3D Ultrasound

It was a lot of fun! At times the images got a little scary but for the most part she was adorable!

I wish I could figure out how to get the video off of the DVD so I could post it. Maybe Shaun can work his video magic to get it to work later. In the mean time...here's one super cute picture of her hand and face.

New Job

Two days into the new job and I'm already liking it better than the last one :-)

I got there yesterday morning and my desk was set up (complete with a 'Welcome Danielle' sign) and I even already had 6 emails waiting for me with meetings scheduled! Very different from waiting for 5 months at the previous job to feel like I had things to do. I spent most of the first two days being introduced to everyone and sitting in on meetings. However, I did get to complete a couple of PR tasks too (sending information for community calendars around the cities and wrote a press release). Another big change with this job is getting used to the size of the company. There are less people at this job total than there were on my floor at the previous job. Everyone seems to know each other very well and there's a different sense of community.

Overall, I think I'm going to enjoy working here this summer. If only being pregnant would cooperate with my desire to work. Lol, I get so tired around 1 or 2 everyday that I struggle to make it until 5. I really hope that I'm doing an ok job with covering up the million-mile-stare being tired makes me get!

5...4...3...2...1...

One day more until my current job is over -- Five more days until I start the new job -- Seven more days until we get a 3D/4D ultrasound -- Fourteen days until the next appointment with the midwife -- Forty-five more days until I’m out of the Army -- Sixty-six days until the baby shower -- One more trimester, or 91 days, until the baby is due…

I feel like I’m spending all of my time this week just counting down to something! I love that so many changes are taking place but I’m having a hard time being patient and just waiting for things to happen.

Last night was our second hypnobirthing class. I was in a funky mood when we got there so I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention. Shaun and I appear to be the least able to sit still couple in the group. When there are only 4 couples in the class these things tend to be noticed, oops! We whisper to each other, I find the room to be unbearably hot about 30 minutes into the class and start waving papers in my face, and Shaun can’t sit still for the life of him so he gets up and walks around. There is one non-pregnant lady in the class (who is a sign language interpreter for one of the dads) who decided that the fan was too cold last night and turned it off! After suffering for 20 minutes I turned the fan back on and turned it directly at me. It was just cruel of her, the only one without the rushing hormones, to deny me that source of cool air, lol.

Other than that, the class was good. We watched a couple of birthing videos (I’m never taping my experience) and practiced our relaxation exercises.

Hmmmm…well, I was interrupted in typing and can’t seem to remember all the other stuff I was going to type, lol. Hope everyone’s having a good day!

Shout out to Jane and Phil

I’m not sure if they’re reading the blog or not, but I wanted to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to Jane and Phil on their engagement!!! I cannot wait to hear all about it when you get home from your trip. It sounds absolutely romantic! When Shaun read his email he called me immediately, full of excitement...at the appropriate hour of 6:15 am.

Happy Mother's Day!

I spent this morning with my mom at the Race for the Cure event and had a blast! Apparently walking 5K is a bit hard on me at 6 months pregnant, though, which freaks me out. Something like that would never have phased me pre-pregnancy. Normally I'm doing the run, not the walk. The realization that my body is not the same set me back mentally a bit but did motivate me to get out more during this pregnancy and to get into a workout schedule post pregnancy asap.

Shaun and Dad worked on the plumbing in the basement today too. Unlike all the other days they spent working down there, today I heard much swearing and yelling coming from the basement. Things did not go very well. The evening ended when the main water line coming in on the city's side of the water meter started leaking and we had to call the city to come turn off our water. In order to fix the leak Shaun had to visit 4 different stores, call 2 different plumbers, and eventually visit a specialty wholesale store located about an hour away to get the right part. It's still not quite fixed yet but it should be soon.

Speaking of Shaun, he completely forgot that today was Mother's Day. I didn't expect a gift or any big deal about it but I was hoping that he'd at least say something sweet to me today. Er, no such luck. :eye roll:

There's popcorn popping in my belly

I swear that is what it feels like right now. She's in there tap dancing or performing flutter kicks. Whatever she's doing, she's keeping me awake!

:-)

Race for the Cure

This Mother's Day I'm participating in the Susan G Komen's Race for the Cure. It's a fundraising event for breast cancer research. If you would like to donate to the cause you can do so here:

http://www.active.com/donate/komentc08/DEineke

Last week of the second tri

Holy moly! I'm getting big! Lol, I'm sure I'm just going to be getting bigger too :-)

Things are starting to get uncomfortable as I grow. I can no longer cross my legs (probably a good thing to avoid varicose veins), tying my boots every morning is starting to get difficult, and I've lost the ability to sleep more than 2 hours at a time. Oh, and I think I used to take for granted the ability to take a full breath of air!

-BUT- I still very much love being pregnant. The little one is very active in there and all day long I feel her twisting and turning and kicking. It brings a smile to my face even when doing the most mundane tasks.

Last night was our first birthing class and overall it was good. It was loooong, but good. Our instructor just went over our fears about birthing and then the mechanics of giving birth. At the end we went over some relaxation techniques. I really wanted to fall asleep while we did them (hey, it was after 9 pm by this time) but I managed to stay awake.

Overall, things are going well at home. The basement project is still moving along. The baby's room is just about done being decorated. I'm officially done with college. Shaun has been around for a good chunk of time and his work doesn't seem to have any out of town training planned between now and when the baby comes. We also couldn't be asking for better weather, finally! Spring is here and not a moment too soon!

Birthing classes start!

I am very excited to finally be starting our birthing class tonight. I have been doing a lot of reading about child birthing since before getting pregnant and decided that hypnobirthing was something I wanted to try. Lucky for us, there is an instructor in the Twin Cities and we will be able to take a class instead of just reading the books.

For those of you who don't know...hypnobirthing is a natural birthing technique involving a form a self hypnosis. It's philosophies stem from the idea that childbirth is a natural, normal process that has been around since the first human and that by overcoming our fears about birthing, we can also overcome a lot of the pain. Well, that's the most basic outline.

Our midwife has only had one patient try hypnobirthing but she says she was impressed by the outcomes. We hope to be her second successful attempt :)