To Baby Vincent

We came home last night to a package marked:

Baby Vincent
c/o Michael & Jennifer Vincent

Woohoo! Our baby got her first piece of mail! And her first Christmas present!

And since we're on the topic of Baby Vincent, I might as well add that Michael and I discussed baby names again last night (over butternut squash ravioli... Mmmm!) and I have exciting news to share! No, no, we didn't pick a name yet. Or even two for that matter. The exciting news is that we agree on our top two girl names!* Yay! Yay! Please, no applause. Just send money.

It's too bad that we can't just combine the two names and have a full name picked out, though. They just don't sound good together. Oh well. It's at least one step further!


* I think we also agree on our favorite boy names as well, but they're more difficult than the girls. It's so much easier to find girl names to get excited about and love. Boys are so hard to name!!! We have a few that we like, but nothing that jumps out of us like the girl names. This baby-naming process is ha-ard!

Is it hot in here or is that just me?

It must just be me.

Damn! These hot flashes suck! I don't know whether to blame it on the weather (an insanely warm 70 degrees a week before Christmas??) or the pregnancy but all I can say is that I'm grateful that I'm not going to be pregnant during the summer months! Ugh!

Tummy Tummy Tummy (22 weeks)

It's picture time again!

It's hard to believe that I'm half way through my pregnancy when this was taken (at 20 weeks)! The time has gone by so dang quickly!

As time goes on, I get more and more excited about these pictures because I'm anxious to see the entire progression. I really haven't looked at all my tummy pictures together yet, and I think it will be really fun to do.

Remember when I mentioned that line on my tummy? You know, the line that every big pregnant tummy has? If you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll surely notice it next time you see a big pregnant tummy and you'll think "Oh, that line!" Anyway, here it is. I still think it's weird weird to have a straight line going all the way down my tummy. All the way down.

Here I am at 22 weeks. I'm starting to get chubbier. In fact, my midwife says that I'm gaining a little more than average (by 3 pounds), which of course is not what I wanted to hear! =)

And apparently my ass has grown too! That must have been in the fine red letters because I know I didn't sign up for that part of the deal! Tell me the truth... does this baby make my butt look too big? Michael says it needs to grow to act as a counter-balance for the baby. My response was to stick my tongue out at him and walk away. Maybe I should reconsider being excited to see the progression all at once!

Life Is Precious

Things have been pretty stressful for a lot of people at work lately. We have some major deadlines coming up (New Year's Eve), so everyone has been running around like crazy trying to get stuff done. Then, after the deadline, we don't have a moment to relax because while everyone is so busy working, they are simultaneously falling behind for the next deadline. It's a vicious cycle, really. But the end result will be more than worth the effort because it's going to change so many people's lives. Big time.

This week started off on a very bad note when we found out that a coworker committed suicide over the weekend. Without going into too many details, it has taken everyone by surprise, as such a thing probably almost always does. Being my emotional pregnant self, I had a difficult time Monday and Tuesday. However, I called many of my closest friends and family to tell them I loved them and that helped.*

Now onto the happier, pregnant side of the story... I do not know if I am just imagining it or not, maybe the timing is just coincidental, but it seems like my baby took that sad moment as an opportunity to remind me that life is precious. It seems that since Monday the baby has been super-active. If I sit down and pay attention, I can usually feel him kick at least once every few minutes. I love it!

This, combined with the fact that I've started my scrapbook by making a family tree, has resulted in me thinking a lot about my grandparents. I can't help but wish all the grandparents could be around to meet their new great-grandchild**, but I suppose that's how the circle of life works.


* If I didn't call you, please don't take it personally. I'm sure that if you're reading this blog, I love you very much and appreciate having you in my life. =)

** I am, however, extremely excited for the remaining grandparents to meet Baby Vincent. I can't wait to take those pictures!

Latest Thumping News

Sorry for the silence this week, but apparently my work has decided to block blogspot on random occasions. Today is the first time I've been able to log in. "Why don't you log in from home?" you might ask, to which I'd respond with "Because."

But an update... Tuesday we went to the doctor again. It was the first appointment since our ultrasound. The midwife reaffirmed that everything looked normal for the baby, so yay! Then she measured my uterus and listened to the baby's heartbeat. Apparently the baby was doing acrobats in my tummy because it was difficult to hear anything other than kicks and such, so that was fun.

Baby Statistics (as of December 12):
Weight = 36 percentile (small baby, but still in normal range)*
Heart rate = 160 bpm
Uterus = 22 cm (just above my belly button)**


* As long as it's still in normal range, I'm completely supportive of a small baby! I still haven't completely accepted my role towards the end of the pregnancy.

** I'm still not quite sure what this means. All I know is that they measure where my uterus is and that helps them determine how my progress is going. From a more personal perspective, I have noticed that the bump on my belly is slowly moving upward. Apparently 22cm upward. =)

Today's Random Pregnant Knowledge

Today's random piece of information I learned about pregnancy -

I have issues with the doors on the bathroom stalls. In the last week, I must have hit my tummy half a dozen times while opening the door to get out! Apparently I need to learn that a tummy takes up more space than a non-tummy. Either that, or I need to learn that when in tight spaces, I should open doors much more slowly.

It Just Will Not Do

I started writing a post this morning that, sadly, I can not finish for quite sometime (I'm not-so-patientily waiting for pictures). However, in starting to write it, I quickly realized that something has to be done about this "he", "she" and "it" nonsense when talking about my baby.

Since I do not know the gender, and I am getting further along in the pregnancy, I hesitate in writing "he" or "she". I do not want one of my readers (I love that I have readers!) to see something on my blog and then run off telling everyone "It's a boy!" or "She found out it's a girl!" when indeed I have done no such thing.

On the other hand, I refuse to call my baby "it" just to keep the crazyness to a minimum. "It" is so dang impersonal!

The solution? I'm going to follow the examples I've seen in my Baby-gami* and Baby Sign Language books. The author always uses "he" or "she" when talking about the baby and just assumes that the reader is smart enough to make the mental change to apply to their own baby as necessary. So, let it be known that from this moment on I will refer to my baby as "he" at times and as "she" at times. No jumping to conclusions without my permission**!


* Baby-gami: The art of wrapping a baby. hehehe... cute book title.

** Though Michael tells me to request that my readers (hehehe, there it is again, readers) inform me if I start to always refer to the baby as a girl or boy, instead of a nice mix of both.

Hello, baby!

Is it strange that when I'm bored or if I find myself with a moment of "what do I do for the next couple minutes" I find myself looking at my baby? Hello baby! You're so cute!

And as another quick little note, I have been feeling my baby move quite a bit recently. And yes, I am now convinced that it is indeed the baby. And I love it!

High School Woes

I've never really had a problem with my weight, and I have always been very thankful for that (I owe it to my mom's side of the family... Thank you!).

In high school I weighed a measly 110 lbs.
In college I gained my Freshman 15.
After graduating, I gained another 5 lbs and then stabilized.

Not too shabby, eh? Especially since I have always been too lazy to work-out (though to my credit, I have tried to start up the stationary bike recently). Remember that commercial? The annoying one that says "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful". Well, try not to hate me for not needing to worry about my weight.**

Having said that, I know I'm never going to weigh the same as I did in high school, and who knows what it's going to be like after having kids. However, given the fact that the most I'll ever weigh is when I'm super-pregnant and the least I've ever weighed was in high school, I was surprised to learn this morning that my high school clothes might very well be the only clothes in my wardrobe that I will be able to wear throughout my entire pregnancy!

Woohoo! Let's hear it for the grunge era!

In recent weeks I've learned that there is a definite difference between a "fat day" and "pregnant day". I've had days where I just look at my growing tummy and think "Could I be any less attractive?" Yet, I've also had days where I look at my growing tummy and think "I've never felt so sexy!"

What I find to be particularly strange is that when I put my baggy high school clothes on this morning, today instantly became a "fat day". I blame it on the memories I have of hating high school because when I wear these clothes I have the same self-esteem as I did back then (or lack thereof). It really makes me wonder why I kept them.


** Disclaimer - It all evens itself out in the wash. I may never have had to worry about my weight, but I have also never been blessed with a nice complexion or long thick hair. =)

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Thank you all for your emails and phone calls saying you're waiting patiently for an update on our appointment we had last week. I didn't want to post the update until I had scanned a picture, and it has been a hectic few days for both of us.

Enough babbling... Look! It's our baby! I know you're anxious to know if we decided to find out the gender, but I'm going to be mean and make you wait.**

This was taken at 19 weeks and 6 days. The baby's heartbeat is 152 bpm and the baby weighs about 10 oz. The doctor says that everything looks good, and he will be sending a full report to my midwife.

The appointment was both exciting and disappointing. First, let's start with the exciting part. See the baby's hand in the picture? We actually saw the baby wipe his face! It was so very very cute!

Now for the disappointing part. Both Michael and I were hoping the appointment would be a "Grand Tour of Your Baby." You know, something along the lines of "And off to your right, you see the baby's foot with 5 toes. Now if you look to the left, there is the baby's heart. Any questions? Ok then, let's move on..." But instead it was "And there is the baby's hand" click "and there is the baby's stomach" click "and there is the baby's kidneys" click, which left us thinking "Wait! Wait! Go back! I didn't see!"

But the important part is that the baby is healthy!

And now for the exciting news that I know everyone has been waiting for! Is it a boy or girl? Did we break down and find out? Well we have an answer for you!

It's a ...
.
..
...
....
.....
......

Baby! Yay! We're so excited!

We ended up deciding not to find out the gender. Actually I intended on convincing Michael to find out, and we were discussing it all the way up to the end when we were waiting in the lobby for our appointment. However, there was this cute couple who overheard us talking and they spoke up. The woman said they are expecting their 5th baby and they've never found out the gender (so far they've ended up with 2 boys and 2 girls). She told us a little about how it can be frustrating to not know, especially towards the end, but the moment when the doctor hands over the baby and says "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" it is the best feeling in the world.

Now I know that the moment when the doctor hands over the baby is bound to be the "best feeling in the world" regardless of knowing or not. However, the way she spoke made it all seem worth the wait. Damn her.



** That is, of course, forgetting about the fact that you could always just scroll down to the bottom of the entry to find out right away, but how many of you were really that smart? =)