You no doubt have heard of all of those old wives tales about predicting gender or the Chinese gender test. Yesterday my boss told me her theory on gender guessing with pregnant woman - it's an interesting one that I'll leave you to ponder.
She thinks I am having a girl.
Why?
"Because I would say your household leans toward the feminine". I considered this and had to agree with her. Certainly I think of myself as a very feminine female and on the continuum of gender, I would say my husband leans more toward the feminine than being a "manly man". (I can get the man to sew with me, no questions asked - do you need more proof?!). We then analyzed other people in my office and slowly, I sort of understood her theory. We'll see if it proves correct in the weeks to come!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
31 Flavors..."I carried a WATERMELON?!"
31 weeks today! If the last week is any indication, the next 9 will fly by. It seems to be true what every has-been pregnant woman told me in the beginning of my pregnancy: "Wait until you get to the third trimester - it flies by". Holy Schnikey. The belly is definitely large and in charge now. Although yesterday during an interview with an older adult for my job I remarked about being pregnant, the woman replied, "Really? You're pregnant?". I think she may have had vision issues, really.
I am EXHAUSTED. Luckily I had a wonderful night of sleep at JN's house on Saturday night to boost me through a couple of days. I took a nap last night after my run and woke up only to move to my bed, only to wake up at 2 AM and move to the guest bed at 3 AM. Apparently baby doesn't like to sleep in one place for too long. I didn't care - although I have to say that now in the middle of the night when I wake up, I am too tired to do anything that I had been doing - watch tv, read, etc but not tired enough to fall back asleep. It's weird...and frustrating.
The guesses regarding the gender keep coming. Two people - an ex-co-worker and one of my BILs actually think we found out the gender and just aren't telling people. While that would be our perogative, trust me when I say we did NOT find out. You can even call my doctor and confirm this as I barraged him with my neuroses for weeks thinking he would accidentally let the gender slip. Lately, people have been relating the gender to my size or how I am carrying, which I find strange. As I already posted, my FIL was the first to do this. My MIL also thinks I am having a girl by the way I am carrying and yesterday my dental hygenist commented that she thinks I am having a girl because I am "shaped more like a watermelon than a basketball." She then followed that with, "When I was pregnant with my daughter I was also shaped like a watermelon and really puffy". So, am I puffy?! I don't agree with these comments at all - maybe I am delusional but I don't get it. I certainly don't think I am carrying a watermelon and haven't noticed any puffiness. Maybe I am just too used to how I look now...there's a scary thought!
Anyway, the baby gender poll is heavily siding with "boy" but most verbal comments I get say "girl". Hmmm...9 more weeks until we find out! I have to say that in my future pregnancies (yes, I already think that there will be more than one baby s), I don't know if I could ever find out the gender. I think it is so fun not knowing and really has built up the anticipation for me. My favorite new game to play with my belly (my husband REALLY thinks I'm crazy) is one I like to call "boy or girl". It goes like this - {grab belly} "Hi baby! Kick mommy once if you are boy and two times if you are a girl". Most times the response I get is no kicking. :)
Please tell me you "got" the title of this post....sigh, if not. It's a direct quote from Baby in Dirty Dancing.
I am EXHAUSTED. Luckily I had a wonderful night of sleep at JN's house on Saturday night to boost me through a couple of days. I took a nap last night after my run and woke up only to move to my bed, only to wake up at 2 AM and move to the guest bed at 3 AM. Apparently baby doesn't like to sleep in one place for too long. I didn't care - although I have to say that now in the middle of the night when I wake up, I am too tired to do anything that I had been doing - watch tv, read, etc but not tired enough to fall back asleep. It's weird...and frustrating.
The guesses regarding the gender keep coming. Two people - an ex-co-worker and one of my BILs actually think we found out the gender and just aren't telling people. While that would be our perogative, trust me when I say we did NOT find out. You can even call my doctor and confirm this as I barraged him with my neuroses for weeks thinking he would accidentally let the gender slip. Lately, people have been relating the gender to my size or how I am carrying, which I find strange. As I already posted, my FIL was the first to do this. My MIL also thinks I am having a girl by the way I am carrying and yesterday my dental hygenist commented that she thinks I am having a girl because I am "shaped more like a watermelon than a basketball." She then followed that with, "When I was pregnant with my daughter I was also shaped like a watermelon and really puffy". So, am I puffy?! I don't agree with these comments at all - maybe I am delusional but I don't get it. I certainly don't think I am carrying a watermelon and haven't noticed any puffiness. Maybe I am just too used to how I look now...there's a scary thought!
Anyway, the baby gender poll is heavily siding with "boy" but most verbal comments I get say "girl". Hmmm...9 more weeks until we find out! I have to say that in my future pregnancies (yes, I already think that there will be more than one baby s), I don't know if I could ever find out the gender. I think it is so fun not knowing and really has built up the anticipation for me. My favorite new game to play with my belly (my husband REALLY thinks I'm crazy) is one I like to call "boy or girl". It goes like this - {grab belly} "Hi baby! Kick mommy once if you are boy and two times if you are a girl". Most times the response I get is no kicking. :)
Please tell me you "got" the title of this post....sigh, if not. It's a direct quote from Baby in Dirty Dancing.
Friday, June 25, 2010
It's A Sunshine Day!
Last night I was pooped. I have been trying a new strategy with regards to sleeping and that is to NOT go back to bed at 6 AM but just stay up. So on Wednesday I had to leave work at 3:45 because at 3:00 I was a zombie and thought I was going to die if I had to stay awake any longer. I went home and slept for two hours.
Then i couldn't fall asleep that night until 1 AM. Woke up yesterday morning at 4:45 AM. I almost got 4 hours of sleep. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Last night I was praying that I could just sleep. I was starting to literally feel ill from not getting enough sleep - my legs were cramping, my head hurt. Ugh.
I crashed at about 9:15 PM. And I woke up at 7:20 AM. (there were a few times that I had to get up during the night but miraculously I feel right back asleep). HALLELUJAH! I think that was the best night of sleep I had gotten in 3 weeks. Unfortunately if history has taught me anything, this means the next nights are going to go back to being awful. But for today, I'm relishing in the fact that I got ten hours of glorious sleep.
In other news...
I'm on a Z-pack (antibiotics) now. I STILL have my cough. Yesterday the doctor in the office next to me came in after a particularly bad coughing fit and asked me if I had been to the doctor yet. Several others had asked me the same thing, but that sort of put me on the phone to my primary care doctor. I'm hoping the z-pack works.
I got a baby present yesterday!!!!! Two of my partners on a grant I work on came to my office for a meeting yesterday (they live/work about an hour away). I was sort of questioning why they were coming all the way to the office for the meeting when it could have been done via conference call. Well, they wanted to give me a little gift! I think I was that annoying shreiker, I was so excited.
I officially have become that pregnant woman with spots and food on her belly. BCK, the hubs and I went to dinner at Elsa's last night and when we left I discovered not one, not two but three grease spots and some crusted on food on my belly. Lovely.
TGIF! Have a lovely weekend. Thanks for reading!
Then i couldn't fall asleep that night until 1 AM. Woke up yesterday morning at 4:45 AM. I almost got 4 hours of sleep. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Last night I was praying that I could just sleep. I was starting to literally feel ill from not getting enough sleep - my legs were cramping, my head hurt. Ugh.
I crashed at about 9:15 PM. And I woke up at 7:20 AM. (there were a few times that I had to get up during the night but miraculously I feel right back asleep). HALLELUJAH! I think that was the best night of sleep I had gotten in 3 weeks. Unfortunately if history has taught me anything, this means the next nights are going to go back to being awful. But for today, I'm relishing in the fact that I got ten hours of glorious sleep.
In other news...
I'm on a Z-pack (antibiotics) now. I STILL have my cough. Yesterday the doctor in the office next to me came in after a particularly bad coughing fit and asked me if I had been to the doctor yet. Several others had asked me the same thing, but that sort of put me on the phone to my primary care doctor. I'm hoping the z-pack works.
I got a baby present yesterday!!!!! Two of my partners on a grant I work on came to my office for a meeting yesterday (they live/work about an hour away). I was sort of questioning why they were coming all the way to the office for the meeting when it could have been done via conference call. Well, they wanted to give me a little gift! I think I was that annoying shreiker, I was so excited.
I officially have become that pregnant woman with spots and food on her belly. BCK, the hubs and I went to dinner at Elsa's last night and when we left I discovered not one, not two but three grease spots and some crusted on food on my belly. Lovely.
TGIF! Have a lovely weekend. Thanks for reading!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Pros and Cons of Pregnancy: Husbands
Ok, before you get all up in arms about the title, hear me out. I will be the first to admit that my husband is amazing. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better one. He himself is not the con - the con is more about me and my wackadoodle sleep (or lack thereof) and how recently it has turned me into the wicked witch of the west.
CON: Woah! Husbands are NOT a Con. However, mood swings and irritability coupled with the fact that I don't get more than 4 hours of sleep at a time have made for some huffy moments in our house in the past week. Many of the things you read will say, "pregnancy can be a challenging time for couples". Up until this week, I totally blew this off. "Whadda ya mean?! My husband is amazing! We're Great!". And he is (amazing) and we are (great). However, something my brother said to me is all coming back to me now. He warned my husband that towards the end, I would turn into a complete beeatch. "There's nothing you can do about it - it just happens." Oh the wise words. The main tiff we had this week had to do with nesting. My husband is usually the one who is pro-organizing things in our house and I reluctantly go along with it. Last Saturday we watched some show on HGTV or the like about organizing and it totally put me in the mood. I went on a TEAR organizing rooms, closets, etc. I don't know if my husband has ever been more in love with me than he was that day. I told him I was nesting and it was a sign of pregnancy.
Unfortunately for him, my organizational spurt was short-lived. The other night he suggested we go through our guest room with the same gusto. UGH. I was not in the mood. I was fine being a lump (with a lump) on the couch. But the man insisted that I nest. UGH. So I stomped into the room and was a complete beeatch while nesting. I believe it culminated in me yelling, "I NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR HELP". Sheesh. Point taken. He left the room and I finished my forced nesting.
Everything got resolved and is fine now but I did feel bad for totally freaking out and he felt bad for "forcing" me to nest. So the con in this post isn't really the husband but the fact that these little spats happen and you have to deal with them. I have tried really hard to recognize when I'm moody and not let it cause me to freak out but sometimes, beatch-i-ness happens.
PRO: As I said before, my husband is a huge PRO in this whole situation. Sometimes he says the cutest things and I totally treasure them, even the comments comparing me to a Somalian child. Here are some of my favorite unprovoked comments:
1. "You are such a cute pregnant woman". AWWWW. Seriously. I wish I would have had some sort of tape recorder in our bedroom when he said this to me randomly as I changed into my pajamas one night.
2. Telling this to a male friend who just found out his wife was preggers "It's really cool when you watch them develop a protective instinct about the baby - Like this whole maternal instinct kicks in". I happened to be standing next to them and I whipped my head around and was like, "really? did I just hear this" Later I asked him about it and he said that around 20 weeks he really noticed my attitude toward the bump change and it was cool. This is something I hadn't thought of but was cool to hear him say.
3. "Yup- that woman's pregnant. She walks like you." Last night as we were heading to the grocery store for our Wednesday night sexiness of grocery shopping during double coupon day, my husband was driving and noticed a woman in our 'hood walking. As we drove past her, he turned around to see that she had a baby bump and said this. I asked, "What do you mean?" because I certainly didn't notice anything about the way she was walking. He said, "You walk different now. Don't worry - you're not waddling but you walk more deliberately, I think, and your gait is just ever so different." REALLY? I did not notice this either. Interesting. I guess he started noticing this on our vacation, about three weeks ago.
4. "Honey do you think we should do a practice drive to the hospital?" He said this to me when we were like 8 weeks pregnant. I had to start laughing because I work in the building right across the street from our hospital. I replied with, "Honey, that's really sweet but I make a practice drive every day on the way to work. It takes 7 minutes to get there." :) He also asked me if I wanted him to run red lights when the time came. I told him no. :)
CON: Woah! Husbands are NOT a Con. However, mood swings and irritability coupled with the fact that I don't get more than 4 hours of sleep at a time have made for some huffy moments in our house in the past week. Many of the things you read will say, "pregnancy can be a challenging time for couples". Up until this week, I totally blew this off. "Whadda ya mean?! My husband is amazing! We're Great!". And he is (amazing) and we are (great). However, something my brother said to me is all coming back to me now. He warned my husband that towards the end, I would turn into a complete beeatch. "There's nothing you can do about it - it just happens." Oh the wise words. The main tiff we had this week had to do with nesting. My husband is usually the one who is pro-organizing things in our house and I reluctantly go along with it. Last Saturday we watched some show on HGTV or the like about organizing and it totally put me in the mood. I went on a TEAR organizing rooms, closets, etc. I don't know if my husband has ever been more in love with me than he was that day. I told him I was nesting and it was a sign of pregnancy.
Unfortunately for him, my organizational spurt was short-lived. The other night he suggested we go through our guest room with the same gusto. UGH. I was not in the mood. I was fine being a lump (with a lump) on the couch. But the man insisted that I nest. UGH. So I stomped into the room and was a complete beeatch while nesting. I believe it culminated in me yelling, "I NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR HELP". Sheesh. Point taken. He left the room and I finished my forced nesting.
Everything got resolved and is fine now but I did feel bad for totally freaking out and he felt bad for "forcing" me to nest. So the con in this post isn't really the husband but the fact that these little spats happen and you have to deal with them. I have tried really hard to recognize when I'm moody and not let it cause me to freak out but sometimes, beatch-i-ness happens.
PRO: As I said before, my husband is a huge PRO in this whole situation. Sometimes he says the cutest things and I totally treasure them, even the comments comparing me to a Somalian child. Here are some of my favorite unprovoked comments:
1. "You are such a cute pregnant woman". AWWWW. Seriously. I wish I would have had some sort of tape recorder in our bedroom when he said this to me randomly as I changed into my pajamas one night.
2. Telling this to a male friend who just found out his wife was preggers "It's really cool when you watch them develop a protective instinct about the baby - Like this whole maternal instinct kicks in". I happened to be standing next to them and I whipped my head around and was like, "really? did I just hear this" Later I asked him about it and he said that around 20 weeks he really noticed my attitude toward the bump change and it was cool. This is something I hadn't thought of but was cool to hear him say.
3. "Yup- that woman's pregnant. She walks like you." Last night as we were heading to the grocery store for our Wednesday night sexiness of grocery shopping during double coupon day, my husband was driving and noticed a woman in our 'hood walking. As we drove past her, he turned around to see that she had a baby bump and said this. I asked, "What do you mean?" because I certainly didn't notice anything about the way she was walking. He said, "You walk different now. Don't worry - you're not waddling but you walk more deliberately, I think, and your gait is just ever so different." REALLY? I did not notice this either. Interesting. I guess he started noticing this on our vacation, about three weeks ago.
4. "Honey do you think we should do a practice drive to the hospital?" He said this to me when we were like 8 weeks pregnant. I had to start laughing because I work in the building right across the street from our hospital. I replied with, "Honey, that's really sweet but I make a practice drive every day on the way to work. It takes 7 minutes to get there." :) He also asked me if I wanted him to run red lights when the time came. I told him no. :)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Pros and Cons of Pregnancy: Games
CON: FMLA (CUE SCARY MUSIC). I already alluded to the game that is FMLA. I am glad that I didn't wait to fill out this paperwork. I had downloaded all of the forms pretty early on, but didn't bring them to my boss until last week. Turns out that the whole FMLA thing is more complicated than I thought. I thought I filled out a form, turned it in and voila! maternity leave. Which essentially is what you DO do, however if you carry the benefits for your family and you want to take more than 12 weeks off, it can get complicated.
When I told my boss that I was preggers 22 weeks ago, she told me I could take all the time off that I wanted. Thus, I have been blabbing to anyone and everyone that I was taking the rest of 2010 off after the arrival of the baby. I thought because she said it was okay from her perspective that it would be fine. What I did NOT think of was how not working would affect our health insurance. My boss wasn't sure either so it was off to the FMLA rep in our HR office. I don't exactly have the greatest stories of interacting with our HR department. Anyone will tell you that it is terrible so I was NOT looking forward to this meeting. Turns out the FMLA lady, J, is amazing! I called her and explained that I was due 8/31/10, wanted to take 16 weeks off and wanted to know how that would affect my health insurance.
Turns out that FMLA leave is 12 weeks, during which any unpaid portion of that you have to pay for your benefits at the same monthly rate that you currently pay.
Ok no big deal - I was expecting this.
Turns out that any time beyond that 12 weeks is considered unpaid personal leave and during that time you have to pay the Cobra rate for health insurance which is NINE TIMES the monthly rate. NINE TIMES.
I was devastated. We were prepared for the loss of my salary for 8 of the 16 weeks but having to pay a huge bill on top of that? UGH. I thanked J for her time and ended the conversation with, "well I guess it will be 12 weeks of maternity leave for me." I hung up the phone.
30 seconds later she called me back.
"I was just thinking about this a little more and think we could work it out."
HUH?
Here's where we get to the game. There is a "rule" that if you are in paid status for at least the first day of the month, your benefits are covered for the entire month. So bottom line, if I could somehow manage to finagle my sick and vacation time to get me through to December 2, I would have benefits through December and not have to pay Cobra. So J played the numbers game and figured out exactly when I should take unpaid time vs. my sick and vacation time to have it all work out. I would have to come back to work on 12/30 to be sure that I was going into January as a "paid" employee. So it's a working day before I technically wanted to come back - I"LL TAKE IT.
HOWEVER. (there's always a however)
This whole scheme is entirely dependent on when the baby arrives. If the baby arrives on or after his/her due date, I'm fine because I have JUST ENOUGH sick/vacation time built up to get me into December as a paid employee. September 2 would be the optimal arrival time because then I wouldn't even have to pay for my benefits during my unpaid FMLA leave, due to that first of the month rule.
GEEZ. If you haven't followed this whole scheme, don't feel bad. It took me another phone call and two emails to J to get it.
So THAT is why I went from wanting Baby S to be early to wanting him/her to be a little late...but not too late.
If the baby IS early, my boss still told me we could work something out "off the record" so that I wouldn't have to come back but it might be tricky. Keep your fingers crossed!
As I mentioned earlier, if I wasn't the primary holder of benefits for us, none of this would have been an issue. DAMN HEALTH INSURANCE!
PRO: Yes, there is a Pro to this post, if you're still with me. Our BabyCenter newsletter for this week had a little game to play with the baby - if you shine a flashlight on the belly the baby will follow it. Always up for a game, we tried it last night and it totally works - so funny!!! This poor kid HAS to think we are insane by this point!
When I told my boss that I was preggers 22 weeks ago, she told me I could take all the time off that I wanted. Thus, I have been blabbing to anyone and everyone that I was taking the rest of 2010 off after the arrival of the baby. I thought because she said it was okay from her perspective that it would be fine. What I did NOT think of was how not working would affect our health insurance. My boss wasn't sure either so it was off to the FMLA rep in our HR office. I don't exactly have the greatest stories of interacting with our HR department. Anyone will tell you that it is terrible so I was NOT looking forward to this meeting. Turns out the FMLA lady, J, is amazing! I called her and explained that I was due 8/31/10, wanted to take 16 weeks off and wanted to know how that would affect my health insurance.
Turns out that FMLA leave is 12 weeks, during which any unpaid portion of that you have to pay for your benefits at the same monthly rate that you currently pay.
Ok no big deal - I was expecting this.
Turns out that any time beyond that 12 weeks is considered unpaid personal leave and during that time you have to pay the Cobra rate for health insurance which is NINE TIMES the monthly rate. NINE TIMES.
I was devastated. We were prepared for the loss of my salary for 8 of the 16 weeks but having to pay a huge bill on top of that? UGH. I thanked J for her time and ended the conversation with, "well I guess it will be 12 weeks of maternity leave for me." I hung up the phone.
30 seconds later she called me back.
"I was just thinking about this a little more and think we could work it out."
HUH?
Here's where we get to the game. There is a "rule" that if you are in paid status for at least the first day of the month, your benefits are covered for the entire month. So bottom line, if I could somehow manage to finagle my sick and vacation time to get me through to December 2, I would have benefits through December and not have to pay Cobra. So J played the numbers game and figured out exactly when I should take unpaid time vs. my sick and vacation time to have it all work out. I would have to come back to work on 12/30 to be sure that I was going into January as a "paid" employee. So it's a working day before I technically wanted to come back - I"LL TAKE IT.
HOWEVER. (there's always a however)
This whole scheme is entirely dependent on when the baby arrives. If the baby arrives on or after his/her due date, I'm fine because I have JUST ENOUGH sick/vacation time built up to get me into December as a paid employee. September 2 would be the optimal arrival time because then I wouldn't even have to pay for my benefits during my unpaid FMLA leave, due to that first of the month rule.
GEEZ. If you haven't followed this whole scheme, don't feel bad. It took me another phone call and two emails to J to get it.
So THAT is why I went from wanting Baby S to be early to wanting him/her to be a little late...but not too late.
If the baby IS early, my boss still told me we could work something out "off the record" so that I wouldn't have to come back but it might be tricky. Keep your fingers crossed!
As I mentioned earlier, if I wasn't the primary holder of benefits for us, none of this would have been an issue. DAMN HEALTH INSURANCE!
PRO: Yes, there is a Pro to this post, if you're still with me. Our BabyCenter newsletter for this week had a little game to play with the baby - if you shine a flashlight on the belly the baby will follow it. Always up for a game, we tried it last night and it totally works - so funny!!! This poor kid HAS to think we are insane by this point!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
What I know Now: 30 weeks
THIRTY WEEKS. I am THIRTY WEEKS pregnant. That seems so crazy.
So what do I know now that I didn't know then? The list begins...
1. I recently was reviewing these blog posts to fill in the beginning pages of The Belly Book. It seems that my insomnia kicked in at Week 7. Thus it has been 23 weeks of insomniac hell. In all of my dealings with insomnia, I have always focused on, "When is this going to get better?". I never ONCE though, "When is this going to get worse?". Ladies, WORSE has arrived. If you can believe it, the whole situation has gotten worse. I am beyond frustrated. I just keep my eyes on the prize.
2. 4 AM is a wonderful time to do prenatal yoga with Shiva Rae. It doesn't quite help me get back to sleep but it does relieve my back pain and tightness that has started to accompany the insomnia. I am pretty proud of the fact that for some parts of the DVD, I'm still with the first trimester woman, and others I'm on the second trimester modifications. Haven't had to make any of the third trimester modifications...yet.
3. I don't know why, but it seems that people feel a need to always comment on your size when you are pregnant. I'm not sure how I feel about it either way. The "you are so tiny" comments make me feel good on one hand, but on the other, I sometimes feel this underlying current of "you must not be eating enough for your baby" in these types of comments. I always feel compelled to justify my apparent "smallness" with "Oh, I'm really tall" or "I have a long torso" or if I'm feeling really bitchy, "The baby's growth is right on track". The "you're getting really big" comments are just kind of painful. No one ever wants to be "big" no matter how excited you are that you have a belly. Most of the time, these don't really bother me because it is all in the squeals, belly rubs, people getting excited. Can we just leave size out of the equation and say, "you look great"?! Those are my favorite comments to get.
4. {Some} Maternity clothes look better the bigger you get. I don't know why this is but I think probably b/c they don't just hang there anymore. I was trying on a dress with HC the other day and I was worried it wouldn't fit or look good as I got bigger so we put the faux belly on top of my real belly to try to simulate a really big belly and HC said, "I actually think it looks BETTER with a big belly". I bought the dress. There may be an upper limit as to HOW much bigger you can get. I'll keep you posted.
5. I have half a linea nigra on my belly.
Actually, I'm not sure what it is called b/c technically linea nigra is from your belly button south. The part above my belly button has one, ever so faint, and from my belly button down, there is nothing. Weird?! No stretch marks yet! As for other "typical" third trimester symptoms, I don't have any swollen feet, vericose veins, hemorroids or puffiness. My wedding ring still fits! (I was worried about this not fitting.) We'll see how things change in the next 10 weeks. In my mind, I have had to deal with insomnia for this whole ordeal, at least I could escape stretch marks and vericose veins as a tradeoff. Am I right?!
6. I'm hoping something called mother's intuition kicks in regarding labor and contractions. Contraction? What's a contraction? People have asked me if I've had any yet and the doctor yesterday also asked. I really don't think I have had any, but I had a bit of a "will I know if I'm having contractions" crisis. My doctor, a male, replied, "well, I can't say that I've ever had one, and I know you're not going to like this answer, but you will know when you are having one. It will feel like your uterus is, well, contracting". I'm also worried that I won't know when I'm suppossed to get to the hospital so I asked him about that one. Again, after some discussion it boils down to "you just know". Not the answer a Type-A neurotic wants to hear, but I'm working on being ok with it. Our childbirth classes start 7/5 so I'm thinking those will help some.
7. After spending the past 30 weeks (well, ok really 26 weeks because I didn't know I was pregnant for the first 4) blabbing to everyone and anyone that I really wanted this baby to come as early as possible after hitting the 37 week mark, I'm making a RETRACTION. I now want that baby to cook as long as possible and be born between September 1 and September 5. That's a pretty good window, right?! So what happened to change my mind??? One Word (acronym): FMLA.
Short story: FMLA is a huge game.
Long story: Coming soon - that deserves it's own post.
8. We're fueling the baby fire with the official Baby S baby pool. So far the majority of guesses are that it will be a boy. My official stance on the gender has been that I will be very surprised if it's a girl. Maybe that's because at this point if we have a girl, she will have 5 names.
9. It's weird being in the later stages of pregnancy and finding out about all the pregnancy newbies. We now have babies forecasted into February 2011. They just keep coming! In some ways I still feel like a pregnancy newbie.
So what do I know now that I didn't know then? The list begins...
1. I recently was reviewing these blog posts to fill in the beginning pages of The Belly Book. It seems that my insomnia kicked in at Week 7. Thus it has been 23 weeks of insomniac hell. In all of my dealings with insomnia, I have always focused on, "When is this going to get better?". I never ONCE though, "When is this going to get worse?". Ladies, WORSE has arrived. If you can believe it, the whole situation has gotten worse. I am beyond frustrated. I just keep my eyes on the prize.
2. 4 AM is a wonderful time to do prenatal yoga with Shiva Rae. It doesn't quite help me get back to sleep but it does relieve my back pain and tightness that has started to accompany the insomnia. I am pretty proud of the fact that for some parts of the DVD, I'm still with the first trimester woman, and others I'm on the second trimester modifications. Haven't had to make any of the third trimester modifications...yet.
3. I don't know why, but it seems that people feel a need to always comment on your size when you are pregnant. I'm not sure how I feel about it either way. The "you are so tiny" comments make me feel good on one hand, but on the other, I sometimes feel this underlying current of "you must not be eating enough for your baby" in these types of comments. I always feel compelled to justify my apparent "smallness" with "Oh, I'm really tall" or "I have a long torso" or if I'm feeling really bitchy, "The baby's growth is right on track". The "you're getting really big" comments are just kind of painful. No one ever wants to be "big" no matter how excited you are that you have a belly. Most of the time, these don't really bother me because it is all in the squeals, belly rubs, people getting excited. Can we just leave size out of the equation and say, "you look great"?! Those are my favorite comments to get.
4. {Some} Maternity clothes look better the bigger you get. I don't know why this is but I think probably b/c they don't just hang there anymore. I was trying on a dress with HC the other day and I was worried it wouldn't fit or look good as I got bigger so we put the faux belly on top of my real belly to try to simulate a really big belly and HC said, "I actually think it looks BETTER with a big belly". I bought the dress. There may be an upper limit as to HOW much bigger you can get. I'll keep you posted.
5. I have half a linea nigra on my belly.
Actually, I'm not sure what it is called b/c technically linea nigra is from your belly button south. The part above my belly button has one, ever so faint, and from my belly button down, there is nothing. Weird?! No stretch marks yet! As for other "typical" third trimester symptoms, I don't have any swollen feet, vericose veins, hemorroids or puffiness. My wedding ring still fits! (I was worried about this not fitting.) We'll see how things change in the next 10 weeks. In my mind, I have had to deal with insomnia for this whole ordeal, at least I could escape stretch marks and vericose veins as a tradeoff. Am I right?!
6. I'm hoping something called mother's intuition kicks in regarding labor and contractions. Contraction? What's a contraction? People have asked me if I've had any yet and the doctor yesterday also asked. I really don't think I have had any, but I had a bit of a "will I know if I'm having contractions" crisis. My doctor, a male, replied, "well, I can't say that I've ever had one, and I know you're not going to like this answer, but you will know when you are having one. It will feel like your uterus is, well, contracting". I'm also worried that I won't know when I'm suppossed to get to the hospital so I asked him about that one. Again, after some discussion it boils down to "you just know". Not the answer a Type-A neurotic wants to hear, but I'm working on being ok with it. Our childbirth classes start 7/5 so I'm thinking those will help some.
7. After spending the past 30 weeks (well, ok really 26 weeks because I didn't know I was pregnant for the first 4) blabbing to everyone and anyone that I really wanted this baby to come as early as possible after hitting the 37 week mark, I'm making a RETRACTION. I now want that baby to cook as long as possible and be born between September 1 and September 5. That's a pretty good window, right?! So what happened to change my mind??? One Word (acronym): FMLA.
Short story: FMLA is a huge game.
Long story: Coming soon - that deserves it's own post.
8. We're fueling the baby fire with the official Baby S baby pool. So far the majority of guesses are that it will be a boy. My official stance on the gender has been that I will be very surprised if it's a girl. Maybe that's because at this point if we have a girl, she will have 5 names.
9. It's weird being in the later stages of pregnancy and finding out about all the pregnancy newbies. We now have babies forecasted into February 2011. They just keep coming! In some ways I still feel like a pregnancy newbie.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Things Not to Say to A Pregnant Woman
I am going to preface this with the fact that i KNOW my FIL is extremely excited about the baby and does not mean for these things to come out the way that they do. I cannot help document these head shakers though.
FIL: "I think you are having a girl"
ME: "Oh really, why?"
FIL: "Because you don't have a basketball belly and I always think that when you gain weight all over you are having a girl. You don't look like {my MIL} did when she was pregnant." {My MIL had 3 boys, 0 girls}.
ME: "Oh". {How was I suppossed to respond to that?!}
FIL: "I think you are having a girl"
ME: "Oh really, why?"
FIL: "Because you don't have a basketball belly and I always think that when you gain weight all over you are having a girl. You don't look like {my MIL} did when she was pregnant." {My MIL had 3 boys, 0 girls}.
ME: "Oh". {How was I suppossed to respond to that?!}
Running: Yes! Wakeboarding: No :( Beer: Yes?!
Hold On...It's gonna be a long one today.
First, I ran for 21:33 on Saturday night. TWENTY ONE MINUTES AND 33 SECONDS. This is the longest uninterrupted time span I have ran in about a month. I was hitting a wall after 5 minutes lately, and having to walk, maybe resuming for another 5 minutes. There was no way in hell I could have ran any longer than 5 minutes. I started to respond to people's questions about how running was going with, "Well, I might have to hang up the running shoes soon - It hasn't been going very well." I told a co-worker that I was going to given running one more shot before throwing in the towel. That one shot was Saturday night. I got to 5 minutes and thought, "I think I can keep going!". Imagine my surprise when I made it to 10 minutes...15 minutes. Around 18 minutes the belly did start to get uncomfortable but I was almost home and really wanted to hit 20 minutes. So 2.4176 miles were done. 8:54 pace - not terrible. I had a green popsicle to celebrate (and cool down). I still have that cramp in my upper left thigh though so I'm not so sure that swimming was the cause. So now I have to do at least one more run - I would love it if I could say, "I ran on the day I delivered" but am not holding myself to that. One day at a time...
I had another doctor appointment this morning and he confirmed that it will be a wakeboarding and waterskiing free summer for me :( I had my suspicions that this would be the case, thus I did not partake in any of these activities over the weekend, although I was tempted, if only for the photo op. My cousin-in-law and I talked about the potential of having maternity life jackets. I did not get a picture of myself in a life jacket, but may have to at some point because it looks so funny.
In other news, despite my threats at work that I'm becoming pre-eclamptic, my blood pressure is still fine (101/52). I only gained 2 lbs in the past month! I'm up 26 lbs. Bad news - this is still 5 lbs over where I "should" be. It took almost 30 weeks, but I am ok with this :) I actually feel like my weight has redistributed itself to the belly - my boobs don't even feel as big anymore. This is probably impossible and the fact is that I'm probably just getting used to my new body, but still. My husband told me the other day that I looked like a Somalian child - skinny with a big belly. I appreciated where he was trying to go with that comment, but still had to shake my head at that one.
I used to get really relieved when the heartbeat machine came around - like, Phew! The baby is still alive. Now the baby is pummeling me pretty much constantly so I know it's all good - still hearing the heartbeat always brings a smile.
I have been really craving a beer lately. It's summer! What is a summer without beer?! One of my friends mentioned the possibility of non-alcoholic beer. We went to the store and it still has 1/2% alcohol in it so I was still leery. Thus, I asked my doctor about this today. I was totally nervous asking him about this because I didn't want him to think I was a lush. Really, in all honesty, I am not that hard up for a drink, but I was curious what he would say. His response when I asked him about NA beer was, "Have you ever had that stuff?" to which I responded, "No". He started laughing. "It's awful. A few sips of that will cure your beer craving." Then he went all into the science of dose-response and how alcohol doesn't really act like that, which is why there is a "no alcohol during pregnancy" warning, yadda yadda. (I say yadda yadda but I really thought it was interesting - just don't want to re-type it all). Bottom line, a NA beer or two in the next couple of weeks isn't going to be a problem. Bottom line bonus - a REAL beer or glass of wine or two in the next few weeks isn't going to be a problem. He commented, "You know when all your friends are at the lake and they're all waterskiing and you're not, i say go ahead and have a beer." It was a good laugh. He commented that the real "problem" would probably be all the bad looks people will give you for drinking a beer while pregnant so he recommended pouring it into an opaque glass.
So am I going to booze it up now? A few dong bongs at BK's 30th birthday party perhaps? Uh, no. But I do think I might share a beer with my husband and not feel bad about it now.
First, I ran for 21:33 on Saturday night. TWENTY ONE MINUTES AND 33 SECONDS. This is the longest uninterrupted time span I have ran in about a month. I was hitting a wall after 5 minutes lately, and having to walk, maybe resuming for another 5 minutes. There was no way in hell I could have ran any longer than 5 minutes. I started to respond to people's questions about how running was going with, "Well, I might have to hang up the running shoes soon - It hasn't been going very well." I told a co-worker that I was going to given running one more shot before throwing in the towel. That one shot was Saturday night. I got to 5 minutes and thought, "I think I can keep going!". Imagine my surprise when I made it to 10 minutes...15 minutes. Around 18 minutes the belly did start to get uncomfortable but I was almost home and really wanted to hit 20 minutes. So 2.4176 miles were done. 8:54 pace - not terrible. I had a green popsicle to celebrate (and cool down). I still have that cramp in my upper left thigh though so I'm not so sure that swimming was the cause. So now I have to do at least one more run - I would love it if I could say, "I ran on the day I delivered" but am not holding myself to that. One day at a time...
I had another doctor appointment this morning and he confirmed that it will be a wakeboarding and waterskiing free summer for me :( I had my suspicions that this would be the case, thus I did not partake in any of these activities over the weekend, although I was tempted, if only for the photo op. My cousin-in-law and I talked about the potential of having maternity life jackets. I did not get a picture of myself in a life jacket, but may have to at some point because it looks so funny.
In other news, despite my threats at work that I'm becoming pre-eclamptic, my blood pressure is still fine (101/52). I only gained 2 lbs in the past month! I'm up 26 lbs. Bad news - this is still 5 lbs over where I "should" be. It took almost 30 weeks, but I am ok with this :) I actually feel like my weight has redistributed itself to the belly - my boobs don't even feel as big anymore. This is probably impossible and the fact is that I'm probably just getting used to my new body, but still. My husband told me the other day that I looked like a Somalian child - skinny with a big belly. I appreciated where he was trying to go with that comment, but still had to shake my head at that one.
I used to get really relieved when the heartbeat machine came around - like, Phew! The baby is still alive. Now the baby is pummeling me pretty much constantly so I know it's all good - still hearing the heartbeat always brings a smile.
I have been really craving a beer lately. It's summer! What is a summer without beer?! One of my friends mentioned the possibility of non-alcoholic beer. We went to the store and it still has 1/2% alcohol in it so I was still leery. Thus, I asked my doctor about this today. I was totally nervous asking him about this because I didn't want him to think I was a lush. Really, in all honesty, I am not that hard up for a drink, but I was curious what he would say. His response when I asked him about NA beer was, "Have you ever had that stuff?" to which I responded, "No". He started laughing. "It's awful. A few sips of that will cure your beer craving." Then he went all into the science of dose-response and how alcohol doesn't really act like that, which is why there is a "no alcohol during pregnancy" warning, yadda yadda. (I say yadda yadda but I really thought it was interesting - just don't want to re-type it all). Bottom line, a NA beer or two in the next couple of weeks isn't going to be a problem. Bottom line bonus - a REAL beer or glass of wine or two in the next few weeks isn't going to be a problem. He commented, "You know when all your friends are at the lake and they're all waterskiing and you're not, i say go ahead and have a beer." It was a good laugh. He commented that the real "problem" would probably be all the bad looks people will give you for drinking a beer while pregnant so he recommended pouring it into an opaque glass.
So am I going to booze it up now? A few dong bongs at BK's 30th birthday party perhaps? Uh, no. But I do think I might share a beer with my husband and not feel bad about it now.
Friday, June 18, 2010
PROS & CONS of Pregnancy: Colds, Nails & Hair
This PRO and CON are not related to each other but I was not about to make a "con" out of having to clean your nails more often (read on...)
CON: Getting sick while pregnant SUCKS. I have had a chest cold for about 2 weeks now. Of course you do garner more sympathy about being sick when you are with child, but it's in the form of "Oh, that stinks. And you can't take anything can you?" which for week #1 led me to believe, that no, i am destined to suffer. I finally called the nurse on Tuesday and started taking Robitussin DM, which was helping some in expelling phlegm, but I have a while before this beast is gone. However, this morning, I felt like the clouds parted, the heavens opened and Jesus appeared to me - I sneezed and tons of phlegm was dislodged from the inner sanctum of my lungs. A miracle! I can take a full deep breath again! "God Bless You", indeed.
PRO: As I said, this pro has nothing to do with the con above. A nice benefit to pregnancy that I have noticed is that for the first time in my life, I have nice fingernails. Not only do they extend beyond the tips of my fingers, but they are strong, ridgeless and they don't peel or break. I actually had to use a fingernail clippers the other night to cut them - I don't know if I've ever done that before! My MIL grabbed my hand the other day because she thought they were fake! As I alluded to in the introduction though, I am amazed at how much crud can accumulate under them - I feel like I am washing my hands way more often (and that hasn't helped with cold prevention - see CON above!) Along with nails, my hair is definitely thicker and seems to grow faster. I already need another haircut and I just got one last month. Is there a pregnancy discount available for this? I knew I should have tried to just grow my hair out instead of keeping it short. Short hair = more haircuts :)
TGIF!
CON: Getting sick while pregnant SUCKS. I have had a chest cold for about 2 weeks now. Of course you do garner more sympathy about being sick when you are with child, but it's in the form of "Oh, that stinks. And you can't take anything can you?" which for week #1 led me to believe, that no, i am destined to suffer. I finally called the nurse on Tuesday and started taking Robitussin DM, which was helping some in expelling phlegm, but I have a while before this beast is gone. However, this morning, I felt like the clouds parted, the heavens opened and Jesus appeared to me - I sneezed and tons of phlegm was dislodged from the inner sanctum of my lungs. A miracle! I can take a full deep breath again! "God Bless You", indeed.
PRO: As I said, this pro has nothing to do with the con above. A nice benefit to pregnancy that I have noticed is that for the first time in my life, I have nice fingernails. Not only do they extend beyond the tips of my fingers, but they are strong, ridgeless and they don't peel or break. I actually had to use a fingernail clippers the other night to cut them - I don't know if I've ever done that before! My MIL grabbed my hand the other day because she thought they were fake! As I alluded to in the introduction though, I am amazed at how much crud can accumulate under them - I feel like I am washing my hands way more often (and that hasn't helped with cold prevention - see CON above!) Along with nails, my hair is definitely thicker and seems to grow faster. I already need another haircut and I just got one last month. Is there a pregnancy discount available for this? I knew I should have tried to just grow my hair out instead of keeping it short. Short hair = more haircuts :)
TGIF!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Running While Pregnant FAQ
While googling to try to find pictures of a pregnant Paula Radcliffe, I came across this article written by an average pregnant woman about running and pregnancy. I thought it was a great read.
Click here for the article.
Click here for the article.
Baby, SHE was Born to Run
At the beginning of this blog, I mentioned that one of my early heros for running while preggo was Paula Radcliffe, who was featured in Vogue while running during her first pregnancy.
My friend, EA, who resides in Chicago but is originally from NYC just sent me the coolest picture that had me green with envy. EA was back in NYC last weekend and ran a half marathon and she ended up running RIGHT NEXT TO Paula Radcliffe for a bit! The peeps at Bright Room even got a great picture of the two of them - if that was me, I'd blow it up poster size.
Ok, so you're all thinking that EA is this amazing runner. She is pretty awesome, but not normally running up with Paula Radcliffe - what gives? Paula is SIX MONTHS pregnant, so she was running a "slow" 6:30 pace. FOR REAL. She doesn't even look pregnant in the picture!
So am I green with envy re: EA's run with Paula or the fact that Paula was truckin' along at 6:30 pace at 6 months preggers? Probably both!
*I'm not posting the picture on this blog, but if you email me, I will send it to you.
My friend, EA, who resides in Chicago but is originally from NYC just sent me the coolest picture that had me green with envy. EA was back in NYC last weekend and ran a half marathon and she ended up running RIGHT NEXT TO Paula Radcliffe for a bit! The peeps at Bright Room even got a great picture of the two of them - if that was me, I'd blow it up poster size.
Ok, so you're all thinking that EA is this amazing runner. She is pretty awesome, but not normally running up with Paula Radcliffe - what gives? Paula is SIX MONTHS pregnant, so she was running a "slow" 6:30 pace. FOR REAL. She doesn't even look pregnant in the picture!
So am I green with envy re: EA's run with Paula or the fact that Paula was truckin' along at 6:30 pace at 6 months preggers? Probably both!
*I'm not posting the picture on this blog, but if you email me, I will send it to you.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Whereby I expound upon pregnancy bliss
I'm having a rare day of being blissfully pregnant. I don't know that I complained about one thing related to pregnancy today - mark the calendar, there's a first time for everything!
It took 29 weeks but I'm no longer sensitive about the things people say to pregnant women. Classic example from today:
I had to go to a meeting in Madison this morning. Our normal meeting chair was attending via conference call so one of the other conference members filled in as co-chair. These meetings only occur quarterly so we routinely go around and introduce ourselves. After I stated my name and organization, the co-chair said, "B---, A's looking a lot bigger around the waist than the last time you saw her!". It was hilarious. You could see people just shake their heads thinking, "Not sure that is what I would say to a pregnant woman." Afterwards he came up to me all excited saying that I looked great and was definitely glowing. Awww! I will take anyone telling me I look great, even after a slight faux pas.
I truly feel that I am glowing lately, because the excitement of pregnancy has kicked in...finally. Not to say that I wasn't excited before, but I feel like it has ramped up considerably in the past few weeks, starting with vacation. I'm sure swollen legs and feet and general uncomfortableness are right around the corner but for now, I feel great and am loving it.
Weirdo coincidence but my friend MB and I may be over 700 miles apart in distance but our minds were on the same track - we found out that we were wearing the exact same black Old Navy maternity dress today! Thankfully I was not dealing with a heat index of 107 however.
As I am typing this, Baby S is quite visibly moving around in my belly, which is in my peripheral vision. I don't know how to accurately explain the feeling of having something inside of you which you can feel and see move around - it is absolutely incredible and probably the one thing I will miss about pregnancy. I still pause everytime I feel movement throughout the day (which explains why I can't concentrate very well lately!) and tonight the weirdo alien ripples and pokes of my stomach skin literally brought me to tears. I've said it a million times before, but I cannot WAIT to meet this little munchkin!
It took 29 weeks but I'm no longer sensitive about the things people say to pregnant women. Classic example from today:
I had to go to a meeting in Madison this morning. Our normal meeting chair was attending via conference call so one of the other conference members filled in as co-chair. These meetings only occur quarterly so we routinely go around and introduce ourselves. After I stated my name and organization, the co-chair said, "B---, A's looking a lot bigger around the waist than the last time you saw her!". It was hilarious. You could see people just shake their heads thinking, "Not sure that is what I would say to a pregnant woman." Afterwards he came up to me all excited saying that I looked great and was definitely glowing. Awww! I will take anyone telling me I look great, even after a slight faux pas.
I truly feel that I am glowing lately, because the excitement of pregnancy has kicked in...finally. Not to say that I wasn't excited before, but I feel like it has ramped up considerably in the past few weeks, starting with vacation. I'm sure swollen legs and feet and general uncomfortableness are right around the corner but for now, I feel great and am loving it.
Weirdo coincidence but my friend MB and I may be over 700 miles apart in distance but our minds were on the same track - we found out that we were wearing the exact same black Old Navy maternity dress today! Thankfully I was not dealing with a heat index of 107 however.
As I am typing this, Baby S is quite visibly moving around in my belly, which is in my peripheral vision. I don't know how to accurately explain the feeling of having something inside of you which you can feel and see move around - it is absolutely incredible and probably the one thing I will miss about pregnancy. I still pause everytime I feel movement throughout the day (which explains why I can't concentrate very well lately!) and tonight the weirdo alien ripples and pokes of my stomach skin literally brought me to tears. I've said it a million times before, but I cannot WAIT to meet this little munchkin!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Lucky 7s - 77 days left!
29 weeks!!!!!!!!!! With each passing day I get more and more excited!! I talk and rub my belly more and more (in the privacy of my own home). However, panic is also starting to settle in. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I thought it might make me feel better to write down all the stuff that is jumbled in my head.
1. I started filling out the FMLA paperwork this week. This whole pregnancy I have been tra-la-la-ing that I was going to take the rest of 2010 off regardless of if the baby came before or after his or her due date of 8/31. Then the paperwork came. I carry the benefits for both myself and my husband and the baby will be added onto my benefits. I still am unsure if my benefits will be applicable after the guaranteed 12 weeks of FMLA since my work does not give benefits to non full time people. If I can't maintain the benefits, then it looks like my maternity leave will only be 12 weeks instead of 16+ I was planning. Keep your fingers crossed that they will still let me have them so I don't have to go back to work until January 2010.
2. Full time? Part time? Yep - still haven't decided this and am NOT deciding it until Baby S arrives and I have spent time with him/her. I feel like I will know what to do better when I actually have a baby rather than now just guessing. Luckily my boss is awesome and I don't have to decide this. I can even go part time for a little bit, and then full time. I can start back full time and if it doesn't work, reduce my hours. LUCKY LUCKY. This does get tricky with the benefits situation which is one BIG reason that I am going to start back full time, I think. AS mentioned in #1, I carry the benefits for the fam at a very reasonable cost. The benefits offered by my husband's employer aren't bad, they aren't as good, but they are MUCH more expensive. I just wish my employer would offer benefits to part timers. ARGH.
3. Day care. I had not been thinking about this for a while but of course it lends itself to #1 and #2. We have decided NOT to use a formal daycare and instead want to get a nanny with a combo of family help. Of course, this is pretty nebulous and you can't really look for a nanny this early so it remains in the To-Figure out List. Can't every day just be bring your baby to work day?!
4. I was actually convinced that my excitement for labor outweighed my nervousness about it. I was able to read the labor and delivery chapters now without feeling faint. Until a work meeting this morning - which happened to be in a community classroom that our hospital operates. THE community classroom that the birthing classes are in. Complete with pictures. I saw a very detailed picture of the head just about to poke out and I almost tossed my cookies. Ok, yes, I am excited but the nerves are still there!
5. The baby has taken to body slamming. Seriously, some moves I think would knock me over if I was standing up!
As for my cold, it's still large and in charge. I ended up going with Robitussin DM. The ingredients in Mucinex DM are the same, but Mucinex is stronger so I thought I'd start out with the gentler medicine and see if it worked. I started taking it last night and already my coughs are more productive. I also got much better sleep last night. I still sound like Kathleen Turner when I talk and my coughs resemble seal barks. I think my baby might be wondering where his mommy went - seriously, I wonder if he/she is confused by my major voice change?!
I thought it might make me feel better to write down all the stuff that is jumbled in my head.
1. I started filling out the FMLA paperwork this week. This whole pregnancy I have been tra-la-la-ing that I was going to take the rest of 2010 off regardless of if the baby came before or after his or her due date of 8/31. Then the paperwork came. I carry the benefits for both myself and my husband and the baby will be added onto my benefits. I still am unsure if my benefits will be applicable after the guaranteed 12 weeks of FMLA since my work does not give benefits to non full time people. If I can't maintain the benefits, then it looks like my maternity leave will only be 12 weeks instead of 16+ I was planning. Keep your fingers crossed that they will still let me have them so I don't have to go back to work until January 2010.
2. Full time? Part time? Yep - still haven't decided this and am NOT deciding it until Baby S arrives and I have spent time with him/her. I feel like I will know what to do better when I actually have a baby rather than now just guessing. Luckily my boss is awesome and I don't have to decide this. I can even go part time for a little bit, and then full time. I can start back full time and if it doesn't work, reduce my hours. LUCKY LUCKY. This does get tricky with the benefits situation which is one BIG reason that I am going to start back full time, I think. AS mentioned in #1, I carry the benefits for the fam at a very reasonable cost. The benefits offered by my husband's employer aren't bad, they aren't as good, but they are MUCH more expensive. I just wish my employer would offer benefits to part timers. ARGH.
3. Day care. I had not been thinking about this for a while but of course it lends itself to #1 and #2. We have decided NOT to use a formal daycare and instead want to get a nanny with a combo of family help. Of course, this is pretty nebulous and you can't really look for a nanny this early so it remains in the To-Figure out List. Can't every day just be bring your baby to work day?!
4. I was actually convinced that my excitement for labor outweighed my nervousness about it. I was able to read the labor and delivery chapters now without feeling faint. Until a work meeting this morning - which happened to be in a community classroom that our hospital operates. THE community classroom that the birthing classes are in. Complete with pictures. I saw a very detailed picture of the head just about to poke out and I almost tossed my cookies. Ok, yes, I am excited but the nerves are still there!
5. The baby has taken to body slamming. Seriously, some moves I think would knock me over if I was standing up!
As for my cold, it's still large and in charge. I ended up going with Robitussin DM. The ingredients in Mucinex DM are the same, but Mucinex is stronger so I thought I'd start out with the gentler medicine and see if it worked. I started taking it last night and already my coughs are more productive. I also got much better sleep last night. I still sound like Kathleen Turner when I talk and my coughs resemble seal barks. I think my baby might be wondering where his mommy went - seriously, I wonder if he/she is confused by my major voice change?!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Rough Weekend
So my cough is progressively getting worse. A coworker commented that I have a fun, raspy voice though (Think Stevie Nicks). I didn't want to take anything for it, but after last night and this morning, I called the nurse to find out what my options were. Robitussin DM is what she recommended. ICK. Nate has the same thing and has been using Mucinex DM so I asked if that was fine. She gave a sort of lame-o answer - Mucinex is fine and if the Mucinex DM is comparable to the Robitussin DM, it should be fine too. Well, isn't it HER job to tell me if it IS comparable?
The cough has now interfered with what little sleep I DO get. Last night, I went to bed at 10 PM. I woke up, wide awake, at 11:45 PM. That is when you know it is bad - when you only have been sleeping for an hour and a half or so and you wake up wide awake. I thought I was just hot, so I went downstairs to bed #2. Tossed and turned there for a while. Then I decided that maybe the Shiva Rae Yoga DVD would help so I did 50 minutes of yoga. Then I read and oogled Katherine Heigl's wardrobe in Bazaar. Then I filled in more of The Belly Book. Then it was 3 AM. I went back to bed and had a coughing attack. I could NOT stop coughing. I don't know what time I finally fell back asleep but when the alarm went off at 7:00, I was not a happy camper. I would have called in sick, but we have a going away party at work today for a co-worker that I didn't want to miss.
Despite the cold and continued lack of sleep, I think trimester 3 is my favorite part of pregnancy. All the books and people say trimester 2 is the best, but not in my opinion. Starting with vacation I have been feeling great (again not counting the cough and sleep) and I really have loved all the attention and positive energy I have gotten from others re: the belly. Having my three girlfriends feel the belly and the kicks was fun over the weekend. I now am starting to feel something hard - is it a butt or the head?? I plan on asking the doctor at my appointment on Thursday. Now I will start going to the doctor every two weeks instead of every month.
Speaking of the doctor, I assumed this because I did not get a call, but they posted my glucose screen/test results on my online chart that I have access to and I passed! Nice. With all my sugar cravings lately, I don't think I could have handled the gestational diabetes diet!
The cough has now interfered with what little sleep I DO get. Last night, I went to bed at 10 PM. I woke up, wide awake, at 11:45 PM. That is when you know it is bad - when you only have been sleeping for an hour and a half or so and you wake up wide awake. I thought I was just hot, so I went downstairs to bed #2. Tossed and turned there for a while. Then I decided that maybe the Shiva Rae Yoga DVD would help so I did 50 minutes of yoga. Then I read and oogled Katherine Heigl's wardrobe in Bazaar. Then I filled in more of The Belly Book. Then it was 3 AM. I went back to bed and had a coughing attack. I could NOT stop coughing. I don't know what time I finally fell back asleep but when the alarm went off at 7:00, I was not a happy camper. I would have called in sick, but we have a going away party at work today for a co-worker that I didn't want to miss.
Despite the cold and continued lack of sleep, I think trimester 3 is my favorite part of pregnancy. All the books and people say trimester 2 is the best, but not in my opinion. Starting with vacation I have been feeling great (again not counting the cough and sleep) and I really have loved all the attention and positive energy I have gotten from others re: the belly. Having my three girlfriends feel the belly and the kicks was fun over the weekend. I now am starting to feel something hard - is it a butt or the head?? I plan on asking the doctor at my appointment on Thursday. Now I will start going to the doctor every two weeks instead of every month.
Speaking of the doctor, I assumed this because I did not get a call, but they posted my glucose screen/test results on my online chart that I have access to and I passed! Nice. With all my sugar cravings lately, I don't think I could have handled the gestational diabetes diet!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Random Hodgepodge of Information
1. I broke my crotch. (I realize that this might not be the last time I post this statement.) So, the last day I attempted running was over a week ago, when we were in Asheville. I did it in the hotel fitness room on the treadmill. It did not go well. Five minutes was all I lasted before switching to a vigorous walk. That darn belly just is at the point where it will bounce and cause pain. I have looked at those maternity belts both online and at Destination Maternity. Do these actually work? Do I suck it up and fork out the $40 or just give up the running for these last 11 weeks and 4 days. Obviously I haven't decided and the days just keep passing. I continue to go for walks though and continue to read articles about how swimmming is the best exercise for preggos. So last night, I walked to our YMCA to swim. I was pretty proud of the 20 minutes that I constantly swam in the pool, but I did not think that swimming was any easier while pregnant. I still am terrible. I was trying to mix up the stroke types to last as long as I could and I think one of my attempts at the breaststroke frog-type kick pulled something in my groin. I didn't notice it right away while swimming, but on my walk back home, it definitely started to hurt. So today I'm walking with a bit of a waddle.
2. I have a bad cough. The hubs and I noticed that we both started getting sore throats towards the end of our vacay. His progressed into a full blown cough/cold faster than mine. My hacking cough made an appearance yesterday. One of the things he has started doing with this cold, probably because he can't breathe, is do this humming thing in his sleep. So of course when I wake up to pee at 3 AM and try to toss and turn to fall back asleep, this humming drives me INSANE. Thus I have transferred to the guest bed two nights. I love sharing a bed with my husband, but I must say that having my own bed to myself has been sort of nice.
3. I am starting to have panic attacks at work. I'm sure you all know that feeling of right before you are going to go on vacation how people just pile stuff on your desk to do before you leave? Well preparing for maternity leave is like 1000 times worse than that. I swear people think I am disappearing off the face of the planet, rather than taking a four month leave. The amount of work I have to get done this summer is astronomical. And so what do I do? I can't prioritize where to even start so I blog. Nice.
4. I still cannot fathom the fact that someone is growing inside me. The other night the hubs and I were just staring at my belly in silence, shocked at how big and round it is becoming. I have been on a pop tart kick (gross I know). Every morning I feel like Baby S is saying, "Oh mom! Pop tarts again?! What happened to my raisin flax oatmeal?!". Luckily I was able to pass up the urge to replenish my stock at the grocery store so this will be the last week of pop tarts.
2. I have a bad cough. The hubs and I noticed that we both started getting sore throats towards the end of our vacay. His progressed into a full blown cough/cold faster than mine. My hacking cough made an appearance yesterday. One of the things he has started doing with this cold, probably because he can't breathe, is do this humming thing in his sleep. So of course when I wake up to pee at 3 AM and try to toss and turn to fall back asleep, this humming drives me INSANE. Thus I have transferred to the guest bed two nights. I love sharing a bed with my husband, but I must say that having my own bed to myself has been sort of nice.
3. I am starting to have panic attacks at work. I'm sure you all know that feeling of right before you are going to go on vacation how people just pile stuff on your desk to do before you leave? Well preparing for maternity leave is like 1000 times worse than that. I swear people think I am disappearing off the face of the planet, rather than taking a four month leave. The amount of work I have to get done this summer is astronomical. And so what do I do? I can't prioritize where to even start so I blog. Nice.
4. I still cannot fathom the fact that someone is growing inside me. The other night the hubs and I were just staring at my belly in silence, shocked at how big and round it is becoming. I have been on a pop tart kick (gross I know). Every morning I feel like Baby S is saying, "Oh mom! Pop tarts again?! What happened to my raisin flax oatmeal?!". Luckily I was able to pass up the urge to replenish my stock at the grocery store so this will be the last week of pop tarts.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Pros and Cons of Pregnancy Part 2: Bodily Fluids
If you read the title of this post, consider yourself warned. This post will be TMI.
CON: Leaky Boobs. As I mentioned, I subscribe to a number of weekly pregnancy newsletters. For weeks now, at least one will mention something to the effect of, "Do not be surprised if you see small droplets of liquid on your nipples during this week." Meaning that your breasts COULD leak before you even give birth! Put this in the category of something that you never learn BEFORE becoming pregnant. I haven't had any issues with leaky boobs yet, but I was curious if this was in fact something that did happen to people so I emailed my mom. "Hey, did your boobs leak before you gave birth?" Her response, "Before, During, After, and even YEARS after." AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Is this genetic? Then I brought it up after a work meeting with some of my co-workers (all women). All three have had children and all three started laughing and sharing stories of leaky boobs. Holy canoli. I immediately opened our baby registry and added those breast pads on there. But then I was torn, do I get the washable kind (eco-friendly) or the disposable? Back to my mom and her leaky boobs. She suggested trying both becuase "you never know what will work for you". (I put this in quotes because this is the most oft cited caveat to any advice I have ever gotten from previous baby mamas. I'm not doubting the truth in it, I just think it is funny how everyone says it!)
To be fair, some of my friends that have had children have said that they have never suffered a leak, so I could get as lucky as them. You can be sure that a free sample of breast pads is now in my purse just in case I spring a leak someday. My co-workers also mentioned that when I come back to work after baby, it's always a good idea to have some in your desk as well as a scarf or cardigan in the event the leak decides to spring during that ever-important meeting! Oh the things to look forward to...
PRO: Becuase I think it is important to battle every con with a pro and end on a positive note, today's PRO comes courtesy of BK and is in line with this post's title. NO MORE PERIOD! Yes it's true - no period while you are pregnant and possibly no period while you are breastfeeding. Maybe I WILL be one of those moms who breastfeeds her child until they are ten. (ha ha ha, JUST KIDDING). That is a pretty big pro in my book! In conjunction with this, you don't have to worry about birth control because, duh! you're already knocked up. No remembering to take your pill at 4 PM, no more sweating because your period is a day late, no more shout spraying your underwear, no more buying tampons, no more trying to remember if you still have a tampon in or when the last time you changed it was, no more...you get the drift.
I also want to share something related to this whole pro/con business. At our prenatal yoga class last night, our instructor had us start off the class, as usual, with introductions. As part of our introduction, we were suppossed to share any advice or anything people have said to us about being pregnant. Everyone's thing that they shared was slightly negative - for example, "Oh you're going to be pregnant during the summer. Eek - that's going to be uncomfortable". It was funny to hear all the stuff people have been told, and intersting that a lot of the class had heard many of the same things. So during the relaxation segment at the end of class, our instructor read a series of pregnancy-related affirmations to us as we relaxed. Now that's turning a negative into a positive!
I realize that I probably sound really negative about pregnancy most of the time so I'm trying to also focus on the positive aspects. I don't mean to be a huge pregnancy downer, but I also believe in being realistic and I'm not one of those women that truly loves everything about being pregnant and wishes I could be pregnant for the rest of my life. So these Pro/Con posts allow me to vent about cons but also bring more of the pros into focus for myself. As always, thanks for listening!
CON: Leaky Boobs. As I mentioned, I subscribe to a number of weekly pregnancy newsletters. For weeks now, at least one will mention something to the effect of, "Do not be surprised if you see small droplets of liquid on your nipples during this week." Meaning that your breasts COULD leak before you even give birth! Put this in the category of something that you never learn BEFORE becoming pregnant. I haven't had any issues with leaky boobs yet, but I was curious if this was in fact something that did happen to people so I emailed my mom. "Hey, did your boobs leak before you gave birth?" Her response, "Before, During, After, and even YEARS after." AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Is this genetic? Then I brought it up after a work meeting with some of my co-workers (all women). All three have had children and all three started laughing and sharing stories of leaky boobs. Holy canoli. I immediately opened our baby registry and added those breast pads on there. But then I was torn, do I get the washable kind (eco-friendly) or the disposable? Back to my mom and her leaky boobs. She suggested trying both becuase "you never know what will work for you". (I put this in quotes because this is the most oft cited caveat to any advice I have ever gotten from previous baby mamas. I'm not doubting the truth in it, I just think it is funny how everyone says it!)
To be fair, some of my friends that have had children have said that they have never suffered a leak, so I could get as lucky as them. You can be sure that a free sample of breast pads is now in my purse just in case I spring a leak someday. My co-workers also mentioned that when I come back to work after baby, it's always a good idea to have some in your desk as well as a scarf or cardigan in the event the leak decides to spring during that ever-important meeting! Oh the things to look forward to...
PRO: Becuase I think it is important to battle every con with a pro and end on a positive note, today's PRO comes courtesy of BK and is in line with this post's title. NO MORE PERIOD! Yes it's true - no period while you are pregnant and possibly no period while you are breastfeeding. Maybe I WILL be one of those moms who breastfeeds her child until they are ten. (ha ha ha, JUST KIDDING). That is a pretty big pro in my book! In conjunction with this, you don't have to worry about birth control because, duh! you're already knocked up. No remembering to take your pill at 4 PM, no more sweating because your period is a day late, no more shout spraying your underwear, no more buying tampons, no more trying to remember if you still have a tampon in or when the last time you changed it was, no more...you get the drift.
I also want to share something related to this whole pro/con business. At our prenatal yoga class last night, our instructor had us start off the class, as usual, with introductions. As part of our introduction, we were suppossed to share any advice or anything people have said to us about being pregnant. Everyone's thing that they shared was slightly negative - for example, "Oh you're going to be pregnant during the summer. Eek - that's going to be uncomfortable". It was funny to hear all the stuff people have been told, and intersting that a lot of the class had heard many of the same things. So during the relaxation segment at the end of class, our instructor read a series of pregnancy-related affirmations to us as we relaxed. Now that's turning a negative into a positive!
I realize that I probably sound really negative about pregnancy most of the time so I'm trying to also focus on the positive aspects. I don't mean to be a huge pregnancy downer, but I also believe in being realistic and I'm not one of those women that truly loves everything about being pregnant and wishes I could be pregnant for the rest of my life. So these Pro/Con posts allow me to vent about cons but also bring more of the pros into focus for myself. As always, thanks for listening!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Pros and Cons of Pregnancy
I think this might be a new segment on the baby blog - the Pros and Cons of Pregnancy. I have to thank some colleagues, BT & BCK, for the idea since we were emailing back and forth at work yesterday listing some pros and cons and the emails made me laugh.
CON: Raised Body Temperature
In mild, lovely Wisco, I hadn't noticed this too much. When we had that heat wave a few weeks ago, I got a glimpse of what a very hot summer would be like - yikes! On vacation, it was H-O-T every day. As much as I loved Charleston, I thought I was going to melt every time we stepped out of air conditioning. Not to mention, most of my maternity clothes are knit fabric - which when sweaty and humid just clings to you and makes you more hot. Have the makers of maternity clothes not thought of this???? My husband thinks it is funny because usually I go to bed with sweatpants and a sweatshirt and use all of the blankets. Lately, it's the parachutes and a t-shirt and I maybe will use the sheet. I sometimes affectionately call my belly "my little heater". It is almost time for tube #2 of the peppermint cooling lotion!
PRO: Everyone loves a pregnant woman
While on vacation, I got lots of mention toward the belly. We stopped for lunch at Rush's chicken on our drive (because it was Sunday and Chick-Fil-A was closed) and the woman taking our order said, "$5.02 is your change and Congratulations on the baby!". Walking the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach, the spray paint t-shirt guys called out "Congratulations on your baby - Wanna buy a t-shirt?". We met a young couple who were honeymooning in MB and they were asking us all about our baby plans. Ladies and Gentleman, somewhere in Rochester NY, a newlywed couple knows our probable boy name. (We haven't decided on a girl name yet, but that's another story for another day.) I was a little anxious about telling them but my husband left me no choice - while talking to them, he leaned over and said to me, "We can probably tell them the name, right?". Of course I had to say, "Yes" lest I look like the crazy preggo lady, ha ha ha. Back to the topic at hand. Last night I went to pick up a shoe repair at this local cobbler, who isn't exactly a crochety old man, but let's just say he tends that way. He told me the total for the repair and something about the way I turned when I went to get my money must have brought the bump into light and he said, "When are you expecting?" I replied with my due date and he said, "I'm going to do something I rarely do. {Hands me back my money} Save your money for the baby. It's on me." How awesome is that?! So as I said a few days ago, the pendulum is swinging a bit more toward the "love" (or at least "like") side of the love/hate relationship I have with pregnancy.
CON: Raised Body Temperature
In mild, lovely Wisco, I hadn't noticed this too much. When we had that heat wave a few weeks ago, I got a glimpse of what a very hot summer would be like - yikes! On vacation, it was H-O-T every day. As much as I loved Charleston, I thought I was going to melt every time we stepped out of air conditioning. Not to mention, most of my maternity clothes are knit fabric - which when sweaty and humid just clings to you and makes you more hot. Have the makers of maternity clothes not thought of this???? My husband thinks it is funny because usually I go to bed with sweatpants and a sweatshirt and use all of the blankets. Lately, it's the parachutes and a t-shirt and I maybe will use the sheet. I sometimes affectionately call my belly "my little heater". It is almost time for tube #2 of the peppermint cooling lotion!
PRO: Everyone loves a pregnant woman
While on vacation, I got lots of mention toward the belly. We stopped for lunch at Rush's chicken on our drive (because it was Sunday and Chick-Fil-A was closed) and the woman taking our order said, "$5.02 is your change and Congratulations on the baby!". Walking the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach, the spray paint t-shirt guys called out "Congratulations on your baby - Wanna buy a t-shirt?". We met a young couple who were honeymooning in MB and they were asking us all about our baby plans. Ladies and Gentleman, somewhere in Rochester NY, a newlywed couple knows our probable boy name. (We haven't decided on a girl name yet, but that's another story for another day.) I was a little anxious about telling them but my husband left me no choice - while talking to them, he leaned over and said to me, "We can probably tell them the name, right?". Of course I had to say, "Yes" lest I look like the crazy preggo lady, ha ha ha. Back to the topic at hand. Last night I went to pick up a shoe repair at this local cobbler, who isn't exactly a crochety old man, but let's just say he tends that way. He told me the total for the repair and something about the way I turned when I went to get my money must have brought the bump into light and he said, "When are you expecting?" I replied with my due date and he said, "I'm going to do something I rarely do. {Hands me back my money} Save your money for the baby. It's on me." How awesome is that?! So as I said a few days ago, the pendulum is swinging a bit more toward the "love" (or at least "like") side of the love/hate relationship I have with pregnancy.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Wearing a Swimsuit While 27 weeks Pregnant: Cue JAWS music
28 weeks!! 12 weeks left!! AHHH!!! Maybe if I'm lucky it will be 11 weeks!! I want to meet Baby S!
JN asked me last night how I was feeling about pregnancy. I still maintain my love/hate relationship with it, but I think I like it a bit more now that I have a belly. Now if I could only get some sleep, I might just take hate out of the equation.
One of the things I was not looking forward to with an August due date is that I would inevitably be wearing a swimsuit while pregnant. And not just a little pregnant - THIRD TRIMESTER pregnant. I have already covered some trials and tribulations of shopping for a swimsuit. I wore my new swimsuit for the first time while being pregnant. Wait, I should say that I did wear a swimsuit during Week 6 while on a cruise with my in-laws, but that doesn't really count because beyond my slightly larger bosom, I wasn't visibly pregnant and could still rock my string bikini selections. I'm not normally shy wearing a swimsuit but I definitely was a little anxious about wearing a bikini with a belly. Granted, I now feel like I am "pregnant" rather than just fat, but still. Definitely weird.
I bought this target maternity dress/shirt thing on clearance before we left to wear as a cover-up. I did not take that cover-up off for a very long time on Day 1. Finally I just got so HOT (more on being hot tomorrow) that I took it off. And you know what, the world did not end. People did not stare. (Granted, we were in Myrtle Beach which is probably not known as the beautiful body of the world capital!) By the end of the three days on the beach, I was practially prancing around in that bikini...or at least frolicking in the ocean enough to lose a pair of sunglasses to the waves. I kept wondering if Baby S could hear the pounding waves and if he/she was thinking, "WHERE ARE WE?!?!". That ocean felt so good that I wanted to transport it home with me. I am hoping WI lakes will be just as good to carry me through a pregnant summer. I highly recommend this swimming suit - it stayed put, was supportive and I think still more sophisticated looking than any maternity tankini that I was able to find. It is way more than I have ever spent on a suit, but very well constructed and worth it. I have it in plain brown because when you need advanced bosom support, your color options are limited, but it also comes in fun stripes and polka dots. I actually hope they still have this suit next summer - I would get it in my non-pregnant size for sure.
JN asked me last night how I was feeling about pregnancy. I still maintain my love/hate relationship with it, but I think I like it a bit more now that I have a belly. Now if I could only get some sleep, I might just take hate out of the equation.
One of the things I was not looking forward to with an August due date is that I would inevitably be wearing a swimsuit while pregnant. And not just a little pregnant - THIRD TRIMESTER pregnant. I have already covered some trials and tribulations of shopping for a swimsuit. I wore my new swimsuit for the first time while being pregnant. Wait, I should say that I did wear a swimsuit during Week 6 while on a cruise with my in-laws, but that doesn't really count because beyond my slightly larger bosom, I wasn't visibly pregnant and could still rock my string bikini selections. I'm not normally shy wearing a swimsuit but I definitely was a little anxious about wearing a bikini with a belly. Granted, I now feel like I am "pregnant" rather than just fat, but still. Definitely weird.
I bought this target maternity dress/shirt thing on clearance before we left to wear as a cover-up. I did not take that cover-up off for a very long time on Day 1. Finally I just got so HOT (more on being hot tomorrow) that I took it off. And you know what, the world did not end. People did not stare. (Granted, we were in Myrtle Beach which is probably not known as the beautiful body of the world capital!) By the end of the three days on the beach, I was practially prancing around in that bikini...or at least frolicking in the ocean enough to lose a pair of sunglasses to the waves. I kept wondering if Baby S could hear the pounding waves and if he/she was thinking, "WHERE ARE WE?!?!". That ocean felt so good that I wanted to transport it home with me. I am hoping WI lakes will be just as good to carry me through a pregnant summer. I highly recommend this swimming suit - it stayed put, was supportive and I think still more sophisticated looking than any maternity tankini that I was able to find. It is way more than I have ever spent on a suit, but very well constructed and worth it. I have it in plain brown because when you need advanced bosom support, your color options are limited, but it also comes in fun stripes and polka dots. I actually hope they still have this suit next summer - I would get it in my non-pregnant size for sure.
Monday, June 7, 2010
My Underwear Could Save My Life if I Have to Jump Out of an Airplane
Wow! I feel like I am going to vomit a lot of information at you this week with missing eleven days of blogging. 11 DAYS of VACATION for me!
I missed documenting my official crossover into the third trimester, but trust me, I definitely celebrated. :)
I'll try not to get long winded.
First up underwear. I had mentioned that I had to buy some new underwear pre-vacation and that they were two sizes bigger than the current underwear that I own. I was in a big rush getting stuff done and ready before vacation so I just picked up a 6 pack of Hanes underwear from Target. I don't have any Hanes underwear so I wasn't experienced in the way of these underwear. I based my decision on the pictures of the model on the front and went with the "low rise brief" figuring that was probably the style of the underwear I had at home. (Yes, I love granny panties - I will expound upon that later.)
So I rushed home ripped open the package and threw all of them in the wash and then into my suitcase. We get on vacation and I think we were in Asheville yet when I first put on the underwear. Wow. These take granny to a new level and definitely were not "low rise". And they were a bit big - I got two sizes bigger b/c the one size bigger looked a little small and I thought they would shrink. These underwear are enormous! Oh well, I though, who cares.
Well aparently my husband does.
"What is going on with those underwear" he asked me one night. I just started laughing. And Laughing. And Laughing. "I know - they are enormous. I totally bought them too big and thought the style would be a little bit more LOW RISE and not halfway up my stomach."
So now they are referred to as the parachutes.
It totally brought back memories of the underwear intervention my college roommates staged for me sophomore year. Oh yes - I never have been one for thongs or skimpy undies. Sure I'll don them on special occasions (wink wink) or for the right outfit, but I have always rocked the bikinis or hipsters. My sister and I are convinced it is because our buttcracks are really long and that low rise underwear don't appropriately cover our jelly. (I have the same issue with low rise jeans which is why I was glad the higher rise styles came back!). Anyway, back to sophomore year....I don't know why but I also bought my underwear very large back then. I think my mom induced the fear of shrinking into me at a young age - like buy a size bigger than you need because they will shrink. For example in college during the time of which I speak, I was wearing size L Victoria's Secret Briefs. My boyfriend at the time actually ASKED ME why I bought my underwear so large. Oh my god - I was totally humiliated because it was a newish relationship.
When I told my three college roommates this story they were like, Well Let's see the underwear. They totally started laughing hysterically when I pulled down my jeans. And took a picture (which i still have but will NOT be posting). Then one of them (NB) took me shopping for all new underwear. Sized appropriately.
Since that time, I have not had any issues with underwear. Until getting knocked up. I wish I was still in contact with NB because I think she would get a kick of out of my underwear regression.
My favorite underwear during pregnancy (and before) have been these gillian and o'malley ones that I got from a target clearance rack pre-pregnancy. I have searched Target and they do not make this style/cut anymore apparently so I'm stuck with only 3 pairs. The way I see it, I think the parachutes will just give me THAT much more motivation to get back into shape post-baby.
I missed documenting my official crossover into the third trimester, but trust me, I definitely celebrated. :)
I'll try not to get long winded.
First up underwear. I had mentioned that I had to buy some new underwear pre-vacation and that they were two sizes bigger than the current underwear that I own. I was in a big rush getting stuff done and ready before vacation so I just picked up a 6 pack of Hanes underwear from Target. I don't have any Hanes underwear so I wasn't experienced in the way of these underwear. I based my decision on the pictures of the model on the front and went with the "low rise brief" figuring that was probably the style of the underwear I had at home. (Yes, I love granny panties - I will expound upon that later.)
So I rushed home ripped open the package and threw all of them in the wash and then into my suitcase. We get on vacation and I think we were in Asheville yet when I first put on the underwear. Wow. These take granny to a new level and definitely were not "low rise". And they were a bit big - I got two sizes bigger b/c the one size bigger looked a little small and I thought they would shrink. These underwear are enormous! Oh well, I though, who cares.
Well aparently my husband does.
"What is going on with those underwear" he asked me one night. I just started laughing. And Laughing. And Laughing. "I know - they are enormous. I totally bought them too big and thought the style would be a little bit more LOW RISE and not halfway up my stomach."
So now they are referred to as the parachutes.
It totally brought back memories of the underwear intervention my college roommates staged for me sophomore year. Oh yes - I never have been one for thongs or skimpy undies. Sure I'll don them on special occasions (wink wink) or for the right outfit, but I have always rocked the bikinis or hipsters. My sister and I are convinced it is because our buttcracks are really long and that low rise underwear don't appropriately cover our jelly. (I have the same issue with low rise jeans which is why I was glad the higher rise styles came back!). Anyway, back to sophomore year....I don't know why but I also bought my underwear very large back then. I think my mom induced the fear of shrinking into me at a young age - like buy a size bigger than you need because they will shrink. For example in college during the time of which I speak, I was wearing size L Victoria's Secret Briefs. My boyfriend at the time actually ASKED ME why I bought my underwear so large. Oh my god - I was totally humiliated because it was a newish relationship.
When I told my three college roommates this story they were like, Well Let's see the underwear. They totally started laughing hysterically when I pulled down my jeans. And took a picture (which i still have but will NOT be posting). Then one of them (NB) took me shopping for all new underwear. Sized appropriately.
Since that time, I have not had any issues with underwear. Until getting knocked up. I wish I was still in contact with NB because I think she would get a kick of out of my underwear regression.
My favorite underwear during pregnancy (and before) have been these gillian and o'malley ones that I got from a target clearance rack pre-pregnancy. I have searched Target and they do not make this style/cut anymore apparently so I'm stuck with only 3 pairs. The way I see it, I think the parachutes will just give me THAT much more motivation to get back into shape post-baby.
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