The Third Trimester

I am officially in my third trimester! It feels like such a huge milestone. I almost feel like I should feel differently now than I did last week because I'm now in a whole new trimester, but obviously, I don't. It still feels good to know that I've made it this far though.

For those who want it, here's a current picture of the baby bump at 28 weeks. I can't believe how much bigger I am now than at 22 weeks! I didn't think I'd really gotten much bigger. Luckily Liz recently lent me a whole bag of maternity shirts, which has been SO helpful. Now I have shirts that actually cover my belly button! Thanks, Liz!

Oh ya, the doctor said he's probably going to induce me on January 18th since I told him it had be be after the 17th because the 15th-17th is the Utah Lindy Exchange. Although, he also gave me permission to go dance my little heart out and try to induce myself. I love my doctor!

CNA Training

Last month I finally started to put my foot in the door of the field I really want to be in: nursing. I did an 8 day CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant) class.  Although it was only 8 days, it was rough. I was in class from 7-5 for six days and then had 2 days of clinicals from 6-4. I was so exhausted by the end, but it was well worth it! I passed with flying colors. Now I just have to send in my certificate of completion to the state so I can take my state certification test. 

I do have to share a couple of experiences I had at the senior living center I did my clinicals at. As I was walking by, one guy grabbed my upper thigh and said, "Nice!" I couldn't help but laugh. Normally you would chastize them, but it's a dementia and alzheimer's clinic so they don't really know what they're doing. But it sure was funny. 

Another cool thing was that the center is pet friendly because it helps the residents feel more at home. So there were a lot of dogs and cats, but the coolest part is that the center has its own joey (baby kangaroo)! I had to do a double take when I saw him hopping down the hall. He's adorable! Below is a picture of Oscar the Kangaroo. 

Halloween Fun

I love Halloween! It's so much fun. Whoever thought of creating a night where kids can dress up as anything they want and then go knock on doors for free candy is brilliant! While I no longer go trick-or-treating, I still love to dress up. Allan isn't as gung ho about it as I am, but he humors me and plays along.

Costumes are just too expensive to buy and too cheap to be worth it anyway, so we made ours. This year I decided to use my pregnancy as part of the costume and have some fun with it. So we went as a pregnant nun and a priest. Even Allan loved it. They called him "Father Allan." How fitting.

On Friday we went to the Halloween dance and won the costume contest for the second year in a row! Go us! Then on Halloween night we went to my parents house and I passed out the candy and Allan helped Jackson, my little brother, with his haunted house that he and his friend put together. Allan was the host and just led people through it. For it being done by a couple of teenage boys and a dad, it was quite impressive. I got the grand tour before it opened and I still got scared. They did a great job!

More Excitement!

I know that all of my posts have been about the baby and that's it, but I want to make sure I write everything down so I don't forget it. It's also the biggest part of our lives right now. So here goes yet another baby update.

Yesterday morning I not only felt Baby move, I SAW her move too! My belly looked like it was twitching. It was so cool! I thought I was imagining it at first. I told Allan to look and he confirmed that I am, in fact, sane and that it was moving. Well, as sane as possible being pregnant. I've totally got the pregnancy brain thing going on. It's quite funny. Anyway, Allan and I got to watch her move around for a few minutes before she stopped. I honestly think I could watch it for hours if she'd cooperate. 

It's so hard not to be ecstatic about every new progression. Maybe I won't be so awed with the next baby, but it's so amazing to me now. In the words of my mom, "ah, the miracle of life." It really is exciting.

Baby Bump Week 22

I've had a couple of requests for baby bump pictures so here it is. This is me at 22 weeks (1 week ago). I've been told a few times that I'm really tiny. My sister, however, after seeing me for the first time, told me I'm really fat. It made me laugh. Only a sister could say it and get away with it. I love that you can tell I'm pregnant now and don't just look like I'm eating my way through the universe.

I had an ultrasound last week and Baby looks great! She's developing perfectly. I got to see her arms, legs, stomach, kidneys, bladder, diaphragm, brain hemispheres and all four chambers of her heart. There was even a shot where I could see all 5 toes on her foot. It was quite amazing. I love modern technology! They gave me a DVD of the ultrasound as well so I got to show Allan and my mom and dad. This is the first ultrasound Allan has missed and he was really sad about it so he was really glad to have the DVD.

While all her organs and bone structures are formed perfectly so far, she is quite small for her age. She's about two weeks behind size wise. She's only in the 28th percentile (normal is 50). The doctor isn't concerned about this. He's just going to watch her a little bit more closely. I personally am thrilled about it. I am so ok with having a small baby, especially because diabetics tend to have HUGE babies. So things are going great!

Our other great news is that Allan got a job! Woo hoo! He's working at Auto-Owner's Insurance. So far he really likes it. He just can't wait to get to the real training. They are currently swamped and trying to play catchup so they've got him doing little odds & ends jobs. But hey, it's still a job. And I start my CNA class on Monday. I'm so excited!

Allan's Turn

On Sunday night, Baby was kicking pretty hard so I decided to see if Allan could feel her. I didn't think he would, but we had nothing to lose. I had him put his hand on my tummy and wait. After just a few seconds, his whole face lit up! He looked like a kid on Christmas morning. He definitely felt her moving and he was SO excited. He got to feel her about 4 or 5 times before she stopped. After that, he put his head on my belly and talked to her for a bit. I'm not sure if she can hear him yet, but it was darling. He now sleeps with his hand draped over my belly, just in case she moves again. I'm so lucky to have a husband who is so excited about this baby! I think she's got him wrapped around her little finger already. 

She Moves!

Ok it's been a little while since I've updated. We are back from TX and found a new apt and moved in on Monday. We had to paint almost the whole thing before we moved in and it was quite the project! But it looks so good now! I thought my next post would be before and after pictures of the apt and a video tour, but something even more exciting happened that made me update today. (The apt post will come later...after I unpack all the boxes. It could be a little while.) But on to the big, exciting news...

I felt our baby move for the first time today! It was so exciting! What's funny is that it took me about 10-15 seconds to figure out what I had felt. I feel like I've been waiting for this for so long and it just wouldn't come. I kept hearing that I should've felt something by now and was almost concerned. But she's alive! It was just a small fluttering feeling, but it was definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life. Life is good! :)