Our second 3D/4D Ultrasound

Beebop was more cooperative today. He was still difficult...but it was better than last time! He really enjoys sucking on the back of his perfect hand so we had to contend with that being in the way today. But I think we were able to get some really beautiful shots of his little face! Here are a few of them!

Labeled for bearing purposes


His sweet profile


Playing with his hand


Sucking on his thumb

Roll Tide Roll!!

2 days and 9 hours and 16 minutes until ALABAMA FOOTBALL KICK-OFF!! We start the season out with Clemson at the Georgia Dome...and Gameday will be there...which is not usually a good thing of 'ole Alabama! But hopefully Saban and the boys will pull it out! Can't wait to see what our hunky coach does this season!! 'Rammer jammer, Yellow Hammer, Give 'em HELL ALABAMA!!!!

Roll Tide!!!!

Little "Who" Swatloski

We had another doctor's appointment today! This one was supposed to be fairly exciting...and in some cases it was...

So, I took the dreaded glucose test (a test where you have to drink this very, very, very sugary syrup and then get your finger pricked an hour later. This test is supposed to tell you if you are at risk for gestational diabetes. If you fail the one hour test, you have to come back and take the three hour version of the test...not fun I imagine!). You are supposed to get lower than a 140 to pass...I got a 121!!!! Yea!! I passed!! Rick asked our lovely nurse that we always see if she would give me a gold star. But...I guess she was out because I didn't get one. Oh well.

Our doctor was in unexpected surgery this morning so he didn't arrive until 10:00 for our 8:30 appointment. But not to worry. We had plenty of stuff to do while we were waiting including...

OUR 3D/4D ULTRASOUND!! Now...of course, this is Rick's child we are talking about here...stubborn as all get out! Just kidding honey! Our little guy was a bit camera shy this morning (I don't know how he is related to me!!) so we are going to try again on Friday to get a few better shots. But, I have included the ones we got today just so the suspense won't get too unbearable! :) You can see is right eye, his right cheek (which will of course appear on the left side of the picture :) ) and his forehead. His mouth is covered up by his umbilical cord. The umbilical cord is what got in our way the last time!! Stubborn little thing. His nose looks a little funny because it is squished up against me. To me...he looks a little like a Who. :) Isn't he a cutie!!

Here we are at 28 weeks! We are in the home stretch! We have been graduated to appointments every two weeks now instead of every 4 weeks!! Isn't that crazy?? We'll have a little person here soon!!

Say my name, say my name, say my name...

Baby Swatloski has a name!! But we're so not telling any of you what it is!!!! :)

Is it frightening to anyone that we will be in charge of another life in 12 weeks??

No? Just me? Ok...

Catch up

I am a bit behind in my blogging. I apologize. We've been pretty busy, i guess.

Last weekend was my Uncle Maxie's 70th birthday party in Tennessee. So, I, needing to get out of town to take a break from T-Town drama, drove to Atlanta so that my mom and I could drive to Tennessee. It was great fun. Most all of the cousins were there with their kids. It was great to see them.

We hit 26 weeks that weekend.

This past weekend, Rick and I went on a "Babymoon"...which was pretty much awesome!!! We drove down to The Grand Marriott, Point Clear resort in Fairhope, Alabama. Umm...it rocked! We took a five mile bike ride around the resort and neighboring areas. We visited a nearby confederate cemetery were soldiers were laid to rest having not survived their hospital stay (the resort was used as a hospital during the war). That was pretty interesting. We sat by the pool, in the shade :), we ate at the two fine restaurants in the resort, we swam, we relaxed...oh yeah...it was just what the doctor ordered. Here are a few shots for the baby book...

Then, we hit 27 weeks...

Next Monday we go back to the doctor. I have the one hour glucose test (please pray I pass it so that I don't have to go in for the three hour test), a visit with our doctor and....OUR 3D/4D ULTRASOUND!! That means we will get a glimpse at what Beebop Swatloski's face will look like!! We can't wait!!

I'm not starving...I'm so hungry, I'm tired....I mean...

So, Rick and I are absolutely exhausted. For the last three days, we have been helping out a friend of mine who is having marital problems by keeping her three small children. Yesterday, they were dropped off to us at work at 10:30 am. We were not able to take them home until 5:30 pm. That is 7 hours that these children were left in our care...at our place of business...after we were told it would take an hour...And this is after I took off on Monday to take the kids school shopping to distract them, and after they stayed at our house from 7:00 pm until 1:00 am on Sunday. We're exhausted. And very sad for them.

But, we are very happy for Baby Swatloski! We had a doctor's appointment Monday morning. Dr. Madden said that Beebop is growing just as he should. The scale wasn't very nice to me...but my doctor says that since I didn't gain any weight at last month's appointment so I'm in the clear. His words as we left were, "we're almost in the home stretch." ....ummm....oh my gosh. I am having a Jamie Buckman moment...."I'm the mommy...I'M THE MOMMY!!" Slightly daunting.

25 weeks...

Ugg...

It's hot...I can't remember why I ever thought being in the 7th (lunar) month of pregnancy, in Alabama, in August, would be a good idea. It's hot. I walked to the Farmer's Market yesterday at 3:00 and thought I was going to have to call Rick to come and pick me up. It's hot.

So, we are now 24 weeks pregnant. Actually, tomorrow is the last day of the 24th week. I have procrastinated a bit. So, we are nearly 25 weeks pregnant. Below you will find the latest photo. We have a doctor's appointment on Monday. Nothing major will be going on. But, on Monday we will schedule the dreaded glucose test and the much anticipated 3D/4D ultrasound!

Brookwood's band camp was this week and last. It is slightly more difficult to teach chasse en tournants and tour jetes when you are a big fat pregnant lady. Not impossible. But more difficult. We all survived and had a successful and productive camp. So, all is well.

'Til Monday...

23 weeks...17 to go!

So, the visit to the cardiologist was not so much fun. It was too much craziness to write out, but it was awful and I will be telling my OB not to send anyone else to this particular person who had clearly never seen a pregnant cardiac patient since Med School and whose nurses had no idea what appropriate patient care means...anyway. So, what I took from it is that I have a slight case of Mitral Valve Prolapse. That basically means that my valves (or a valve) don't close all the way causing a bit of leaking between beats. Not a big deal. It is the cause of the flutters and skips (arrhythmias) that I have felt my whole life but that seemed worse in pregnancy. No biggie. Baby Swatloski and I will be just fine. I'll tell you...the visit to this doctor was more hazardous to Beebop's health than any funky heart rhythms I was having. I was a crazed woman when I left.

This past weekend Rick and I attended a Tropical themed wedding in Birmingham. It was a very nice ceremony and reception. Rick and I did our best to dress the part.

Big Al even decided to show up. So, we all took a "Research" picture with him. So, from the left we have Lauren Wilson, Senior Associate Director of the Office for Sponsored Programs (and the wedding Officiant); Big Al; me, Innovation Coordinator for the Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs (AIME) Center; below me is Robin Rogers, Director of the Center for Green Manufacturing (also Father of the Bride and Rick's former Graduate Advisor); Rick, Licensing Associate for the Office for Technology Transfer; Dan Daly, Director of AIME (my boss); Sandi Daly, Dan's wife.

Today, I am sad to say that I am all alone most of the week. Rick is in Boston at the AUTM (Association of University Technology Managers) Eastern Region Meeting in Boston. He was on the planning committee for this one. See this. I'm very proud but lonely. AppleJack has done a great job of keeping me company though!

We are heading into the 24th week. Here is our shot from 23.

Santa Rosa Beach

We spent this past weekend at Santa Rosa Beach, Florida with the Mims' (mom, dad, Ash and all of the dogs). It was such a welcomed escape! My parents rented a condo at The Abacos...

And we have pretty much decided that this will be a yearly event. It was perfect! Unfortunately, I didn't take many photos. But, we are steadily recovering from our trip. Why "recovering" you ask? Well, here's what happened to Rick...

My husband is 6'4" and weighs 170 soaking wet. Get it? He's skinny. No one knows how he does it. He could (and he did this while I was on Weight Watchers for the Scale Back Alabama thing at work) eat a double Whopper with Cheese from Burger King everyday for a whole week and LOSE weight. It's a gift. But the point is, you can usually see the bones in his feet. And you can certainly see his ankle bones usually. That's how swollen these puppies are. It's not pleasant. So, I had to do this to him...

Paper towels soaked in Apple Cider Vineager. Seems simple. But if you have ever been this badly burned, you understand that to place a cold, wet paper towel on the afflicted area is torture!! Fun times. Now, the rest of his body is fine. So, we're only looking at skin cancer of the feet.

So that's what happened to Rick. Here's what happened to me...

Little Baby Swatloski has had a bit of a growth spurt recently. He decided that we needed to gain 4 pounds last week. And that may not sound like a lot, but when you consider that since March, when we found out we were pregnant, I have only gained 6 pounds. So to gain 4 pounds in one week is to gain 66% of my initial weight gain or 40% of my total weight gain...IN ONE WEEK!!! That's kind of a lot. So, that weight gain, coupled with walking on sand for two days, makes for very sore knees...moaning in pain during the night sore knees...want to cry because all I am allowed to take for the pain is Tylenol sore knees...sore knees that probably originated thanks in part to Barry Lloyd, April Gilligan and Travis Estler (the three colorguard/winterguard instructors I have had in my life). So, the hubs and I have turned into hobblers. We are quite the pair at work.

We have an appointment with a Cardiologist tomorrow. Not a huge deal, but I have a funny heart thing going on the my OB wants to get checked out. Fun times! I'll let you all know how that turns out! But for now, here we are at 22 weeks...

I think I am pretty much always in this shirt when we take our weekly picture. While it is my favorite since it doesn't have bows to tie in the back, or elastic, I do own other maternity shirts. I'll try to spice it up a bit next time. Maybe I will take another one tomorrow...

Playing catch up...

I am so behind...there has been quite a bit going on in our lives over the past few weeks. So...let me catch you up...

Rick's mom came into town on the 24th to paint some canvases for us to go in the nursery. We had such a great visit with her! Here are some sample shots from her stay:

Then we had a huge baby shower at my parents new house in Atlanta on the 28th:

I hung up the gazillion tiny outfits that Baby Beebop received at the shower (after I washed them with dye-free, perfume-free detergent like a good mommy-to-be). It was so much fun! I can't wait to have a tiny man to put them on!

Then we reached 20 weeks:

Then we celebrated the 4th of July weekend by putting together the crib and other nursery stuff:

Then we hit 21 weeks:

And that pretty much brings us to today, my 27th birthday!! They surprised me at work with a FABULOUS strawberry ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery! It's nice to have a husband working upstairs that looks out for you and makes sure you get the exact cake you want on your birthday! :) Rick and I are going to be heading to dinner soon (right after we get off). Then it's off to the house for a little So You Think You Can Dance and packing for our trip to the beach with the fam tomorrow! I can't wait! As for presents...Rick got me our baby monitor that I pleaded with him to get, my parents bought me half of our glider in the nursery (Rick got the other half for his birthday in May), Rick's parents bought me a very nice big girl camera (a Cannon SLR...EOS 20D), my sister got me my very first maternity bathing suit for our trip this weekend and two of my co-workers paid for my wares at the farmer's market today!! What more could a girl ask for??