Bump Watch: 27 Weeks

Check it out -- a bump watch post that's going up mid-week! Yay! As noted last week, our bump photos are being taken in front of our crib from here on out. We really love the crib and bedding. :)

David really made me laugh as he was taking this photo, so there's a slight change in facial expression for those of you (ahem, Steve) who wanted a flip book of these photos complete with different emotions leading up to the big day... :)

I think my belly might look a little smaller this week than last? That's probably more a function of the angle and my posture... Please still tell me that I look huge? :) Though it seems that the women in my office have come up with better ways of saying that I'm "tiny" -- the director of associate development for the firm (the woman in charge of mentoring programs, general training, and basically just keeping all of us happy) was in our office this week, and told me that I'm the most graceful pregnant woman she'd ever seen. And "graceful" is so much better a term than "small" or "tiny," at least in my eyes... Made me happy, so I guess she's doing her job right!

And here's what BabyCenter.com has to say about this week --

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14-1/2 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

I can't believe he's already opening and closing his eyes! I can believe he's hiccuping -- I've definitely been feeling the rhythmic thumping on a fairly regular basis... And his kicks and punches have been getting so much stronger lately! Eggi's really announcing his presence these days. :)

Twenty-seven weeks pregnant -- we're in the beginning of the third trimester now! More than two-thirds of the way through! How exciting, and terrifying, all at once... Please continue to pray with us that our little KeddieCub will grow strong and healthy, and that we'll be as ready as possible for this massive life change!

The cough that just won't go away

With David working in campus ministry, we're generally pretty used to picking up the occasional bug -- college campuses are notorious incubators for disease, and Princeton is certainly no exception. The way it usually works is that David gets something from one of his students, I make sure he gets plenty of Dayquil/Nyquil and fluids and rest, it clears out of his system, I come down with whatever he had, I dose myself up right, I get better, and we move on.

But this time around, I'm pregnant. And while there are some over-the-counter cold medications that some organizations have deemed safe for pregnancy, none of them are without their risks. Robitussen, for instance, is a Class C drug.

I do know that even the most benign over-the-counter meds carry risks. (Believe me, as a products liability defense attorney, I know.) But I've really been trying to limit the amount of medications I take during this pregnancy, just to err on the side of being over-cautious, so taking my normal cold meds will be my absolute last resort. And I'm not quite there yet -- I've been coughing for days, and I've worked from home most of this week, but I'm not too miserable yet...

So do any of you out there have any sure-fire, pregnancy-safe methods for dealing with a cough? I've been chugging orange juice and decaf tea, and sucking on peppermints -- any other useful tips?

Comments and sympathy would be much appreciated. :)

Musings on baby nicknames

Judging from the pregnancy websites and online forums I've been perusing the last few months, it looks like most parents-to-be have some cute nickname by which they refer to their little ones. Most common are things like Peanut or Sweetpea, followed by one of the cute little produce analogies used earlier on in pregnancy (like Blueberry or Poppyseed).

I always figured I'd want to use one of these cutesy nicknames whenever I got pregnant. And it's true, I very much did -- but David wasn't so hot on Peanut or Sweetpea. So we tossed around a few ideas, but didn't really land on anything we loved at first. We knew we wanted something, though -- you can't just keep referring to your baby as "the baby," y'know? We definitely wanted something more personalized and endearing than that!

Of course, "KeddieCub" was coined by a dear friend as soon as we made the public pregnancy announcement -- many thanks to Emily for that sweet nickname. :) And we use KeddieCub as a sort of public "brand" image for our little son -- it's the title of the Facebook album with our sonograms and bump watch photos, and it's up at the top of this blog in our pregnancy countdown ticker. And it fits in very well with our family lore (click to read about how "Keddiebears" came to be).

But KeddieCub isn't actually the nickname that David and I use when we talk to our baby or refer to him in conversation with each other. (And yes, we do talk to our baby -- I'm sure he can totally hear and understand everything we say to him!)

In a stroke of inspiration one day last summer, we decided to go with the nickname "Eggi." It's our cutesy transliteration of the Korean word for "baby." and as one of our med student friends commented, it works as a reference to one of the stages of fetal development... :) And "Eggi" has really stuck -- so much so, in fact, that I fear we're likely to call our son Eggi for years and years to come... :)

When I feel kicks, I tell David to come quick and touch my belly, "because Eggi's trying to say hi!" When I complain about a particularly bad bout of heartburn, David turns to my belly and says, "Eggi, stop pushing your mama's organs up into her rib cage!" It's really cute, and really fun.

And we figure it's also a great way to honor one half of Eggi's ancestry. We'll use the in utero nickname "Wee Bairn" for our second baby to honor the Scottish half. :)

The nickname has become such a part of this pregnancy that I felt I had to chronicle it here... Apologies for the cutesiness! But hey, if you can't be cutesy about baby-related things, when can you be, right?