Category Archive: Judith

Week 24: Baby’s the size of a grapefruit

This week in the pregnancy started off on Christmas Eve–such a fun time this year with Sirena and being in our own home. Throughout this time we kept talking about how amazing it’s going to be next Christmas with a 3.5 year old and an 8 month old to celebrate the holidays with! This week marked the one year anniversary of moving into our new house as well and we could not be more happy with our beautiful home and the family that we’re growing here.

A conversation I had with a fellow mama who was actually on bed rest from this point in her pregnancy until the day her daughter was born (talk about an amazing mama) really gave me a new perspective on things and it was so timely with the new year being at the end of this week. Bed rest for her really got her out of shape and didn’t prepare her well for her extremely long labor. This really got me thinking about my own preparation for labor which, until this point, I’ve maintained the perspective that with the back pain I didn’t experience before I’m so limited in what I can do and that there’s nothing I can really do about it. I’ve also honestly been banking on the fact that I had an overall low-key labor and delivery with Sirena and that that will surely happen the second time around, if not be even more low-key this time. I realized that my labor was the way it was because of the months and months of physical preparation–walking 5 miles to/from work in the first 3 months of pregnancy, then student teaching and working 12 hour days through my 8th month, and continuing to walk Lola every day and go hiking just about every other week throughout the pregnancy. Up until this point, this pregnancy doesn’t even begin to compare to the physical activity of my last pregnancy. I know that I am more limited because of the changes in my body but that doesn’t mean that I have to allow it to completely keep me from being active. So I have come up with a schedule for walking and a routine of low-impact stretches and floor exercises to keep myself active and moving and to hopefully help with the back pain, prepare me for labor, aid in my postpartum recovery, and allow me to slowly (but not too slowly) return to more physical activity 6 or so weeks postpartum.

Last but not least, Kevin came up with a really awesome name idea that we both liked the sound of and the meaning of right away and I think we’re getting closer to choosing this baby girl’s name! I really look forward to being able to talk to and about her by name, it makes things so much more real when we are able to do that. 🙂

Belly shot!

Week 25: Baby’s the size of an eggplant

This little eggplant is not messing around! I feel a crazy tug and pull on my sides as my belly stretches more and more to fit this growing girl inside. I remember that feeling with Sirena’s pregnancy but not nearly this fast or this intense.  Standing for too long the weight of my belly hanging down gets to be too much for me and even crossing my arms can be uncomfortable because my arms push my belly down and it’s too much pressure for my belly.  I’m seriously considering getting some sort of maternity support belt to keep the weight from pulling down so much. The crazy thing is that the most growth happens in the third trimester which we’re not even in yet…I’m anxious (in a good and bad way!) to see how this pregnancy continues to develop!

Sirena has really stepped up into the big sister role this past week. She’s become so attached her baby Nine and wants to take her everywhere. Here are some shots of big-sister-in-training in action:

Feeding Nine a bottle, putting her to bed, and buckling her up for safety!

Swinging her at the park, playing “choo choo” train in our laundry basket (with older sister Lola in the background), and taking a photo of Nine with her “camera”

And last but not least, here’s Sirena demonstrating what NOT to do with a baby!

The biggest news is saved for last, of course! Kevin and I (with Sirena’s approval) have decided on a name for this little lady! We wanted something that has meaning, sounds beautiful, and pairs well with Sirena’s name. We had been pretty set on her middle name for a long time but we could not decide on a first name at all. We had been tossing around a few names for months but it wasn’t until last week when Kevin shared a new name that we were totally and completely sold. We wanted to wait to share the name with our family first before publicly announcing it so the time has finally come!

Her name is: Lucia Judith. Lucia means “light” in Italian (so literal translation of her name will be “light of the Edmonds sea”) and Judith is Kevin’s sister’s name who we love and adore and wanted to honor her. Lucia will be pronounced “Lu-SEE-ah” and not “Lu-CHEE-ah” like it is in Italian. We’ll probably call her “Luci” for short sometimes. 🙂

We finally had a chance to share the name with Kevin’s sister Judith this week and, in true Lisa fashion, videotaped her reaction.  We wrote out the name “Lucia Judith” on a piece of paper and rolled it up so Kevin unrolled it slowly, let the “Lucia” sink in for a second, and then unrolled it the rest of the way so she could see the middle name.  Here’s a link to a quick video of it (along with Sirena announcing the name to the world 🙂 ).

Belly shot!

My trusty shadow is back! And not at all shy with telling me how she feels about these weekly photos…with a giant yawn. Hah!

Other pregnancy updates:

• Total weight gained so far:  5.5 pounds
• Fun baby developments this week: All five senses are now fully developed.  She may start sucking her thumb in utero around this time…how cute! And she most likely has a distinct sleeping and waking schedule (she is most definitely up and at ‘em between 8-10pm).
• Number of days until our next prenatal appointment: 7!
• Number of weeks left in the second trimester: Two! The third trimester starts at 28 weeks…not too far off at all!