38-week update...

...is once again that there is no update. It's not trumatic this week, though: my "real" doc was back and everything is all good -- I'm just still hanging out at 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Which, in a glass-half-full world, is okay -- at least it's not going backwards!

Haven't taken a photo; I'll try to remember to do that tonight. Other Betz updates, though:

• She is head-down and ready to head-out (hahahaha)


• She weighs about 6.8 lbs and is about 19.5" long


• She's the size of a leek:
  

37-week doc appointment update...

...there is no update. Sorry. I literally have nothing to share. I saw a stand-in doc today (my "real" doc is apparently on vacation this week) and he is a total toolbox. Made me cry, actually. Let's be truthful, though: what doesn't make me cry nowadays?

Summary statement: I'm still pregnant. I'll report more when I know more.

37w2d (a.k.a. 19 days to go)

Q: Seriously, can it get any bigger?
A: Apparently! I actually think my belly is still growing... as hard as it is to believe!

No real updates, though -- she's just doing her best to get "cooked" enough to join us. (Technically, however, she is now fully cooked -- 37 weeks is considered "full term.") Baby book only talks about the presence of meconium (yum!), body fat and the lack of room in my belly to move around (no kidding!).

One bit of interesting information: by the end of today, baby's toenails have reached the end of her toes. When fingernails and toenails first form on the fetus, they actually begin to form on the palm of the hand and sole of the foot, respectively, then migrate to their final positions at the end of each digit. Thank goodness for evolutionary development, eh?! Pedicures would be pretty gross otherwise...

Bartlett for President!

Aaron Sorkin tends to lean a little too far left for my personal tastes, and I (for one) am still learning about both (all) candidates before the November election... but MAN OH MAN do I miss "West Wing"!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1222203968-rfrgxFrv5Y6xZs0LVupHJw&oref=slogin

(Love: "You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!")

36w3d belly

Frankly, it's too much work to stand up and snap a photo this afternoon. So a different perspective instead:

36w1d update

I was too rushed this morning before work to take a belly photo, so I'll update this post later this evening. I did have my 36-week doc appointment this morning, though, and learned that things are looking good! We have a looooooong way to go, but I am currently 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced -- so we can think of it now as "second and nine" in football-speak. Doc said she'll be shocked if I go all the way to October 12 -- she's putting her bet into the pool to say September 30 (rationale: still a Libra, but a better birthstone). Yippee!

That said, here's the "standard" updates:

• Baby is measuring about 18.5" long and weighs about 6 lbs.
• She's grown to the point where she can't really kick so much anymore, so she just flips and flops and turns and wiggles. She sure tries to kick, though, bless her little heart!
• She's definitely started to drop. Amy will confirm that one! As will my bladder.
• We've started down the fun road of random contractions (Braxton Hicks). A terrific sneak preview of what's in store!

Non-baby-related: Sarah Palin was in the hotel adjacent to my office building this morning. (Speculation was running rampant as to whether it was Palin or Obama, as they're both in town today. It was confirmed to be Palin.) The Secret Service presence was ridiculous! Totally neat. I'm geeky like that.

OH! And I almost forgot: go Broncos!! Go Pack!! :)

My feets

Lest anyone accuse me of being a Whiney Wilma about the state of my disgustingly ginormous feet/ankles, I felt compelled to snap a photo of their current size and scope -- propped up on my office desk just for the occasion, snapped with my camera phone. Yeah, they're that fascinating!

One month to go!

Since all babies show up on their estimated due dates (ahem), we've got one month to go until we meet little Betz -- September 12 --> October 12! Hooray!

Have a great weekend!

Seven years ago today...

I was working just outside the Loop in Chicago. I heard about everything from my colleagues in our UK office. Mom called to tell me the first tower went down. I went over to the East Bank Club to watch TV in the women's locker room; it was jam-packed. Downtown Chicago was evacuated because of rumors that the Sears Tower was "next." The El was packed to the rafters, yet utterly silent. I got home, tried to get in contact with DeeAnn and listened as air traffic to O'Hare came to a stop. My parents called to say that Kit (then-Lt. Colonel in the Air Force) was supposed to be at her office in the Pentagon that week for meetings; no one had yet heard from her. Dee got home mid-afternoon and we went to Justin's with John Marrero and Reichle; we stayed glued to the patio TV all afternoon for breaking news updates. We made absolute certain that we were home by 8 p.m. to watch the president's address to the nation; you could hear the same address echoing from open windows of every single house on Paulina Street. We cried. A lot.

Seven years ago. Hard to believe.

35w2d (a.k.a. 33 days to go)

Photo updates! Nothing earth-shattering to update from a growth/development standpoint... but here's what I've got:

• She's about 18" long


• She weighs in at about 5-1/4 lbs. (think: honeydew melon)


• She gets hiccups a couple times a day -- endless entertainment for mom!


• She pretty regularly shifts my entire belly (noticeably) when she moves. And she moves a LOT!


• She has lent to a very unattractive case of elephantitis in my feet/ankles. I'm learning to not take my shoes off at work after 2 p.m. (which I regularly do), as they cannot and will not go back on!

I think it's worth noting in that last pic that my tattoo has not stretched! Whatever that Chinese character once meant (um, happiness... ahem), it still does! Yay!

Good luck, Ironmen!

Super good luck on Sunday to Brian (#762), Tim (#796) and Greg (#1566) -- we won't be there in person, but we'll be there in spirit (and online... God bless modern technology!) cheering you on! Go get 'em, tigers!!

An open letter to Baby B

Dear Baby:
I'm new at this. A rookie, you might say. As are you. We're in this together.

I have, however, seen films. Read books. Articles. Newsletters. I have a daily journal of your growth and development. We even took a class to teach me how to breathe (heeeheeeeheeeehoooo) when you decide to join us. I may have not experienced first-hand how you're going to get from Point A to Point B, but I've got a pretty good idea.

Which is why I feel confident in telling you that no matter how hard you try to snap off my lower-most ribs and Shawshank your way out of the side of my belly to freedom, it ain't gonna work. There's only one way out. And that's not it.

Just trying to be helpful. Save your energies for a few weeks from now when you can keep us up all night with your powerful Whitney Houston-like ballads for hours on end. That will be more fun.

Loveyacan'twaittomeetchya.
Mom

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

So super-sleuth Wrabetz (I'm guessing Keeley) figured out that I'm a bit of a flakey toolbox and forgot to take Betz' name letters down in a belly photo I posted last week. Doh! What names have the letter H in them?

Kheeley
Taylhor
Hannah Montana
Hank
Helga
Hodag (props to Rhinelander, yo!!)
Hoowanneka ("little elk" in Winnebago -- thanks BabyNames.com!)

Hmm. What could it be?!? As far as you know, it' could be Hmmm! :)