The Schmidgalls

28 weeks along! This week, our baby weighs a little over two pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. The big news this week is that baby girl can now open and close her eyes - which now have lashes.

On Saturday, Joel and I attended a childbirth class at our hospital. One word I never want to hear again: episiotomy! I had to leave the classroom when this particular discussion went on and on.

It is kind of amusing to walk into a room with a bunch of preggos and their bleary eyed husbands. She made us all go around and say our names and due date. Great, like we weren’t already comparing each other’s size. There was one gal due just one week after me that looked like she was barely pregnant. The instructor further scared us to death by telling those of us that found out what we were having that there is a good chance that it will turn out to be wrong. I missed everyone’s name because I was fretting over a son having to live in a pink striped room.

Joel took his role as “coach” a little too seriously. He kept telling to drop and give him twenty! I need to call the teacher and let her know that some dads have a different impression of “coach.” Playing basketball for so long, Joel’s understanding is that he shouts orders and I do whatever he tells me to do. We will probably need to clarify that before delivery time. We were practicing breathing and he kept whispering, “I don’t hear you exhaling! Come on Schmidgall!”

At the end of the day, they showed us real life birthing videos. I am sure Joel saw more than he ever wished. After the first video, I turned to Joel and said, “I changed my mind. I don’t want to do this.” I wasn’t kidding (still not). (By the way, the doctor in the first video looked exactly like Speaker Hastert! I told Joel, “Look, she got the Speaker to deliver her baby!”) The only comfort was when the teacher reminded us at the end of the videos that I will not have to witness that view. Maybe I will take a blindfold, just to be sure. (Note: add to hospital bag.)

When we first got pregnant, Joel kept saying, “What if you accidently had the baby when you were going to the bathroom.” I would roll my eyes (signature move) and say, “Joellllllllll, that doesn’t happen!” Well, on Saturday, our instructor proceeded to tell a story about a patient that got up to go to the bathroom and had her baby in the toilet…all three kids! Apparently, she just thought she had to go poo. Joel looked at me with this smug look…”Ha. I told you so.” I wouldn’t count on it babe.

Here is a tip I learned today: “New dads experience hormonal changes, such as dips in testosterone and increases in estrogen, which are linked to nurturing.” Good thing it is football season so he can get his dude-ness pumping!

Last night was our first-ever youth night!  Our church is made up of mostly young professionals and families with small children.  So, we have never had many “youth”.  But earlier this year, we started a youth small group as an experiment.  We have been meeting weekly since January.

And last night was our first ever youth night (worship, games, and a message)!  We partnered with another church, for turn-out sake.  I am still mentally processing the whole thing but I am glad we did it.  The students seemed to have a great time!  Here is a picture of my hottie-husband giving a word…

Who am I kidding? I am not ready to be a mother. I will probably end up starving my poor child. Things have been super busy lately (though, lets be honest, that is not unusual) and I have not been able to get to the store. Since being pregnant, my overwhelming desire for milk has at least forced me to pick up the basics on a semi-regular basis. But I just let things get out of hand this time. You know how usually, there is random food in your fridge or cupboard that you just don’t feel like eating? Like…um…chicken helper, boxes of raisins, falafel mix, etc. Well, we had even managed to eat ourselves through that stuff. I am telling you, we were on empty!

So, late last night, after our youth event ended I told Joel that I we just HAD to go to the grocery store. I could not possibly go without a bowl of cereal for another day. We hurried ourselves through Giant (suprising how many shoppers there are at 9pm on a Sunday night) and found the food we could manage, given that the shelves had been picked over throughout the weekend. At the front we saw that they had removed five check-out lanes and replaced them with do-it-yourself machines. The customers behind us were certainly not pleased with all of the fresh produce in our cart. We had to find each thing by searching the computer, one by one. Whew.

Unpacking the groceries at home, we felt like kings. Food glorious food. I have never had a better time packing my lunch than this morning. I had options! We decided to commemorate the event by taking a picture of Joel in front of the fridge before we put any groceries inside.

Parenting skill #1 to master - don’t starve the child. Okay, we will work on that.

Apparently, your brain is a little distracted when you are pregnant…but you would still think that it would have occured to me before today that our baby will not be born in the District of Columbia. You see, I have this GREAT doctor but he is out in Northern Virginia (Arlington). While this is only about 20 minutes from our house, it is indeed in another state (or commonwealth, to be accurate).

All of sudden, it occured to me this morning that our baby girl’s birth certificate will be Virginia, not DC. I understand, in the grand scheme of things, that this probably isn’t much to grieve about. I mean, DC leaves much to be desired. We have some of the worst education in the country and one of the lowest graduation rates, one of the highest crime rates (and one of the highest murder rates per capita).

But, it is our HOME. We love living in the city and we love our small Capitol Hill community. And this is our nation’s capital, you know? I am bummed our daughter’s birth certificate will not say “District of Columbia.” Did you know that the official slogan of our city is : “Washington, It’s a Capital City!“ So cheeseball, I know!

This makes me think of one of my favorite episodes of The Colbert Report. He interviewed our DC Representative, Eleanor Holmes Norton and kept telling her that she was not an American because she doesn’t live in the United States of America - since DC is not a “state.” She was getting so mad - it was really funny! Well, at least our daughter will be an American, right? haha!

I had another revelation moment about two months ago when it all of a sudden occurred to me that our daughter will be a “PK” - a pastor’s kid. Again, you would have thought this would have occured to me earlier. I had a brief afternoon of panic over the matter. The generalization is that most PKs have some sort of rebellion period. Joel comforted me by reminding me that he was a PK himself and he turned out okay. Good point Joel…

This week our baby girl weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14.4 inches long with her legs extended. She can now open and close her eyes, and she sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. She may suck her fingers, and although her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if she were to be born prematurely. Baby hiccups may be common from now on. With more brain tissue developing, our baby’s brain is very active now. Wonder what she’s thinking?

When my parents were in town, we planted this tree for baby. Even if we sell this house, we can drive by and see her tree. (We planted it when we thought she would be a boy so it says “Junior’s Tree” - oopsie!)

Oh yeah, and my parents will be proud for me to tell you it is a Japanese Maple. 

This last Sunday, we had our annual dance party! Each year, Joel puts together the annual Harvest Hoe Down. Woo-hoo! Soooo, it turns out, every costume for pregnant gals includes painting your stomach. Well, I wasn’t about to do that! We decided to be carnival vendors instead. I led the hip-hop warm-up and then Joel and I performed our “Evolution of Dance.” I must have looked so funny! It felt great to dance but I sure was hurting that night! I could barely move!

Here are our costumes over the years…just for the sake of memories!

On Saturday, we went to a wedding at a historical home in Maryland. It was so beautiful up there!

Here we are with our good friends, Christina and Dairo. I first met Christina in Sweden, when we studied abroad all over Europe during college. Now, we all work in ministry together and they own a house right around the corner from us! What a gift to do life with them.

Found out we were expecting - Sunday, May 21st (almost 5 weeks along)

First heard the heartbeat - July 6th (11 and a half weeks) - we started telling people after this

Nina first wore maternity clothes - August 18th (17 wks and 2 days)

“Pop” date - Sunday, August 27th (almost 19 weeks) - this was the night I looked in the mirror and said, “Whoa! Where did YOU come from?”

Found out we were having a GIRL! - September 5th (20 weeks)

First felt the baby move - September 16th (21 and a half weeks)

Had to start wearing a fake wedding ring…it no longer fit! - September 30th (23 and a half weeks)

Okay, here they are (the so-far series anyway). It is amazing how many people want to see my growing girth. It is probably like rubbernecking to see a bad accident. Why, why do we want to see?

I suppose it is fairly fascinating though. I mean, it is a miracle that life is growing inside of me…but it is also fairly alien, you know? I mean, there is a PERSON inside of me. Whoa….

Anyway, here are the crazy pics for all you bad-accident watchers. (I CHOOSE to believe the site distorts these pics. Please play along.)

16 weeks

19 weeks (this is the day I popped)

21 weeks

24 weeks

(Note to sympathetic reader: My husband was watching football when I asked him to tak this photo. Our hurry is likely the reason we took it facing the wrong way!)

26 weeks (by the tree we planted for baby!)