Bek

Lexey came over for another portrait session, this time with Daddy Duso.  I LOVE these photos! I’m so lucky that my best friend is an awesome photographer. She’ll be photographing the birth. Most likely the pictures will end up on her blog faster than mine so keep an on her blog - Far Sighted - over the next week.

I won’t go into the gory details but it seems as though I am progressing well. Signs are in favor of her not being late. The official due date is July 17th. My last day at work is tomorrow thank goodness. I’m really looking forward to taking it easy and getting the house ready for our little Mango. 

Now that we own a home there is plenty to do. Scott has a home improvement project to do every weekend and has been busy unpacking most nights since we moved in. 

So far we’ve been working mainly on the common living areas. The living room and kitchen are put together. The baby’s room is really just boxes at the moment. No worries though, Amy has lent us a co-sleeper crib to use in our room the first 3 months so we have time to get the crib.

While Scott’s been putting in many hours of manual labor I’ve been stuffing my face with chocolate cake.  In between feedings I’ve been helping where I can with the house. I actually caulked the baseboards in the bedroom but it killed my back so I just had to stop being so ambitious. At this point typical third trimester woes are keeping me from doing too much -  swollen legs and feet, exhaustion, back ache, crankiness. Lots of fun to be around I’m sure! 

At 30 weeks I feel pretty big and awkward. I’ve lost my ability to move around in a lady like fashion. Despite this, my best-friend Lexey Swall-Bobay was able to help me feel beautiful and graceful on a photo shoot last Monday. Lexey is a fabulous photographer. Her images always amaze me. She’ll be photographing the birth documentary style so stay tuned!! 

Things have been going pretty well throughout this pregnancy. I feel pretty lucky. But, at 30 weeks I am pretty big now (will post a picture soon.) So the pregnancy symptoms are coming on stronger. Sleeping is proving more difficult. My hips just can’t seem to handle lying down very long. I’m pretty much like a rotisserie chicken, turning from one side to the next constantly throughout the night. Thankfully, pregnancy doesn’t last forever!

Finally I am closer to the end than the beginning. I still feel really good. No big complaints. Her kicks are more elaborate which make it hard to sleep at first, but it’s nice for her to say hello. Scott and I only have one more birthing class to attend so we’re feeling much more prepared for the big event than we did at first. We’ve seen so many up close and personal videos that the shock value is gone…at least for him. ;) We still plan go to natural if all goes well. 

 Scott and I started going to a Bradley birthing class two weeks ago. I knew in advance that eventually we would be shown a tape of a birth. I figured this would be easy for me to watch since I’ve already witnessed two of them. Plus I frequent The Learning Channel. I figured the person in for the big shock was Scott.

Well, to my surprise he took it quite well and I was the one freaking out. I tried not to let anyone see that I was holding back tears. I quickly looked around the room to see the other mothers’ reactions. They all looked pretty scared too, which I suppose helped me feel normal. In the movies there is screaming and Hugh Grant frantically running around.

The most shocking part of this was the silence. Not that I expect to be having great conversation while I’m delivering, but it was the long silence broken up by the mother’s pain-stricken voice that got to me. She didn’t even say much, but when she did it was scary. Her tone sounded like the voice of a demon in a horror flick.

 Well here it is - the first baby bump pic. Sorry for the wait. I’m 21.5 weeks. Until recently I’ve looked more “thick” than pregnant. Since I’m in the second trimester I feel pretty good. No more morning sickness.

Even though Baby Duso isn’t moving much during this ultrasound she has been quite active. At this point there is no doubt there is a little human jumping around in there. Her movements are getting stronger every week, sometimes they are quite startling. It feels like Riverdance on my bladder. We have just started to think of names, but don’t get too excited cause we’re not going to reveal it until the birth!