Week 32

Baby Gore is doing quite well. She is now about 4 pounds and, depending on which book I read, somewhere between 17 and 19 inches long. Over the next 8 weeks she will be doubling her body weight and growing a few more inches.

My food comparison of the week came courtesy of my online update. Apparently her weight is equal to that of a jicama. While this is a fruit I've seen in the store, I've never actually picked one up and have no clue how much is weights. Alas, another worthless food comparison. I can think of a lot of things that weigh 4 pounds that could have been used as a better comparison. For example, I'd like to eat a 4 pound brownie for dessert and wash it down with a nice cold glass of milk. I think everyone can relate to that at one point or another, right?

My doctor appointments are every 2 weeks now, so today was another trip to see her and also to see my arch nemesis - the scale. Which reminds me, I really need to lay off 4 pound brownies for dessert and just go straight for the glass of milk. BG apparently went thru a massive growth spurt because my belly measured 5 cm larger than it did two weeks ago. Typically, you usually grow about 1 cm per week. I know what you're all thinking....it's that shake from Burgerville. But, my stomach is now sitting higher than the area they measure (thus the nasty heartburn) so it didn't play into the measuring equation.

My back has been feeling much better over the past week - thank you PT! - so I've been able to be more active and work out. I even went for a flounder - oh, I mean swim - today. It feels so good to be active again. However, the past 6+ weeks of zero activity really took a toll. I now get out of breath so easily! Pathetic, really.

And now for the long awaited week 32 shot. It's not quite in focus, but you get the idea. I'm not quite sure what is up with the all black outfit. Kind of looks like the "Sprokets" skit from SNL with Mike Myers, don't you think?

Week 31

Apparenlty I now even lack the energy to blog on time. That's kind of par for the course lately. Kind of a downer way to start out the blog, but I must say....I'm Tired! Oh, and super puffy too. I haven't seen my ankle bones in approximately 4 days. I now have the ankles of a lovely 300 pound woman. I've given up on wearing my faux wedding ring. My real wedding ring has officially been shelved for 10 week. Now, even my fake one doens't fit.

For those of you who knew me back in the day and remember the sauerkraut incident of 2000, I would say this comes extremely close! For those of you who have no idea of what I'm talking about, just think super puffy and then multiply by 10. Not cool. Especially when it's in areas I can't hide, like my face.

OK, enough complaining. On the bright side, my physical therapy seems to really be working. I'm not having near the back pain I was and walking is pretty easy now, for the most part. The baby is still nice and active. She apparently either loves or hates Thai food. I had some for lunch yesterday and she was moving like crazy afterwards. Perhaps it was the heaping spoonfull of red pepper flakes I had along with it?

I did discover something completely heavenly this week. It was so good, I even had to take a picture of it before I started eating it. Isn't it beautiful?

God Bless Burgerville and their seasonal milkshakes! Although I have totally limited my shake runs (this marks the 3rd shake I've had since being pregnant) I'm not sure I can have that same self control going forward now that I've tasted their fresh strawberry shakes. Seriously delish! Oh delishious strawberry shake, you are my best friend. I'm not sure if it makes it more or less healthy, but I opted for this instead of dinner. Technically it has protien and calcium (ice cream) and fruit, so it's kind of like a health food, right? Yeah, I don't buy it either. It's fattness in a cup, but was worth every calorie.....i think.

And now for this weeks depressing photo. I look massive! At first I was thinking it's all puffiness, but now after my lovely Ode to Burgerville Shakes, I'm wondering if it's all fat?! Crap, there go my sympathy points.

Week 30

I can't believe my # of weeks pregnant now begins with a '3'. I have actually started "counting down" now, which totally freaks me out because I still feel like I have so many things to do before Baby Gore arrives. I really need to just spend a day making a to-do list and getting these thoughts organized.

BG is doing really well. She's now about 16 inches long and weighs about 3 pounds. For those of you wondering, that is exactly how much weight I have gained throughout the pregnancy so far :-) I know, I'm in incredible shape - yeah, right! She is still quite active, although we did have a little scare last week and went into the hospital for a non-stress test because she decided to be quiet for a few days. Aaron and I were both a little freaked out by the whole thing. Wouldn't you know, as soon as I got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the machine to monitor her heart rate and movement, she started kicking like crazy. The nurse told me it's just the babies way of letting us know she is in charge. Great, my mom's wish just came true....a kid just like me!


My belly is growing like crazy and really starting to get in the way. A pedicure went from a luxury to a necessity this week. It's so hard to reach my feet! I can't wait for it to finally warm up so I can wear flip-flops that I can just slide my feet into. Aaron and I discovered that my belly does come in handy. Here's a picture of me being a coaster. For those of you wondering, it was actually his beer. We thought the beer made a funnier picture than the water I was actually drinking.

Aaron and I were so busy this weekend. First off, he surprised me with a mother-to-be gift on mother's day. A spa gift card! Ahhh, the gift that keeps on giving. He's such a great guy! We also got busy on the babies room and I'm proud to say it is almost done. We now have the molding and trim up and all of the furniture arranged. I have more decorating to do, but the main things are done. Oh, I really need to make that to-do list so I can mark something off! Here are a few pictures.


I found the cutest window valance on sale at Pottery Barn too. It's just hanging over the crib now because I still need to buy a curtain rod - note to self, add that to the to-do list. I think it really ties the room together and makes it very 'garden-esque' what do you think?


And finally, here is the 30 week belly shot. Nothing fancy this week. Marcie was back in Roseburg, so the duties fell to my resident photographer - Aaron.

Week 29

Baby Gore is still doing well. She's about 15 inches long and about 2 1/2 pounds total. The food comparison this week is Butternut Squash. A somewhat familiar sounding food, but I doubt I could pick it out of a squash line up. Her bones are starting to absorb a lot of calcium and are becoming harder. Sounds like another excuse for a latte if you ask me! (decaf of course) My weekly on line update also told me that heartburn could be back. Like an old friend who never disappoints, my heartburn came back like clock work!

My sister, Marcie, came up this weekend and we decorated Baby Gore's room. I'm holding off on photos to post because it's not completely done. Aaron installed a new door this weekend and painted all of the floor and chair rail molding. He's hoping to get that installed this coming weekend. If so, I'll post pictures next week. It was great to have my sister here for the weekend. We did some shopping and went to this great little dive chinese restaurant in Beaverton for Dim Sum. I haven't had it forever because most of my dim sum loving friends haven't been at work. It was delish!

Marcie is a photographer and wanted to do pregnancy pictures this weekend to give her new camera a try. So, instead of the usual pictures by my fireplace to show my belly progress, I have included some of the pictures of our photo shoot below. These were taken in our back yard.

I'm still doing fairly well. I think my back is improving, so that's a huge plus. I have really started to feel like I'm slowing down and doing regular things like bending over to pick something off the floor takes quite a bit of effort.

I think I also felt a bit of the old pregnancy hormones this past week. I call this the 'story of how a Costco worker almost lost his life.' Let me set the stage for you.... I was totally craving Costco pizza for lunch and had a few errands to run as well. So, I decided to schedule my pharmacy pick up and grocery run around swinging by Costco to have my lunch there in the middle of my shopping trip. After all, the pizza sounded divine. I shopped at Costco first and paid for my groceries with my debit (why they don't accept Visa is beyond me. I think when you pay $50 for a membership, they should really be able to accommodate a Visa card. I guess that's another blog..)

Anyway, after paying for my things, I went over to the food line and eagerly awaited my yummy lunch to come. When I made it to the front of the line I could almost taste the pizza because I was so hungry. I also watched them pull a fresh pepperoni pizza out of the oven just for me! So, I placed my order and then pulled out my debit card to pay for my lunch. The kid behind the counter proceeds to tell me, "I'm sorry ma'am, we only accept cash or check." My jaw dropped and I started to explode from the inside out like the cartoons who have steam coming from there ears. WHAT?! What happened to using a debit card!? And, seriously, who carries a check book?! I told him I didn't have cash and had in fact declined to get cash back on the grocery purchase I just made. At this point I wasn't sure if I was going to wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze or begin to cry.

He then seemed very proud of himself to tell me for a small fee I could use the ATM by the door to get cash and then come wait in line again - like this was supposed to be helpful. I tried to keep my cool and just told him to forget it, I won't be having pizza today. What I really wanted to say at the top of my lungs was, "I'm freaking 7+ months pregnant, hormonal and extremely hungry. If you don't give me that pizza I WILL kill you." But, I did have some sense of rational thinking that prevented me from going totally over the top.

For those of you wondering, I spent the rest of the day doing 2 things. 1) figuring out how to put a hex on the guy at the Costco counter and every other Costco employee in the world, and 2) I couldn't stop thinking of that pizza!

Ok,

Deep breaths Jamie. It will be OK. Find a happy place.....

Back to happy things, I couldn't resist adding a picture of Jack Jack from our photo shoot. He's so cute!

Week 28

I'm really starting to feel like I'm in the homestretch now. I had another doctor's appointment today and now I will start going every 2 weeks between now and 34 weeks and then every week after that until the time little Baby Gore arrives. Just crazy!

This week the baby is about 2.25 pounds and approx 15 inches long. My babycenter.com update said she's similar to the size of a .....are you ready for this... Chinese Cabbiage. Seriously people!! Get some food comparisons that make sense to the general population! First a turnip and now Chinese Cabbiage? If this is the websites way of planting healthy food in the back of my mind to change my cravings, it's not working. I don't crave stir fry. Now pizza on the other hand. Yum! I wonder how many pieces of pepperoni equal one chinese cabbiage. Now that's something to research.

I started swimming this past week. It's both relaxing and extremely humbling. Relaxing to feel totally weightless and humbling because getting into the pool is a slow process on the ladder. You know what that means, hanging your butt out for all to see and backing into the pool. I'm just waiting to hear the "beep, beep" noise of a massive truck when it backs up. I can already hear it in my mind. It also doesn't help that the lifeguards are always super cute. Thank God for Liz Lang maternity clothes at Target. She seriously make the cutest stuff...including swim suites. I got one last week. Pretty cute little tankini and bottoms. I saw it on the hanger and thought to myself "this his HUGE, now way will it be tight on my belly." Guess what....yep, it's tight. I'm not exactly what one would call aerodynamic.

On other physical therapy fronts, I've been going twice a week in addition to swimming. Oh, and Rache made a comment that turned into a reality. Now I have a 'lift' to put in one of my shoes to make my legs the same length to see if that helps with the pain! How sad is that! It doesn't seem to help much. I'm at my wits end with this whole PT thing. I got another referral from my doc today for a PT who specializes in pregnant women. I'm going to give her a try.

Here are my pictures for this week. Again, I'm loving those yoga pants :-)

I also realized I've been ignoring my other children on my blog. They were feeling a bit left out, so I decided to take their picture and post it as well. Aren't they photogenic! This is Jack Jack and Oreo. I'll let you guess which one is which. Both of them love to lounge in front of our sliding glass door and watch the birds. They usually meow at them and get all excited when the birds come around, but are far to lazy to get out of bed and actually chase them. Ahh, the life of a cat. Eat, sleep, repeat.

That's all from the Gore's. (Jamie, Aaron, BG, Oreo and Jack Jack)