Showers and babies!

We had 2 baby showers last weekend--one on Saturday with some of my friends, and one on Saturday with Troy's side of the family. Troy didn't go to either of them. It would have been nice for him to be at the family one, since there were a couple of people I haven't seen since our wedding shower, but it was still really fun. It was kind of surreal opening up all of the presents and knowing they were for our baby. I've been to so many other people's baby showers, it doesn't seem real that it's our turn! I guess it's how I felt when we got married too--we've just been behind the marriage/kids schedule compared to most of our friends. I definitely feel blessed to have such generous friends and family members in my life. If we had the baby tomorrow, I think we'd have all the 'stuff' we need!
















Friends at my shower






















Me with my sister and mom.


Speaking of babies, we got to help out our friend Suzy Thompson tonight. She had quadruplets around Christmas-time. I can't even imagine having four babies at one time! It makes having one feel a lot more manageable. Check out her cute babies at four-by-two.blogspot.com. We basically just fed and held babies for a few hours.

Back from Atlanta

Our trip to Atlanta was a whirlwind. We visited so many people in such a short period of time, both of us were exhausted by the time we left. Troy spent some time at the Stewart Center with the kids he worked with last year. Here's him with his favorite, Heavenly. When the kids arrived after school they ran to him yelling, "Mr Troy!" It was definitely cute!












I also visited my old service site, Central Outreach and Advocacy Center, a homeless outreach center. They've made a lot of changes from last year due to a stabbing that occurred right after I left. Things seem to be much calmer than they were when I was there. It was sad to see some of the same people there who are chronically homeless and haven't made any progress.

We spent about a day and a half spending time with our old neighbors in Clarkston. One of the highlights was seeing our little neighbor, Omar, who is almost two. Here he is showing off his Turkish dance moves, and the pic is of us and part of the Mamedov family (who used to live right next door to us).


It was definitely bittersweet visiting our neighbors. In the six months since we've left, many of their lives seem even more difficult than before. Because of the economy, many refugees have been let go from their jobs, and it's nearly impossible for them to find one that can help them sustain even a basic standard of livign. One family is behind on their rent, facing eviction. Another close friend lost her job several months ago and can't find another one. She's a single mother of two, and is teetering on the edge of losing her apartment. Another close friend who is a refugee from Bosnia just lost her mother to cancer. She came here over ten years ago, and the stories she has from her past are amazing. During the war her mother literally carried her on her back and hid in the forest as the rebel army was trying to kill them. I can't even imagine having experienced that, and now she's lost probably the closest person to her. It's easy to get caught up in the mundane problems of our life here in Anderson while we forget about the large-scale struggles of our refugee friends.

And here's the latest belly picture at 31 weeks (7 months). The time is drawing near!

More on Big Baby and a trip to the ATL

We're due 2 months from today (a belly picture is soon to come)! I had another dr's appt. this morning, and all is well. I'm 31 weeks along, and I'm measuring at 37 weeks--still 6 weeks ahead! I mentioned that after my last ultrasound the tech said baby's due date looked like March 29. The doctor said they never alter the due date based on the baby's weight, so we'll still plan on April 11, the day before Easter! Baby Canfield is in the 90th percentile for his/her weight. An overachiever already.

The surprising thing (and good thing for me) is that I'm right on average for my weight gain. The doctor said I'm all baby, which is what every pregnant woman likes to hear. Of course, I'm not sure why my underwear doesn't fit anymore... (sorry if that's TMI). If you're an average weight person to begin with, they say try to gain 25-35 lbs total. At 20 weeks an average weight gain is 10 lbs, and then 1 lb a week for the next 20 weeks. I'm at 31 weeks, and have gained 22 lbs, which is one above average. Please note that I will never talk about my weight in such detail after the baby is born. I'm just glad I'm not in the 90th percentile of weight gain, even though baby is.

Even though my gestational diabetes test came back normal, my sugar levels are still a bit higher than average, enough that I should watch my diet a little more closely. I'm going to try to cut back on sugar and carbs as much as I can. Gestational diabetes can make the baby gain more weight than what is healthy, and we all know we don't want junior to be any bigger than he's already destined to be.

I'll be getting another ultrasound at 37 weeks or so, and if baby is still really big, the doctor may consider a C-section. While this isn't the ideal birthing experience, it may be better than the risks of natural birth. Baby's shoulders could be too big, and might get "stuck" during natural birth causing some damage. Obviously, we don't want to traumatize junior too much before he's born. And big babies are also hard on the mother (i think you can figure out why!) I never imagined myself as one who would need a C-section, but I'm actually okay with the idea. My doctor said he usually prides himself on not doing a lot of C-sections, so if he decides it's the right thing, I think I'll feel comfortable with it. My hairdresser told me that she had a 10 lb baby. After 12 hours of hard labor, she had a C-section. I definitely would rather just go in and get a C-section and skip the hard labor before it part.

So, we're giving up the idea of having a cute tiny newborn and are expecting baby to look more like a 4 or 5 month old when it's born. So please, if you're planning on buying something for baby, no newborn sizes! :)

And on a completely different note, we're heading for Atlanta this evening! We'll be attending the Mission Year reunion with some members of our team from last year. We'll be going to our service sites to visit (the homeless advocacy center for Katrina, centraloutreachandadvocacy.org, and the afterschool program fro Troy, stewartcenter.org), and visiting our refugee neighbors and church from last year. Yay! And we'll be making a trip to IKEA to get some cheap furniture. Hopefully this prego can make it in the car for the long haul!

Birthing Class and Test Results

The good news--no gestational diabetes for me! I'm relieved. The one good part about taking the 3 hour test is that I had them check my vitamin D levels again. You get vitamin D from the sun, and it helps prevent a ton of different diseases, etc. Well, when you're pregnant in the winter in Indiana, you don't get a whole lot of sunlight, so now I'm taking a supplement that should help with that.

But enough about my vitamin intake and on to birthing class!
We attended an 8 hour class at St. John's today. It was actually really good! Troy only dozed off two times. The funny thing was that out of six couples in the class, we were the only married ones (okay, that really isn't funny). We were also the oldest ones by at least 6 years. The real funny thing is that the nurse who presented was talking about old wives tales for telling the sex of the baby, and she got out the ancient Chinese birth chart. She guessed the sex of all of the babies, and she was right for each person--everyone in the group was having a boy. We were the only ones who didn't know and she said we were having a boy too, based on the birth chart. The chart takes your age and the month you conceived and somehow magically predicts the sex of your baby. The majority of people tell us we're having a boy. Lately, I've been feeling like it's a girl, but it kind of depends on the month! I really don't care either way, and we're so excited to have a surprise at the end of labor. I'm really glad that Troy got to hear first hand all of the information I've been reading about for months. We also got to see the birthing center, which was pretty cool. It's hard to believe we'll be putting all of this information into practice in less than two months!

30 years old and 30 weeks pregnant

I'm definitely more excited about being 30 weeks pregnant than 30 years old. I actually haven't thought a whole lot about being 30 yet. It's sad to leave behind the 20's, a decade that was full of adventures, learning, fun, and growing. It seems like 30 means that I actually have to be an adult now. Being a mom in a couple of months will probably help with that!
No baby update today. I'll try to post something more exciting in the days to come.

Happy birthday at the doctors office

Happy 32nd birthday, Troy! My late grandpa Petre was so excited when he found out I was marrying a groundhogs baby (my grandpa's b-day was the same!) Our birthday celebrations usually consist of using free coupons that restaurants send us. Tonight we're going to B-Dubs!

Unfortunately, both of us got to spend several hours at the doctor today. Troy's back was really hurting this weekend, so much that he was having trouble walking. We decided it probably had to do with shoveling for 10 hours on Wednesday because of the snow storm. He shoveled our driveway for about 2 hours, and then at AU for the entire work day. His boss told him to go to the med check this morning. There's not much he can do except lay off any hard physical work, which is hard for Troy. A back doctor at our church also told Troy that he should never have to shovel for his job (because of his degenerating discs an sciatic nerve problems). My back is starting to hurt more too because of the pregnancy and my scoliosis. We're quite a pair. We look like old people when we try to get in and out of the car.

I had to spend 3.5 hours this morning getting my blood drawn for round 2 of my gestational diabetes test (my levels were a bit high during the first test, so I had to do this extra long, extra fun test). I had blood taken every hour for a total of four times. My arm is a bit sore, but the worst part was drinking the sickening syrupy sweet drink required for the test. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been on an empty stomach, but I had to fast for 12 hours beforehand. I would gladly have my blood drawn four more times if I had the choice between that and the drink! My stomach still feels a bit queezy. I really hope I don't have gestational diabetes (obviously). If I do, it's not the end of the world, but it'll mean a strict diet until the baby comes. GD can make the baby bigger, and we all know we don't need our baby to be any bigger than it already is!