33 weeks

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Christmas Presents

This giant blue teddy bear is from BBB's cousin, Sammy, here with her new horsey, and BBB's auntie and uncle.  McKenna and Dave bought Sammy the same teddy bear last year only it's pink and currently resides in Sammy's crib.  This blue bear is in BBB's crib right now patiently waiting for him!

Christmas Eve

BBB got to hear The Night Before Christmas read to him for the very first time this year.

32 Weeks

McKenna is so excited to start her 8th month of pregnancy!  The countdown begins in earnest now.

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week (hahahahahaaha!!!!) and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, he'll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside the womb.

Here she and he are:

Empathy weight

McKenna wants us all to know that she's not alone in the expanding belly category.

31 weeks

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.


McKenna is now down to seeing her OB every two weeks!

30 weeks

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds him, but that volume will decrease as he gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. His eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after he's born, he'll keep his eyes closed for a good part of the day. When he does open them, he'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means he can only make out objects a few inches from his face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

More 29 week info

Your baby is growing rapidly now. This week he weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is getting bigger to accommodate his growing brain — which is busy developing billions of neurons. Every day, about 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in your baby's skeleton, which is now hardening. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that your baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester.

Although this blurb states the baby is 2.5 pounds, McKenna's ultrasound technician told her that the baby was 3 pounds. She also had a gestastional diabetes test where she had to drink a really sweet drink. 30 minutes later the baby was doing summersaults in her belly. Or in her words, "He's on CRACK!" The test turned out negative, thank goodness!

7 months

Here are a few snaps of little BBB who weighs in at three pounds right now!

28 Weeks

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can open and close his eyes, which now sport lashes. This movement is more of a reflexive blink than a deliberate opening and closing, but it won't be long before he's batting those beauties at you.



Here, McKenna is trying to get her dad to feel the baby move but each time he moves, Grampa has already moved his hands away! Hide and seek....

27 Weeks

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 to be 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.

Girlfriends Baby Shower

Her girlfriend, Lindsay found a game to play that involved tasting various baby foods and trying to guess what each one was. You should have seen those girls!! One participant said she kept tasting applesauce three times (there was only one) and another girl almost gagged when she tasted the pureed chicken. Oh how we laughed!

Kenna was so touched by the gifts her friends gave to her. You could tell that a lot of love was in their selections.

One of the games ended in a three way tie so we had to do a tie-breaker. Each of the three ladies had to guess the circumference of Kenna's belly! Ranging from 20 inches to 40 inches were the guesses. Right now her baby bump measures 37 inches!

Classic!

Last July, McKenna and I went maternity clothes shopping. While we were at one of the stores, they had a belly belt to try on to see if the clothes would fit later in the pregnancy. Here she is trying on a pink top with the belt. Look at the expression on her face...Priceless. "I will NOT be this big. There's no way my stomach will stretch that much!" Well, in looking at this photo and compairing it with the 6 month belly photo I took yesterday, she's pretty much at that point now!

6 month BBB

Well, I promised, didn't I? Here she is in her 6 month glory! That belly button is starting to stick out now, too.

26 Weeks

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

I know I posted last week that I'd have a new baby bump photo up but I haven't seen McKenna to take a photo of her! She's been a busy young woman..oh, and that side trip to Monterey helped, too!

25 Weeks

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. He's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

After McKenna's next OB visit in a couple of weeks, he wants her to start coming in every two weeks. And the countdown begins!

I'll have a new baby bump photo for you this week....

24 Weeks; 112 days to go!

The baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Here is where we will start to 'fudge' the length of a month equalling 4.5 weeks long. Next week, McKenna will once again pose for the camera and show us her belly. She's a little upset about the genetics between she and I as I had what was then called Mother's Down on my belly. She has it also. And She. Is. Not. Happy.

23 Weeks

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With his sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that he's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see him squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze him when he hears them outside the womb.

He's there!

Today while Mommy was over for lunch, she laid down on the floor to see if Junior would be moving around. Lo and behold! I felt the little guy wiggling all around...he kicked the palm of my hand several times!! Mommy and Daddy also had one more ultrasound today to check on the baby's size and whatnot. Everthing is AOK! In fact somethings are growing at an alarming rate!

22 Weeks

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

McKenna has entered the time period when she must now use her belly band. She loves this because it enables her to still wear her non-pregnancy pants and is very comfy around her tummy.

21 Weeks

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like he's practicing martial arts as his initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to his activity as you get to know him better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.

McKenna and Dave have felt little BBB move now. McKenna's passion for tamales is waning but still loves Mexican food. She participated in the 5k Susan G. Komen walk this past Sunday also. Keep up the good work, honey!

5 Months and growing!

Here she and he are at 5 months. She is feeling him move around daily now. Her energy has resumed and she's walking much more during the weekend. In fact, they went on a 6 mile hike last weekend!

20 Weeks - Almost halfway!

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

McKenna has also now felt the baby...twice on Sunday and once yesterday!

19 weeks

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! His brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to him, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now. His kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on his scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on his skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

McKenna had her monthly OB appointment yesterday and everything is great. And yes, the Mexican food craving is still going strong!

Baby Registry

Yesterday, McKenna went to Babies R Us and registered her wish list. Why didn't they have these things when I was pregnant? Here are a few pictures from that visit.

After a few hours here, she was very hungry and very pooped!

The major furniture components have been picked out but she is still on the fence regarding a particular 'theme' for BBB (Baby Boy Berg).

So, have you heard?

My plan all along was to change the look of this blog THE MINUTE, the VERY MINUTE, that McKenna and Dave found out the sex of their little one. Unfortunately, a death in the family, along with travel to the funeral, pushed the grand reveal back until now.

So, if you haven't heard....and haven't guessed with the subtle use of color here, they are having a bouncing baby BOY!!

OHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOY!

I know that there are some of you out there, and you know who you are, that perhaps leaned in a different direction. Let's look at it in a new light, however. This means that the Berg Basketball team is now complete. 5 Boys in the family! It means that if the 5 Berg Boys want to start their own Boy Band...5 is a lucky number!

McKenna and Dave are now on the hunt for THE perfect name. As of this writing, they are making lists and arguing with each other on how each other's choices are awful. I think that in order to help them out, we should all leave comments here with our ideas of great names for them to consider. (I've already given them one that they like and I won't post it here) Let's see what YOU come up with.

18 weeks

"Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound."

McKenna thinks that she may have started feeling movement, the tiny flutters here and there. I told her that those flutters will turn into kicks and I'm loving hearing about it. Why? Because, remember what they say about Payback? Oh, yeah....kick, baby, kick!!

New baby bump photo

Between McKenna and Dave going on their first anniversary trip to Hawaii and Bob and I going on a week's vacation there has been a slight delay in posting the four month baby bump picture. So, here goes:

Also? The craving for Mexican food HAS. NOT. LET. UP. There will be a special posting this week....watch for it!

17 Weeks

Your pregnancy: 17 weeks BabyCenter: "Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop"

I promise that as soon as we get back from our vacation I will upload a new tummy photo!

Sixteen weeks

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Kenna and Dave are on a anniversary trip to the islands right now so I don't have a 4 month baby bump photo to share with you...yet. When they return, I will be playing papparazzi with her tummy! As of this writing, she has not felt the baby's movements.

Week 15

I will be posting weekly news about the baby's growth from a site that emails McKenna and I. The gender specific words (he/she) are their's not ours. We do NOT know the sex of the baby yet.

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

Lemonade

McKenna and Dave went to the monthly OB appointment this week and here is the news they'd like to share: they heard the HEARTBEAT for the very first time! 155 bpm which is healthy and the baby is the size of a lemon at approximately 3.5 inches long. I guess we can call it Lemonade this month instead of Peanut, hm? And McKenna is so happy to be starting her second trimester. She's looking forward to more energy and no more nausea. In fact, she climbed 13 flights of stairs the other day with one of her clients. This is the first workout she's done since she got pregnant.

Cravings this week: Mashed potatoes

Cousins!

McKenna and Dave's neice Samantha gets to learn about her new cousin...

I've got some 'splaining to do....

I have been saving up all these posts for you to catch up on current events. I will NOT be posting every single day. There just isn't that much happening visibly. When I take her monthly baby bump picture, I'll post it here. When she sees the doctor, I'll let you know what's happening on that front. The best way for you to know when there is a new post is to subscribe to an RSS feeder. I use Google desktop as it gives me more than just blog updates. You might want to look into their free download.

The Wonder Years

How many of you remember the tv show The Wonder Years? Bob and I loved it as it was a chance to revisit our youth. One scene has Kevin Arnold in his very first sex education class. The teacher draws the female sex organs. This is what McKenna's uterus DOES NOT look like...hers in more heart shaped. But this scene has always stayed with me. I hope it makes you giggle.

The Specialist

Here is "our" little one's ultra sound picture taken at the specialist's office. There is no second uterus. The baby is absolutely fine and so is Mama. McKenna's uterus is not a regular shape, though. It is more heart shaped. And an irregular shaped uterus can bring on pre-term labor. I'm sure that there will be more ultra sounds in her future.

This picture needs some explaning for those of you who normally don't view black and white ultrasounds.....the baby's head is in profile looking upwards. You can see the shoulders and the top half of it's chest. Eyes, nose, mouth, and eyes...yippee!


I got to go with Kenna to this doctor's visit. When they were doing the scan we could see the baby moving around, waving it's fist and kicking. Kenna didn't feel a thing. But me? I felt the earth move.

Baby Bump, month three

Starting to feel a little bit better, not quite as sick ALL DAY LONG, but still having bouts of nausea. And that little pooch? The baby is all of two inches from head to butt.

Baby Bump, month two

McKenna is getting a little excited at the fact that she has what looks like a little pooch going on here. I had to laugh....you have no idea what that little pooch will do......

Baby Bump, month one

Here she is in all her pregnancy glory at one month! And really sick........

Telling the parents, part two

With all this excitement going on, Kenna had another doctor's appointment. And this time another Ultra sound. They could see the baby's heart beat but not hear it yet. The baby needed to be a little bit bigger and not the size of a lentil in order to hear the heartbeat. And this time around, the doctor saw something that needed further checking out. The baby was fine, McKenna was fine but in certain frames of the ultra sound, it looked like she had another uterus. I know! But it happens. So an appointment with a specialist was up next but that wouldn't happen until after our vacation....two whole weeks of waiting. As long as the doctor said that everyone was fine we shouldn't worry. So we didn't.

Now the planning began on how to tell Dave's family. I'm so glad that Dave and McKenna bought a new truck two days before vacation started because I'm sure that they put 10,000 miles on it in one week. Here's the itinerary: Reno to Ogden to tell brother Jerome and Maria. Ogden to Laramie to tell friend Jeremy. Laramie to Cheyenne to tell brother Craig and Courtney and finally tell mom and dad, Dee and Bob. It was to be a surprise for Dee's birthday with Dave and McKenna showing up to celebrate it with her. In her birthday card McKenna had put a copy of the ultra sound in it.
But before Dee could react to what she was looking at, sister-in-law Courtney saw it, realized what it was and jumped up screaming.

Appropriately, all hell broke loose again!

The beginnings

I have laughed myself silly over talking about pregnancy and childbirth and babies with McKenna these past few years. She never really babysat as a teenager so her experience with infants and now toddlers has been with her niece, Samantha. And now? Now, my baby is pregnant with their first child. Words escape me regarding the joys that being a grandparent has given me. Dave and McKenna are giving all of us a blessing now. This blog that I will be writing will contain pictures and descriptions of events that they are going through. This will not be a daily journal of her pregnancy but more of a timeline journal. I'm writing this before any of you know about it and will be published only when they say 'ok, time to let the cat out of the bag'. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

In early May of this year, they took a brief trip to Vancouver, Canada. They fell in love with the city and it's environs. Hiking, relaxing, dining, exploring, getting pregnant, it all happened here. Many of you will wonder, 'were they trying to get pregnant?' The answer is that they were not not trying, as McKenna expertly sidetracks the question each and every time. Their c'est la vie attitude was refreshing in that they didn't stress over it each month. If it happens, it happens. And 'it' did. She sent me these photos of their trip once they knew they were pregnant and had told us all about it. She wants these photos always to be a part of their pregnancy photos. These mean a lot to her.

After taking a pregnancy test, how was she to tell Dave of their pending parentdom? Well, several years ago, all six of us went on a birthday trip to Napa to do some wine tasting. While we there, we visited a great winery called Reverie. It was a beautiful winery up in the side mountains of northern Napa. They offered many different types of wine, and we ended up really liking two of them, both reds. In fact, we liked them so much we ended up buying two cases of them. The folks at the winery called the Merlot by a special nickname, "Panty dropper". Each time Dave and McKenna came over, we made sure that we served them that wine. Why? Well, six months later they became engaged. The second wine, the Cabernet Sauvignon, was called "Baby Maker". Why? Well, one year later after serving McKenna's brother Chris and his wife Shaina that each time they came over, we now have Samantha as our first grandchild. Now we only refer to those wines with those nicknames. On with the story. Dave called McKenna on the way home from work and said that he'd like to share a bottle of wine with her that evening. "Ah Ha!", she thought. "I'll get out our bottle of Baby Maker." She went to the store for a Father's Day card and a little book called "A Father's Legacy". She also bought some hamburger buns. She put one BUN IN THE OVEN along with the little book, put the Father's Day card up with the wine glasses and set out the bottle of wine. When Dave got home, he greeted her and saw the bottle ready to be opened. She told him to grab the wine glasses (in the cabinet above the oven) but something caught his eye while grabbing for the glasses. "What's this? Why do we have a hamburger bun here?" McKenna told him again, a bit more firmly, "Get the GLASSES!" He closed the oven door, reached for the wine glasses, and saw the card. In the card, she had written, "Look in the oven". His face was indescribable when he saw the book and then realized they had a BUN IN THE OVEN....he was in shock, but then so was she!

Now the question was, 'how do we tell our parents?'. Fast forward to Father's Day AND her Dad's birthday bbq dinner. All of us were there, including McKenna's sole grandparent, Gramma Jeanne. We all passed the pre-requisite cards over to Bob for opening. One by one, he read them and then McKenna handed their birthday card over for him to open. He read it slowly, tears gathering in his eyes and asked, 'Does your mom know?'

'Know WHAT?' I asked, startled by his tears, by Dave clicking photos from his camera phone, and McKenna's quivering smile as well. I stared at her willing her to say the words out loud when Bob handed me the card to read. [tearing up here writing this, folks] As I read their words to him, my heart flipped over because she wrote,

"Well, Dad, it's Father's Day, too and since you've been a wonderful Dad to me and wonderful Grumpa to Sammy, Dave and I both know you will be a wonderful Grumpa to our little one. Congratulations, you have a second grandchild on the way!"

Christopher had my camera so he was unaware of the importance of Bob reading the card but caught on immediately so that when I started reading the card he was shooting away. Blurry, but I think you understand...

All hell broke loose by now, everyone screaming, asking questions, congratulating them...oh me, oh my. They were only too happy to answer all of our questions. To this day, I'm still in shock, trying to wrap my head around the fact the Kenna is pregnant.

Which brings us now to how she is feeling. Well, that all depends on the day and time of day. First thing in the morning, not so good. But I have stressed that I learned the hard way in my pregnancies. If you don't keep something on your stomach, you're gonna hurl. So she has been keeping Wheat Thins handy. I was very ill with both of my kids and I was hoping that McKenna would take after Bob's side of the family without having the morning sickness. No such luck.

They have interviewed/visited with their brand new obstetrician and like him very much. He has answered the first barrage of questions they had for him and most importantly, saw the heartbeat. And now you will understand the meaning behind this blog title. They are calling their 6.44cm bundle of joy Peanut for the time being. Take a look. Can you tell what side of the family it favors?