34 Weeks: Turtle Power!

Today marks the 34th week in my pregnancy.  Brian has made this pregnancy so much more fun.  He's a hero in a half shell, TURTLE POWER! :)

Babycenter.com:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers — which will help regulate his body temperature once he's born — are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well.

Whattoexpect.com:

What's new this week? Your baby is clocking in at five pounds and could be as tall as 20 inches by now, and the vernix (the white coating protecting your baby’s skin) is getting thicker. This week, a boy's testicles start making their way down from his abdomen to their final destination: his scrotum (look out below!). In other baby-related developments, those tiny fingernails have probably reached the tips of his fingers by now — and getting ready for that first postpartum manicure.

Alphamom.com:
For mom--  Fatigue, heartburn, nausea, frequent trips to the bathroom. It’s like the Return of the First Trimester, only much bigger and rounder and gruntier.  Don’t forget to do your Kegel exercises, not only in preparation for childbirth but also to stop the unfortunate peeing-when-you-laugh-or-sneeze phenomenon, which can get pretty out of hand in these final weeks.  SO NOT KIDDING ABOUT THAT.

ME:

Yes, fatigue. Yes, heartburn. Yes, ridiculously frequent trips to the bathroom.  FUN TIMES!! But it's not that bad. I'm not going to go all drama queen on you and say that it's so hard because it's totally not.  (Well except for the bathroom trips.  You've got to be kidding me! I can hardly get anything done!) 
Next week begins my weekly trips to the doctor.  I'm nervous because I'll be seeing my first male obgyn ever.  Ewwww weird.  I'm sure it'll be fine.  I'm seeing two men in the next month in fact.  The rest are women but I have to see all the doctors in the practice because any of them could deliver Baby T.  So we'll see I guess!

We went to the After Baby Comes class last night.  It was informative.  We learned how to swaddle, soothe and bathe a baby.  Well... this doll actually...

(On the class evaluation form, there was a question asking how can they improve the class.  Andrew wrote "LIVE BABIES!" Don't worry, he also wrote just kidding.)

We sat next to a couple that were going to be adopting a baby girl in two weeks.  When they introduced themselves to the class and told their story, I will admit I teared up a bit.
How can you not? Stone cold hearted people you are!

Anyway, here are a few tidbits that we learned from the class:

1.) Bringing the baby to bed can be bad when the mother has a man besides the father in bed with her.  The father has the instinct to not roll over the baby where as a strange man is more likely.  This is a FACT that they felt the need to inform us in this class.  We all laughed.  But apparently enough mothers have strange men in bed with them (and their newborns!!!) that they have become aware of this statistic.  No joke.  So don't bed strange men with a newborn.  Got it!

2.) SHUSHING a baby is a great calming technique.  Now I've seen mothers ssh-ssh-ssh a crying baby.  That's no big deal.  But the video we watched, OMG.  This guy gets all up in the baby's bizness and goes, "SSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" like it's deaf! I actually covered my ears during the video because it was so disturbing to me for this poor baby! But apparently, the womb is a very noisy place.  I guess the sounds the baby experiences are as loud as a hair dryer next to the ear.  So the guy shushes very loudly and the baby instantly calms down. (He says you have to be louder than the baby's cry or he can't hear you.)  You can just see the baby's face relax and the eyes open and then start to shut.  It was INSANE!  Instantly calm baby.  So shushing or white noise are good for a baby.  Got it!

Here are some things we DIDN'T learn at the baby care class...

Painting... Birthday Celebrating... Showering

We accomplished quite a lot this weekend.  Friday night Adam and Steph came up to visit.  We went out to eat at Villa Macri and then went to see Jackass 3D. 

I gagged... scratch that, dry-heaved, at several parts.  But the worst by far was the "Sweatsuit Cocktail".  Andrew almost ended up with barf in his lap.  He kept saying, "LOOK AWAY!" but I just couldn't.  I had to see what happened.

It was funny though because when we were telling my parents about it, I gagged again just thinking about it. 
Probably looked a little something like this...

 Ugh, gross.  But parts of it were very entertaining... and completely stupid. 

Anyway, my parents came that night too after the the Bomber football game.  We were ready to get up nice and early to start painting the nursery.  Too bad we didn't start until 2ish.

But look at how FUN this looks!!

 I really like the old color and new color together.  They're kinda fun!

 But alas that wouldn't match our brown and blue turtles.  So we continued painting. 

 When six people are helping, it goes really fast.  The first coat was done in about an hour. 

 Dad did an excellent job with the ceiling! He has quite the steady hand. 

Mom painted the closet.  It looks 10 times better.  Thank goodness!

The second coat took half the time and we were able to quit early to go to dinner.  It was Adam's birthday weekend! 
(How nice that he wanted to spend it with us, painting! I think he has an ulterior motive.  He wants to break the record for youngest wakeboarder so I think he's lining up Baby T for that job. Watch out!)

So we went to Soho, a Japanese Bistro with hibachi tables.  According to Wikipedia, I should be saying Teppanyaki instead.  Whoops.  Anyway...

Here are Mom and Dad about to enjoy some FIIIIIIRE!!! The guy behind them lit the grill and Dad ducked like WHAT THE HELL??  Are they setting this place on FIRE?? It was pretty funny.

 Andrew and I, looking serious. 

 Andrew and I trying to photobomb Adam and Steph. 

 Then I decided to go it alone and photobomb Adam and Steph.  :)
My eyes don't cross like a normal... eleven year old.  

 ONION TOWER ON FIRE!!!! That onion tower was only two stories.  Kinda disappointing. 

 Here's our chef preparing our delicious meal. 

 This is the beer that Adam and Andrew decided to order.  Red Rice Beer.  YUM!
(Warning: It's actually disgusting and causes headaches the next day. Just thought I'd fill you in. Cool bottle though.)

 Adam and Andrew decide to do a sake bomb.  Here's the video...

Adam won! But it was his birthday! Plus he's 6 years younger so he should win. :)

 Then the chef heard that it was Adam's birthday so he decided to give him another sake shot... which ended up being like 3 shots.  He drooled a little on the carpet.  :)

 And finally the Birthday Sundae! A Japanese pound cake with ice cream rolled into it and chocolate syrup and other stuff on top.  YUMMMMM!!!!

On Sunday, we had another shower in Warsaw.  It was lovely!

 Look at how CUTE that tiny little Purdue jersey is!!! Awwww!! I told Andrew Baby T can wear it when Purdue goes to a bowl game this year!

Moving on... it was a shower for us and also Jess and Mike.  She is due a couple weeks before me. 

It was fun to see her open cute girlie stuff.  There's been such a boy baby boom that I haven't gotten to see a whole lot of stuff for girls so that was exciting. 

The shower was thrown by Andrew's parents group of friends which they call the Card Club. I had to post this picture of Andrew with the men from the Card Club.  They look completely enthused to be in my picture! Haha!

What a blessing this weekend was.  We were showered with gifts. Thank you again everyone! Plus we have a painted nursery thanks to the Keiper Paint Crew.  We are so lucky!!! 

I know you are wondering where the finished nursery pictures are.  I apologize but I won't be posting the completed pictures of the nursery until we get our furniture AND carpeting.  That might be a week or two.  I'm sorry! It'll be worth the wait, I promise! :)

33 Weeks: Preggo in a Bar

Yes, that's me at Harry's.  I got weird looks. I think it was because I was drinking water at Harry's.

So what's happening with Baby Thornburg?

Babycenter.com:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood. 

Alphamom.com:

Your Baby:

-Weighs over four pounds and is 17 inches long.

-The skeleton is hardening, except for the skull, which will remain soft and flexible to allow it to fit through the birth canal, and also to grow and allow adequate space for your baby’s enormously brilliant brain.

-Kicks and movements are practically visible from space now, and you may look down and realize that your belly is no longer round, but pointed, as a knee or elbow stretches out for a few seconds before disappearing beneath the surface again.

You:

-Are big. Yes. And the whole world may suddenly seem like it’s got an opinion about when you’ll go into labor, and it TOTALLY DOESN’T CARE that you aren’t even full-term yet, it thinks you’ve dropped and popped and are going to give birth in like, two weeks. Tell it to shut the hell up with my blessings.

-May be waddling more than walking, and misjudging your circumference as you bump into counters and knock things over on tables.

-A lot of pregnant women start having strange dreams about those pronounced movements — legs and arms stretching out from under your clothes, or the perfect imprint of your baby’s face suddenly appearing next to your belly button. If these dreams creep you out, just remember that it’s your mind starting to wrap itself around the concept that there is, in fact, a actual baby in there rather than some hypothetical concept of a baby.

Me: 

Let's see... yes, I'm big and people now have no problem saying so.  I've gotten comments like, "Well there is definitely more to you than the last time I saw you" and "You look like you're carrying more than your lunch".  Ha. Ha. Ha. That's fan-freaking-tastic.   That's what I get for having a mostly male client-base.  The dreams, however, are not about baby.  The dreams are freaky though.  I'm being threatened by a killer to give him my twizzlers.  He ended up shooting someone in my dream because I didn't give him my twizzlers immediately.  It was scary... and it made no sense.  

Plus I have pregnant brain (but so does Andrew!!).  I wrote down the wrong date for our nursing class and we missed it.  Damn it.  I tried to play it off on Andrew but the handwriting on the calendar was definitely mine.  Double damn it.  At least we can go to the one in November.  

Another fun surprise after the shower on Sunday, my ankles swelled like giant Campbell's soup cans.  Disgusting.  It took a day or two for the swelling to go down but it did eventually. Thank goodness! I was not ready to give up my leggings and wear pants only until December!

Then I had my doctor's appointment on Monday.  When she was doing the measurements, she said, "You are having a contraction."  I kinda scoffed at her, like yeah right.  She was like "No you are definitely having a contraction." She was concerned that I couldn't feel it so she strapped me up to the fetal monitor non-stress testing machine for about 20 minutes to see if I would have any more.  Baby T had hiccups at the same time and was moving around a lot.  My stomach looked like a disturbed water bed the whole time.  Elbows and feet and who knows what else were sticking out every which direction.  When the testing was over, she chalked it up to Braxton-Hicks and sent me on my way.  But now I'm totally paranoid that I'm missing contractions. Oh well, Baby T will let me know when it's THUNDERCATS ARE GO! time, I'm sure.  

Now for your Baby Care Instructions of the week... 

 

Shower Weekend Extravaganza

This was quite the exhaustive weekend for us.  Well for me mostly because I'm just not as capable of handling big weekends like this anymore.  But we started our weekend with tailgating on Saturday.

 Aww, we're so cute. :) (Traci, Mandy, Morgan, Diane)

Staffords and Thornburgs whoopin' it up.  Preggo wives can still have fun!

We went to Harry's after this but I didn't take many pictures.  Probably because I was too focused on finding a lost credit card.
Wanna hear the story?
Andrew told me to remind him to close his tab before we left so I did.  He went up to the bar to close it and came back.  I said, "Did you close your tab?"
"Yes."
"Did you get your credit card?"
He stares at me blankly and then gets his wallet out.  He doesn't have his credit card.  "She didn't give it to me!!!"
I said, "Go back and get it from her."  He goes back up to the bar and she doesn't have it.  She feels terrible.  She's apologizing all over the place.  We've got people in the bar looking for this credit card.  It is no where to be found.  We looked all through Andrew's wallet, didn't find it. Looked in his pockets, didn't find it.
We finally leave Harry's and I make him call Chase and cancel his card because I'm sure the card is stolen.  He calls Chase Customer Service and being that the call centers are usually located in middle east and the fact that he has had too much to drink, he can't understand what they are saying.  He tries two or three different times to talk to a person he can understand.  Finally, he is able to cancel his card.
We were meeting Andrew's aunt, uncle and cousin that night for dinner.  We get to the restaurant and as we are walking in the door, he sticks his hands in his pockets.

LO AND FREAKING BEHOLD, there's his credit card in front left pocket.
Did he check that pocket???? I GUESS NOT.
So now he has to switch over everything that was automatically set up for that card.  Sweet.  Good times.

So anyway, on to the rest of the weekend.

The shower was in Lafayette at the Rush Pavillion which is a wonderful place to have things, by the way.  It's a gorgeous building with a wrap-around porch.  So cool.

My mom and her friend Sue and my sis-in-law Erin all helped put together quite a fabulous event.  It was awesome!

The theme was "the little pumpkin".

You can see everyone hard at work on their pumpkin trivia.

They were really thinking hard! They had no idea they were going to get a pumpkin pop quiz.

 My mom wanted the obligatory shot of me with the food. :) But the fall themed food was REALLY good, even on a 80 degree day! YUM-O!

The gift table was packed to the max!! That's not even all the gifts! We were so blessed.  We got so many wonderful things.  It was incredible!

 Obviously, there would be 3 brazillion pictures if my mom took pictures of every one but here are some gift opening highlights.  These pictures were taken after I had to pull my hair back because I was sweating like a cat in a China Garden restaurant.  Ridic!  It got really hot in that room because it was 80 degrees outside. I gotta say- I would've really liked to be one of those polar bears on that onesie at the time.

We got an awesome Purdue Book from Steph (who coincidentally is to the right in this picture) called "Purdue Pete Finds His Hammer".  I ruined the book for everyone by looking at the last page and found out the hammer in his locker the whole time! 

Funny enough, Purdue Pete HAS the hammer in his hand on the cover.  How did he lose it? Did he STICK IT IN HIS FRONT LEFT POCKET?????

We also got a Purdue Potty from my mom.  When you pee in it, it plays the Purdue Fight Song.  AWESOME!! (We just might be currently using it. Why do you ask? "Hail, Hail to Old Purdue....")

Baby T's future buddy Wyatt came to the shower.  He was one of two boys in attendance (besides the one that is in his own carrying case, wink wink).  He is a walking MACHINE now! He definitely does not need any support anymore. His only speed now is... ESCAPE!!!! :)

We took some fun pictures after the shower.  I thought it would be fun to take professional looking pictures with my mom's camera while we had such a beautiful background.  Here are Andrew and I with Sue.

 We took some nice ones like this...

But then I was so deliriously tired after the shower that I couldn't take anything seriously and we took pictures that looked more like this. Andrew's losing it above.

Here I am as Captain Preggo Morgan Pumpkin.  Or maybe just Captain Ridiculous.

I was glad that the 118 Fowler girls got together for a picture.  So cute! (Traci, Angela, Morgan, Holly, Mandy)

Erin brought the cupcakes for the shower and they were a huge hit.  Even with the fellas after the shower.  :) Andrew ate one and like he always does when he eats something chocolate, he made his poop joke.  I believe it goes, "Clean your butt for a dollar?" with a mouth full of brown stuff.  So funny right? *eye roll* But this time, with the blue icing, he changed it to "Clean a smurf's butt for a dollar?"

I think he married me because I often laughed at this jokes.  I'm not sure why I laugh though.  Maybe it's because he looks like he does in the picture. 

Another Andrew Story from the day of the shower:
Andrew and the other men in the family went out to eat at Scotty's while we were busy with the shower.  Andrew drove and parked in the lot.  It took them about 2 hours to eat and when they came out to the car, Andrew couldn't find his keys.  They all look at our Equinox and realize it's running... unlocked... with valuables inside... FOR THE ENTIRE TWO HOURS THEY WERE IN SCOTTY'S.  How lucky did Andrew get on THIS one?? No one stole the car or anything inside.  But we are getting really crappy gas mileage on that tank of gas.

I think Andrew must be having Pregnant Brain Empathy or something.  I hope one of us becomes less of a moron soon because someone has to be the non-nincompoop for poor Baby T!

So after the shower, everyone helped load our car with the gifts...

Then when we got home and had to unload everything into our house.  Because we're working on the baby's room this weekend and because we were so exhausted, we just brought everything into the kitchen and left it.

Even Brian was cashed from his weekend of being boarded at the vet.

Poor guy.  He spends the whole weekend barking at everything at the vet and then he comes home and he is totally hoarse.  He tried to bark at the neighbor dog tonight and it was so pathetic. :(

Right now, he's snoring loudly in that exact position with his eyes flickering.