George Tucker @ 32 weeks

Sometimes I sit and think (in all my ample bed rest time) back on this pregnancy and what it has been like for Mac and I.  It definitely has not been easy or without worry but I am grateful for all the little "scares" along the way and how they have turned out.  I think we are stronger as individuals and I've definitely had a taste of what it means to be a mother and to want nothing more than your baby's health and happiness.  I can only imagine how that amplifies over the years as they learn and grow and you have less and less control over what happens in their little lives.  I am eternally grateful for the chance to be a mother and that despite all the curve balls mother nature has thrown at our little guy, that he just keeps fighting back and won't give up. :)  We can't wait to meet you in a couple of months Georgie!!

One of the benefits of our 20 week scare with baby George's heart is that we have been able to go to a maternal fetal medicine specialist for fetal EKG's every few weeks.  His heart has looked perfect since that initial irregular heart beat at my 20 week check up and his first EKG.  We are so so so grateful for that, and have benefitted from getting to have ultrasounds at 20 weeks, 22 weeks, 26 weeks, and now 32 weeks.

Here are some of his stats from our last and final fetal EKG on Friday:

1. His heart looks perfect.  The Dr. can't explain what was going on at 20 weeks but she hasn't seen any more irregularities since then and structurally his heart is perfect.  We graduated from seeing her and don't have any more appointments scheduled.  YAY!!

2. He has hair!!  Yep, we could see it on the ultrasound and our little man isn't going to be a little baldy.  I was actually surprised, for some reason I just pictured him bald, but I'm super excited that he will have some hair when he makes his arrival.  I wonder what color it will be??

3. At 32 weeks and 2 days he weighed in at 4lbs 1 oz and is in the 26th percentile.  I was actually pretty surprised that he wasn't in like the 80th percentile since Mac and I were both huge babies.  If they drop below the 10th percentile that isn't good, but the Dr. said he is perfectly healthy and looking good!

4. Baby boy finally got the memo and turned head down!! Yep, he is no longer breech and we are just keeping our fingers crossed that he won't get any crazy ideas and flip back again.

5.  The umbilical cord is still around his neck but looks loose.  I just get to continue being hyper-aware of his movements and making sure that he is active.  I know that umbilical cord accidents are fairly rare and that 30% of babies are born with the cord around their necks, but this kiddo just likes to make things difficult, so I'm not taking any chances!  I am again so grateful that he is so active (even though sometimes its a little uncomfortable.)  Most times if I haven't felt him in a while and I start thinking about his movements and he gives me a good hard kick like he's saying "Hey mom, I'm still here and I'm just fine."

That little turkey had both hands and a foot covering his face for most of the ultrasound.  It cracks me up how he positions himself in my belly--last time he was completely folded in half--both feet right up by his face.  All he would show us was his cute litte forehead until.........

He finally moved!  It still isn't a great picture because the umbilical cord was in front of his lips and his face was smashed up against the uterine wall (yeah, that is why his nose looks so big!!) but we still think he looks pretty cute. 

Sometimes dogs are just weird!

It was another BEAUTIFUL sunny day in Anchorage today so mac packed up my reclining camping chair and we headed to Jewel Lake to bask in the sunlight.  I swear this is one of the only things keeping me going as I sit cooped up inside all day long.  Just sitting and being outside is one of my absolute favorite things to do so I jump at any chance I have to be out in nature.

Of course we took our sweet little Bobby with us (he is really sweet unless you are a kid trying to grab at him or another dog...then he doesn't like you).  He just makes us laugh so hard and I had to share a couple of his little quirks.

The dog LOVES chasing geese.  I'm not sure what it is about them, but he will pick a goose out of a bunch of birds around him, wait until it least suspects him, and then take of after it barking till it flies away.  Then he runs back to us and waits for the goose to get back on land, and it starts all over again.  Today at Jewel Lake there was a goose minding its own business in the water, and that little dog would watch and wait until it got a few feet onto land and then terrorize it.  I was laughing so hard it made my stomach hurt and would trigger a contraction so I had to cool it.

This next one is just plain weird to me, and I wonder if any other dogs have this strange obsession?  I first discovered it during "break up" (the 5th season in Alaska where all the 11 feet of snow melt and it is just a slushy watery yucky mess for a few weeks).  I was taking Bobby out for a walk and he was sniffing away as usual.  He got really interested in something he found, and then started rubbing his face and neck on the ground.  I pulled him away to look at what he was doing, and what did I find!!??  A nasty dead worm!!  Yep, the dog thinks its his favorite brand of cologne or something, because anytime we are out and about (today included) he sniffs out the worms, and then rubs his face in it.  Totally grosses me out!!

And last but not least, Bobby has become quite the little chunker.  When we adopted him last december he weighed a mere 12 pounds.  Still huge for a Chihuahua, but small compared to his last weigh in at the vet a few days ago.  The dog now weighs almost 18 pounds!  Yikes buddy, you are becoming quite the little fatty!  We are restricting his soft food diet since that is probably why he has gained all the weight.  He doesn't like his hard food much and seems to be going on a hunger strike, but if you hand feed the hard food to him, he'll eat it. :)  I guess he is just getting me ready to have a picky little eater when Baby George gets here.

And because a blog post is boring without a picture, here's Bobby and me soaking in some rays behind our apartment building.  Slightly ghetto, I know, but you gotta do what you gotta do.