23 Weeks

It was sad leaving Florida after 7 great days with my family and the warm weather. But it was good to be back home with Brian and Spinner. And, on my first day back we had record highs of 66 degrees. That made the transition much easier!

Spinner missed me a little bit. Here's a picture of us napping my first day home - he doesn't just snuggle with his dad.

23 Week highlights:

• Knockers: I bought my first size 36E bra! Seriously?! It was long overdue. I grew out of my D bras a few months ago, but was in denial. When I popped the wire on my last bra, I knew it was time to give in. Hopefully they won't get much bigger, even when the milk comes in.
• Sleep: I wake up every hour on the hour these days. And I am so tired all day long. I just can't get comfortable with this side sleeping business. If my hip doesn't fall asleep then my ear cramps - ever heard of ear cramps? I may be the first one to have this, but when I lay on my ear for too long it starts to cramp and ache. How it that possible - it's all cartilage. Maybe mine aren't? And if it isn't my ear or hips, it's Brian or Spinner snoring. I've spent the last 2 out of 3 nights I've been home sleeping in the guest bed room. So romantic.
• Baby G Grooves: You can definitely feel the baby move from the outside. Problem is, s/he likes to take days off and it FREAKS me out. But then, when I am ready to call the doctor, s/he is kicking all over the place. This morning, for the first time, I saw my shirt move when the baby moved!! It was so cool!

23 Week update from BabyCenter.com - click here

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Love,

Brooke, Brian, Spinner & Baby G

22 Weeks

Christmas in Florida (note tree, poolside!)

I have a plan. If Baby G never experiences a Christmas that comes with all the bitter cold, bone chilling wind and often a slushy mix of rain, ice and snow, do you think s/he will miss it? I left for Florida on Saturday - the day after a slushy, messy rain/ice/snow event and the day before a freezing rain event. On Sunday I was sitting on my folks boat, in my swimsuit, while Brian filled me in on the ice event and 17 degree weather. Are we crazy?! Why doesn't every one live in Florida (I take that back, if everyone did, it would be way to crowded, but seriously, why don't I?!) It's going to be 80 degrees here on Christmas Day. Most people would say, "that just doesn't feel like Christmas". But you know what, at least I can feel my fingers and toes. I don't mind Christmas in the heat one bit. And with this being Baby G's first "Indian Christmas" - although in utero- I think it will be one of many. My plan (while still probably "news" to Brian until he reads this) is to come to Florida every year for Christmas. Baby G can play in the slushy cold stuff before we leave and when we get home. But we'll be opening presents pool side, by the Christmas tree, in our swimming suits.

Feeling great this week. The weather helps get you off the couch! We walk every day, go boating, sit outside - - it's just great! Here's some pictures:

22 Week Belly shot
Baby G's first boat ride
Dad playing with the dolphins



Mom and grandma exhausted from all the shopping and eating.

And for some non-Florida pictures, courtesy of Brian and Spinner:

Spinner watching mom work from the ottoman and wondering when it will be play time. (A: when dad gets home.)
Brian practicing napping positions with Spinner for when the baby gets here.

22 Week BabyCenter.com update click here

21 Weeks

I'm sure this week only marks the beginning of what's to come… worrying! The past few days I had not been feeling the baby move. This just didn't sit right with me. Especially since in previous weeks the baby had been moving non-stop and we even felt s/he from the outside! I would lie for extended periods of time and just wait to feel something… and then nothing. Once or twice a day, I'd get an itty-bitty flutter, but quickly convinced myself it wasn't the baby, but something else. Then this weekend I had some occasional painful and achy cramping, it wasn't consistent, but it did put me into a slight panic and consumed my every thought. So, yesterday morning I called my doctor. While they assured me everything was probably OK, they had me come in to check. I met with the mid-wife, Katie, who was so wonderful. She could have easily told me I was overreacting. But instead, she said she would have been upset with me if I hadn't called. She said taking 5 minutes out of her schedule to put my mind at ease is one of the best parts of her job. She quickly pulled out her "Doppler" (which costs $6,800. Yes, I asked, because I am seriously considering getting one. It's cheaper than an ultra sound machine) and we listened to my baby's heart beat. She said s/he sounded perfect and that I just may not be feeling the baby as much because s/he is resting behind the placenta. Whew. What a relief, of course, accompanied by tears!

Lesson learned, I'll try to not freak myself out going forward, but I make no guarantees. In addition, I know have a better understanding of the kind of kid I'm going to have, because once we left the doctor's office, s/he didn't stop moving for the rest of the day! Seriously!? *#$@^#?!

Baby G and I are off to Florida on Saturday to spend Christmas with my folks. We are so excited and we'll provide some pictures upon our return.

21 Week (and 3 days) belly shot!
Have a very Merry Christmas!

Cravings: Key Lime Pie, Jelly Belly jelly beans, citrus fruits, water (yes, water!)

Click here for the 21 Week baby update courtesy of BabyCenter.com

20 weeks

Twenty weeks down, twenty to go! Writing that is so incredibly exciting, but so extremely scary at the same time. The last week marks a few firsts for us - I'm having such a wonderful time!

• Registering: Wow. Wow. Wow. Seriously, how does Babies R Us fit so much stuff into one store? And what is even more amazing - I convinced myself that I need every single thing! Thank goodness for Christina, my dear, dear friend and mother of the most precious little boy, Chase, who came with me to help me start my registry. Seriously, she pointed and I clicked. In about an hour and half we managed to get 140 items on the list! And, I'm not done!! It's so much more fun than registering for a wedding!


• Nursery: While my wonderful and talented folks were in town, they painted the baby's nursery. I flipped flopped on the color for a few weeks, but decided on yellow. And yellow it is. But, I love it. And, it will look even better once we get some furniture in it!
  

• Strangers: I'm really pregnant. And when I'm out, at least one person reminds me of this. For a while I thought no one would ever ask me if I was pregnant for the risk of me not being pregnant and to avoid that embarrassment. But, there's still brave souls out there - usually older women, who then like to have some kind of opinion. It makes me laugh.



• Movement: I've felt the baby move for almost 3 weeks now. But yesterday, for the first time, I could feel it from the outside! And Brian did, too! It was amazing! We watched a movie last night and when the baby started to flip and spin, I told him to keep his hand on my stomach. It took a while and the whole time he "waited" (about 3 minutes, which is an eternity to Brian), he was convinced he couldn't feel it. Then mid-sentence he said, "Oh! I felt that!" Right after the baby kicked him a "Hi, pops!"

Here's my 20 week belly shot! Pretty soon, the bottom of my shirt won't reach the top of my pants!

Cravings: Strawberry Milkshake (had one for lunch!) and Key Lime Pie (stock up, folks!)

Click here for a 20 week update courtesy of BabyCenter.com

19 weeks

Apologies for my lack of updates the last couple weeks! It was busy with the Thanksgiving holiday (which I hosted for my very first time) and with my folks and grandma in town. We had such a great time. I can't believe it is already over! Here's a few pictures from the festivities:

Spinner and Dad hadn't seen each other since May - boy did Spinner miss his grandpa!! (Not sure I can say grandpa felt the same!)

Brian helped the ladies prepare the turkey on Thanksgiving morning (that's my mom and grandma)

And finally, we feasted! The whole family got to together, including my in-laws and Danielle, Alex's girlfriend! (L to R: Henry - dad, Danielle, Alex - bro, Brian, M-I-L Sue, Donna-mom, F-I-L Skip)

Even Spinner got a "Thanksgiving treat". It was the biggest bone they had at PetSmart, and it was filled with some kind of peperoni.

Yesterday we had our 5 month check-up (19 weeks, really, but who's counting!) This included about a 40 minute, level 2 ultrasound. It was truly amazing. They could see everything, the chambers of the heart, the brain, the stomach (which was full!), the kidneys and even the blood flow from the organs to ensure they were working properly. In addition, our baby does have sex organs, but we elected not to find out what kind. All-in-all, the technician said everything looked great and was working perfect. The news made me cry, it was so great to hear. It was amazing. And to top it off, not only did Brian get to watch the show, but they also let my mom come in, too. (My folks stayed an extra couple days so mom could go to my appointment.) And the technician gave her a little print out picture of the baby's profile to take home with her. Mom says every time her and my dad look at it they think it looks like me. Will our baby have the Holzapfel "ball on the end of the nose" nose? From what we see so far, it looks like it! Here's some pictures from the ultrasound (which again, are pictures of the already blurry pictures they gave me. So I apologize if they look like a lot of nothing to you, but I promise, it's our baby.)

I have no idea how to flip these images, but this one is a profile of the baby.
This shows the baby's whole body. The head is at the top and you can see his/her hand and leg sticking up toward the right of the picture. I think s/he was kicking my bladder to get it out of the way because they made me drink so much water before the ultrasound.

As for me, I've been feeling great. Got a little sluggish over the holidays, but that was probably from being off for a week, eating turkey and just being plain lazy. My belly (some other parts!) are growing and I am feeling the little guy/gal move every day. I LOVE the way it feels!

Click here for the 19 week baby update from BabyCenter.com