35 Weeks & Birth Plan

I can't believe I'm here! Only 5 weeks to go...35 days. Amazing. :-) Evan should be around 5 1/4 pounds and 18 inches long. Most of his physical development is complete, the next few weeks he'll just be packing on the pounds. I can tell he's become a lot bigger (and stronger) this past week. He is kicking so hard that it hurts! There are so many times where it hurts so bad (and surprises me so much) that I actually yell out loud. I also double over in pain at times and when he's really active I have to hold on to my upper abs to try to contain it, it helps absorb some of the impact. I've heard that some women get broken ribs from their babies kicking so hard...let's just say I'm not surprised that happens sometimes! I actually like it that he's moving so much though. It was pretty uncomfortable for a couple of days, but yesterday he calmed down a little and I was sad not to feel him quite as much.

I have still been feeling pretty good except for really bad hemorroids (from the pressure) that my midwife is going to take a look at on Friday since they aren't going away with Prep H and Tucks pads (probably because the pressure isn't going away either). TMI, I know, but hey, it's a big part of my pregnancy right now! lol My stomach has been feeling pretty good, but sometimes at night I wake up and it's very upset, I feel like I will throw up. I always wake Matt up to get me some cold water. That just happened last night. ;-) Headaches are a little better and I'm definitely feeling better than I was a month ago when I was losing weight and feeling so weak and tired.

We've written up a birth plan and will go over it with the midwife on Friday. I'm not sure if I'll add anything to it, I'm hoping my midwife already feels the same way I do about most things, so I shouldn't have to be super specific. However, if it seems like there may still be some misunderstandings with her, one of the other midwives, or the L&D nurses, I may add to it and make it more detailed. For now here it is:

• We would like the mother and father to be together at all times.
• We would like to maintain freedom of movement during labor and request the presence of a squatting bar in our room.
• It is not necessary to offer pain medications, we will let you know if they are needed.
• We do not wish to have continuous fetal monitoring unless it is required by the condition of our son. After the initial monitoring, intermittent checks are preferred as are limited vaginal exams.
• We prefer to have as few staff members in the room during labor and delivery as possible. The father, midwife, and minimum amount of required nurses are all that are needed in the room until after the birth.
• We do not want an IV or hep-loc.
• After the birth, we prefer that all procedures and exams be done with the baby in the room at all times.
• After the cord has been cut and the baby has been wiped clean, we would like the baby to be handed to the mother for skin to skin contact at the breast, with both covered by a warm blanket.
• We prefer not to be woken up during the night for any testing that can wait until the next day.
  In case of emergency: If a c-section is required, we request that the father be present for the surgery, that the baby be handed to him after the cord is cut, for the father and baby to remain in the room with the mother at all times, and that skin to skin contact at the breast take place with the mother as soon as possible.

Yesterday's appointment at the diabetes center went really well. My dietician said that my levels are great and that there is no way the GD is affecting Evan at all with those numbers. She said he shouldn't be large from the GD at all. That makes me feel so much better, I'm even more hopeful that the u/s tech was wrong a couple of weeks ago. Hearing from her that I had a large baby, plus knowing that GD makes babies large had me worried, but I'm happy that the sugar isn't making Evan grow too much! If he is big, it's not the GD that's causing it. The dietician also said I shouldn't have any problems with my sugar levels after Evan's birth. I'll still be checking my levels every once in awhile, I'll have to come in for another appt and to have another glucose test, and then they want me to have a glucose test every year after to make sure that I don't get Type II, although the dietician said she highly doubts I will ever have a problem. I'm so glad my levels have gone down from what they were a month ago! I've discovered the key is extra protein...peanuts and cheese have become my best friends! lol

I haven't gained any weight the past couple of weeks, but that isn't unusual at this point in pregnancy. I've been feeling good, so I know I'm healthy. Back when I lost weight a few weeks ago I felt awful all the time, it was definitely unhealthy. But I feel almost like normal these days. Plus, it's obvious that Evan has gained weight, so the dietician and I aren't worried.

33 Weeks & Ultrasound!

My little Evan!!

A profile of his head. He's on his back facing the left. His face is right up against my placenta, but you can kind of make out his nose and lips and see his hand curled up on the far left.


Another profile of his head. This one is more distinct, you can see his nose, lips, and chin as well as that cute little curled up hand that he's holding up.


A side view of his foot. It's upside down facing the right. You can see his heel, the arch, the ball of his foot, and his toes.


His cutey foot. Check out that big big toe! He gets it from his daddy.


Yep, he definitely has Matt's feet!


A 3D of the lower part of his face. you can see his chin near the bottom, lips, his fingers that are curled up next to his lips, and his nose up near the top.


A 3D looking down at his face. You can see his eyes, nose, and his hand up by the left side of his face.


A 3D of his face. He's slightly turned and facing the right of the picture. So his forehead is at the top, his cheek is to the left, you can see his eyes, nose, and lips. He has one hand up by his forehead and the other in his mouth. :-)

I never wrote about my appointment on Monday, when I was 32w5d. Everything went great! We had an ultrasound first to see if my placenta moved up, which it has. The ultrasound technician was great, she not only checked the placenta and his growth, she also had some fun letting us see Evan and did a 3D ultrasound even though we didn't ask for one (or pay for one)! At first Evan wouldn't let us see the front of his face, he had it pressed against my placenta. So she couldn't do it, but after getting all of the measurements she needed she said she couldn't stand it, she just had to see if she could get the 3D of his face again. When she tried the second time he had shifted a little bit and we were able to see his face some! He had his hands up around his face at that point, but that made it even cuter!

She had us estimate how large we thought he was and I guessed 4.5 pounds (which is what the book says he should be around 32-33 weeks). The ultrasound tech said that he is measuring 6 lbs 3 oz, plus or minus a pound!! She was convinced he is around 6 pounds though, kept talking about how much meat he has on his bones, how chunky he looks, etc. I was really worried, but when we met with my midwife after the u/s she insisted that there is no way he is that big. She said there's a lot of room between him and my ribs, a normal amount of fluid, and my fundal height is normal. Obviously those measurements can be off as well, but it is true that I still look pretty small and haven't gained all that much weight.

Speaking of weight, I gained back the pounds I lost, plus a pound! I've been feeling so much better the past couple of weeks too. I can tell I'm getting enough to eat. Now I've gained about 21 pounds, right on track. My sugar levels have gone down and have evened out. I'm glad about that, but my dietician said not to be surprised if they start going crazy the next few weeks since the pregnancy growth hormones peak around 35 weeks and that can affect blood sugar levels. But at least they are okay for now.

So I've been pretty nervous the past couple of days about having a huge baby, but as Matt keeps saying, there's nothing we can do about it, so I shouldn't stress. We're having another u/s at 38 weeks to see what his measurements look like then. If he's measuring large, a c-section or induced labor at 39 weeks will be an option. The midwife said they aren't going to do anything before 39 weeks unless it's dangerous not to, but I'm hoping he'll come earlier than that on his own. I actually think it would be great if he comes before 38 weeks, then I won't even have to worry about making decisions like c-sections, inductions, etc. We'll see!!

The nurse gave me a chart to start counting movements. I'm supposed to count 10 distinct movements and time how far apart the first and tenth are. It should be in at least 2 hours. If he gets slower and slower or doesn't move 10 times in 2 hours at some point in the day (especially after dinner) I'm supposed to call the midwife. I was worried that this would be added stress, but so far it's been easy. I've picked around 10:00 - 10:30 AM to count his movements since he usually wakes up about then. So far the longest it's taken him to move 10 times is 6 minutes and that's because I missed his most active phase (I was busy and couldn't count properly or look at a clock). This morning he moved 10 times in 2 minutes, that's his record so far. He's crazy!!

this & that

Things are going better today! I actually haven't done much at all, just been laying around the house relaxing. I'll be going to the library in a little bit though. I'm trying to decide what to do about dinner...planning meals is always an effort now.

The GD situation isn't going very well. I met with a dietician this past Friday again. I have appointments every other week and the weeks I don't go in I fax my sugar levels to them. I can't describe how discouraging it was to receive a phone call from one of the dieticians last Monday going over every little thing I had eaten that made my sugar levels go up. Hearing about everything you ate in a negative way is no fun. That dietician's main conclusion - I can't eat any other carbs if I have any type of bread at a meal. That puts me at having 20 carbs max per meal (if I eat bread, buns, tortillas, etc). I'm supposed to have a minimum of 30 carbs per meal and my other dietician had told me to try to stay around the limit of 45 since I was losing weight. Great. And for those of you who say "then just don't eat any of that stuff," I'll just let you know that the diet plan recommendation I was given has some type of bread listed for every meal, it's one of the main ways to get carbs that are needed.

So last week I did pretty well the first part of the week, then the levels were back up. The dietician I met with thought that having high protein meals was helping the levels. She thinks if I up my protein intake at each meal then I can eat more than 20 carbs. She was concerned because I lost 3 pounds last week. Which now puts my total weight gain this pregnancy at 16 pounds. I need to eat more, but I can't because if I do my sugar levels go way up!! So she gave me some advice to try out, said to try to eat ice cream just before bed instead of earlier in the evening. However, the past few days have not gone well at all. My waking levels are higher than they've ever been. I was already eating protein at every meal, but now I'm trying to boost it by eating peanuts and cheese along with whatever else I'm eating. The dietician said that if my levels remain high even after following all of that advice that I may need to go on insulin. I'm really hoping to get it under control though.... It's so hard because my first instinct is not to eat as much at each meal/snack to keep my levels down, but I know I shouldn't be doing that because of the weight loss.


I haven't done any work on the nursery since last month. I'm waiting for after my shower to finish decorating, then I'll post pictures! We are going to install shelves in the closet, put up new closet doors, and we still need to put up the bedroom door as well (we took it off to paint). I also want to buy a wall decal to put over the crib. I want something with his initial or name on it. I also saw a cool mirror at Target that I'm thinking about putting over his dresser/changing table.

Our breastfeeding class was Thursday night. I'm so glad that we took it together! I already knew a lot of stuff from the class I took with my friend (5 years ago...wow, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago!), but I did learn several new things and it has definitely made me feel more confident about breastfeeding. I ordered a breast pump last week, I found a super good deal on it! The pump I wanted was $140, I got it for $82 with free shipping! I found it on THIS site already discounted, plus they were having a deal that you got even more off if you paid with PayPal.

I want the pump because I don't want to breastfeed in public (my own personal choice, I don't mind if other women do it, it's just ME) so I want to be able to have a bottle handy for when we go out. Plus, we are planning a couple of road trips the first few months after Evan is born. One to Arkansas...18 hours. So I want the option to give him a bottle for some feedings during the trip. I also think I'll be more likely to keep breastfeeding him the entire first year if I can have the option of giving him bottles at times.

Well that's it for now...remember, only encouraging comments are welcome about my situation!

29 Weeks

As far as the GD goes, things are kind of sort of getting better. The other day my levels were lower and that made me feel so much better, but yesterday they were back to being up. Very discouraging! Then last night not only could we not get blood to come out (Matt helps me after dinner when he's home), we found out that the last container of test strips we were given weren't compatible with our testing machine. It was too late to go to the pharmacy to get refills (which I didn't expect to have to do until Thursday) so we used the machine Matt's co-worker gave us before we knew if our insurance would cover one. It took awhile to figure the new one out and the entire thing stressed me out so much. I know none of you "get it," I know Matt doesn't really understand why I was so upset. But the entire thing is so frustrating: the diet, the blood testing, etc.

The weirdest thing is that this new machine is giving me much lower readings. It's a nicer model, you just touch the test strip to the drop of blood and it sucks it right up and immediately starts counting up the levels instead of making me drag the strip across my blood multiple times. So I'm kind of wondering if there isn't something wrong with the machine I was given? I will have to ask the doctor about it on Friday. However, getting levels in the appropriate range is great and my lunch level was so low I was wishing I had eaten another burrito! I'm only supposed to eat one at this point because the wheat tortilla is 24 grams of carbs and there are carbs in the beans (I can have a max of 45 g at lunch). Anyway, I'm just hoping things will continue to get better.

Highlights of week 28: feeling Evan hiccup for the first time! I know I already wrote about it, but I have just a little more to add. The first time was last Wednesday night, then again on Thursday morning. I haven't felt it since then until last night. I told Matt and he put his hand on my stomach and was able to feel too! He paused the show we were watching and we just laid there on the couch and felt him hiccup and talked to him. SO CUTE!!!

Another highlight, peeing my pants a little. lol! It was the weirdest thing and came completely out of the blue. On Sunday we were over at my parents' house playing THIS game. My dad joined in, which is incredibly rare in our household. As a matter of fact, I can't even remember the last time that he played a game with us. I vaguely remember it happening once when I was in jr high... Anyway, he was hilarious and he said something that made everyone burst out laughing. Well, a little pee happened to burst out of me at the same time. I didn't have to go to the bathroom, I didn't even feel it coming! Such a weird sensation. Thankfully it wasn't much, I just kept my mouth shut about it and nobody knew. lol Believe me, I'm doing more Kegels than ever after that incident!

Let's see, what else has been going on as far as pregnancy... I'm more tired these days. As a matter of fact, I could take a nap right now. And all I've done today besides computer stuff and making lunch is vacuum the house. And I'm not even completely done with that yet! I think I have a couple of more stretch marks on my butt, but none have appeared anywhere else so far. Evan is kicking and moving around more than ever. It's uncomfortable sometimes. I find myself pressing down to absorb some of the impact of his stronger kicks and when I am laying down I tend to change positions to make it a little more comfortable. I still love feeling him kick, I still can't help but smile! I know how depressing it is when he doesn't kick as much, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt/feel very uncomfortable sometimes.

I scheduled the hospital tour and 2 classes. The tour is on July 7! I'm really looking forward to it, the hospital we're delivering at has a fairly new maternity center (built in April 2008) and I've heard from several people that it's very nice. We have a breastfeeding class on July 9 and then an infant safety & CPR class on July 22. We decided to skip the childbirth class. We're going through the Bradley Method handbook and Husband Coached Childbirth, I think that will be enough. Going through the Bradley lessons and book has helped me feel more confident about labor and delivery. I'm not nervous about it at this point, I'm more nervous about just after delivery when I have a fragile infant to take care of! My next prenatal appt is July 1 and I'm eager to talk to my midwife about her thoughts on L&D, especially since I now have GD. We'll also schedule another u/s to see if my placenta has moved up and away from my cervix.

Relaxation day

Today I'm trying to relax and de-stress. It's been a bad weekend for me, I've felt so stressed and anxious the entire time. This whole GD thing is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I ate like normal Friday night and Saturday morning and was very discouraged to see that my blood sugar levels were very high after meals and even a little high in the morning before breakfast. So I figured I'd better straighten up sooner rather than later so Saturday I started my GD diet instead of waiting for Sunday like I originally planned.

The worst parts were getting high levels after some meals even after following the carb guidelines. Saturday night I had 40 carbs for dinner (I have a limit of 45) and still had a blood sugar level that was 31 points over the highest average level. The levels I'm supposed to have after meals are 90-120. Before breakfast it should be 60-90. I always have levels on the high side, but I'm not worrying if they are only a couple of digits over. Anyway, it's just stressful when my levels are just as high after eating a low carb meal as they are after eating like I normally do. However, today is the first day that my levels have been within the limit. Yay! Maybe it took a few days for the sugar to completely leave my system?? I have no clue.

The other worst part is how hard it has been to get blood to come out of my fingers. The majority of times I've pricked my fingers so far nothing has come out. However, my fingers are left with bruises and red marks where the needle goes in. I'll squeeze and squeeze and only a little blood will come out, not enough to register on the little machine. So then I have to do it again...and again... and it hurts every time. I tried on the sides of my fingers first (like I was told to do) but even tried on the pad of my finger which usually gives more blood. We made the needle a little longer to make sure it's going in far enough, but then I was getting bruises. Anyway, yesterday Matt read about this problem and said that it's recommended that you wash your hands with warm water and then massage the finger tip a little before pricking it. Sure enough, it's worked the first time every time since then! So I'm glad that it looks like that frustrating and stressful problem is at least being worked out.

I've also been surprised at how hard it is to follow this diet plan. It's very depressing for me to be hungry after not eating as much as I'm used to for dinner and then not even being able to eat my favorite snacks - cold cereal, PopTarts, muffins, and chocolate milk. I didn't think I'd miss those things so much. I also dislike having to snack during the day, I've never been a big snacker, I'd rather eat 3 larger meals than small meals and several snacks. At this point I'm supposed to eat 3 snacks as well as 3 meals. It's hard to find snack food that I enjoy that complies with the diet guidelines. I feel like I'm forcing myself to eat.

The diet is also kind of confusing, I'm still figuring it out. Like, I discovered that you can subtract fiber grams from carb grams if you have more than 5 grams of fiber in a food item. Somehow I missed that part of the "orientation." I'm still confused as to whether you can subtract proteins from the carbs too. For now I'm just making sure that I don't go over the limit of carbs, I'm not even trying to subtract due to fiber. I'll ask the doctor more about it on my appointment on Friday. Did I already mention that now I have appointments every 2 weeks at the diabetes center? It's nice that they are working so closely with me, but a little annoying that I have to spend so much time driving up there and at the appointments.

Anyway, wish me luck, especially at night before bed when I usually eat my "comfort foods" that are no longer allowed. And yes, I do realize that this could be much, much worse and that a diet plan really isn't that bad, etc. It's just been a rough adjustment for ME.

On a happy note - we had a fun Father's Day! I gave Matt gifts in the morning, we went to my parents' house for lunch, and then Matt and I went out for dinner and to see the symphony's free concert in the park that night. It's cool because the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra has free outdoor concerts every weekend in June, they do it every year and even though it was hot last night, we still had a good time!

GD appointment

Tuesday's appointment was rescheduled for this afternoon. A lady from the diabetes center called yesterday and said there was a cancellation and that they would like to get me in so I said sure. She neglected to say that the appointment would be 2 hours long... nice surprise. ;-)

Anyway, I suppose it went pretty well. I still feel a little overwhelmed though, but for now I'm trying to relax and not stress about it. Hey, stress affects blood sugar too! Matt wonders if that wasn't why I failed the tests, it could have simply been stress about the tests that made my levels so high. Anyway, we went over a diet plan with the doctor. A lot of my favorites aren't on the acceptable list, notably cold cereal and muffins. There is one type of cold cereal that is okay though, so I'm hoping I will like it since that's something I am always in the mood for, plus it's easy.

She showed me how to prick my fingers and test my blood. I have to do it 4 times a day. :-P Let me tell you, I was nervous about doing that! I've never pricked my own finger before. I've had nurses do it a couple of times, but I've never done it myself. I was surprised at what a chicken I was about it. I had to brace myself and Matt said I was shaking when I was holding the needle trigger thing. lol! It wasn't bad at all though, but I think it'll take awhile before it feels even slightly natural. We tested my blood there and I had an 82, perfectly normal. Hmm...

I'm supposed to go to the diabetes center every other week. The weeks I don't go in I have to fax them my the chart with my levels for that week. I was surprised at how often I have to go in for visits...but oh well.

Matt thinks the whole thing is still fishy. He's not convinced I really have GD and honestly, I'm not completely convinced either. So, we've decided to do our own series of tests. Tonight and tomorrow I'm going to eat like normal, I'll pretend like I've never heard of GD, but still check my blood at all the right times. It will be interesting to see if any of my levels are elevated.

I think that's pretty much everything... last night we had R and his girlfriend C over and had a lot of fun. We played THIS game, which is a lot of fun. Tonight C is coming to hang out while R is at work. I'm really tired, but I think we'll go out shopping and see if I can find part 2 of my Father's Day gift for Matt.

Dreams & Hiccups

Last night I had a dream that I was at my grandparents' house and the entire family was there. In the dream I ate an entire brownie and then realized, I'm not supposed to eat high sugar foods! What was I thinking!? I was so upset that I had eaten this huge brownie without even thinking about it, especially when I have GD. I guess some of the stress of all of this is coming out in my dreams!

I've only had a few baby dreams since getting pregnant. The first few, the ones I had before I knew we were having a boy, weren't even ones about Evan. They were about babies we adopted. In one I was pregnant, but we adopted another child too and the dream concentrated on me taking care of that baby.

After finding out that we were having a boy and starting to look forward to EVAN, I had a dream that he was born and that I let my MIL and mom watch him and they lost him. I remember panicking when I realized what happened and everyone was saying I was making way too big a deal of it and that everything would be okay. My entire family (immediate and in-laws) were acting like I was really stupid for being upset that Evan was lost. In the dream I called him by name, it was definitely my baby. At the end of the dream someone brought him in and I ran over and picked him up and hugged him to me. It was an amazing feeling. :-)

The other day I had another dream specifically about Evan. I'm upset that I can't remember it now. I had meant to write it down in my journal or blog about it right away, but obviously I didn't. If I remember what it was about I'll write about it. From what I can remember it wasn't a negative dream though, not like the first one when he was lost.

The past couple of months I've also had several dreams in which I am pregnant, but they aren't specifically about pregnancy or Evan. It's all about something else, I just happen to be pregnant with my big belly.

Oh yeah, I'm almost positive I've felt Evan hiccup twice now!!! Once last night and then again this morning. It's like a very light tapping inside of me that is spaced out evenly. At first I thought it was him lightly kicking or punching, but it's not like any kicks I've felt so far and it is more consistent than any of his other movements. It's also deep inside, kind of near my pelvis bone. Which he normally doesn't kick down there.

It's actually weird, he almost always kicks on my right side or in the middle of my belly, rarely on the left. A couple of days ago I woke up and my left side was bulging a little more and was harder. Later I felt him kicking over there, but since then he's back on the right side. I will feel movements on the left side, just not as often and they aren't kicks. My stomach is slightly lopsided most of the time, it almost always bulges more on the right side than on the left. The midwife said that's okay though. Did you notice that your baby seemed to stay more on one side or the other?

28 Weeks!

I'm in the third trimester! Yay!!!! I say this every weekly post, but I can't BELIEVE how fast time has flown by! It's unreal to think that I'm almost there. And I'm glad that it looks like the next couple of months will go by just as fast. I have little things planned here and there for the rest of this month, then there's 4th of July, my trip to Arkansas, my shower, and finishing up the nursery to look forward to as well. That will help pass the time. :-)

Well, as happy as I am to reach this point, I also have bad news. I've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I'm not too thrilled with the fact, although I know it isn't nearly as bad as it could be. I am worried about Evan, it was discouraging to read that so many babies are high birth weight, at higher risk for childhood obesity, at higher risk for getting type 2 diabetes later in their lives, etc. I'm more worried about him than me. The one encouraging thing was that I almost passed the test. If my levels had been 3 digits lower the first hour mark test then I would have passed. The second hour my levels were 10-15 digits too high (how did they not have the exact number???) and then the third hour I passed. So very close. So I'm not too worried and hope that Evan won't experience any side effects since it seems that I'm very borderline. Matt is skeptical of the whole thing. He still wants me to follow the diet/exercise plan they give me, but he kind of doubts that I even have a problem, I wonder the same thing. We have a lot of questions to ask next week at my appointment at the diabetes center, that's for sure. So that appointment is on Tuesday, until then I'm just not supposed to eat any high sugar foods like cookies, candy, etc. Not that I usually eat that kind of stuff anyway.

So much has been going on... I feel very drained. On Saturday we had our AC unit moved to make way for our patio expansion. We were able to get friends of Matt's family to help out and it was very cheap to move it. However, yesterday I noticed that although the AC had been running all afternoon, it was getting steadily warmer. So last night Matt's dad, uncle, and his uncle's friend came over to fix it. I'm glad they were able to, because although it cooled down last night thanks to some rain coming in, it was still very humid and muggy.

Yesterday I had the 3 hour glucose test. Which we all know the results of... I was going to take a nap in the afternoon because I was so lightheaded, but my SIL and nephew came by for an unexpected visit (thankfully she called beforehand and was going to just drop something off, but I invited them in). They stayed for a long time and by the time she left I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. That's also the point where I started getting very hot...wonder why. lol

Then today I met with my mom and sister for lunch and to go shopping. That didn't go too well. My little sister has been very messed up lately. She has a bad attitude, is moody, even malicious. She had a bad attitude about being with us today (then why did she even come!?) and then proceeded to say some very mean things about pregnancy/babies/children. There was really no reason for her to say it, but it hurt my feelings. I just left them early and went and ran the rest of my errands by myself. We (my family) don't really know what to do about her... we even kind of wonder if it's something like manic depression. It's just weird...I can't describe it. But needless to say, it was emotional for me.

I spent the afternoon on the phone with Matt and my mom and researching diabetes after I returned home from running errands. Then I went to Matt's soccer game. One of my friends is now on the team with Matt and his best friend, R. So that's fun, now I know 3 people on the team. And R's girlfriend was here from Louisiana and came so the 2 of us sat together and chatted. She's a psychology major and told me all about it, very interesting! So here it is 9:00, and I still haven't had an official dinner, just a small salad at 5:00. I'm tired and hungry, so I'm going to end this with my 28 week picture.