16 weeks

Apparently hitting the second trimester shot Mike and I into super-productive mode, mainly meaning, we went nuts on our house and preparing for baby.

The Garden

We had discussed building a garden last summer already, but didn't get much further than a few tomato and pepper plants. This year, with a baby on the way, we decided we'd build our garden (as much as we could do for now) so it would be ready for next summer, when Baby is going to be already 5-6 months old and we won't have much time for building anymore.We started with a flat plot of the backyard which once was a garden but had become overtaken by thistles, an invasive species of oregano, and other weeds. We tilled the entire plot last fall and laid weed killer. This spring, Mike retilled the plot, built the beds, and laid weed blankets and chips down in addition to grading the soil for proper drainage. And, voila! End result is a beautiful, delicious garden of arugula, red and green leaf lettuce, kale, broccoli, bell peppers, hot peppers, jalapeno peppers, beekfsteak, roma, and cherry tomatos, zucchini, and cucumbers. We did have carrots and spinach, but we also had a bunny nest that turned up about 8 feet from the garden before we got to placing a fence, so alas, the spinach and carrots did not make it. Oh well, next year!

The Kitchen

So happy to say- we are ALMOST done with our kitchen! Just a few more finishing touches and we're done. We decided to wait on installing the island since we'll be doing the upstairs bathroom yet this month so it's done before it's cold and before the baby comes. But we just can't believe how far we've come, and how beautiful it looks (all thanks to Mike!). For those who weren't aware, Mike made us new cabinets (yes, he actually built the frames and the doors, all with his own two hands and a lot of sawing and routing and noise), tore out the closet and wall and moved the refrigerator to an opposite wall, installed new counters, redid ALL of the electrical (the only original electrical in our kitchen now is our ceiling light), redid ALL of the plumbing, re-routed the dishwasher and installed a garbage disposal, installed undermount lighting in all the cabinets, and installed a wine rack in one of the cabinets. In short- I am AMAZED. And so, so grateful I've got him. Once it's all done, we'll put up pictures. For now, a preview of my husband's epic wood-working skills. It only took us 5 months!

The Stairs

Once again, the Restore was our best friend. The store only accepts new carpeting as donations, and the morning I stopped there they just happened to get a new donation from the local carpet store here for left-over carpeting. And, lucky for me, I found a big 90 sq ft roll of new carpeting in the perfect color for the basement stairs for $20! Yay!

The Nursery

Bisselled the carpeting, painted the walls, decorated with trees and a treehouse with a little black lantern, and it's any baby's dream :) Seriously, we love it. We can't show it to you just yet because it isn't quite done, but it will be soon. Since I have class until December and Baby's due in January, we wanted to get these things done nice and early to avoid having any unnecessary stress later and during the holidays. Speaking of the holidays...

Christmas gifts

I had this incredible epiphany about a month ago while doing the dishes. I was standing there cleaning in our kitchen, thinking about how much more room we'll have to function in our kitchen this holiday season, when all of a sudden it hit me: "Holy beans, I'm term on Christmas Day."

In case you're confused (and most people are) by the difference between my term date (12/25) and my due date (1/14-16), here's a quick explanation:

Babies are considered medically sound, or "term," at 37 weeks. This mainly references the development of the baby's lungs- the last big thing to get done producing the appropriate amount of surfactant ("lung lubricant") and function properly in preparation for birth. Most babies are born between 37-40 weeks, though some might be a little earlier (34 weeks is the actual point when the lungs are done developing, but still not done producing surfactant or learning how to function), or a little later (40 weeks is considered the norm).

A baby's due date is based on the calculation of 40 weeks from the mother's last menstrual period, though conception does not occur until approximately 2 weeks following that initial point. This being said, while an entire pregnancy "cycle" is 40 weeks long, an actual pregnancy, from conception to birth, is approximately 38 weeks long. For medical purposes and because it is deemed more accurate, doctors, nurses, midwives, etc. use the 40-week menstruation-to-birth reference to date pregnancies, though you weren't actually pregnant for the whole 40 weeks.

This being said, hitting my term date on Christmas Day sets me up for a slight bit of inconvenience regarding Christmas-gift purchases. I mean, let's be fair, would a tired, caffeine-deprived hippo on the verge of exploding do well in an over-packed mall of crazy shoppers? Probably not. So Mike and I decided to do the online approach this year, and managed to get all of our Christmas shopping done already :) Not to mention, shopping online is WAY more fun when it comes to finding more unique, fun, and interesting gifts in comparison finding generic things in the store. So there we go: one less thing to cross off our list.

In other news, this past week I had the pleasure of having my first stranger comment on my bump! YES! Sortof... it more or less went something like this...

16 week bump

Cashier: "Honey, do you need help taking your bags out to the car?"

Me: "Oh, no, I think I've got it?" (it didn't really occur to me why someone would ask this since no one has before)

Cashier: "Are you sure? You don't wanna twist the wrong way, it could really mess things up for baby." 

*awkward pause*

Cashier: "...you are pregnant, right? Shoot, I'm sorry..."

Me: "Oh! Yes!"

Cashier: "You're pregnant or you need help with your bags?"

Me: "Oh, yes, I'm pregnant, and I think I'm ok with the bags."

Cashier: "I KNEW IT! HOORAH! PRAISE THA LORD! That is just SPLENDID! How many months are you? Is it a boy or a girl?" (yes, the cashier at Lowe's really went crazy over my being pregnant)

*long stupid pause... what's 16ish weeks into months? crap...*

Me: "Oh, ummm, four? And I don't know yet."

Cashier: "Well ain't that clever! Well, you have a nice day there, honey! Pretty soon you gonna need help with them bags!"

So there it is. A random lady at the hardware store noticed my bump. I am officially pregnant on the outside! Or it may be due to the fact that Mike and I have been to Lowe's almost every day for the past 2 weeks buying or returning items we need or things we found around the house we never used (trust me, it's very awkward when the cashiers know your name). I have yet to have anyone at work notice, or say they've noticed, but that might be due to the fact that 1) I wear surgical scrubs to work, meaning I basically look like a bag of potatoes anyway, and 2) they may just think I'm eating too many donuts on my days off and don't want to say anything. I can respect that. The longer I can go without anyone acknowledging it, the better off I'll feel.

Other than that we are doing great and really enjoying the progress we made on our house, preparing for Baby, getting ready for fall and school and the holidays. Soon I'll be back into the swing of things for my last clinical practicum (in Labor & Delivery, the NICU, Mom & Baby and the Women's Clinic) and can't wait!