Weeks 31, 32, 33 & 34: Halloween, holy matrimony, hunting and a holiday party

October 27-November 2, November 3-November 9, November 10-November 16 & November 17-November 23, 2008:

Week 31 proved to be pretty eventful! It kicked off with an O.B. appointment, which went well -- always a relief. If I forgot to mention it (a pregnant woman forgetting something? What? A pregnant woman forgetting something? What?), I passed my glucose test at my last visit, so I am free and clear of gestational diabetes. Yay! Sacrificing food is something no third-trimester woman wants to think about. A lot of women hate that test, but I didn't think it was too bad ... it was like chugging some Sunny D, and therefore, it reminded me of 8th grade -- except for the pregnant part, thank God. Anyway, at this appointment, my O.B. did express some concern about the dysautonomic episode I had recently, and she told me she'd like me to get in to see my cardiac electrophysiologist sooner than later. I struck a bargain that I'd do that, and I'd appreciate it if she'd ok me to fly to KC this week to attend my brother-in-law's wedding. She approved as long as I promised to return right after the event. Yes ma'am.

That evening, I attended a pumpkin-carving party. I even did so in costume -- unfortunately, I can't find whether I got a pic from the other ladies, but can you guess what I dressed as? Well, as big as I was and having limited options, I decided to go as one of the most admired women on earth, because imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? I took a sheet, some rope, some sandals, and BAM! I was a shoe-in for Mary. Yes, the Mary. I hope Jesus took it the right way, because it really was an innocent and honest attempt at a respectful costume, cross my heart!

Some of you know how I love to carve pumpkins. Jon and I usually do one for each of us and the dog. However, since I didn't have all night and we'd not be home for Halloween itself due to the wedding, I had to make the activity and just do one. So, to represent our family, I just made a fancy B. It took some engineering and some toothpicks, but here's the result, lights on then off:


Jon did some dressing up of his own. Even though we had to leave later that day, on Halloween, he dressed up for work. He dressed up like a guy with whom he works (I suppose people say apart from some styling, there's a resemblance) ... and he went all out. He did the explosive hair style, wore the guy's name-embroidered FRC's, wore a pair of his glasses (older frames without the glass) and included accessory details such as pen placement, overloaded ID lanyard and sneakers. I think he even went to meetings as him, and he fooled a person or two. Impressive!

Later, on the way to the airport, we bid farewell to a creature we'd had under our roof for a while. As most of you know, we love snakes and even have some for pets. However, Jon caught a copperhead in our garden, and although I enjoyed looking at him, as a poisonous viper, he made me a little nervous. So, before introducing a baby, Jon agreed to turn loose the little guy. He had stopped eating very well, so we decided before going away for the weekend, and before it got too cold, it would be a good time to say our goodbyes. We took him away from houses and set him free. Godspeed! I'm pretty sure he's smiling at us in gratitude:

Here are my week 31 belly pics from my in-laws' house. Jon got in on the action this time. He must have thought it entertaining to resurrect that old little-boy game of trying to attract someone's attention by throwing this sign and then hitting the unsuspecting victim when he looks ... don't worry, folks, he didn't assault his pregnant wife. But if he sees you looking at this picture, I can't protect you.
By the way, I'm proud to point out that in this pic I'm wearing my prepreggie jeans ... with a little help from a friend known as a bellyband:
The next day, we drove into Missouri with Jon's family to attend Jason and Michelle's wedding. Before leaving, I was having a ton of contractions and was getting nervous that I might have to stay behind. However, after a prolonged period of sitting and drinking a bunch of fluids, they calmed enough for everyone to feel more comfortable with loading me into the car for the journey. Jon's parents even made sure I got the front seat for smooth travelling -- it also worked well for easy exits, because all that fluid took its toll! Everyone was very gracious!

Before getting to the church, we stopped off at the Stone Hill winery to check out the fall spirits and views ... just views for yours truly:

Then, it was off to the church to get ready. Everything looked beautiful and autumnal. Here are some flowers from Michelle's bouquet:

But, of course, nothing there was as lovely as the bride-to-be! Look how stoked she is! Hey hey!

Meanwhile, Jon helped his oldest bro get ready:

It was a very nice ceremony, and we really enjoyed ourselves at the reception. I know the following isn't the best pic, but it was a challenge to get a shot of the happy couple with their kiddos all in one place! We have Jason, Michelle's son Ashton, Jason's son Trenton, and Jason and Michelle's daughter Hailey:

Here's another not-awesome photo, but I wanted everyone to be represented. So, here's Jon's second-oldest brother, Jared, with his oldest daughter, Emilia (wife Dori and baby Josie are in the background):
Here is Jon's sister, Tana, and her youngest son, Jackson ... by the way, even though I've been around since before he was born and children tend to love me, Jackson's always been terrified of me, so it's amazing he even let me get close enough to take this picture of him, with a smile no less:

Here are the sister-in-law club vets ... welcome, Michelle!
Jon's dad is enjoying watching Josie sample her toes, which were not on the menu:
Jon's parents, Louis and Diana, looked great. I can say from experience that they are the best in-laws anyone could ask for, so Michelle is in for a treat!
Here we are dancing ... what a sight. It takes a little maneuvering to make this happen with a giant baby-sized belly between us. He's actually singing to me, which a very sweet thing that he does every now and then when we slow dance. I think this is actually our last slow dance as a couple sans baby. Awwww:

I always like to have a pic taken of us when we dress up:

We're sure Jason and Michelle will have a great marriage ... after all, we saw a sign:

We're very grateful Jason and Michelle were willing to work with our scheduling limitations due to the pregnancy and that we were able to be a part of their special day. It really was a beautiful event and will be a cherished memory! Congrats you two -- we love you and your precious family!

We got back into Houston safely, with the baby still where it belonged. During week 32, I took a spill out by my mailbox, which is always worrisome for a pregnant gal, but the baby did enough kicking later to reassure me. A few days later I had another dysautonomic episode -- this time while lying down, which is more rare, so it kind of freaked me out. I guess that's a reminder I need to make an appointment with my CEP before this gets out of hand! Anyway, we also attended an engagement party for some friends, and Jon got in a little quail hunting.

Here are the belly pics from week 32:

Toe check for week 32:
Ok, so with the total eclipse of my toes, I decided to cheat again and try to lean over as far as I could. Hey, I'm wearing cute shoes! Who knew?


So, as I may have mentioned at some point, since part way through my second trimester, I've been doing water aerobics, which I love! I borrowed a maternity swimsuit from my friend Kerry, and while I don't normally make embarrassing choices, I made decision to go ahead and document myself in a tankini with child ... I'll call it brave instead:

During week 33, I had an appointment with my CEP to check how my condition is affecting the pregnancy, and vice versa. At the end of the visit, after doing some minor tests and discussing things, he told me his preference would be for the baby to be born as soon as possible. I explained my concerns about having the baby early, but he said when weighing risks and benefits, that even at 33 weeks, the baby would be in decent shape, especially compared with what could happen if I continued to have episodes and/or if they increased in severity and, therefore, danger for both me and the baby. While the condition normally is mostly just a bummer but not life threatening under most circumstances, pregnancy does up the stakes. I asked him why pregnancy, which had caused my condition to improve because of fluid retention and upped blood volume, suddenly seemed to be wreaking havoc. He explained the baby's big enough now to be putting extra pressure on my vena cava, the two large veins responsible for draining blood from the upper body and lower body and empty into the right atrium of the heart. So, he said the baby will only get bigger, depressing the veins further and spelling more trouble for potential disaster. Booooo.

The appointment was a bit of a bummer, but I still enjoyed the week. Jon's college friend Binky (his name is John, but his last name is pronounced Binky even though its German spelling doesn't betray that very obviously) visited, and the two of them went on a long-anticipated wild-boar hunt. Ahhh, the elusive javolina, as they're called here in Texas. They actually can be spotted throughout our neighborhood without much effort, but it's technically illegal to hunt in the residential area, so the boys tried their luck at a piggie farm ... sorry ... I mean some kind of hunting reserve. I think both Jon and Bink were hoping it would be a little more sportsman like than it was, but they did have fun, and they did get results. The second of the next two pics is a little graphic, FYI.

Bink's pig pics were all bloody and gross, so I opted to avoid those and just go with a head shot in hunting garb:

Jon's pic is not super graphic, but look away if you think it will upset you. Hey, at least you weren't forced to watch the high-definition video of the kills. Yes, Jon got an HD video camera right before the trip -- not to record the upcoming memories of our soon-to-be-born baby but to capture the thrill of his pig slaughter. By the way, we still have lots of pork in our freezer. Jon does make a mean crock-pot-BBQ-sauced pork shoulder, though. I had to ship Bink his pig, which was not an easy task. Apparently, dry ice is considered a hazardous material, and only certain companies will transport anything packed in it. Nevermind the pregnant lady driving around with it in the back of her SUV all day ... Jon just had me roll down the windows for a while. Ahem. Here's a proud moment of the hunter, bow in tow:


At the end of the week, I went to an ornament-making party furnished by my friend Sarah. She is amazingly crafty, and we all aspired to create something close to her beautiful hand-beaded-and-sequined ornaments, but she still wears the craft-queen crown. I don't have a pic of the ornament because I actually only finished about one-quarter of it. But I made up for my lack of ornamenting in the industries of eating and chatting. Besides, looking at the round globes just made me feel like a giant ornament myself!

Speaking of ... here is my belly pic from week 33:

Toe check week 33 ... maybe Jon should hunt my piggies! I can't find them anywhere! By the way, Jon swears that mole has migrated from its usual spot nearer my bellybutton. Sigh.

Week 34 presented many strong contractions and more dysautonomic strife. It wore me out, but I wouldn't let it get me down so much that I couldn't go to my friend Jenna's tacky-Christmas-sweater party! She decided to do it before the December rush so more people were able to attend.

Here is Jenna, who played hostess -- reindeerific!

Jenna's hubby, Dustin, looked more nerdy than tacky, but Derek, to the right, won for tackiest guy. I imagine I don't have to tell you twice:

Our dear friends Paul and Sabrina won tackiest couple. Paul is a very humble guy, so it added to the joke that he wore a sweater that looked like a gift bearing the tag "To: Women, From: God." I'm pretty sure he felt awkward, but the rest of us found it hilarious. Sabrina and I worked on our sweaters, and our husbands', together. She makes a lovely Christmas tree, don't you think?

Here I am with Jon. I won tackiest girl by default, because Sabrina got more votes, but she'd already won as part of a couple. I'll take it! My sweater says "Baby, it's cold outside" ... I hope you get my punny allusion! Jon, of course, is sporting a snowman, complete with beret, googly eyes, pipecleaner arms, pipe and smoke, sateen bowtie and sparkly buttons, all handcrafted by moi. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ... make tacky sweaters!

At the end of this week, we took another class at the hospital: Breastfeeding! Jon was confused for awhile about why he needed to attend, but he was willing to act as my supportive partner, at least. After going, though, I think he saw how helpful he really could be. I found this class pretty useful, because while the mock boob with which we fed our fake infants was a little awkward, we watched actual footage of how to breastfeed effectively. I've heard so many moms discuss how difficult breastfeeding was for them, and nursing is something I've always wanted to do for my babies and myself. Apparently, learning the correct techniques, along with perseverence, can make all the difference. So, it was really good for me to see in action what to do rather than just practice from a book. I really did feel more confident after this, plus I felt really great about all the benefits I could pass on to my baby and reap for my own body. We also got to check out all kinds of different options for accessories, which came in handy. I hope Jon came away with a sense of purpose, too, because we saw many ways a husband can employ himself in furthering this cause, as well -- seriously!

Belly pic from week 34 ... geez:

Toe check week 34 -- why did I ever start doing this?