26 Weeks

26 weeks! Amazing we've come so far, yet it continues to feel like we should be further along (maybe like, 32 weeks?).

But here we are, at 26 with a lot of upcoming plans: a trip back to Seattle (with major baby shopping and quality time with family and friends planned), Thanksgiving/rest for a couple weeks, visitors in December, Christmas/New Years holidays and then a few weeks wait in January for Thor's big debut. I have a feeling time is going to do nothing but fly by at this point!


We received both positive and negative news at our appointment this week. Thor continues to be perfect - great size/growth at 880 grams (1.94 lbs), good heartbeat, lots of activity, and certainly in the highest percentile for cuteness! The picture above is one of the first good peeks we've had of his face. He's usually hiding, rascal.

The bad news is that I have a small tear on my cervix, which the doctor thinks is due to Thor's head pushing down on it. She's worried about my cervix shortening early, so we have another appointment next week to check it and make sure all is OK. If so, off we go to Seattle. If not... ?? This week, I've been told to relax and avoid anything strenuous (exercise, lifting/moving anything, housework - yay!, etc). Because of this, Tim is being wonder-man: grocery shopping, cleaning, dealing with another bum computer hard-drive, and not letting me lift a finger. He says he must approve all moves I make, and is liking his new power. Ha, ha.

I'm sure things will be OK, and we will do whatever it takes to keep Thor happily floating in his placenta castle for another 10+ weeks.

Speaking of which, here we are at 26 weeks:


xoxo,
L, T and baby Thor

The Blackforest

Baby bump Thor, mom and dad hit the road with friends (Erica + baby bump, & Andrew) over the weekend to visit the Blackforest (Schwarzwald).


Above: Burg Hohenzollern (south of Stuttgart), with changing fall trees

Was gorgeous, with fall trees changing color, waterfalls, old towns, and lots of cuckoo clocks. My interests in the Blackforest were to 1. see the forest, and 2. have a piece of blackforest cake. After one bite of cake, it was painfully obvious that the cherries had been soaked in schnapps. I was shocked, then worried I might be hurting Thor to eat it, but Tim assured me I was being silly. So, I enjoyed what I could of the cake - which was ridiculously delicious, and then asked for Tim and Andrew's help to finish it off (I bought 2 pieces - no comments).


Above: In Schiltach, cute town!

Was a great weekend. Can't wait to continue traveling to great places with little Thor, on the outside of my belly!

Belly Button

Belly button, oh belly button, wherefor hast thou gone?

I used to have an inny, but no more! It's essentially flat now. Just another sign of my body changing to accommodate little Thor and his rascaliness.

Speaking of the little man, Thor has been busy the past couple weeks:
- He went on his first hike (see previous post)
- He went to his first Oktoberfest
- He measured 1 week bigger than his due date at our 24 week appointment yesterday (We're not sure if that's larger than before by 2 days, or if that's essentially the same 5 days bigger she previously told us about - we let the comment slip by without asking for details)
- Lived through his first hail storm on Saturday

We'll be going to hospital open houses the next couple weeks, trying to decide where to have him. It actually came as a surprise yesterday that our doctor will not be the one who delivers Thor, so that's thrown me for a bit of a loop and I need to make sure I'm comfortable with the staff and set-up of the hospital. Especially if I'll essentially be going in knowing no-one AND be less familiar with the german system/set-up. Surprises, surprises.

Thor has also been kicking a TON more. Before was typical, but infrequent: maybe 3-5 kicks after meals, or if I drank an apple juice, etc. Now, he's become a 1-2 boxer, and then likes to follow up with a spattering of kicks, to where we feel him 10-15 times in only a couple minutes time. I can also feel him when he squirms or changes position. Our doctor said that his muscles are growing and he's much stronger now, so it fits with his kicking and movement changes.

Oh little baby, how we can't wait to meet you!