Tummy Time-Month 7

This week marks my 27th week of pregnancy and the beginning of month 7. I'm posting the latest picture of my tummy. I really had no idea it was this big until I saw this picture. From the front, I look fairly normal, but WHOA, when I turn to the side, I look like an elephant!

Baby Boys=More Expensive

Did you know that it (may) cost more to have a baby boy? I didn't until I went to my "parenting" class Saturday (more on that fun-filled day later). Generally, your health insurance, or at least Blue Cross, pays 100% of any maternal care, which includes prenatal care, labor and delivery, and routine newborn care while in the hospital (all subject to your copay). Basically, we'll have to pay our major medical deductible and that should be it as far as expenses go with my pregnancy.

HOWEVER, if you are having a baby boy and are choosing to have him circumcised, which we are, you have to pay an additional major medical deductible because this is considered a "major surgery." Really, a major surgery?? It wasn't until last month that our hospital even implemented a policy requiring baby boys to be locally anesthetized before being "clipped." All they do is give it a small snip and bandage it up (and I have to admit the thought of this is already making me really upset......poor Liam). BUT, I hardly think this qualifies as major medical surgery! So if you are having a baby boy, get prepared to pay two deductibles!!??!! NOT FAIR. Does this qualify as gender discrimination under Title VII??

Dow's Landscaping

If you didn't know, when we bought this house, the backyard was an absolute mess. I am not exaggerating when I say that the weeds were literally up to my elbows in some places. In fact, when we finally cleared everything out, we discovered a push lawnmower that had just been left outside and covered by uncontrolled weeds. The previous owners of this house were just lazy.

This week, Dow finally relandscaped the backyard in preparation for little Liam. It had been cleared out before, but it was still messy and ugly. Now we have fresh sod and a place for all of us to play outside. I am envisioning a swing and maybe a sandbox with some tonka trucks??

Here are pictures of the new back yard. Keep in mind it's not complete finished. We still have to plant some more azaleas and a couple of hydrangeas and finish up with more straw. But it is a MILLION times better than what it used to look like. And yes, you could probably do without the hose, but I'm not putting it up just to take pictures and then get it out to water the sod again.

Tennis Balls

Liam has started moving a lot. For the most part, his movements feel like bumps and thumps in my stomach (unless he gets a good wack on my bladder, which, I have to admit, has made me pee myself just a little on at least one occasion). However, on Saturday night, I felt this huge movement to one side of my body. I called Dow into the room and pulled up my nightgown to check it out. Sure enough, there was this tennis ball-sized lump on the left side of my stomach. In fact, the left side of my stomach was at least 1-2 inches higher than the right side (sort of like in Aliens when the aliens start to burst out of people's stomachs). After about a minute, the ball went away, then back, then away, then back, then away. Finally, the little busy baby went to sleep, although I didn't.
Have I mentioned that trying to sleep while pregnant SUCKS??!!?? My poor left shoulder..............I can definitely say that I'm not too excited about pushing a baby out of my who-who, but I can barely wait to start sleeping on my stomach again.

He Can Hear!

Yes, I have been absent from the blog for quite a while now. I am in the middle of writing an appellate brief that is literally taking all my time (and I shouldn't even be blogging at this moment), BUT, I had to post about our latest discovery with little Liam.

Now that Liam is getting fairly big (I am 26 weeks), Dow enjoys talking to my tummy. Well, we've noticed that he is starting to actually respond! Over the past two days, when Dow gets close to my tummy and says "WAKE UP, LIAM," he kicks and moves. It's so cute! Obviously, he is not responding to Dow actually say, "Wake Up," but he is responding to the noise. I wonder how he is going to handle the Coldplay concert in May??? He may be jamming more than me!

What's Going On

In case anyone was wondering, here is an idea of what Liam looks like right now at 24 weeks (around 2 lbs).

FINAL "Final" Change

I've been informed by the fabrics gods that you can't have two stripes together (although I consider zebra more of a "print"). The fabric has been changed yet again to the same multi-colored stripe with a brown and blue polka-dot. That's it. No more changes. I am sick of fabrics.