Updated belly photos

Here are some updated belly photos:

6 months pregnant!!! 26w4d

27w1d

28w2d

28w2d bare belly

Mommy-to-be and Daddy-to-be

7 months pregnant!! 31w - big belly, swollen feet and swollen ankles

31w bare belly. Stretch marks are starting at appear at the bottom of my belly.

31w face-on bare belly. My belly button is so close to the surface; I really want it to pop out!

I will do a seperate post about my baby showers and trip to Toronto but figured this post already had enough photos.

Toronto or bust

The biggest news right now is that I'll be in Toronto in less than a week!!!!! I am soooooo excited!!!! I get to see my family and friends - I haven't seen them since August '09. My family and friends will finally see my belly in person, touch it, feel kicks, and laugh at my waddling (which Chris does pretty much everytime he sees me walk). I get to see how much my niece and nephews have grown and matured. I get to eat at my favourite restaurant (Spring Rolls) and other restaurants/fast food places we don't have here. I get to go shopping at stores we don't have here (Bath & Bodyworks look out!). I get to get my haircut by my usual stylist. And I'm having a baby shower!!!!! I can't wait! I love baby showers - the games, the food, the gifts, the attention. It'll be loads of fun!

On the baby front, my prenatal appointments have increased to every 2 weeks versus every 4 weeks. At my last appointment most things were looking good and progressing as they should be. I say most because my iron is on the low side so I have to take an iron supplement. Just more pills to add to my daily routine. Also, I had to get a prescription for a new heartburn medication because I was still suffering even though I was taking Ranitidine (aka Zantac). Now I take Losec once a day and I haven't had any heartburn since. Thank goodness!!!

New complaint since last post - middle and lower back pain. I guess it's from all the weight out front.

Sorry, I won't be posting anymore belly photos before my trip to Toronto. I want everyone to be somewhat surprised by the size of my belly. I will post some from where I left off when I get back though.

Babyland

A few new things in babyland:

1 - I got the results of my gestational diabetes test back...and I passed!!! :) Yay for not having to fast for another one, yay for no more needles, and yay for not having to change my diet!

2 - my 1st OB/GYN appointment is next week. It's a doctor that Chris and I are familiar with and both like so that's good.

3 - Rib pain has started. Apparently (according to my doctor) I have a short torso and my uterus is right under my ribs so baby is pushing on my ribs causing pain and a feeling of constriction. Unfortunately this is a pain/discomfort I'll deal with the rest of my pregnancy since my uterus is only going to grow more but there's not much more room up there. My doctor also told me that because my uterus doesn't have much more room to grow up, it'll grow out and so I'll be 1 of those pregnant women with a big belly out front - fine by me! I've been getting comments since fairly early on about how big I look.

4 - Next week I will be in the 3rd trimester - wow! Time has flown during the 2nd trimester. The 1st trimester was filled with anxiety, nervousness, cautious optimism, extreme exhaustion, and morning sickness. The 2nd trimester was easy and fun - 19w ultrasound, feeling the baby move, belly constantly growing, energy was back, and morning sickness was under control/gone. I'm looking forward to seeing how the 3rd trimester will be, but more looking forward to what happens at the end of the 3rd trimester (birth of Baby Sherwin). 14 weeks until my due date!

And here are some recent photos:

25w1d (Feb 26)

26w

So we're adjusting to life in the new apartment. Still getting used to how small the kitchen is; very hard to manoeuvre with 2 people in there (or 3 if you count the baby) but we're making it work. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices when renting and our kitchen size is definitely a sacrifice. But I don't regret moving here so that's good. We're also almost done unpacking and organizing and actually plan to do some more this weekend. I really want to empty out the baby's room so we can start planning that. Plus I hate having boxes everywhere. And I'm getting sick of wearing the same clothes every week because I can't get to most of mine.

In baby news, my heartburn has worsened after a short stint of it being better. I'm now taking 2 Ranitidine a day (Zantac) but trying to figure out how to space them so I get 24 hour relief. Being woken up many times in the night due to heartburn pain isn't fun. But I weaned myself off my Diclectin and am happy to report I haven't had any morning sickness!!!!! Baby Bean is kicking up a storm and loves to use my bladder as a trampoline. He/she doesn't like if we press back after a kick and usually will stop. On Friday I go for my Gestational Diabetes test - I heard the orange drink isn't very pleasant so I'm not looking forward to that, nor the bloodwork, but just hope I pass so I don't have to do the 2 or 3 hour test.

Here are a few recent belly photos:

23w on Feb 11

24w1d on Feb 19

Bare belly at 24w1d (looking back at the 22w bare belly it most certainly has gotten bigger - 22w bare belly was posted on Feb 5/10)

What's new for the Newfoundland Sherwins

Our biggest news is that we moved!!!!! While it wasn't our ideal move (that would be back to Toronto) it was a very exciting move. Our old apartment was not working for us - the people upstairs (the landlord and his family) were incredibly loud, not to mention there was no insulation between their floor and our ceiling so it made the noise worse, we had 5 ceiling leaks in the time span we were there (1.5 years), and there seemed to be a mildew problem - yuck!! As the pregnancy progressed my patience grew thinner and thinner and I was becoming quite annoyed with the place. We started looking for a new place in October but hadn't found anything until January. So on January 31 we moved to our new place with the help of some great friends we've made here in St. John's. Newfoundlanders really are the nicest people; they were more than willing to help, didn't complain, and were quite adamant that I didn't do anything. We now live on the 2nd floor of a 4 floor apartment complex. While we can sometimes hear the people above us walking it is definitely more quiet than our old place. And a bonus is that we should save money by living here too! More money is always good! Little by little we've been putting things away and organizing but there's still quite a bit to do. I will post photos once everything is set up (minus the baby's room as that will most likely take a while).

Our phone numbers (home, cells) and email addresses have not changed. We will email everyone our new mailing address.

In baby news, Chris finally felt the baby move!!!!! Our 1st night in our apartment just as we were dozing off Baby Bean gave such a wallop it caused the sheet to move. Pretty wild!! So I told Chris and he put his hand in the spot where I felt the kick and sure enough he felt it. So this happened at 21w3d. This was only the 2nd time I've noticed movement from the outside but I have an anterior placenta which apparently pads the kicks. However I do feel alot of internal movement and the baby does seem to have some sort of a schedule. Always when I get to work there's movement, so that's around 8am, and then when I go to bed there's bigger movement so that's around midnite. I feel movement during the day too but not at any specific times. The baby also parties in the middle of the night because I have awoken at 4am to big kicks. Looks like we have a rock star on our hands, up at all hours of the night.

And here are a couple belly photos:

Last photo at our old apartment at 21w2d

1st belly shot at new apartment at 22w

5 month belly shot - 22w1d

Special Day

January 21st was a special day for 2 reasons: 1 - I reached the halfway mark of this pregnancy; 20 weeks! and 2 - it was Chris' 29th birthday. To celebrate we went out to dinner, a movie, and dessert. Chris also opened his present from Baby Bean and me. We got him an infant Oilers jersey with our last name and the baby's birth year on the back. This way they can match eachother while watching Oilers games. Seems like I need a personalized Oilers jersey now to match them.

We also took a 20 week belly photo and it includes the first bare belly photo. Enjoy!

Chris' birthday present - personalized infant Oilers jersey

20w belly photos

Ultrasound!!!!!

Today we had our anatomy ultrasound. I am 19w1d pregnant. Chris got to see more of the ultrasound than I did as he was sitting at the foot of the bed while it was being done and the screen was facing him. The technician commented that the baby was very active (she seemed to be taking a bit longer to get measurements because of that) and Chris was amazed I hadn't felt a single movement during the whole ultrasound. Baby Bean (which isn't a bean anymore) was kicking, waving, grabbing his/her feet, and even stretched out his/her neck. When the tech was finally done taking the measurements the screen was turned my way and I finally got to see this little person growing inside of me. I couldn't believe that the little person on the screen, with moving limbs and a beating heart (we saw the chambers), was growing and developing inside me. Amazing!!!!! I got to see the baby kick it's legs and even wave at us. We also got to see the bottom of his/her feet. We didn't get the heartbeat reading nor hear it though. It was so incredibly cute and I realized how much I love this little person and I haven't even met them yet. Chris thought it was really cool to watch, and I think it made it more real for him because he hasn't felt movement yet whereas I have felt some (sporadically) so it was concrete evidence that there is a moving, growing person inside me. Chris thinks the baby looks like him LOL The tech said everything looked normal *phew* We were able to stay strong and didn't find out the gender. I must admit it was tempting though. Any guesses? We both say boy.

So here are photos of our pride and joy!

Full body, including an arm and legs crossed, just after waving to us.

4 fingers and thumb - woohoo!

Stretching his/her neck. Guess it's a little cramped in there.

Close-up profile shot.

Facing us (bit freaky looking)

In other news, I saw my GP on Wednesday and I'm measuring 'normal' for how far along I am. Everything is looking good and I've gained 7lbs so far. That's on the low end but with the m/s I've had (and still have), decreased appetite, and heartburn she said it happens and isn't worried.

Haven't taken a belly photo this week but will post when I do.