Baby Girl Banks UPDATE

*See below for name rules clarification.* (I added another bit, so read the rules again...)

We saw another ultrasound tech today, but this time at Portland Adventist. We're no longer going to visit the Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) department at Legacy Emmanuel because, well, TOMORROW WE'RE 36 WEEKS! Wahoo!

Since we won't be delivering our girl at Legacy, Peggy made the call to have us visit Portland Adventist for all of our ultrasound needs. The appointment today went just fine, although the tech made me nervous. We've had her before - she looks like she's 14-years-old. She had the order for the ultrasound, obviously (or they wouldn't have helped us), but she kept asking us what had been going on and what other ultrasounds had looked for/found. So we had to explain our girl's entire medical history to her. Cool.

While we were there, though, we had the tech look for our girl's umbilical cord to see if it was wrapped around her at all. It was resting across one of her shoulders, but it wasn't a problem. She could trace the blood flow - we didn't actually see the cord, just the fluids moving through it. Quite interesting...

Portland Adventist's ultrasound equipment is quite different from what they use at MFM at Legacy. MFM's machines can instantaneously average her weight and size right there in the room. It took a few minutes for the tech to input the information on another machine in another room to get our girl's measurements. I don't what her technical measurements are, but the tech did tell us that it looks like she weighs 6 lbs. 14 oz. right now, up 1 lb. 7oz. from her last ultrasound two weeks ago.

I'm feeling pretty good these days. I don't feel like I'm having a panic attack (because she was crowding my lungs and I couldn't breath) nearly as often as I was even a week ago. She's filling up my belly space pretty well but I've been able to eat more lately. At this point, I've gained about 17 pounds total...I think. My weight varies depending on the time of day. Seventeen pounds is a high guess. I don't know what that means for losing baby weight after the pregnancy, but I feel like I have a head-start! (Please don't burst my bubble if you disagree! I like believing this!)

Insomnia is still troubling me, though, and I have a feeling that might only get worse over the next weeks. Peggy has told me to get up after 20 minutes of sleeplessness so that my body doesn't begin thinking that it's okay to not relax, so I've been reading, playing games on the computer, and putzing around in the baby's room. Usually I have to eat before going back to bed, though, which I don't like doing very much, mostly because my nails have gotten too long to successfully turn off the alarm using the remote on the first try. (And why don't I cut them? Because I've NEVER had long pretty nails. I'm enjoying them for now!) It took me five minutes the other day to get the alarm off...No chiding. I have time to spare these days.

I hope you came prepared to read a long blog...Here are some pictures I want to share with you, lovely readers!

These two pictures are of the diaper bag that Nate's cousin Jill designed and made. She is so talented! Find her stuff online and support her as a Portland artist - Christmas is around the corner! [jmorrowdesigns] If you're going to spend money, rethink how you spend it and who you support...

*And now I step off my soap box.*






But isn't the baby bag so pretty?

I've been packing it, but I'm not entirely sure what I should be taking to the hospital. I have no idea what we'll get from them while we're there, so I'm kind of just sticking a lot of different stuff in the bags. Here are the little clothes I've picked out to take along so far.



And this is her crib. Yes, it's laden with stuff. The material draped over the side closest to the camera is a Hooter Hider - I'm so excited about it! I think they're so useful...and sturdier than just draping a blanket over the baby and I.



There are three blankets on the far side of the crib. One I started in high school home ec and Rae Ann finished it for me (it's blue). The pink one was made by my SCI supervisor, Elizabeth, and the big white one with the pattern is from Leslie and Adam, which they picked out when he was still working at Pendleton Woolen Mills. I have a blanket fetish, so I'm thrilled!

The moon light is something I bought from Ikea while I lived in Canada. I read by it during my two years up there sharing a room with my roommate. It's a soft light, so it should be just about perfect to see by when I have to check on her at night and during naps.

Okay, this picture is of a game that we played at the Banks shower a few weeks ago. I'm including it here so that you can make a guess at her name. As I've mentioned before, we've narrowed her first name down to two options - her middle name has been decided on since we found out we were pregnant. The letters for "both" of her first names, her middle name, and her last name are all included on this paper. Guess away! I can't wait to read what you come up with...Oh, and you can use letters more than once, but not every letter is used. Sorry I didn't mention that before!



Just before I go, I want to clarify something (gosh, I hope you've read this far...): I have NO PLANS on being medically induced with our girl, unless she reaches 42 weeks. The only inducing I mean when I talk about inducing is what I can do naturally, with walking, pedicures, homeopathic options, etc. Never fear, I'm not checking into a hospital for a scheduled delivery.

Until next time...enjoy your day!