Goodbye 2nd Trimester, Hello 3rd Trimester!

OMG - As of today we have officially entered the third trimester of pregnancy. That's the last one! No more after this! We're 27 weeks along with only 91 days to go. Good thing Charlotte's Grandma Jo Jo and Grandpa Spike are coming soon to help whip the nursery into shape. If Charlotte came right now, she would have to sleep on Connie's doggie bed with her. Knowing how bad Con-Con's breath is and how much she likes to ba-SLURP unsupecting people, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone.

Considering how good I am still feeling, I am crossing my fingers in the hopes the rest of the pregnancy will continue on that path. Experienced mothers keep laughing at me and saying evilly "just you WAIT!", but I try to just smile and thank them for the advice rather than running away screaming. I have resolved not to be one of those people who delights in telling my pregnancy horror stories to other expecting parents. We'll see how long that lasts.

And now, for the 27-week update from BabyCenter.com:

This week your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14.4 inches long with her legs extended. She can now open and close his eyes, and she sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. She may suck her fingers, and although her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if she were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments and isn't bothersome to her. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what she's thinking?

I bet Charlotte's thinking, "MMMM - those taquitos Mommy had last night for dinner were AWESOME!" I bet she's also excited about the upcoming Michigan State basketball game we will be attending on December 22nd. Or something like that. I guess I'm going to need to steal one of Corey's MSU t-shirts to wear to the game, 'cause my maternity wardrobe is lacking in Spartan gear. Think we'll be able to get a photo of Sparty rubbing my belly?

Glucola Test

As Corey wrote in his post yesterday, we had another check-up with Dr. Bell. For this one, I had to drink this nasty glucola drink (tropical punch flavored!) and then get a blood draw done exactly an hour later to test for gestational diabetes. I just got the phone call from Justina the nurse with the results. She left a message saying something like "congratulations - you passed your one-hour glucola test!" I am taking that to mean I DON'T have gestational diabetes. I'm not even sure what all that entails, but luckily we don't have to worry about it.

Things are moving along nicely! Charlotte has been dancing up a storm lately, and I'm starting to look more and more like a pregnant woman instead of just a chubbo. Her nursery is starting to shape up since we loaded out a ton of miscellaneous stuff and rearranged the furniture into the positions they will occupy once all of the painting and carpet laying is done. I have been practicing gliding in the glider (sometimes holding Pacey, but he still thinks the gliding motion is a little freaky). We have also taken the dogs for a walk along with the stroller to start to alleviate Connie's strange fears of it. So far, not much progress has been made. I'm sure our neighbors think we're wacko.

Pregnancy "Clumsies"

I love my wife a lot. As my dad once succinctly pointed out - "She's good-looking, she's funny, and she's smart" (followed with the admonition "propose to her now before you screw it up"). I also, however, also accept that she is a mite clumsy, and that was before the pregnancy. She has knocked over and broken innumerable glasses, and at one point, on a 4th of July, took Connie our dog to work and locked Connie AND her work keys in her office. She had to call Vanderbilt University Plant Operations to come let the dog out.

Today, she dropped the keys to her Mazda down a sewer. Luckily for her, however, VU Maintenance swooped in for the rescue and not only fished her keys out, but also sanitized them. The key fob even still works!

We had another check-up today. Everything still looks good and on track. Knock on wood, baby. Knock on wood.

- Charlotte's Dad

26 Weeks and Keeping Corey Under Control

FYI - I had nothing to do with putting Connie in the Bumbo seat, nor did I condone it. I believe I was actually shrieking "Corey! Knock it off and leave her alone!" while the deed was being done. To her credit, Connie just looked a little put out and licked her lips a little. Great - now I have to worry about Corey trying all of the baby's new things out on the dogs. (Not like I can talk, because I'm the one who put Pacey the cat in the stroller last month.)

ANYWAY, today I am officially 26 weeks pregnant. It's not a milestone week or anything, but I just happened to notice on a pregnancy countdown that we only have 98 more days until the due date! Crikey. We haven't even taken our childbirthing class yet (we're scheduled to do it over 5 weeks in January and February though), nor have we picked a pediatrician (something my doctor has been bugging me to do for months now). But we do have a Bumbo seat, which is hard to come by nowadays ever since they issued the recall to amend the safety instructions to let people know not to put their kid in a Bumbo up high and then leave the kid unattended. DUH! [For a funny take on this, click here.] My buddy Chris in the law school's IT department hooked me up with the Bumbo.

I'm a little afraid to buy any diapers ahead of time for fear that Corey will cut tail holes in them and try them on one of the animals. Or that he'll model all of the baby clothes on Pacey. Or that he'll see just how well a snot sucker works on poor Duke. This is going to be an interesting last 98 days...

Here's what BabyCenter says is going on with Charlotte:

Your baby now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber), from head to heel. The nerve pathways in her ears are developing, which means her response to sounds is growing more consistent. Her lungs are developing now, too, as she continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when she's born and takes that first breath of air.

Bumbo

A 60 lb. dog will fit into a Bumbo, but unless you help support the dog's back, the dog will just topple over and fall out of it.

Dentist

Today was Charlotte's first trip to the dentist. Well, sort of. I had a cleaning, and she decided to dance all during the appointment. She tends to do that when I lie flat on my back (which I know I'm not supposed to do for an extended period of time!) and stay still for a while. I'm happy to report that I don't have any of the "pregnancy gingivitis" that a lot of women get, and my hygenist said I didn't bleed an unusual amount (which is another thing that is supposed to happen during pregnancy). Plus, I didn't have any cavities.

Between Corey not needing braces and my complete lack of cavities (other than a tiny one caught very early on one of my baby teeth), I'm hoping Charlotte will have some nice strong and healthy chompers. At the very least, let's hope she gets better teeth than Pop (my mom's father). He had his last tooth pulled while in the service when he was 19 or so and has had a full set of false teeth ever since!

Hiccup

Another first. Charlotte had her first hiccups this morning. Niki said they felt like little, evenly spaced kicks. They only lasted a few minutes, though.

Joe Thomas, a friend of ours, helped us pick up the crib and glider chair for Charlotte's room over the weekend, and we have begun emptying the room. Prior to the pregnancy, the room had been used as a craft room/office/storage room. In addition, in preparation for installing a ceiling fan and Charlotte's man-in-the-moon light, we have completely emptied the attic. We have been pulling out our favorite childhood toys and books from boxes in the attic for Charlotte - Possum (for those you who remember Possum) has made his appearance, for example. We have also gone through our old books and found books with stories that we are looking forward to reading Charlotte, such as Tall Tales of America, Albert the Running Bear (given to me and Stephanie by Mom after she watched Uncle Dave run his first Boston Marathon in 1983) and Grimms' Fairy Tales. (Niki is not real keen on me reading Grimm's Fairy Tales to her. If you have never read the original Grimm's Fairy Tales, give it a try. Wow. Gruesome.)

In addition, I have never read all of Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha, and think I would like to read that to Charlotte as a baby. So, that book went in Charlotte's libary as well.

We have completely abandoned the color scheme for Charlotte's room that Niki pondered from Target (the picture is in an earlier post) and will be going with mostly blues and sage greens. The glider, though, is in a "ginger" color (orangish/redish/pinkish), and sets off nicely to those other colors. They are not quite pastels, but are light and calming.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this all comes together.

Charlotte's Dad

So exciting!!

As some of you may already know, Corey and I aren't the only ones in the family who is expecting a baby right now. As can be expected from twins, we tend to do things at about the same time. We both abandoned the nest on the same day and even forced our family to split up for our college graduations. Then, we got married about eight months apart and even bought houses within a year of each other.

Now, my goofy sister has joined me in the ranks of "eating for two" and is due to give birth exactly 13 weeks after me in the middle of June. I have held off mentioning it in the blog so as not to steal her thunder or to announce it before she felt it was safe to let people know. She has given me express permission to post this info, and now that she has hit the crucial 12-week mark I think it's time!

It's neat that the cousins will be so close in age. So will Charlotte have a girl cousin or a boy cousin to play with at all the Evans family functions? We won't know for another 6-8 weeks or so (Erin says they are pretty sure they will try to find out the gender). Needless to say, the future Grandma JoAnn and Grandpa Spike are pretty tickled that they will earn their grandparent status twice over in 2008. I'm especially glad that I have someone else to moan to who is in the same situation, though it is interesting that our pregnancies have not been progressing identically (she's way more nauseated than I was in the first trimester!).

Question for you all to ponder -- since Erin and I are identical twins and thus have the same DNA, will our kids be sort of like half siblings? I mentioned it to my doctor, and she just laughed and shrugged. I definitely think they will have a unique bond at the very least!

P.S. Erin says she and Andrew probably won't be doing their own blog, so anyone interested in how she's progressing should just look at my blog entries from exactly 13 weeks prior. Hee hee.

25 Weeks and Look at That Butt!

Aww - the baby's butt in the 25 week drawing is pretty cute. We're so happy to have hit the 25-week milestone, because the baby's chances at surviving early delivery seem to dramatically increase at about this point.

According to "I-am-pregnant.com" (seriously - that's the name of the site!), "[i]f your baby were delivered at this time, it would have a good chance of surviving. It is best for your baby to remain inside of you for the remainder of the pregnancy, but great advances have been made in the care of a premature baby. Ventilators, monitors and medications all help premature babies develop and grow outside of the womb." Sounds good to me!

That same site also says "[y]ou can hear your baby's heartbeat with both a doppler and a stethoscope at this time, and your partner may even be able to hear the heartbeat unaided if he puts his ear in the right position." We'll have to try that tonight! I'm certainly feeling a lot more kicking all over the place right now. In fact, Charlotte took the opportunity to dance last night for what seemed like forever while I was at a Nickel Creek concert with my Indiana cousins, Larry & Sarah Williams. I think she likes bluegrass.

The other site I visit describes Charlotte like this:

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. Her hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after she's born.

24 Week Pictures

Here's the BabyCenter.com rendering of what Charlotte looks like at 24 weeks. There's not a whole lot of change week to week anymore like there was in the first trimester, but I'll keep posting the pictures anyway.

The other picture shows how much bigger I'm getting. That's my maternal grandpa, Pop, there with me. I still have only gained a little over 10 lbs (even after finishing a whole pumpkin pie by myself over the course of a couple of days during Thanksgiving last week in California!), which is good because I wasn't exactly underweight to begin with. For those preggos with higher starting weight, I keep reading that 15-20 lbs is a better target for weight gain over the entire pregnancy.

Speaking of Pop, Corey and I realized the other day that Charlotte will be born with eight living great-grandparents and all four grandparents. Not many kids are that lucky! We are sad that Corey's Grandma Stringer isn't here to meet Charlotte, but we know she's looking down from above and keeping tabs on everything.

24 Weeks

Well, Niki is 24 weeks along. We have been trying to do research regarding the "stuff" we apparently need for raising a baby, and have been trying to be very careful about it. This stuff (cribs, strollers, car seats, etc.) is expensive, so we want to make sure we make the right choices (so we'll have some money left over for some fun stuff, too). We have been asking for advice from our friends and family, doing research online, and discussing, discussing, discussing.

I have been working a ton, and am hoping that work slows down in December and January so I can get working again on my projects for Charlotte's room - new shelves, changing table, etc. I'd hate for time to run out and have to buy this stuff from a store.

We have ordered the fixtures and new carpeting for Charlotte's room, so those will be ready to install when Spike and JoAnn come to visit in December.

As for Charlotte, the website we consult says that she is about the length of an ear of corn. She's kicking quite a bit - I can actually see Niki's belly bump out when she kicks. That's kind of fun. Well, for me at least.

I am slowly becoming aware that babies are not simply babies, and that there is a big difference between ages. Every baby I see, I have an urge to ask the parents how old the child is. The differences between each month are amazing. 18 months looks like a fun age, as does 3 months . . . Well, they all kind of do.

I have been worrying about Duke and Connie. I know full well that when Charlotte is born, Duke and Connie won't get as much attention from us. On the other hand, we'll make up for it later, because as Charlotte grows up, she'll give Duke and Connie 24-hour attention. Petting, scritching, running, pulling ears and tails, etc. They'll just have to live through some lean months when she is an infant. As for Pacey, I think he'll appreciate having Charlotte as an infant rather than a toddler. He lives upstairs, and once this baby is born, we'll be spending a lot of time upstairs. Plus, an infant won't be chasing him around.

Respect for animals is a huge topic with Niki and me. We are, quite frankly, appalled at how some children treat our dogs. Other kids are fine, but some - wow. We'll have to teach Charlotte (and any of her friends) that dogs and cats are to be treated gently and with love. We have been trying to be more proactive with neighborhood children to teach them about how to pet and treat our dogs. The Hancock children are especially good with them. After all, the better children treat our dogs, the more our dogs are likely to enjoy Charlotte . . .

I have been working on with the dogs with playing more gently. Before Niki was pregnant (and, to be truthful, now, too), I played VERY rough with the dogs. They like it. It's fun for me. Not going to be so good for the kid. I trust that the dogs will be able to distinguish between playing with me and playing with a toddler, but I have been trying to be gentler with them, just in case. For example, when Duke sees me sitting cross-legged on the floor, he'll charge across the room, put his head down, and somersault into my lap, landing belly-side up. I can take a full-speed hit from a 90lb dog. A toddler won't.

We have some work to do with Connie and the stroller. She was deathly afraid of my roller blades, and now she's petrified of the stroller. We'll have to take some walks with her and the stroller and get her used to it. Daily walks around our little neighborhood are going to be a staple for us, and we can't have Connie freaking out every time we pull the stroller out. Plus, Connie'll have to tolerate Charlotte in one of these (see above) (once she gets old enough) - a real stamped steel Mustang pedal car to match mine. (I'm already saving up for it).

Riding in Style

After Corey made it back from Knoxville with no major injuries other than a bruised ego (Vandy blew a great lead and barely managed to lose the game), we got two major things accomplished. We ordered new carpet for the upstairs rooms (other than the master and the bonus room, which will be refloored probably in wood) and worked a bunch on the baby registries at Target & Babies 'r' Us.

I got over my adverse overwhelmed reaction to Babies 'r' Us (I actually got dizzy in there without Corey on Saturday!) and took a stab at picking out some baby items. We're still working on the Target registry as well, but we hope to have it all finalized very soon. While we were at Babies 'r' Us, we picked out the stroller and car seat that Barb & Larry bought for Charlotte! They aren't part of a "system", because we preferred being able to pick out each of the pieces separately. They also don't really match, but we're cool with that. The stroller is super light - about 9 lbs. The car seat has all of the safety ratings Corey wanted, and the baby will only use it until she reaches 30 lbs. anyway. The next car seat up will be used for a whole lot longer, so we're going to do a bunch more research before we pick that one out.

Thank you so much to Barb & Larry for helping us get Charlotte traveling in style! We tried to test out the stroller with Pacey, but he was having NONE of it. Connie barked at the stroller and ran from it, but our friends Austin & Kelly assured us that this is not an uncommon thing for goofy dogs who are afraid of things with wheels. Duke had no reaction whatsoever to the stroller, other than to sniff it and roll over for a belly rub. No surprise there.