Babies

Last weekend, Taylor surprised me with a date to see the new documentary Babies. For those of you who haven't heard of it, the film follows four babies from birth through their first year in four different parts of the world: San Fransisco, Mongolia, Toyko, and Namibia. Walking into the theater was like walking in for OBGYN visit: nearly everyone there was pregnant. :)

The movie opens with two little boys in Namibia playing in the dirt with rocks as toys, and you quickly realize the stark contrast that the movie will paint between the civilized nations and the developing world. Despite the obvious juxtaposition of the "have" and the "have not" babies, each child seemed perfectly able to adjust to the life he or she was going to live, and each mother, family or village was able to provide the care that the babies needed.

While I know thousands of hours of video were edited to make the documentary, it was reassuring to know that if these women all over the world could figure out what motherhood was all about, than surely I will be able to as well.

Which is a good thing, considering this baby's coming in less than three months. :)

The Recap of Weeks 20-25

Wow, where does time go? Sorry for my delay in posting; Taylor enjoyed two and a half weeks of vacation, so my normally quiet evenings were busy working on house and baby projects. The good news is we're closer everyday to feeling at ease to bring our Peanut home when it's time. (The next question will be what to do with him once we have him home!)

While I've missed a lot of weeks, here's a picture of week 22:

And Week 24:


The 24 week doctor's appointment stats were:
Weight gained to date: 12 pounds
Baby's size: A foot long and just over a pound (he's long and skinny right now :)
Interesting baby fact: The doctor said I was preparing to enter a period of "rapid expansion," which I guess is true given he's supposed to gain 4 ounces this week alone.
Baby's heart rate: 158
Overall health: I've been feeling great, with my only complaint being discomfort near my ribs...when I asked the doctor about it he just said it was all of my organs scrunched together. Comforting thought!
Best part of the last few weeks: Having complete strangers recognize I'm pregnant...it's been fun to be past the "beer gut" stage and into the "baby bump" stage.

5 down, 4 to go

About a week ago I emailed Taylor with a revelation: a major concert was coming to Houston and the tickets were going on sale for a date that was past our due date, which meant our due date is rapidly approaching. Now I wasn't at the panic stage, that will be reserved for when I see our due date on a milk carton. It did, however, reinforce how much we still have left to do in these last four months until Baby Boy Akin arrives.

Luckily, we've made some great progress to date. Our office/Taylor's "man room" has now been transformed into our office/guest bedroom. We have the bedding for the nursery and we've started the registry process. Mom, grandma and Tantee are coming next weekend and we're going crib shopping. The baby's name is 95% decided upon. Plants are in the ground for the season (not exactly baby-related, but we do want a cute yard for him to come home to).

Despite progress, it always seems like there's more to do. Luckily, we have handy-dandy to do lists to rely upon, which is especially helpful when my pregnancy brain kicks in and Taylor tries to negotiate with our baby to leave his mom's brain alone.

Four more months equates to 120 days. Or 17 more weekends. I guess the good news is if we don't get it all done, this baby is still coming, ready or not.

Cravings

I considered naming this post "Pancakes R Us," as pancakes have now become a regular staple around the Akin household. This is despite me being able to count on one hand (and probably with one finger) the amount of times we've eaten pancakes in the last 5 years.

Around week 9, I saw a commercial for either IHOP or Denny's and I was immediately memorized. So, I asked Taylor if we could go eat there and get some pancakes. Probably thinking I would forget about it, he said "sure honey" and went on to his next task. Well, due to travel and our busy schedules, several weeks passed without a visit to eat pancakes.

Not one to forget a promise, one Saturday morning after a trip to the gym, I told Taylor now was the perfect time to go and get pancakes. Luckily, he indulged me and off to IHOP we went. Little did we know that it really WAS the perfect time to get pancakes, as they were running an "All You Can Eat" pancakes promotion. However, during my first trip to IHOP in perhaps my entire life, I was a little embarrassed to ask for a second plate of pancakes.

The next weekend the weather was nice enough for Taylor to run and for me to walk outside, so on the way home from Terry Hershey Park I asked Taylor if he'd be up for IHOP again. I think he was beginning to get worried...you see, I am the type of person who never tires from a certain type of food. I probably single-handedly hold the record for consecutively eating the most Healthy Choice Supreme Pizza frozen meals, as I would seriously eat them every single day for lunch, week-in and week-out. (Until my pregnancy, that is, which is a different post topic.)

So, again he indulged me, and off to IHOP we went. This time, since I was a seasoned IHOP pro, I wasn't scared to ask for the second plate of pancakes, although I could only eat one.

I quickly realized my pancake obsession could quickly get expensive, so we've resorted to making pancakes at home every Sunday morning. I don't know if this tradition will last beyond pregnancy, but I have to say every Saturday night I go to bed looking forward to my pancakes the next morning.

The Week 19 Recap

So, I guess we've already reached the point where pictures of the baby take priority over pictures of me! :) Below are some of our favorites from this week's ultrasound.



(Baby Akin arching his back and showing off his spine!)



(Here he is practicing the FSU war chant.)



(Baby Akin already has long legs!)

Weight gained to date: 10 pounds
Baby's size: About the length of a banana.
Interesting baby fact: The baby now has taste buds and according to studies, after birth, babies respond to tastes they've already tasted via the amniotic fluid. I'm trying to eat a variety of healthy foods (with the occasional, or okay, regular, bowl of ice cream).
Baby's heart rate: 162
Overall health: Feeling really great!
Best part of week 19: Clearly our ultrasound and finding out that Peanut is a boy! And a very healthy boy at that. :) We really could have sat there all day watching the ultrasound...he was such a show-off! From touching his toes to arching his back and from sticking out his tongue to kicking his legs, he was not at all bashful and knew he was being watched. (Does it sound like an Akin?? :)

He is measuring at 21 weeks right now, which is a week ahead of our due date. No one seemed concerned, saying babies grow at different paces during different periods of the pregnancy. Our ultrasound tech was great, taking lots of pictures. Hope you enjoy looking at a few more.

The 18 Week Recap

Not only did last week mark 18 weeks, but it also brought spring with it to Houston (until the cold front that moved through this weekend, that is).

Weight gained to date: ? pounds
Baby's size: About the length of a bell pepper, which is 5 1/2 inches long. This week peanut weighs almost 7 ounces.
Interesting baby fact: Peanut is becoming more mobile; and spends his/her time yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, and swallowing.
Baby's heart rate: ?
Overall health: The hip pain from week 17 was significantly less this week, although I do feel it occasionally. Overall I continue to feel really great, aside from a stomach bug that hit me during the middle of Wednesday night. Thankfully, it was a 24-hour bug and I was back to normal on Friday, although a bit hungry. :)
Best part of week 18: Enjoying daylight savings time and the beautiful spring weather with walks at Memorial Park. Since I haven't been able to run since week 8, walking on the treadmill is even more boring than running on a treadmill. Which makes it pretty darn boring. Thankfully, with it staying light later and with beautiful 70 degree weather, I can walk the 3 miles at Memorial and stay entertained by watching all those around me. Even if I do occasionally want to start running just to show all those around me that I can run too. :)

The 17 Week Recap

Sorry for the delay in posts; one of our "pre-baby tasks" is transforming our office/man room into an office/guest room (just don't tell Taylor...it's still "his" room!). As part of that, we purchased a new wall desk to replace our L-shaped desk and ultimately take up less space. Our main computer was down for the week, so I couldn't access the photos.

Okay, enough explaining...onto week 17!

Weight gained to date: ? pounds (Our scale broke right around the time I became pregnant. Conveneint, right? I've decided not to purchase a new one until post-baby, so I only get weight updates after seeing the doctor.)
Baby's size: About a turnip. This was hard to envision for me, so it was easier to go by the stats: 5 inches and 5 ounces.
Interesting baby fact: Peanut can now move his/her joints.
Baby's heart rate: ? (Again, will need to wait until the next dr. appt.)
Overall health: Week 17 will be remembered as the week Peanut became a pain in the neck hips. As if on cue, as I began week 17, my hips began hurting, especially in the evening when sleeping on my sides because all pregnancy books tell you if you sleep any other way your baby will come out as an alien. Okay, so they are not that extreme, but it's close. The great news is that I tried just about every Internet solution and it seems that a heating pad before bed does the trick. The pain greatly subsided by the end of week 17, so hopefully I can cross that off the list.

Best part of week 17: Feeling the baby move! After thinking a few times during the week prior that I could feel Peanut, this was definitely confirmed during week 17. It's such a strange sensation...at first it was just like a piece of popcorn popping. It is a bit stronger now and I love each time I feel the little movements.

Our ultrasound to determine if the baby is a girl Peanut or a boy Peanut has been postponed to March 25. As excited as I was to potentially know a week earlier, Taylor's schedule didn't cooperate. But, it will be an incredibly memorable 4th wedding anniversary for us!