Bean Close up:
There is a right leg (with foot just out of the picture), her right eye, her nose and mouth, AND right to the side of her head (a little above her eye) is her right hand.  She was laying with both hands behind her head and her knees bent and pulled up to her chest.  By her measurements, she is already  weighing in at 3 lbs, 3 oz.

Bean Face:
The bright white at the top of her head is HAIR!!!!  She has a full head of hair already!

Bean Leg:

Bean Right Foot:

So, Thursday night it occured to me that in less than 12 weeks (if she’s on-time or early) I AM GOING TO BE A MOTHER!  Talk about a total freak out!  I totally panicked!  Let me tell you, I’ve had a great pregnancy with little to no complaints, but I am HATING the leg cramps.  Every couple of days, I wake up sometime between 4:30 – 5:00 with shooting pains in my calves (charley horses) that require rubbing or walking.  This is so painful!  And NO FUN!

Other than the occasional freak out, charley horses, acid reflux, indigestion, and exhaustion – pregnancy is no big deal and I’d gladly do it again.  Outside of the occasional freak out, I’m getting really excited about our little girl’s arrival (though I still think I’d handle a boy better – God better be ready to give me some support!).  I have to resist the urge to check our baby registries just because I’m so excited about getting things together for her.

Last night, Jeff and I went out to dinner with the Amos clan and then back to their house to inherit baby stuff.  We got a bag full of clothes (lots of blue, but all adorable – she’ll be cute in all of it), a pack-n-play (hence why one is not on the registry), a papasan (like a chair thing), and a doorway bouncer (totally cool – can’t wait until she’s big enough for that!).  

At Jerry & Kristen’s on Saturday we received a huge bag of handmade crocheted booties, hats, sweaters (matching sets) and a couple of blankets all made by Kristen’s mom.  They are all beautiful and we will have the warmest baby ever.

No photo from last week, but I will get one this week – as well as new ultrasound pictures tomorrow that at least one will be posted.  I can’t wait to see what she looks like just because all of the baby-book and website pictures make her look so whole and complete (see below).  As for the info from Baby Center below – I’m adding tidbits of information within it that are personalized.  They are in PINK: 

How your baby’s growing:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She’s also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Cool little piece of info: I was standing outside yesterday with a bottle of water while talking on the phone.  I put the very cold bottle of water on my sticking out tummy and baby girl went running away from it to the back of my uterus.  How cool was that?  I haven’t tried the flashlight trick yet, but hear that they do the same when you shine a flashlight on my belly. 

How your life’s changing:

You’re in the home stretch! The third and final trimester starts this week. If you’re like most women, you’ll gain about 11 pounds this trimester.  WHAT THE HECK?  11 MORE POUNDS!  NO WAY!  Can’t I just go back to when I wasn’t gaining any weight?

At this point, you’ll likely visit your doctor or midwife every two weeks. Then, at 36 weeks, you’ll switch to weekly visits. Also, if your glucose screening test (having that done TOMORROW) result was high and you haven’t yet had follow-up testing, you’ll soon be given the 3-hour glucose tolerance test.

Here are my weekly Baby Center Photos:

So, here is what Baby Center says about what is going now that I’m at 27 weeks:

How your baby’s growing:

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She’s sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby’s brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don’t bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

How I feel about this:

So far, I feel great!  As my previous post indicated, I’m having sinus issues, but they are mostly under control.  I have that low growly kind-of voice that some consider to be sexy, so we’ll consider that a perk.  Two more nights singing at VBS and I’ll be lucky to have a voice on Sunday morning to lead worship with!

I have a confession to make – I fell on Tuesday morning – like at 6:00 a.m. – in the dark.  I went to go feed the kitties and tripped in the kitchen.  My right knee hit hard enough that Jeff was scared the refrigerator fell over.  My left arm went over my tummy and my right hand kept me from hitting the ground.  Needless to say, my right knee has a pretty bruise on it.  I did gently bump my bump on the floor, but only after I’d stopped on my knee on the way down.  I was very nervous, but after talking to my doctor’s nurse, I felt assured that the bump my bump had wasn’t bad and since there was no pain and there was baby movement, I relaxed and stopped freaking out.

According to What to Expect When You’re Expecting, the baby is actually over 2 lbs this week, but no one is ever sure how big the baby is (or will be) until they make their appearance.  Two people I know had babies at 35 weeks this summer, one baby was well over 7 lbs and got to go home immediately, the other was around 5 lbs and spent time in the hospital.  There just isn’t an exact science to baby prediction.  Also, my other “size” resource (American Baby) says the baby is about the size of a sock monkey!

The baby is moving at random times throughout the day and likes to use my bladder as a soccer ball.  It is great fun.  Monday night at VBS was the first time she moved while I was at church.  She hasn’t even made her debut and she’s already enjoying making her mom look like a liar.  I’m standing there talking to Karen Fletcher and the Foshays and telling them that she never kicks high enough for anyone to feel her (she usually kicks way down low where it is inappropriate for others to touch).  As I finish the sentence, she kicks me right at my belly button.  Hubby Jeff took the first feel and then Josh got to feel her kick.  It was pretty cool.  Charlotte has yet to get to, but I’m hoping between VBS tonight and tomorrow, she will.

Currently, my tummy (at the belly button) is measuring 39 inches around.  I go back to the doctor on Tuesday, August 26 for my Glucose screening and another ultrasound (they are watching where my placenta is located).

Here are the two normal pictures I post regarding the baby:

On a side note – scoot over to Amanda Amos’s BLOG for an update on her cancer.  She is in real need of prayerful uplifting!!

My comment back to Grete:
Sorry to those of you who feel the way Grete does.  Truth be told – Jeff and I are bad at taking the picture.  We never did take the 26 week photo and now we’re almost to #27.  I promise (cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye) that I’ll get him to take one this week.  I’ll post now how I’m doing.

So, here is how I’m doing…  I am doing pretty good.  I have bad indigestion (do you really want to know all this?) and bad acid reflux.  My sinuses are doing their thing as they usually do, I’m just now ususally pregnant so I’m allowed to load up on medicines.  Currently I’m allowed to take Tylenol Sinus for my sinuses and TUMS for my other issues.  This includes getting up at 2:30 in the morning with a burning in my throat to down some water and chew more TUMS.  Those of you looking into playing the stock market – buy in TUMS, pregnant ladies can’t get enough of them.  According to “old wives” and now even medicine, all this indigestion means a kid with hair.  This isn’t 100% accurate, though.  I have a friend who had indigestion her entire pregnancy and her baby was bald at birth (and still has very little hair at 7+ months).

I’m tired.  All the time.  I stay tired.  I was so excited to be watching the best opening ceremonies of the olympics ever and fell asleep shortly after the US entered, totally missing the torch lighting.  Stink!

I pee a lot.  Rachel gave me a card with the most wonderful belly lotion of all time and the card had the schedule of an expectant mother.  Every 30 minutes (or maybe 15) of her daily schedule said to pee.  How true that is becoming.  I went to the bathroom FOUR TIMES while at church yesterday.  I used to rarely see that room in our building.  Long trips are now longer because I actually have to stop at rest areas (though I still avoid this as often as possible and prefer to buy food in a restaurant or shop at a Target to avoid them).

I’m excited.  We’ve had a bit of a baby boom at church here lately.  Hannah was born in December, Sean was born in June, & Logan was born a month ago.  Yesterday, Colleen (mom) was holding Logan (son) before Sunday school.  She was getting ready to do a sound check with the praise team and Logan wanted to eat.  Everyone (including me) offered to hold him while she did her sound check since she wasn’t going to feed him until afterward.  She turned every single person down.  She was going to hold that baby until it was time to feed him.  How cool – I get to do that this fall.  I don’t have to pass the baby to anyone because she will be MINE.  Now that is really, really exciting to me.  I’ve always loved babies & I love to hold babies.  For the first time in my life, I don’t have to hand a baby off to someone else.  I can say, “No thank you, I’ve got her” and people have to respect that because the baby is going to be mine.
I know, this sounds very selfish – I’m well aware of how selfish I sound – but for the first time in the world, I get to be selfish with a baby because I created and carried this one.  WOW!!!

I’m still scared.  Again, this baby is MINE.  No one else, but Jeff, is responsible for bringing her up right.  If she gets screwed up in the head, it is my fault.  If she is boy crazy, everyone will know where it came from.  When she hates her mother – that will be me!  EEK!  What am I doing?  If you see my previous post about being absolutely scared out of my noggin, I still feel that way at times, but it has subsided a bit as it’s been replaced with the utter excitement that I’m having a baby! 
I’m also still scared that I’m having a GIRL!  I had lunch with a friend last week (my 8th grade boyfriend to be exact) and when I told him it was a girl, he laughed out loud at me.  He said, “What are you going to do – you don’t know how to be a girl!”  If you knew me as I grew up, I was definately boy crazy, but I was not a girly-girl.  I never did my hair.  I never wore makeup.  The most girly thing about me growing up was my love for heels and Cinderella.  I was in a walking leg brace for 6-8 weeks in 7th grade because I went to swing out of a tree (which I’d climbed with a bunch of boys) and got my foot stuck.  I swang, but my foot didn’t come.  I tore all the ligaments in my knee and did some serious damage to the joint.  Thankfully it healed well, though it hurts and pops at times even now.  I have NO CLUE how to french braid.  I can do pony tails and pig tails & that is about it.  Anyone from UCC see Paige’s adorable double braids yesterday? – don’t hold your breath that my kid is gonna have those.  Unless Colleen volunteers to help me when I get to church, this kid is out of luck.  Now, Kathy Ferrell, my hair magician, has volunteered to teach me these great hair things and I’m probably going to try to take her up on it.

I’m excited that I’m having a girl. Afterall, I found out yesterday that one of my gifts is THIS:
Now that is exciting to me!  Yes Warren, the Riches had already bought it!  Thank you Dana & Charlotte!  Of course, my dad and the Morris’ (from church) are already scheming to provide me with the UVA alternative.  Daddy claims that since she is his granddaughter, she should represent his team as well.  I told him he’d have to use it after keeping her overnight.

Well, I think that sums up how I am today.  All in all, this pregnancy thing is fun.  I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t had many negatives.  I think I’ll even do it again in a year or so and give this baby a sibling.

Oh – we do have a name, and some people have been allowed to know it.  We’re not sharing it yet, but will soon (maybe).  Dana says that it is fitting for my little girl.  For now she’s being called Bean Louise since her middle name will be Louise.

I go back to the Dr. on 8/26 for my glucose test (for gestational diabetes) and for another ultrasound.  My placenta was low on 6/30 and they are concerned about it’s location.  If it hasn’t come up by the end of this month, I’ll get to have another ultrasound closer to my due date to decide if a c-section is best.
I’ll post my feelings on that later, though it isn’t dramatic or anything.  I’m aiming for a low-drama birth.

Photo of me to come later today or tomorrow!

How your baby’s growing:

) from head to heel.

How your life’s changing:

How your baby’s growing

, but she’s beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she’ll start to look more and more like a newborn. She’s also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you’d now be able to discern its color and texture.

How your life’s changing