Wow...25 Weeks!

The weeks finally seem to be slowing down. As of today, (25 weeks, 1 day) I only have 14 weeks and 6 days left until our little one arrives, provided she arrives on time. I can only hope that the weeks pick up again when the holiday rush starts. I am anxious to meet this little girl!! Unfortunately, Baby Shapiro is still nameless at the moment. Scot and I continue to bounce names back and forth (Vladimir is absolutely ruled out, as well as any female version of it) and will let everyone know when we have chosen the perfect name for her.

This morning I woke up with what seems to be swollen hands. I have never had the feeling that my hands are tight, and I noticed it when I stretched and then made a fist. My fingers are a little chunky today! I understand this is very normal. Food continues to be an issue, for all the wrong reasons. The problem is not what I CAN eat...the problem is that I can't keep up with my hunger. Due to this reason, I am adding a personal chef to my baby registry...if you decide to purchase this gift for me, I will move you to the number one spot on my Favorite Person List! :)

Baby's hands are now fully developed and she spends most of her awake time groping around in the darkness of my uterus. Brain and nerve endings are developed enough now so that she can feel the sensation of touch. Baby Shapiro's arms and legs have grown to almost the proportions they will be at birth. Her nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, clear out and she can practice breathing through her nose. The structures of our baby's spine are now made up of 150 joints, 33 rings and some 1,000 ligaments. The capillaries, the teeniest blood vessels, are now forming in her body, giving her formerly translucent skin a pink glow. The blood vessels in the lungs also develop this week. Our baby weighs about a pound and a half and is about 13 1/2 inches long.

Dolphin Update

Dolphins pre-pregnancy

Dolphins at 25 weeks

All I can say at this point is, "Not too shabby." Although I have three more months to go, and I know this belly is only going to get bigger, I am impressed with how they have held up! In fact, the color seems to be "popping out" more (along with my belly button). I am sure this is because of the daily, sometimes twice daily, application of Palmer's Cocoa Butter. In addition, I simply love how they appear to be migrating away from my navel. Heading South for the winter?? This is an obvious reminder that my skin is s t r e t c h i n g!

Baby Vladimir

As we all know, Canyon is a clever and creative kid, so it wasn't much of a surprise when he sprung the Vladimir Petition on us. This story should have been added quite some time ago, almost five weeks to be exact, when we had our appointment to find out the baby's sex. However, it wasn't until recently that I was actually able to obtain a copy of the "official documents". Upon learning that he would be the proud big brother to a little sister, all the time pulling for a brother, his response was, "Oh man!" Oh man??? Oh man, what? It wasn't an "Oh man, I am going to have a sister", it was an "Oh man, I can't continue my petition". What on earth was he talking about? It was then that he had revealed that over the past few weeks he had been working diligently (at school, when he probably should have been focusing on his academics, but hey, this was important stuff) on the baby Vladimir petition. He was so sure that he was going to have a brother and was so passionate about naming him Vladimir, Vlad for short, that he started a petition. His goal was 100 signatures. Sadly, between the time he started the petition and found out we were having a girl, he had only reached thirty-eight. Kudos to him, however, he was able to obtain two teacher signatures, and one administrator (whom signed with his other hand, so that Canyon couldn't forge his signature at a later date).

24 Weeks!

Unfortunately, my "cameraman" has been very busy since Friday. I therefore do not have a picture of my 24 week belly! Baby Shapiro woke me up at 1:30 this morning, with what I am positive was a case of the hiccups!

Check out this video to see what is going on with our baby between 21-27 weeks. And click here to see what baby looks like at 24 weeks.

Gotcha!

Today was a big day of "Gotcha!" This morning while my mom and I were waiting for my doctor appointment, Baby Shapiro was most certainly performing all sorts of acrobatics in my belly. Not only did "Grandma Holmes" get to feel these movements for the first time, she was also able to see my belly move!

The second "Gotcha!" moment of the day happened while Canyon was focused solely (cough, cough) on his homework. Again, Baby Shapiro started with her acrobatics, and I quickly raced through the house yelling, "Canyon, give me your hand!" He immediately presents me with his palm, as if I am going to give him a high five. As soon as I put it on my belly...she stopped. As usual. With a few seconds of patience, her movements started up again, and finally he felt his little sister move.

Football & Furballs

Baby girl Shapiro experienced her first "cool weather" football game. The UCF Knights played the Miami 'Canes (lost 27-7) this past weekend. We had to bundle up with sweatshirts and blankets, and we even left at halftime. If she happened to chug a little amniotic fluid during tailgating, she probably tasted grilled pineapple, shrimp and veggies (the mushrooms were delicious), and grilled artichokes - my kind of meal!! Notice my "Future Knight" shirt?

Riley officially met Baby Shapiro this afternoon. While resting his furry little head (as best as he could) on my belly - he received a swift kick to his noggin. He promptly sat up and looked at me as if I had thumped him... "Hey, what'd you do that for??" I had to explain to him that it wasn't me, it was the little bundle of joy that will be following him around, pulling his ears, and poking him in his eyes in a few months. So he'd better get used to it!!

23 Weeks

I am definitely looking more pregnant now at 23 weeks and 2 days, and I know this because I have had more people out in public ask me about our little bundle of joy. She has been very active with karate chops to my belly, as well as using my bladder as a trampoline. She continues to tease Canyon with her lack of movement when he puts his hand on my belly. Likewise, he teases right back by poking her! This week, all I have been able to think about are Butterfingers. Hopefully Halloween will come and go quickly without too many Butterfingers in site.

Round Two!!

Last night Scot and I went back to Babies R Us to finish our registry. Click HERE to view it. It is quite apparent in this type of situation that we are two totally different people. While Scot is comfortable with randomly scanning items on impulse, I have a check list and cringe at the very thought of skipping items (or even worse, complete sections). So it is here, in Babies R Us...that I try my best to step outside of my habits and allow Scot free roam of the store. After all, this should be a fun experience (and I can always edit our registry online)! Just as before, Scot promptly took control of the scanner, and the minute he was out of my sight...I could hear, "beep........beep....beep, beep, beep..." Deep breath Angela...deep breath! :) I am sure at that moment, Scot was thinking to himself, "This is scantastic!"

Here's another picture of one of the "she has to have this" moments. An I ♥ Kisses clothing set. Clearly she already has her daddy wrapped around her finger! After a few bottles of water, a painstakingly long time in the diaper bag aisle, a controversial conversation about "suckies" (otherwise known as pacifiers), and several laughs later...we were finally finished. Our little one is all set...now all we have to do is wait. 17 weeks and 2 days!

*Side note: Although we are both aware and thrilled by the fact that we are having a girl, I noticed Scot struggling with a few items on our registry. As I heard the random beep of the scanner...and quickly turned my head, I could see that he had scanned such things as a toy dump truck, little boy outfits, and a baseball onesie. About the baseball onesie, after quick clarification that little girl Shapiro will be able to wear that to her brother's baseball games, I understood completely! After all, she will be born right around Opening Day. :)

22 Weeks

Wow, 22 weeks!! As I sit here and try to express all of my feelings in a short "blog"...I am quickly distracted by the gentle pokes and prods of the little baby that is resting comfortably inside of me. How weird! At a time when I was SO close to giving up hope and trying to come to terms with the fact that I would never have children of my own - here we are! If there were a camera in my bedroom, broadcasting my morning routine, it would look a little something like this:

• A half asleep Angela clumsily rolls from her left side to her right, trying to ease the hip pains.
• Her stuffy nose quickly eliminates all chances of drifting back to sleep.
• Angela looks at the clock, "Darn it, 6:15 AGAIN!"
• She quickly rolls over onto her back and throws the covers off, only to do a brief inspection of her belly.
• Is the bump still there? Yes. Has this whole pregnancy been a beautiful dream? No.
• "Aaaaah", she sighs with relief.
• Angela rolls over and happily gets out of bed to get a drink...

And that is truly how each day begins!

22 weeks 2 days

Baby Shapiro’s hands have grown bigger and stronger and the nerve endings in her fingers have developed her sense of touch. She's in there testing out her newfound abilities by touching her face and grabbing the umbilical cord. Baby girl’s hair is now a short, bright white crop. No matter what color it will end up—red, blonde, black—all babies' hair lacks pigment at this point. Our baby has started growing taste buds and may be able to detect strong flavors in the amniotic fluid. If we could see inside, you might catch her sticking out her tongue for a taste and then grimacing, a sign that perhaps I should ixnay the Good and Plenty licorice candies! Baby Shapiro now weighs almost a pound and measures an estimated 11 inches from her head to her heel, which is how she will be measured from here on out. Up until now her legs were curled tight up against her torso, so she was measured from her head to her bottom (or crown to rump) and not head to toe. This week our mini is about as long as a package of Oreos and as heavy as a large bag of tortilla chips.

Labor Prediction...

Get your bags packed early just in case you need them. Make sure your partner has a phone available when he's away because this baby just might come early. We predict your baby will come 2-3 weeks early. Your baby will most likely be born in the morning. Justmommies predicts that your baby will weigh approximately 7.8 pounds and that your labor will be about 11 hours long.

We'll see, we will see!! ;)

19 Weeks To Go....

The weeks are beginning to fly by...I can't believe we're already at week 21, only 19 more to go!! Last night Scot, Canyon, and I were laying in our bed. Little girl Shapiro began with her sisterly antics. She would move, and I would quickly tell Canyon...but as soon as he put his hand on my belly, she would stop. This lasted on and off for about a half hour. Maybe he'll be able to catch her tonight!

By now Baby Shapiro looks like a mini-version of what she'll look like when she's born. All her facial features are formed and hair is growing on her head. She's even acting like a baby and will occasionally suck her thumb or yawn. Aww...By 21 weeks, fetal bone marrow starts making blood cells—previously done by the liver and spleen. The amniotic fluid that has been cushioning our little bean now serves another purpose: She uses it to "practice" chowing down, as previously seen at our ultrasound appointment. Yes, it sounds gross, but it's an important step for her toward being able to chow down in the real world. Baby Shapiro has been swallowing amniotic fluid for a while now, but now the intestines are finally developed enough that she's absorbing small amounts of sugars from it. She is approximately 7 inches long—the size of a delicious, cold, frothy bottle of root beer. *Info taken from Parents Connect

Bladder the Size of a Walnut