New Year, New Commitment

It has been an incredibly long time since I last blogged. I am going to give a full update in one post as it will be easier. I am also going to start blogging more. At least I hope. I really had good ideas for this blog, but then life got in the way. Even though I don't have as much time as I did before, I WILL blog. Simple as that. It may not be everyday. Actually, I know it won't be everyday. I will aim for once a week. That will be my goal for 2011. To blog once a week. I promise.

Anyway, here is what has happened since I last posted.

I had a baby. If anyone still reads this, I'm sure you figured that out. Since my last post was about being 34 weeks pregnant. And no one would be 49 weeks pregnant. I will post my full birth story another time. Don't read it if that doesn't interest you. It's mostly for me. I want to have it written down so in the future I will be able to read it, instead of recalling on my faded memory of it. For now, here is the quick version.

September 26, 2010 was my online baby shower. After the shower I went to the hospital to get checked out for leaking. I was told that I was 4 cm, the baby's head was right there, and I was going to give birth within the next 24 hours. I got a room at 2 pm, got my waters broken at 6 pm, started pushing at 8:10 pm, and Benjamin Ernest was born at 9:07 pm. We didn't know the sex of the baby before he was born and it was awesome hearing Paul yell out "He's got a willy!". The next baby will definitely be a surprise too. At birth, he was 7 lb 9 oz and 19 1/4 inches long.

As of today he is 15 weeks and 4 days old (3 1/2 months). I measured him myself last week and he was at 15 lbs and 24 1/2 inches. He is growing like a weed and awesome in every way possible. He rolls front to back, loves to stand, has HUGE smiles, and a cute little bald patch on the back of his head. He is exclusively breastfed, we co-sleep (only until we get his mattress then we will start transitioning to his crib), I wear him in the Moby, and wears cloth diapers. He goes to bed between 8 and 9 pm, sleeps through until 3 - 4 am, has a quick feed and burp (15 minutes total), and goes back to sleep until 6:30-7 am when he starts fussing. To me, that is sleeping through the night and I love it.

At 5 weeks old, my parents and sister flew over from Buffalo to meet him. They spent 2 weeks here that went way too quick. We did lots of sight seeing, but the best part was seeing them spend time with Benjamin.

He's had his first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, even though they aren't all celebrated in Australia. He's been on the Great Ocean Road, to Bairnsdale, Raymond Island, Wonthaggi, Geelong, Portarlington, and Altona Beach. He's been to the waves pool, and the playground. Pictures are to come later.

34 weeks 3 days

How far along? 34 weeks 3 days

Total weight gain/loss? About 20 lbs gained.

Maternity clothes? Yes

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep? Still getting up every 2 or so hours to pee and waking up for good earlier each day.

Movement? Slowing down a bit. Most active in the evenings.

Food cravings? None.

Gender? Unknown.

Labor signs? None.

Belly button in/out? In. Shallower and flat on the bottom.

What I miss: Being able to bend over. Being comfortable.

What I am looking forward to: My baby shower is coming up!

Milestones: Less than 6 weeks to go! I don't know if it's considered a milestone, but baby is head down and ready!

30 weeks 3 days

I have seen these questionnaires before and figured I might as well fill them out for the last few weeks of this pregnancy. Hopefully I remember to do them weekly!

How far along? 31 weeks 3 days

Total weight gain/loss? I don't know. They only weighed me at my first appointment.

Maternity clothes? Oh yeah. Although I do have some non-maternity shirts that still fit.

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep? Much better now that I'm over my nasty cold. Now I only wake up 3-4 times a night to pee instead of that plus waking up every ten minutes because I couldn't breathe/swallow.

Movement? All the time. Usually in the morning and evening I feel it the most with some occasional kicks throughout the day.

Food cravings? None right now. I haven't had many strong cravings. Most of the things I do want though are only available in the US so I can't even have them.

Gender? Unknown.

Labor signs? None, just an occasional Braxton Hicks contraction.

Belly button in/out? In. Shallower and flat on the bottom.

What I miss: Not much. There really isn't anything that I did before that I can't do now. Except maybe bend over comfortably to shave my legs more often.

What I am looking forward to: My midwife appointment tomorrow. Another ultrasound in 2 1/2 weeks. My shower at the end of September. Being able to finish buying all the baby items.

Milestones: Finally making it to 30+ weeks. It seemed so far away at the beginning, but now it's here.



Don't mind the blurry picture, or the messy room. I was having a hard time getting it to come out clear.

Ultrasound Pictures

Below are some pictures from my 20 week and 24 week ultrasounds. The baby doesn't like to cooperate so they still haven't been able to see everything and I go back for another ultrasound in a few weeks.

Easter Surprise

This year for Easter we had a surprise for everyone. We are having a baby! I was 12 weeks on Easter Sunday (I'm now almost 27 weeks so you can see how much I've been slacking on this blog). It was super hard to hide because Paul's sister was living with us at the time. Somehow we managed though! Paul ended up calling his side of the family and telling them (they live about 4 hours away). Since I found out I was pregnant the first week of February, I knew how I wanted to tell my family. Paul and I both agreed to wait until I was 12 weeks before we told anyone and it just so happened to work out that Easter Sunday was 12 weeks. It worked out even better that my family was going to be at my parent's house to celebrate. We had planned to get on Skype together and I loved seeing their reaction. It was hard getting everyone in the same room and I thought our plan wouldn't work out. My aunt had to take her mother home so I asked her to wait and get everyone in the room because had a picture we wanted to show them. Finally everyone was there and I sent the picture via messenger. It took a few seconds for it to register with everyone what it was a picture of and then there was lots of screaming and crying and falling off couches! It was such a great feeling to be out and now have to keep the secret to ourselves anymore.





Due October 17, 2010, gender is a surprise!