Week 33 Image

Huge. There are times where I feel this way... but mostly, I think I look this way. I avoid full length mirrors... as much as possible but the size really seems stunning when Trent takes my picture every Sunday. I'm beginning to believe that my camera is faulty and is somehow distorting the pictures :)

Week 33 was a good one. Baby Hansen's bedding set arrived in the mail so we can start decorating her room a little. There are still plenty of "essential" things we need before her arrival (like a mattress for her crib) but I figure we've got time... and there was a 20% off babies r us coupon in Sunday's paper! There's nothing quite like spending a little money in order to save a little money!

We put up one of our Christmas trees last week (embarrassing, I know) but I was just so excited to do it! We put it up in our loft so our neighbors can't see it and feel embarrassed for us that we just skipped right over Thanksgiving. We're putting another tree downstairs in our front room. We'll wait until after Thanksgiving to do that one. I just figured I might not feel like putting up the trees and decorating by the time the "appropriate time" for doing it arrived. I mean, on some days, walking up and down the stairs feels like a terribly taxing task.

We certainly won't be forgetting about Thanksgiving. I love this holiday! I love the day after just as much :) Baby Hansen will get her first "Black Friday" shopping experience... with my sister, mom, and I. My coworkers have tried to convince me that being visibly pregnant will play to my advantage this year. I'm pretty sure it will just make it harder for me to maneuver quickly through the aisles. There's no one who will be giving me any special treatment on that day... people are crazy! I need my mom and sister there with me because I tend to be a spontaneous buyer. When I see everyone grabbing a particular item, I grab it too... not because I needed it... not because I wanted it... but because everyone else was getting it so it must be good! My mom helps provide me with a "sanity check" and lets me know that I really shouldn't buy some things... even if everyone else in the store is buying it.

Week 34... Thanksgiving, Black Friday, BYU-Utah football game. There's a lot to look forward to!

Week 32 Image

32... one of my favorite numbers while growing up. I think it had something to do with the Utah Jazz and some future Hall of Fame basketball player (likely to be inducted next year) who played for them. Currently, it's one of my favorite numbers because it represents progress... and it means we're one week closer.

For some reason, Trent's 32 week image hasn't had much change. He's just not growing like I am! No baby bump there...

I couldn't find my camera on Sunday... so we had to use the phone for the picture. I had Trent pose initially so I could make sure it would work. He took his job pretty seriously :)

Baby Hansen is poking out more and more every day. Even black clothes (the 'slimming color') weren't enough to disguise the red belly poking out. At least it's nice to have people know that I am pregnant... rather than wondering whether I'm just gaining a bunch of weight!

Trent's sister and mom (Deanna and Tawny) put together a baby shower for me in Lehi last week. The decorations were so cute, the food was delicious, and the company was awesome. It was very nice of them to plan/host the event and I'm really grateful. It was fun getting together with the wonderful people who came. I wish I had some pictures to post (did I mention I can't find my camera??) but I will say that Baby Hansen will be very well dressed! Besides clothes, she received a plethora of gifts including toys (very important), handmade quilts, diapers, books, and much much more! Thanks to Deanna and Tawny... and everyone who came! (Especially those who had to battle the terrible traffic to get there).

All in all, another good week... gone.

Week 31 Image

Another week crawls/flies by! The week was highlighted by the following:

• A baby shower with my wonderful coworkers at AdvancedMD
  
• A BYU football victory... finally, they shut someone out!
• Baby Hansen providing further confirmation of her sleep schedule - consistently waking up at 4am every morning
  (It use to be at 5am every morning... but daylight savings really screwed that up. She hasn't adjusted to the change, and as a result, neither have I)
  
• Daily walks on the Jordan River Trail
• 6 hours of a prenatal seminar that just about scared me to death
• and of course... last but not least... growing larger!
  

Just a few notes on the prenatal seminar. I must say, it was very informational. There were things that I didn't know which I was grateful to learn. There were also things which I didn't know that honestly, I may have been better off not knowing. Isn't the saying, "Ignorance is bliss?" What I would give to have remained in a state of bliss.

The one part of the prenatal seminar that was most shocking/eye opening was watching the movie, "The Miracle of Birth". Truly, after seeing that, I am more convinced that human birth is a miracle. The bigger miracle will be if I survive giving birth. In the movie, we watched four different births... including one with an epidural, one c-section, one natural (without medicine), and one where the doctor had to use forceps. The first one might have been the worst for me to watch. I won't get into the gory details but I will say that I started laughing uncontrollably, out loud, while I was watching it. I had a huge feeling of nervousness and uneasiness overcome me during the video... and it just made me laugh. Seriously? The baby will magically come out of me... how?

It's a good thing that I never saw that video prior to getting pregnant. That would have been a very strong deterrent to me ever wanting/having kids. One of the ladies on the video (the one who had the natural birth) seemed to be able to give birth so easily. The doctor barely got to the room in time to catch the baby before it plummeted to the ground. My immediate urge was to find that lady and hire her to be a surrogate for me in the future. As for now... I believe we are past the point of no return.

Shifting gears... I remember being a missionary in the MTC, several years ago. Even though the MTC experience was just shy of three full months, I really enjoyed it. There were times, however, where the days would seem to drag on forever. It seemed as if the days lasted forever but the weeks flew by. In a very real sense, that's how the latter part of this pregnancy has been. Some days seem like an eternity... but before I know it, it's Sunday again... a new week begins... and we're one week closer to meeting baby Hansen. Despite my hesitations/fears about actually giving birth, we're excited to meet the small active baby growing inside of me. When the doctors first told me that the baby was measuring a little small... with her head size in the 20th percentile, I was a little worried... now, after seeing that video, I'm grateful.

Week 30 Image - 75% of the way there!

I would say this is a monumental week for me. Just think, 75% on a test in school... while not desirable... is still a solid "C". Trent, Baby Hansen, and I all had a great week. For me, this was aided by the fact that BYU had a bye week. Sometimes, I feel better if they just don't even play.

We had a doctor's appointment on Friday and learned we'll now be having regular checkups every 2 weeks, instead of every four weeks. We'll have three of these bi-weekly appointments and then, an appointment every week until Baby Hansen joins us. We sure are getting excited for her to come!


While it may look like I'm trying to push my stomach out even more to make myself look even larger, I assure you I'm not. Good thing maternity clothes have a lot of elasticity... because these things are going to need to stretch! The heartburn has gotten pretty bad... bad enough to elicit a change in diet (no more orange juice)... but other than that I'm feeling pretty good.

One of my favorite moments of this last week was on Tuesday, when I was lying on my bed reading out loud. While reading, I felt something brush up against my stomach... just above my hip. It felt like a mouse or some sort of creature. I jumped up out of my bed, to find where the creature could have scurried off to. Of course, I found nothing and a moment later, I realized the baby had just given me a weird punch or kick or something. I had to laugh after the fact because of how scared I was but I kindly asked her (baby) not to do that to me again. Hopefully she obliges.

We finally got registered (mostly). It was something I had kind of been dreading. I think the reason for that is mostly because it would cause me to realize all the different things that I will have to think and worry about... like thermometers, first aid kits, burping clothes... I don't know... diapers! After registering, I'm realizing that being a mom seems like it is a lot of work. My mom was nice enough to join me at Babies R Us. It was good she was there because I had no idea where to even start. I also registered at Target. I was a little too burnt out to go to the store... so I just did it all online :) The internet = a person's best friend.

AMD Halloween - 2009

The biggest holiday at work has now come and gone. Although every year I swear it'll be the last that I end up dressing up for Halloween, I played along again this year. Amy (coworker) championed the "Golden Girls" theme and it seemed to turn out okay. I was just thankful that this year I got to wear a wig... meaning I didn't have to worry about getting color out of my hair.

For those who don't remember last year:

And this year... I was "Sophia"

We had a great "cast"
(From left to right) - Skip = Dorothy, Dave = Rose, Amy = Blanche, Me

Although I never really watched the show prior to Friday morning, by the end of the day, I loved it! I spent much of the day saying things like... "Picture it... Sicily... 1912"... and when I was asked if we had chores in Italy, i wisely replied "It was a chore just to cross the street without getting pregnant!" I then looked down at my ever growing belly and it just seemed comical. Sophia's character fit me pretty well. I enjoyed telling people to "shut up" and just being a little on the ornery side. One of my favorite parts was when Rose (Dave) thought she was my daughter (when it reality it's Dorothy) and "she" called me "Ma". I gave her a little slap in the face and let her know she was not my daughter. Good times.

While I' won't officially count myself out for next year, I certainly won't commit.