25 weeks - the 3rd Trimester!?!

How your baby's growing: Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after he's born.

How your life's changing: Your baby's not the only one with more hair — your locks may look more full and lustrous than ever. It's not that you're growing more hair, but the hair you'd normally shed is sticking around longer than usual. You may also notice darker or thicker body hair. It will return to normal in the weeks after you give birth. You probably can't move around as gracefully as before. It's fine to continue to exercise, but use your common sense: Don't work out when you're feeling overly tired, and stop if you feel any pain or when you begin to feel at all fatigued, dizzy, or short of breath. Don't lie on your back too long or do any exercise where you're apt to lose your balance. Be sure to drink plenty of water, and make time for both warm-up and cool-down periods. When you have your glucose-screening test at 24 to 28 weeks, your practitioner may take a second tube of blood at the same time to check for anemia. Although your blood volume increases dramatically during pregnancy, the total amount of your red blood cells becomes diluted — a problem sometimes called physiologic anemia that's common in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. If your blood tests show that you have anemia, your caregiver will likely recommend that you take a supplement.

How I'm doing: Some books call 25 weeks the start of the 3rd trimester. Since the book I have does I guess that means we're in the homestretch (some say it doesn't start until as late as 27 or 28 weeks). It's starting to feel close. Things are going normally. I'm getting bigger and moving around is just starting to get interesting. Getting in and out of the car while it's in the garage is already starting to become a challenge. Since we have a 1-car garage there isn't enough space to open the car doors all the way. I'm wondering if I'll be able to continue to park in the garage until the end of this pregnancy.

We purchased the baby's crib this weekend. After a lot of thought and discussion, we changed our minds and went with a crib from IKEA. First of all, it's a lot cheaper. We felt the extra money would be better placed in a college fund rather than a piece of furniture. Secondly, it's smaller and fits our small space better. Space is a big concern for us since we're staying in our 1-bedroom apartment.

It's important to remember that all cribs have to pass the same safety standards to be sold in the US. So as long as you buy a new crib (or you know the crib's history and if it's been recalled) all crib meet certain standards. Unfortunately, accidents still do happen and babies are injured and killed in cribs every year. Fortunately, IKEA has a clean safety record. Even the floor model was still sturdy and holding up well. That's saying something after the hundreds or thousands of people that go through that rat maze every day shaking it, kicking it and whatever else they might try doing to it to test it's limits. Other pluses are that it's almost completely made with solid beech and spruce and the the trees aren't milled from intact natural forests, so it's a bit more sustainable at least. And it converts into a toddler bed if we keep it after we move and another baby isn't using it.

We also purchased a stroller. It was on a super deal at Amazon.com and we didn't want to miss that price. It's on backorder so we probably won't get it for a while yet anyway. This will be our baby stroller (an infant seat easily snaps in) and then a backup stroller, traveling stroller, or just when we want something smaller (we'd still like to get a more heavy duty stroller than can handle sandy beaches, easy hiking trails, and the bumpy sidewalks of LA).

It's the Kolcraft Contours Options 4 wheeler, wow that's a mouthful:
And the whole seat pops off so the infant car seat can snap in.
We had planned on getting a stroller called a Snap 'n Go anyway, which basically functions almost exactly like the 2nd photo above. We decided it made more sense to pay a little bit more and get a complete stroller that can last through toddlerhood rather than just the first 6 months.

Hopefully Scott will be able to get the crib set up this weekend and I will take some pictures of the "nursery corner". It looks like it's going to be a complicated and time consuming set up though. And we still need to purchase the mattress since these are not included with cribs.

19 weeks - almost halfway

How your baby's growing: Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and he measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now. His kidneys continue to make urine, and the hair on his scalp is sprouting. This is a crucial time for sensory development: Your baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. If your baby is a girl, she has an astonishing 6 million eggs in her ovaries. They'll dwindle to fewer than two million by the time she's born.

How your life's changing: You're just a week shy of the halfway mark. You may notice some achiness in your lower abdomen (perhaps extending to your groin) or even an occasional quick, sharp, stabbing pain on one or both sides, especially when you change position or at the end of an active day. This is round ligament pain, and it's caused by the stretching of the muscles and ligaments that support your growing uterus. It's nothing to be alarmed about, but if the pain is persistent and continues even when you're resting, or is severe or accompanied by cramping, call your practitioner.

You may also have noticed some skin changes lately. Are the palms of your hands red? Nothing to worry about — it's from increased estrogen. Patches of darkened skin are also common during pregnancy. When they show up around your upper lip, upper cheeks and forehead, they're called chloasma, or the "mask of pregnancy." You may see these splotches on your arms or other areas that have been exposed to the sun. Your nipples, freckles, scars, underarms, inner thighs, and vulva may also darken during pregnancy. That darkened line running from your belly button to your pubic bone is called the linea nigra, or "dark line." All of this darkening is caused by a temporary increase in melanin, the substance that colors your hair, skin, and eyes. For most women, these darkened spots will fade shortly after delivery. In the meantime, protect yourself from the sun, which intensifies the pigment changes. Cover up, wear a brimmed hat, and use sunscreen when you're outdoors. And if you're self-conscious about your "mask," a little concealing makeup can work wonders.

How I'm doing I'm doing fine. I'm feeling good. I went to my first prenatal yoga class yesterday at Santa Monica Yoga and I'm very sore today. I'm going to try and go twice a week as much as possible. Classes are on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings. I think it will really help. Some positions felt really good already and my belly doesn't weigh that much yet.

Friday marks the halfway point. We are very much looking forward to that milestone. But what's even better is that in 1 short week we'll be going into get our 2nd ultrasound and we'll hopefully get to fine out the gender of this little guy. We are going to find out the gender of the baby, but we are going to keep the name a secret until we meet the baby and make sure it fits. We haven't picked a name yet but when we do we are going to keep it a surprise for the baby's birthday.

We have started to register. We started a registry at one of the two stores in LA that carry the crib we want to get. We're not buying any other baby furniture so we picked out a high quality crib that is made out of wood instead of particle board, isn't made in China, and is from a company that has a spotless safety record--all things that are very important to us. The company is called Munire and this crib is from their Urban line (we're getting pine colored, not white).

We created our first registry at USA Baby and it can be found here. We are very excited to find out the gender so we can register for more things and start buying! We've been holding out on buying pretty much anything until we know if the baby is a boy or a girl. The crib takes 8-10 weeks to arrive (and probably longer over the holidays) and other things are not always in stock in the stores so we won't be following typical Jewish tradition and waiting until the baby arrives to buy things.