Third and final trimester

Estimated Due Date: January 6, 2013

Pregnancy: 28 weeks, 5 days- THIRD Trimester!

The baby is as big as: A Chinese cabbage

Weight gain: 16.5lbs of pure baby, baby!

Baby bump: Oh yeah! The bump measured exactly 28 centimeters at our 28 week appointment on Wednesday which is right on track.

 

How am I feeling?  Quite a bit has changed since the last update at 17 weeks. I still feel fabulous with all things considered but space is starting to get a bit crowed these days. Some days I feel like I can conquer the world and other days even showering seems like an impossible mission. Heartburn has become a daily battle and Thomas’ delicious stuffed Hungarian peppers and the 5lbs of Halloween candy currently in our house don’t exactly prevent the onset of it. I could also complain about the overall aches and pains of pregnancy- the ones that have turned my youthful body into one that feels 15 times its age. But really, if you reallllly want to know how I feel… I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve bursting with overwhelming thoughts of the unknown. Sure, I feel very pregnant at times but it doesn’t for a second take away from how thankful and thrilled I am to be working towards the new best chapter of my life. As I was lying in bed last night trying to fall asleep, with 4 pillows wedged around me and a baby flipping around my belly, I couldn’t stop thinking about how unbelievably excited I am. The anticipation reminds me of the feeling I used to have on Christmas Eve as I imagined what was inside of all those carefully wrapped packages under the tree. Much like I couldn’t wait for the unveiling of Santa’s surprises, I am bursting at the seams with wonder and anticipation about all of the characteristics of the best gift ever. What will she look like? Whose nose will she have? Will she have tiny ringlets or will she rock a bowl-cut until she’s 10? Will she love Bruce Springsteen as much as her Dad? Is she going to start talking at 9 months and never stop like her Mom? My thoughts are always going about the what-ifs of her life to come and it makes me feel this amazing feeling that I’ve never felt before. And even if she hates Bruce, has straight platinum blonde hair, and doesn’t say her first word until she’s 7, I’ll still feel the same way.

What am I craving? I like to say that my uncontrollable urge to eat all kinds of starchy pumpkin flavored foods is pregnancy related but the realist in me thinks it probably has more to do with Fall in Western New York. Doughnuts, pumpkin pie, cookies, all baked goods in general, hot chocolate, cooked squashes… fall foods are amazing.

Interesting/Noteworthy events of the week:

Thomas and I got a handful of fun stats and info about Baby Chew at our 28 week appointment on Wednesday that are worth noting.

Weight: 2.6lbs. This puts her in the 33^rd percentile which is no surprise given the gene pool she’s pulling from (Sorry baby, you probably won’t be a basketball all-star!). Since she’s a tad on the small side, she’ll be monitored a little more closely to make sure she’s putting on the pounds at a steady rate.

Heart rate: 144 beats per minute, which is perfectly average.

Position: Although this can change at any minute, baby C is currently laying with her head on my right hip, her toes in my left rib cage and her tiny back pressed into my diaphragm. It explains so much about how I feel.

Abilities: Baby Chew put on quite the show for us during the ultrasound, which to our surprise was 3D! Within a span of just a few minutes we saw her blink, stick her tongue out, rub her face, and curl up to fall back asleep. There are no words in the world that can explain how absolutely amazing that was to see.

We also asked the ultrasound tech to confirm the sex for us,  just in case. 

She’s still a girl.

Aspirations

So as we get closer and closer (and it becomes more and more real) Jenna and I keep thinking of what our little girl is going to be like and who she is going to become. This blog is a combined effort of thoughts and ideas.

The third trimester just started and my beautiful partner in this big game thought we should stop talking about it and get our ideas down. Our hopes and aspirations of what we want our little cupcake to know. Lessons we hope she learns either from us or from the ridiculous world we live in.

So here we go, as we think about it and in no particular order (yet), these are the lessons we hope our baby learns:

To have a sense of humor: I'm not surprised this one came up first. Literally no one enjoys being around someone without a sense of humor. Laughing with others and at yourself is one of the most important and adult things someone can learn. It will definitely come in handy in high school or when she starts to learn about politics as well.

To Value Herself: Self respect (respect in general... which needs to be earned and deserved on each end, be tee dub) isn't necessarily the easiest thing to come by. It's often mistaken with self importance, pride, or selfishness. Knowing how to stand up for herself and how to navigate relationships with friends, family and eventually (in 25-30 years) whomever she ends up choosing to spend her life with is a incomparable skill.

That being said, she's gotta go with the flow, let things go... without letting people walk all over her.  Sometimes  you just have to let things go. They're not worth fighting with, worrying about or losing sleep over. Learning how to choose your battles without being a doormat isn't easy. Her mom and dad have helped each other a lot with this lesson, so ideally she'll have an excellent base.

Curiosity didn't kill the cat, ignorance did: Let's talk a little bit about learning to learn. We want nothing more than for our baby to drink in the world around her. We hope she asks questions, makes mistakes, learns from those mistakes, asks questions about them, reads about them, writes them down, has discussions about them with her friends, critically thinks them through, asks more questions and then smiles knowing she just learned a ton and it was awesome.

People are amazing: We've mentioned learning from people, her parents, and the world around her, but it goes both ways. We hope she contributes. Helps the world around her. Helps others learn to love each other and their world, including her own love of learning. We have been very lucky and worked very hard to be happy and healthy in our life together, so we really hope to pass that down to baby Chew... along with the value of taking care of people around her. Her friends, family, pets, and the less fortunate. (Another solid middle/high school lesson). If you can adapt to any situation... you can hang out with anyone and you will constantly be meeting new people. As we said, people are amazing.

Appreciate the outdoors: Camping, swimming, puddle jumping or generally getting dirty, we don't care. There is a lot to be learned from playing outside and we both hope she learns all of it.

Find a niche in the arts, no matter what it is: If I (her dad in this case) had three wishes, one would be musical talent of any kind. Her mommy is remarkably creative and artistic whereas her dad is mildly clever and can throw a couple sentences together from time to time. The arts are so important and so fascinating. We hope little baby Chew embraces the arts and finds something she is great at.

Easy one... we really hope she loves to read: She will learn from the world around her constantly and naturally, but if she loves to read it makes picking out those messages that much easier.

No matter what she can always count on her family.

She values her health. Eating well, sleeping well, being active, avoiding stress, stretching, smiling, laughing and hugging. They are all equally as important and lead to a happy healthy life.

Eventually, we hope she finds a good balance in life between becoming a hard worker and having a ton of fun. This will come with time and after a whole bunch of strife and hard learned life lessons, but it's so important. You can't be one thing. Depth of character, personality, vision, love, and capacity for understanding aren't rare, but they are rarely perfected. Becoming a balancing figure in her own life and in the world around her or in the lives of her friends and family won't be easy. With all the lessons we want to teach her, she has a great shot of making it happen.

Finally, we hope our little girl has an endlessly open mind and a willingness to grow and change as she learns each new lesson. Never stop. Never settle. Always strive for more. Become better than you thought you could be and when it seems like it's too hard, call your parents. Cry if you need to. Get it off your chest and walk it off. Let love in and give it right back.

The Proof is in the Pictures

Thomas and I wanted to document the growing bump
(and our love!) so we asked our amazing photographer friend at Sean Carr Photography to help us capture some moments. We got our photos back today and we are thrilled!

Here's a peek into our shoot...