Baby We Were Born to Run

What I Know Now: 2 weeks Postpartum

2010-09-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

Miss Maggie is two weeks old today. I have been trying to think of a way to appropriately close out this blog of my pregnancy and what better way than one final "What I Know Now". Thanks to you all for following me along the way on my "secret" blog. It's time to close up shop as I will only be updating my public blog from here on out. And really, since I can't really whine about being pregnant anymore, I won't have much to talk about, ha ha ha.

So here goes - What I know Now that I have a 2 week old baby.

1. The most important day in any running program is rest. Rest days give your muscles time to recover so you can run again. Your muscles build in strength as you rest. ~Hal Higdon Here we go again with the link between parenthood and running. "Sleep when she sleeps". If I hear that piece of advice one more time, I will go bonkers. Of course, people tell you this because it's true. The surest way to go insane is to be sleep deprived. I thought I would be ok with the sleep deprivation since my pregnancy was insomnia-filled. I actually think I am clocking more hours of sleep now than when I was pregnant but am MORE tired. How does that work??! I am not good at sleeping when she sleeps yet. Too much other stuff to do and I don't really think I'm tired. Then 6:00 PM comes and I am WIPED. Trying to get better about this.

2. Breastmilk = Dope for babies. Baby can be screaming bloody murder and the second she gets the boob in her mouth is quiet. 10 minutes later she is a limp noodle. Makes me laugh every time.

3. Breastfeeding is hard..but gets easier! Magster latched immediately in labor and delivery so of course I thought, "YES! This breastfeeding thing is going to be a piece of cake". YEah. Somewhere on the wheelchair ride from labor & delivery up to the mom and baby floor, she forgot everything. We literally had to train her to suck using a syringe full of colostrum and my husband's pinky finger. From there she graduated to my boob with a thin tube taped to it. Thankfully on Day 4, something clicked and she has been a feeding champ since then. For an instant at 1 in the morning while my husband was trying to help me get both my boob and the feeding tube in her tiny mouth, I realized that THIS is probably why people give up breastfeeding. I feel lucky that we figured it out because I don't know how many more days I would have lasted with that feeding tube.

4. WOW does your relationship with your husband change. I'm sure it will go back to somewhere in between but I don't think I have had a conversation with him that wasn't about the baby. My husband literally had to milk me that first night in the hospital because I was so tired that I couldn't do it by myself anymore. So as I tried to squeeze colostrum out of my boob, my husband was there with a plastic shot glass trying to scoop out the drops. Poor guy will never look at my boobs the same way again.

5. I have no idea what I do all day. I am not going to lie - I do miss things like reading, crafting. Maybe one day I'll get to return to these things. Right now, the latest book I read is My Hand, Your Hand. And it is a black and white picture book for babies.

6. Daytime tv is terrible.

7. You do forget what boob you fed with last. Prior to breastfeeding, I thought it would be easy to track which boob I fed the baby with last. Yeah. NOT. Now I rock my yellow Livestrong bracelet on whatever arm corresponds to the boob on deck. Keeps me sane in the middle of the night.

8. I am a leaker. Boobs leak constantly. Baby cries, boobs leak. I tried sleeping without a nursing bra a couple nights and my shirt was totally milk soaked. So sleeping with a bra it is.

9. I feel like I am pretty well healed "down there". Nice. That whole thing was not as bad as I thought it would be. I am really sick of wearing pads but I don't have any pain or soreness so that's nice. I have considered going for a run already, but don't know if it is too soon.

10. I was totally afraid to poop after giving birth. Thank goodness they feed you stool softeners in the hospital.

11. I have to remember to eat. Most days, I don't remember to eat lunch until around 3 PM.

12. Holding your baby is really fun. That's probably what I do all day :)

13. Giving birth is AMAZING. Hands down one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. And it is way harder than running a marathon.

Thanks again for checking in on me and my pregnancy! This blog is officially CLOSED for BUSINESS.

PROGRESS!

2010-09-07T11:10:00.001-07:00

Well, quite the turn around in my mental state in the past couple of hours.

I had a non-stress test this morning to make sure that the baby is indeed happy in there. We passed the test at like minute 2. I still had to be hooked up for 20 minutes but everything is great with baby S.

Then I had my "regular" doctor appt. I lost a pound bringing my pregnancy weight gain to 35 lbs. thus far and my BP is still good - 110/60. Then the cervical check:

THREE CENTIMETERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woohoo!!! So I guess the weekend of contracting was good for something!

3 down, 7 more to go!

I am also 80% effaced.

He asked if I wanted the membranes stripped. He thought now was as good of time as any to do it so I let him. It did not hurt as badly as I thought it would, although I thought it would be horrible. Since then I have had a few really bad contractions so people at work (yes, I'm still at work) think the baby's birthday will be 9/8/10...

...which is my third wedding anniversary! ARGH. Total Murphy's Law. The ONE day I didn't want...we shall see. I'm trying not to get my hopes up but maybe?!?! I know my dad would be THRILLED if the baby was born tomorrow since that is his birthday too.

If nothing happens by Friday, I have to be up in labor and delivery by 5 AM to start the pitocin drip. I asked the doctor if the baby would be born by Saturday since I wouldn't want the kid to have a 9/11 birthday either and he responded, "God I should hope so."

So new poll - 9/8, 9/9 or 9/10?!? What will it be?

41 Weeks

2010-09-07T07:17:00.001-07:00

Even when you have gone as far as you can, and everything hurts, and you are staring at the specter of self-doubt, you can find a bit more strength deep inside you, if you look closely enough.

Hal Higdon

Lucky me - I just love being pregnant so much (heavy sarcasm) that I got an extra week of it. My runner's world quote of the day today is the quote above. I found it very fitting for my current state of mind, which hasn't been the best. In short, I'm going insane.

On the pro side, I have been having a ton of contractions. On the con side, they aren't really going anywhere productive. So if I'm going to be doubled over in pain and woken up several times during the night because of them, I would prefer to get it over with!!

I go to the doctor later today for a non-stress test and regular visit. Otherwise, game plan is still to be induced on Friday. I'm trying to focus on the fact that at most Ionly have 3 more days of being pregnant. After 34 weeks of crappy sleep, I think i can take 3 more days.

Heard on the street

2010-09-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we are still pregnant. I have to try to keep in mind that I am really only 3 days overdue. Not that much. Yesterday I had a really negative outlook and it was really driving me nuts. Today I'm feeling much better.

I get a LOT of email, facebook messages, phone calls, etc asking if I am still around. I really do not mind all of this - who would mind all of this fun attention?! I've decided to compile a list of some of the comments I've gotten:

"Is that baby ever going to come? You're like me - I had a lazy uterus" (said to me 2x actually, by the same person)

"What if you have the baby on "labor" day?!" (if I had a dollar for every time I heard that one...)

"You should have the baby on 90210 day and name it [insert 90210 character here]" (The hubs was so happy our baby was not born yesterday after he heard this. I on the other hand thought it would have been funny.)

"Knowing you, Baby S is in there absorbed in a good book" :)

"Have you dropped? It looks like you've dropped" (For the record, I think this "dropping business" is a line of sh**. My boss agrees.)

"You're still at work?!?!?" (actually my husband gets this (referring to the fact that I'm still working) more than I do)

"The longer the baby is in there, the better sleeper and eater it is" (fingers crossed that this one's true!)

And then there are the whole host of labor induction methods that people are always eager to dole out:

"Why don't you try...

...walking
...hip circles on an exercise ball
...eggplant parmesan
...spicy food
...having sex
...nipple stimulation
...jumping jacks
...castor oil
...having the hubs take me on a bumpy car ride

I have tried all of these (with the exception of the castor oil). Many of them, we have tried MULTIPLE times. So far...nothing. I'll keep trying though! While doing my hip circles last night I told my husband that at least my sacrum will be really nice and loose by the time labor does start!

This morning my husband tried a new method - he put his mouth by the belly and said, "YOU ARE BEING EVICTED. YOU HAVE TO GET OUT ASAP". Maybe that will work?! Or maybe our child will now have daddy issues for the rest of his/her life...

One of these days I will get to say "I HAD THE BABY!!". It will for sure be within the next week as my induction date is a week from today!

BRING ON THE FMLA!!!

2010-09-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

You may recall that one of the positives of having a September baby is that my FMLA would be squared away and I would be able to take the rest of 2010 off.

I am excited that we have reached that milestone! My boss was on vacation Monday and Tuesday and she called me last night to find out if I had the baby. She said, "Well, all you have to do is make it one hour tomorrow and you'll have your FMLA set!"

I had contractions last night, some of them the most intense that I have had yet. The hubs was saying, "just a little longer, baby" and I told him he was taking me to work if he had to WHEEL me into my office for an hour.

I'm happy to say that I did not have to get wheeled into work this morning and that I've put in 4 hours already :). Ok, baby, get to work!! We want you on the outside STAT!

40 WEEKS! Update!

2010-08-31T06:43:00.000-07:00

Here is my disclaimer that the following may contain too much information.

SO. WEIRD to see the little woman on top of my blog on week 40. (if you read my blog in google reader, you won't see the ticker). It's pretty crazy that I am here. While I don't really think that I will have the baby today, some milestones were hit.

First, my insomnia is back. I had two, maybe even three, great weeks of sleep (well, great compared to insomnia). I was still getting up most nights, but would be able to fall asleep after 20-30 minutes of reading. Starting Saturday night, I have been up for at least 3 hours each night, starting at 2-3 AM.

Yesterday, I had some bleeding throughout the day. I'm still not sure if that was "bloody show" (ewwww) or just from the cervical check my doctor did. CD told me that I should try doing hip circles on an exercise ball to engage the baby. I looked up other exercises said to engage the baby/bring on labor - walking (which I do 3 miles a day), squats (love my yoga squats) and hip circles. So last night, i was in the middle of our living room, curtains open, doing the hula hoop motion while on an exercise ball. It just might have worked...

...because this morning, at 5:30, I went to the bathroom. Something definitely felt different and as I looked into the toilet (which I have been checking for WEEKS now), I saw it. MY M. PLUG! HOLY SHIT. I was totally excited. I went back to bed, tossed and turned and then at 7 when our alarm went off told my husband. "REALLY"?! He was so excited. I cautioned him that while it is exciting, it could still be a while. (As an example, our friend JP lost hers on her due date and her baby was still 10 days late.)

My friend AH asked me if I had tried hand expressing to see if any colostrum would come out. I actually HAVE tried that before with no results. I don't know why this popped into my head this morning in the shower but I tried it and then yelled "OH MY GOD" without thinking. My husband nearly broke down the door rushing into the bathroom. "What?! What's the matter?!". I just started laughing and said, "Oh, sorry, I totally just squeezed some colostrum out of my boob". He just rolled his eyes and cracked, "Honey, don't waste that stuff, it's liquid gold" before heading to work. (If you take/have taken a breastfeeding class, you'll hear a lot about "liquid gold").

So a fun start to my due date day. Any contractions? No. I'm sure the excitement will wear off by this afternoon and I'll be tired as hell for only getting 4 hours of sleep.

Emotional Rollercoaster

2010-08-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

Friday night I thought for sure I was having this baby. I started getting pretty intense contractions at work and left early (3:30ish) because I wanted to be at home. The hubs and I got pizza delivery and got a movie to watch. I was having contractions throughout the movie and we decided to go on a walk after the movie to return it. More contractions through the walk. I went to bed and definitely thought that I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to start some timing.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling awesome...and still pregnant.

Yesterday it was return to the land of nausea and hot flashes. Saturday night I literally was laying on our floor in front of the air conditioning vent with ice packs on my neck because I was so hot. I didn't really have too many more contractions Saturday or Sunday.

This morning I had another doctor appointment. My cervix was deemed "unfavorable" right now. Nice. I have dilated to 1 cm, but the cervix is still pretty thick and the baby pretty high. He started talking about C-sections and membrane stripping. I didn't want anything done today, even though he offered to do the strip. I refused the strip. I go back a week from tomorrow for a non-stress test for the baby and another visit. If the baby is happy in there, all systems go until 9/10 which is when my induction is scheduled for. If the baby is not happy in there, induction happens that day.

In other news, I'm up 36 pounds and my BP is still good - 112/70. The baby's weight guesstimate has jumped too. Now the doctor thinks that baby is "decent sized" and will come in at the high 7s (his previous guess was 7 and a quarter lbs tops).

I was feeling really great mentally about the whole thing saying "the baby will come when he/she comes" before my doctor appointment. Then there were too many naughty words (c-section, inducing, stillbirth) thrown around in a short time period and now I'm not feeling all that great. Oh well. I guess I will definitely only be pregnant for eleven more days tops.

And, I'm back

2010-08-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

The end of pregnancy is pure craziness. Yesterday I thought FOR SURE I was going into labor and would be in the hospital. I felt so gross and icky. My mom thought maybe the baby was coming. My MIL thought I was in early labor. Heck even my husband's secretary thought I was in early labor (she busted him looking at some pregnancy websites and he had to 'fess up). My boss thought I was going into labor - she called me this morning even though she doesn't work on Fridays. "Oh, you're in" came her disappointed reply when I answered my phone.

Today - totally fine. I feel great! Maybe all of my husband's pampering last night turned things around?!

SIGH.

I do have to say that if I am going to go into labor, I would rather go in feeling like I do today rather than yesterday/last night. I'm trying to savor the whole experience as one of my coworkers (the doula-esque one) told me that the whole experience of childbirth is something that you don't get very often. I thought that was a cool way to look at it, and a positive one. I have to say though I feel a bit like a fair-weather preggo. When times are good, i'm all, "I'm excited to go into labor" and "oh, i'm savoring this experience". When times are bad, as in last night, I'm totally terrified and thinking, "i'm not ready for this". Here's hoping when the time does come, I can channel that positive thinking!

ICK

2010-08-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

I feel like crapola.

Yesterday after work, I was walking to my car and I totally fell. It was really embarrassing. I feel on both of my knees and grass-stained up my pants. Basically, I tripped over my own foot on grass in the middle of this lawn as everyone was walking to their cars after work. Down goes pregnant lady. Sigh. The belly was not harmed, but my ego was a little bruised (and I'm hoping my pants aren't ruined).

After that, I was on my way to book club where I had yummy food and good conversation but felt icky. My back was killing me. I could barely drive home. I laid on the couch for a bit and then went grocery shopping and felt a little better. I fell asleep and woke up at 2.

Crappy feeling again. At 4 I took a benedryl b/c i couldn't stand not being able to sleep and my back was still really sore.

This morning, I wanted to call in sick, but as I've posted about before, my banked sick days are like precious gold right now and I didn't want to waste one pre-baby so that i could have it post-baby.

I have been at work for 3 hours. My goal is to make it to 4 PM b/c I have a training I have to do at 3. Keep your fingers crossed!

"I Saw The Sign"

2010-08-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

A coworker sent me a nice email today with lots of tips/suggestions on labor and delivery. She also told me that she secretly wants to be a doula. Many of her suggestions, tips were very doula-esque. (Ok, I don't have a doula, nor do I know one but from what I know of them, the stuff seemed doula-esque.)

One of the websites she sent me had this list of "signs of labor (not necessearily imminent)" that made me think, "Ok, maybe I won't be pregnant until Christmas".

I still think i have a ways to go, but the list made me hopeful that my body is progressing towards the big L.

This may be TMI, but it wouldn't be the first time on this blog, now would it?

Here is the list:

SIGNS OF LABOR (not necessarily imminent)
*Increase of vaginal discharge - YES

*Baby drops down further into pelvis - I don't know. I've had people tell me that I've dropped and others tell me that I haven't.

*Pressure or aching in pelvis or thighs - YES. Especially today

*Low, dull backache - YES. Going on about 2 weeks now.

*Cramps similar to stomach ache or menstrual cramps - YES

*Loose bowel movements, diarrhea or nausea - YES to both

*Loss of mucous plug - NO

*Nesting energy - YES

*Restlessness, an unsettled feeling - ?? I don't know if what i am feeling is unsettled. I would say I am definitely restless because I am so freakin' excited! My boss and I had a conversation today (can you tell i get a lot of work done right now?!) about how, in her opinion, labor is so exciting. I haven't gone into labor yet but going in, I feel really positive and excited. My sister called and asked me if I was nervous, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, but really, the #1 emotion right now is EXCITED.

Re-reading that last paragraph makes me think of Jesse Spano on Saved by the Bell when she was addicted to caffeine pills. "I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so so so SCARED". HA HA HA. Love me some SBTB.

Lord Help Me...

2010-08-25T08:26:00.001-07:00

...I've started nesting at work.

These drawers have never been so organized!

Reason #54,708 that I love my husband

2010-08-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

The hubs and I upgraded to new cell phones last weekend. Our old phones were just phones - they had no special features. You could use them to call someone and text but that was it. And you know what, I sort of loved them.

We were eligible for an upgrade and we went for the upgrade to get these faux iphone things. I haven't made my mind up about them yet. One thing we are finding out is that battery life is not as long as our old phones. All of those features suck batteries dry, even if you aren't using your phone.

Yesterday, my phone died mid-day. I sent my husband an email saying, call my office phone if you need me.

Today, he sent me the same email. His phone had died.

About noon, he called me. It was registering from his cell phone so I answered and asked, "I thought your phone had died".

"Oh it did, but I went to US Cellular and did the free battery exchange to get a new one."

I replied, "Um, but your battery is exactly 4 days old. Why didn't you just wait to get home and charge it?"

"Well what if you went into labor? How would you have gotten a hold of me?!?!"

So cute.

Work Status

2010-08-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

You know what I love about these last few weeks of pregnancy?

No on expects you to do anything, particulary at work.

My coworkers are more concerned with my pregnancy status than the status of any work. Our co-director talks to me every morning about the fact that I'm "still here". I rarely get emails re: work anymore. When I do contact them about work, they seem surprised. It's kind of nice!

Granted, I did go through an Excel spreadsheet making phase to organize all of my work for other people while I am on maternity leave. Yesterday I finished making 26 Access databases. Today, I'm fiddling with the skip patterns within them and maybe I'll write an abstract. I'm suppossed to get a draft of a big report that was suppossed to be finished a while ago today to review as well.

Part of me is glad that I have finished all of my to-dos before maternity leave. But another part of me thinks that if I had more to do, I wouldn't think about the baby 24/7.

Or not. :)

39 down, 1 to go

2010-08-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Last night, we crossed our last baby-related item off the list. Now my husband is just looking for projects to keep his mind occupied!

We had our car seat installed last night. Well, the 2nd base anyways. I had called at the beginning of the month to get an appointment and the soonest appointment was yesterday. I freaked out thinking the baby could be here by then (guess I didn't have to worry about that!) and found out that one of our friends used to be a car seat technician in MN. So he came over and installed the car seat in our car. They also used the same car seat so they had an extra base to loan us, thereby saving us the $80 cost of an extra base.

Rather than cancel the appointment, I went to the fitting yesterday with our other car and 2nd base. I was glad I did this because I learned some stuff. Those of you who are preggers (and there are a lot of you!), I highly recommend getting a free car seat installation!

And now, back to waiting.

Danke Schoen

2010-08-23T02:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still pregnant. (A few days of not posting anything sometimes makes people wonder.) However, I had a really great weekend and am not feeling as impatient with the whole thing. Although she certainly wasn't the first or only person to tell me this, when JN emailed me, "Try to enjoy the last couple of days of just you and {my hubby} because it will never be just the two of you again," it hit me like a ton of bricks. Wowsa. Our days together are sorta limited!

So enjoying time with my husband was what I spent the weekend doing. I had a really great, relaxing weekend. Several things contributed to this, of which/whom I will now personally thank:

1) Thank you Dr. L for shortening your vacation, thus making me more relaxed about the fact that I could still have you in the delivery room if I give birth this week (after Tues, of course).

2) Thank you, Mr. Video Store Clerk, for not only leaving your stand to go find discs 3, 4 and 5 of True Blood for us, but for giving us Disc 5 for free.

3) Thank you, Ms. Jo-Ann Fabrics customer, for exclaiming, yesterday, that I look "fantastic" when hearing I was due in 9 days.

4) Thank you, neighbors, for having one of those super sweet sheet cakes from Sam's Club for your daughter's first birthday party on Saturday. YUM.

5) Thank you, Mad Men writing team, for bringing Betty back in last night's episode. (And now I have the song "sexy back" (justin timberlake) in my head with the words "i'm bringing betty back" in lieu of "i'm bringing sexy back")

6) Thank you, baby Charlotte, for inciting baby envy with my baby yesterday. The ENTIRE time I was holding her, our baby was kicking her in the butt. This is funny to me, because I very rarely will get movement near the top of my uterus/bottom of my ribs, where C was resting.

7) Thank you, K's custard stand, for making delicious cheeseburgers. (Last week at my weigh in, I lost a pound so I had a lot of catching up to do in the food arena, ha ha ha).

8) Thank you, makers of Trader Joe's sparkling limeade, for making me think I ALMOST am drinking a mojito after some doctoring done by my hubby.

9) Thank you, Charlaine Harris, for writing that superb sex scene between Eric and Sookie in the shower in the 4th Sookie Stackhouse book. Yes, I think these books are probably considered "trash", yes, they are about vampires and yes, I like them. Are you going to argue with a woman who is 9 months preggers?!

10) Thank you, fashion magazines, for the September issues. While the heavy weight of you makes it a tad difficult to read you whilst you rest on my stomach, the glossy pages and pages of clothes have brought a smile to my face. Oh how I can't WAIT to not be in maternity clothes!

11) Thank you, US Cellular woman, for hooking us up with some pretty sweet new phones. I went through an entire battery in about a day already. Maybe an internet phone wasn't so smart!

12) Thank you, inventor of string cheese. Yes I am STILL obsessed with string cheese.

13) Last, but certainly not least, thank you, my darling husband. For the foot rubs, the back rubs, nesting FOR me, watching 8 episodes of true blood with me in one weekend, making me yummy snacks, inventing the faux-jito (non-alcoholic mojito), meeting me middle-of-the-night bathroom trips with a "are you ok" (I can hardly wait to tell him I'm in labor, the man is so excited), for making homemade salsa with an extra little kick (you know what they say about spicy food...), for painting my toenails for me (even though they look like a first grader did the job), and for always making me laugh. Even though you don't know about this blog's existence, I hope I have said "thank you" and "i love you" enough that you have gotten this message.

Still a Big, Fat ZERO

2010-08-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

Just got back from my doctor appointment and lunch.

Still no dilation.

Not even 1 measly centimeter.

SIGH.

A few promising things:
1) It did hurt more this week to get the cervix checked. This MUST mean that it is softer or something than last time. RIGHT?! (Don't tell me...I prefer to leave in my dreamworld.

2) My doctor previously was going to be on vacation all of next week. Unfortunately (for him) but fortunately (For us) he will be back on Tuesday so anything after Tuesday is fair game in terms of labor and delivery!

and because I have been telling people at work that I will be pregnant until December, I also asked how long he would let me go before getting induced. I am very anti-getting induced at this point.

3) He would let me go until 9/10. At one week past due date, he would do a stress test on the baby to make sure he/she is still doing well but would leave it up to me before 9/10 to say yes. I find this very comforting b/c I feel like a lot of doctors seem to induce like 1 day after the due date.

So we're back to waiting. Apparently, my cervix just needs some stress, according to doc. Apparently, walking 3 miles a day for the past two weeks is not enough stress. Back to work!

A Woohoo! and a YAY! to start my Friday

2010-08-20T06:34:00.001-07:00

No group B strep for me! I just got my test results back. woohoo!!

Today I have another doctor appointment at 12:30. My husband is coming with to this one, which I think will be good as it will be his first experience with the whole someone being "down there". The hubs has put on a very good front throughout all of this, but I think he might be a little weirded out by it too. After the appointment he's taking me out to a fancy lunch. YAY!

11 days to go (which makes me think of you, AH, #11 ;) )!!

Shopping for Baby Clothes

2010-08-18T07:43:00.001-07:00

Everyone knows that shopping for baby stuff is fun. When you are 14 days away from your due date, it is so fun, it is almost AGONIZING. Thank God we did not find out the gender of our child, or the entire mall would have been bought out by us last night. I was tempted on numerous occassions just to buy things and take them back if they weren't going to work out gender-wise.

The trip to the mall was prompted by the fact that we got another baby gift last night - the 42nd duck blanket we have received along with the 20th duck sleeper. Both cute, but given that I seriously think we have 25+ blankets (with probably 5 of them at least with ducks), we were going to take it back. However, no gift receipt so we had to do that walk of shame up to the registers at the department stores and ask, meekly, "Is this from here?" I have to say that I would just tend to keep all of this stuff, particularly when there is no gift receipt, but my husband is the one that thinks our child is going to have some fear of ducks or despise green and yellow :)

While we were at the mall, we decided to pick up a few baby gifts for everyone ELSE who has had their baby. I've been slacking on one for over a month now and we are headed to see baby Charlotte on Sunday (that is if our own baby does not arrive...hint hint...baby, get going!). Normally I would say that my husband would just be like, get whatever but last night even he was getting into it. "Honey, pretty soon we'll know what side of the stores we get to shop on!" was his cutest comment. [Responding to my annoyance that when you step in a store, you either go left for boys or right for girls. Maybe if you're lucky they'll have a green outfit in the middle.]

Even though I had already packed a few baby outfits in the hospital bag, he thought I should have picked out a boy outfit and a girl outfit at Jack and Jill that he was going to leave the hospital and pick up. So sweet, but I told him that I would rather have him just stay at the hospital. "But we have to have a going home outfit!" was his reply. If we don't have this baby soon, I don't know who is going to be more insane - he or I! :) (secretly, though, you know i love it)

13 more days!

What I Know Now: 38 weeks

2010-08-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

Another month since I made one of these lists. I hope to GOD that I am not writing one of these again in a month :)

Here we go:

1. The 3rd trimester is definitely my favorite. The prevailing idea out there is that the 2nd trimester is the honeymoon period. Not for me. I actually liked it once I had the big belly and people could obviously tell i was preggers and not fat. I also feel like most of my issues resolved themselves lately - my face cleared up, i don't have as much body acne and I (knock on wood) had more days of good sleep during trimester 3 than any of the other trimesters. I think part of this is probably that I haven't had too many discomforts - i never have felt shortness of breath or the feeling that there isn't any more room for the baby to go...YET.

2. Your cervix becomes an acceptable point of public discussion. WHAT?! People keep asking me if my cervix has dilated. Ok, if you are one of my good friends and ask me this, that is one thing (and totally fine) but posting "has your cervix dilated" on my facebook page is not. (And neither is getting all high and mighty when I respond to you in a private email rather than on my facebook wall). I feel that I am pretty open about all of this stuff but there is a line!

3. People are SO NICE to you at this point in your pregnancy! Man, I almost don't want to have the baby so that people keep being so nice! (OK< NOT REALLY!)

4. I always read things about how pregnant women get extra long foot massages at pedicures and they feel so good. I never had anything against food massages but I wasn't all about them either...until this week. HOLY COW does it feel good to get your feet rubbed. Bonus points if your husband uses peppermint foot lotion.

5. By this point, daily massages are a must. LOVE that I have a husband who just offers this without my asking.

6. I don't know if I know what a contraction is still. I think I've been having them for a couple of days but a part of me wonders if it is just cramps? Or cramps = contractions? From all the descriptions that I have read about them, I would say yes, i am having contractions. no they are not that regular :(

7. I thought that people having babies while I was pregnant was fun. That gets amplified about a million times as you get closer to 40 weeks. Our friends S&E had a baby yesterday (Charlotte Suzanne) and my husband's coworker had a baby last Friday (Madelynn Julia) and he just called me saying that he got to hold Madelynn and is really REALLY excited. AHHHHH!

Large and In Charge

2010-08-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

A coworker (who is 19 weeks preggers) was on vacation last week and saw me today and said - Wow! You look great but definitely bigger than when I saw you last!

Another facebooker commented that it looks like I have dropped.

I feel like this weekend was a huge growth spurt. I am wearing a pair of those maternity pants that have the tabs on the side with the buttons and I literally had to make them a button bigger on each side about 5 seconds ago. Maybe that means that I did drop since these pants have fit the same way my entire pregnancy, right under the belly? I don't think I look any different but I'll take what I can get.

Regardless, it still can be weeks after "dropping" before babies are born.

Today (at 9:16 PM) is the first birthdate that someone had on our baby pool. I'm going to wager that that person does not win birthdate points. Sigh.

I am very happy that our bathroom remodel was finished over the weekend and am very happy that I have most pressing work issues done but really what does that leave me to do?

Wonder when the baby will arrive.

AHHH! I am going to go insane in the next 15 days! :)

Hospital Bag: Check!

2010-08-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

When you are well prepared to meet the demands of a race, not only will your race probably go well, but your recovery should go smoothly, too.

Susan Paul, running coach, exercise physiologist, and program director for the Orlando Track Shack Foundation

Another Runner's World quote for you :)

So preparation...the hospital bag is packed! I think my husband got a little nervous when he found out what I was doing. Nervous in a good way though. Unfortunately I had to break the news that no, I wasn't having contractions and yes, I still have my MP. (2nd word is plug - thanks BK for the abbreviation).

Several things that I want to take to the hospital are not able to be packed yet so i made a list of these things and told Nate what this list was so that if for some reason I go into labor at work and he has to go get the back before meeting me at the hospital, he knows what the list is. He also has to add his stuff yet.

SO WHAT DID I PACK?!

I am a notorious overpacker.

Here is what is in there:

*2 nightgown/shirt things that have easy access to boobs. I actually owned these previously - one is from old navy and one is from target. They are really comfy and from my pre-pregnancy days and still fit now so I packed both. I don't know if I will actually use these or hospital gowns, but they are in there. I am DEFINITELY using a hospital gown for labor and delivery. These would be for after when we get moved up to the mom/baby ward.

*2 nursing bras. I'm not really sure which of the two I ordered will fit me best.

*Comfy outfit for coming home in. This consists of some black nike running capris from pre-pregnancy that i have still worn pregnant, a maternity t-shirt from target and a light sweatshirt/jacket.

*nursing pads in case i'm a leaker (thanks carol for the samples!)

*toothbrush

*shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soap. luckily i'm a free sample whore and had some free samples lying around

*headband and ponytail holder

*brush/comb

*contacts case

*outfits for baby. i did not buy a special coming home outfit. we have several newborn onesies that miles/felix rocked once upon a time and some cute hats. we also have a sleeper. i am bringing newborn sized things and 0-3 month sized things b/c i'm not really sure what will fit. and two hats :) IT WAS SO WEIRD packing clothes for the baby. SO WEIRD. I have a feeling it will still be hot as HELL when we bring the baby home so I went with lighter weight clothes. And my personal opinion is that there is nothing cuter than a baby wearing just a onesie :)

*underwear. although i think that these will not get used in favor of the disposable mesh ones that the hospital gives you.

On the list of stuff to pack at the last minute:
*computer - so we can email you all a cute picture :)

*computer charger

*phone charger

*contacts solution

*glasses

*camera!!!

*camera charger

18 more days!!!

Anticipation

2010-08-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

It's not like somebody else can run a marathon for you. It's all you out there. Finishing means you can say, "There's not a lot I can't do."

Kenneth Feld, Owner, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

I think this quote applies to both marathon running AND childbirth. Of course, we're talking about what I think about childbirth, since I have not gone through the process. I imagine though after you give birth to a child you do have a moment where you think, "There's not a lot I can't do". I know from actual experience that when you finish a marathon, you do feel pretty damn awesome. Pre-childbirth, I am going to guess that this feeling is the same amped up about a million times after you give birth.

What a strange time I am in right now! Every day is filled to the brim with anticipation. I really don't have anything that I can compare this to. No event that has occurred has been filled with as much anticipation as giving birth. I don't even know how to explain the excitement that is coursing through my brain, my veins every single day. In some ways, it helps me get through the waiting - because I know that I won't ever have this feeling again...eagerness to meet my very first child. So that is what I think about when I the anticipation borders on impatience. And really, it is a fine line indeed. As Tom Petty said, "the waiting is the hardest part". :)

19 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cervix: Check!

2010-08-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today I had another doctor appointment. The nurse asked me if I wanted my cervix checked. Hmm...how does one really respond to that question? I said yes because curiousity got the best of me. I can hold out on knowing the gender of my baby but not know if my cervix is dilated has been driving me crazy - go figure.

Anyway, my weight went up again. After two appointments of holding steady at 30 lbs of weight gain, i'm now up 34. All of those ice cream treats lately are catching up with me! Blood pressure was still normal and so was the urine test.

I asked about cord blood banking and donating to a public bank. Apparently the existing banks are full and they are only taking non-white blood or if you have a special condition, which I do not. Oh well.

So I had to have the group B strep swab..down there which was fine. The cervix check did not hurt at all. It was uncomfortable but not too bad.

I told the doctor I was hoping he would tell me I was dilated to 5 cm and had to get over to labor and delivery STAT. He said, "well you're not 5 cm. You're maybe 0.5 if I'm feeling generous." So that's that. I got nothin' in the cervix dept yet!

Some other fun things that happened - he made a guess as to how big the baby would be, although he confessed that he has a bad track record with estimating baby size on tall women. He thought that the baby was probably 7 lbs right now, maybe a little less and that if I go the full 40 weeks, he predicted the baby weight would be around 7 and a quarter. Not bad!

Also, we have received confirmation that the kiddo is head down! Sigh of relief! There has been this really hard part sticking out of my right side and I was worried it was the baby's butt. It's actually his/her knees! The butt is super high up in my rib cage, and therefore the baby is taking up basically my whole torso! Weird to think of it as that big! I have to confess that I still think of it the size it was at our 20 week ultrasound. So essentially it's tucked up like a little cannonball right now facing my right side. I guess we've been poking it in the knees then, and not the butt.

20 more days!

Nursing Apparel

2010-08-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

One of the recommended items to pack in the hospital bag is a nursing bra. My mom has a great story about how she didn't know this and had to have the main street lingerie shop DELIVER one to her in the hospital after she had me. She said it was mortifying so she told me to make sure to have one. Some of my friends said that they didn't need to use nursing bras. I am not going to be one of those people. My gigantor boobs now have CHAFING underneath them from the heat. Bring on the gold bond powder. I am starting to fear that I have what our breastfeeding instructor referred to as "pendulous breasts".

Several of the babycenter emails that I have gotten said that my breast size now is likely the breast size I will have while nursing. I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS. Most people tell you that their breasts got bigger after delivery. So how am I suppossed to bra shop now for later?!

I went to Target because I had a $3 coupon. Some of their nursing tanks were on clearance so I picked up one in a L and one in an XL. I also got a bra in my current bra size. I got them home and none of them fit. The XL tank maybe will fit when i don't have this enormous belly, but I'm not holding out hope. It was VERY weird putting these on. I think my husband was mortified when I showed them how they work.

Enter my good friend MB who had a baby 3 weeks ago and isn't mortified by the questions I ask her. She recommended Bravada nursing bras. And, because August is breastfeeding month, diapers.com has a code for 20% off Bravada nursing bras until 8/15. So I ordered two. They arrived yesterday in the mail and they are AWESOME. Very comfy and I would say there is definitely room to grow. I have this one and this one.

Check that off the list!

37 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-10T06:59:00.001-07:00

According to the world health organization and the baby center emails, I am full term! (Although according to the purple Mayo book and the definition we used for a paper I am helping to wrap up at work, 38 weeks is full term). Either way, I am excited to have made it here. And I might be starting to add in an extra walk each day, eat more spicy food and try to woo my husband into having sex with me more often...all in an effort to bring on labor. I don't care if they are old wives tales - I am to the point, mentally and physically, that I am OVER pregnancy. I WANT MY BABY!

Since so many of my friends are currently pregnant, I have been thinking a lot of what I did and didn't use out of the pregnancy products. It should come as no surprise that pregnant women are HIGHLY marketed to. My friend JN and I were scheming to buy a whole bunch of exercise balls at Target, slap a sticker on them and re-sell them for twice the price as "birthing balls", because that's essentially what a birthing ball is. Do you think women giving birth in the middle of the rainforest are using birthing balls and sleeping with pregnancy pillows? Baby Center even has their list of pregnancy products you can't live without.

Still, even though I was resistant to a lot of the stuff, it did make me more comfortable. So here's my take on pregnancy products...hoping that I won't have to use them for too much longer! :)

CRITICAL
*Pregnancy pillow. Oh how I made fun of these. And then my husband bought me the Boppy Total Body pillow. HEAVEN. I drag that thing everywhere I sleep. It came with us on the road trip. Yes it was $50, but we got a $25 gift card for signing up for the USA Baby emails and thus, it was only $25. And it came with 12 weeks of free US Weekly trash. I think any body pillow (pregnancy or not) would suffice but I loved my Boppy.

*Pregnancy camisoles. A friend that had her baby in June told me to get these when I started to complain that some of my shirts were getting too short. I have one in nude, black and white. I have to say that they make things really warm so I haven't used them lately too often, but they were nice to make everything seamless under my shirts. I got them from Old Navy but they also have them at Target.

*Prenatal Yoga DVD. I love this thing and I hate workout videos/DVDs. I actually still do it, although mostly only in sections at 4 AM to relieve my aching back. A friend loaned me it, but I am totally going to buy it for my next pregnancy. I have the Shiva Rae Prenatal Yoga.

WONDERFUL
*Peppermint lotion. This might be exclusively wonderful if you are going through your third trimester in summer, but this really helps me cool down at night. I have the Burts Bees Mama Bee kind since it was a gift, but really, any peppermint lotion would work.

*Belly Balms. Ok, every single book, email, etc tells you that your tendency to get stretch marks is more genetic than anything and no cream is going to prevent anything. I DID NOT LISTEN TO REASON. I slathered stuff on me from the first day I knew I was pregnant. Mostly because I got a lot of this stuff as gifts. I have blogged about all of these before and I didn't necessarily prefer one kind over the other. My belly didn't get too itchy that often. I still do not have any stretch marks though! Here's hoping none pop up in the next 3 weeks.

ON THE FENCE
*Seabands. These are actually marketed towards people who have motion sickness AND pregnant women. I used them for about 2 weeks in early pregnancy b/c I was wearing long sleeve shirts at the time. I gave them to a pregnant friend, and don't know if she's used them. My husband suggested pulling them back out since I have had some nausea recently, but there is no way in HELL that I would wear them without a shirt sleeve to cover them. They are Richard Simmons sweating to the oldies. I don't know if they work. I was so sick that my husband would have bought anything at the time. Shortly after I started using them, I started feeling better, but i cannot prove a causal relationship.

WASTE
*Belly Band. I may be the only person that does not like this thing. In fact, I hated it. But everyone else I know likes it. (Actually, I think my friend MB also did not like it). Next time, I say just bring on the maternity pants.

*Preggo Pops. I got a sample of these. They taste fine but really they taste just like Halls Vitamin C drops which are more widely available and a lot cheaper. I went through Halls Vitamin C drops like crazy in early pregnancy b/c I always had a bad taste in my mouth.

NEVER TRIED
*Belly Support band. Honestly, I toyed with getting one of these around 30 weeks to help me with my running. but then I would be breaking the deal I made with myself- that I would stop running once I thought I needed the belly bra. I have non-runner pregnancy friends that thought these were helpful. I can't voice an opinion on this b/c I was too cheap to buy one.

*Special "pregnancy" underwwear. Now here is something where they totally jack up the price for no reason. I DID have to get all new bras, but I just went to Macy's and got normal bras in bigger sizes. Some people get those bra extenders that allow you to extend the band. I would have done this if that was my issue. My issue was not expanding band size. As for underwear, I bought the one pack of larger grannies before vacation and that is it. I still fit into many of my pre-pregnancy underwear, although those giant Hanes parachutes are the most comfortable. I think they shrank in the wash ;) (what I tell myself instead of thinking my butt got bigger!)

*Fetal doppler. YES. This was on the baby center list. Ok, I can't comment b/c I didn't have one, but this seems a little excessive. I do have one friend that has one, but she has had a lot of complications and some of her friends got together and rented her one as a gift.

*Slide On Shoes. This is also on the baby center list. My husband bought me a pair of birkenstocks but other than that, I didn't get any new shoes. I am very lucky and haven't had any foot swelling and still fit into all my shoes. PRAISE ALLAH!

That is all the products I can think of right now.

WOOHOO! 37 weeks!

Hospital Bag Checklist

2010-08-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Even though 2 of my trusted friends emailed me to say that I was right on with what you need in the hospital bag (although they did say don't forget the camera), I just checked out thebump.com to see what their hospital check list says.

Holy Canoli!

Must-Haves:

[ ] Insurance info, hospital forms and birth plan (if you have one)

[ ] 2-3 pairs of warm, nonskid socks that can get ruined (for walking the halls before and after labor)

[ ] A warm robe or sweater you don’t mind sacrificing to the cause

[ ] 2 maternity bras -- no underwire -- and nursing pads (whether or not you plan to nurse, you’ll appreciate the support and leak-protection)

[ ] Lip balm (hospitals are very dry)

[ ] Toiletries and personal items -- hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, face wash, makeup (as if), shampoo, conditioner, lotion, contact lens case and solution (remember, travel-sized products are your friends)

[ ] Eyeglasses

[ ] Headband or ponytail holder (avoid clips -- they’ll probably poke you)

[ ] Sugar-free hard candy or lozenges to keep your mouth moist during labor (candy with sugar will make you thirsty)

[ ] Pen and paper

[ ] Lots of change for the vending machines and non-perishable snacks (you’ll probably be hungry after labor, and the hospital cafeteria could be closed)

[ ] Cell phone and charger, phone numbers of people to call after birth, prepaid calling card (if your hospital doesn’t allow cell phones)

[ ] Camera, film or extra memory card, battery or charger

[ ] A gym bag packed with a change of clothes and basic hygiene products for your partner

Take it or leave it:

[ ] Extra pillow (with a case that can get ruined, in a pattern distinguishable from hospital white)

[ ] Comfortable going-home clothes in six-month maternity size and flat shoes (or, just wear the clothes you came in… sorry, but they’ll probably still fit)

[ ] Bath towel (the hospital will likely supply a small, very thin one)

[ ] Hairdryer

[ ] Your favorite brand of soap, shampoo and heavy flow sanitary pads (the hospital supplies these things, but bring your own if you’re picky)

[ ] A few pairs of maternity underwear that can get ruined (the hospital will have disposable pairs, which some women find handy and others find gross)

[ ] A ruin-able nightgown (you can use those lovely hospital gowns, but your own might help you feel more human)

[ ] Breast pump, if you plan to use one

[ ] Slippers that can get dirty

[ ] Very light reading (think mags and newspapers, not War and Peace)

[ ] Your MP3 (loaded with your favorite tunes, of course)

[ ] Massage oil and tools like rolling pins or tennis balls, and lucky or inspirational objects (honestly, we doubt you'll use 'em…but feel free to prove us wrong!)

Leave Home:

[ ] Any clothes or nighties you really like (they will get ruined)

[ ] Stopwatch (your nurse or a monitor will take care of timing contractions)

What to Bring For Baby:

[ ] Approved car seat

[ ] A coming-home outfit

[ ] Warm blankets (for the ride home)

[ ] Outdoor gear like a snowsuit and hat, as seasonally appropriate (remember, babies are extra sensitive to cold)

Hospital Bag

2010-08-09T06:59:00.001-07:00

Many people have asked me if I have packed my hospital bag yet and are surprised when I say, "No". Perhaps this is because I am still in denial that the baby could come early (it's definitely happening in September) but mostly I haven't packed because I don't know what to pack! An outfit for the baby, an outfit for me, some toiletries and that's about it, isn't it? I don't think it will be that hard to throw together?? The other thing is that we literally live 3 miles from the hospital. It takes 7 minutes. If I really need something, the hubs can run home and get it, or we can have a visitor (or the six million that I am anticipating) bring it.

Am I totally missing something here?

When is it coming out?!

2010-08-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

My niece asked my mom last night if the baby "came out" of me yet so my mom called me. I wasn't by my phone so I didn't answer.

Upon hearing that I didn't answer, my niece said, "I bet the baby came out and Amy's feeding it so she didn't answer the phone."

I did call them back shortly after and my mom told her that the baby was still inside of me. "When is it going to come out, Grandma? It's been in there a long time!"

My thoughts exactly, Kid.

Pros and Pros: August vs. September

2010-08-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

I have been getting a lot of comments/guesses recently as to when the baby will be born. With a due date of 8/31, it's entirely possible that the baby could be born this month or next. I have learned of every birthday that is occurring in August/September - because believe me, people want the baby born on their birthday. I kind of want the baby to have his/her OWN birthday but then again, I don't get to choose do I? The only day I do NOT want the baby to be born is 9/8 - this is my dad's birthday and our wedding anniversary. But then again, I don't get to choose do I?

Although I personally think that September is going to win out over August, every morning I wake up thinking, will I have a baby today? For a Type A person that is an excellent organizer and planner, the randomness of babies is hard to wrap my mind around. For the life of me, I can't fathom that my baby is coming in 26 days, plus or minus a few.

Professionally, this is also hard to wrap my mind around. I plan on working up until the day I give birth (or maybe even during the day I give birth!). My list of things to get done before my leave has now been prioritized and each day I work on whittling those prioritized items down amidst thinking, "baby baby baby". Maybe this is why people take some time off BEFORE their due date?! Personally, if I was at home right now, I would a) be hanging out with the bathroom remodel guy - no thanks and b) driving myself INSANE. So although I am at best distracted at work, at least work is providing a bit of a distraction.

Back to the topic of this post - the Pros and the Pros. I am coming off of yet another crappy night of sleep so I'm forcing myself to only be positive, thus the pros and the pros vs the pros and cons. Here is my nice list of pros of having an August Baby and pros of having a September baby:

First up, AUGUST
1. The baby would be here sooner! I really Really REALLY REALLY am just so so SO excited to meet him/her. I'm anxious to find out if I've been cooking a boy or a girl, I'm anxious to see what he/she will look like and how much he/she will weigh. AHHH!

2. I wouldn't have to go to work anymore, for a time period. As I mentioned, it is really hard to go to work, and I think it gets worse every day that I wake up.

3. I would get lighter sooner! I'm not delirious in thinking that I'm dropping these 30 lbs. the day of birth, but I expect some physical relief in getting the baby out.

4. No more maternity clothes! Or at least, fitting back into some maternity clothes! I realize again that I will be rocking these things for a while still but I'm hoping to sort of go back down the size scale.

5. I have my eyes on an amazing peridot (august birthstone) ring that would be a really nice push present ;)

Next up, Pros of a SEPTEMBER baby:
1. No more extra FMLA paperwork - I would be free and clear of work until January!

2. The bathroom remodel will for sure be done by Septemeber.

3. I would have time to get all of my prioritized work items finished which would allow me to go on leave feeling good and complete.

4. By September, I would be REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY excited to meet the baby!

5. The baby would get to have birthday treats at school. (I always felt bad for the kids with summer birthdays)

6. My mom would be done with the algebra class that I am tutoring her in. My father in law would likely be recovered from his spleen removal surgery.

7. September's birthstone is sapphire. MUCH prettier (albeit pricier) than the peridot. :)

Happiest Baby on the Block

2010-08-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

When my friends AH & CD were here for a visit a few weeks ago, I asked them about any books they would recommend about babies. Thankfully they said to forgo the books. Phew! I really wanted to spend my last weeks of pregnancy trying to tackle the stack of non-baby and non-pregnancy books I have going on.

They did however recommend watching the DVD "The Happiest Baby on the Block". There is also a book with this but they said the DVD is better.

So I added it to my queue at the library, it came in this week and the hubs and I sat down to watch it last night. I have heard a lot of comments re: all of this stuff like "Oh I raised four kids and didn't read any books" but personally, I'm taking advantage of pregnancy #1 to do all this stuff because I know with future pregnancies, I will be chasing around other kids and not able to do any of it!

The DVD was good - it was very repetitive but that's adult learning for you. Both of us commented that we are excited for the baby to get here and see if any of the "5S's" will put our baby into a trance like they did on the video.

Watching the DVD did not come without some immature behavior on our part, of course. This morning when I went to blow dry my hair Nate asked if I was trying to calm him down. To which I replied "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" really loudly. Then he stood up straight with his arms by his side (to imitate a swaddled newborn) and got a trance-like look on his face. AND THEN he proceeded to lay on the bed on his side. Yes, we are weird, but it was cracking me up. (I realize this won't be funny to anyone who hasn't seen the DVD or read the book.)

Will we have the happiest baby on the block? We'll see...in 27 days! (give or take a few)

And so begins month 9 (or month 10, depending on what book you read)

2010-08-03T06:46:00.000-07:00

Running gives me a sense of controlling my life. I like the finiteness of runs, the fact that I have a clear beginning and end. I set a goal and I achieve it. A good run makes you feel sort of holy.

Nancy Gerstein, runner

36 weeks down! The baby could come any day, really. I think, for me, that is the strangest thing about pregnancy to wrap my mind around. My doctor summed it up pretty well - "You go from not thinking you are ready to have a baby to having a baby overnight".

Materially, we are ready. The baby has more stuff in our house than either of us! I'm still trying to find places for it all. Last night we also took our strollers out of the box. The Maclaren was ready to go but we had some minor assembly with the Snap N Go. We were pushing them around the living/dining room. I really hope we had the curtains closed! We also did some errands - we had some items to return from over the weekend (I am cursing people who don't use gift receipts) and we had to buy our carseat! That seemed so momentous. I think it will probably feel even more real when we get the carseat installed.

Physically, I am so ready. The discomforts are kicking in...literally. I constantly have these minor aches and pains, it feels like the baby is halfway down the birth canal already, I feel like I have riden a bike with an uncomfortable seat for 3 days straight, and I feel on the verge of puking almost every day. Unlike in early pregnancy, eating does not help. And did I mention that I'm tired? I am ready to be lighter and freer of these 30 excess pounds, while trying to resign myself that the scale is going to go up before it goes down!

Mentally, I don't know where I am at. ALL OVER THE PLACE. It changes almost minute by minute. I am definitely excited to hold my baby and take it home and have him/her be part of our family. The jury's still out on the whole process to get him/her here! But maybe you're never quite ready for that!

I guess we'll know in the next 0-40 days!

ICK

2010-08-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

My 5 day stint of being narcoleptic ended and it's back to the land of insomnia. Last night was particularly bad but at least I finished my book in time to get it back to the library tonight to avoid a fine :) It is becoming very very very frustrating to not sleep. I also have felt nauseous for about a week now and not sleeping only makes that worse. I love this little kiddo, but I am also having a hard time being positive lately.

Coupled with that are the lovely comments about size that I have had it up to here with. Yesterday at a shower that my husband's aunt threw for me for all of her friends, one of them said, "Wow. You are a lot bigger than I expected you to be." and she just kept going on and on. My sister was right there and immediately came to my defense b/c it was so awkward.

Then my MIL told me I am "blossoming".

I might burn the dress I wore to the shower.

Full Circle

2010-07-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

Today I saw an article of 100 uncommon cool baby names. I think we are too square to be cool. None of the these were names we even considered at any point.

I think we are 99.9% settled on 2 boys and 2 girls names at this point. Interestingly enough, one of the boy and one of the girl names are exactly what I started this whole process with. So ladies, don't give up if your husband isn't on board with your favorite names right off the bat. He may just need a good 7 months to think about them.

Interestingly enough it is the OTHER two names that I am favoring. So yes, we still can't come to a consensus. My question of the day is, "If the baby were born right now, what would you name it". We rarely pick the same name. The labor and delivery room might get interesting.

Oh well, at least we are down to 2 for each sex. And no, Ramona is not one of them :) I'm not THAT good :)

I think I can I think I can

2010-07-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

Part of the challenge of the marathon is pushing past what you think is physically possible. You can do more than you think you can.

Christine Hinton, a Maryland running coach

My brain isn't thinking of much lately, and when it does decide to operate, there is a severe malfunction most of the time. Prior to this week (35 weeks), I had decided that I was blessed and escaped pregnancy brain save for a few funny instances. EH! (picture that family fued buzzer noise). WRONG.

So here are my top pregnancy brain moments of the week so far. Survey says:
3. I made labels for our tupperwares of samples in our bathroom closet. One reads: "Shampo and Conditioner". Simple spelling error, right?

2. I could not figure out how to calculate a rate. My boss, also preggo, sent me a message with the subject of "because i am stupid" and asked me if she calculated a rate correctly. I stared at the email. The longer I stared, the more confused I became. PEOPLE, CALCULATING RATES ARE LIKE 89% of my JOB. I had to go ask our biostatistician how to do it. I think she thought I was losing my mind. That makes two of us!

1. Since January (so basically since I've been pregnant), I have had to travel to three sites around the southeastern part of the state doing baseline and follow-up interviews with 65+ year olds about a falls prevention program. Suffice to say, I have conducted plenty of these interviews, I could do them in my sleep. I left for one of the sites an hour away on Monday, got there and realized that I left all of the surveys, consent forms, etc on my desk back at my office. SH**. Lucky for me the office secretary was there and let me use her computer. I was so flustered though that I did not see the keyboard on top of the desk right under my nose and I went to pull out the keyboard tray on her desk and started freaking out, "Where is your keyboard?!?". "Um, right here {points to keyboard on top of desk}". She did not seem to have any sympathy for me.

So am I surprised when my boss (jokingly) asks if she needs to start double-checking my work or when another co-worker sends me an email saying "you look worn out. are you ok"? After this, I just sat at my desk and cried. I felt better after a good cry and then another coworker took me out for a long walk. So now I'm starting to think positive thoughts...at least to get me through this day!

"Wicked" Tired

2010-07-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like my stint as a tired ol' narcoleptic is over. 4 days of tons of sleep is what I got. My mom called me this morning to ask how I was feeling - she used the excuse that she thought I might be getting sick (and thus why I was sleeping all the time) but I think it was a "are you in labor" call in disguise. It was cute nonetheless. Last night I sleep blissfully from 10 PM to 5 AM. I just got up at 5:30 because I could not stretch my back enough to get comfortable. So, I was still tired, but discomfort won out. It actually was more comfortable to be out of bed than in. Yesterday morning this same thing happened. I got up at 5 and then did my prenatal yoga DVD for 30 minutes and went back to bed and slept until 10:30 AM. yeah, I don't think my boss would let me do that everyday!

I missed my last cake decorating class last night b/c I was too pooped to move. So we ate the two layer yellow cake with berry jam filling and chocolate ganache icing instead. It was pretty yummy and since I'm not a big frosting fan, i was kind of happy it wasn't covered with crisco-ized flowers. I am sad that I missed learning to make roses though - I'm hoping the book instructions are good enough to get me through.

My fingers are crossed for tonight. I got to work early so that I can go home and take a nap before we head to WICKED! It's one of our "last days as a couple" dates that we are going on. I love Wicked and really don't want to be tired for it so wish me luck!

Insomniac to Narcoleptic

2010-07-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

Wow. There has been a major shift this week for me and Baby S. WE SLEEP (or WANT to SLEEP) ALL OF THE TIME.

Sunday afternoon I was pooped (even though I didn't get out of bed until around 10 AM) and took over a 2 hour nap that afternoon. I went to bed and woke up around 4 AM, was awake for half hour and then woke up.

Monday evening, slept through the whole evening.

Tuesday took a one hour nap at work, came home, took another 30 minute nap, went to bed and slept for almost 12 hours. I called in sick for half a day this morning so I could sleep. I am now at work and wanting to go back to bed.

Is it really possible to catch up on 27 weeks of Insomnia in a few days? Looks like my body is trying!

35 Weeks Down, 35 Days to Go

2010-07-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

It looks like 35 is the number of the day!

Can there really be only 35 days left? I know it is probably annoying to read about the fact that I am in disbelief that I am going to birth a baby after reading about how READY I was to have the baby NOW early on, but that's the facts.

We are now graduates of the childbirth class. Our last class was last night and focused on newborn care. We had to go around the room and talk about our experience with babies. We were one of the most experienced couples in the room - some people were like, "Well, I've held a baby". So right away, our confidence was boosted.

I can't say we learned a whole lot in the class - even my husband was like, Oh this is pretty basic. Still, the video with all the cute babies was pretty fun :) And pretending our doll was our baby was fun too, even if we were being a little immature. I think the hubs learned more from the "postpartum care" video - he looked a little horrified. The video on sex after birth was, you guessed it, very awkward. Why do they always get the cheesiest actors ever to do these things? The same couple that experienced post-partum depression was featured on the sex part and the man was like, "Oh it was definitely a while before we resumed having sex, which took some getting used to." I was like, Buddy, your wife just popped out a baby and is battling depression. BACK OFF!

So all in all, we thought the childbirth series was helpful - nothing revolutionary. I would recommend it to first time parents, and I think the husbands are the biggest beneficiaries of the information.

Pain in the A**

2010-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of days, I have developed sciatica. FUN! Right now it is more often an annoyance rather that complete pain but yesterday was a rough day of it. I have found that ice packs have helped. I went for a walk after reading that being mobile can help, but I think that might have made it worse. Today has been ok so far, fingers crossed.

I had a doctor appointment this morning and I told him about it. I knew exactly what he was going to say, but I still mentioned it. "Unfortunately that is likely to get worse before it gets better". Exactly what my mom told me. My mom had it with all three of her pregnancies.

I had zero weight gain since my last appointment 2 weeks and 3 days ago. That was sort of odd. I kind of panicked - what? no weight gain?! I'm still 30 lbs up, holding strong at 170. Lately I feel like my weight redistributed itself to the belly. Where as I was shaped more like a watermelon in the front before with definite love handles and protrusions out the side, now it is definitely all in front and round. All of a sudden my underwear are not as annoyingly tight and my running shorts fit like they used to. WEIRD!

Blood pressure was 110/66. Heartbeat of Baby S was going strong. He asked me what I thought about pain control in labor. I responded, "If I want an epidural, I'll take it." He started laughing and said, I can't really give you any better advice. He asked if I have a boy if I want him circumsized. "Yes". Next appointment (in 2 weeks) I have a vaginal swab for group b Strep. If I carry this, I will need antibiotics during labor to protect the babe.

Other news from the doctor, "we're in the home stretch". WHAT?! No we're not. I'm totally not having this baby in 5 weeks, 1 day. I think it is just going to grow inside of me forever, right?! Yesterday I was feeling kind of lousy. Nausea, cramps/minor contractions and my a** pain. I didn't think i was going into labor but I finally said out loud that I'm worried that I'm not ready to have a baby yet, meaning actually birth a baby. I guess I don't really have a choice, do I?! Our last childbirth class is tonight - maybe after that I'll feel ready, ha ha ha.

Wet Pants?

2010-07-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

One must be careful if one is 34 weeks, 2 days pregnant and emailing her husband. I got caught in a torrential downpour at work today and I emailed my husband the following:

"ARGH! I'm having a terrible day. My pants are soaking wet - I had to wring them out and my shoes have puddles in them"

I figured he would know I was talking about the rain.

He did, but confessed that for a split second he thought my water broke. HA! That made me laugh.

40 days left!

Never a Dull Moment

2010-07-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

This morning, around 3:30 AM I woke up and needed to pee. Usually I lay in bed for a bit to fully wake up before getting up but I did not do this this morning. Instead I stumbled into the bathroom.

Normally I do not turn the light on in the bathroom in the middle of the night. I do this so I don't wake up my husband, who is extremely light sensitive. There usually is enough light coming through the bathroom window to get by.

Now, I have been doing squats during my yoga DVD regularly throughout pregnancy so I'm pretty confident about my leg strength but this morning, the combo of it being dark and me still being half asleep was not a good one - I basically fell onto the side of the toilet RIGHT onto my crotch. "F*#K" is what I yelled as I grabbed onto the shower curtain to prevent myself from falling into the bathtub. The crash and the F-bomb woke my husband up. "Are you ok?!" he yelled? "I think I broke my vagina" was my reply.

Thankfully it was only some acute pain and I am now fine. The baby was probably like, what is going on?!

What I Know Now: 34 weeks!

2010-07-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

6 more weeks to go! I am starting to feel a little anxious on top of excited because some people I know would have already given birth at this stage. Thinking about that always causes me to think, "Wow. This is going to be here before I know it."

So here's a summary of my thoughts, things I have learned etc in the last 4 weeks:

1. Childbirth classes are helpful...for husbands. I think they are helpful for mothers-to-be as well, but if you are anything like me, most of the stuff is covered in the plethora of books you might read. It is still really helpful to have someone talk you through everything. I think my husband's anxiety level greatly diminished from these classes.

2. I am sort of sad that my first pregnancy is coming to a close. WHAT!? I know I know. I spent how many blog posts complaining about pregnancy. Whining about how I couldn't wait for it to be over and have my baby. Mostly this is still true but yesterday I came to the realization that I would never be pregnant with my first baby ever again and it sort of shocked me. I don't know if I can accurately convey how EXCITED people have been for me over the past 34 weeks and how much love and support I have received. People always ask how I'm doing, lend a hand with things, won't let me do jobs, listen to me cry for 2 hours, give me thoughtful gifts. In 6 weeks (more or less) this will all be over. I can't lie - I have loved all of the attention and love.

3. In the past 4 weeks, I have taken the emotional plunge. Emotions can strike at any time while pregnant, but these past couple weeks have been the crazy time for me. I cry at anything lately. Last night I started sobbing because I saw a chipmunk in this trap my husband built that wasn't quite dead. I made him get a shovel and rescue it and set it free. Even though he's killed tons of chipmunks before. Even though I can't stand the stuff they dig up and the flowers they ruin. It took me awhile to stop crying at that one. And he totally did it and didn't make fun of me at all - what a guy.

4. It is possible to go a long ass time without good sleep. 34 weeks and counting...I have cried more about this too in the recent past (Sunday night being the most recent).

5. It is great to be pregnant, having kids with a whole cohort of women. I know I have already waxed on about this. I don't just mean being pregnant at the same time but also having kids in the same general time period. Two of my mama friends were here from the ATL over the weekend and I feel like I learned more from talking to them then anything. Having friends that will let you ask them ANYTHING about pregnancy, childbirth, having kids, pumping is INVALUABLE.

6. Moms know best. When we registered for baby gear, I sent out an email to moms I knew, including my own, asking what they liked best, what they used etc. I knew I would get a variety of answers because everyone is different and every baby is different. However, I learned a lot from this and it really helped me with our registry and make better sense of the craziness that is baby products. My friends threw me a baby shower over the weekend (one of many ahead) and my mom and I talked about it afterwards and we both thought it was so cool how all of the gifts from moms were "oh this worked great for me" or "my baby loved this". I feel like whenever I will use those items, I will think of that baby and that mom and it makes me feel so happy.

7. It's still hot.

8. I have started having more and more conversations with my belly. For example, last Saturday Baby S learned what we do on Saturdays:

"Hi Baby! It's Saturday morning and your dad and I are chilling out in bed watching the real estate channel. You can totally crash the party and cuddle in here with us. We get kind of snarky about the houses for sale, just a warning. Pretty soon Daddy will go down and make us an amazing breakfast which we will eat in bed or on the couch while watching HGTV. Mommy's favorite breakfast, which you probably have noticed, is Daddy's special breakfast potatoes with rosemary with two over easy eggs on top and strong coffee. She can't wait to eat this breakfast again when you arrive!"

9. Ok duh - I know my life will not stay the same just with a baby - I am curious to see how much our life will change and in what ways and what new routines we will adopt with the little one.

10. People ARE SO NICE to pregnant women! We went to a concert with friends on Friday night and every time I went to the bar to get a water, i got one for free! I was able to get a seat mid-way through the show and then my husband was on water duty and he had to pay $3. Thank you Mr. Bartender man at the Rave for the free waters - you are a sweetheart.

11. "You look great/amazing/fabulous" is the best thing to say to a pregnant woman. Please withhold all comments referring to size - big or small. You can't win.

Childbirth Class #3: Birth Center

2010-07-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behavior.

Tony Robbins, American self-help author and motivational speaker

Last night we had the third childbirth class. It was not in our regular classroom but we met on the mom and baby floor of the hospital - where we will go after labor and delivery. The labor and delivery unit was very busy last night so we were not able to go through that floor. I was sort of bummed about that, but understand why.

The class went through pain medications and we had this pain scale that we had to go through with our partner based on what we think we want. I thought it was a really good tool - it featured statements about what degree of pain relief you would want and then what that realistically means for both you and the support person. The support person's role becomes more and more active, the less pain medication you receive. I felt good that the hubs and I have had a few conversations about the whole epidural thing so he guessed where I was on the scale right away.

Then the instructor went through narcotics options, epidural options and the pros and cons of each. She also had one of the anesthesiologists come in for any questions we had. We watched a video as well. I thought the whole pain managament topic was very well done. She remained very neutral on the topic and didn't seem to favor one way or the other and REPEATEDLY said that the best thing is to keep an open mind because no one knows how labor is going to go. I also felt good about the fact that the nurses really are trained to be very active support people.

After that whole discussion, we went to the level 2 nursery to peek in on some babies. AWWW! I kept it together but got really excited. Our hospital practices rooming in - so the babies stay with the mom the whole time. The level 2 nursery is for babies that might need a little extra help, but not as much help as a NICU. We also went in to one of the mom/baby rooms to check out where we would be staying for 2 days for a vaginal birth and 4 days for a c-section. After that, we went through the c-section discussion. I thought it was helpful to walk through that whole process, particularly for the support person (aka husbands) because the instrutor did a good job going through what they would be doing.

It was a good class. My husband commented that he is really glad we took the classes because with each one he feels less nervous about the whole process. We also are glad we went with the 4 week class rather than one whole day. After a while, the chairs get pretty uncomfortable. I also think the information is easier to absorb in smaller bits.

Next week is our last class and will focus mainly on infant care and tips and tricks!

Fingers Crossed!

2010-07-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call this morning to reschedule two of my August ob/gyn appointments b/c my doctor was going to be on vacation.

I knew that this was a possibility - he mentioned it at our first appointment and then again at my last appointment. So now I am REALLY hoping Baby Schlotty arrives a little late as he will be gone 8/23 - 8/30. As I mentioned, my doctor gets called whenever one of his patients shows up at labor and delivery and comes in for the birth UNLESS he is on vacation (obviously).

I am happy it is Friday. It was a rough one - particularly when I was up from 2-6 AM this morning. I feel sort of sick right now and am hoping it goes away with breakfast and some water as I am really looking forward to going to the Band of Horses concert tonight.

Are you going to have a natural birth?

2010-07-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

Mentally, I think the biggest thing I've gotten out of this 10K is that I've learned to kind of just shut my mind off during the race and not think about laps or pace.

Chris Solinsky, 10,000m American record holder

I have entered the phase of pregnancy where people (mostly women) ask me various forms of the question in the title of this post. And then they proceed to tell me their opinion on the matter, whether I ask them to or not. Most of the time, I do ask so it's fine. Sometimes, I just want to be like "Shut the F up".

Recent example of an unsolicited opinion:
Last night, my husband had to have a physical in our house for the life insurance policy he opened on himself. The nurse, Mary, was very nice even though many of her comments were driving me insane. (Side note: Yesterday was a rough one for me in a series of rough days). I won't go into every single comment she made, don't worry. She had to take a blood draw and my husband mentioned that I might want to leave the room and told Mary that I am not a fan of needles. "In fact, she is considering not getting an epidural because she doesn't like needles", he commented. Well that was all Mary needed to wax on about how I WILL need the epidural and that I would be CRAZY not to get it. I smiled and kept it together. There was no punching involved :)

So what is my answer to the never ending questions of will I won't I {get the epidural}? I continue to stick with my original plan - that is, my plan is to have no plan. I have NO FREAKIN' IDEA of what to expect during labor and how much pain I will be in or how I will tolerate it so I don't want to make a decision right now and then be disappointed if I don't stick with it. I would love to have a natural childbirth, but if it gets to be too much, then stick me with the drugs.

I am oppossed to a lot of medical intervention though, if it is unnecessary. Bottom line- i want my doctor to do what he thinks is best for my baby at all times. BUT if I can avoid getting induced or avoid getting narcotics, etc, that would be great. It is interesting reading and hearing about the varying degrees of opinions on this. As my friend Dr. B says, "Why ride a horse when you can drive a car?" meaning, why would you try to do it without an epidural when you can be more comfortable? Then there is Ina May who is all like, "women have been giving birth for eons and embrace your womanhood." I can see both points, which is probably why I'm a little go with the flow.

The reason I think I could do it without drugs is that I have a pretty rockin' hubby. During our childbirth classes and discussions afterwards, I told him that I was never concerned about the level of support he would give me through this whole thing - I knew he would be great through the ups and downs of pregnancy and know he will be great during the ups and downs of labor and delivery. I told him that I wanted him to make me laugh as much as possible because I think that is when I am most relaxed. Now, if we get into the situation and I realize taht I am in no mood for laughing, he will not proceed with that plan, ha ha ha. He knows that I want to try to do it au natural but I think will know when to push me to keep going vs. when I am being serious about "give me the drugs NOW".

The one thing I am adament about is that I want to hold my baby ASAP - I want him/her rolled up on me as soon as he/she is clear of the birth canal. I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a whole host of running-related quotes that make me think of pregnancy/childbirth so I will be using them intermittently in the remaining 48 days.

Childbirth Class #2

2010-07-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

Last night was the 2nd in the series of 4 childbirth classes we are taking. The class focused on relaxation techniques as well as walking through what will happen when we are in the hospital, what the hospital has to offer, and common practices. We also had to take a quiz with our partner and discuss the answers. My husband and I were on the same page with everything so that made me feel good, because some of the stuff on the quiz, we never really talked about before.

The relaxation started off with everyone laying on yoga mats and the instructor gave us bags of ice cubes. These were suppossed to simulate a contraction. We had to hold the ice in our hand for one full minute while thinking, "oh this is so cold" and she was also vocally saying negative things about how bad the ice felt. Then we repeated the activity at the end of class trying to use the techniques she had taught us.

For techniques, a lot of it was changing positions from laying down to standing to hugging to different things on the "birthing ball" (aka exercise ball). The husbands also learned some different massage techniques and maneuvers that suppossedly help.

The second half of the class went through labor, pushing and delivery. It was helpful because I hadn't really had anything broken down for me and the nurse did a great job explaining things. She also did a really good job of addressing, what if X happens how would the team respond. So we learned about when forceps/vacuum would be used (less than 5% of births), if and when episiotomies are used (very rarely - phew!), etc. As usual, she was also good to point out how everyone's labor will be different and that this is just a general overview.

We also had the poop on the table discussion. "I know you are all thinking about it" our instructor commented. Interestingly enough, I had the poop on the table conversation with a group of my friends (preggos and non) on Saturday night with our friend who is an ob/gyn, Dr. B. Dr. B pointed out that 85% of women poop on the table and that it is not a big deal. She said that it is actually good when it happends because then "we know that you are using the right muscles". Our instructor echoed this last night followed by "what happens in labor and delivery, stays in labor and delivery."

Oh man. Everybody poops I guess.

Breastfeeding

2010-07-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we had our breastfeeding class. The class is a one-time 3 hour class for couples. I thought it was well done, however, I don't think I necessarily learned anything new. Granted, I did take a whole semester-long class on breastfeeding while in graduate school for public health so I probably know more than the average jane with regard to that. After that class, I even ordered the materials to become a lacataion consultant. Yeah, that never went anywhere.

I think these classes are mainly for the husband. I know my husband learned a lot and I was glad that he did. I don't want him to abandon ship on breastfeeding if it gets off to a rough start. One thing I really liked about the class is that the teacher did a great job about being like, not every baby can breastfeed and that if you have issues that prevent you from breastfeeding, THAT'S OK. I sometimes feel that pro-breastfeeding people can be a little high and mighty towards those that don't breastfeed and then people who maybe want to breastfeed but can't for whatever reason feel guilty. I am so over maternal guilt and my baby is not even here yet. I was raised Catholic - isn't that enough guilt for one lifetime?!

Anyhoo, we now are more educated on how to hand express, different types of holds, proper latches, how to store breast milk, how long it is good for, etc. The other thing I liked is that the teacher totally validated my choice of pump. My husband was totally freaked out by the high price of the breast pump I registered for and the woman said that for women who are returning to work full time, the pump I registered for is the only way to go. (This was unsolicited by the way - I didn't ask about it). I feel a bit better about the whole pumping thing, but have to say it still freaks me out a little!

Tonight is childbirth class #2 - practicing relaxation techniques.

"I'm So Tired"

2010-07-12T02:37:00.001-07:00

I'm really identifying with Lennon/McCartney right now....

I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink
I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No,no,no. *BECAUSE I'M PREGNANT

I'm so tired I don't know what to do
I'm so tired my mind is set on you
I wonder should I call you but I know what you would do *DON'T THINK I CAN REALLY CALL OR SKYPE MY UTERUS

You'd say I'm putting you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane *OK, ACTUALLY WE'RE GOING ON 25 WEEKS OF THIS BUT WHO'S COUNTING?
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind

I'm so tired, I'm feeling so upset
Although I'm so tired I'll have another cigarette *REALLY NOT APPLICABLE BUT WHO KNOWS? MAYBE SMOKING WOULD HELP!
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh
He was such a stupid get.

You'd say I'm putting you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind
I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind
I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind

Song Lyrics: Lennon/McCartney for the Beatles. Uppercase commentary - all me, baby.

(p.s. slunz, i couldn't help but think of Rob Thomas an hour ago..."it's 3 A.M. I must be lonely" ;) )

"How was that beer?"

2010-07-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

I am sure I turned a shade or two pinker after my doctor walked into the exam room today asking me that question. And here I thought he never recognized me! I have to say that I am still too chicken to actually have a beer. I had a few sips of my husband's Blue Moon on the 4th and that was about it. It was heavenly.

Appointment today was standard. Blood pressure was 106/66 and i'm now up 30 lbs. Only 2 lbs of weight gain in the last 17 days. I say only because lately I have been feeling like a moose so I was anticipating more.

I asked the doctor if he could tell what position the baby is in. He felt around for a bit and said, "Well, you're skinny but I think there still is too much amniotic fluid compared to baby to be sure. I think it's head down, but can't guarantee it." I don't think I really digested anything after I heard "skinny" because I wanted to hug him after hearing that!

I also asked him if I just get the doctor on call when I go into labor of if he will be there. I was questioning this after talking with HB & AS last night, both of whom delivered at my hospital. I was happy to hear that initially I will get the doctor on call but that my doctor does get called unless he is on vacation. He tries to make all of his patients' births. WOOHOO! THEN, he looked at my due date and did warn me that he and his family might be on vacation the last week of August. SIGH. Oh well. This is to be expected when you are due in the summer, I suppose. Even more reason to hope the baby is a little late :)

I really really really love my doctor. I am a bit surprised by this because he is a male. But he is so calm and laid back that I feel calm and laid back during my appointments and I really want to try to be calm and laid back during as much of labor as possible - even if it ends up being the first 30 seconds! ha ha ha. I think reading Ina May's chapter on Sphincter Release is getting to me!

TSUNAMI!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-07-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

This image of a tsunami is the closest thing I can think of for what is happening in my uterus lately. I read in my book that at 32 weeks movement might not be as intense because the uterus is crowded. I don't think Baby S is crowded yet - as evidence by the tidal waves of movement that have been occurring since last night. They were so unbelievable that the hubs actually went to get the video camera to video them! I haven't watched them yet to see if he captured anything good b/c the battery died in the middle of filming but it really was incredible. As I sit and type this, the same thing is going on. I purposely wore a more fitted shirt today so I could watch. Something tells me I won't be getting a lot of work done!

I have another doctor appointment at 3:15 today - I am hoping that I don't forget to ask about the position of the baby. I'm totally curious to find out if he/she is head down yet or not!

"You've Got Me Feeling Emotions...Deeper than I've Ever Dreamed Of"

2010-07-07T10:56:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else love Mariah Carey, the early years? Man, I was all over that in middle school. I now think that when she was singing this song (Title) she might have been pregnant.

Which leads me to my topic of the day: EMOTIONS.

Up until this point, I have considered myself to be (and my husband confirmed this) pretty even-keeled during this pregnancy. UNTIL Saturday when I had a complete breakdown with hysterical sobbing AND screaming. Ooh. Lucky husband who bore the brunt of that fun.

What was I freaking out about?

Let me turn that question around by responding, What WASN'T I freaking out about?! It started with me being annoyed that my husband was going to go a night early to my in-law's lake house. This escalated into me being upset that my husband wasn't a mind reader and then that I was enormous and hot and feeling like the ugliest creaton on the planet. I believe I even screamed "JUST STOP TALKING TO ME" to him at one point. YIKES.

I believe I just needed a good cry and I got one (and then some). After my fit (and kicking my husband out of the house), I went for a run, watched a movie and had an okay night's sleep and slept in the next morning. I was "better" but I feel like since then I am on the verge of having these mini breakdowns all the time. This morning at 3:30 AM I could not handle the fact that my back hurt and that I could not find a comfortable position to sleep in. I am just praying that I don't have a meltdown at work.

Let's see, what other (benign) things have I broke down about? My most recent crying spell was during the commercial for the Iphone 4.0 - the one where the woman is having the ultrasound and her husband is participating via Iphone from Iraq. Oh Jesus - my eyes are welling up right now just thinking about it.

Thankfully I have a pregnant coworker to commiserate with right now. She is pregnant with her 3rd child and being very nice to me :)

Childbirth Class - 1 down, 3 to go

2010-07-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

32 weeks down, 8 to go!

Last night we started childbirth classes. We are taking the class associated with our hospital so it's not really any specific "type" (e.g. Bradley Method) of class. Every Monday night for 2 hours, we are at the hospital community classroom with a labor and delivery nurse, Jennifer, for the entire month of July. We were both excited about it, and I was a little nervous. The first night shows the birth video. Previous birth videos that I have seen have always made me a little squeamish, and have caused me to involuntarily squeeze my vagina shut. I was also nervous that my husband would not be able to watch the birth video either, mostly because my MIL kept telling me during the weekend that she thought he would pass out during my labor. I kept asking him (and probably driving him crazy), "are you nervous" and he replied No.

So we both reviewed our "textbook" given to us 24 weeks ago at our first nurse appointment. I may have mentioned it on here - my husband forbid me to read it after I told him I was getting anxious just looking at page 1 - the cervical dilation chart. I wasn't nearly as nervous reading it this time.

We got to class and were surprisingly one of the last couples to arrive - and there were no longer two chairs together, so we had to make people move so that we could sit together. The first half hour was dedicated to introductions. The usual questions (Name, Due Date, Boy/Girl?) followed by what the most surprisingly things about pregnancy have been and some other questions along those lines. I think there were about 12 couples in the class, all heterosexual, all married. There was one single woman there with no partner. I felt bad for her UNTIL she introduced herself and in response to the most surprising things about pregnancy said, "I'm just so surprised because everyone here is so big and I've only gained 12 lbs". Now, I realize what she meant - but perhaps she could have been a bit more delicate about it and said, "I was surprised that I haven't gained a lot of weight" or "I was surprised that I haven't shown as much" or something like that that did not include calling every other woman in the room a cow. Ah well.

I was surprised that there were quite a few couples in the room that did not find out the gender and that no one had the same due date. I felt connected to one woman, who was also athletic, who mentioned that she was surprised at how soon her body changed. BINGO! Man, I still feel like I'm coming to terms with all the changes my body has gone through!

After introductions, we watched a video about signs of labor and then talked about 3 examples that the instructor gave. With each example, we learned what 'dilation', 'effacement' and those position numbers meant. We also learned all the different positions the baby could be in, about the mucus plug, water breaking, how to time contractions, etc. I don't know about my husband, but none of this information was new to me, given that I have read most of this stuff in the stack of pregnancy books that is on my nightstand. However, I did feel better about it all having it explained to me. Our instructor did a good job of saying, "this might happen, it might not" and reinforcing the fact that every woman's labor will start a different way. While a tour of the birth center occurs during Week 3, she also talked a bit about what was available in the rooms and how we should not be afraid to ask for what we want - whether it be what kind of music we want to listen to during the whole process or how dim the lights should be.

The next portion was dedicated to the "labor tools" - like relaxation breathing, massage, visualization, etc. She just introduced these topics and next week we will be practicing them. The class concluded with the birth video. (cue scary music). Except it wasn't that scary! I watched the whole thing, no vagina clenching. I think I might have teared up when the baby was finally out and they put it on her stomach. My husband also watched the whole thing and thought it "wasn't that bad". "He thinks he can do it". Phew! No passing out during the class ;). I think he took the support thing a bit to heart because he was waiting on me hand and foot (and belly) for the rest of the night!

All in all, we both felt really good coming off of class one. I can't say that we learned anything new from it, but it did make me feel more relaxed about the labor process and I think it did a great job of preparing the support person. My husband said that he even felt really good about everything so far and that he felt better about it too, particularly that there is more time than he thought for the whole process to evolve and it's not like in the movies or on tv when you have to speed to the hospital.

I also liked the fact that the woman on the birth video went through labor au natural. Given that it was the hospital class, I was sort of expecting them to push the drugs a bit more. I don't know why I thought this, I just did. But seeing that this post is already a long one, I'll save the au natural post for another day.

32 weeks. Crazy.

Fun With Names - The Popular Names in Our Area

2010-07-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

People seem to also be more and more curious about names. We're still not telling the names - hell, if anyone wants to tell US the name, I'm all for it. My goal is that we will be heading into the labor and delivery with two names for each sex picked out. Easier said than done.

We definitely are noticing a NOSE DIVE of weddings in our social calendar and an uprise of babies. So far, 2010 is the magical year of babies with 2011 not far behind. So many preggers and hopefully more to come. The way things are going, my guess is that 2011 will easily beat 2010. So far the baby breakdown of 2010 is:

Boys
Felix
Christian
Sawyer
Gavin
Beckett

Girls
Sofia
Natalie
Zoe

(None of those names are on any of our lists, although I'm not oppossed to naming our baby the same name as a friend/co-worker/family member if I really like it.)

Boys have the girls beat in terms of live births, but of the people whom we know are expecting, and who found out what they are having, 3 more girls and one more boy are on the way, with several TBDs.

On February 25, I posted the top 10 boys and girls names of babies born in our hospital. I just checked it again and some have changed so here are the latest:

Girl Names
1. Trinity
2. Ava
3. Sophia
4. Natalie
5. Emma
6. Isabella
7. Olivia
8. Lauren
9. Nevaeh
10. Chloe

Boy Names
1. Nathan
2. Tyler
3. Jordan
4. Dominic
5. Mason
6. Brayden
7. Jayden
8. James
9. Alexander
10. Hunter

None of those are on our Yes or Maybe Lists. However Ava, Isabelle, Olivia and Lauren are all on our NO list so that means they were considered by one of us at some point. Actually I think Isabelle might have been so far as the Yes or Maybe list at some point, but then got canned. None of the boy names are on our NO list for boys either, which means we haven't considered any of those.

What about our fair city? What are the top ten boy and girl names here as of this morning? Here you go...

Girl Names
1. Trinity
2. Ella
3. Mariah
4. Ava
5. Emma
6. Madison
7. Lauren
8. Sophia
9. Leah
10. Natalie

Boy Names
1. Jayden
2. Nathan
3. Jordan
4. Noah
5. James
6. Tyler
7. Grant
8. Matthew
9. Christian
10. Dominic

Not much has changed - at least in terms of cross referencing these lists with our own lists.

What else is on our No list? A lot - I will post it soon enough if I can remember. How did we develop the No list? I trapped my husband in a car and brought out the 40,000 baby name book from the library and started reading aloud. He needed to categorize names into "yes" "maybe" and "no". Of course I only read aloud names I liked so that was how they were cut. To be fair, I told him he could add in any other names he wanted into those categories. It was a good system. So now we are whittling down the "Yes" list for girls down to two names. And maybe dipping into the maybes. ha ha ha. This is why I don't think we are having a girl - we cannot figure out a name to save our life.

We had the boy name pretty well nailed down but then conversations re: names with both of our families over the weekend made me resurrect one name that I love but had dismissed. So now we have two boy names, which is probably good in case the baby looks more like one name or the other. And really, with the way things have been going in this department, things could change AGAIN in the next 8 weeks and 5 days.

Another gender theory to add to the mix

2010-06-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

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!

31 Flavors..."I carried a WATERMELON?!"

2010-06-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

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.

It's A Sunshine Day!

2010-06-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

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!

Pros and Cons of Pregnancy: Husbands

2010-06-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

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. :)

Pros and Cons of Pregnancy: Games

2010-06-23T03:22:00.000-07:00

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!

What I know Now: 30 weeks

2010-06-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Things Not to Say to A Pregnant Woman

2010-06-21T10:49:00.001-07:00

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?!}

Running: Yes! Wakeboarding: No :( Beer: Yes?!

2010-06-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

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.

PROS & CONS of Pregnancy: Colds, Nails & Hair

2010-06-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

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!

Running While Pregnant FAQ

2010-06-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

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.

Baby, SHE was Born to Run

2010-06-17T07:06:00.001-07:00

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.

Whereby I expound upon pregnancy bliss

2010-06-16T19:49:00.001-07:00

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!

Lucky 7s - 77 days left!

2010-06-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

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?!

Rough Weekend

2010-06-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

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!

Random Hodgepodge of Information

2010-06-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

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.

Pros and Cons of Pregnancy Part 2: Bodily Fluids

2010-06-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

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!

Pros and Cons of Pregnancy

2010-06-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Wearing a Swimsuit While 27 weeks Pregnant: Cue JAWS music

2010-06-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

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.

My Underwear Could Save My Life if I Have to Jump Out of an Airplane

2010-06-07T12:54:00.000-07:00

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.

Product Whore: My favorite Mama-to-Be Products

2010-05-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

When I first told people I was pregnant and that I was due 8/31, the been there done that moms said some variation of the following, "It's going to be a long hot summer." Then there was the time that my mom and I went fabric shopping for the nursery chair and the woman at the home interiors place and she were reminiscing about laying under ceiling fans, scantily clad, during the summer while pregnant.

I'm beginning to understand what they are talking about.

We do have air conditioning, but I have refused to turn it on before June 1. My husband rigged up this box fan in our window at night and that combined with the ceiling fan has done the trick. It's just the rest of the house that is H-O-T. My friend JT sent me a care package when I first told her I was preggo and it included a tube of Mama Bee Leg and Foot Cream. I "saved" it until the summer given that it has peppermint in it and BOY AM I GLAD I DID. I have slathered this on my legs and feet for two nights in a row and the peppermint combined with the cool air from the fans has been wonderful. Last night my husband even gave me a foot massage with the stuff - AHHHH. My feet have been so sore lately. I highly recommend this stuff - I'm sure any lotion with peppermint would suffice, however.

Since my feet have been uber sore, I have also opened the Earth Mama Angel Baby Happy Feet Foat Soak that AH sent me. I also saved this for the end of pregnancy since I had read about the sore feet thing. I'm pretty sure I will be soaking my feet nightly. This stuff smells heavenly. If you didn't want to splurge on the foot soak, I reccomend epsom salts (which are like $2 for a huge bag at Walgreens) and a few drops of essential oils (peppermint again for cooling). I did this pre-pregnancy and loved it.

Finally, I have breezed through my Earth Mama Angel Baby natural stretch oil and the Mama Bee Belly Balm and am on to the Lusa Mama Belly Balm. I really liked all three of these products and haven't had much itching on my belly and no stretch marks yet (fingers crossed!). The oil and mama bee are definitely on the greasy side, which my dry skin loved, particuarly in the dry winter months. The Lusa stuff is much less greasy and perfect for this time of year in WI. Plus, it's made right here in WI!! My mom, nana and I are hooked on the Lusa Lotion bars so i thought I'd give the Mama line a try.

What I Know Now: Week 26

2010-05-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

Yes - another four weeks have passed. I could not believe it myself - I had to look back in the archive to make sure that the last one of these "What I Know Now" posts was actually a month ago. Here are my comments on the pregnancy at 26 weeks.

1. I can't make a decision to save my life lately. What should we register for? What should we name the baby? We had the short list whittled down but now I am ADDING to it rather than subtracting. I think I am driving my husband crazy. What should I wear? What movie should we rent? ARGH. I don't know if this is a "pregnancy symptom" but it is something I have noticed.

2. My butt and thighs are getting bigger. Sigh. Many of my pre-pregnancy underwear aren't fitting anymore. Mostly in that they don't cover my full ass. I would say 3/4 at best. I was sitting staining a high chair at my mom's this past weekend. She took a picture of me and I had to double check that my ass crack was not hanging out. I went to Target to get bigger underwear (not maternity underwear). I bought a six pack of Hanes in a size bigger than I normally wear. They were too small. Guess we're going up two sizes in the ass dept, folks!

3. I am now taking the advice to borrow your husband's clothes from Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. His t-shirts and his boxers are my new PJ of choice. That is until I get so hot in the middle of the night and whip the boxers across the room.

4. IT'S HOT. My mom warned me it was going to be a miserable summer. I'm trying not to think negatively but after a few days of upper 80s-lower 90s temps here, I'm dying. On the plus side, it's making me drink more water, which I have been really bad at.

5. Although of course I still like cheese and eat a piece of string cheese every day, I don't have the same CRAVING for it that I have had up until recently. Lately I am craving more carbohydrates and sugar - exactly what I don't need! I also have been really loving food on the spicy side, which is uncharacteristic of me.

6. I really have baby fever. I have been commenting to Nate every time I see a baby that I want our baby here NOW. (I'm sure there will be days after the baby gets here that I will be like I want our baby to go back in the womb!)

7. I have not ran for five days. Mostly because of the unrelenting heat, but also because I'm nervous about it.

8. Speaking of nervous, when we first found out I was pregnant, I was not nervous about miscarrying or anything. Now, the tables are turned. I am more nervous now about something happening to the baby.

9. I have had no Braxton-Hicks contractions. I feel like my ribs must be expanding - I have had to put my bras on the middle hook instead of the tightest hook and my ribs constantly feel bruised. They are very tender to the touch. There is one spot, underneath my right breast, that is always really sore. Over the head arm stretches are becoming routine. I have no stretch marks yet.

10. I really love feeling the baby move. As I have said before, this totally saves pregnancy for me. Lately it has been really active which is a weird sensation to feel and now see. I find myself talking, in my head, to the baby a lot. This is reminiscent of having imaginary friends as a child...only the baby isn't really imaginary, ha ha ha.

Pregnancy Brain Episode of the Day

2010-05-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

This one actually really annoys me.

I am in an investment club. We have to do monthly homework, basically tracking stocks. In order to do this, you have to download Value Lines, which require you to go to the library to access and print. I went to the library yesterday after work and searched for all of my stocks, printed the value lines and paid for them.

AND LEFT THEM AT THE LIBRARY.

I discovered this at about 3:00 this morning when I was going to do the homework. So now I have to go back to the library tonight and do my homework along with a zillion other things since we leave for vacation after work tomorrow.

GRRRRRR!!!

The Glucose Test

2010-05-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

This morning I had a doctor appointment - it was the big Glucose Test appointment where you drink the sugar to find out if you have gestational diabetes. At my last appointment, they gave me the drink to take home so that I could drink it at home and not have to wait around in the waiting room for the hour. The nurse said I could eat/drink before I drank the glucose, but not after. However, MB suggested a total fast to increase the chances of passing so that's what I did.

I opened the bottle at 7:37 AM and it was gone by 7:38. I was thinking that it wasn't so bad - it tasted exactly like McDonald's Orange Drink, as several people told me. However, a couple minutes after finishing the drink, I felt really gross - my stomach was cramping and I felt nauseous. We're having a bit of a heat wave here so by the time I got up to my doctor's office at 8:30, i was totally sweaty and feeling sick. Lovely.

They drew my blood at 8:38. Of course I requested to lay down and so I had no problems with passing out. I did feel lightheaded but not down for the count. Then the weight & blood pressure. I am up 24.8 pounds. Yes. Love that I am already in the 25-35 pound range they suggest you gain for the ENTIRE pregnancy. Maybe I'll only gain 10.2 pounds over the next 14 weeks?? ha ha ha FAT chance. My blood pressure was on the low end still 96/52, probably b/c I was lightheaded. Then, I had to pee in the cup - all came back negative.

While waiting for the doctor, I laid down on the bed - I just felt totally sick still. He came in, found the heartbeat right away and then got out the paper tape measure - 25 cm. Baby S is right on track. I asked the doctor a lot of questions about the position of the baby, how much room he/she has, and when they tend to "assume the position" of head down. It was very interesting, but in the middle of it, I had to lay down again because I started feeling dizzy.

That's the 25 week, 6 day appointment for me. I made it back to my office and started eating some oatmeal and am feeling better. Let's hope that I pass the test!

Fun With Names: Family Ties

2010-05-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about names a lot lately. It started at yoga when the teacher asked us all to include the name of our future baby during the introduction. People, I had a panic attack. My thoughts were racing - oh my God, I don't want to tell these people my names. Nevermind that I will never see them again and I don't know any of them. So i just said, "We haven't decided on names yet". This is not a lie - we have a shortlist of names and it likely is going to stay that way until we meet Baby S.

For a while I was regularly posting Fun With Names. I haven't done one since March 21. Two months to the day. (No I did not plan this).

So let's get down to it with Family Names!

I LOVE the idea of using family names. In fact, our middle names are pretty much decided and both (meaning our boy middle name and our girl middle name) are family names (and are NOT on the list below, sorry!). I probably like this because I tend toward more old-fashioned sounding names. Unfortunately, my husband is not in the old-fashioned sounding names boat with me. BOO! So here we go -

Henry. LOVE THIS NAME. I love it. We probably will use this at some point still if we have boys boys boys. This is my maternal great grandfather's name. Grandpa T. He is still alive and kicking at 93. Witty and spry as ever. In fact, if you have ever seen my family pictures, you will notice him b/c my mom and my nana are obsessed with five generation pictures and they always pull him in on one.

William. LOVE THIS NAME TOO. This is my maternal grandfather, "Pa"'s, name. Unfortunately my cousin also has this name. And he definitely goes by Will or William, which is how I would want it - not "Bill, Billy or Mac or Buddy" (sheryl crow). Pa goes by Bill. So would I NOT name my kid this since my cousin has the name? Maybe. It definitely isn't on the shortlist for baby #1.

Thomas. My dad's name. I think it's a cute boy's name. Again, I run into this issue where I would want his name to be Thomas and not Tommy. I have another little cousin named Tommy and my cousin married a Tom. So a lot of Tom action in my fam. Still, I like the name. And oh my lord here's where I get picky - I don't like when the first name ends with the same letter as the start of the last name (e.g. Sam Miller). Yes - I am neurotic.

Douglas. My FIL's name. I don't like this as a first name but it would make a good middle name. However, then we run into the same issue about it running into our last name - same with Thomas.

Matthew. This is my GREAT GREAT grandfather's name. Yeah - that's going back far. But my middle name is after his wife, Elizabeth, so when I was younger I always thought I would have a boy and a girl and name them Matthew and Elizabeth. Because of COURSE you can plan having a boy and a girl, right?!?! ha ha ha. Anyway, I also have a cousin named Matt that we never see. Regardless this didn't make the short list. I toyed with varying the spelling to Mathieu after reading the french names section of our baby name book. :)

Carver. My husband and all of his brothers have this for their middle name. It is a blend of both of their grandfathers "Carl" and "Verlin". I thought this was a great idea on my MIL's part. For a very long time, I wanted our son, if we have one, to have this for his middle name. But then my husband and I sort of decided that they should have their own middle names.

I think that's it for the gentleman (well of course save for any names that we may be using....;) )

And now the ladies...

Jane. Love this name. Love the simplicity and classic-ness (is that a word?!) of it. My aunt is named Jane. We see her a lot, but that wouldn't deter me from using this at some point. Again, not Baby #1.

Patricia. My nana's name. I like this one too, although I don't like the nickname variants. The husband does not like this name. Not even for a middle name. So it's off the list.

Elizabeth. My own middle name and my great great grandmother's name. Once upon a time I wanted to name my girl Claire Elizabeth. Then my aunt Jackie had a daughter and named her Elizabeth Claire. I KID YOU NOT. This girl is my god daughter so I don't want my daughter sharing her name. :) Nate really likes this name as a middle name, as do I for myself, but I'm not so keen on it for my daughter. *See Carver above

Esther. Ok. stick with me here. I know this is like the epitome of old-fashioned but I like it. This is my husband's grandmother's name. He doesn't like the name so much so we're not using it this go round. I may still try to fight for this as a middle name though for future babies.

Catherine. My great grandmother's name and Nate's great grandmother's name. EVERYBODY WINS! I would want to spell it Kathryn though. He doesn't like that spelling. And I don't know that I want her called Katie. I like Cat. He doesn't. Plus my BIL is seriously dating a Kathryn. That's not a dealbreaker for me. Put it in the future use file.

Ida. I would want this for a middle name. My paternal grandmother's name. She died a day before my 12th birthday. It was traumatic.

Viola. HOW ADORABLE IS THIS? My great-grandmother's name (married to Henry). She had the most BEAUTIFUL silver hair that my sister and I are really hoping we inherit some day.

Cecilia. My "I don't know how she's related to me but she was always at family functions" relative. She was at our wedding too (which is a big deal b/c only a small fraction of my family were invited). Goes by Ceil. I really like this name but then Jim & Pam on The Office named their baby that. Then I didn't really want people assuming I named her that because of that show - like how everyone named their daughter Emma after Rachel on Friends did.

Germaine. JUST KIDDING. This is my husband's other grandma's name. It is the family joke that her name would work for a boy or a girl (Jermaine/Germaine). She has a good sense of humor about it.

Ann/a. My mom's middle name is Ann. I like Anna. My husband does not.

I think that's it.

My future names post will feature "Names I Love But My Husband Hates". And there are a lot of them. Sniff, Ramona.

RXN

2010-05-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

I am very excited - tonight is my prenatal massage appointment that my hubby gave me for mother's day!! 6:45 PM can't come fast enough.

I have started to notice wackadoo things upon waking up in the morning. Yesterday morning I had two big scratched welts on my hip right where my underwear was and this morning i had the same thing on my ankle where my sock was. Am I scratching myself in my sleep? Or are my socks and underwear getting too tight that they cut off circulation at night?!? I also have noticed that tags on things have been driving me crazy lately, particularly on maternity pants. The location of tags on all of my pants is right on the small of my back and is constantly rubbing. I much prefer tagless clothes. I have been too lazy to get the seam ripper and rid the pants of tags.

Last night I also converted a denim skirt to a maternity skirt. It was way easier than I thought it would be. This morning I went to wear it and realized that i made the pouch a bit too high - The pouch part goes up past my boobs and therefore looks like I am wearing a knit tube top sewn into a denim skirt. Definitely NOT fashion forward, ha ha ha. I wanted it a bit longer so that I could double up the pouch but it makes it too bulky under all shirts so I'm going to have to fix it tonight. I was just glad to know that it worked and all with only about 10 minutes of work!!

I'm definitely confined to my maternity clothes now, which means that I have about 6 shirts, 3 pants, and 4 dresses that I rotate. I might already be getting sick of these items so one more round of shopping might be in the cards. I now have moved into my husband's t-shirts at night. All of my t-shirts might cut off the circulation in my torso if left on for more than 30 seconds. I think my husband is getting a kick out of this though - I was complaining about my t-shirts and he went through his drawer and found a smaller t-shirt of his to loan me. I have been rocking that thing for about 4 nights so last night he says to me, "Honey, I probably can find another t-shirt so you don't have to keep wearing that one." ha ha ha. Am I starting to smell!?

The end in sight?

2010-05-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is my 102nd post. I can't believe that I have ~~waxed poetically~~ whined about pregnancy that much! I can't believe there are still people reading this crap!

Proof positive that one can surely talk about pregnancy all day long if you let her.

So what am I going to talk about today? RUNNING.

I don't know how much longer I will be able to run pregnant. This week I have started to have a lot of discomfort, bordering on pain, while doing so. It now feels like my belly is moving up and down so that after a while, the ligaments, muscles around it hurt. Not to mention that my back isn't feeling the best lately. Yesterday I ran for 10 minutes, walked 5 minutes and ran 7 minutes and called it a day. Today my back is really hurting.

I'm not giving up yet - it could just be a bad week, but it also could mean that I'm hanging up the running shoes. I feel pretty lucky that I was able to go 25 weeks (and counting). I have toyed around with the idea of getting a "sports bra for the belly" so that i could continue running. At the beginning of this trip, I said that once I had to get one of those, I would be done. Now that the time might be here, I don't know that I'm ready to stop running! I also don't know if those belly support bands even work, or if they are made for running. Surprisingly, I haven't had any hip, knee or shin pain from carrying around extra weight, which I thought might start to happen.

Suffice to say, I'll keep you posted (pun intended).

Pregnancy Brain Episode of the Day

2010-05-18T09:44:00.001-07:00

I have been laughing for the better part of two minutes now.

While I was visiting friends in the ATL at the beginning of the month, one of them asked me if I felt like I was having pregnancy brain yet. I said that I really didn't feel like I was experiencing it yet. Well, I don't know if this is just coincidence, but since I returned from that trip, I have had multiple episodes of pregnancy brain occur (see yesterday's "HOLY SH**" message). One funny one JUST occurred that I will share:

My father is an avid fisherman. Every year, he invites my husband to do a fishing tournament with him for "bonding" time. My husband generally has a good time at this, even though he's not about to take up fishing as a lifestyle, like my father. So Friday night after work, we are headed to my dad's house since the big tournament is Saturday.

My father emailed my husband to ask him what time we would arrive on Friday. My husband replied to him, and CC'ed me, that it would depend on what time I was leaving Friday after work. I replied to both of them saying:

"I will probably leave work at 4:30/5:00 on Friday which would put us to your house by 6:30ish Sunday"

Click Send.

My father emails me back - "What the hell, will be you be walking to my house or why will it take you a day and a half to get to my house?!?"

OOPS! Pregnancy brain. Obviously I meant to say that we would be at his house by 6:30 FRIDAY not SUNDAY. I am still laughing about this one. DUH!

L&D

2010-05-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Another part of our weekend was spent at a surprise 50th birthday party for my husband's aunt and uncle and meeting one of our friend's new baby. One of the things that starts to happen when women know you are pregnant is the telling of their own personal labor and delivery story, particularly if the women are a good ten years+older than you. At first, this totally freaked me out and sort of annoyed me. Now, I sort of like it and actually ask a lot of questions. At the party, I seriously said, "I'm sort of excited to go through the whole labor and delivery process". And it's true. Yes, I'm still freaked out by it but more and more, I find myself truly excited. Maybe it's because it means that pregnancy will be over and we'll have our little baby.

Still, there are those women who love to tell you that they only gained 20 lbs with their pregnancies or that labor did not hurt one bit. Really? No pain at all?! I don't buy it. This same woman told me "Don't even bother getting an epidural - it doesn't hurt at all." Really?! I don't think I did a good job of hiding my skepticism. Given the MANY stories that I have read and heard over the past 25 weeks (yes! 25 weeks today!), the one thing I have learned is that every woman's story is different and I'm sure mine will be no different. One question that I am starting to get is, "Are you going to have a natural childbirth or get an epidural?" My answer is, "we'll have to see". My plan is to have no plan - that is see how the whole thing goes and if I want an epidural, I'll take it; if not, I won't. One thing that I am pretty against right now is being induced. Of course, I may change my tune if it gets to be mid-September and I'm still pregnant!

Classic example of what never to say to a pregnant woman

2010-05-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

HOLY SH**. This is the danger of having a public and private blog - what if you mess up and post to the wrong blog?! I totally posted this to my public blog two seconds ago and think my armpits are still soaking wet with anxiety. PHEW.

On to the post...

Ok, we all know things never to say to a pregnant woman. We probably have said a few of them ourselves, myself included, and even though I have now been down this road called pregnancy, I'm sure I will still put my foot in my mouth in the future. Part of the problem is that one just never knows what is going to push a hormonally-wacked out pregnant woman's buttons (myself TOTALLY included). However, I will share with you a classic example of what NOT to say to a pregnant woman.

This past weekend, my brother-in-law graduated from college on Saturday. We of course went to the graduation ceremony. I wore my now-standard dress up maternity dress- a magenta knit number that I got at Gap for $9.97. The dress is comfy and I feel small in it. My bro-in-law's school had a recognition breakfast that he invited us to go to before the ceremony. Upon our arrival, my MIL saw me and exclaimed to my brother-in-law, "Isn't she getting HUGE?!" (emphasis was really on huge). Now, eight years of knowing my MIL, I am finally starting to understand how she works. A little. I KNEW that she didn't really mean that I was a whale, but that she was really excited that I was starting to show. So I didn't even get annoyed in my head at this comment. I just smiled and let it go.

HOWEVER. When the comment was REPEATED (word for word) before graduation when we met up with some other family members, I coulnd't help it. "D-, I think that is definitely in the list of things to never say to a pregnant woman." My bro-in-law's GF was cracking up because her eyes got really big when she heard the comment. My MIL started laughing and explaining, "That's not what I meant...". We had a good laugh about it.

Lesson for the day - Instead of saying, "Isn't she getting HUGE?!", try, "Oh you're getting a baby bump! Cute!" or something to that effect.

Or, try this, said to me by the mother of one of my bro-in-law's friends: "You don't look like you're due in August. You look beautiful". That, my friends, will always work ;)

Are you pregnant?!

2010-05-14T08:23:00.001-07:00

Beginning last weekend, people are starting to directly ask me, "Are you pregnant" in some way shape or form. Apparently I am starting to really look obviously pregnant! Someone at work recently asked me when I would start wearing maternity clothes - I totally took that as a complement since I have been rocking the M-clothes pretty constantly for about 8 weeks now. I think I might get more compliments on my maternity clothes than my regular clothes! (Ok, that's stretching it a bit). Then again, maybe people just know that you can tend to feel sort of ick when you are pregnant so they lay the compliments on to boost your self esteem!

I have to commend my husband who really has been my go-to person with the maternity clothes thing. He usually will tag along if I go in-store shopping and he will let me do a "maternity fashion show" if I get a shipment of stuff from online. He knows my criteria and will be honest when something just isn't working (aka long maxi dress from old navy). Normally one to sort of eye roll at buying new clothes (because let's face it - I am certainly NOT lacking in that department!) he hasn't even complained about me getting new stuff!

Last night we headed back to my hometown to watch my niece and cousins in their spring music concert. Lots of belly rubbing going on! My husband taught my niece to hold her ear to my belly to listen for the baby and we tried to make the baby kick so she could feel it. No such luck :( I think she probably thinks we are crazy saying there's a baby in there! Oh well - it made for some pretty cute pictures.

New Developments

2010-05-13T09:53:00.001-07:00

"For someone who hates being pregnant, you sure are in love with your belly." {Direct quote from my husband last night.}

Totally true. I am obsessed with watching my belly at night. If we are home and I am on the couch, my shirt is up and I'm staring at the belly. One of my weekly emails said that your partner could try listening to your belly for the heartbeat starting at 25 weeks. I told my husband this and so now he is all about putting his head on belly and listening, particularly during periods of high movement. He said it's pretty cool. I commented that I was sad I couldn't listen and he said, "Well, you get to feel it". Touche.

Last night I think the baby had some major hiccups. The same e-newsletter said that periods of rhythmic movement are probably hiccups. It was crazy how rhthmic and long they lasted last night! Complete with a visual ripple across the stomach. I am also curious as to how much room the baby has to move around. I always still picture this bitty baby swimming around and doing flips in there.

Yesterday also started some rib pain, which is pretty common. I don't really understand why I already have rib pain - I highly doubt my uterus is pushing up that high already but there it is. It especially hurts when I laugh so last night was not a good night to catch up on two episodes of the Office and the Betty White SNL episode! I feel like my next doctor appointment is going to have a lot of questions!

I did have a regular yoga class last night which helped with some stretching. This was not the yoga/pilates variety and actually was quite relaxing. We did a lot of leg work to make our legs strong for birth. I have always liked my legs and appreciated their strength - all that running - so last night's yoga was a confidence booster.

Back That A** Up

2010-05-12T07:07:00.001-07:00

Is it possible to double in size overnight?

Ok, not really, but "it is funny how I am starting to fill out maternity clothes". {Direct quote from my husband this morning.}

"Funny" might not be the word I would select. "Weird" "Crazy" or my favorite word "Alien" might be some of my word choices.

Yesterday I didn't feel that big and then today - SHAZAAM. There is the belly - out front and out proud.

Strange.

Last night I cut my hair all off. "WOW. It's short." There's that husband again with his great word choices. I think I might have lost five pounds of hair. I guess I am not growing my hair out now.

After the haircut we went to my sister's place. My sister offered to cook some comfort food for mother's day. Cute girl also got me a card and a little gift for Baby S. She made him/her a Christpher O'Reilley CD. Christopher O'Reilley does Radiohead on piano. It is very soothing to listen to. I thought it was just so cute that she did that. Baby S loved it and responded by kicking her. Another weird thing that we noticed last night is that you can now see what side of my uterus the baby is on. When I was lying on her couch with my dress pulled up around my boobs, I said, "Woah! My uterus is lopsided!"

We are full of weird moments!

Top 10 Names of 2009

2010-05-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

We are not going to be telling our names either. I have certainly made comments about names I like but so far, we haven't told our top contenders. The social security administration just released the top ten boy and girl names for 2009. My "hint" is that none of our names (boy or girl) are on these lists. Stay tuned!

Top 10 Boy Names of 2009
1. Jacob
2. Michael
3. Joshua
4. Matthew
5. Daniel
6. Christopher
7. Ethan
8. Andrew
9. William
10. Joseph

Top 10 Girl Names of 2009
1. Emily
2. Madison
3. Abigail
4. Olivia
5. Hannah
6. Emma
7. Samantha
8. Isabella
9. Ashley
10. Ava

Baby Boy

2010-05-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

Ok - WE DID NOT FIND OUT THE GENDER OF OUR CHILD. Everytime I refer to the baby as a "he" or a "she" people ask me if I've slipped.

My husband went on record last night and announced that he for sure thinks it's a boy. I am willing to commit to saying that I will be surprised if it's a girl. I was telling someone over the weekend that at first I really thought it was a girl but now I think it is a boy more often that I think it is a girl. I don't know if that is because most people around me have been saying that they think it is a boy, or if it's because my husband thinks it's a boy and so that has been put in my mind. I still don't have a strong sense that it is one gender or the other like some moms-to-be have.

Twenty four weeks today!! Only 16 weeks left! I had not really thought about the x # of weeks left aspect until my friend MB said that she only had 12 weeks left. Holy cats. When you think about it that way, it doesn't seem too long before Baby S will be here!

I'm starting to freak out at work a bit because there just seems to be so much to get done by August...which is why I'm blogging instead ;)

Mother's Day & Airplanes

2010-05-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

First, I will talk about airplanes. I flew to ATL over the weekend. This is my second flight taken while pregnant - the first was to and from Orlando when I was 5 weeks preggers and totally sick. That flight was not fun. I was also helping my husband who suffers severe anxiety attacks from flights. My flight over the weekend was uneventful but back aches are not a nice side effect. On the way there i was lucky to have no one sitting next to me so I could move around and contort my body in weird ways to alleviate pain. On the way home, our flight was packed. I ended up sleeping with one arm behind my back balled up in a fist on the area that was tense. Strangely enough I always get tense/pain in this same area throughout pregnancy. It is on my right side, and just next to my spine at the midpoitn of my back. Yes, my arm did fall asleep while doing this, but I would rather have an asleep arm than this back pain. I am still dealing with it today and hoping our yoga/pilates class tonight helps some.

Speaking of airplanes, I know it is a bit early for one of my 'what i know now' posts, but I did learn something over the weekend about flying - wear the TIGHTEST shirt possible while pregnant so people help you out. I was wearing a baggier shirt and not obviously pregnant. There was a man in my row, two other women and myself. He bent over backwards to help them with their luggage while i was huffing to try to get my suitcase out of the overhead compartment. Then, when I got on the shuttle to take me to my car, the driver helped every other person with thier bag to their car EXCEPT me. No i am not kidding. I was like, REALLY?! You helped the marine out with his bag and not the preggo lady? That is when I realized I made a huge mistake in the wardrobe department. The ironic thing is that all weekend, my friends' husbands were being so nice to me - lifting things, pulling out chairs, etc and I was all like, "Guys, I can do this myself. I'm pregnant, not handicapped". Then when I was tired, with a sore back and wanting help, none was available. Go figure!

So Mother's Day. I'm not really sure that I qualify as a mother yet. Oh I probably do, but do I feel like a "mother"? No. So my husband asked me earlier this week, "Am I suppossed to get you a mother's day present?". How was I suppossed to respond to this?! So I was honest - i said, "Well, if you had just gotten me one without asking, that would be really sweet but I kind of feel like I'm asking you for a present, and I don't really feel like a mother so don't get me one." So i got home yesterday and called both my mother and my mother-in-law. My MIL asked me what I got for mother's day (she and my FIL had sent me a cute Mother-to-be mother's day card). I replied "Nothing". She sounded surprised. After we hung up the phone, I told my husband that she had asked and I said Nothing. He said, "Well you didn't even look in the right spot". I was totally confused and said, "Huh?". He said, "Well you're not my mother - so where would a baby hide a present if he/she could?". I still was not getting it. He said - "The crib". I was like, "Are you kidding?!". I went upstairs and sure enough in the crib was a card.

It was a nice mother-to-be card and also contained a letter from Baby Schlotty. It was SO CUTE. I totally started crying and in it was also a gift certificate for a one hour prenatal massage! PERFECT! My husband also gave me a massage last night :) So maybe I do feel a bit like a mother now :)

Holy Annoying

2010-05-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

I have found that people are often surprised that I am staying somewhat physically active throughout my pregnancy. I think it is pretty common to get asked, in some form, "You can run while you're pregnant?!". "Yep - totally. The doctor okayed it and everything." is my general response. For most people, it ends there. "Cool" or "Good for you" or "That's awesome" are common responses.

For some people, they feel like there is no way in hell that I should be running and that I MUST be causing the baby harm. First of all, I don't really think that I seem like the type of person to directly go against doctor's advice and put my baby in harm's way. If I in any way think something is going to harm the baby, I avoid it. I was worried for 3 days after the one time I ate deli meat, for crying out loud. And it's not like I'm training for a marathon here folks. I probably average 15 miles a week. Definitely not craziness. (I recently read in Runner's World that Carrie Tolefson cut her mileage in half from 80 miles/week to 40 while preggers. I love reading about pregnant runners!!)

I recently had a conversation of this sort that annoyed me to the core. My husband's grandmother wanted to know why I was still running. "The baby probably doesn't like that". I responded that I think the baby actually DOES like it. (And interestingly enough, the email of the week that I get from Babycenter said that baby does like movement.) "Well, I'm not sure you're suppossed to be doing that." I assured her that the doctor actually encouraged me to exercise. "Exercise, yes, but probably not running" was her reply. By this point, i was getting pretty pissy. I responded, "Well, I specifically asked him about running before I continued doing it and he said to go for it. The baby is doing fine and I'm not having any complications so it is perfectly safe I'm also on the high end of the weight gain curve so clearly it isn't interfering with that." I still don't think she believed me as she made a few more grumbling comments. I told my husband about this and he apologized saying that he slipped and mentioned my 5K to her. ARGH.

I thought of lots of mean stuff I could say in my head, but I kept my cool. Thanks for letting me vent.

Good Days Vs. Bad Days

2010-05-06T09:04:00.001-07:00

I have been having some pretty good days of pregnancy lately, which has been nice. I still haven't kicked the insomnia completely, but will have a few good nights of sleep per week, which makes the bad nights easier to handle. It's all a case of good days and bad days. Example:

Yesterday was a "good day". I volunteered to drive my FIL to his chemo appointment 4hours away. I wasn't really sure how it was going to go since I haven't ever spent a day exclusively with him only. Well CHATTY CATHY. We talked the entire drive there, save for 30 minutes when I took a nap. And now I know who to call if I ever NEED to talk about being pregnant - the man is SO EXCITED about the baby he was more than happy to ask me questions and talk about it. Which is fun because a lot of times I feel like I should rein it in on the baby talk. The appointment lasted about 5 hours during which I got a lot of work done and then I had to drive back home, due to the fact that he is pretty out of it and sleeps a lot when it is all done. Again, back to baby talk on the way home! It was really funny. It is easy to have a good day when people share in your excitement about being pregnant. This is probably not going to sound right, but we decided that he and I share a lot of the same symptoms - he has a bit of an extended stomach because of a swollen spleen, he doesn't sleep well, he is tired all of the time, and people are always nice to both of us. I think I have the good end of that deal though - I at least get a baby at the end of all of this! All in all I was thankful for the fun, albeit tiring, day we had and I sort of feel a lot closer to my FIL now. I was a little disappointed that he couldn't feel the baby kick. The one time that the baby was kicking while he was awake, he rushed to put his hand on my belly just in time for Baby S to STOP kicking. Go figure!

Now today so far has been more on the bad day side. Nothing terrible - just tired and crabby. I had to drive to an appt for work that didn't show up which annoyed me, I desperately need a haircut becuase now my hair IS growing like a weed so it is in about 1000 bobby pins and looking like something Helena Bonham Carter would rock, and I have (WARNING - APPROACHING TMI TERRITORY. ABORT MISSION IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR REALLY PERSONAL INFO) what I like to call Rainy Vag syndrome which has left evidence on my pants. Thank God maternity polyester pants dry quickly. My friend HC and I were just whining about the fluids that your body produces while pregnant. Where does that all come from? UGH. HC's twin sister just gave birth and warned us that it only gets worse. People, I have gotten CHAFE marks on my inner thigh from pantiliners. So I stopped wearing them for a day (today) and bam. Immediately regretting that decision. This is definitely something no one ever brought to my attention pre-pregnancy.

And now to conclude good day, bad day, a funny story. AS I have whined about plenty of times on this blog, my breasts are growing by the minute right along with my belly. I bought new bras (in new sizes) again over the weekend. Yesterday my MIL and my husband met us for a very late dinner towards the end of the drive to save me some driving b/c they knew I was getting pooped. My MIL has been more and more comfortable around me but doesn't really talk too much about "women" things to me. Over burgers and fries she suddenly blurted out, "wow - your boobs really are getting big". I just started laughing. "Totally - they're monstrous". She just shook her head and laughed. I thought about telling her my fears of squashing my baby with them while breastfeeding but just left it at that. :)

Prenatal Yoga

2010-05-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

My friend HC asked me if I was interested in checking out the free prenatal yoga classes offered by the nearby Destination Maternity store. Never one to pass up free things, I agreed to sign us up. Last night was our first class.

We got to the store and the instructor greeted us and took us to the studio off the store. It was a legit, although small, studio! I don't know what I was expecting but it already was nicer than that. The first thing we did is go around and introduce ourselves and say how far along we were. There were six of us total. It was sort of fun seeing all the bellies and hearing how far they had left to go. The class was an hour long and a combo of yoga and pilates. It kicked my A**. I was expecting more Shiva Rae but it was tough. I am really sore today. They have roughly two to three classes offered per day FOR FREE and there is no limit to how many you can sign up for! We immediately signed up for the rest of the month.

Alien living in Mommy's Funhouse

2010-05-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I refer to Baby S as an alien. I do this lovingly. My sister also does this. I think because we often say that new babies look like aliens. Cute aliens, but aliens.

Being pregnant, I often feel alien. I don't know that I'll every fully comprehend the fact that there is something living and moving around inside of me. This weekend marked another alien moment - you can now SEE Baby S move by watching my stomach. There are ripples that physcially move. It is incredible. I scream every time it happens and easily get distracted by watching my belly move in waves.

I can sort of get the baby to do it on demand too using a little move I like to call Mommy's Funhouse. (OH MY GOD - Yes, I am this weird). If I use both of my hands to gently bounce on my stomach while I am lying on my back, usually the baby will start to move pretty soon after. I like to think that Baby S is bouncing around in one of those moonwalk funhouse things that were really fun as a kid (but probably really dangerous).

Baby's First 5K

2010-05-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

My preggo 5K occurred on Saturday. It was a great experience, but the 12 hours previous had me nervous. Friday night I hung out at home and crafted while my husband went over to a friend's house for video gaming. It was storming something fierce and I was thinking, "Oh great. I don't really want to run in the rain tomorrow." I went to bed hoping it would clear by morning.

3:30 AM arrives and I get up to go to the bathroom. And toss. And turn. Sigh. I'm starving. I go eat a piece of string cheese (my go-to midnight snack). It does nothing to curb my hunger. So I get up and go make this breakfast quinoa recipe I read about in Martha Stewart. In my underwear. At some point in the tossing and turning I realized I was really hot so I took off my pants. Thus, I was in my kitchen at 4:30 in the morning, in an ill-fitting t-shirt and underwear making quinoa. Never one to focus on a single task, I read my book while it cooked. EXPLODE. Quinoa and milk all over the stove. The quinoa finally got done and I WOLFED it down. It was divine. At about 5:30 I went back to bed and probably fell asleep around 6.

At 8:15 my alarm went off. UGH. I was exhausted and my head hurt. "I don't want to run" I told my husband. He asked me what I was doing early this morning that was causing some banging. "Oh, cooking quinoa", I replied nonchalantly. He just shook his head. I guess he is getting used to my early morning escapades! He confessed that he thought it was a dumb idea, me running this 5K. "WHAT?!", I exclaimed. He said that he knew how competitive I get and that he was worried that I would be in a bad mood all day because my time would suck. I told him that this was a very valid concern, and I was really trying to make it fun and I was going to try very hard to not let my time bother me. Of course, I had to have a goal. Given that the majority of my runs are around 30 minutes long, I told him that my goal was to finish in under 30 minutes.

We headed off to the run, with the new camera. My husband was going to try to capture some action shots. We got to the race, got my packet and I had to pee. Ten minutes later, I had to pee again. The 5K was a great 5K to pick for my preggo run - it was very relaxed and on the smaller side. We lined up and I had to pee. CRAP! I thought it was nerves and that it would go away when the gun went off. The race started at 9:30. It was a beautiful sunny day and I just started plugging along. I felt really really really good...well besides the fact that I had to pee the ENTIRE TIME. Probably the best I have felt while running this whole pregnancy. There were no mile markers along the course, no clocks, just me and my watch. (Which of course I was glancing at, trying to estimate how much of the course we had completed and when I could get to a bathroom). I knew we were making a huge circle and when we were coming up on the finish, I saw the clock working it's way towards 24 minutes. That is when the competitive juices kicked in (pun intended) and I desperately wanted to finish under 24 minutes. I crossed the finish in 23:52. And i felt great. I ran straight from the finish to the bathroom. That's a pregnant runner for you!

WTF. 4 full months of major suckage running all made up for in one 5K. I celebrated by eating one of the hot dogs at the finish. (Yes, I ate a hot dog. I was not about to care about the pregnancy rules.)

Sure it's not a PR and if I got that time non-pregnant, I wouldn't be happy. But I was actually pretty proud of myself on Saturday and was in a great mood for the rest of the weekend, much to my husband's delight. Now...do I do another one?!? :)

Another Runner's World Quote of the Day

2010-04-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

Running long and hard is an ideal antidepressant, since it's hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clearheadedness that follow a long run.

Monte Davis, runner

I'm going to guess that Monte is a man and that he has never been pregnant. I can assure him that it is very easy to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. ha ha ha.

I do have to say that I love the hours of clearheadedness that follow a run. My runs are definitely not categorized as "long" these days but one of the reasons I have kept up with running is the way you feel when you are done and thus why I am trying my hardest to keep up with it while preggo. No other exercise compares with it.

What I Know Now: Week 22

2010-04-27T10:24:00.001-07:00

I started these "What I Know Now" posts at 18 weeks planning to do them every 4 weeks until Baby S arrives. I totally stole this idea from Oh Brooke's blog. I cannot believe that 4 weeks have passed already. So here is what I know now at 22 weeks.

1. Cravings can come, go, change, come and go again. My newest obsession is salad, or any fresh vegetables for that matter. I have been having this salad for about two weeks now at lunch: mixed greens (from a co-worker at my husband's office who grows/sells her own), cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes and sunflower seeds. Once in while I'll throw some chickpeas on there. Mmm..chickpeas. And mini carrots?! WATCH OUT. I'm hoping all of these vegetables translate into Baby S being a good eater ;) Oh but it would only be fair to also mention that my craving for sugar has appeared. I downed 3/4 of a box of Trix in the past 24 hours. And I wonder why I'm on the high end of weight gain!

2. I also think it is interesting how people's opinions on what is good advice or what a good book is varies. For example, Baby 411 (which I haven't read) was both recommended to read and to stay away from. Funny. I was talking with my friend JP who had a baby 5 weeks ago and she had the same thing to say about Breastfeeding with Confidence, which a friend gave her with rave reviews. She said she threw the book out at 3 AM one day. "Do NOT read this book" she said. (Her actual story about this was way more entertaining.) I do like (and often solicit) advice but it is funny how varied and different it all is.

3. This sort of follows along with #2. Although I enjoy reading pregnancy books, I take everything with a grain of salt. I learned this way earlier than 22 weeks when I wasn't exactly having all of the symptoms at the time points suggested in the books. I find it WAY more helpful actually talking with people who have had babies, especially recently. I think I learned more in a 30 minute conversation with JP than in reading 5 books. Again, everyone is different and just because one person had an experience doesn't mean that I will, but I still like to hear personal stories. This led me to craft this whole book idea during one night's insomnia episode. Maybe I WON'T go back to work and try to sell my book idea instead, ha ha ha.

4. It helps to have your mom on speeddial. I have talked to my mom way more than I did in the past (and it already was a lot) since being pregnant. See previous post. In some ways, this has also freaked me out because once you become a mother, you are forever a mother - no matter if your kid is 2 or 29.

5. Baby S will now kick you! The movements is becoming increasingly stronger and more frequent. And sometimes, they even annoy me depending on the location and intensity of them. My husband has felt the baby move a lot, and JN felt it when we were over there for dinner. A few nights ago my sister was staying at our house and I asked her if she wanted to feel - 2 seconds later, her niece/nephew gave her a good kick. "WOAH". It is still really weird to think of something living inside of me. Sometimes if I think too much about it, I start to feel a little lightheaded. The Belly Book journal that I have been filling out asked when I first felt the baby move, when I first felt the baby hiccup and when I first felt the baby kick. I wasn't aware that hiccups were suppossed to feel different so I don't really know when that first started. There are these distinct movements that feel like the baby is doing a somersault or flip in my belly - maybe that's a hiccup?

6. I don't know how single mothers go through this. I am very spoiled and I like it that way :) My friend CD and I were just talking about this as well - she in terms of having a one year old. I am so thankful for my husband, our families and friends who have been such an amazing support thus far. Pre-pregnancy, I was pretty spoiled by my husband but having a baby inside me really upped the ante. My friend CH told me early on that pregnancy is the only time it's all about you because once the baby comes, everyone's attention turns to the baby. I have found this to be very true - everyone sort of treats you nicely and is always asking you how you are doing when you are pregnant. This is definitely one thing I enjoy about pregnancy.

7. Even though I have a little belly, I still cannot fathom having a big one. I went to a baby shower last weekend. JR is 8 mos pregnant and measuring large. I just kept looking at her thinking, "I can't imagine being THAT pregnant" even though I know it's coming! Little by little, more of my pre-pregnancy clothes are NOT fitting.

8. Every day I look at my body with fascination/horror. My preggo friend HC recently emailed that it is weird to watch your body go through so many transformations. And even though I sometimes whine about pregnancy being SOO long, these changes happen so quickly. I think my feet are starting to swell already. Oh jesus.

9. Women who have given birth always say that once you are in labor, you have no more shame about anything about your body - you just want the baby out. I think this might already start with pregnancy. I talk about things that I wouldn't normally talk to certain people about. For example, yesterday I was talking to my boss (a female with 2 kids) about cervixes and boobs. Definitely not a conversation I would have had with her pre-pregnancy. Consider yourself warned...

10. Running is becoming more laborious (pun intended). I don't know that I will make it to 40 weeks. My pregnancy 5K is tomorrow. I have a feeling it is going to be a train wreck.

11. You sweat like a mother when you are pregnant (pun intended, again). I imagine with the coming summer months this is only going to get worse. My mother and a woman from the upholstery store were telling me stories about laying naked or nearly naked under a fan when they were pregnant to try to cool down. Oh boy.

12. I have been trying to practice good posture, but it is really hard not to walk with your belly sticking out.

13. JUST ASK THE DOCTOR. I don't know why but I feel like if I ask a question or call the doctor's office it is dumb. It's that independent streak in me, I guess. But if I would have called the doctor's office about allergy medication WHILE I was actually having the allergies, I would have felt relief much sooner. By the time I actually asked about it and found out Claritin was ok, I wasn't really suffering from allergies anymore. Same with the round ligament pain. Instead of freaking out for 3 hours, I could have called and calmed down way sooner. Lesson learned...I think.

"MOMMY"

2010-04-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

Last night was my first night of calling my mom while crying. I was having really bad abdominal pain and wasn't sure what was going on or if I should call the doctor or what. She of course told me to call the doctor. Because it was after hours, I got the doctor on call (not my doctor). She asked me a ton of questions beginning with, "Are you having any bleeding or spotting?" to which I replied, "No". PHEW. I also didn't really think I was having contractions. Not that I have ever had contractions before, but from my reading from 3 books before calling, it didn't really describe what I was feeling which was intense pain on my left side only.

The doctor said I was likely having round ligament pain. She looked up my 20 week ultrasound report where they looked at my cervix and said that it looked great. She said that she herself had it really bad with her second child, so much so that she broke out into a cold sweat. I don't know if she made that story up but it did make me feel better. She told me that if I had any bleeding or spotting to come in right away, and if I was still feeling pain tomorrow (this morning) to call my regular doctor, to whom she was sending an email.

This morning I feel fine, just as she predicted. But wow! Total freak out. I sort of dismissed round ligament pain as being like some cramps but this rendered me useless on the couch laying in a specific position all night and even made me a little nauseous. Let's hope that's a one time thing!

Addendum to my earlier post

2010-04-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

I just got off the phone with my father in law. He said he heard about my weight gain (through my husband) and said, "woah! she doesn't look THAT fat?"

Gee thanks. I realize he probably thought this was a nice thing to say - as in you don't look like you've gained 18 pounds but still.

Reason #465 this blog has limited readership.

Doctor, Doctor, Gimme the News...

2010-04-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had another doctor appointment. My husband decided to accompany me to this appointment, even though there was nothing special about it. It promised to be another round of peeing in the cup, getting weighed and asking questions. Still, it was fun to have the company.

So, I peed in the cup, and stepped on the scale. Up 6 pounds from 3 weeks and 3 days ago bringing my total weight gain to 18 pounds!! Holy Schnikey. 158 lbs. I think this is definitely more than I have ever weighed in my life. I am back over the high end of what I should weight right now, according to all of the weight gain calculators. I prefer to think along the lines of my nurse that calls me who said that I can think about the weight as I am suppossed to be gaining 1/2-1 lb a week - which means that "normal" weight gain could be 10.5 to 21 lbs for me at this stage of the game. I guess I prefer to hear that and hear that the baby is healthy but it still is hard to be above the weight gain curve.

Blood pressure is still well below normal.

The doctor asked if the baby has been moving around, which I confirmed. Then it was heartbeat time. He found it quickly and then had to re-find it because the baby moved. It was then time for the most "technologically advanced" measurement - the paper tape measure. Beginning with the second half of your pregnancy they literally measure your uterus (as felt from the outside) to track baby's growth. My doctor said it actually is fairly reliable. Things are looking good there.

I actually had a few questions this time relating to medications. My itchy watery eyes have been driving me batty - apparently I am fine to take Claritin. I have tried to hold off with medications but am starting to take Claritin today - I can't take it anymore. I also confirmed that the amount of vitamin B6 I was taking is ok. It is. Then I asked about pizza face. He said that I actually can try something over the counter (which I have been avoiding) and see how it goes. So I think i will try something a couple times a week.

So that's that - everything still fine and basically normal. Well as normal as you can get if you're my kid ;) Next doctor visit is the dreaded glucose test. I am happy because the nurse gave me the option to take the potion home and drink it before coming in - that way i don't have to sit in the waiting room for an hour.

Workin' On Our Night Moves

2010-04-22T09:32:00.001-07:00

Not those Night Moves ;). A co-worker sent me this link to the following illustrations done by a NY Times writer suffering from Insomnia. I thought they, and the resulting comments, were funny.

#2 is my favorite - the route from "HATE HER SLEEP" to toss, turn, toss, turn, and then Pad Into the Kitchen is a familiar one. Or how about "read the same magazine article for 3 hours"??

I am excited to say that I ALMOST had an entire week of good sleep - 6 days in a row and then last night blew it. Oh well!! I'll take 1 bad day a week instead of 4!!! On another relieving note, I talked with a woman who works for the same employer as I do - she used to be on our floor and then moved offices. I saw her at a training. She has had 3 children and had terrible insomnia with her 3rd. Even though the doctor and books constantly say that insomnia is common with preggos, I hadn't actually spoke with anyone with it - most people I talk to think it is "weird" so it was nice to talk with her.

Maternity Clothes Shopping at 21 weeks

2010-04-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

I alluded to more maternity clothes shopping that was done last weekend. I am still half in/half out of maternity world. Today for instance I have on my uniqlo leggings and a brown tunic/dress thing - both pre-pregnancy outfits. Yesterday I wore a maternity shirt and a non-maternity skirt. Most of my pre-pregnancy dresses I am still able to wear and some of my skirts and shirts. Absolutely non of my pants or jeans still fit. A co-worker loaned me a pair of maternity pants, and I bought 2 pairs and 3 pairs total seems to be footing the bill. These are the non-jean pants, of course.

My "normal" jeans stopped fitting me at 18 weeks. I rocked a belly band with them for a while and then I found a pair of non-maternity Gap trouser cut jeans 2 sizes larger than my normal size at Goodwill around that time that I have been wearing for the past 3 weeks. These jeans are amazing, comfortable and able to be easily buttoned. I am going to estimate I have another few weeks in them - not bad for $3.99! I hadn't yet worn my Heidi Klum skinny maternity jeans and I also found a pair of jeans at The Gap Maternity store a while back. However, the maternity jeans sitting in their shopping bags on my bedroom floor were staring me down. I re-tried on the Heidi Klum skinny jeans. UGH. The jeans that were so comfortable when I tried them on and bought them are horrible now that I actually have a belly. Thank God I kept the receipt and didn't cut the tags off. (Reason #1 to actually wait until you have a belly for some stuff!) Those were headed back to the store.

Then I tried the Gap jeans on. I am not usually a fan of Gap jeans, speaking from a non-maternity world. My problem with them is that most styles (obviously not the trouser style) are huge in the waist and skin tight on my thighs and butt. The same thing happened with their maternity jeans. I bought these jeans because they had a "normal" top with this hidden elastic that you would pull and loop over a button - therefore the waist could grow with you. Unfortunately, to get the jeans over my thighs, I had to pull the elastic as tight as it could go and therefore it looked like my jeans had a drawstring bunching them around my waist (read: actually around the waist that is left underneath my belly). YIKES! "Sexy Boot Cut" these were not. So those were going back too. Both of these jeans that I bought were designed to fit under the belly - some people told me these were the most comfortable type of jeans. For some women, this is probably true, but I kept feeling like both of these jeans were on the verge of showing major AC (A** crack) and that they were always on the verge of falling down. Could it be?! Did I actually WANT the elastic pouch jeans?!

God love him - my husband joined me on my trip back to the mall to make the returns and try to find new jeans. I was back to square one. I found a pair at the Motherhood in Macy's that I think will work. I'm not entirely sold on them, so they are sitting in their shopping bag on my bedroom floor. I also found a pair at KOHL'S of all places. $17 for jeans (this after the sale price and one of the zillion coupons that Kohls is always mailing me). I will take them. I actually wore them already out to dinner last Saturday night. They are pretty standard, but will work well for summer. And yes - both of these new pairs of jeans have the elasto-pouch. :)

Now on to tops...
I found the BEST maternity top ever at Pea in the Pod at Macy's. It was on clearance, unfortunately, so they only had one color left. Why do I love this top? Because it is not low cut and/or V-neck. I started complaining to the sales woman that all the maternity tops are so low cut, requiring you to wear a camisole or other tank top underneath. Who wants low cut shirts when your boobs are the size of cantalopes?! Annoying. The other day when wearing a maternity dress that was V-neck, I looked down and realized that I looked like I worked in some freak pregnancy strip club rather than an office. Thank goodness I had a safety pin in my desk! Anyhoo, this shirt is full coverage, flattering and made of the softest knit ever. LOVE IT!

Favorite Stores?
I am starting to get more comfortable with the maternity offerings around my area - both with brand new clothing and used clothing at Goodwill or consignment stores. I haven't had too much luck with used clothing. Goodwill offerings are GOD AWFUL and most consignment stores have a plethora available in XL but not much on the other side of the spectrum. I haven't been to the maternity world of stores in Brookfield yet - Destination Maternity, Motherhood and A Pea in the Pod are all under one roof there. Mostly because these lines of clothes are carried at Macy's and you can return them at Macy's - you can't return them if you buy them from the stores. However, my friend HC discovered that materna-world offers free yoga classes so we might try to hit those up. I will say that Pea in the Pod clothes are actually cute. Unfortunately they are DAMN expensive, even on clearance, so I don't find myself buying those.

It is also annoying to me that so many maternity clothes are found online only. For example, Ann Taylor Loft has some nice stuff, particularly for work wear. It is a little pricey but you have to order it online to even try it on. I have found that sizing is even MORE all over the map in maternity. Depending on the store, I can be an XS, S, M or L. I'm sort of curious to see how many of the maternity shirts that I currently own will work throughout the rest of pregnancy. Some of them definitely already seem short, particularly the two I have from Gap. Thus, I haven't bought any more shirts from there.

So that's the clothes situation 21 weeks in. I sort of have a collection of my pre-pregnancy clothes and some maternity clothes worked into the rotation. I haven't felt too limited into rotating the same 5 outfits over and over yet. Depending on what I wear, I may or may not look pregnant.