Week 39

Bartok is moving quite a bit! It's weird - I can feel his fingers. But also exciting! He has fingers!! :) I was talking to a friend of mine who wants to be a doula (See Week __ to find out what that is) and she asked if he was head down and if his body was on my left side. I know he's head down because the doctor checks but I had to think about the baby on the left side thing. Turns out that only my right ribcage has been kicked for a while now. I can't remember any appendages sticking out of the left side of my baby bump... but I can remember several on the right side! So I guess he's on my left and that means ready for take-off! Other than that, not a whole lot of progress. On Monday, the doctor said it's softer and I'm still at 1 cm. I have another appointment this coming Monday - which is the due date!! I'm hoping we won't have to go to the appointment because we'll already have a baby in our arms by then. I went for a jog yesterday (doctor's orders... kind of...*) and this morning I measured the belly (which isn't an exact science - so don't get too excited) and I think the baby dropped because I was 43 inches around at the button and now I'm only 41!! Also, last night in bed there was some serious moving inside - so much moving that the baby was actually moving me! *"Doctor's orders" means that there's a family doctor in our shepherding group and he advised his wife to "jog around a cornfield" at the end of her pregnancy and she went into labor that night. Later, as we were discussing some prayer requests, he jokingly said about 2 different requests that those people we were praying for should try going to a jazz bar to relax and enjoy some music. He casually added on that I shouldn't go into the smoky jazz bar, but that I should go for a jog around it. (We were praying for me and the baby along with the other requests.) He's a funny guy - and he's a real doctor. So I jogged. Next on the list of things to try: Walking and eating Japanese. We have friends who ate Japanese on their due date and went to the hospital that night. Apparently they met a few other couples at the restaurant who had done the same thing in past years. So Japanese Steakhouse, here we come! Maybe afterward we could all go for a jog on full bellies.

Week 37

Monday we went to the hospital to meet the doulas. A doula is a woman helper trained to help women through childbirth. We're getting one! I'm so excited! A doula does not have special degrees like nurses and doctors and really only know about the birthing process and a little about breastfeeding. They help mom get into the best positions during labor and if the baby needs help turning, they know how to do that. There is a decreased rate of unplanned C-Sections, the use of an epidural, and labor time associated with the use of a doula. They have all kinds of distractors (like cold packs and hot packs and massage techniques) so that mom doesn't think so much about the pain. They tell dad how to help more if he wants input. They translate machine beeps and doctor talk into regular English. They give advice on what to do if there's a problem - even if their advice opposes the doctor's. They make sure that mom and dad are well taken care of and that mom and baby have figured out the breastfeeding stuff. And one doula stays with you the whole time - unlike nurses and doctors who may have to leave if their shift ends during your labor. What could be coola than a doula when I'm in labor?

Week 36

This week we celebrated Halloween! I went to a friend's house (Darlene) who is an artist and had her make me a costume. Isn't it awesome?!?! She spent almost the whole day on it! I hope that it gets used again, either by me or whoever is pregnant next Halloween. So if you're hoping for a baby bump in October 2009, keep this costume in mind! You can borrow it for free!
We were ready for lots of trick-or-treaters but we only got 12. And more than 12 kids live in our neighborhood! And 2 sets of 3 kids showed up in minivans (which makes me think they don't live in our neighborhood since it is walkable). Sooooo we have tons of Halloween candy left! Darn.

I have ONE more month of being pregnant! I can't believe it!! 4 weeks! (Unless he's late... then more like 5 or 6...) We're kind of ready. I mean, we have everything we need to bring him home from the hospital but there are a few things I'd like to do before he comes home. Like finish the nursery and maybe decorate for Christmas (depending on when he comes). I'm really excited about next week because we get to dog sit Cleggan!! I can't wait to have a dog! And a great dog, at that! He's house trained and he talks. Of course, his talking sounds kind of like Dory talking Whale in Finding Nemo. But it's still talking!

According to my Bartok growth and development site, his "primary" and "most important job" is to put on weight. Don't you wish you were him? Me too. He's more than 17 inches long and weighs around 6 lbs. I guess if we only weighed 6 lbs then it would be our job to chunk it on. As it is, it's our job to not chunk it on. But that won't stop me from eating that leftover Halloween candy!! Maybe I should try exercising a little to balance things. We'll see.

Week 35

Exciting news on the OB front!! The baby is head down!! Yay! That means that if I were to go into labor, he'd be ready to come out the right way and therefore there's less of a chance of a need for a C section. Woo hooo!! I have to keep reminding myself that this does NOT mean that he's ready to come out. And he shouldn't yet. The due date is Nov 24th but it's really plus/minus 2 weeks. So he needs to stay for another 2 weeks before he takes his first deep breath and lets out a quality cry. (I read that the end of the pregnancy is prime lung development time.) I am selling books through Usborne and I really like the rewards system they have for schools - the school gets free books based on what the kids' parents buy. Unfortunately, I don't have any school bookfairs planned yet but today I sold books at a Fall Craft Fair in a church. It went alright, I guess. I ended up making a little but I'm still in the hole from the first investment. My goal is to earn at least what I invested. I would love for this to become a side income for our family but I'm not sure how to make that happen in a way that I would enjoy. I do feel good about sending out the website - especially since there are some really good deals on there. If you're interested, here's the site: www.ubah.com/x2470 They have some really cute books and they have several different Bible-based books for kids. All the books are high quality and they have some fun activities, too. So if you want to buy some kids books (Christmas is coming!) check out the link. If not, don't!

Bartok is now 18 inches long and weighs 6 lbs!! So I'm not "40 lbs overweight" as Shamus says... I'm 34 lbs overweight! Yay! Bartok also has kidneys now. And he's producing waste. I guess he's getting warmed up for the changing table! I was thinking about putting something by the changing table that would make people want to change diapers. Maybe we'll post the funnies on the wall above it each week. Or I could put some candy on the shelf underneath. His movements are also different now. Instead of pitter pattering from the inside of my belly, it's more like an ocean wave of large rocks, except that it doesn't hurt. But if I had to describe it, that's what I would compare it to. I guess he's just rolling around a little in there and there's not really room to do a full punch or kick.

Week 34

Last Saturday our church had a baby shower for me! It was really fun to see everyone and celebrate with them. I had a few students from my English as a Second Language class
Last weekend we bought a crib!! We were talking to some people at church and they asked if the nursery is ready and we said not quite. They said they were trying to get rid of a crib so Shamus and Jim went to pick it up on Sunday and we put it together! Yay! Now we just need to get those pink dressers painted white and moved in there.
This week we went to a new shepherding group through church because the other one is so far and the new one is so close. I've been praying about finding a mentor since the ladies' retreat and it turns out that 3 of the ladies I met at the retreat are in this shepherding group! Maybe God is setting up his answer to my prayers. :) One great thing about the new group (for now) is that it meets every other week and our old group meets every week. So we can go to both! I'm not sure how well we'll do going to both after we have a baby. But I just can't see leaving the other group for good! I'm sure someday we'll have to because of the distance and because of our desire to lead our own shepherding group... but I'm really going to miss our time with the other group. Hopefully we'll continue to see each other at church and at Bible studies. Right now I'm doing the church ladies bible study on Carolyn Mahaney's Feminine Appeal which is about Titus 2:3-5: "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." We're spending one week on each characteristic to strive for. I've read this book before but our ladies Bible study teacher does a lot of extra research and adds to Carolyn's teachings in such a way that I feel like this is my first time through. I highly recommend this book! It continually reminds you of your high calling as a wife and mother and how by God's grace you can do all of the things listed in the verse. Today was a big day in the life of a pregnant woman: We went to our birthing class! All day we were at the hospital learning about labor and delivery. We watched videos (everything from Bill Cosby's stand up to a c-section to a natural delivery) and discussed. We practiced breathing and different positions... but only for the part of labor that you're at home. I've read about the other breathing (the hee-hee-hee-hoo stuff) and that it's for when you want to push but the doctor wants you to wait. The teacher had our husbands massage our feet, backs, necks, arms, and hands and then made us tell our husbands how to improve. It was wonderful! I think Shamus enjoyed it overall, too. The only downer was that it was only one day so we didn't really get to meet anyone and make friends like so many other couples do through birthing classes. One thing that was really weird was that the teacher told us she usually has classes where about 90% of people are having the same gender baby. Our class was boys. There were 2 couples who didn't find out the gender and only 1 expecting a girl. Out of about 18 couples!! After the class, I have mixed feelings about labor. Part of me doesn't want to go through that so I started telling the baby he can just stay in there. But a bigger part of me wants to meet this little person and take care of him and watch him grow. Hopefully the whole "I don't want to give birth" thing will go away before it's time. I'll be praying about that.
This week, Bartok is just chunking it on. He's getting fatter. With fatter arms and legs comes more intense punches and kicks! So I'm betting that if my baby is fatter than yours then he can beat yours up. But we'd rather they be friends so I guess we'll never know!

Week 33

Last weekend was fabulous! Shamus dropped me off at Amanda's baby shower where I got to catch up with some friends from high school. Many of them are teachers and they like their jobs! It sounded like they are all at great schools. Also, one of my high school friends is engaged! How exciting!! We had a lot of fun playing games and catching up and goofing off.

After the shower, I headed to Robby's new house where we got a tour and Shamus helped him prepare for company tomorrow. He's having the guys in the family over to his house while the girls have a baby shower at my parents' house. We then headed to Shamus's old house to see how it's changed and then to my parents'. My friend Ari came to GA to go to my baby shower and to celebrate my birthday and we celebrated her's too! (Hers is in Sept) We blew out candles together and exchanged gifts - she got me a t-shirt (for after the pregnancy) that says "Alguien que me quiero mucho me trajo esta playera de Michoacan, Mexico". I love it!! My parents got me a great gift, too: Break from cooking dinner!! As you can see, we own a grill now! Can't wait to eat some yummy charred meat! And Shamus is also happy about this gift, as you can see.

There was an Amigos for Christ Festival in Suwanee that Ari, mom and I went to where we heard Caedmon's Call play. They sing "There is a reason" and "The Hands of the Potter". It was really nice to sit and enjoy some good Christian music and be surrounded by other people doing the same thing. We had fun people-watching, too - we saw a bunch of cute babies and little kids and lots of the kids were dancing like they were the only ones on earth.

On Sunday we went to my parents' church where we heard a great sermon about living in uncertain times ("Uncertainty Part 1") and clinging to God through those times. It was really great to go to church with my parents.

After church, it was time to get ready for the baby shower and then to celebrate JAC V!! Mom's friend Karen came over to help set up and she brought some plants for me from her garden that I plan to put near the mailbox. I need to make sure that now is a good time to plant them, though! I also went through a bunch of boxes in my parents' garage and picked out the stuff I want... I came back with a box of Halloween decorations and costumes, dolls from my childhood, and some baby and babydoll clothes among other things.

After we packed the car, it was time to party! The Culpepper side of the family and some GA friends came over to touch the baby bump, tell their labor stories, celebrate JAC V and catch up. It was great to see everyone and to hear their stories and to be encouraged by their excitement about a new baby. My favorite moment of the baby shower was when my cousin Katy was touching my belly and I directed her hand to where the baby was moving. Her reaction was something like, "gewwwull". Apparently it grossed her out a little. But she did recover quickly and say that it was cool... but also weird.

Pictures from the baby shower

Bartok is now at 17 inches long and weighs a whopping 5 lbs! His big plan: get chunky, then get out. Sounds like fun to me! Pass the cheesey poofs!

Week 32

Well this has been a really great week! Probably because it's my birthday week (and weekend)!!! I don't know about everyone else, but in our families, the celebration usually lasts about a week because we think birthdays are that important!! (Actually, it usually has more to do with people's schedules and when we can celebrate with whom... but we'll say it's because birthdays are IMPORTANT!)

I woke up on my birthday and had no plans for the day and no car to go anywhere. I thought it was going to be a pretty boring day so I slept in for a while so that it wouldn't feel like a whole day had gone by before Shamus got home. I was hoping for more like half a day.

BUT, when I did wake up, there was a sticky note announcing "Karen's Super Birthday Hunt 2008"!! I had to find sticky notes according to clues on previous sticky notes to try to find a birthday surprise. My favorite part of the birthday hunt was that Shamus sent me to the bathroom twice because "it's a pregnant lady game". :) I found my surprise: a bunch of yummy muffins for breakfast - and one of them with frosting! I spent the rest of the day doing whatever I felt like doing (mostly watching Harry Potter and reading) and talking to friends and family on the phone. When Shamus got home from work he had another birthday surprise for me: a Bartok t-shirt!!

Then, he made me pancakes for dinner (one of my favorites!) and I blew out a candle in my pancakes! (It's a type of cake.) (But I don't recommend it unless you like cold pancakes. I ended up with half of a birthday candle melted into my pancakes and couldn't eat that chunk. It was waxy.)

Tonight we're going out to eat with Jim and Judy to celebrate my birthday, then we're going to GA to celebrate some more with my family and a few friends there. We've also got some baby showers to go to (a friend's and one for me!) and plans to hang out with family. I'm so glad I was born!!! And I'm so excited to have so many wonderful people in my life!!

Bartok update: He's 16.5 inches long and he weighs over 4 pounds!! I guess he's pretty worn out from all the growing and kickboxing because apparently he sleeps about 90% of the day now. So that's where they get the saying "sleeps like a baby". Because apparently they don't do that much sleeping through loud noises and such once they're out of the womb. His skin is ironing itself out with layers of baby fat and he's getting more hair on his head this week so he looks more and more like the Gerber baby (and less and less like a lizard, I guess). Ask Bill Cosby about the lizard thing. Bartok is also going to try to get head down for exit pretty soon! We're praying that he'll get in the right position (head down, sunny side down) for delivery because that makes things move along better. 8 (to 10) more weeks till we're PARENTS!! I can't believe it!!