28 Weeks!
We've reached another milestone in our pregnancy; we're officially in the third trimester! I'm really starting to feel it, too. Lately my energy levels have been completely unpredictable - just fine some days and totally exhausted on others. My back is doing OK most days - but that's not to say there aren't some days that are definitely more uncomfortable. I guess I have a lot more discomfort to look forward to! It's still pretty hot here in Portland - in the upper 80s for this last week and into the near future. Not as bad as 100+, but it's still enough to make my ankles swell up like balloons.
Babycenter.com has this to say about 28 weeks:
By this week, your baby weighs a little over 2 pounds and measures about 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can open her eyes — which now sport lashes — and she'll turn her head toward a continuous, bright light from the outside. Her fat layers are beginning to form, too, as she gets ready for life outside the womb.
Little Bean is starting to take up more and more room in my belly. She usually lies transverse (sideways) but sometimes she does goes vertical and my entire stomach and ribs really get pushed out - ouch! It's an effective form for controlling the amount I eat, that's for sure! We'll try to get some more photos up soon; in the meantime, have a great day all!
Sack the Quarterback! Me, singing; Laural Winter, reading; Dave Sullivan, reading and singing.
Haven's Coffee Shop. 3551 SE Division, August 20th, 7 p.m.
MoveOn.org fundraiser.
This was our first in the neighborhood Division Street Fair. It never really made it up to the SE 51st and Division area so it was more of an event to get out and attend.
We to Wild Oats for lunch-- a benefit for the Bridges to Independence organization. I spotted our man for City Council Sam Adams buying a lemonade from the stand across the street. Good to see Sam out and about.
We were glad to find a Children's Exchange store--used infant and children clothes, furniture, etc.
It was sooooo hot. By the time we made it to PIX we were ready for something cool. Susan had ice cream; I had strawberry sorbet.
Later we went to the organic baby shop on Clinton, Mother Nature's, and registered. They have unbleached diapers and the best toys.
Today we started painting the guest room and hung some of our pictures. Slowly, things are getting put in their place.
It's almost 100 degrees here in Portland and I'll tell you what, it's a hot momma. Speaking of hot mommas, when I am hot and parched, I reach for my iced-cold bottle of Trutol 50. Nothing like a sugary sweet bottle of soda prescribed by the Dr. to cool you off... Actually, this is the drink they have you take as you enter your third trimester in order to see if you've developed gestational diabetes. I had my test today and should know more next week.
We went for our ultrasound this morning (picture in the entry below) and everything is looking A-OK which is a tremendous relief. The baby is measuring right on target and she was much more cooperative with the tech than last time. This round she slept nearly the entire time. Later this afternoon we headed to the OB to share the good news and have our monthly check up. Starting next month we'll move to visits every other week. My belly keeps getting bigger - but that's nothing compared to how big my ankles are in this heat!
Here are Bean's spine and head--from today's ultrasound.
Everything turned out great. The placenta has moved up nicely and is no longer "placenta previa" and is in now in proper position. Susan keeps having these boy baby dreams. Last night she dreamed I went to the hospital to get our baby and came home with a boy. So, she had the technician check again. All's well--bean's a female bean. This picture is so cool. Bean was showing off her spine right off the bat.
Here's the quilt!
Jack the cat sure is curious about it. I think Susan told everyone how special this quilt is for us. Her mom started embroidering the pieces when Susan was a baby and didn't get it finished. So her mom finished it for Bean.
My mom sent us the baby quilt that she had started when she was pregnant with me. At the time, she had completed emrboidering most of the panels but never finished it up. Well, it's done now and it arrived today and it is SO amazing. The panels were stored in plastic for the last 30 years so it looks brand new. I'll get some photos of the quilt up later tonight but couldn't wait to share the news.
Mom also sent me a baby monitor, photo album, a copy of my favorite story (The Little Red Hen), another quilt made by an acquaintance, and a couple more blankets - which Bean will need when she's born in October. All in all, quite a haul.
27 weeks!!!
Can you believe it? We're heading into the 3rd trimester now and boy am I feeling it. Suddenly I feel like I'm waddling and moving about as slow as a submarine. I woke up this morning to the alarm and had to roll over to turn it off; sounds fairly routine, yes? But no - ligaments and muscles in the lower half of my tummy were protesting loudly at that form of movement - ouch!
This is what the Babycenter is saying about development at 27 weeks:
The baby now weighs about 2 pounds. Her eyes open and close, and she sleeps and wakes at regular intervals and may suck a finger or thumb. Your baby is really starting to fill up your uterus. This week she is about 14.4 inches long with her legs extended. She can now open and close her 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, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what she's thinking?
The part about hiccups is so true; I'd felt that she's had them a few times over the last week or so - but today it's as if she read this entry because there have been at least three times today alone that I felt them. It's so cute to feel them too - they feel like tiny little pokes but very rhythmic. All I know is I just can't wait to bring Little Bean home!
My tolerance for justifying someone's inappropriate behavior is low these days. As it should be. But what really happens is that I end up simply ignoring rather than creating some justification. Then a few days later I think to myself, "that's not right." And I end up in this dialogue in my head about when does inaction become action and when does inaction equate to harm and who really gets to define "inappropriate behavior" anyway? I've been and continue to be on the short end of the stick of some people's definition of inappropriate behavior. Believe me, the "definers" can be powerful, persuasive and yet very wrong.
Love and Rockets from their song
No New Tale to Tell:
You cannot go against nature
Because when you do
Go against nature
It's part of nature too
Maybe it's all part of the mix of nature?
Here's the story. We're pretty sure that a recovering Aunt of ours was on some drug the other night at the concert. Withdrawn, a little slow on the up-take, up and down every 5 minutes. And then she said she was going to go hang out by the fence. Later, she left a message on our cell phone that she saw people leaving and decided it would be hard to find us so she went to the parking lot and waited in her vehicle. When we got to the parking lot we practically had to beat the door in to wake her up. The next day she called Susan and said she was sorry but she was frustrated that her son had been at our house and she hadn't known that until earlier in the day. Okay. Whatever. Call Susan at work when she can't talk and use Denial and Blame. 2 very choice weapons of addicts. So, instead of us justifying it and saying she's having a hard time right now, blah blah blah, we're just going to ignore and probably not invite her out anymore. What we should do is talk to her, right? Noooooooooo. Everyone in the family has been down that road before and it's long and ugly. And this is the third or fourth time. And the custody battle is in its 3rd year at least.
Now suddenly my mind is back to that familiar dialogue in my head about action/inaction... So I will "search for a key to escape this labyrinth." A borrowed quote from Kant's
The Critique of Practical Reason. Maybe a t.v. show?
The Indigo Girls can still get everyone on their feet for
Closer to Fine. What a packed house on the Portland Zoo lawn last night. Emily Sailers had this t-shirt on that read "Wax Bush" with a
vote 2004 underneath. Amy Ray wore these retro looking striped pants that were dragging the ground with some open toed sandals peaking out ever so often. I saw her about 3 years ago at the Crystal Ballroom with the Butchies. It was nice to have her folk-y music mixed up with some punk. When I hear them in large doses, I think the Indigo Girls need a little something added to their mix. We parked in the overflow lot and it just started to rain when we got on the Laidlaw yellow transport bus. There were hundreds of people still waiting. Lawn concerts are a little hard for pregnant people, but Susan made it through without too much strain. Bean was active. She really likes music.
We've been looking at pet information today--preparing the pet for baby. The best idea I've read is to get Jack used to the baby smells before the baby appears. Start using baby oil or baby powder, that sort of stuff. Jack is also a bed sleeper. We try to keep him at the foot of the bed, but sometimes I wake up and find him with his tail wrapped around Susan's nose or sleeping on her pillow at the top of her head. The more draconian advice was to stop Jack from sleeping in our room or the baby room starting two months prior to birth. I've got to do some more research.
I'll be 27 weeks pregnant on Tuesday; it's hard to believe we are so far along - and yet it's also hard to believe that I still have three more months to go. We've been continuing to play Bean music across all spectrums. I often play Mozart, but she also seems to like this Aarbic Groove CD we got from Putamayo. About the baby, the Babycenter.com site says this about development at 26 weeks:
"Your baby now weighs a little under 2 pounds and measures about 14 inches, 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."
This Friday is a big milestone for us; we're having another ultrasound to make sure that my placenta is moved into the correct place. (During our first ultrasound, it was sitting far too low; if that is still the case we're facing a condition called 'Placenta Previa' - which could mean bed rest and C-Section - yuk.)
We start our birth classes with the hospital in a few weeks as well. In addition to that series of classes, we're looking into additional - more progressive - classes that either teach the Bradley Method or Birthing From Within.
the lonely Free Martha sign at the March for women's Lives in D.C. this past April.
Martha was sentenced to 5 months in prison today.
I have to admit it. I am a Martha fan. And I think she has the most amazing hands ever. Look at her hands next time you see her show. Strong, efficacious hands. If I can, on my days off I sink into the couch with a cup of coffee and watch 2 shows, Martha's and then Ellen's.
Bean has been active these past two weeks. She's still hicupping away. Susan is getting increasingly more uncomfortable in this third trimester. There's a lot of stuff going on for the baby--finger nail development, possible dreaming action...
Okay, I'm about to make this day more productive... Which room to prepare for painting? I think the stairway to the basement is going to be my priority. Mostly because it still smells like a beer hall. Tomorrow is another paint day. Joe is coming to assist again--Renee is working and can't make it. They've been such a help to us. Plus, it's just been fun to spend some time with them.
i'm past the wake up and into blow up. w says he won't speak to the naacp because they're politicizing civil rights. get out your passport, this government is so crazy it could drive us into anarchy. i went through the reagan years all the fears nose to the grind stone head down. aids killing friends, named a gay disease no need to freak cause it's killing off the people we don't need. but not anymore because i'm so tired of all of this defending who i am who i can be what i can be if i can be the wife i want to be the mother i want to be. i know the world is full of bigotry and hate if i go looking for it but i don't even have to look for it. it's looking for me. i'm not looking for hate its looking for me. i'm not looking for hate its looking for me. i'm past the wake up and into the blow up and i think there are a lot more like me. come november we'll see and maybe w will see and his bull will stop dozin' and we'll be in a place that's free to be you and me cause it's all about him right now. isn't it, cow-boy?
This is how Jack the cat spends most of his evening now. Either at this door or the back door.
He's still a scardy cat though. At the first sign of foot traffic his legs start flying. He's feeling more comfy in the house now. I think we all are. I finally got my guitar out of the basement. It's so nice to have some time to think about playing rather than dealing with house issues. Dave Sullivan is the headliner at Haven's Coffee Shop on SE Division street on Friday, August 20th. Two openers: me (acoustic) and Laural Winter (poet). We're sending donations collected to Move On's 50 for the Future campaign. Come if you can. My twin will be in from Houston.
I'd rather be researching local doulas, or really just about anything other than thinking about what's happening with this federal marriage amendment.
Move On says it so well with their United not Divided campaign, so I want to share their words.
Please help right away -- we've got to stick together
Congress is about to vote on amending the U.S. Constitution to deny marriage equality to same-sex couples.
Never before has our Constitution been amended to take away anyone's rights. Yet our Senators will vote on this amendment in the next 48 hours.
It's urgent that we speak up now. This hateful divisiveness has no place in America. Please join me in saying so, at:
http://www.moveon.org/unitednotdivided/
Equality in marriage is the civil rights issue of our generation. We can't let anyone, or any group, be singled out for discrimination based on who they are or who they love.
I tried to call Senators Wyden and Smith today but their lines were jammed and tonight their voice mail boxes are full. If you can reach them, please do and urge them to vote no on the federal marriage amendment.
Senator Ron Wyden
Direct: (202) 224-5244
Web Form
Senator Gordon H. Smith
Direct: (202) 224-3753
Web Form
What else? Susan is super tired this week. According to all of the books the baby doubled in size this past week. That's making Susan feel as tired as she was in her first trimester. And now her belly button has become an out-y. How do you spell that? outie? outy?
Hi all - well, we have one more room painted in the house and it's the best of them all - Baby Bean's nursery is now a great shade of peach/orange. Before we bought the house the room was purple and black as you can see. Not my idea of good nursery colors to say the least.
We had the room primed first by our painter a few weeks ago, then we began all of the preparations this morning (taping, patching, scraping off dripped primer, etc.) which in and of itself was a lot of work. Fortunately, we had a lot of help. Of course, I was shunned to other areas of the house since the paint fumes are potentially dangerous. My parents came to help again and we had Sally and Kirkland helping too.
Kirkland is my eight year old cousin and Sally is his step-mom. Kirkland will enter 3rd grade next year and he had a blast rolling the peach paint on the walls (and the trim and ceiling and floors too, ha ha).
Here's what emerged as our new nursery a few hours later.
Sheryl was busy painting on Friday as well; she tackled the dining nook off the kitchen. We wanted a color that would transition well from the kitchen and we went for the deep blue found in the kitchen tile. We were concerned about it making the nook seem too small; but we agree that the white windows really make a nice contrast.
old nook
new nook
I had a conversation with a former co-worker recently who, in our catching up conversation, was perplexed about why I have to adopt the baby Susan and I are having. "Didn't the marriage take care of that?" she asked. No. There's no presumption of parenthood for same-sex couples.
About It All today talks about opponents of marriage equality questioning whether it is appropritate for same-sex couples to be parents. Puh-lease. Tim Nashif, head of this group, is also chairman of the Multnomah County Republican Party. You can read about his coalition's stinking thinking in
this article from GayAmerican.org.
Otherwise, smiles all around as bean is hiccuping! That means her diaphragm is working. It's so fun when there are signs of growth. Grandparents Joe and Renee are coming this Saturday to help paint her room and Uncle Dave and Kirkland will be here too. Dave is going to do some electrical projects for us. Kirkland is about 8 years old. He's just going to hang out with us all.
I hate the end of a long weekend. It's been so nice having the last several days off to work on the house and hang with friends and family. Today Sheryl and I took a hike with my folks out at Tryon Creek State Park - well, actually it was a pretty mild walk with both parents and Sheryl clucking away making sure it wasn't too strenuous for me. We walked for about 30 minutes or so. I suppose it was enough because I promptly came home and crashed for about half an hour.
My parents brought their two dogs with them - Toby and Lucky. Here's Lucky getting the adults all tangled up in the excitement.
Tryon Creek park is full of Trilliums - none of which are in bloom of course - but we stumbled across the remnants of the flowers along the way. The plants themselves are still quite beautiful.
I've figured out that Little Bean sometimes lays sideways and sometimes lays up and down. I much prefer sideways because when she's up and down it crushes my stomach and lungs and makes my tummy pretty tight; of course I know that someday soon this breech position won't do... This afternoon she went vertical and was busy kicking me quite a bit during the hike.
We were at the
Alpenrose Velodrome for the state track races yesterday.
This is our slightly blurry friend Peter (with the black wheel). He's the man in track racing, really.
The grade of the track is up to 43 degrees. And it's steep. The rides are skill and strategy.
We sat in the shade. Did you know that pregnant women are more prone to sunburn? I haven't checked this out yet, but apparently all the pregnant women know that. This is Susan and friend Laural (Peter the racer's wife) in the shade trees.
Here's something pregnant women do that I think is funny. They totally check each other out. You know what I'm talking about. Looking to see what your body is doing, how big you are, how you carry, what you're wearing...
What a differnce a little paint makes. Yesterday we had a paint/work day. Susan's dad and mom came over and helped paint the living room and dining room and Joe took out 3 layers of moldey icky caulk in the bathroom tub/tile and replaced it with non-moldy bright and shiney new caulk. The big rooms feel so much better now that they're not 100% white. Here are the old and new pictures. The color on the walls that aren't over the built-in are beige.
We have our very first house guests this weekend! Holden, Jackal and Griffin came in from Seattle for a softball tournament. This is what Jackal and Griffin looked like after 4 games in the sun yesterday.
And here's Holden after he showered. He was trying to get his second wind before going out-on-the-town.
Laural, Tamara, Pamela, C.K., Leisha and John all came for the bbq. Joe and Renee were as tired as all of us. It was nice to sit down and relax for a minute.
Holden, Jackal and Griffin gave us a Songs for the Summer cd mix. Total cruisin' mix including Car Wash, Rose Royce; Celebration, Kool and the Gang; Take Me With U, Prince and the Revolution; Where is the Love, Black Eyed Peas; and Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell.
Hello all - Susan here and Little Bean has been making her presence known more and more as the days go by. Yesterday I had my first experience where she kicked my hand - hard, too. That was the first time I could actually feel movement from outside. Then again today I had the same experience - except she was dancin' up a storm for about 30 min. solid. It was great. I called Sheryl and told her that her daughter wasn't being very nice by kicking her momma so much - ha ha. Then she quieted down for a while. I'll have to start tracking when her movements start and stop; they say that some babies are so regular you could set your watch by them - we'll have to wait and see on that point.
Pregnancy ailments are still annoying; my ankles get puffy in the late afternoon with all of this warm weather. That and it seems like I'm burping like a 12 year old all of the time - embarrassing. (So why am I sharing I ask myself...)
This weekend we're having house guests come and stay - they'll have to deal with partially painted walls and boxes, but it should be fun. Dad's coming over on Saturday to participate in our 'work day'. It should be fun; hopefully we'll get enough done that we can actually get a few walls painted in this house; Sheryl and I are both just itching for color.
