Everything is A-OK

I had my 30-week appointment yesterday and got to meet another doctor in the practice (they rotate you around a little so you will be familiar with everyone else in case your own OB isn't available for the birth). Her name is Dr. Kim Scott, which made me giggle. (She politely smiled when I told her I had an aunt with the same name.) So far, I have really liked the other doctors in the practice (they're all fairly young women!), so I'm not stressed out at all about whether Dr. Bell will be the actual one to catch Charlotte on her way out.

Anyway, Dr. Scott confirmed that everything looks "A-OK" with my pregnancy so far. My blood pressure is terrific, the baby's heartbeat is right on target, and there are absolutely no warning signs to indicate I made a mistake in choosing the hospital closest to home (Williamson Medical) rather than hoofing it over 20 miles to Vanderbilt with its high-level NICU. [Corey keeps telling me that the hospital is so close (barely over a mile from home) that I should just walk there when I'm in labor instead of wasting the gas. Yeah, right.] So, the only disappointment I had with the visit was when I accidentally grabbed a banana Dum-Dum sucker out of the basket instead of the peach one I had been going for. Talk about a nasty surprise when I popped it in my mouth on the interstate on my way back to work!

All in all, I'm still feeling great and feeling Charlotte kicking all over the place a bunch of times each day. My sister recently started feeling her own baby moving around, which was really exciting to hear. BabyZone.com says I only have 65 more days to go until the due date! Time seems to have been speeding up as of late...

30 Weeks

Goodness gracious! With all of the holiday traveling, guest hosting, and business traveling we have done over the past few weeks, I have completely neglected to post any updates. First, we spent Christmas up in Michigan with Corey's family. While there, we saw a Michigan State basketball game (no, we weren't able to get a photo of Sparty rubbing my belly), had a family baby shower (so many great gifts from all of the Taylor/Stringer/Sanderson women! Thank you so much, Stephanie!!), ate TONS of food, opened a bunch of terrific presents, and saw the world's most over-decorated house (the one that caused a traffic jam of "Christmas light tourists", not the really cool one that had the lights timed to music).

Once we returned from Michigan, I spent nearly an entire day stuck in the house while the slowest carpet installers EVER put in new carpeting in the two front bedrooms, upstairs hallway, and main staircase. It looks fabulous, but that was the longest day of my life.

Then, my mom, dad, and Grandpa Chuck flew in to help us paint Charlotte's room and bathroom (photos of that in a later post!). In addition to the painting, Corey and my dad installed two ceiling fans with lights, a closet light, a moon pendant lamp, a new light switch for the attic light, and did a bunch of other little fix-it tasks. It was a busy few days! Grandpa Chuck kept us entertained while he knit, frogged, and re-knit a shawl over and over again. The most important lesson he learned after New Year's Eve was that he shouldn't knit while tipsy.

The day everyone left, I flew to New York for the Association of American Law Schools annual meeting and an breakfast for NYC Vandy Law alumni. I got to hang out with Corey's cousin, Erin, at her office and caught up with a bunch of alumni acquaintances, but by Friday night I was SO happy to be back in my own bed. After a dinner party with some of our favorite neighbors (the Marshalls), a visit with Sara Thomas and 18-month-old Annabelle, and an evening in Ronnie & Jean Ballentine's garage watching the Titans game, I think I'm finally ready to go back to work tomorrow for my last 7 weeks of work(!).

Since I missed the 29-week post, I'll just share what's going on with Charlotte at 30 weeks:

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

Moo

Well, I might not quite feel like a cow just yet, but I'm well on my way. My weight gain is still under 15 lbs, but everyone has been commenting lately on how "pregnant" I look. Putting on tennis shoes has proved to be the most annoying daily task now that my belly is all big. Shaving my legs? Well, let's just say that our cousin Jordan Williams (a sophomore at Belmont University here in Nashville) and his buddies aren't the only ones who did "No-Shave November". (Jordan's beard looks very nice, by the way.)

We're heading to Rochester, MI tomorrow afternoon for Christmas. This will be our last trip up before Charlotte is born, and we're bringing both Connie and Duke along for the ride. They will be so excited to play with their canine cousin, Kayla, in the snow. I fear for Barb's floors if all that snow melts and turns the ground to mud. I forsee a lot of paw-wiping in store for this visit.

Now that we're at 28 weeks (with only 84 days to go!!), here's what's going on with Charlotte:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Hey - she was a different type of cabbage last week! I guess she's a cabbage patch kid? Actually, I remember learning that "cabbage" is a term of endearment in French ("Je t'aime, mon petit chou!"). So it is an appropriate comparison, I suppose. Erin just told me her baby (at 15 weeks along) is the size of an apple. Is it weird that I'm now hungry for a Gala apple?

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.