Expiration Date

You know your due date is approaching when food products expire on the same day. As I was preparing mushroom and spinach quesadillas the other night I happened to look at the expiration date on the shredded cheese and there is in print was June 19th, 2010!!

28 Week Belly Shot

Slowly but surely the bump is expanding. Here is my 28 week belly shot with 16, 20 and 24 week comparison. I definitely notice a bigger change from 20 to 24 weeks then 24 to 28 weeks. I may be the only pregnant lady without a scale in the house so I have no idea how much I've gained since my 24 week appointment. We shall find out this Thursday.

28 Weeks

Belly Comparison

Pregnancy Progress: Week 28

Today, I am 28 weeks pregnant!! HELLO THIRD TRIMESTER!! Only 84 days/13 weeks (about) to go!! And, I can’t believe March is almost over….where has the time gone?

Cashina now weighs roughly 2 ½lbs and is about 15ins in total length. She should grow another ½ in this week. She now has about 2-3% body fat and her muscle tone is increasing. Other then continuing to develop billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in this big scary world, this week her eyes now have color…although it will most likely not be the color she ultimately ends up with. Her eyes won’t turn their final hue until approximately nine months after her birth. Chris has hazel eyes and I have brown so my guess is it will be one of the two. No blue eyes in this Italian, French, Greek family!!

Cashina “should” now be sleeping and waking at normal intervals. For the most part I think this is true but sometimes she surprises me. She awakes when my alarm goes off and likes to stretch her legs and arms while I’m working away in the mornings. Then she has another burst of energy in the afternoon, takes a break around dinner and then is up and at ‘um again before I go to bed. Now, she may be active while I’m sleeping but not enough to wake me up just yet...thankfully since I wake up enough to use the little girl's room!!

We are still taking part in the name debate but I think we are getting closer. Personally, I still haven’t decided if we should select one name and go with it or have a couple of options and then decide once she is born. What is she doesn’t really look like a “Blank” Ciano?

Noise

I belong to a pregnancy forum online which has been such a great resource throughout the past 6 months. Even though I don’t know any of the mamas-to-be personally, hearing what others are going through and experiencing (both first-timers and been-there-done-that mamas) from all over the world has really help educate me throughout this entire process. In addition to experienced family and friends of course!! I am amused by so many of these pregnant ladies commenting about how when they talk or their hubby’s talk to their little ones, listen to music in the car or read that the baby goes nuts. Cashina is the complete opposite. As soon as either one of us speak she goes in to listening/sleepy mode. If there is quiet, she likes to get her groove on…well, that is unless she is having a lazy day. I am wondering if she enjoys listening to music in the car, hearing me sing or read and it just lulls her into relaxation mode? Chris thinks it may be a benefit to us and if she gets fussy after she arrives we can just make some noise and all will be peaceful. I think it may be a pipe dream!!

On Order

After lots of shopping, website hopping, room planning, and looking at fabric swatches we finally ordered the last piece of nursery furniture over the weekend. Considering how much I research things, you'd think I would have looked for our glider online BEFORE placing an order with a store....we could have saved about $300 but alas, there is no turning back. Lesson learned.

The furniture won't start getting delivered until May but I am antsy and don't want to wait (me not want to wait? now that's a stretch!!)!! The nursery still needs to be painted so we are hoping it will be completed by the time the first piece arrives.

We choose a light green fabric (not the one pictured) for the chair with a pink swirly piping. I'm a little uncertain about the green and hope it doesn't clash with the blue wall color but my dream of yellow fabric wasn't an option and Chris wasn't a big fan of any of the pink fabrics or of buying a different chair and having it reupholstered.

I am excited to see how it all comes together. Did I mention I'm getting antsy?

View Straight Down

No more feet when I look straight down. I can still cut my own toenails though but I will leave the pedicure to a professional.

Pregnancy Progress: Week 27

Today, I am 27 weeks pregnant!! Hard to believe that my second "golden" trimester is coming to a close this week and the third trimester is just around the corner. It is so gorgeous out today that I'm hoping this weather continues and I will be updating the blog while sitting on the deck under the umbrella in weeks to come.

Although I still feel great, I am definitely experiencing more aches and pains. My right hip gets tight, my back gets achy, my feet get tired and I get lovely calf pain during the night....oh and we can't forget about the lovely heartburn. But overall, I'm not complaining. If all of this is in the name of Cashina growing healthy and strong, I am all for it and wouldn't have it any other way. I keep saying I am going to attend a pre-natal yoga class but all of my normal daily activities have a way of getting in the way. Maybe this will be the week.

This week Cashina weighs around 2lbs and is about 14in in total length. Cashina's lungs and immune system will mature this week as she continues to prepare for her grand entrance into the world. If born today, she would have an 85-90% chance of survival as her lungs are capable of breathing air but she would require medical assistance. We don't want to expose her to that so keep growing Cashina!! Her brain tissues and neurons are developing at a rapid pace as the forebrain grows to cover the rest of the brain, resulting in some important brain development. Let's hope she gets Chris' smarts :-)

Up this week, my glucose tolerance test....ick. Hoping I pass and my sweet tooth hasn't effected me negatively. But either way, I am still wondering when DQ is going to open!!

Erin Go Bragh!

Even though Chris nor I are Irish, Cashina seems to be enjoying the holiday thus far and has been performing her version of Irish step dancing. It is so fun to look at my stomach while typing away at my desk and seeing kicks. I wonder when Chris and I will actually be able to make out a foot or hand?

Happy St. Patrick's Day and may the luck of the Irish be with each of you on this sunny New England "Spring" day. Will it really reach almost 70 degrees on Saturday?

Happy Birthday Violet!!

A year ago today, our first child Violet the Pug, was born to Belle by a crazy breeder. We never imagined what the next year would bring or if we (or Violet!!) would make it through, emotionally or financially, but despite its challanges we love our little Violet and are happy that she is a member of the Ciano (and Fisher) family. In between the frustration and tears she brings joy to our lives each day.

What we love most about Violet, other than how cute she is......she is a little clown and makes us laugh everyday.

What we would change about Violet, other then her OCD/craziness......her ability to be housetrained!! Uggh!!

Violet has improved over the past year but still needs lots of work and takes a lot of patience. Even though Cashina isn't born yet, I can imagine that it will be like having twins during Violet's high maintenance moments. Let's hope she gets better with age.

Pregnancy Progress: Week 26

Today, I am 26 weeks pregnant!! 98 days until my due date and two-thirds of the way there!! I said it yesterday and will say it again....Yowsa!! As I write she is giving me some nice kicks and taps around my belly button. She must have enjoyed the Kashi Go-Lean and OJ that were on the menu for breakfast. Hopefully the Omega-3's will go straight to her developing brain.

Her movements have definitely been more frequent this week and some of them have even felt more like pushes on my stomach instead of just kicks. Strange feeling. I even pushed a foot or hand away yesterday and then she bopped me. Before I got up this morning, Chris was trying to get her to kick for him and of course within a second of him moving his hand away she gave me a swift kick to the belly button. She is tricky that Cashina. He felt a little vibration a few minutes later but we are still waiting for that good hard kick for her papa!!

Cashina's eyes have been sealed shut to allow her retinas to develop but this week they are likely to open and begin to blink. Her eyes are also developing the ability to focus, although she'll only be able to see objects 6 to 8 inches away at birth.

Her nostrils are opening up, so she'll be able to practice breathing through her nose as well as her mouth. Her lungs continue to mature and if born today she would have an 80% chance of survival. But, she still has a lot of growing to do!! Keep it up Cashina!!

This past week we ordered Cashina's crib but we still need to decide on dressers and a rocker/glider. We also put the security deposit down for daycare so they are ready for us come September/October. I am excited for her to make little friends :-)

Double Digits

When I think of the number 99, my mind immediately goes to the restaurant and to the ever popular, “99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall….” song. Since I have never been much of a beer drinker and have been abstaining from all alcoholic beverages since week 3 of pregnancy (well, except for the small amount of Pinot Grigio I had the other night), these days 99 can only refer to “99 days until my due date, 99 days to go…”. Yowsa… double digits. It is so amazing to think that in the last 181 days a little miracle has been growing hands, feet, fingers, toes, eyes, ears, organs, even hair and nails, all inside a sack full of fluid in MY stomach!! It has been such a wonderful experience so far, despite the initial scares/worries, and I can’t wait for the remaining 99 days.

In celebration of double digits, I am going to indulge in Mexican for lunch and maybe, just maybe, I will not have heartburn for once…..which is doubtful. It will still be worth it!!

Pregnancy Progress: Week 25

Today, I am 25 weeks pregnant!! I am still feeling pretty darn good and I am afraid I may jinx myself for saying so!! At my pre-natel appointment this week all was as it should be. Cashina's heart was beating strong at about 155 beats per minute and she was just chilling out. I gained a smidgen over 3 pounds since my last appointment which puts me up only 13 pounds. I may add a snack in the afternoon to make sure Cashina is getting all of the nutrients she needs to continue to grow healthy and strong.

As for Cashina she most likely weighs about 1.5 pounds and is now approximately the size of an eggplant. The structure of her spine is beginning to form, her hands are fully developed, her nostrils are beginning to open, and she is starting to fatten up to become the butterball she will be upon birth. Her skin is still wrinkly but it is changing from translucent to pink due to capillaries forming in her body. Blood vessels in her lungs will also develop this week helping her lungs to mature by the day. Even Cashina's sense of smell is developing!! One study shows that babies whose moms ate lots of garlic responded more strongly to the smell after birth.

This week we plan to order Cashina's furniture, get an estimate on painting the nursery (and fixing some of the molding issues we've see due to the house settling), schedule childbirth class, and secure Cashina's spot at daycare. Time seems to be flying by!!