Measuring Up

As I approach my due date (3 more days until Oct 31!), I thought it would be appropriate to look back over the the course of my pregnancy to remember how it has measured up.  

Health Things

- Glucose test: 103  --> I'm not really sure what it means, but I've just been telling people that I got a hundred on my glucose test.  Basically, I don't have gestational diabetes.

- Hematocrit 12 and 36 --> I don't really understand this one either, but my doctor said "looks like you're eating well" after she told me these numbers.

Baby Sizing

- 7 week ultrasound: CRL = 1.43cm or 0.56 inches
- 12 week ultrasound: CRL = 6.4cm or 2.51 inches

- 19 week ultrasound: 11 oz

Additional Milestones

- Stopped mountain biking: 12 weeks
- First PhD Qualifying Exam: 16 weeks
- Trip to the British Virgin Islands: 16.5-18 weeks
- Trip to Seattle: 20-22 weeks
- Stopped running: 22 weeks

- Started prenatal yoga: 24 weeks

- Started swimming laps: 28 weeks

- Gave in and bought a prenatal bathing suit: 30 weeks
- Started reading to the belly: 30 weeks

- Baby shower: 34 weeks

- Second PhD Qualifying Exam: 34 weeks
- Last plane trip: 35 weeks (Christine & Jody's Wedding!)
- Stopped riding my bike to work: 36 weeks
- Baby dropped! 37 weeks

SLZ Sizing
- I was sloppy about keeping track of my weight gain over time.  Somehow, it hadn't occurred to me to keep track of this stuff on my own and now it's in two different places and I have some missing data.  Sloppy.  Anyway, I've gained ~40 lbs!  They recommend you gain 25-35, so I've exceeded the recommended range of weight gain for people with normal BMI.

Here is how I've grown (through pictures) instead of the happy little graph I was planning.

~16 weeks, sailing in the BVI with Blob and his family!

~20 weeks, kayaking in Seattle with Jessica

~22 weeks, Hiking in Mt. Ranier Park

~24 weeks, with Meredith (who was just 11 weeks!)

~28 weeks

~29 weeks with AED (who was ~18 weeks! and photo-averse)

~30 weeks

~33 weeks

~35 weeks at Christine and Jody's wedding!

~35 weeks after hiking Mt. Kearsarge

~36 weeks with some similarly shaped epi-friends ( ~34 weeks and ~32 weeks)

~37 Weeks with another another soon to be hot mamma (~35 weeks)

Slz Pregnant? I had no idea.

Slz would like me to pull my weight (which is now slightly less than hers) and describe what this whole growing-a-baby experience has been like for me. Now, as Sabrina pregnant is remarkably like the rest of the US population on a better-than-average day (slightly rounder than you would expect, with an elevated fondness for ice cream) there isn’t really much to tell. She has had disappointingly few pica incidents – I have not had to hide the potting soil, the paint, or the wood glue – and apart from the occasional fourth breakfast by 10:30 a.m. she generally keeps the foraging to a dull roar.

The more entertaining aspects of Sabrina pregnant are:

• Use of the baby containment vessel as a shelf: useful for glasses of water and extra food she might want later
• Extensive discussion with the baby, which from the other room simply sounds like she’s lost the ability for an internal monologue; of course, I'd probably converse with something that was kicking the living daylights out of me from the inside, too
• Proprioception: the baby containment vessel is MUCH bigger than Sabrina thinks, and as a result gets in the way A LOT – I have learned not to attempt a side-to-side pass in the hall lest I end up a permanent part of the plasterwork
• Baby Ate My Brain: she does have a tendency to forget everything from her name on down and blame the baby, which is obviously going to be a genius

These diversions aside, Sabrina has been shockingly easy to be around for the last 38 weeks. Until about a month ago she rode her bike every day, which is more than I manage! It’s possible that our good friend Grey has been more affected by the pregnancy (lavish displays of excitement about the baby and extensive nesting).

As for us parent-type people, we’re pretty excited about the new addition. Clearly we have no idea about the terror that is about to be unleashed on our lives, but maybe knowing you’re not ready is preferable to thinking you are!