Emerson Estelle Thomas
We finally have a name for this little bundle of joy who will be here in 8 weeks!! It’s great to call her by a name, although we still call her “the baby” a lot. I’m very excited about the name and hope others will love it too. I do realize her initials will be E.T. and did stress over this slightly. I’ve been convinced many times over that it will not be a big deal and kids Emerson’s age probably wont even know who E.T. is/was. Not sure if they were sincere or just trying to appease the pregnant lady. Hopefully she wont be told to “phone home” too many times. I guess only time will tell. :)

We've also been working on the nursery little by little. We've had the furniture for a while, but then we (I) decided to paint. Larry and I embarked on this adventure to save money. Well, let me preface this story with saying--saving money isnt worth it when you lose your sanity. I was convinced the painting was horrible when we started, but it actually looked o.k. when we checked the next morning. We did run out of paint though and had to go back to get more the next weekend. We finished up the last wall of painting and touched up a few spots on the other 3 walls a week or so later. Just like the previous weekend, I went to bed worried the paint didnt look quite right. When we checked the next morning, we werent as lucky as before. I guess since mixing paint is not rocket science, they do not hire rocket scientist to do the job. This new batch of paint was a completely different color. We ordered the exact same paint/finish, but ended up with something several shades darker. So, the nursery had 3 walls one color with spots of darker paint all over where we touched up and 1 wall with darker paint- lovely. At this point my sanity was slipping fast. We decided to just pay someone to fix it (I think Larry would have paid any amount just to not hear me fuss about it anymore). THe painters were able to fix our mishap and all is well with the nursery and my sanity (relatively speaking). Here's a look at the dresser in the painted room. We'll have the bedding soon and I'll post some nursery pix.


We’re down to 8 weeks to go and have a new belly pix posted to prove it. She’s packing on the pounds and pushing my belly right on out. I’ve been greasing this belly up night and day in hopes of avoiding stretch marks. We are still stretch mark-free at this point. I can definitely see that my belly has become more “in the way” than ever. Up until now it hasn’t really impeded me in any way. Now there are several things I try to do (bend over to pick something up, put on tights, tie my shoes, sit up after lying down, etc.) and this big balloon gets in the way. :)
Emerson is most definitely trying out for the gymnastics portion of the Olympics these days. She definitely has her sleep/awake times that are obvious. When she is awake, she is flipping and turning like she’s trying to find her way out. For the most part it is a great feeling and fun to know she’s doing fine in there. There are some times when having my insides contorted in every possible direction is a little less than “fun”.
Sleeping baby- the baby sleeps 90-95% of the day, and sometimes experiences REM sleep, an indication of dreaming. When she’s not sleeping, baby's movements will peak this week. The wrinkles in your baby's face are disappearing and fat is still being deposited throughout the baby's body.Now that your baby has grown so long and your uterus is higher, you might notice a new discomfort. Your baby is probably head down and may occasionally stretch out and kick you in the ribs. The pressure on your rib cage can make you sore, especially if one of your baby's feet becomes caught.

The countdown is officially on-9 weeks to go. Can you believe I"m in the single digits? I cant (I guess that is fairly obvious considering I KEEP talking about it)!
Our doctor visit was great yesterday! So great there's really nothing to report. She is still breech, but has about 5-6 weeks to turn. If she hasnt turned by 36-37 weeks, she's not going to and we'll start talking C-section. She's growing and developing wonderfully, just packing on the pounds in these last weeks. Speaking of packing on the pounds.....I changed the weight gain counter (to the right) to "weeks" instead of "months for the rest of the time. My visits are every couple/few weeks now, so I'll get weighed at random times, not necessarily at the beginning of a month. According to the doctor, a pound a week is normal weight gain from here on out, so expect to see that number growing. :) (I think I"m mentally preparing myself)

Your baby continues to grow. Baby's lungs and digestive tract are very near to being mature. Now that almost all of the major organs are functioning, growth will focus on maturing those organs and growing muscle mass and fat stores. Baby's weight gain will exceed its growth in length from now on. He or she should more than double their weight again between now and birth. She weighs about 3.5 pounds and her total length is around 16.5 inches.
Your baby's brain is working overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a frenetic clip, and your baby can now perceive information from all five senses. The eyes have now completely opened and are responding to light and darkness. A loud noise near you may cause your little one to jump. Sure, your baby can't smell anything right now, but that's only because he or she is still submerged in amniotic fluid and needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything. Lucky for you — and your baby — yours will be one of the very first scents your baby breathes in, a scent that will quickly become his or her very favorite.
So what's your little dove doing all day while you're busy feathering your nest for his or her arrival? Making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along your uterine wall, and even sucking his or her thumb (please no- I cant take another thumb sucker in my house).

goodbye 20s....

30 weeks down, 10 weeks to go.....It sounds so great to be in the "thirties" now (30 weeks pregnant that is----if only it would have been exciting when my age left the 20s behind and entered the 30s... ).
Being 30 weeks really makes it sound/feel like I'm on the home stretch now. After this week, the # of weeks left will be in the single digits- woohoo!

We went to the specialist today and everything looked great. She's growing and weighs 3 pounds! She is still breech (head up instead of down), but still has time to turn. If she hasnt turned by 36 weeks, then she probably wont and that will mean a c-section for me. So, we'll just have to wait and see.

Apparently her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

We got some 3-d pix of her today. I think they are super clear (and super cute if I do say so myself), so hopefully you can see her...

cute profile, right??

these are more "straight on" pix..dont you just want to pinch those "chubby" cheeks?

you can see her right arm is bent with her fist right by her eye

her left hand is open in front of her left eye

her face looks a little froggish here- but she's the cutest darn frog i've ever seen :)

she has her foot in front of her face with her big toe on the bridge of her nose in both of these pix....guess she's getting kinda cramped in there!

Smile for the camera

I forgot to post this pix from the dr. visit last week. I hope that you can make out her face. The picture is taken of her looking straight ahead (not the profile like the last few times). You can see her left eye, her nose, and her mouth. I am convinced she is smiling in this picture, but I am her mother. So, just agree with me for the fun of it! :)

Everything went great at the dr. appointment last week except for one small detail....I gained 10 pounds in ONE MONTH. I honestly could not believe it. I asked the nurse to weigh me again because I just knew there had to be an error. I gained 7 pounds in 6 months and then I gain 10 pounds in one month???? Yes ma'am, you better believe it. We are in the double digits now baby. The dr. didnt seem too concerned as long as I dont gain 10lbs every month for the next few months. She said 17lbs is completely normal at 28 weeks. All I know is it pained me to be honest about the weight gain total, but I'm doing it. :)

I'm still feeling pretty great at this point in the pregnancy. I haven't gotten to the miserable/uncomfortable phase yet. The worst thing is probably the cankles right now. My calves, ankles and feet are swollen every day. There's not an ankle bone in sight. Dont beleive me?? Check these sausages out:

Everything else did go great at the dr. She is growing fine and doing great! At 29 weeks the baby's head is in proportion to the rest of the body. Fat continues to accumulate under the skin. The brain can control primitive breathing and body temperature control, and the eyes can move in the sockets. The baby is becoming sensitive to light, sound, taste and smell. She weighs nearly three pounds now and measures about 17 inches. Though she's getting pretty close to her birth length, she still has to chub out a bit. In fact, over the next 11 weeks, she'll more than double — or even come close to tripling — her weight. And as she grows and the room in your womb gets tighter, you'll be less likely to feel those big kicks and more likely to get poked by an elbow or jabbed by a knee.