35 weeks...5 left!

5 more weeks seems so crazy and not far off at all!!  I start my residency this coming friday, so I will be staying busy (in the air conditioning - thank goodness!) and hopefully that will take my mind off the pregnancy a little bit.  Brian and I are both very anxious to meet our little one, but know that he will come when he is ready.  We hope he is ready around July 25th or so :)  We had a wonderful time in Iowa and hopefully we will be able to go back in December for Christmas. 

Baby Facts:

Baby Pete is still the size of a honeydew, weighing in at about 5 1/2 pounds and measuring 20 1/4 inches long.  He has pretty much reached his full length and is now just packing on the pounds.  One of my sources says he will gain about 1 more pound of fat before delivery.  He is currently about 15% body fat and will reach about 30% by his delivery.  At our last doctor appointment on June 23rd, his body position was head down and butt up.  He has been in that same position for the last 3 appointments so hopefully he will remain in that position.

He is still moving around and kicking like crazy!  No shots to the ribs yet (I'm keeping my fingers crossed!).  I have had one Braxton-Hicks contraction, but that was about 2 weeks ago.  Our next appointment with Dr. Tinker is Wednesday, July 6th - we then start seeing him every week.  I will update the blog every Wednesday evening from now on after each of my appointments.  Also, the swelling in my feet, ankles, and fingers has gone down!!  I am able to wear my wedding ring again and my sandals don't leave strap marks across my feet!!  Woohoo!!

Have a great week!  Love, Brian & Megan

34 weeks...6 more to go!

Hello Everyone!  34 weeks along and still going pretty strong!  We were in Spirit Lake this past weekend and had a wonderful time!  We leave for Des Moines today to spend the evening with Adam and Lindsay and then we are headed home for Memphis tomorrow morning (Wednesday).  We have really enjoyed our time in Iowa, but are excited to get home and get back into a routine.  Living out of a suitcase is only fun for so long.  I can't believe that the next time we come back to Iowa, we will be bringing another member of the family with us!  Yay!

Baby Facts:

Baby Pete is still the size of a honeydew.  Weighing in at about 5 pounds and is about 20 inches long.  Interesting fact relating to baby boys (maybe too much information for some of you, but I found it interesting...) - During week 34 his testicles made their way down from his abdomen to their final destination, his scrotum.  Some day he may be embarrassed that I talked about his testicles in my blog!!  HA!  Also, his tiny fingernails have reached the tip of his fingers.  Music that he hears while in the womb now, he will recognize and be soothed by the same music once he is born.  I'm trying to get Brian to sing lullabies to him at night...since most of you how much he likes to sing and how good he is at it!!  Haha!  He also urinates about a pint a day!!  That explains why my bathroom visits have all of a sudden doubled in the last couple weeks!

Brian has the rest of June and all of July off and I start my residency program July 1st!  Brian is really hoping Baby Pete comes before he goes back to work, which is inconveniently the baby's due date!  Some good news...I found out that I passed my final part (part 3) of my board exams that I took the first weekend in April!  Now I just need to complete the process of applying for a TN optometric license and I can do everyone's eye exams :)

Have a great week!  Love, The Petersens

33 weeks! 7 to go!

We are already 33 (and a half...whoops!  Sorry it took so long to update!) weeks already!  We have been in Iowa for the past week and are having a great time!  The cooler weather has been a nice change for us.  My mom and sisters put a baby shower together for me and we got tons of great gifts!  Baby Pete is such a lucky little guy already!  We also had Peyton's baptism (Alison and Todd's baby) this past weekend - I am fortunate to be her godmother :)  We are having a wonderful time so far visiting with family and friends!  We are heading up to Spirit Lake tomorrow and are looking forward to spending time with Brian's mom, Kenny, Kim, and Carter.

I am still feeling really good.  Sleeping at night is becoming more of a challenge.  Laying on my back is no longer comfortable, so I am continually waking up and flipping over from side to side.  My feet and hands have started to swell a bit - they don't hurt - just look like hooves, as my sister Alison would put it best :).  Baby Pete is still very active and I like that.  I think I will miss all his movement the most after I'm done being pregnant.  Brian says I will still get to feel movement, it will just be him kicking me from the outside!  Ha!

Baby Facts:

Baby Pete is now the size of a honeydew!!  He will now be gaining about a 1/2 pound per week.  He is currently roughly 4 1/2 pounds and 19 1/2 inches long.  This week he will likely grow a whole inch.  He will possibly double his weight by delivery day!  Antibodies are being passed from me and him as he begins to develop his own immune system.

We hope you are all having a great summer so far!

Love, The Petersens

32 Weeks Down!

32 weeks down and it's getting HOT here in Memphis!  The past 2 weeks have constantly been in the high 90's and sometimes even in the 100's with no rain or anything to give us some relief!  I am looking forward to our 2 weeks in Iowa starting tomorrow - the weather will be in the 70's and I can't wait!!!

We had our all day birthing class on Saturday and I'm not sure if it has me more prepared or scared for the big day!  We watched a couple live birth videos and I know the look on my face was pure terror!  I had to close my eyes during the episiotomy video - that is what I'm afraid of the most!!!  No need to go into any more details...I'm sure I have some of you cringing at the thought already!  I'm sure the day of delivery will go great!  :)

We had our 32-week appointment with Dr. Tinker today and everything is still going great!  Baby Pete's heart rate was 155 bpm.  By feeling around on my belly he can tell that the growth is right on target.  For the past couple weeks he has been getting hiccups about 4 times a day - apparently that is normal!  He is still moving around like crazy - I think we are going to have a very active little boy!!

Baby Facts:

Baby Pete is still the size of a sqaush according to thebump.com.  He weighs about 4 pounds and is about 19 inches in length.  His skin is no longer transparent - as more and more fat has accumulated, it is now opaque like ours!  His bones are also in the process of ossifying, so his kicking will get stronger as his bones get harder!  Wonderful - ha!

Brian surprised me with tickets to the Michael Buble concert this past weekend!  I have been wanting to go to one of his concerts for the longest time!!  It was AMAZING!  If you like his music, I highly recommend going to his concert!  He has a great sense of humor and likes to make the crowd laugh.  Brian went along with me just to be a good husband, but I caught him laughing, smiling, taking pictures and videos throughout the entire concert!  We both really enjoyed it!

Brian ran in the Navy 10-Nautical Mile Race this past Sunday morning (about 11.5 miles) at the Navy Base in Millington, TN.  He finished 11th overall out of about 700 runners and got 2nd place in his age group.  I was very proud of him!  This picture is of him running into the finish line.

Here is a picture of the top 3 runners in the men's 25-29 age group - Brian is in the white shirt.

Well that's all for this week!  We look forward to seeing as many friends and family as we can while we are back in Iowa!  Love, The Petersens