Belly pictures at 28 weeks

It has already been 4 weeks since I posted my last belly pictures. My belly measures 88 cm by now and as you can maybe see in the picture I am starting to show a linea nigra. I haven't been able to find what the use/meaning is of this line that runs from my belly button down, but it is just pigmentation.

So far my belly hasn't interfered much with my activities, but now I am starting to notice it more and more. During aerobics class last Friday I actually had a harder time with some of the exercises, and also bending over to dry of Clover's feet during the last couple of rainy days is more tricky. And Clover is testing me for it, b/c she is moving around all the time when I wipe her feet..... she mean.

Hickups

Yesterday I just happened to have my hands on my belly to try to make contact with Junior. I felt this regular but slow beat in my belly and at first was wondering if that was my heartbeat. But it was just going to slow.

Than I remembered babies can have hickups from drinking the amniotic fluid. So I just looked up how you recognise hickups, and indeed, that is what I must have felt last night. How cute!

Snow stress at 27 weeks

After a nice relaxing Easter weekend it was stressful to get into work this morning. The past couple of days have been snowy, with hail, rain etc..... all mixed in. That together with commuting turned into a mess. At the moment there is 700 km (+/-425 miles) of traffic jam in Holland!

I don't know what it is (hormones again?) but for some reason I get more mad and concerned about possible danger since I am pregnant. I did read somewhere that some women have that happening to them, they see danger everywhere, are more worried about relatives etc. This morning that clearly happened to me too. When I drove into work there was this one car passing everybody left and right at high speed during a snow storm. He just made me furious and I was swearing at him in the car out loud. Not like that helped, beside releive on my part, but I just don't want to get into an accident because of idiots like that guy. Probably the mother instinct of protecting my baby against that kind of behavior is kicking in.

6 months (week 26)

Yesterday was a rainy day and we spent most time inside, watching tv, reading etc... I was making some pictures of my belly and Sean was too at unexpected moments (notice the enthusiastic expression on my face). When looking back at the pictures I realized that not only my belly has been growing, but I have the idea that my face is round like a soccer ball! O well, this must mean that Junior is growing good. But that pregnancy glow that everybody is talking about? I don't know......

100 days to go

The pregnancy countdown shows exactly 100 days to go today! In 2 weeks I will enter my last trimester, and starting Tuesday I will move into month 7 (still don't get the weeks, versus months, versus trimesters....).

But no matter what way you look at it time is going fast!

Midwife checkup

I just got home from another checkup at the midwife. Everything continues to go very well. My BP was still great 120/75 and the baby's heartbeat still strong. The midwife was able to feel how Junior was positioned this time. Head down and with his/her back to the right side. This makes sense, b/c I already had the feeling that Jr likes to hang out on the right side, sometimes I see a big bulge on that side. But at this point in the pregnancy Jr can still move around in every direction, so not until 30 weeks (I think) the final positioning is important.

So far I have gained 7 kilo's (+/- 15 pounds) and I gained most of it in the last 3 weeks. The midwife would have guessed me 1-2 weeks more advanced if she didn't know my charts. But she told me not to worry that we will have a monster big baby. They tend to grow in spurts and probably just went through one, now it might be a little more steady for couple of weeks.

So mother and baby are still doing great!

Speaking off....

a rocking baby. Sean got Junior this Queens of the Stone Age t-shirt a couple of weeks ago at a concert.
Am I going to have to deal with 2 drum sets and 2 guitars in the house? Help!

Rocking baby

Last night Sean performed with his band - 3rd time in Vega - in their first gig. They got approached via their MySpace page to participate in this talent show and so they have been practicing a lot in the last couple of weeks. To continue to the next round they had to get as many votes as possible in the form of selling tickets. So last night me, a lot of friends from Haarlem and also colleagues went to Amsterdam for support.
They did great and even won the show by beating 5 other bands.

During the show I felt Junior chearing for his/her daddy a couple of times, so this baby is definitely going to be a rocking baby.
The band that performed after Sean's played this noise, punk, metal stuff.... they had the appropriate name of Monster. That was too much and after 5 minutes I was afraid Junior would have permanent hearing damage before even born. Poor baby I felt really guilty! So me and another friend who didn't really like the Monster music waited in the hotel lobby next door for about 15 minutes untill we all left back to Haarlem.

Once in bed Junior recovered from the Monster scare and decided to practice some of daddy's drumming moves, it kept me awake for an hour!

Babyroom update

Yesterday Sean and I did some work to the babyroom. I had recently bought fabric with my mom to make curtains and to cover some pillows. See here the result. It is a little tricky to see, but the color is greenish, very camouflage safari. Also we put up paw prints and bought a nice rug for in the room. Sean convinced me to get a nice woolly one, so it will be nice on our feet when we have to go out in the middle of the night to feed Junior.

Belly picutures at 24 weeks

Over the last week or so I have had big cramps in my lower abdomen. It seems like Junior is growing by the day now and my stomach muscles can't keep up. My belly circumference is gone up by 3 cm since last time, although it seems like a lot more to me!



Week 24 versus week 20.