Pink or Blue?

We find out the baby’s sex on Monday. I am beyond excited about this!!!

Andy and I kinda think we’re having a girl, but that’s only because we’ve been calling the baby “Sweet Pea” and that sounds a little girly. In my night bible study, all three of the babies already here are girls, and the two other women pregnant are both having girls … so I’m either going to have a girl because everyone else is, or a boy because SOMEONE has to break the pattern!

Being pregnant has been kinda tough this last week, I was hit with some serious exhaustion. Tuesday I went to the gym and attempted my pre-baby workout. I did it at about 60% of my normal. Afterward I could barely walk. I had a few errands to run and had to limp into Target … the entire walk from the car to the store required me constantly pep-talking myself that I could do it. Once in the store, I seriously considered just sitting down in one of the aisles and resting for a bit. I was worried I’d cause a scene so I didn’t … but I seriously thought about it. I didn’t go to the gym Wednesday or Thursday, and by Thursday afternoon I felt like my old self again! I totally took advantage of this and did a whole lot of cleaning and laundry. It was awesome, until about 8pm when I crashed HARD. It’s difficult for me to adjust to having new physical limitations. The first trimester I was so excited about the baby, it was easier to deal with my body being all out of whack. By now, though, it’s feeling old. I hope the excitement of Monday gives me a little more patience.

I spend a lot of time poking at my stomach. These changes fascinate me! I can feel the hardness of my uterus. The edges of my abdomen come in a little bit on the sides before flaring back out for the uterus, I like this, I think it emphases that there is a baby inside my belly. I’ve had a few friends ask to feel the baby belly (and I’m totally fine with this, so long as it’s requested and not just done) and every one who hasn’t had a baby put their hand too high. They seem to assume the baby is somewhere between my belly button and breasts … which will be true in 3 months, but it’s much lower right now. I’m not sure I knew this prior to getting pregnant.

Andy’s birthday was last week and he got some great baby things! I want us to “wear” the baby a lot. This is when you carry the baby on your person hands-free. The most popular baby carrier is the Baby Bijorn, but those both hurt the parent’s back before long. I spent a whole lot of time researching this, and decided that the best baby carrier for Hubby is the Ergo … of course, it’s also one of the most expensive. Hubby’s parents gave him that for his birthday! And my brother and his wife got him a baby monitor that is even nicer than the one we asked for. It’s really great to be able to check two things off the “to buy for baby” list. We also picked out a baby photographer, which sounds trivial but is a decision I’ve been struggling with for a while. My baby is only going to be little for a short period of time, I want to capture that. There is a great photographer in town who specializing in babies. She has a special “first year” package that includes a photography session when the baby is newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and one year, and I get all the pictures on a CD and permission to print them wherever I want. It’s an expensive package, but I’ve talked to a few friends with kids and every single one of them said we should do this. The baby will change so much the first year, and it’s going to be such a blur for me, that I will regret not having some great pictures from that time. The photographer is awesome, check her out here: www.blissphotographymn.com. We have the newborn session tentatively scheduled for August 4th.

I got a consumer report book from the library on baby stuff and a “Baby Bargains” book. I’m going to try to make some decisions in the next few weeks. I think having a list of all the things we want for the baby will be less stressful then me keeping it in my head and continually going “oh yeah, we want that, too”. Finding out the sex on Monday will help with that. I want the big items to be gender-neutral so I can use them for the second baby but the less expensive things and items that won’t last until kid number two will probably be very girly or boyish. I know my sister is DYING to buy baby clothes, and I think not knowing the gender is the only thing holding her back!

This week the baby has had a taste for salty. Popcorn was had for dinner two nights in a row, and we had ice cream tonight … not because I was craving ice cream but because I wanted to put peanuts on top.

This will probably be the last post until Monday’s announcement. We’re so excited!!!