Week 24 – As long as an Ear of Corn

More than one pound (1.3 pounds)
About 11.8 inches long

Baby M is growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. (Actually if you remember from my appointment last week. She is already over 1lb 9oz.) Since she's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon. Also by now, that fabulous face is almost fully formed, complete with eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair. Is your baby a brunette, a blonde, or a redhead? Actually, right now her locks are white since there's no pigment yet.

I found this pretty interesting that most books say you should expect to have gained 4 lbs in the first trimester and 1 pound for each week starting at 14... so at 24 weeks I should have gained 4+10= 14. I know that most of you don’t care about my weight gain but I am fascinated by it this time around because it is so much different than with Maddox. So far I am up approximately 2lbs from my prepregnancy weight. I was heavy to begin with so I assume that I am losing some of those extra lbs as the baby is growing. Just so everyone doesn’t get concerned that I am dieting or something…I eat like crazy! I have also gained 2 inches around my middle and as evidenced last week little M is now measuring a week ahead so all is well in the growth department. I guess I am just waiting for that big weight gain to hit me as I am sure it will in the next 15-16 weeks.

I have been pretty sick with a gnasty cold/viral infection. It has really been the pits. I don't remember being sick while pregnant with Maddox. Not really being able to take any good stuff for relief is a real bummer.

In other family news I want to say thank you to Shannon and to Andre for sharing some of their girl clothes with me. I am so very blessed. If anyone else wants to pass along any clothes or other things I would love it. I also want to give a shout out to Auntie Shyra & Uncle Gill for the 3 cute outfits they added to the Girl cause. Too cute. I have the best family and friends.

On one hand I want the time till baby M gets here to hurry up so we can meet but then I stop and think of all of the things I still have to do in 3 and a quarter months. It is a bit overwhelming the amount of things on my to do list. Oh well lots of others have made it through so I am sure I will too.

Maddox Update

Thought I would give you all an update on how the Boss is doing lately. There is so much to talk about. I think I might try bullet points to keep it short.

School
- Kindergarten is going pretty well. There have just been a few bumps that we are working on
- He loves his memory verses and bible songs from school
- He has lots of paper’s coming home almost daily
- He has made some new friends

Entertainment
- Any of the Disney shows are now his favorite. Phineas & Ferb, Hannah Montana, Suite Life on Deck, Wizards of Waverly Place
- Loves to sing to all the songs on radio Disney
- New found love for Star Wars and Darth Vader
- Really wishes his parents would sign him up for sports.
- Loves Food Network

Home
- He is such a huge helper when he wants to be
- He loves to tell everyone that he is having a baby
- Calls me: MommyBaby
- Kisses my belly and rubs his nose to give the baby hugs & kisses
- Still loves to hug mine or daddy’s cold arm to go to sleep
- Likes to pretend he is a baby lately

I am sure that I forgot things but maybe I will remember them for the next Maddox update.

Pictures from our short trip to Austin

Here is a link to our picture page if you want to check out a few winners from our trip to Austin.

AUSTIN TRIP

Happy Birthday Daddy

Happy Birthday Daddy! You are our #1 father and husband. You are many things to many people and we all love you!

Appointment #5 (9-24-10)

This morning was a quick appointment with my doctor which is always a good thing. He said all looks well. The previous ultrasound looked good all my numbers have been right on track. Baby M is actually measuring a week ahead right now. She is 1 lb 9 oz.
My next visit in 3 weeks is when I am scheduled for the Glucose Tolerance Test. The one where you drink the orange drink and then they draw blood an hour later to check your sugar levels. After talking about it we just decided to go ahead and do the 3 hour test instead. That way no matter what I only have to do one test. When I was pregnant with Maddox I didn't pass the 1 hour and it took me two tries with the 3 hour just to make it through the test. I have low blood sugar so I know that I will fail or have scewed results that will make the doctor want me to monitor my sugar from then on. I really can't wait. LOL
One bit of really great news is that I can now try out pepcid for my heartburn. My doctor isn't a big fan of taking anything while you are pregnant so he likes to make you suffer through for a bit to make sure you really need something before he will offer it up. I am hoping this will help the right before bed heartburn I get every night.
I had another ultrasound. I have a good feeling now that I will get one with every visit. Which is kind of cool to see what is going on in there. Still no great views to confirm Girl but once again I got from the tech "I think it is a GIRL!" lol.

Week 23 - Heavy as a Mango

We are back at Mango! Baby M weighs about as much as a Mango.

I need to turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, baby M can feel me dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), I have started to see her squirm underneath my clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that baby M's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as Milo barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb. My little doll-sized babe is about to chub up a bit. Her saggy skin will start to fit her frame as fat deposits fill things out. Beginning this week, she'll start to pack on the pounds (which means I will too! Oh no... so far I am up 1.5lbs from where I started) and by month's end she'll be double the weight she is now (fortunately I won't be — whew!). Right now, baby M's organs and bones are visible through his skin, which has a red hue due to developing veins and arteries beneath. But once those fat deposits settle in, she'll become less transparent.
Many of you have been asking if we have picked out any names!! LOL we have narrowed it down from 20 possibilities to about 10. Maybe we can decide before she arrives.
I have my next prenatal appointment tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

My First Baby Project

Today I started my first baby project. I am going to recover the carrier/car seat that belonged to Maddox. I wasn't totally fond of it when we got it originally but it was the most neutral thing we could find at the time that we liked. So about a week ago I went to the fabric store and picked out some nice fabric I thought would be cute and durable and not too girly but not boy either. I hope you like what I decided on. Also I just started on this and am totally not my mother's daughter in the sewing department. I can get by but a seamstress I am not, so the project will probably be a little rough around the edges.
Here is the before pic of the carrier. I am only recovering the bluish/purple fabric. I am leaving the black and the grey piping.

Here is a preview of the fabric that I chose. I hope you like it. I really do.

I decided to do the canopy first. I figured I would start there. You have to start somewhere right. I was actually surprised with how well it turned out. I am almost finished with it. I only have two small things to do to it. Here is the original canopy.

Here are some of the steps that I took putting it together. I took lots more pics of everything I did but didn't want to bore anyone.


Here is a picture of the practically finished canopy. Please feel free to ooh and ahh and leave lots of great comments on how well you think it turned out. Remember I am a total novice with the sewing machine so I think it turned out fantastic.

The next part of this project will be a little harder for me I believe. I may wait till next weekend when the awesome seamstress passes through town to get her expertise on the best way to do this. Here are the two parts I have up next.


And last but certainly not least the little square thingy on the seat. I finished that today cause I thought it would be easy. I really think that mine looks better than the original square thingy on the purple view.

Wish me luck with getting this project done. Next I want to conquer recovering the bassinet to more match our room decor instead of the blue and yellow plaid that it is now. Here is a pic of that HUGE project and my little bitty Maddox sleeping so peacefully what seems like forever ago.

One more of the old car seat cover. This is Maddox on our first outing to church when he was a week old.

Promise I am done with pictures. Thank you all for indulging me with my craft show and tell. Have a great night!

22 Weeks - Length of Spaghetti Squash

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, baby M is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but the irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside the womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

The Chair Saga

Back story:
Before Maddox was born we were given a glider rocker from one of our friends. We really got a lot of use out of it. When another friend of ours and the people who had given the chair we decided it would be nice to pass on our good fortune and share the chair. We passed it on to our friends.

Fast Forward 5 years:
We don't have a chair for rocking and feeding our little M on the way. So I had my out for an awesome deal. Those glider rockers are $$$. Well I found a brand new chair for a steal on Amazon. I ordered the chair on August 30th. Yee Haw! I was so excited about my new chair. I missed having the rocker in the room. So it was supposed to arrive last weekend while we were out of town for the Labor Day holiday. It never showed up. I kept waiting and waiting. It shipped from Irving, Texas on Sept 2nd and was not seen again...well atleast for awhile. So on the 8th I call FedEx and ask about my package. By now I am pretty sure it has disappeared. They tell me they have no clue where it is but they will look into it and give me a call back. That very same evening I get an email from Amazon that my chair has been returned from FedEx non-deliverable. This usually means you have a PO Box or something, but we don't so everyone figures the chair was damaged in transit and returned to sender. So I am told to order another one and they refund me the price difference since it is a little bit more now than before when I ordered it. FedEx calls the next day and leaves me a message that there is no trace of the chair and that I need to file a claim with Amazon to get a new item. (Not real impressed with FedEx about that but I already know what happened to the chair. You think they would too.) So I think the matter of the missing chair has ended atleast till I get my new one. Nope I get another call that afternoon from the FedEx Ground Trace Dept. asking for details on my chair so they can locate it. (They don't even have a record that they returned it to Amazon. Weird) So I call them back and tell them no worries Amazon had gotten it returned and that I had ordered a new one. Out of all that I only got a small apology. Oh well!

Today:
My new chair was ordered Thursday night. It arrived this morning. I was so excited. After lunch I decided to assemble my chair. I am so proud of it I thought I would share the process and pics with you all.

Milo checking out the beginnings of my chair.


My chair with arms. The frame is now set to get padded.


Look at those ultra comfy arms with pockets.


The finished product. What do you think?


Maddox loves the new chair and told me he probably wont let me sit in it.

21 Weeks - A Carrot and Counting

Baby M now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. I may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. I may also discover a pattern to her activity as I get to know her better. In other developments, baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and her vagina has begun to form as well. I know that you all wanted to know that last tidbit of information.

So many of the other ladies I know that are pregnant have been taking baby bump pics. I never took any when I was pregnant with Maddox. I had pictures taken at work today with my space shuttle crew so I decided to share my bump pics with you all. They aren't the greatest pics as I took them myself in the mirror.

BABY M IS A ...

It is a pseudo pink day celebration in the Vige house (Mommy is not a huge fan of the color pink). Little M has officially been determined a GIRL. Most of you already knew that though. I guess you all were right. Now you all need to pony up with girl stuff cause I don't have anything.

No we don't have any names at all picked out. We have been waiting to see whether to focus on girls names or boys names. Now that we know I am sure it will take a while to decide. Maybe even the next 20 weeks. We have such a hard time deciding or atleast we did with Maddox.

Speaking of Maddox he dressed me this morning to make sure I looked pretty. He picked out a nice pretty purple shirt that accentuated my baby belly. I even got two stickers 1 for me and one for the baby for being good this morning.

Week 20 - Half Way There

Can you believe it? We are now half way to our destination. In some respects time has really flown by and in others not so much. I am hoping that the next few months seem to blow by as well.

So this week baby M is Cantaloupe size.

Average Size
6.5 inches head to rump and 10 inches head to heal
10.6 oz.

(For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of the head to the bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, baby is measured from head to toe.)

Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, speaking of the diaper situation... baby's genitals are now fully formed! So now we just have to wait and see if we can get a good look. Not sure why we need to look though as most of you think we are having a girl.