McLernon Family Blog

Most books and internet sites (as well as the sign in my OB’s office) say that I am at least one day into the third trimester ( I have seen the third trimester listed as starting anywhere from the 25th week to the 28th week). The baby is still pretty erratic in her movements—however on days that she feels like kicking, she really gets going. Other days she barely kicks. The baby probably weights around 2 pounds right now and her hearing is fully developed, so Ben has been talking to her a lot at night time. We only have about 90 days until she arrives—and Ben predicts she will arrive a few days early. I am getting a little anxious about the potential discomforts of the ninth month. Right now I am still pretty comfortable, but sleeping can be painful and sometimes breathing is work too. I am going to do my glucose test this week. I am going to try to do it tomorrow after work. Ben and I did a 5K with some of our friends on Saturday. It was a lot of fun, but it was pretty chilly o...

Last Saturday my friends Gloria and Rosa threw a baby shower for me and the baby. We had such a great time. Thank you so much ladies! Gloria and Rosa made a lot of food and we all played games and had a great time. Also, some friends and family from out of town were able to make the trek to Sac for the party. It was so great to see everyone—I was bummed when everyone had to leave. Ben and I received a lot of great gifts for the baby. It was so exciting to see all the cute and little things for Rosaleen. We also got a good start on getting the baby supplies that we need before Rosa gets here. Rosa received several warm and cuddly things including a snuggly blanket and hat hand made by her cousins, and a quilt made by her Grandma Janet. She received so many things I couldn’t possible thank everyone on the blog—but Ben and I really appreciate all of the gifts. Rosa must have enjoyed herself over the weekend too, because she was much more active than usual. At first I thought that ma...

Another busy weekend is coming up—Saturday Ben and I are going to a Cal Bear’s game to celebrate our friend’s (and pastor) birthday. We are doing some tailgating and there is a pre-game show, so it is an all day event. I think we are carpooling---so no going home early. Sunday, Ben is volunteering as a fire fighter. I am going to church and we have a junior high leaders meeting later in the day. …..So we’ll both stay pretty busy. I had an OB appointment on Tuesday. It went well. The baby’s hear sounded “perfect”. We discussed the side stitch type pains I have been getting when walking and the CNM said I should get a maternity support belt. I am going to get one because the side stitch pains (which she said were my round ligaments) start in almost immediately when I am walking. Also, I will be doing my glucose test and anemia test in the next few weeks. Besides finding the time to do them, I don’t think there will be any problems. I feel really good—so I think everything shoul...

We went to Monterey on Friday night for Ben’s birthday. His birthday is not until November 24th, but we are booked in November. We ate at nasty Dairy Queen, EEEEEekwwweeee. If you are hungry and DQ is the only place around, don't eat there. You would be better off finding road kill and cooking it on the exhaust manifold! By the time we actually got to Monterey we were pretty exhausted and ready just to go to sleep. Saturday morning we got up and went to breakfast and had some great food. Then we took a stroll on the beach. Then we went to Asylimar state beach and walked and talked on the dunes. At about one o’clock we went to the Monterey Aquarium, which I had never been to before. Although, I had to go to the Toll House cookie place first...mmmmmmmmmmmm! The aquarium was great fun and we both really liked it--- but I just don’t have the stamina I used to have. I tried to tough it out, but at 3 we ended up sitting on the benches in front of the s...

Tomorrow I will have completed 23 weeks of pregnancy, which means I have completed the second week of the sixth month of pregnancy! Wow-- Speaking of wow, approximately week 27 is the beginning of the third trimester (and the beginning of the 7th month). WOW. I am getting cracking on that birth plan THIS weekend. I just read that about 50 percent of women deliver within 1 week of their due date. The other 50 percent deliver more than one week from their due date. This all means that I have about 17 weeks of pregnancy left, give or take a week or two (and hopefully no more than that). This weekend Ben is working on redoing the hardwood floor in one of the bedrooms, and on Saturday night we are taking some of the Junior High kids to a corn maze and pumpkin patch. Other than that, I think it is just house chores for us. Our house has a hot tub in the back yard, and Ben has been finding some time to enjoy it. I can’t get in, but I sometimes sit outside too and we relax—so I am sure we w...

It has been busy here—but I am not so sure what we have been doing. We have been trying to catch up on our reading, Ben is DETERMINED to get everything unpacked and the Jr. Higher’s at church have been keeping me very busy too. We have not really made a birth plan yet, we are still trying to figure that out—but it is in process. Ben and I have been trying to pull together a baby registry, so we’ve recently spent some quality time at a couple baby stores. Ben and I have decided to go to Monterey for the night of Oct. 30 to celebrate his birthday. It is almost a month before his birthday, but every single one of our weekend days in November is booked already. We are going to spend the night in Monterey, go to the beach, hang out in town and go to the aquarium. We can’t wait. The baby—who does not have an official name—but we call her Rosa has been kicking every day. Some days just a bit and other days I have wondered what is going on in there. She is supposed to be about 1 pound a...

Attached are two pictures from the ultrasound. Like I mentioned, we don’t have any of the face. Well we do, but it doesn’t really look like a face. If you remember, the baby was not in the mood to show her face . She had it really low and the back of her head was toward my belly AND her hand was in the way. None of the pictures are actually as good as the pictures we saw on the ultrasound screen. I WISH we were able to get a print of the picture when Ben and I decided this was a girl. It was a clear shot. The next picture is of the baby’s tummy and legs, It is cute. In this picture the ultrasound hand piece the tech was holding was on my left side and the leg we coming toward the “camera”. The baby was upside down for the entire photo shoot and she had her body on my right side with her legs kinda flipped over to the left. Right now she has plenty of room to move and flip, so I am sure she has moved by now. I sometimes can feel her punch or kick. It is very light. I also can feel ...