26 weeks, 5 days

This is probably the third time I've tried to post something this week..but nothing interesting seems to be going on so I stop before I really get started. I still have nothing terribly interesting to say, so I won't be offended if you stop reading now :)

The weather has been warming up for sure, and with summer in WV apparently comes thunderstorms and rain in general, forecasted 4 out of 7 days of the week. I don't mind the rain and storms, I do mind the humidity. I think I have decided that I do honestly prefer a 120ºF blast of heat walking out the front door to 80ºF+86% humidity, but I will just have to get used to it again. Zeke and I have been needing to take our walks earlier in the day to try and beat the heat, but I'll tell ya what, walking 2 miles at 86% humidity..it doesn't matter WHAT time of day you walk, you will still think you're about to melt into a puddle by the end of it.

Humidity and I in the summers have never really gotten along, this one being no different. When it's warm/hot out, my hands have always swollen some when I exercise (aka go on walks or hike), and as a result this summer, I've had to put on a place-holder ring a size bigger then my wedding bands for sake of comfort. When I'm inside in AC, we have no problems..but it gets annoying to change rings all the time, so Jesse has okay'd the use of this other band for the time being :P

Other wonderful changes I am noticing..with Lily growing, I am starting to get more uncomfortable doing normal, every day tasks. Mainly bending over, but when I do, she kindly reminds me she is in there and I really shouldn't be bending over quickly anymore. I'll tell ya what though, you bend over quickly to reach down and grab something like you're used to with a growing baby inside? Apparently makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. I think with her growing, she is starting to put pressure on my internal organs, which is not comfortable either, because my appetite is slowing down (some) and I sometimes just really feel uncomfortable in my stomach area. Oh the joys of pregnancy :)

Overall, things are moving along well, I think. I'm kind of starting to notice different movements, mostly the difference between her just stretching out and an actual kick. I'm going up to Findlay this weekend for a friend's wedding, and then going on to a week at camp from there. And I have the real glucose test to look forward to when I get home! Woohoo..

25 weeks, 6 days

The appointment today went really well. My placenta is up where it's supposed to be and done being ridiculous, so I feel like now I don't need to be concerned about Lily randomly deciding to join the party too early and that she'll stay put until sometime at the end of September. And speaking of due dates, depending on who I see at the midwife clinic, I am due the 24th or 25th..meaning that I'm either 25.5 or 25.6 weeks. So if my numbers in the title randomly don't add up, that's why. And while I'm on that subject, maybe I should have had the title of this post be "The Appointment Where They are Confused."

When I left my last appointment, we scheduled for today as an ultrasound and then the 1-hour glucose test. I got there, they had me drink the orange drink, went and did the ultrasound, waited, got my blood drawn, and then was to meet with the midwife. When they came to get me to meet with Lisa (the midwife of the day), the head nurse asked if the front desk people had given me something to drink. I replied that they had and she got all concerned, saying "it's too early for that test!" So long story short, apparently you're not supposed get the glucose test until you're 28-29 weeks, which clearly, I am not. Scheduling mistake or something. Fortunately, I didn't have any problems drinking the stuff and needles don't really bother me, so when I go back in a few more weeks we'll just have a repeat performance. Go team.

But, according to Lisa, everything is looking good. My belly is measuring great and Lily's heart rate is great too. We joked about how she probably will be a soccer player because she kept kicking the microphone thing Lisa was using to measure the heartbeats. Lisa was a little concerned with how I've been feeling- which is absolutely fine- because I've only gained a whopping 6 lbs so far. Which I am absolutely fine with that, but I guess it's Lisa's job to worry for me, because I'm certainly not.

That's about all the excitement I have from here for now..I'm looking forward to next Saturday (the 26th) because one of my good friends is getting married and I'll be making a drive to Findlay for that. And from the wedding, my mom and I will be driving to Oberlin, OH for a week of Scottish Arts School where we will be counselors :) super excited. That week will be entertaining I'm sure, as my poor mom will get to deal with pregnant-Amber who will not be in air conditioning and be doing tons of walking. Should be a fabulous time!

25 weeks, 3 days

This past weekend was very exciting and fun-filled for Jesse and me (and Zeke). Saturday, our friend Molly was getting married in Columbus, so we drove to Zanesville Friday evening to spend the night at Jesse's parents. On the drive there, I got to talk to my friend Tiffany who was at the hospital with our other friend, Lindsey, who was in labor! It was really exciting to be kind of in the loop, even though I couldn't be there, and to hear about everything from someone who was there and got to see everything firsthand. Congrats to Lindsey and Jared on their precious little baby girl! Hearing all about the delivery and seeing pictures of how absolutely adorable their daughter is made me incredibly excited for when it's my turn..except I don't really think I'm looking forward to the labor part. Talking to Tiff, I realized how very little I know about the whole labor/delivery part of pregnancy (I know, sad..). And as I was relaying the events to Jesse (who was a bit unsympathetic about Lindsey's exhaustion and hunger) I told him if he was going to be such a Tin-man with no heart when I was in labor, he could just stay at home and I'd call him when it was all over :P Fortunately, after we talked some more about it, he decided that he would be sympathetic and is now allowed back in the delivery room at the end of September.

Saturday was Molly's wedding, but also Zeke's very first birthday! I greatly appreciate my sister and husband putting up with my apparent ridiculousness and wanting to get a "family picture" on the birthday puppy's day (who had no idea what was going on, he just wanted to eat the hats. Which he did this morning, by the way).
Molly's wedding was beautiful, and it was great to see everyone and catch up a little bit with some of our friends from college. I had some great pictures, but my camera decided it couldn't handle all the awesomeness of a picture and crashed, wiping my memory card :( I was pretty perturbed, but life goes on and hopefully Jess will be sending me the pictures she got :) And, I officially decided I really like my new Droid phone when I was able to get updates during Molly's wedding on the USA vs England World Cup game that was going on..

Sunday after church, Jesse, the parentals and I took the dogs and went to find some geocahces in Zanesville. We had a lot of fun tramping through the woods and poking around trying to find the hiding spots. Zeke adores being in the woods, especially when it's secluded enough that he can be off his leash and just go running about.
Jesse is holding up the cache he just found, hidden in the hole in the tree. Sorry if you want to go geocaching in this area and I just ruined where it was :P
Zeke is pretty good at posing for the camera for me. This was before he decided to leap down a hill and wipe out at the bottom..so graceful. I think we need to check his depth perception, because later, he ran into a tree.

This week looks kind of busy for me/us, but I will hopefully be posting again Thursday ish after my midwife appointment. This is the one-hr glucose test, plus other blood work and another ultrasound. I'll be flying solo at this appointment, as Jesse can't take that much time off work, so this should be fun. I will for sure be taking a good book..

ha- the whole reason I was going to post this morning was to announce that Jesse and I have decided on a name for our little girl! And then I almost forgot to mention it (yay pregnancy brain). After being asked several times on Saturday what we were going to name her and not having an answer beyond "we don't know yet", Jesse decided enough was enough and we were going to decide on something. So..as of right now, her name will be *drumroll* Lily Anne Hildebrand. This is what we're hoping to stick to, but considering the whole hormones thing I guess it could change, but I don't see that happening. Anne is in honor of my great-grandmother (who would have been Lily's great-great-grandmother for those who lost track) who passed away in 2000 (I think?) so even if we change the first name, Anne is sticking around for the middle.

Ok, that's it for now :)

24 weeks, 1 day

Well Team, we are already at 24 weeks. Yikes.

The last midwife appointment went really well. We met with Jan and she said the heartbeat sounded perfect, and my belly was measuring perfectly also (this was the first time they measured how big I was getting). I also got the joy of scheduling for an appointment in 2 weeks for my 1-hr glucose test. Woo.hoo. I also will be getting another ultrasound then..this one is specifically to check and see how my placenta is doing. But Jan assured me that the echognic focus is nothing to be concerned about. Whew.

In other news, Jesse went garage saling with Jenn and Chris this morning and came back with some awesome finds. He found an umbrella stroller (pink camo, Aunt Lynn!) and a changing pad, plus several bags of clothes for our little girl. Probably 25% was for the 1-2 yr age range, but for garage sale prices, who cares? I took some pictures of my favorite things he found..

Jesse modeling the stroller..























































the. most precious shoes.




Possibly my favorite outfit yet..
I mean, it's Classic Pooh!


























24 weeks!
Well, I guess that's enough pictures for now :)
and I dunno why they are all over the place hah

23 weeks, 5 days

Life continues to sail by a little too fast for my comfort, but I can honestly say that Jesse and I are trying to make the most of the time we do have before out little girl joins the party! Mama Hildebrand made the comment to Jesse that the two of us are "always up to something" and I have to admit, that was definitely true this last Memorial Day weekend!

Friday evening, my parents, Joel and Kimmy came for a quick weekend visit. We had a lot of fun doing some relaxing and playing board games, but also going shooting! Jesse and I haven't really been able to shoot too much since moving to WV, so we were pretty excited to have some target practice. I'm happy to say that Baby Squirt didn't care that there were loud noises, she just kinda chilled.

Family also brought Jesse and me the rest of the wonderful presents we got from the baby shower a few weeks ago, so now I have the thrilling job of finding homes for everything :)

On Memorial Day, Jesse, Zeke and I went went with our friends Jenn and Chris to Cooper's Rock (state park I think?) to do some hiking. This was Zeke's first venture in hiking and since he doesn't walk on a leash too well, we were a little nervous but he did great :) We were also able to find our first geocache site, which has since spawned an interest in the 4 of us to do this more often.


In other news, we have another midwife appointment tomorrow. Not too sure what is going to be happening at this particular appointment, probably just the normal stuff. By this point, the specialty doctor we went to has probably sent the results of the last ultrasound over to the midwives, so we may go over them again. Squirt had (what I am claiming to be) the hiccups a few times last week, so Jesse was finally able to feel her move a little bit :) And speaking of Jesse, he has decided to step out of the dark ages (as I like to tease him) and get a cell phone again. I also like to tease him about having ulterior motives for getting a phone, but we both agreed it'd be in our best interests since I'm pregnant if I can get in touch with him anytime I need since I'm working and we're apart more now then we've ever been in our marriage. So if you would like his cell phone number, send me a message and I will get it to you :)