big news!

Since it's been awhile since my last update, and quite a bit has happened, I figure I should probably do the update-thing. I've actually been pretty busy the last couple of weeks (as busy as one can be when they're supossed to be horizontal/sitting most of the time, anyway).

In Rhia news, everything is still good--still doing weekly doctor's appointments, but as of Friday everything was still good. We did an ultrasound last week, to check things, so we did get to see her again! She's grown so much, it's just incredible. She had cute little cheeks and we could even see lips and nostrils! Al was pretty pleased that she had lips that seemed to be more like mine--he was worried about a daugher having his thin lips. :) We also confirmed that she was a girl. She wasn't nearly as shy this time. So, so far, so good. Everything was measuring right on schedule and whatnot. I have my glucose tolerance test on Friday, so hopefully I can avoid adding Gestational Diabetes to the list of reasons why I *love* being pregnant. Seriously, is it May yet so that I can have a healthy baby and not be pregnant anymore? 9 weeks. I can have her in 9 weeks.

For fun, my increasingly-large belly at 27 weeks and 1 day. I've started to pack on more weight that I would like to admit.

And....in even bigger news, Al was offered a TA position (which means a stipend and paid tuition!) for his Ph.D. at WSU! They called him early last week and it to him, so this weekend we drove down to Pullman to check it out and see if we wanted to go there. We checked things out, looked at some residential areas, and wandered a bit around the campus. All looks good, and on our way home today we stopped and bought a couple of WSU sweatshirts, which Al said makes it "official," so it looks like we'll be heading to Pullman this summer after Rhia is born and we can get moved. It's scary and huge (and not Seattle, but we both decided that it's probably better that way financially and sanity-wise), but I think it will all work out fine. We've been in Ellensburg for almost seven years, so it's weird to imagine being anywhere else, but I'm sure we'll manage.

And here is the point where the deep breaths begin.

Updates galore

So quite a bit has happened in the last week--before I start, everthing is just fine. I'll start with the good and then move on to the not so good.

Good:

We finally got the changing table and Al put it together today! I am quite excited, makes it feel like things are getting close. Which, really, they are--12 weeks from now she's full-term, and when I look at 12 weeks ago, it was Thanksgiving time. Madness. So, anyways, put the changing table together and put what little stuff we have in/on it. The drawer is full of little onesies that we've accumulated, from friends or from me doing my nesty thing.

I think it looks pretty good. :)

So onto the not-so-good:

Thursday night Al took me into the hospital because I was having some funny aches that made me worry that things were not alright. We went in, and they hooked me up to a monitor and checked me out. The good news was, no contractions, but the bad news was that Rhia is sitting super super low--when the doctor checked me out he could actually feel her resting on the bottom of my pelvis, partially because she was so low, and partially because the muscle wasn't as strong as it should be to keep her off of my cervix, which, if she stays there, would cause me to go into labor too early. So I was ordered to not go to work yesterday and to stay horizontal until my regular appointment at 4:00. We went to the appointment yesterday afternoon, and the doctor checked me out again, and things still looked fine and all closed up, and she had moved up a bit higher (all really good news). He did some tests to make sure nothing is leaking, and is supossed to call this weekend with the results, but he said things look good. We're doing another ultrasound on Thursday so he can get a look at the inside--Rhia is just fine, though, he said--so that's not a concern, just making sure that everything looks the way it should on my end. She has a good strong heartbeat and moves around all of the time.

However, I don't know if I'm going to be able to go back to work or not. He strongly recommended me only working part-time, if at all, which doesn't really work out so well, considering I work so far away and since my job isn't exactly part-time. I'm supossed to stay mainly horizontal this weekend, and he said that he'd be willing to let me try to work this week, so long as I stay off of my feet (because apparently that's what's sort of caused this issue in the first place--the fact that I'm on my feet ALL of the time). At this point I'm not on bed rest, persay, but I am supossed to limit my activity and monitor where she is closely--if she sits too low too much it could put too much pressure on my pelvic floor and start things waaay too early. He said 36 or 37 weeks is how long we need to hold out for, and that's not until the beginning of May...so I am worried and freaked out, but everything is ok and looks good right now. I didn't plan on going on maternity leave until the first week of May, so that part is a bummer, but if I need to take off to keep her in there, then that's what I'll have to do. I had a chat with her about staying in until at least May, so we'll see if she listens. The doctor said that everything looks good so far, it's more precautionary that I slow down/not work as much, to make sure that nothing starts to look not-so-good.

I am already sick of laying around, so I'm hoping that I don't get put on full-blown bedrest--I'm not sure my (or Al's) sanity could handle it. So, to end on a more happy note: a picture of my 25 week belly, getting bigger!

And, just for fun, the outfits Al and I picked out after we found out we were having a girl:

These are always a pain

It's always hard to start something new, especially when it feels like you're picking up in the middle of a story. And this isn't a particularly interesting story, but I thought it might be nice for family/friends to know what was going on, especially considering that this whole pregnancy thing causes a great deal of change and variation.



So, here we go. Today is officially 24 weeks, which means that in 13 weeks, Rhia could be born and be considered full-term. Eeek. That being said, she could also go another 18. I'm thinking 18 would be a bit excessive, and I would be forced to hand her an eviction notice in a grouchy manner. I guess she'll come when she's good and ready. In a moment of "oh crap, we're not prepared at all and maybe we should start"-ness, we ordered a changing table online the other day (this one: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2310696), which should be here eventually, pending that Snoqualmie Pass ever becomes genuinely passable. It shipped from somewhere over on the west side 2 days ago--and considering that today is the first day the pass has been open in 4 days, I'm giving the table a bit. But it is exciting, and sort of pushes us in that preparing for Rhia direction. Al and I are procrastinators and avoid planning most things, so it feels like a big step. Other than a few onsies and pairs of teeny-tiny socks, we had done little else to prepare. We'll get there.

She's moving all over the place, which is pretty fun. She responds when we talk to her, and if she kicks and we sort of push back, she kicks back. It's a fun game, which I spend a good bulk of my evenings playing. When I sit and watch my belly, the whole thing moves now, instead of just a little spot. I can tell that she's a little more crowded than she was a few weeks ago. There's nothing quite as incredible as feeling her move around, and it's really cool to feel her getting stronger and stronger.

Otherwise, things are snowy and cold and overall creating a sick-of-winter feel for both of us. Arizona isn't looking so bad right now.



And, for your enjoyment, a most-recent picture of my enormous blob-like belly, taken at 23 weeks, 3 days: