Copyright has arrived, and she’s a girl!
Marcia Holland Thurman was born at 7:17 this morning. She weighs 6 lbs, 7 oz and is 20 inches long.
Marcia (Mom) and Marcia (baby) are both healthy and happy and doing great.
She is named for her mother and for Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, with whom she shares a birthday.
Pictures to come later.
I just want to reflect a bit as this week is kind of a big milestone week for mee. Most people probably think I must be referring to the fact that on Tuesday (two days ago) my pregnancy hit 39 weeks. While that is true, and a great thing, that is not what I am reflecting on today*. On Monday I had the pleasure of going to yet another doctor’s appointment. As I was waiting for the doctor to come in and check things out (you know the “fun stuff.” Well at least hearing the baby’s heart beating is fun) I noticed the date written down “11/29/2010.” Time has flown by! Without my seeing it. Specifically, ten years of time. On 11/29/2000 I entered the Missionary Training Center prior to going to Chile. Wow! That was the day I met for the first time Monica and Amy (and the elders in our district), it was also the last opportunity I had to meet up with Fiona (and meet her new husband Zac), it was nice to have a friendly face next to mee in that farewell meeting. That was still in the day they allowed family/friends to come past the curb. Though living so far away, I flew out alone. Fiona and Zac brought mee a box of Andes mints, which were delicious and I loved them, thank you. However I was probably too selfish to share them, and I am sure I ate them all myself, my apologies to Amy and Monica. I know I am not as good at keeping in touch as I wish to be, but I am grateful for the internet and our ability to be in contact over the distances, and through our own web spaces we can know what is happening in each others’ lives.
*Here is a picture from Tuesday, mee at 39 weeks:
And this one too, because I like my shirt, and I think it hides my belly, kinda, though I am pretty proud of that belly…
(Also, because it makes mee laugh.)
A couple of months ago, I had a dream, which started quite normal.
We were attending a friend’s wedding and we were dressed up pretty nicely. (In the start of this dream I did not appear to be with child.) We were asked to go and check on flowers or something to make sure it would be ready for the ceremony to start. We needed to pass through an indoor pool room to check on what ever the thing was. As we walked by the pool, some teenage boys decided it would be fun to see if they could get us wet. Well, when I looked down to see if my dress was wet, I saw something starting to move in my abdomen. I thought that was odd, I had not eaten recently, so it couldn’t likely be indigestion. There was stronger movement, and I saw a distinct foot outline on my stomach. So I got out my camera to take a picture, and before I could push the shutter button, there were 3 strong movements again, and out of my belly popped a foot. This foot was sticking out past the knee and would not relax. We searched all over to find any doctors we could, in hopes that they could figure out how to get the leg back where it belongs. I woke up at this point, with the baby’s leg still sticking out of mee.
When I was awake, I found myself holding my hands as if I was holding the leg, just as I had done in the dream, and there were strong movements/kicks right where I felt them in the dream. Boy was that trippy!
So, Halloween was this last weekend, and I was trying to think of what I wanted to do for a costume. Many people gave ideas, some fun, some cheesy, some I was not interested in at all. I started thinking about how hard it would be to make it look like the alien from Alien. Then it occurred to mee, I had that dream. I could sew a leg. I could make at least one dream become a reality. So I did.
Jacob said there was a little something missing, blood.
It did seem to add that little extra umph. The best comment of the night was when a cute kid (not really yelling, but speaking quite forcefully) said, “Why is there a foot in your belly?” I couldn’t help but laugh as I tried to explain that it is not real. And even better is that every time I laughed, the leg would kick around. It was fun!
And because I love him, here is a picture of Husband, and (fake) baby foot*.
And the weekly count down has arrived again. 35 weeks down, 5 to go. Here is what is probably my favorite picture from this weeks photo shoot:
I sure do love my monkey footie pajamas! Now if only I could find some in Copyright sizes…and if Jacob were willing to wear a pair of them as well, we could have a fun family picture in a couple months.
*Foot is also some times known as fot, this developed when one of the ultrasound pictures, that refused to show us if Copyright is a boy or a girl, was labeled with a fot in stead of a foot.
34 weeks down
Only six to go?
I can’t hardly believe that there are only six more weeks of this. While it will be nice to have my baby in my arms, I think I will miss the fun stuff that comes with the baby being inside….
I have been busy sewing, and other stuff too, but there has been a good amount of sewing. Lucky mee, I have pregnancy carpel tunnel syndrome-that they assure mee will end when baby comes out. For now I wear wrist braces, and it makes it much more bearable. I have been sewing blankets/quilts, some clothing projects, and I made major progress on my Halloween costume. Pictures will come later.
And the white ghosts on my pants glow in the dark!
31 weeks down and theoretically 9 to go. Here is a picture from today:
A great big “Thank you!” to Abby and her friend(s) for the maternity clothes. It is nice to have warmer things to wear as the season is changing.
Let’s see, I get asked all the time how I am feeling…? I am feeling great. I get heart burn. I often feel like I am starving (even though I am not). I am tired. I can’t sleep (unless I build a sleeping tower or nest out of ten pillows). I pee a lot. I feel Braxton Hicks. And yet none of that makes this a bad experience. And over-all I really do feel great. These things are all intriguing to mee, I am more curious about why these things happen, and I enjoy studying them. I have felt hiccups from Copyright, not everyday, but a number of times, it is pretty cool in my opinion. I have been told not to sneeze anymore unless I am sitting in the restroom. I still get out and walk to keep it up. Most days I get in eight cups of water. I think I may need to figure out shoes that do not require tying, or bending over, but I am holding out as long as I can. I am now scheduled to go to the doctor every two weeks. And two weeks ago I was told that I have gained all the weight he would like for mee to gain, there were tears, and a hug and reassurance that it will be okay, and it is common for women who lost significant weight prior to pregnancy, and while I really don’t want to stress about it, I do. (and it appears I like run-on sentences…go figure) Also, I am refusing to waddle, when I feel like my body is starting, I pause and re-balance myself, and then continue walking. I am more than willing to mosey, however.
I guess that is the update for now. We have been keeping busy and trying to stay out of trouble.
Here is a picture of my current condition. 26 weeks.
Funny story. A few days ago, I was standing next to Jacob. He was sitting on his computer chair. I turned to walk away, and hit him with my belly. I wonder if I will get used to this belly sticking out so far. And if I do, I wonder how long it will take to get used to not having such a big belly after Copyright is born. Time will tell.
Today was a productive sewing day. I was able to sew a dress, I had already cut it out. And I was able to turn a t-shirt into a half-shirt (someone makes and sells them as half-tees, I think). I have heard great reviews on them, and so I decided to make one and see what I think. I think it will work well for layering.
If you were not able to get your guess posted, you still have time. Like 3 months* to make your guess.
Little Copyright was not as cooperative as we would have liked. So, no, we still do not know if this baby is a boy or a girl**. Copyright kept legs closed and while we did not learn that, we did learn other things.
We learned that this child is definitely ours***. This child is modest (takes after mom). This child is stubborn (takes after dad, okay takes after mom too). This child is healthy. All the other parts were there, in their proper places, and measured well. Heart beats properly.
I had to laugh as we saw the baby’s face. Copyright was sucking, and as a result we saw the tongue go in and out. It was like it was sticking its tongue out at us for wanting to know the sex. In all seriousness, it was really cool to watch.
*Unless we can find a way to have another ultrasound somewhere before that. Preferably not very costly, and if at all possible some 3D ultrasounds would be fun to see.
**Which totally presents us with the enormous challenge of agreeing on names for both a boy and a girl. We were hoping to only have to figure out one name.
***This child is not a lizard.
This friday afternoon we will have an ultrasound where we will [likely] find out if we’re having a boy or a girl. Post your guesses here!
Here I am this evening at 24 weeks.
You can’t really see it in this picture, but I am wearing my rubber chicken earrings.
FAQs
Q: How are you feeling?
A: Hungry. Tired. Gotta pee. So mostly good! (However, not as tired as I once was.)
Q: How many weeks are you?
A: Today marks 24 weeks (LMP) however, gestationally 22 weeks. It is weird, and can be confusing. LMP stands for last menstrual period. Ovulation, and therefore conception does not occur for (an average of) two weeks after that. So while we are told that we are at 24 weeks, Copyright has only been in there for 22 weeks.
Q: Have you felt the baby move/kick?
A: Yes, yes I have. I thought I was feeling something for a while, and then because I have never been through this before, I was doubting what I was feeling. And then what I felt was more obvious at 21 1/2 weeks. A few days later I was trying to hear for a heart beat with the stethoscope, and must have been crowding little Copyright, because there was a strong movement that pushed the stethoscope over. A week later I was able to place Jacob’s hand on my abdomen and He was able to feel baby movements. There have been stronger and more movements in the short weeks that followed. When I lay down, we can see movements with our eyes. We try to use the stethoscope to listen for the heartbeat, but we are not as skilled at that. We do have a thing-basically an electronic stethoscope-and we heard the “whooshing” that is Copyright’s heart and last night I decided that we should try again, and we heard the heartbeat pretty strongly. This time it was more like the thumping of my heart, and less like the whooshing from before, however we know it was not mine, because we could still hear my heartbeat as well. So that was pretty neat.
Q: Why do you call the baby Copyright 2010?
A: Well, this baby is uniquely made from us, and so the “copyright” part. And this baby was started and will be born in 2010. And we felt that we wanted a “name” so we are not always calling the baby “the baby” or “it” or “he or she.”
Q: How many are in there?
A: We are assuming there is only one in there. We will find out for sure next week. This is also the appointment that we will learn if we are getting a he or a she. Also, the dreaded glucose testing appointment.
…approximately.
So here are some pictures, mostly for my own documenting purposes. And some of you don’t see mee very often, and for those that have been around for the gradual changes, here is a more distinct view.
On 14 April 2010 I decided I would take a few pictures before I started growing my belly very much. At that time I was only 7 weeks (lmp) along and was not close to showing outwardly what was happening inwardly.
These next two are blurry, I was not really very focused myself when I took them. I felt kind of silly since there was no progress to record. But the first here is the most side-ways shot I got. The second I just felt good in that one since I had not really gotten a shot of how I looked after losing all that weight last year.
I had this grand idea to take a picture once a week and then I could compare week to week. If I had started it four weeks earlier (we knew close to the day that Copyright came to be) I might have really tried to stick to the plan. But I had not been taking weekly pictures, and life got a little crazy. And I figured that I would start to take pictures when I started to notice a difference, the next thing I know I was hanging out with some family and one of the nieces was leaning her head into mee and I looked down and did not see her head. It occurred to mee in that moment, I missed the point when I started showing (I did take a picture of that view, though I have to search through lots of pictures to find it to post).
The next picture shoot I did was this afternoon. 16 weeks later. What a slacker (in pictures, I have been sewing and doing other stuff like crazy). The next picture is a side by side of “7 weeks” and “23 weeks” in the same clothes.
Now for more comfortable clothes.
And lest anyone think I am not excited (cause really it is fun to see the belly grow-in this way).
Frizzy hair and all-I know many of you think it is because of the humidity, it is not so with my hair. My hair does well in humidity, my hair gets frizzy when the air is dry-the air-conditioner is on and I had been in that all day.