years and morale is down all over the company. Sad but true. A lot of it has to do with leadership. And quite a few of us fantasize about leaving to do other things - some have already started to make that leap! I need to stick around for a while because of maternity leave and insurance issues, but a recent event has really pushed me over the edge. It's so frustrating to give your all to a company and make sacrifices, and then be taken advantage of. I'm just so over it.

Baby bump - 24 weeks

A happier topic now - our baby peanut is 24 weeks today! He kicked so hard Thursday morning that the jolt woke me from a deep sleep. Last night I couldn't fall asleep until about 2 a.m. (too many things on my mind) so I read aloud from my Kindle and he kicked/moved for quite a while. Not sure if he just wanted to be active or liked my reading skills. :-)

I have my 24-week appointment on Monday and will undergo the 1-hour glucose screening test. Hope that goes well - I have no desire to take the dreaded 3-hour glucose tolerance test if I end up failing this first one.

Haven't seen any stretch marks on the tummy yet, but have switched from vaseline to some lovely shea butter cream my mom sent in the mail. Smells good too! Things I used to take for granted - putting on socks, tying my shoes, even shaving my legs! - have become feats of strength because of the belly. Doing laundry and housework take an extra effort too. I'm going to start taking prenatal yoga classes too with a friend who is 6 weeks behind me. Should be fun.

I've officially entered the worry phase - my brain can't stop thinking about important issues like insurance, money, daycare, working vs. non-working, etc. On Monday at my appointment, the doctor's office will finally give me the packet of hospital info so I can look into preregistering, prenatal classes and pediatrician info. It will help a bit to get that stuff done and out of the way. It just seems like I've been overrun with stress and worry during this pregnancy and I hate to think what it does to the baby. Everyone says he's pretty insulated in there so I hope that's true!

Baby bump - 23 weeks

Wow, 23 weeks already. People are really starting to notice my pregnancy and rapidly expanding belly now. I miss my waist...sigh. This was a busy week and with Risha here, I've been going to bed a little later each night. Last night was rough - had round ligament pain on the lower right side of my belly and a weird throbbing pain on the left side under my ribs. Plus we had 40 mph winds come through last night and shake the whole house. I plan on sleeping in this weekend!

My 24 week appointment is scheduled for Monday, October 24th. No ultrasound, but I will have to undergo the glucose testing.

Baby bump - 22 weeks

Another health fair tomorrow, another long day. But one thing to look forward to is Risha's arrival today...yay! She'll be here in Anchorage for good. Gabe is coming up with her but just staying for the weekend - she needed another person on the plane to accompany her 2nd cat. Looking forward to seeing them both.

For those of you on belly watch - here's the latest...

The striped shirt is from Old Navy Maternity - still have lots of room to grow into it. More people at work are noticing my pregnancy, especially when I wear clothes like this. Lately I've been very thankful for the private bathroom in my office. My increased water intake and the little guy is forcing me in there every 30 minutes or so! Baby is moving around, which I usually feel while sitting at work or at night in bed. My appetite is good - still craving meat. I had lunch with a friend this week and just about devoured the entirety a HUGE hamburger. Weight gain so far is hovering around the 13-14 pound mark.

The other night Drift had a renewed interest in his toy basket and practically pulled out every item all the way to the bottom. He ate a whole bone that sat in the basket for almost a year and then carried around a few toys before depositing them around the living room. Every few minutes we'd look over to see this:

Baby bump - 21 weeks

Yikes, round ligament pain is no joke! I worked a health fair last Saturday and it was a long day on my feet: starting at 6 a.m. and ending at 1 p.m. Plus I tweaked my lower left back trying to pick up water bottles. So no more heavy lifting for me from now on. Didn't get to bed until 11:30 that night, and then when I woke on Sunday I felt a dull throbbing pain on my lower right abdomen. Google and my pregnancy books said it was round ligament pain brought on by too much activity. It's basically my belly stretching out. For 4 straight hours! Thankfully it has only struck a couple more times but with less intensity.

I finally ordered a few maternity items of clothing. Never thought I'd be so excited to get elastic-waist pants! Our little guy is starting to move a little more. Still feel the fluttering sensations but I'm pretty sure there has been some karate kicking and kickboxing too. My sleep patterns are so messed up - I wake multiple times during the night and have had the oddest dreams (which seems to be normal during pregnancy). Otherwise, things are good!

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Canoe outing

A couple weekends ago D and I drove north to take one last run at moose hunting and check out one of our favorite areas: Bonnie Lake. But first we stopped to look at the fall colors near Matanuska Glacier.

The glacier is massive!

Bonnie Lake is gorgeous - perfect for canoeing.

Standing at the west end of the lake, near the entrance to the feeder creek.

The feeder creek/swampy area.

One of two very old beaver dams on the creek - no longer inhabited.