Baby Update Week 36!

Baby Size: A Honeydew Melon! Stay tuned next week for a big change!

Krystal's Weight Gain::
Enough! ;-)

Maternity Clothes:
I am running out of comfy things to wear and getting dressed and putting on shoes is becoming quite the task!

How Mom's feeling:
This week mom got a nice little cold. Thanks to a wonderful interviewee who thought it was okay to come in for an interview and spread her germs.

What's Growing This Week:
Well, we are close to 6 lbs this week and about 18.5 inches long. We are still gaining weight everyday and continuing to get ready for the outside world.

Baby Movement:
Mom had a nice glass of OJ the other day and it was like there were fireworks going off in my belly! Last night she was kicking or butt bumping me (we aren't sure which) and dad was pushing back. They had a little war going on. I think the baby won.

Food Cravings and Dislikes:
I guess we could say a dislike for Chinese food. I have NO desire to have any chinese food even tho I used to enjoy it.

What's New in the Baby Room:
Another quiet week. Mom is going to work on putting some other things away this weekend. We have gotten a few more lovely gifts this week.

Baby Name:
My, my have I heard lots of flack from giving a letter. It is pretty funny. Everyone wants to know how many letters and where does the letter go. I will say that there are 7 letters. This weeks letter is an I. So now you have an L and an I. Good Luck! ;-)

What I'm looking forward to:
I know pregnancy is 40 weeks but lets just say I'd be okay with 37 or 38. Of course I want a healthy baby but by the end of this 36th week we are FULL TERM! YAY!! We are getting very excited to meet this little girl. I know dad can't wait to change his first diaper! ;-)

What I miss:
This week I have missed being able to take medicine that I would normally take to get over this cold! Someone needs to create something for pregnant women to take other than tylenol!

Excitement of the week:
We had our first weekly doctors appointment today. The real fun begins now! haha. Looks like we are still on track and sadly no signs of a little one coming soon. Tho, I hear that can certainly change from one day to the next.

I had a wonderful baby shower at work yesterday. I got several very cute baby outfits and one extremely awesome present from all of my staff.....the breast pump! Guess everyone wants me to come back to work to do payroll! :-)

Matt has been working very hard on the family room project and it is coming along nicely. I think Dad may be getting a bit more stressed than mom that everything will get done. I think he may be doing a bit of his own nesting.


We think Jack knows that his time as an only child is coming to a close. So he has been doing a bit of misbehaving. He has forgotten quite a few of his listening skills as of late. But he is still pretty darn cute.

Baby Update Week 35!

Baby Size: A Honeydew Melon!

Krystal's Weight Gain::
Enough! ;-)

Maternity Clothes:
Many of my shirts are quite snug around the belly. So everyone has been commenting on how much bigger I look.

How Mom's feeling:
This has been a pretty good week. I've been able to try and get some more sleep tho I would not call any of it quality sleep. One of the hardest things a pregnant woman has to do is turn over in bed! Its seriously hard!

My belly button is quickly shrinking. Its starting to stick out a little bit around the edges so I must be nearing DONE!!

What's Growing This Week:
This week we are about 5.25 lbs and about 18 inches long. There is not much room left so there isn't much chance of too many somersaults in there! Her kidney's are fully developed and her liver is capable of processing waste products. Most all of our physical developments are complete we just need a few more weeks to gain a bit of weight.

Baby Movement:
Lots of pressure and pushing instead of kicking. She is not at all a fan of when I lean over to do anything. I think it crowds her space a bit and she does not like that at all and lets me know by pushing back!

Food Cravings and Dislikes:
Nothing to speak of this week. I think dad is the one craving pickles!

What's New in the Baby Room:
It has been a quiet week again in the baby room. But I think the next few weeks are going to start getting busy with putting more things away.

Baby Name:
Okay.....Here's a letter...... L. I can't tell you where it goes in the name but its in there!


What I'm looking forward to:
I cannot wait for my clear skin to return. I can honestly say I don't think I have EVER had acne this bad. It really must be true when they say you can tell you are having a girl because she is stealing all your beauty (well at least I can hope so!). I think she has pretty good chances of being extremely cute but I might be slightly biased.

More fun baby showers! I am also looking forward to going out to get the rest of what we need for this little one!

What I miss:
I am missing some energy right now but I am hopeful that the nesting is going to really set in over the next few weeks and I am going to be cleaning cleaning cleaning to get ready for this little one!

Excitement of the week:
I asked the doctor the other day if its okay if I continue working as long as possible and she laughed and said "well your country says it is" Matt and I got a good laugh about this. She is from Germany and apparently in many European countries pregnant women get relieved from work - WITH PAY 6 weeks before their baby is due AND they get an entire YEAR off after having the baby! For baby number 2 they get to be off work for 3 years!

Clearly, we are doing something wrong here! Haha. Matt and I had the same terrible thought, these women must not have very important jobs that they can be gone for a year or 3 years without any problems! Sure, it would be nice but I don't think that will ever fly here.

We finished up baby class. Nothing terribly eventful. Now we have free Wednesdays again!

I think I had my first round of some braxton hicks contractions last night. I wouldn't call them painful but just a little uncomfortable and they came and went every few minutes for about an hour. Thankfully they went away so I could try to get some sleep. Sadly tho I am fighting off a cold and I am not winning so sleep isn't great and there is nothing I can take! Oh fun times!!

Baby Update Week 34!

Note the awesomely awesome shoes that don't even remotely match! But at least they fit my feet!




Baby Size: A Honeydew Melon!

Krystal's Weight Gain::
Enough! ;-)

Maternity Clothes:
I would still prefer to wear my sweats all day but I guess that will have to wait until I'm home with this little one for a bit.

How Mom's feeling:
Tired has returned and I think it might be around for the next 18+ years!

My sciatic nerve and I are still not getting along very well. But I can hobble with the best of them.

What's Growing This Week:
We are probably weighing in somewhere between 4.75-5 lbs and we are about 18 inches long. She continues to gain body fat to help regulate her temperature once she is outside the womb. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs continue to develop. Its reassuring to know that babies born between 34-37 weeks premature tend to do very well and typically have no long term health problems. Of course we would still prefer that this one cooks a bit longer!

Baby Movement:
She seems to be moving all over the place. I am hoping that she is still head down, tho I am not convinced because she has had quite a bit of movement lately. It is all in the same areas that it has been so fingers crossed she hasn't decided to flip around!

Food Cravings and Dislikes:
This has been quite the uneventful pregnancy for food cravings.

What's New in the Baby Room:
I think we have most everything put away. The closet is filling up fast! Thank goodness dad did all that work to get us some extra shelves!

Baby Name:
We are getting so close.....I could give you a letter......


What I'm looking forward to:
I am looking forward to the swelling going away! I also can't wait to spend some quality time with this little one and daddy.

I am also looking forward to my 2nd and 3rd baby showers! We will have one at work towards the end of the month and then one in Hagerstown soon after that!

What I miss:
Lots of things. This week I miss being able to bend over and pick something up off the floor that I dropped! And of course I have been rather clumsy lately!

Excitement of the week:
Well dad has been working hard on getting the family room project completed so he has been doing lots of painting! Its looking very good. Hopefully we (and by we, I of course mean dad!) can finish up this weekend and then we can order carpet! Fun times! Nothing like waiting til the last minute!!

We have a visit with a pediatrician's group tomorrow. Hopefully that goes well. Who knew you are supposed to interview doctors these days!

We had baby class last night. We learned everything we'll ever need to know about how to care for a newborn.....not! I'm sure it was helpful for some people who were there but I don't think I learned much new information. Oh well.

Baby Update Week 33!

Check out pictures from the shower....... http://gallery.me.com/vkettner/100269

Baby Size: A Honeydew Melon! We have come a long way from a poppyseed! Only one more fruit size to go!

Krystal's Weight Gain::
Enough! ;-)

Maternity Clothes:
I have procrastinated on getting bigger shoes long enough, tonight will entail a trip to the store for some slip on shoes that actually fit my now swollen feet.

How Mom's feeling:
It has been one heck of a week! Mom got a lovely 12 hour bug that she did not enjoy at all. Thankfully dad didn't get it but Uncle Robby did! It's an excellent way to start a diet, but I wouldn't recommend it for a pregnant lady!

The swelling in my feet and legs is a lot of fun and by fun I mean that I feel like my legs weigh a TON a piece and I have to work at getting them to move! Okay, its not quite that bad but I'm not enjoying this part. I had to wear slippers to work today because I couldn't get my shoes to fit so then I made a trip to the store on the way home to pick up a new pair....in a whole size bigger than normal! Fantastic.

Heartburn has made a comeback so it is getting harder and harder to eat almost anything it seems. The other day I think I was getting heartburn from drinking too much water!

What's Growing This Week:
She should be about 17 inches long and gaining quite a bit of weight these days. The bones in her head are still quite soft so that she can pass through the birth canal. There is a lot of pressure during that process so babies tend to come out with a cone shaped head. We aren't sure what happend to dad's head since he was a c-section??? :-)

We had our 32 week sonogram last Friday and learned that this little girl weighs about 4 lbs and growing! She is doing well in the 47th percentile and the doctor kindly informed us that she has a big head. Grrreeaat.......

Baby Movement:
I have been noticing a lot more pushing rather than kicks since she is running out of room in there. A plus to the recent illness was spending quite a bit of time in bed which meant I was able to pick up and notice a lot more of her movements since I wasn't doing much moving.

Food Cravings and Dislikes:
For a while there I was craving to not have to eat any food at all! That has passed and we are back to a normal diet!

What's New in the Baby Room:
Well the baby room is in full swing! We had our first baby shower this past weekend and got so many wonderful gifts. I had a fantastic time at the shower. Mom came and helped me start putting things away. I think this little girl might be on the fast track to have more shoes than mom! But they are soooo cute!

Baby Names & Grandparent Names:
Well, I could tell you the name but I'm sticking to our plan! It sounds like our parents have possibly decided on their names?? I think Matt's Mom is going with Nonna, which is Italian for grandmother and so I am guessing Paul will be going with Nonno, which is Italian for grandfather.

My mother has an aversion to anything "grand" (not sure why) so I think she is taking her own liberties and changing grandma to granma. I don't know what dad thinks but I'm guessing he's okay with grandpa?

In the end, I think all of the grandparents will love whatever this little girl calls them and that will be what sticks. Time will tell.

What I'm looking forward to:
Well, I am looking forward to some time off from work. Tho, it will probably be more work to be at home than at work. I am getting super excited to meet this little girl. I know she has a few more weeks to "cook" but as most of you know, when I want something, I usually want it pretty quickly. I of course want the baby to come when she's ready but she'd better be ready on time!

What I miss:
Clear skin, my ankles, my skinny fingers, wearing my wedding rings. I could go on but its all worth it!

Excitement of the week:
This could be a long list....

We had a wonderful baby shower this past weekend and I cannot thank everyone enough for all of the gifts, time and energy put into the shower! This baby is going to be so terribly spoiled!

We got power back at our house after 3 days without! Then we had no water for part of a day but luckily, I missed that while at work.

Obviously the sonogram was lots of fun to be able to see this little girl. Of course dad did confirm that yes, it is a girl. He does not want any last minute surprises or the torture of having to paint the room again!

We got to see Labor and Delivery at our hospital last night. Mom has quickly decided there is going to have to be a "game plan" for family and visitors or a schedule. We all know how organized I like to be with my plans!

Overall, its been quite a busy and fun (minus the 12 hour bug) week. Its hard to believe that there are only 7 more to go! As the childbirth instructor reminded us last night really, anything can happen after 36 weeks....which is only 3 weeks away!!! That makes me a little nervous! Guess we better get that carseat installed ASAP!