Andrea’s Weblog

Elena Marie arrived Monday January 22 at 4:51 am after a fast labor. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and is 20 inches long.
We had the last meeting with our doula that afternoon and when she left at 4:00, I tried to get Elizabeth to take a nap. She nursed her usual 2 minutes before […]

I weighed in at 180 pounds at my check-up on Tuesday. Looking back, it looks like that’s about what I weighed when I was at 40 weeks with Elizabeth. This is surprising to me since people keep saying how small I look. Apparently you can’t tell from the back that I’m pregnant. I’ve turned around […]

Here’s a belly shot from last week. You can see Elizabeth’s belly shot too.

I’ve been complaining about maternity pants for a while now. Someone said to me recently that it’s impossible to get something to stay on a sphere. This really put things into perspective for me.
I’ve tried wearing an elastic pregnancy support belt around the outside of my pants, but then I just ended up pulling my […]

165 pounds, belly 26 inches
Elizabeth really looks forward to our “new baby doctor” visits. All morning long she was asking if she’ll get to sit on my lap when they listen for the heartbeat. It’s been more exciting for her as we can now see and feel the baby moving around. She’s been talking to […]

Frank and I started our 12 week Bradley childbirth class last Friday night. Our goal is to learn how to have a successful natural (unmedicated) birth. Given our experience with Elizabeth, we don’t want to have any interventions that might start the cascade of interventions we experienced with Elizabeth.
The Bradley method focuses on relaxation, exercise, […]

Week 25, 167 pounds
Last pregnancy I gained over 50 pounds, so I shouldn’t be too surprised that I’ve gained over 13 pounds in the last 4 weeks. No wonder I’m having a hard time bending over and feel like I’m wearing weights every time I walk up the stairs!
Aside from the weight gain, there wasn’t […]

Today I got confirmation that the rash I’ve had for the last 3 months is indeed excema. Pregnancy hormones can do weird things to your system I guess! I’ve never had excema, but it does run in my family. It doesn’t seem like your typical case of excema judging by the dermatologist’s reaction. They took […]

I’m at 23 weeks now–over half-way there. Elizabeth and Frank can feel the baby kicking, which is exciting. I’m trying to get some organizing done around here while I can still move around without waddling.
Here’s the latest belly shot:

and for comparison . . . here I am pregnant with Elizabeth at 24 weeks.

I’m relieved that we’ve finally decided who is going to help deliver the baby. I had an appointment with the midwife group at the Medical College of Georgia which went pretty well. Our main goal is to have natural childbirth without unnecessary interventions. This would happen in a homebirth situation, but we’re not quite ready […]

OK, I have to take another belly shot because it seems like overnight I have taken on the pregnant chick persona–the difficulty bending down, using the arms of chairs to pull myself out of them, difficulty getting out of bed. . .
Let’s compare to last week:

Well, not much of a difference in appearance . . […]

Week 18, 148 pounds (baby’s weight approximately .5 pounds)
Today Elizabeth and I went in for my first ultrasound. After waiting around for 45 mins I went up to the desk and asked if I could “give my sample” because I really had to go. They ushered me back to a bathroom and handed me a […]

On a lighter note… let the belly shots begin!
Here I am at 17 weeks.

Now that you’ve read our birth experience, I’ll share what we learned from it. After planning for a natural labor, what we got was not what we prepared for, nor what we outlined in our birth plan.  Through a series of uninformed decisions and not asserting ourselves, we went from being in total control of […]

I suppose it’s about time I told Elizabeth’s birth story. . .
We’d heard that eating eggplant parmesan sent some women into labor, so when Elizabeth was 7 days overdue, we headed out for Italian. Only a few hours after eating, contractions began!
We were scheduled to be at the hospital at 6:00 am the following morning […]

This quote about fig trees pretty much sums up my week. “The plant starts off really cute and petite and producing just enough figs for the family to enjoy. As the years pass so does the ability of the family to consume the abundance of figs produced.”
This means canning and jamming a couple pounds of […]

Elizabeth is going to be a big sister!  I’m 3 months pregnant, due January 29th–when Elizabeth is exactly 2.5 years old. It’s hard to tell how much she understands, but she loves telling people that the “new baby is right in there” and pats my tummy. After watching an episode of one of those birth […]

Frank and Andrea are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter
Elizabeth Lee McPherson
Born at 2:55 A.M. on July 29, 2004
In Augusta GA
She weighs 8.24 oz., has dark hair, and is pink, wrinkly, and beautiful.
Congratulations Frank and Andrea!
Welcome home Elizabeth Lee!

Well, it seems that with only 7 hours to go before they induce me, Baby M is on the way. Maybe the dinner of eggplant parmesan worked. Figures that the most nonsensical wives tale for starting labor is the one that worked (or just happened to be the last one we tried).
Stay tuned…

When is this baby going to come?
We’ve been on pins and needles for a week now—buying groceries a day at
a time, only starting projects we can finish in a few hours, not making
any social plans or any plans at all really… I don’t know how much
longer I can handle things being so up in the […]

Latest Belly Shot

Yep, still here. Still waiting. I’m monitoring every little pang,
twitch, or itch as if it could turn into labor. I’ve scanned websites,
memorizing the first signs of labor, which seems to be quite useless
since it’s different for each woman.
It’s funny how people always ask “when are you due?” It’s always a
future event. There is no guidance […]

Week 40, 180 pounds
At what I hope was my last checkup on Monday the doctor said that the
baby’s head is “down there” and effacement is going well, but no
dilation. I was a bit discouraged about that before I read that you
don’t have to dilate before labor starts–that is the point of labor.
She had me schedule […]

I think we’re all ready for the baby: we’ve got the carseat in the car,
hospital bags packed, and the cradle set up in our bedroom. We had to
rig an alarm on the cradle so we’ll be able to catch the cats if they
attempt to get in the cradle. So far they seem content to rest […]

For almost 9 months I’ve been on a countdown to July 21st. So much so, that I haven’t spent much time thinking beyond that date, but now that it’s only a week away there’s no avoiding it. The majority of the time I get excited thinking about meeting the baby and starting our family. Then […]

I feel like I should attach some kind of warning—contents under pressure? danger wide load?
10 days and counting…
Week 38 Belly Shot

Here are photos of us at the beach on July 4th weekend.
Beach Photos

Week 38, 179 lbs
I just had what may be my last visit to the doctor. She’s on vacation
next week, so my next appointment is Monday July 19th. This visit was
fairly exciting because I had another ultrasound to see how big the
baby is.
I can tell you though that, after this past weekend, I was convinced
that the […]

Week 37, 177 pounds
The belly continues to grow straight out, getting rounder and bigger. I
noticed this week that it actually rests on my lap. I guess it’s nice
to give my stomach muscles a bit of a rest from supporting the weight
of the growing baby. The belly seems to be taking on a life of it’s
own. […]

176 lbs week 36
I had a bit of a shock when realized yesterday was June 21, meaning
exactly one month till my due date. Today we had another checkup.
Everything followed the normal routine–the only unusual occurrence was
that I had a difficult time peeing into the cup. I realized my belly
now completely obstructs my view, preventing proper […]

35 days and counting…
I recently discovered that a baby can hear a song in the womb and
remember it a year later, so now I’m trying to be more aware of what
the baby is listening to. I’m hoping that the baby does not think his
name is Coozie, due to the fact that I’m constantly conversing with […]

This may seem like a change in attitude from previous entries, but I’m
going to begin a count-down. Today marks 42 days till b-day, exactly 6
weeks. I guess it doesn’t stress me out too much to think about the
baby coming now that the crib is assembled and the nursery is in good
shape. And after tonight we’ll […]

Here are some photos from our trip to MD. You can see I wasn’t kidding about my belly being shaped like a torpedo. I’m hoping that means that the baby will just shoot on out when it’s time.
Belly Cast Photos

We had a great trip to Bel Air for Memorial day weekend. The baby
stayed quite active on all the flights (2 hops up and 2 hops back). We
had a bumpy descent into Charlotte which the baby seemed enjoy so much
he started bumping around too. I thought I was going to get sick with
all the bouncing, […]

It must be the heat down here (mid-upper 90’s) that makes pregnant
chicks appear more miserable. Several times in the last week I have
gotten comments from people indicating that they don’t think I’ll make
it to July 21st. The cashier at Lowes said I’m “gonna pop” to which my
response was “I hope not.” The hot dog vendor […]

As the weeks tick away I feel I’m beginning to get used to my
limitations. I’ve trained myself to carefully squat to pick things up
off the floor (I’m not saying it still doesn’t take several swipes to
grab something). I’ve learned the steps for getting out of bed: roll
over on side to face the edge of bed, […]

We had our second childbirth class last night. The men, or rather,
coaches got to model the sympathy belly. It’s a 30 pound jacket
complete with belly and boobs, tight straps to constrict breathing and
some moving balls to simulate kicks. I could barely pick up this thing
off the table, but Frank was a good sport and tried […]

Men are trained from a very young age not to comment on a woman’s weight. When confronted with an obviously pregnant woman, this seems to cause a social dilemma. Do you ogle the belly, ignore it, comment on how large it is, comment on how large the woman is? What do you do? It has […]

Week 28, 2.8 pound baby, 164 pound Andrea
Yesterday we spent about 3 hours at the doctors office getting an ultrasound, blood sugar test and doctor’s exam. The ultrasound wasn’t as exciting as the first one, mainly because the baby is so big that you can only see one body part at a time. I was […]

Last weekend was a very exciting weekend for us. We skipped work on
Friday and headed to the North Georgia mountains to watch a
professional cycling race featuring riders as famous as Lance
Armstrong, Mario Cippolini, Jens Voigt, Bobby Julich, George
Hincapie…
http://homepage.mac.com/fhmiv/PhotoAlbum25.html
We planned our trip very carefully to accommodate my “condition.” This
entailed packing a full cooler and plenty of […]

The baby is now supposed to be 16 inches long and weigh about 2 pounds.
She can now open her eyes and look around at all the exciting things
happing around her. My belly is definitely growing, but it doesn’t seem
big enough to accommodate a baby this size.
Frank has enjoyed poking the belly to see if it […]

http://homepage.mac.com/frickchen/PhotoAlbum19.html

Last week, Frank was sick with a stomach flu for over 3 days. My
super-sensitive pregnant chick immune system successfully fought off
the bug because I went home with a fever on Thursday, took a nap and
was fine by Friday. I think that explains the backache and general blah
feeling that consumed me last week. For a few […]

159 lbs, 24 weeks, 9.75 inch belly
It’s now official that the rest of the world can tell that I’m
pregnant. I’ve been asked by our UPS carrier if I’m “with child.” The
most popular question is “when are you due?” followed by “do you know
what you’re having?” I have to hold my tongue not to respond “a […]

Last Friday was my first prenatal yoga class. It was an amazing feat to
stretch my body in ways that I’m not even sure my pre-pregnancy body
can stretch. I had the honor of being the one with the biggest belly in
the class (before you think I’ve turned into a beachball overnight,
there were only two other women […]

Here is a list of myths/wivestales I’ve collected so far. Let me know
if you have one to add.

Last night Frank got to feel a good kick from the baby. Usually when I
feel a lot of movement going on, it stops as soon as Frank puts his
hand on my belly. This time, Frank was finally rewarded with a kick or
hiccough or whatever the baby was doing that caused the jolt.
Today was also a […]

For awhile, it seemed like a race between the boobs and the belly to
see who can stick out the most, but recent events have proven that the
belly is the clear winner.
I looked down during a movie at my black shirt and saw that my belly
was completely covered with bits of popcorn. Then, in another incident,
I […]

Wives tales put to the test!
As you already know, we are not going to find out the sex of the baby,
but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to have fun guessing!
In collaboration with my college roommate, Kristin, we will be
conducting a study to determine which wives tales, legends and myths
turn out to be true. Kristin […]

Here’s Baby McPherson’s first photo. You can see the baby is curled up
in a ball with his head on the right side:

151 lbs, 20 weeks, belly 8″
Today we got to see baby McPherson with the ultrasound. The baby must
have heard us talking about not wanting to know if he is a boy or girl,
because he dutifully kept his legs crossed for the sonogram and stayed
curled up in a little ball. This did make it […]

I had my first dream last night in which I was a pregnant lady. I guess
my brain is finally adjusting to being pregnant. In this dream, I was
walking down the street next to someone who insisted on walking faster
than I could manage. As I struggled to keep up, I had to keep checking
inside my purse […]

The pudge on my stomach has organized itself into the form of a large
basketball slowly beginning to emerge from my stomach. This seems to
have happened within the last two days, if not overnight. This
transformation has not gone unnoticed! On Tuesday, my coworker (male,
recent college grad) was telling me “you can’t even tell you’re
pregnant.” Today, Friday, […]

Selecting a baby name is no longer as easy as thumbing through a baby
name book and finding one we like. Or so, the baby book writers would
have you believe…
According to some baby name books, there are additional steps.
First you must choose what you want the baby to be when he grows up.
This allows you to […]

144 pounds - the eating is paying off!
These appointments are getting rather routine: I show up and wait for
20 minutes to be called back by the nurse who immediately shoves a
plastic cup at me. (I hope I don’t develop a conditioned reflex like
one of Pavlov’s dogs and pee every time I see one of those […]

So last night I was flipping through the channels and got stuck on a
design show where they were creating an oh-so-cute nursery. As usual,
the designer was freaking out about finishing on time and the help was
breaking things.
It turns out that on-time means before the mom and new baby arrive home
from the hospital. Apparently the designers […]

Morning sickness isn’t just for pregnant women!
Frank and I have heard the stories of how his dad got morning sickness
while his mom was pregnant. Apparently this isn’t a weird phenomena,
nor does it stop at just morning sickness. Expectant dads can suffer
from any or all of the swelling, mood swings, belly aches, bloating,
constipation, weight gain . […]

From Barbie to Skipper
Well, I know I was never Barbie, but the most interesting thing this week is the fact that my waist is disappearing. The baby books tell you that it’s because my intestines and everything else in my abdomen is moving upwards to make room. What that means is that my stomach is […]

Doctors Hospital- 20 minutes from home
Last night we went on the labor and delivery room tour at the hospital where Dr. Bridges delivers. We wanted to make sure the information on their website matched reality. The description was decent enough…modern equipment…free gifts… a chime that rings throughout the hospital when a baby is born. Lovely.
The […]

2nd Checkup, 137 pounds and counting
Well, the coworkers all know now. Everyone’s happy for us. Anca said “so that’s why you stopped drinking coffee.”
We went to my second checkup today. Frank noticed immediately that there were men in the waiting room this time—last time he was the only one. My doctor’s nurse is somewhat gruff. […]