Week 25 Image

This last week was a quick one, especially with AMD's Annual User's Conference. The baby and I spent Wednesday through Friday at the Zurmatt Resort in Midway. We had lots of good food to eat and certainly didn't hold back. Friday, we had cheesecake for dessert during lunch. I couldn't decide which kind to get so I grabbed two slices. In preparation for the crazy looks I thought I might receive, I pointed to my stock of dessert and exclaimed "it's for the baby!" It seems like a logical reason to overeat and over-indulge. In fact, people seemed extremely understanding of my need for two slices of scrumptious cheesecake. I guess they don't take into consideration that at 25 weeks, Baby Hansen is now about the size of an eggplant.With User's Conference most of the week and football on Saturday, not much else got done. We still haven't done any additional shopping or planning for Baby Hansen. I'm thinking about registering a couple places since this is our first child. Any suggestions? Registering certainly isn't my favorite thing to do. I put it off as long as possible before we got married. It just seemed like a daunting task. Hopefully this time around won't be quite as rough.



We're excited to tackle another week! Without softball two evenings a week, we'll have to be creative in our attempts to stay pretty active. I must admit though, I'm glad the softball season has ended. I'm sure by the time spring rolls around, I'll be ready to play again!

Week 24 Image

I've been publishing this "weekly image" post later and later each week. I think most of it has to do with the fact that I get the picture taken... look at it... and then enter some type of state of "shock". I suppose I just don't think I look or feel as pregnant as the picture shows that I am. Some people call that denial. I mean, I know I have a "baby bump". In fact, I read somewhere that my uterus is about the size of a soccer ball now. When I read that, I just kept thinking... I want to play soccer! I just don't feel as if I look like the same person that the picture shows me as. That probably sounds very confusing, but it makes sense in my head.

Here I am... larger than life :)
For real, I think the shirt makes me look bigger than I am. Who was it who said black was a "thinning color"?? On a different note, Baby Hansen played his last softball game yesterday. In fact, we had a double header. I wasn't looking forward to playing two games because I thought one would be enough for me. Baby Hansen and I had two good games though. There's one more game tomorrow but I won't be able to make it because of some obligations I have with work. After the game yesterday, I didn't feel like I could walk very well. I did something to my left hip/quad during the game. The entire second game was played with a limp. It probably has something to do with the extra weight and the fact that I just can't cut and move like I use to be able to.

We didn't go out shopping at all this last week so we have no new things for Baby Hansen. As a result, I haven't furthered my belief that stores disproportionately represent baby girls. I do appreciate the feedback and ideas that many of you gave. I certainly can gain much from the experiences you've had. I'm also grateful for the charlie horse advice you gave me several weeks ago. Unfortunately, my friend Charlie continues to visit me periodically. I've tried drinking more water, eating bananas (potassium) etc but they keep on coming. I'll be in a deep sleep, having a wonderful dream... when the pain won't only wake me, it will cause me to jump out of bed shrieking in pain. Trent is a deep sleeper so it usually doesn't have much impact on him. Lucky guy.

Baby Hansen is staying pretty active. It's fun feeling him move inside of me. I read that the baby sleeps about 12 to 14 hours per day. I have to admit, I was pretty jealous when I read that. How would that be? I'll probably never know... at least not for the next couple years!

Week 23 Image

I'm beginning to question why it was I thought it would be a good idea to post weekly progress pictures of my "growing belly". For some reason, pictures have the capability to make people look worse/more awkward than they perceive themselves to be. After looking at this week's picture, I'm feeling pretty large. It just might be time to step into those maternity clothes.

I've received a few comments from folks at work that I'm actually "starting to look pregnant" now. I suppose that was bound to happen. Trent and I went to Target last week, roaming through the various baby isles... when Trent started laughing. I asked him what was so funny and he said there was a couple who was walking by us, just staring at me. He said they looked at me, my belly, my face, my belly... as if they were trying to figure it out. I didn't think it was quite as comical as he did.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but I'm trying to give a "shout out" to 23 in the picture. Not only does it represent an end to my 23rd week of pregnancy, but also Michael Jordan was enshrined in the Hall of Fame this last week. There have been discussions of whether or not the NBA should retire his number, 23 for the entire league. I'm kind of hopeful they will because I never cared for Jordan much... and each time I see someone sporting the number, I automatically think of him.

As the weeks fly (sometimes crawl) by, we're getting more and more excited to have Baby Hansen. I frequently find myself wandering aimlessly in stores just to look at their selection of baby items. The one thing I have noticed thus far is that available baby girl clothes in stores far outweigh baby boy clothes. Perhaps it is a foreshadowing of things to come in their respective lives. As much as I want to believe the disparity between boys and girls options is some minor form of discrimination, I imagine it's a reflection of supply and demand. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm wondering if I'm just looking for it since we're expecting a boy.

Baby Hansen and I are very much looking forward to week 24... and we're hopeful the end ofthe week will bring another BYU victory. Go Cougs!

Week 22 Image

It was an exciting week for Trent, myself, and baby Hansen. Much to our excitement, the long-awaited doctor's appointment finally made its way to us. Trent and I made sure to arrive on time to our appointment Tuesday morning. Surprisingly enough, we had to wait a while before we could see the doctor and got to have the ultrasound.

Here are some things we learned:

-Baby Hansen is very active. There were very few times where the baby stopped moving.
-Baby Hansen isn't terribly cooperative when it comes to having ultrasounds. The positioning made things difficult to see and the baby didn't seem to care in the least.
-All the babies vitals look good... what a relief!
-Baby Hansen measured in the 25th percentile for size.
-Baby Hansen is a boy. At the very least... we are very confident that he is a boy. We did see him grab himself a number of times... but the images weren't as clear as they could have been because of all the movement.

As for me, I seem to have "popped" overnight. I swear my pregnancy was hardly noticeable on Monday and then suddenly on Tuesday, My stomach was sticking out a couple extra inches.


I think the picture makes me look even bigger than I am. (Either that or I am officially in denial). I blame this partially on the skirt I was wearing. It was a maternity skirt that my sister-in-law, Alaris, was so kind to loan me. I have determined, however; that the purpose of maternity clothing is to make a person look more pregnant than they would look if they just wore normal clothes at a bigger size. I confirmed my theory today when I spent the day with my mom shopping. We looked at some maternity clothing and I tried a few different things on. I couldn't believe the difference the clothing made! It really excentuated the right areas so anyone who saw me would have little doubt that I am pregnant. Since I currently refuse to wear "maternity clothes", I'm still having people shoot me strange glances. With the extent of their inquisitive looks, I don't doubt they are wondering, is she pregnant... or just has a 'pudgy' stomach? I suppose I don't care so much whether they realize I AM pregnant or if they conclude that I have a very disporportionate stomach. Each moment I feel our little baby move, I have little doubts that this is for real.

One thing that is beginning to sink in is the following... we're not just going to be 'having a baby'. We're going to be parents! I'm going to be a mom! That's pretty scary for me to think about. I guess I just thought... "oh, we're having a baby! That'll be so much fun!" Now I'm entering the... "oh my gosh, we are going to be parents. We will have real responsibilities. Our lives will be changed forever!" stage. Yes, it is scary.

Baby Gender

(We think... we're almost positive... but there will be more info to come on the ultrasound experience)